Four new saints canonized
Four new saints were canonised by Pope Benedict X1V on Trinity Sunday in St Peters' Square, Rome. These were: St George Preca, diocesan priest and Malta's first saint, who died in 1962 and founded the lay organisation, Society of Christian Doctrine; St Charles Houben, a Dutch Passionist who died in Dublin in1893, spending most of his ordained life there, having also worked with English communities in London, Sutton and Broadway; St Simon of Lipnica, a Medieval Polish Franciscan, and St Maria Eugenie of Jesus Milleret a French sister and foundress of the Institute of the sisters of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Napoleonic France. Thirty priests and bishops concelebrated along with the Cardinal of Krakow, the Archbishops of Paris and Dublin, The Archbishop of Malta and the Bishop of Gozo. The Scottish Prior General of the Order of Carmelites, Fr Joseph Chalmers, also concelebrated. as St George Preca was a Third Order Carmelite. All, except the Pope were soaked in the heavy rain that prevailed throughout the ceremony. The Presidents of Malta, Ireland, Poland and the Philippines were amongst those present.