Pope Approves Beatification for John XXIII, Sainthood for Katharine Drexel

VATICAN CITY--Pope John Paul II cleared the way Thursday for Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia heiress who ministered to Native and African-Americans, to become a saint and John XXIII, the most beloved pope of the 20th century, to be declared blessed during Holy Year 2000 celebrations.

The Roman Catholic pontiff also approved the beatifications of the Rev. Francis Xavier Seelos, a German-born priest who worked among German immigrants to the United States in the 19th century, and seven other candidates for possible sainthood. Beatification is the penultimate step before canonization.

Drexel, who founded the still-active religious order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891, will be the United States' fifth saint and only the second born in the country.

Her rise to sainthood was unusually rapid, coming only 45 years after her death in 1955 and only 36 years after Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia introduced her cause for canonization in 1964. She was beatified in 1988.

John XXIII, known in Italy as "il papa buono" (the good pope), reigned only from 1958 to 1963 but was loved for his warm personality and admired for calling the Second Vatican Council to reform and renew the church. Following his death during the first session of Vatican II, many bishops attending the council proposed that he be proclaimed a saint by acclamation, but Pope Paul VI, his successor, preferred the normal procedure and opened his cause in 1965.

At Thursday's ceremony, Archbishop Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints "promulgated," or declared, the congregation's decree in each of the 10 causes in the presence of Pope John Paul II, who then signed them.

The church believes saints ascend to heaven and can intercede with God in behalf of the living.

The process of canonization starts with establishing that the candidate lived a life of "heroic virtues" worthy of veneration. To become blessed, a candidate must either have died a martyr or be held responsible for a miracle that cannot be explained according to the laws of science. A second miracle is required for canonization.

Born in 1858, Drexel was the debutante daughter of an international banker but turned her back on society to become a nun. She invested her fortune of some $20 million in schools, missions and other services for Native and African-Americans and established America's first black college, now Xavier University in New Orleans.

In reporting to John Paul on his congregation's findings in her cause, Saraiva Martins said Drexel was for her time an "authentic pioneer of human rights." Her order continues her work in 48 ministry sites in 12 states and Haiti.

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