The Church has open causes for the canonization of many individuals and many new causes for future saints are introduced all the time.
Read more: These Faithfully Departed Might Be Taking Steps to Canonization Soon
Recently, some amazing people are joining the ranks of saints. Chiara Corbella Petrillo will be declared Servant of God in 2018. Venerable Fulton Sheen’s cause has been able to move forward. Both Solanus Casey and Chiara Luce Badano have been making the rounds in Catholic circles more, and even Venerable Antonietta Meo has been getting some airtime (or should we say, prayer time?).
Here are four more predictions for more faithful departed you’ll start to hear more about:
1. Blessed Oscar Romero
Ausgust 15, 1917- March 24, 1980, beatified Mary 23, 2015, feast day March 24
Why He’s Cool: He’s the first Salvadoran martyred to be beatified and would be the first Salvadoran saint. Romero opposed military terror on its citizens and stood with workers and laborers, calling out the wealthy landowners and the government to treat the poor with the dignity they deserved.
He fought for their freedom from oppression, denounced violence by the clergy and the citizens against the military, and preached about Christian love. While celebrating the Mass in the chapel of the Divina Providencia hospital one day, he was shot to death. Learn more about him here.
Notable Quote: “The Christian always prefers peace to war.”
Read more: Keep Your Eyes on These Fantastic Four
2. Servant of God Dorothy Day
November 8, 1897- November 29, 1980, declared “Servant of God” in March 2000
Why She’s Cool: Dorothy was a convert after leading a very bohemian lifestyle and founded the Catholic Worker Movement. She had an abortion after a fling, was married in a civil ceremony to a different man (whom she later divorced), and became pregnant again by a third man. But it was through this pregnancy that she became increasingly interested in and devoted to Catholicism.
After her daughter, Tamar Teresa was born, Dorothy had the baby baptized into the Church and followed herself shortly after. After being received into the Church, Dorothy gave up the bohemian lifestyle and devoted herself to social activism tempered by the precepts of the Church and later became an oblate with the Benedictines. Learn more about her here.
Notable Quote: “Everything a baptized person does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.”
3. Blessed Bartolo Longo
February 10, 1841- October 5, 1926, beatified on October 26, 1980, feast day October 5
Why He’s Cool: Longo, although born to devout Catholic parents, got involved with the occult while studying to be a lawyer. He ended up in a Satanic cult where he says he was ordained as a satanic priest. After suffering from an increase in paranoia and anxiety, a friend from his hometown convinced him to see a Catholic priest who led him to the Rosary.
Through the devotion to Mary in the Rosary, Bartolo reverted to Catholicism, abandoned the occult, and became a champion of the Rosary. He even walked into a seance holding up the Rosary and denouncing the practice! He later married a countess but they remained continent and founded the Confraternity of the Rosary. Together, they restored a dilapidated church, and sponsored a festival in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope St. John Paul II called Bartolo the “Apostle of the Rosary”. Learn more about him here.
Notable Quote: “My only desire is to see Mary who saved me and who will save me from the clutches of Satan.”
4. Venerable Edel Quinn
September 14, 1907- May 12, 1944, declared venerable on December 15, 1994, feast day May 12
Why She’s Cool: Edel was born in County Cork, Ireland. She wanted to joined the Poor Clares, but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. Instead, she became active in the Legion of Mary. With them, she became an active missionary in East and Central Africa. She had a childlike trust in Mary and was extremely generous. It seemed that the Rosary was always in her hand. Edel said that she could never refuse Our Lady and she centered her life around the Eucharist. Edel died of tuberculosis in Nairobi, Kenya. Learn more about her here.
Notable Quote: “What a desolation life would be without the Eucharist.”
