In recent issues of CITOC, there have been articles about the canonization processes for Titus Brandsma, Maria Teresa Scrilli, Asunción Soler Gimeo, and Barolomé Xiberta. In this issue, we explore two more of "our own" who are being considered for sainthood. We also publish an interview with one of the people responsible for "saint making" in the Carmelite Family, the Postulator General, Felip Amenos. He has also provided a status report on the many cases which we gladly publish here.

In the coming months, a website for the Office of the Postulator General will be developed. This will allow you and others around the world to have ready access to these incredible people who lived our life and whose examples remain with us today.

The Istituto delle Suore Carmelitane Missionarie di s. Teresa del B. Gesù in the town of Santa Marinella, stands literally two steps from the Carmelite parish. Separated by the street, Institute and parish almost form a "Carmelite island." The Institute boasts the privilege and, perhaps, responsibility of being the only congregation founded in the Diocese of Porto S. Rufina. Founded at Santa Marinella in 1925 by Servant of God Mother Maria Crocifissa Curcio, the Institute is not only geographically close to the Carmelites. It was Carmelite Lorenzo van den Eerenbeemt who brought Mother Crocifissa to Santa Marinella.

The two knew each other for little more than a year. It was providential that the two ever met.

Since 1923, Fr. Lorenzo had ministered at the white Chapel of Victories, built some years before on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea at Santa Marinella. During the summers, when he would bring the seminarians to the coast of Ladispoli, he was asked to officiate at services in the chapel for the few Romans who spent their vacations there. Mother Crocifissa had searched for a suitable location for two years. She wanted a place and a bishop willing to welcome the charism that she carried with her.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, with her canonization in May 1925, made the meeting of Crocifissa and Lorenzo possible. Mother Crocifissa travelled to Rome for the ceremony and the following day, May 18th, travelled with Fr. Lorenzo to Santa Marinella for the first time. Fascinated by the vast sea, the very clear sky, as only some of the days in May can be, by the as of yet unspoiled nature, she finally felt she had arrived.

This is a summary of the journey she made. The rest is the history of the cross and of suffering and countless tears in order to realize that ideal that united the hearts of Mother Crocifissa and Fr. Lorenzo: a Carmelite missionary open to the world, a Carmelite missionary ready to submit to the suffering of humanity, in particular that part of humanity made up of the little ones, of the abandoned young people, of the morally and spiritually needy.

Within two years, a school for the children was built. Then sewing classes, formation of the young boys and girls, and catechesis for all ages were added. There were unlimited gestures to improve life, discrete and silent charity that resulted in, little by little, the flowering of a Church community around this Carmelite "island."

The soul of this project belonged to them: Mother Crocifissa and Fr. Lorenzo—a mother and a father of the poor, the little ones, the least, the children of God most forgotten.

At the same time, the Carmelite Congregation grew. In 1930, the diocesan bishop, Cardinal Tommaso Pio Boggiani, gave his approval; in 1948, after various foundations in Italy, the first foreign mission was opened in Paracatu, Brazil. In 1963, the Institute received pontifical approval and within a short time, many other foreign missions were opened: Malta in 1957, Canada in 1968, Tanzania in 1984, the Philippines in 1987, and Romania in 1996.

Beyond the works Mother Crocifissa completed, though they are worthy of recognition, we are more interested in her spirit-- a woman with an affection for the poor, in the style of the poor of Yahweh. It is when one starts from this point that she is truly understood.

She witnessed by her life to the "cult of the poor," knowing that the poor are the ones who possess heaven, that they are the "sacrament of Jesus," and that they are Jesus. This is the inheritance which we carry with us today, encouraging us to strive with infinite and tender care for ‘our’ poor. The poor are not only the unemployed or those who do not have the means to live on. Above all, they are those who do not have faith. The poor are those who find no comfort because they have no meaning and no peace in their lives.

There is an episode from the youth of Rosa Curcio, who would become Mother Crocifissa, that helps to understand her. She was 18 years old and living in the town where she was born. She gradually got to know many of the area’s poor people. This was against the wishes of her family and the parish priest. She had to overcome the gossip of the people who did not like the idea of a young woman from a good family paying so much attention and charity to a poor prostitute sick with syphilis. Every day Rosa would go to help the prostitute without fear of the disease. Recalling this some years later, Curcio wrote "It seemed to me that I saw Jesus himself in that poor unfortunate-- a Jesus wounded and suffering and I would have kissed those wounds!"

At the same time, following the example of Mother Crocifissa and Fr. Lorenzo, we continue to translate the concrete gestures of the love of God for his people, choosing every day to be sisters of the little ones, of the abandoned young people, sisters of families in difficulty, always attentive to the human and spiritual welfare of the women whose dignity has been humiliated.

"I was the mustard seed that had to grow, becoming a great tree, extending its branches in the whold world" Bishop Blandini preached to the young Rosa Curcio. The prophecy of the mustard seed continues to become a reality in the Congregazione delle Suore Carmelitane Missionarie di S. Teresa del B. Gesù that today continues to give flesh to the spirit and style of Mother Crocifissa and Fr. Lorenzo. To bring souls to God, this is our mission!

This diocesan inquest gathered together all the information that would demonstrate the truth about Nuno’s reputation for holiness. The evidence was obtained though the statements of witnesses and the collection of all documents with any relation to the cause. To accomplish this in a competent manner, a commission of experts in history and archives was named.

All meetings of the commission took place between July 13, 2003 and April 3, 2004. The members did not wish to further delay the completion of the Holy See’s decree. At its first session, the commission agreed to hold two sessions each week. This permitted the celebration of the process’s closure with the participation of the Cardinal Patriarch of Portugal in a very short time.

Once the process was completed on April 3, two copies of the acts with all the documentation was sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of the Saints where the "positio" or report is to be studied by experts named by the Congregation.

Still this will not be sufficient for the canonization of Beato Nuno. A study of the presumed miracle has never taken place. We need to be confident that the needs of the Blessed’s followers are taken care of through his intercession, so that the Lord will allow the favor of the miracle. The certification of a presumed miracle takes place after undergoing its own process. It requires a favorable vote of the medical doctors. If the presumed miracle is certified, the process then moves to the Thelogical Commission for study and a vote. If approved, it then goes to the Consistory of the Cardinals so that the Pope, if approved, can proclaim the decree of solemn canonization.

At the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Polish Martyrs, the homilist talked about the martyrs of the 20th century. His list started with Titus Brandsma. Second was Edith Stein. Then he mentioned Kolbe. We talk about why Brandsma has not been made a saint. The people out there understand that he already is.