By CBCP News
June 13, 2019
Manila, Philippines
Pope Francis has recognized that a Filipina nun lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way.
The decision inches Dominican Mother Maria Beatriz del Rosario Arroyo a step closer to being declared a saint by the church.
Being declared “Venerable” is the second of four steps in the church’s canonization process.
A miracle would be needed in order for the nun to be beatified, the next step towards sainthood.
The pope would then have to recognize another miracle for her canonization.
If Mother Arroyo’s Cause for Sainthood is successful, she will be the first Filipina saint.
The Philippines has two saints: Lorenzo Ruiz, who was canonized in 1987, and Pedro Calungsod, canonized in 2012.
Mother Arroyo was born on Feb. 17, 1884 in Molo, Iloilo City. She entered the religious life in Beaterio de Santa Catalina in Manila, made her profession on Jan. 3, 1914, and later taught at the Beaterio of Manila in Pangasinan.
In 1925, she founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines in Iloilo City on Feb. 18, 1927.
The congregation now has more than 200 missionaries spread in different provinces and even abroad.
Mother Arroyo died of heart failure on June 14, 1957.
Retired Archbishop Angel Lagdameo opened the cause for sainthood of Mother Arroyo in 2009.
Mother Arroyo is among the eight individuals whose heroic virtues were confirmed by the pontiff on June 12 in a series of decrees promulgated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
