OAR. 03-08-2009
The process of canonization of Alfonso Gallegos, former auxiliary bishop of Sacramento (USA), moves forward.Cause of canonization of Bishop Gallegos in Northamerican dailies
The process of canonization of Alfonso Gallegos, former auxiliary bishop of Sacramento (USA), moves forward. The California Catholic Daily has as its headline, “St. Alphonse of Sacramento?” It echoes the declarations -published in another daily, the Sacramento Bee, - of various persons testifying to the divine aid they received through the intercession of the Augustinian Recollect bishop.
The process of canonizing Alfonso Gallegos who is described as “champion of the unborn and the unwanted” continues to move forward. The diocese is preparing a more than 1000-page report that summarizes the testimonies of more than 100 persons about the virtuous life of Bishop Gallegos, and the declarations of those who claimed that the Bishop had interceded in their favor since his death 18 years ago.
All information will be sent to the Vatican at the end of 2009. Bishop Gallegos, one of the 11 children of Joseph and Caciana Gallegos and an Augustinian Recollect friar, was ordained auxiliary bishop of Sacramento on the 4th of November 1981. He died in a car accident in October of 1991 at the age of sixty.
The cause of canonization was introduced in Vatican in November of 2006. And on July 4, 2008 the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated a decree of validity of the diocesan process for the cause of canonization of Bishop Gallegos.
Virtues
The next step of the process, now being prepared, is a lengthy document known as Positio super virtutibus, which is a formal presentation testifying to the saintly virtues of Bishop Gallegos. “He merits it,” declared Angela Zapata of Elk Grove and as published by the Sacramento Bee. She said that Bishop Gallegos interceded for her premature daughter who had a serious brain hemorrhage and doctors claimed she had but days to live.
"I know that there’s a great difference between praying to him and asking him to help." She told the Sacramento Bee that an Augustinian Recollect priest came to the bedside of the dying girl, put a prayer card with the image of Bishop Gallegos in the incubator, baptized the child and wrapped her body with the Bishop’s stole.
The girl named Angelica “is now two years old, healthy and happy,” Zapata told the newspaper. “I know that he heard our prayers.” Fifteen-year old Sara Sevilla, born in Oxnard, told the Sacramento Bee that she was almost blind and that the intercession of Bishop Gallegos restored her vision a year ago: “My family and I prayed, asking for his help. I started to feel warmth all over my body and then I regained my eyesight.”
Transfer
Supporters of the cause for sainthood of Bishop Gallegos had asked permission from Rome to transfer his body from St. Mary cemetery to the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a parish in the heart of Sacramento where he served. They say that the transfer will make his body more accessible to those who desire to visit his tomb in order to honor him and ask for his intercession. Nonetheless, reported the newspaper, even in its actual tomb in St. Mary cemetery, located south of Sacramento, many come to give thanks, to put flower and ask for his help.” James Murphy, the vicar general of the diocese of Sacramento, told the Bee that the officials of the diocese support the cause of canonization of Bishop Gallegos and that they were responsible in initiating the process in December of 2005.
“We like to do what we can,” Fr. Murphy told the Bee, “but we are aware that the process will take decades.” A biography says that Bishop Gallegos, just after being named auxiliary bishop of Sacramento, began “a labor of intense dedication to the people of Sacramento, especially among the migrants, various minority groups, the poor and the young.”
All information will be sent to the Vatican at the end of 2009. Bishop Gallegos, one of the 11 children of Joseph and Caciana Gallegos and an Augustinian Recollect friar, was ordained auxiliary bishop of Sacramento on the 4th of November 1981. He died in a car accident in October of 1991 at the age of sixty.
The cause of canonization was introduced in Vatican in November of 2006. And on July 4, 2008 the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated a decree of validity of the diocesan process for the cause of canonization of Bishop Gallegos.
Virtues
The next step of the process, now being prepared, is a lengthy document known as Positio super virtutibus, which is a formal presentation testifying to the saintly virtues of Bishop Gallegos. “He merits it,” declared Angela Zapata of Elk Grove and as published by the Sacramento Bee. She said that Bishop Gallegos interceded for her premature daughter who had a serious brain hemorrhage and doctors claimed she had but days to live.
"I know that there’s a great difference between praying to him and asking him to help." She told the Sacramento Bee that an Augustinian Recollect priest came to the bedside of the dying girl, put a prayer card with the image of Bishop Gallegos in the incubator, baptized the child and wrapped her body with the Bishop’s stole.
The girl named Angelica “is now two years old, healthy and happy,” Zapata told the newspaper. “I know that he heard our prayers.” Fifteen-year old Sara Sevilla, born in Oxnard, told the Sacramento Bee that she was almost blind and that the intercession of Bishop Gallegos restored her vision a year ago: “My family and I prayed, asking for his help. I started to feel warmth all over my body and then I regained my eyesight.”
Transfer
Supporters of the cause for sainthood of Bishop Gallegos had asked permission from Rome to transfer his body from St. Mary cemetery to the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a parish in the heart of Sacramento where he served. They say that the transfer will make his body more accessible to those who desire to visit his tomb in order to honor him and ask for his intercession. Nonetheless, reported the newspaper, even in its actual tomb in St. Mary cemetery, located south of Sacramento, many come to give thanks, to put flower and ask for his help.” James Murphy, the vicar general of the diocese of Sacramento, told the Bee that the officials of the diocese support the cause of canonization of Bishop Gallegos and that they were responsible in initiating the process in December of 2005.
“We like to do what we can,” Fr. Murphy told the Bee, “but we are aware that the process will take decades.” A biography says that Bishop Gallegos, just after being named auxiliary bishop of Sacramento, began “a labor of intense dedication to the people of Sacramento, especially among the migrants, various minority groups, the poor and the young.”
Related contents
News
JULY 2009 · UNITED STATES.
The tomb of Bishop Gallegos, a place of visits and thanksgiving
JUNE 2009 · UNITED STATES.
The shortage of vocations and the beatification of Bishop Gallegos, were presented in the chapter of North America
JULY 2008 · UNITED STATES.
The Cause of Canonization of Bishop Alfonso Gallegos advances
Documents
The cause for the beatification of Bishop Alfonso Gallegos
Autor: OAR (104 Kb)
Interesting links
Causes of saints
The Postulator General of the Order is working on various causes for beatification which are either undergoing the diocesan process or have been already presented to the Congregation for the Saints for the appropriate study.
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