Gaetano Catanoso
Encyclopedia
Saint Gaetano Catanoso was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 canonized by Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 in 2005.

Born to a prosperous and generous family in Chorio, a small village outside of Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...

 in the Aspromonte
Aspromonte
Aspromonte is a mountain massif in the province of Reggio Calabria . The name means "rough mountains", so named by the farmers who found its steep terrain and rocky soil difficult to cultivate. It overlooks the Strait of Messina, being limited by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas and by the Pietrace...

. Gaetano was one of eight children. He was ordained on September 20, 1902 and served as a parish priest his entire career. His first parish was in the remote hill village of Pentedattilo
Pentedattilo
Pentedattilo is a ghost town in Calabria, southern Italy, administratively a frazione of Melito di Porto Salvo. Until 1811, before the unification of Italy, it was a separate commune...

, where he served from 1904 until 1921. Extremely passionate about emulating the life of Christ in his service to the poor, Padre Catanoso would hike or ride on donkey to distant, surrounding mountain villages to bring the gospel and hope to isolated people in desperate circumstances. To help him in this cause, he founded an order of nuns—the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.

The nuns were mostly young women from poor families who were inspired by Padre Gaetano's humility, devotion and mission. Together, they established elementary schools and homes for the elderly in tiny places like San Lorenzo, Roccaforte
Roccaforte
Roccaforte may refer to several Italian municipalities:*Roccaforte del Greco, in the province of Reggio Calabria*Roccaforte Ligure, in the province of Alessandria*Roccaforte Mondovì, in the province of Cuneo...

 and Chorio to educate children and care for the old and sick. The goal was to combat ignorance and the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

 through education and the word of God. Padre Catanoso also founded the Poor Clerics to encourage priestly vocations. He was transferred to Santa Maria de la Candelaria in Reggio
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...

, Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

 in 1921.

There he revived Marian and Eucharistic devotions, improved catechesis, and worked for observance of liturgical feasts. Worked for cooperation among local priests to provide missions by preaching and hearing confessions in each others parishes. Spiritual director for several religious institutions, a prison, hospital and seminary for decades. Through all of this service, he was also devoted to the Catanoso family of Chorio and Reggio, serving as a spiritual mentor and trusted counselor.

In return, the Catanoso family through the generations has supported his mission and his nuns with generous donations of funds and services. The Catanoso family continues this devotion to the late priest's church and nuns to this day. Padre Gaetano's mission has also spread to the Philippines and Tanzania. His rise to sainthood, which began in 1979, was remarkably rapid, just 26 years from start to finish. Most causes for sainthood take many decades or even centuries. On May 4, 1997 Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 beatified him and on October 23, 2005 Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 canonized him. Two healing miracles have been researched, verified and attributed to him by the Vatican.

An American relative of the saint, journalist Justin Catanoso
Justin Catanoso
Justin Catanoso is the author of My Cousin the Saint -- A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles," the founding executive editor of The Business Journal , and the fourth director of journalism at Wake Forest University....

 of Greensboro, North Carolina, has written a family a memoir about Padre Gaetano Catanoso. The book is titled My Cousin the Saint -- A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles. It was released by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, in May 2008.

The book was published in paperback by Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint founded by Harper & Row in 1964...

in 2009 with the revised subtitle "A Story of Love, Miracles, and an Italian Family Reunited."

External links

Saints of April 4: Gaetano Catanoso Synod press release Patron Saints Den hellige Cajetan Catanoso Santie beati: Gaetano Catanoso
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