Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face
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Saint Gaetano Catanoso |
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Photograph.
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| Priest | |
| Born |
14 February 1879 Chorio di San Lorenzo, Reggio Calabria, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 4 April 1963 (aged 84) Reggio Calabria, Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 4 May 1997, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 23 October 2005, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI |
| Feast | 20 September |
| Attributes |
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| Patronage |
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Saint Gaetano Catanoso (14 February 1879 - 4 April 1963) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Suore Veroniche del Santo Volto (1934). Catanoso served as a parish priest in two different parishes for his entire ecclesial life and was an ardent devotee to the Face of Jesus which he promoted to the faithful. He also founded the Poor Clerics to encourage vocations to the priesthood while forming the Confraternita del Santo Volto (1920) to spread devotion to the Face of Jesus. He dedicated his pastoral career to bringing the Gospel message to all people and hiked or rode on a mule to reach distant and surrounding mountain villages in order to evangelize to people.
His fame for holiness was widespread during his life for people hailed his remarkable qualities and the conduct in which he led his life. The cause for his canonization was introduced on 15 October 1981 and he became titled as a Servant of God while he was later named as Venerable on 3 March 1990 upon the confirmation of his model life of heroic virtue. Pope John Paul II beatified Catanoso on 4 May 1997 while Pope Benedict XVI later canonized the late priest in Saint Peter's Square on 23 October 2005.
Gaetano Catanoso was born in 1879 into to prosperous landoweners in Reggio Calabria as the third of eight children to Antonio Catanoso and Antonia Tripodi.
In October 1889 he began his studies for the priesthood and he arrived with his father in the evening for him to be admitted into it though he had to return home several times due to bouts of ill health. In 1895 he donned the cassock for the first time and gave his first-ever sermon. He received his ordination to the priesthood on 20 September 1902 from Cardinal Gennaro Portanova and served as a parish priest for his entire ecclesial life; from 1902 until March 1904 he served as the prefect of seminarians. His first parish was in the remote hill village of Pentedattilo where he served from March 1904 until 1921. He was passionate about emulating the life of Jesus Christ in his service to the poor and would hike or ride on a mule to the distant and surrounding mountain villages to bring the message of the Gospel and hope to isolated people in desperate circumstances. To help him in this cause he founded an order of nuns known as the Suore Veroniche del Santo Volto in December 1934. From 1922 until 1949 he was the spiritual director to seminarians and from 1922 to 1933 was a chaplain at hospitals in the region. From 1921 to 1950 he served as a confessor to religious institutes and to the prison while from 1940 to 1963 he was the canon of the archdiocesan cathedral.
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