VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Wednesday authorized the Catholic Church to advance the sainthood causes of six individuals, recognizing lives dedicated to faith and service, according to a Vatican announcement. Among those recognized is a Guatemalan priest martyred during his country’s civil war and an Italian nun whose charitable work led to a reported miracle. The decrees represent a important step in the canonization process, which, if completed, would formally recognize these individuals as saints within the Catholic Church.
VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church announced Wednesday, November 8, that it will elevate a Guatemalan priest killed for his advocacy for campesinos and an Italian nun who founded a religious order to sainthood. Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of six decrees recognizing the lives of exceptional holiness, including the miracle attributed to the intercession of Maria Ignazia Isacchi.
The Vatican confirmed that Father Augusto Raffaele Ramírez Monasterio, a member of the Order of Friars Minor, will be beatified after the church formally recognized his martyrdom. He was born November 5, 1937, in Guatemala City and died November 7, 1983, after being killed “in hatred of the faith.”
According to Vatican officials, the priest’s death occurred during Guatemala’s civil war, a period marked by conflict between the military government and the Catholic Church, as well as Marxist guerrillas, political dissidents, and the impoverished. Father Ramírez Monasterio had confessed a member of the Maya Kaqchikel people, who was involved in the fighting, and offered to help him with documentation. This led to accusations from the government that he sympathized with revolutionary leftist groups.
After months of death threats directed at him and his family, Father Ramírez Monasterio was abducted by police on November 7 and fatally shot while attempting to escape the vehicle transporting him. He was the 13th priest to be murdered in Guatemala since 1978.
Also recognized was Maria Ignazia Isacchi, the founder of the Sisters Orsoline of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Born May 8, 1857, in Stezzano, Italy, and died August 19, 1934, in Seriate, Italy, Isacchi dedicated her life to education and service to the poor. The church attributes a miraculous healing to her intercession: in 1950, Sister Maria Assunta Zappella, who suffered from severe abdominal pain believed to be tuberculosis, experienced a sudden and complete recovery after a nine-day prayer novena to Isacchi.
The Vatican also recognized the “heroic virtues” of three other religious figures and one layperson, designating them as “venerable.” These include Sister Maria Tecla Antonia Relucenti, who co-founded the Pie Operaie dell’Immacolata Concezione in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, in 1744; Sister Crocifissa Militerni, a key figure in the Sisters of San Giovanni Battista founded by Saint Alfonso Maria Fusco in 1901; and Maria Immacolata della Santissima Trinità, a Carmelite who founded a Carmelo in Pouso Alegre, Brazil, in 1943.
Nerino Cobianchi, an Italian layman, was also recognized for his heroic virtues. Cobianchi, who died January 3, 1998, after battling pancreatic cancer, dedicated his life to charitable work, starting with small acts of collecting soap and rags and expanding to advocating for peace in Angola. He founded the Pianzola Olivelli Association in 1989, which continues to operate programs such as a solidarity warehouse, an educational community, and a community garden. The recognition of these individuals underscores the Catholic Church’s commitment to recognizing those who lived lives of exceptional faith and service.
Cobianchi had connections with prominent figures in Catholic charity, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta and the Venerable Enzo Boschetti. According to a statement from the Pianzola Olivelli Association, Cobianchi was “a man dedicated to his family and parish life with a missionary spirit, always ready to collaborate with everyone.”
