Vatican City, Sep 8, 2020 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- The Vatican has decreed that Fr. Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, founder of the Salvatorians, will be beatified May 15, 2021, at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside over the ceremony.
The news was announced jointly by the leaders of the three branches of the Salvatorian Family: Fr. Milton Zonta, superior general of the Society of the Divine Savior; Sr. Maria Yaneth Moreno, superior general of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior; and Christian Patzl, president of the International Community of the Divine Savior.
The beatification process of the German priest opened in 1942. In 2011, Benedict XVI recognized his heroic virtues, declaring him Venerable. On June 20 this year, Pope Francis approved his beatification after recognizing a miracle attributed to his intercession.
In 2014, two lay members of the Salvatorians in Jundiaí, Brazil, prayed for Jordan to intercede for their unborn child, who was believed to be suffering from an incurable bone disease known as skeletal dysplasia.
The child was born in a healthy condition on Sept. 8, 2014, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the anniversary of Jordan’s death.
The future Blessed was named Johann Baptist Jordan after his birth in 1848 in Gurtweil, a town in the modern-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. Due to his family’s poverty, he was not at first able to pursue his calling to be a priest, working instead as a laborer and painter-decorator.
But stirred by the anti-Catholic “Kulturkampf,” which attempted to restrict the Church’s activities, he began to study for the priesthood. After his ordination in 1878, he was sent to Rome to learn Syrian, Aramaic, Coptic, and Arabic, as well as Hebrew and Greek.
He believed that God was calling him to found a new apostolic work in the Church. Following a trip to the Middle East, he sought to establish a community of religious and lay people in Rome, dedicated to proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the only Savior.
He named the male and female branches of the community the Society of the Divine Savior and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior respectively.
In 1915, the First World War forced him to leave Rome for neutral Switzerland, where he died in 1918.
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Vatican City, Apr 27, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- As much of the world remains under quarantine due to the coronavirus, Pope Francis prayed for artists who show others “the path of beauty” amid lockdown restrictions.
A new birth control commission? Here’s hoping the reports out of Rome are only speculation, possibly generated by the fact that the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical condemning artificial contraception, is […]
Thirty-four new Swiss Guards were sworn in Thursday in an elaborate ceremony in Vatican City in which the guards promised to protect the pope, even “sacrificing if necessary also my own life.”
Gian Andrea Bossi, a 20-year-old from Davos, Switzerland, was among the new Swiss Guards to take the oath on May 6.
“It is a great honor for me, for all of us. … We’ve prepared for weeks, for months for this day,” Bossi told EWTN News.
“I’ve always wanted to serve God in a way, and I wanted to serve the Catholic Church,” he said.
Gian Andrea Bossi, a 20-year-old Swiss Guard who was sworn-in on May 6, 2021. / Colm Flynn/EWTN News.
The swearing-in ceremony for one of the world’s oldest standing armies took place on the 494th anniversary of the Sack of Rome, the battle on May 6, 1527, in which 147 Swiss Guards lost their lives defending Pope Clement VII from mutinous troops of the Holy Roman Empire.
The ceremony began with three Swiss Guards blowing trumpets from the loggia, and then the guards marched to the sound of drums in a solemn procession.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, only the families of the guards and the press were allowed to attend the ceremony held in Vatican City’s San Damaso Courtyard. In 2020, at least 13 Swiss Guards tested positive for COVID-19.
As part of the schedule this year, the family members of the new guards prayed Vespers on the evening of May 5 in the church of Santa Maria della Pieta in the Vatican’s Teutonic College. Later, the “deposition of the crown” ceremony took place in commemoration of the guards who died during the Sack of Rome.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin also offered Mass with the Swiss Guards in St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.
Swiss Guards attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 6, 2021. / Colm Flynn/EWTN News
Gérald Crettaz, the father of one of the new Swiss Guards, 23-year-old Baptiste Crettaz, said that he was very proud of his son for taking the oath.
“In our current world, where everyone is quite selfish and self-centered, my son is committed to something bigger, something wider that doesn’t belong to him, but to everyone. I think it is fantastic and it is so generous,” Crettaz said.
During the ceremony itself, each new recruit approached the flag of the Swiss Guard as his name was called out. Firmly grasping the banner with his left hand, the new guard raised his right hand and opened three fingers as a sign of his faith in the Holy Trinity.
While holding up his fingers, the guard said aloud: “I, (name), swear diligently and faithfully to abide by all that has just been read out to me, so grant me God and so help me his saints.”
In English, the full oath reads: “I swear I will faithfully, loyally and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff Francis and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the see is vacant. Furthermore, I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors respect, fidelity, and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!”
Swiss Guards march into San Damaso Courtyard May 6, 2021. / Courtney Mares/CNA
Swiss Guards — known for their colorful striped Renaissance-era uniforms — are responsible for Vatican security together with the Vatican gendarmes. The Vatican military was established by Pope Julius II in 1506.
Candidates for the Pontifical Swiss Guard are required to meet strict requirements. Each recruit must be a Catholic unmarried male at least 5 feet, 8 inches tall and between the ages of 19 and 30. Swiss citizenship is required, as is a letter of good standing from the candidate’s parish priest.
“It is something that only we, Swiss people, can do, and it is important to show that there still are young people ready to be committed to promote some values,” Swiss Guard Baptiste Crettaz said.
“The fact that we are ready to give up our life for the Holy Father represents a strong meaning,” he said.
The Vatican approved an expansion of the size of the Pontifical Swiss Guards three years ago from 110 to 135 men. Despite the new recruits, it still remains the smallest army in the world.
“I am excited to see the Vatican, to get to know the pope … also to be closer to the Church, to the faith, to grow in the faith,” Bossi said.
“In the end it is to serve God, to serve the Church, to protect the faith and defend the pope,” he said.
Pope Francis received an audience with the new Swiss Guards in the Vatican Apostolic Palace ahead of the ceremony. The pope recalled that some former guards had discerned the priesthood after their service, while others went on to form their own family.
“I pray that those who begin their service now may also respond fully to Christ’s call, following him with faithful generosity,” he said.
“May these years that you will spend here be an occasion for a deepening of your faith and an even stronger love for the Church. I accompany you with my prayers and I thank you for choosing to make a few years of your life available to the Successor of Peter.”
Thanks to the unnamed author of this piece for making it clear that the three branches of the Salvatorian Family are not the result of some internal dispute, and that in some cases, discernment of a vocation works just as its Creator intended.
Thanks to the unnamed author of this piece for making it clear that the three branches of the Salvatorian Family are not the result of some internal dispute, and that in some cases, discernment of a vocation works just as its Creator intended.