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Phoenix Catholics celebrate beatification of Holy Cross founder
By Gina Keating, The Catholic Sun
October 4, 2007
A group from Arizona joined several thousand Congregation of Holy Cross priests, brothers and sisters from around the world for beatification ceremonies in France honoring Fr. Basil Anthony Moreau, CSC.
Holy Cross Father Kevin Sandberg, associate pastor at St. Gregory Parish, traveled with 17 parishioners last month to participate in the official two-day festivities.
“Beatification comes once in a lifetime to our community,” Fr. Sandberg said. “It was a wonderful opportunity to acquaint our parish and school with our religious heritage.”
Fr. Moreau, a 19th-century French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross in Le Mans, France, in 1837.
The Catholic Church beatified him Sept. 15 in Le Mans, which is the diocese where Fr. Moreau was ordained and served.
Fr. Sandberg explained the event marked the first time in the contemporary period that a beatification would take place in that person’s home region.
The congregation’s name comes from the small neighborhood of Sainte-Croix, near Le Mans.
Fr. Sandberg said he was overwhelmed with emotion as he arrived at Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix Church, which was built by Fr. Moreau for his community.
“When we walked up to the mother cross, it was like a homecoming,” he said.
During an especially poignant moment, Fr. Sandberg reached out to touch the same tabernacle Fr. Moreau did more than 100 years earlier.
“To touch the tabernacle is a profound pilgrimage we benefit from ourselves,” he said. “Going there, for me, was retracing and memorializing what it means to be holy.”
Bishop Jacques Faivre, bishop of Le Mans, celebrated the liturgy. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, represented Pope Benedict XVI at the Rite of Beatification.
Beatification is the third of four steps that an individual must undergo to become a saint. A person who is beatified has significantly advanced toward canonization, or the status of being officially proclaimed a saint.
One student from St. Gregory School who attended the Mass along with Fr. Sandberg blogged about it on the Internet:
“Today was the beatification of Fr. Basil Moreau, oh! I mean Blessed Fr. Basil Moreau. The ceremony was extremely beautiful because the variety of people in the Catholic community all coming together to celebrate the life of this wonderful person. It’s amazing to know that in our religion race doesn’t matter. We can all join together as one community, one Church.”
Banners honoring Blessed Moreau adorn the church and school grounds at St. Gregory, and a parish-wide celebration is planned on his feast date, Jan. 20, 2008.
Holy Cross first established its presence in the Valley back in the 1970s.
Currently, there are 15-20 priests and brothers serving in places like St. John Vianney Church and School in Goodyear, André House and St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Holy Cross Father Bill Wack, director of André House, said the congregation has been praying for the beatification for years.
“His file was locked away and on hold for decades,” he said. “It’s really a miracle that the steps have moved so quickly.”
The Le Mans’ diocese initiated the cause for Fr. Moreau’s beatification in 1946, however, the cause was not formally presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome until 1955.
Pope John Paul II bestowed the title of “venerable” on the Holy Cross founder on April 12, 2003.
Three years later Pope Benedict XVI formally acknowledged the beatification miracle — the 1948 cure of a Canadian woman suffering from pleuritis of the left lung.
Known as the missionary congregation of educators, more than 3,000 men and women religious are devoted to the spiritual renewal of the Church, education of the youth and charity among the poor worldwide.
One of their best-known American apostolates is the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, which they founded in 1842, and St. Mary’s College.
The sisters, known as the Marianites of Holy Cross, make up the third branch of the Holy Cross community Fr. Moreau envisioned.
The order’s motto, “Ave Crux, Spes Unica,” or “Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope,” is a reminder that Jesus brings victory over suffering.
“We hold onto those words,” Fr. Wack said. “Wherever Holy Cross are, we help people deal with the difficulties of seeing beyond their trials to the glory that awaits them.”
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