“In the Spiritual Exercises, relatives of the viceroy, members of the Buenos Aires aristocracy, simple families, and slaves participated,” he said, noting that they all “remained together for 10 days.”
Taking this attitude as an example, the prelate called for “living fraternity and concretizing the magisterium of Pope Francis,” especially in a world “where we only look for that which divides us.”
García also highlighted “the joy and good humor” of Mama Antula, who had a great devotion to St. Philip Neri, known as “the saint of joy.”
Finally, he clarified that although in many of the images she is represented with a habit that may seem like that of a nun, “she was a laywoman.”
The prelate pointed out that “we are all the Church, fundamentally the laity, who have to have a greater role and be listened to more.”
Regarding a possible visit by Pope Francis to Argentina, the archbishop of Buenos Aires said that “there is an enormous desire for the pope to meet his people. We await him with open hearts and arms.”
‘An active and merciful faith’
Silvia Correale, postulator of the cause of Mama Antula, called the soon-to-be-canonized saint “the mother of the country” and stressed that to this day, she continues to be “a very important model for living.”
Speaking with ACI Prensa, Correale described her position as postulator as “a service to evangelization” and remarked that “the saints are like the Gospel incarnated in each given historical moment, since God works and manifests himself through them.”
She highlighted that “the Lord manifested himself through a woman,” a consecrated laywoman who “had impressive faith and totally trusted in providence. She was a person who very much trusted in the action of God, very humble, austere, and prayerful.”
“Almost all of what she did was done from nothing, with total austerity. She had an impressive, very strong faith and great charity; she was a person who carried out many works of mercy,” the postulator noted.
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Correale also described the soon-to-be first Argentine female saint as “a woman on the move, with an active and merciful faith who also exercised the ministry of listening, since she didn’t preach during the [Spiritual] Exercises, but rather the priests did.”
The postulator explained that in the Holy House of Spiritual Exercises “women who were released from prison were accepted to make a spiritual journey and to be able to reintegrate themselves into society. They also worked with the girls, where they taught them catechism, how to embroider, read… she did a great social and educational work.”
The Holy House, Correale highlighted, “was the center of spirituality and moral values of Buenos Aires. Also, when a family had a problem, they went to her — there are very beautiful anecdotes about that.”
Finally, Correale said that with this canonization Pope Francis demonstrates that “the presence of a woman in a society and in the Church can leave its mark for many generations and can do a lot of good, responding generously to the call of the Lord.”
“We all have a mission in life, our personal charism,” he said. “God calls us into life for a mission, we have to discover it and have the courage to follow him and leave a mark, like Mama Antula did.”
Canonization ‘is a gift from God’
