John Joseph O'Connor (January 15, 1920 – May 3, 2000) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death in 2000, and was made a cardinal in 1985. He previously served as a U.S. Navy chaplain (1952–1979, including four years as Chief, auxiliary bishop of the Military Vicariate of the United States (1979–1983), and Bishop of Scranton in Pennsylvania (1983–1984).
Roger Michael Mahony (born February 27, 1936) is an American cardinal and retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California from 1985 to 2011. Before his appointment, he served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Fresno from 1975 to 1980 and bishop of the Diocese of Stockton from 1980 to 1985.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Mahony was ordained to the priesthood in 1962. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Fresno in January 1975 and consecrated bishop in March 1975. Mahony was then appointed bishop of Stockton in 1980. In 1985, he was appointed archbishop of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II, and became the first Los Angeles native to hold the office. The pope created Mahony a cardinal in 1991, and he voted in the papal conclaves that elected Popes Benedict XVI and Francis.
During his tenure as Los Angeles archbishop, Mahony was instrumental in dividing the archdiocese into five administrative subdivisions and in guiding the construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, which opened in September 2002. Mahony has also been identified as a key figure in the cover-up of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, where dozens of abusive priests were moved to other churches rather than prosecuted. In 2007, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apologized for abuses by priests and announced a record-breaking settlement of $660 million for 508 victims.In 2011, Mahony reached the mandatory retirement age for bishops and was succeeded by Archbishop José Horacio Gómez on March 1. On January 31, 2013, Gómez relieved Mahony of his public and episcopal duties in the archdiocese, following the release of personnel files documenting priests' sexual abuse during Mahony's tenure.
Bernadette Soubirous (; French: [bɛʁnadɛt subiʁu]; Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós [beɾnaˈðetɔ suβiˈɾus]; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto. These apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the woman who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".
After a canonical investigation, Soubirous's reports were eventually declared "worthy of belief" on 18 February 1862, and the Marian apparition became known as Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1866, Soubirous joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at their convent in Nevers where she spent the last years of her life. Her body is said by the Catholic Church to remain internally incorrupt. The grotto where the apparitions occurred later went on to become a major pilgrimage site and Marian shrine known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, attracting around five million pilgrims of all denominations each year.
Pope Pius XI beatified Bernadette Soubirous on 14 June 1925 and canonized her on 8 December 1933. Her feast day, initially specified as 18 February – the day Mary promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the other – is now observed in most places on the date of her death, 16 April.
Andrew M. Greeley (February 5, 1928 – May 29, 2013) was an American Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and popular novelist. He was a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago, and a research associate with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC).
For many years, Greeley wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times and contributed regularly to The New York Times, the National Catholic Reporter, America, and Commonweal.
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( gow-DEE, GOW-dee, Catalan: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði]; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect and designer from Spain, known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.
Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations which he integrated into his architecture crafts such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.
Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernista movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.
Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Gaudí's Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect". His cause for canonization was opened in the Archdiocese of Barcelona in 2003.
Saint Marie-Hermine of Jesus (1866–1900, born Irma Grivot) was a French nun and Mother Superior who died during the Boxer Rebellion in China and was canonised in 2000. She and six other nuns had gone to China to create a small hospital and to staff an orphanage, but were ultimately killed due to their association with foreign interference. She is one of the group known as the Martyr Saints of China who were canonised by Pope John Paul II 1 October 2000.
Rafael Arnáiz Barón, OCSO (9 April 1911 - 26 April 1938), also named María Rafael in religion, was a Spanish Trappist conventual oblate. He studied architecture in Madrid, but decided to cease his studies in favor of the religious life. This was often interrupted due to his struggle with type I diabetes and his being called for active service. But these never hindered his religious call and he did as best as he could to deal with his diabetes through his constant life of reflection and writing on spiritual subjects in his letters.He was beatified on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009.
