Meet the five new saints of the Catholic Church

St. Peter’s Square, October 13, 2019: With 50,000 people in attendance from countries around the world, Pope Francis declared John Henry Newman, Mother Giuseppina Vannini, Mother Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan, Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes, and Marguerite Bays Catholic saints. See exclusive photos from the event, here: 

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Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890): Theologian, literary figure, and founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. He was the first Anglican to become a Catholic priest and cardinal and is the first English person to be made a saint in almost 50 years. Newman’s beatification was officially proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and his canonization was officially approved by Pope Francis earlier this year.  

Mother Giuseppina Vannini (1859-1911): Founder of the Daughters of Saint Camillus, she is the first Roman woman to be canonized in more than 400 years. The main legacy the foundress left her sisters was the pure and simple physical and spiritual care of the sick, exercised at home as in hospitals, leprosariums and nursing homes, both in European rehabilitation centers and in mission countries.

Mother Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan (1876-1926): Mystic, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (CHF) in Kerala, India.She spent her entire life assisting the poor, the sick, the elderly and all those in need, and was invoked as protector of families in difficulty and intercessor of couples who do not have children. She was beatified on April 9, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992): The first woman born in Brazil to become a saint. She is known as St. Dulce of the Poor for caring for the poorest of the poor in her convent’s chicken yard in Salvador, Bahia. More than 3,000 people visit the same site every day (where the Santo Antônio Hospital now stands) to receive free medical treatment. At the time of her death in 1992, Sister Dulce had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Marguerite Bays (1815-1879): Stigmatist and 19th-century Swiss laywoman. While she never entered a religious order, she dedicated her life to prayer and service to her parish community. After her death the Vatican approved a miracle attributed to her intercession in which a 2-year-old child was completely healed after being run over by a 1,800-lb tractor wheel.