Theodora Fracasso was born in Bari on 17^th of January 1901, the third child of Giuseppe Fracasso and Pasqua Cianci and was baptized four days later by her uncle Fr Carlo Fracasso with the name of Theodora.

In 1914 Father Pietro Fiorillo, O.P., Theodora's spiritual director, introduced her into the Dominican Third Order; she entered as a novice on April 20, 1914 with the name of Agnes and made her profession on May 14, 1915, with a special dispensation, given her young age.

In 1917, the Jesuit priest Sergio Di Gioia, her new confessor, decided to direct her to the Carmel of St. Joseph in Bari, where she entered the community on April 8, 1920 and took the habit on November 24 of the same year, taking the name of Sister Elisha of St. Clement. She made her first simple vows on December 4, 1921, followed by her solemn profession on February 11, 1925.

Sister Elisha died at 12:00 on December 25, 1927 due to meningitis.

The beatification ceremony took place on March 18, 2006.

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1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Peter Berthelot was born in Honfleur (Calvados, France) on December 12, 1600 and at a very young age he gave himself to navigation, traveling to Spain, England, America. In 1619 he went to India, where, as a cosmographer and first pilot of the kings of France and Portugal, he distinguished himself by his worth and ingenuity, as evidenced by his Maritime Tables, outlined with great skill and preserved in the British Museum (Ms. Sloan 197).

In 1635, finding himself in Goa, on the advice of his spiritual director, Fr. Philip of the Most Holy Trinity, he entered the Discalced Carmelites, where he was professed on December 25, 1636 and given the name of Denis of the Nativity and received the priesthood on August 24, 1638. Both in the novitiate and after profession, according to the testimony of Fr. Philip, he was an example of virtue to all the religious. During prayer, he was not infrequently raised to divine contemplation, appearing to be surrounded by heavenly splendour. In 1638, the Viceroy Pietro da Silva sent to the Sultan of Achén (Sumatra), the ambassador Francesco de Souza de Castro who wanted Denis with him as a spiritual guide and as an expert on the sea and the Malay language. Denis took as his companion Thomas Rodriguez, who, born about 1598 in Portugal, had entered the same Order as a lay brother, with the name of Redemptus of the Cross. 

The two left Goa with the legation on September 25, 1638, and, after fortunate navigation, on October 25 they arrived at Achén, where, greeted with signs of simulated joy, they were soon taken prisoner. As religious, Denis and Redemptus were tormented and tempted more than the others to leave their Catholic faith and convert to that of the Muslims. In prison Denis deprived himself of necessities out of charity towards others, whom he supported with words, help and example. After the death sentence, Redemptus died among the first, while Denis suffered martyrdom last, at his desire, in order to be able to comfort the others: he was killed by a sword, which split his head in two, on November 29, 1638.

The beatification ceremony was held on June 10, 1900.

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

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1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Anne of St Bartholomew was born in Almendral (Avila─Spain) on October 10, 1549, living her adolescence by working in the fields; but even then she was graced by great gifts of the mystical order.

At the age of 21 in 1570, she entered the Discalced Carmelite nuns of the monastery of St. Joseph in Avila, becoming the first lay sister of the Teresian reform. St. Teresa of Avila admitted her to profession on August 15, 1572, and she soon became Teresa’s assistant and travelling companion; by order of St. Teresa she learned almost miraculously to write.

She had the consolation of assisting until the last Saint Teresa, who wanted to die in her arms, on October 4, 1582 in Alba de Tormes. She continued her life in the convents of Avila, Madrid (1591), Ocana (1595), in 1604 she went to France with Anne of Jesus and four other Carmelites, also to begin the reform of the Order there; in France she was elected prioress of Pontoise (1605) and Tours (1608).

In 1611 she returned to Paris, obtained permission to transfer to Flanders to place herself under the direction of the Discalced Carmelites friars, after a one-year break at Mons in Belgium, in 1612 she left to found a monastery in Antwerp, where she then resided for the last fourteen years of her life, surrounded by the esteem of the Archdukes and the people of Antwerp, her prayers freeing them from the secure occupation of heretics.

She died in this great Belgian city on 7^th of June 1626.

The beatification ceremony took place on May 6, 1917.

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