Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann The saint of the day for June 16 is St. John Francis Regis, a French Jesuit priest who served God as a missionary and social reformer. The son of a wealthy merchant, John Francis was so captivated by his Jesuit educators that he himself entered the order at age 18. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1631. Following his ordination, he worked as a missionary in numerous French towns. His homilies reflected his great fervor and zeal for the faith, appealing to people of all classes. He converted many Huguenots (French Protestants). He also provided for the social needs of those whom he ministered to spiritually. He set up a system of social services, using donations and volunteer workers. He organized prison visitors, nurses, guardians of the poor, a warehouse for the hungry, and a shelter for wayward women. Regis had to suffer slander from some of his enemies; but most people accepted him for what he was. Father Regis was a gifted preacher and was known thr...

Pierre Faber, a “Reformed” Jesuit priest whom Francis sees as a model figure, is to be proclaimed as saint before Christmas, Stefania Falasca reports in an article for Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire. The process for his cause in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints is complete and now all that remains is for Francis to issue the Bull of Canonization that will proclaim the first companion of St. Ignatius a saint, extending the cult of the soon-to-be-saint to the Universal Church. Faber was born in the Upper Savoy region of France in 1506 and died in Rome in 1547 just a few weeks before he was due to attend the Council of Trent. He was beatified in September 1872 with a Papal Rescript issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and ratified by the Society of Jesus. Now Francis is extending the liturgical cult to the Universal Church. The process followed for Faber’s canonization is called “equivalent canonization”. This is when the Pope omits the judicial process and cere...