Boys Town, Teams of Our Lady, visionary: Sainthood causes advance

The French priest Henri Caffarel is the founder of the Équipes Notre-Dame, an organisation dedicated to supporting married Christian couples “who wish to live fully the riches of their sacrament of marriage,” as stated on their official website.

Around 74,000 couples are part of this movement worldwide, spread across some 14,000 teams supported by more than 9,600 counsellors and spiritual guides.

Accompanied by a priest, these couples form small groups invited to meet regularly to deepen their spiritual life. This movement is considered a pioneer of the concept of “marital spirituality,” several decades before John Paul II developed the ambitious teaching on the “theology of the body.”

In 1997, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1947 charter that had helped to structure this movement, which had been founded just before the Second World War, the Polish pontiff described the Teams of Our Lady as a “leaven of renewal in the Church.” They were recognised by the Vatican in 1975 as an “International Catholic Association,” and in 1992 were granted the status of “international association of the faithful under private law” by the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

The life of Father Caffarel

Born on July 30, 1903 in Lyon, Henri Caffarel was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Paris in 1930. He devoted the early years of his priesthood to the spiritual formation of young laypeople within the framework of Catholic Action. Father Caffarel then took an interest in the development of radio and cinema, and organised spiritual retreats. It was in this context that the first meeting of the Équipes Notre-Dame took place on February 25, 1939, with the group taking on a more structured form after the war.

Father Caffarel died on September 18, 1996, in Beauvais, near the spiritual centre of Troussures in the Oise region, where he had retired in 1973. At his funeral, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger described him as a “prophet of the 20th century.”

Another decree recognizes the heroic virtues of the American priest of Irish origin, Edward Joseph Flanagan (1886–1948). Born in Ireland, he emigrated to New York at the age of 18, where he entered the seminary, before going on to continue his studies in Rome and then in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained a priest.

Sent to Omaha, Nebraska, in the central United States, he devoted himself to helping poor workers and homeless young people, founding Boys Town, a model orphanage popularized by Hollywood in 1938 in a film that won an Oscar. He subsequently also worked abroad, travelling to Ireland, as well as to Japan and Korea during the fighting. He died in Germany of a heart attack whilst visiting the territories occupied by the United States after the war.

Find out more about Venerable Edward Flanagan:

Another decree recognizes the heroic virtues of Giuseppe Castagnetti. This Italian family man, born in 1909, led a life guided by faith and a commitment to serving others. He had 12 children, though two died young.

Deeply influenced by his encounter with Padre Pio, who went on to offer him guidance, he served as mayor of his town and played a part in its reconstruction after the Second World War. In this role, he discreetly helped the most destitute, even to the point of impoverishing himself. He died in 1965.

Pope Leo XIV also authorised the publication of a decree recognising “the offering of life” of Cardinal Ludovico Altieri (1805–1867). This former Bishop of Albano died of cholera after caring for the sick during an epidemic. A member of the Roman aristocracy and the son of a German princess, he spent his entire life working within the Roman Curia, first at the Holy Office, then as nuncio to Austria.

In 1840, he was created a cardinal by Gregory XVI and took part in the conclave that elected Pius IX in 1846. The latter appointed him Prefect of the Index and Camerlengo. It was under his leadership that numerous literary classics were placed on the Index, notably Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and Stendhal’s The Red and the Black.

Between 1849 and 1850, when Pius IX was forced to flee during the Roman Republic episode, he was part of the ‘Red Triumvirate’ which continued to exercise the Pope’s authority over the capital of the Papal States.

Established by Francis in 2017, the ‘offering of life’ is a ‘path’ to sainthood equivalent to that of heroic virtues and thus confers the status of Venerable. It applies to a person who died out of charity, having freely and heroically accepted a certain and imminent death to follow Christ. A miracle is then required for beatification.

The heroic virtues of the Spanish nun Maria Dolores Romero Algarin have also been recognized. Born in 1916, she lost her parents at the age of 11. Having entered the Congregation of the Servants of the Divine Heart at the age of 21, she led an exemplary religious life, showing particular care for the poorest. She died in 1977, after serving for many years in Brazil.

The heroic virtues of the Polish nun Stanislawa Samulowska (Barbara, 1865–1950), a member of the Society of the Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul, have also been recognised. Before spending much of her consecrated life in Paris and then in Guatemala, where she died at the age of 85, she witnessed the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Giertrzwald in 1877 during her adolescence. The 150th anniversary of these Marian apparitions could prompt a visit by Pope Leo XIV to Poland in 2027.