John Vincent of Jesus Mary was born in Bérriz (Vizcaya – northern Spain) in 1862.

Of noble and austere Basque lineage of soldiers, educated in a family full of affection, while still a boy he broke away from everything and everyone to climb Mount Carmel.

His steps, one after the other, can only induce astonishment: an intelligent student and fervent novice, an ardent priest and paternal superior, a missionary in lands, then almost inaccessible, travelling on foot, in a canoe or on an oxen cart.

He was a scholar of Indian languages, prolific writer, compelling journalist, globetrotting mendicant, and, most importantly, a nocturnal adorer of the Eucharist and unceasing contemplative. A man of integrity and rigorous founder of a hermitage, quick off the mark with his perennial humour, he was an authentic son of Saint Teresa of Jesus.

He died at San Sebastian in 1943.

The decree on his heroic virtue was promulgated on the 12^th of January 1996.

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.

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).

Francis of the Child Jesus was born in Villapalacios (Albacete - Spain) in 1544 and spent a youth full of hardships as a shepherd.

At the age of twenty he moved to Alcalá de Henares, where he entered the service of the hospital of Antezana; there he worked wonders of charity also confirmed by miracles, particularly through devotion to the Child Jesus, whom he had appointed as his agent and in whose name he asked for alms and help. From this incredible intimacy with the Holy Child, he acquired the name of Francis of the Child Jesus, which he then kept as his own name as a religious, and by this name he was also called by the kings and grandees of Spain, who loved and venerated him.

Moved by divine inspiration to become a Discalced Carmelite, he overcame the repeated resistance of the city of Alcalá and of Philip II himself, who had twice obtained from Rome a dispensation annulling the vow Francis had made to become a religious. On April 12, 1598 in Madrid, he received the habit as a lay brother, making his profession on April 13, the following year.

Later sent to Valenza, at the request of the court, he succeeded with the municipal authorities, to found - as he had done in Alcalá - the house of St. Gregory for converts (1600), supported by the archbishop St John de Ribera, who had already known him in Madrid and who venerated him as a saint. He also took him with him on pastoral visits during which Francis taught catechism and worked wonders. He saved Valenza from the plague, assisted many pious works, setting up there a "custom house of the Child Jesus", a wardrobe and warehouse where he collected what was necessary for his poor.

He was recalled under obedience to Madrid in December 1603. Shortly after, due to the continuous rush of people following Francis, the superiors, who did not view well his popularity and reputation for holiness and miracles that followed him, relegated him to the remote novitiate of Pastrana (Guadalajara) from where, for the same reason, he was transferred to the desert of Bolarque. But soon, besieged there by the crowds, he had to return to Pastrana and, finally, back to Madrid, followed everywhere by hordes of people.

To meet his superiors’ wishes, here he sought to escape from the faithful, in prayer and penance preparing himself for the death that he welcomed holily on December 26, 1604, exactly during the festivities for his Child Jesus.

On January 1, 1769, the decree on his heroic virtue was promulgated.

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.

[No form id or name provided!]

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).

Chiara Maria of the Passion was born in Orsogna (Chieti - Italy) on 11 April 1610 to Filippo Colonna, Duke of Paliano, and Lucrezia Tomacelli. The name given to her in baptism was Giovanna Vittoria.

On January 7, 1623, she was entrusted to the Augustinian nuns of the monastery of St Joseph of the Ruffi, in Naples, and after three years, on October 21, 1626, she was overcome by grace with a complete and intimate conversion, illuminated by the first of her visions of Christ and corroborated the following year by her making a vow of virginity. God had shown her a vision of a monastery of Discalced Carmelites, making her understand that he wanted her among the daughters of St Teresa: her confessor, however, urged her to join the Augustinian nuns of the Ruffi, from whom she received the habit with the promise to make her profession.

Brought back to the family in Genazzano in 1627 and then to Rome, she resisted her father and Ludovico Guglielmo, prince of Paterno, who wanted to marry her. By chance, she came to know the convent of St Egidio in Trastevere, which she recognized as the small Teresian house shown to her in the vision. With the authorization of Pope Urban VIII, on October 4, 1628 she put on the Carmelite habit there, where, on October 4 of the following year, she made her profession of vows, taking the name of Chiara Maria of the Passion.

In 1643 she was elected prioress, an office in which she was again confirmed; in 1654 she was sent to found the new monastery of Regina Coeli, erected by her sister Anna Colonna-Barberini and, after three years as vicar, in 1657 she was elected prioress (which happened three more times). She guided the monastery with wisdom and prudence, maintaining in everything a rare balance, full of faith and charity.

She died on 22^nd of June 1675.

On August 22^nd, 1762, the decree on her heroic virtue was promulgated.

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.

[No form id or name provided!]