Granada, Spain, Sep 13, 2010 / 19:53 pm
The prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop Angelo Amato, presided Sunday at the beatification of Spanish Capuchin Friar Leopold de Alpandeire, whose life Pope Benedict XVI called “a song of humility and trust in God.”
During his homily at the Beatification Mass in Granada, Archbishop Amato noted that the city is a “fortunate” one “because it has witnessed the glorious spectacle of (Blessed Leopold’s) holiness.”
The archbishop then recalled that people often “insulted and threw stones” at Friar Leopoldo, and “once he was almost hanged.” Nevertheless, “He got even the most anti-clerical to admit that they wished everyone was more like him.”
Friar Leopold, he said, “taught the way of justice through his charity, humility and Marian devotion, with the testimony of his life, which was for a long time dedicated to begging, including during times of religious persecution.”