The liturgy includes several martyrs as soon as the end of May, among them the saints Marcellinus, priest, and Peter, exorcist, martyred in the persecution of Diocletian at the beginning of the fourth century, according to Pope St. Damasus, and the Capuchin St. Felix of Nicosia.
The saints' calendar of June 2 also celebrates the young Vietnamese Christian Saint Dominic Ninh, a farmer, martyred at the age of twenty. His father forced him to marry a young woman whom he did not love, so he did not consummate the marriage. Accused of being a Christian and arrested, he confessed his faith in Christ and was beheaded in 1862 in Au Thi (Vietnam).
Challenges in France
On the other hand, in a message sent to the French Bishops' Conference, Pope Leo XIV has underlined in a special way the anniversary of the canonization of three french saints. "The magnitude of the challenges facing the Church of France, a century later, and the relevance of these three models of holiness in facing them, impel me to invite you to give a particular focus to this anniversary," the text begins.
The Pontiff refers to the Saint Carmelite Teresa of LisieuxShe was canonized on May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI, proclaimed Doctor of the Church and Patroness of the Missions. Leo XIV described her as "the great doctor in the science of love that our world needs".
Shortly after, the same Pope Pius XI canonized two other priests. St. John Eudes (1601-1680), founder of the Congregations of Jesus and Mary (Eudists) and of Our Lady of Charity. Y saint John Mary Vianney (1786-1859), known as the Curé of Ars, famous for his pastoral fervor, his gift for confession and his intense prayer.
'Dilexit nos'
Pope Leo XIV reveals Pius XI's desire to make these saints "masters of listening, models to imitate, and powerful intercessors to invoke". And he cites the last encyclical of Pope Francis, 'Dilexit us', on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "To make each one discover the tender and dear love that Jesus has for him, to the point of transforming his life".
