Sister Faustina's Confessor to Be Beatified

Polish Father Michal Sopocko, Sister Faustina Kowalska's confessor and spiritual director, and principal promoter of the revelations the nun received on Divine Mercy, will be beatified Sept. 28 in Poland.

ROME (Zenit) - Sister Faustina's confessor and St. Thérèse's parents are among the six who will be beatified in the next two months.

The group also includes an Italian founder and two Italian priests, one of whom was martyred in Yugoslavia.

Polish Father Michal Sopocko, Sister Faustina Kowalska's confessor and spiritual director, and principal promoter of the revelations the nun received on Divine Mercy, will be beatified Sept. 28 in Poland. Father Sopocko (1888-1975) also founded the Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus.

Another witness of Divine Mercy, Vincenza Maria Poloni (born Lugia) (1802-1855), founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, will be beatified Sept. 21.

Father Francesco Bonifacio (1912-1946), martyr and victim of ethnic cleansing in Communist Yugoslavia, will be beatified Oct. 4 in Italy.

Diocesan priest Father Francesco Pianzola (1881-1943), founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Queen of Peace, will also be beatified that same day.

Finally, as previously announced, Louis and Marie-Zélie Martin, parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, will be beatified on Mission Sunday at the Cathedral of Lisieux. Mission Sunday is celebrated this year on Oct. 19. St. Thérèse, together with St. Francis Xavier, is the patron of missions.

The Martins are the second married couple to be beatified by the Church. Italian spouses Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi were beatified by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 21, 2001.