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Vatican putting
mother who raised
11 children on
road to sainthood
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to Articles about Italy)
ROME
(AP) - An Italian mother who raised 11 children was moving ahead
on the road to possible sainthood Sunday amid a Vatican campaign
in favor of large families.
Eurosia Fabris, known as "Mamma Rosa,'' raised two children
whose mother died while they were little, then married their
father and with him had nine children.
The virtues of Fabris, who
died in 1932, were being honored Sunday afternoon in a beatification
ceremony in Vicenza, near her native farming village in northern
Italy. Beatification is the last formal step before possible
sainthood.
On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI praised large families and called
for countries to approve legislation and other incentives to
help them. The pontiff has said that there is no future without
children.
Delegated to lead the ceremony in Vicenza's cathedral was Cardinal
Jose Maria Saraiva Martins, who heads the Vatican office which
oversees the process for sainthood.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, stressed the importance
of providing role models from daily life for Roman Catholic
faithful.
While saintly patience could come in handy for motherhood, Fabris
was singled out by Vatican Radio as being a "dazzling model
of holiness lived out in daily family life.''
"She knew how to transform her very large family into a school
of holiness,'' Vatican Radio said on the eve of the ceremony.
The average number of children per woman in the European Union
is 1.5, according to EU statistics, but in some countries, including
Catholic Italy and Spain, the average is 1.3. Benedict has described
large families as useful witnesses to "faith, courage and optimism''
in society.
Fabris, who was born in 1866, was described as being deeply
religious from her childhood. Besides the 11 children she raised,
Fabris welcomed other children in need into her home. Three
of her children became priests and one child became a nun.
While John Paul used to lead the beatification ceremonies himself
in St. Peter's Square or abroad while on pilgrimages, Benedict
has taken to delegating top cardinals for the duty, although
he recently presided over a canonization, the ceremony to raise
faithful to sainthood.
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