Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Jerome Lejeune, a French Catholic pediatrician and geneticist (Wikimedia Commons)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of eight men and women, including the pro-life French geneticist, Jerome Lejeune, and English Sister Elizabeth Prout, founder of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion.

The pope signed the decrees Jan. 21 during a meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes. The Vatican published the decrees the same day.

Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Lejeune, the Catholic physician and researcher who was one of the three discoverers of the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome.

Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Lejeune, the Catholic physician and researcher who was one of the three discoverers of the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome.

Born in 1926 in Montrouge, France, he established the first specialized clinic for Down syndrome patients at Necker Children's Hospital near Paris. He devoted his life to protecting unborn children with Down syndrome from so-called "therapeutic abortion," which he regarded as a grave corruption of medicine. He was a strong opponent of abortion and unrestricted experimentation on human embryos.

In 1989, he established the Jerome Lejeune Foundation to continue his work in research, advocacy and health care for those with intellectual disabilities.

In 1962, Lejeune was honored by U.S. President John F. Kennedy with the first Kennedy Prize for his research into intellectual disabilities; it would be the first of many prestigious awards. He was a member of numerous professional societies and was appointed by St. John Paul II as the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

He died of lung cancer at the age of 67 in 1994. The formal recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession will be needed for beatification.

Lejeune devoted his life to protecting unborn children with Down syndrome from so-called "therapeutic abortion,"

The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of Sister Prout, who worked with poor women and children in 19th-century Manchester, England. She set up the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, which now has more than 300 sisters working in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Botswana, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Peru and Chile.

She left the Church of England and became a Catholic nun in her 20s after she was influenced by Blessed Dominic Barberi, an Italian Passionist priest working in England. She died in 1864 in St. Helens from tuberculosis at the age of 43.

Among the other decrees, the pope recognized the martyrdom of Father Giovanni Fornasini -- a 29-year-old Italian priest who was killed "in hatred of the faith" Oct. 13, 1944, during Nazi Germany's occupation of Italy during World War II.

He served as a parish priest near Bologna, a city of strategic military importance during the war. He aided those affected by Allied bombings, digging people out of the rubble and offering shelter to those made homeless. He provided Christian burials to Italians murdered by the Nazis and persuaded German soldiers to spare the lives of at least 30 people taken prisoner in revenge for partisan attacks against German positions.

The pope recognized the martyrdom of Father Giovanni Fornasini—a 29-year-old Italian priest who was killed "in hatred of the faith" Oct. 13, 1944, during Nazi Germany's occupation of Italy.

He was found shot in the chest a week after a massacre in nearby Marzabotto, where at least 770 Italian civilians were killed by Germany's Waffen-SS forces.

The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of:

-- Adelaide Bonolis, an Italian laywoman, born in 1909, who established summer camps for at-risk youth as well as safehouses providing education and support for women who had been sex workers or released from prison, and for those suffering from mental illness. She died in 1980.

-- Santiago Masarnau Fernandez, who was born in Madrid in 1805, was an accomplished pianist and composer and he established the lay Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Spain to serve the poor. He died in 1882.

-- Italian Father Michele Arcangelo Vinti, a famed confessor, who was born in Sicily in 1893 and died in 1943.

-- Italian Father Ruggero Caputo, known for his devotion to the Eucharist and his vocations work, was born in 1907 and died in 1980.

-- Pasquale Canzii, a 15-year-old Italian seminarian who died from tuberculosis in 1930.

[Don’t miss the latest news from the church and the world. Sign up for our daily newsletter.]

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

Especially in places like the United States, where structures like pastoral councils are already relatively common, it is important to hear the synod’s call to ensure that consultation and dialogue are effective and not merely nominal.
The EditorsNovember 11, 2024
The Vatican has announced the appointment of Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini as the new papal preacher, succeeding Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa who served since 1980.
It is often the task of responsible citizens and faithful Christians to work patiently from wherever we are to plant new seeds, soften ugly impulses and blow on whatever promising sparks we may see
Rachel LuNovember 11, 2024
A historical photo of the Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini seated at a piano.
Giacomo Puccini, the composer of “La Bohème,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly,” has been called the world’s most popular songwriter, and with good reason.
Christopher SandfordNovember 11, 2024