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“I want them to know that their ministry is effective and that it is worth it. Thanks be to God they were there for me that day. They saved my son’s life.”
| A McAllen, Texas, woman named Linda about the sidewalk counselors outside the abortion clinic three years ago who convinced her to think otherwise about having an abortion. (Catholic News Service)
IN THE NEWS
Flat Francis going viral
WASHINGTON — Pope Francis won’t be visiting the United States until September, but that hasn’t kept the pope from going all around the nation, if only as a piece of paper.
Chicago-based Catholic Extension is helping to build excitement for Pope Francis’ upcoming trip by creating Flat Francis.
The project takes inspiration from “The Flat Stanley Project,” which centers on a cartoon figure based on books of the same name, being photographed with people in numerous locations.
A cute cartoon drawing of the pope can be found on the Catholic Extension website www.flatfrancis.org and printed out. The idea is for people to take selfies with Flat Francis and post them on Twitter and Instagram, or email them directly to socialmedia@catholicextension.org. (CNS)
SAINTS UNDER 40
A foundress at age 21
Clelia Barbieri was born on Feb. 13, 1847, in Persiceto, Italy, to a humble working class peasant couple. From her earliest childhood, she seemed detached from this world, focused solely on the spiritual.
When she was still a small girl, her father died leaving her and her sister to help their mother spinning hemp to make ends meet. Clelia spent her spare time at her parish church in personal prayer and as a volunteer and catechist.
At 21, she gathered a small group of like-minded women together to form the Little Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, becoming the youngest founder of a religious order in church history. She was known for her mystical charisms of prophecy, ecstasies, levitations, apparitions and favors in answer to prayers.
Clelia died on July 13, 1870, of tuberculosis at age 23. Her congregation has since expanded to Africa, Brazil and India. It is said that her beautiful singing voice can be miraculously heard to this day praying with her nuns in all her convents.
Clelia Barbieri was beatified in 1968 and canonized on April 9, 1989. (catholicsaints.info)
