The Mama Antula canonization ceremony will be carried out Sunday, February 11 at St. Peter’s Basilica and will be headed by Pope Francisco. In this way, the blessed one will become the first Argentine saint.
Maria Antonia de San José She was beatified in 2016 in Santiago del Estero after the Pope authorized the publication of a miracle. Then, in October 2023, the Supreme Pontiff approved the miracle and will be canonized in the next few hours.
The miracles of Mama Antula that make her the first Argentine saint
The healing of the religious sister Vanina Rosa in 1905 was the first miracle attributed to Mama Antula, while the recovery of a man from a stroke at the beginning of the 19th century constitutes his second miracle for which she will be canonizedhighlighted the historian and disseminator of the blessed woman’s story, Graciela Ojeda de Río.
As Ojeda Río explained to Télam, for a person to be beatified and then canonized by the Catholic Church, “a canonical process established by norms and laws of the church with John Paul II is carried out.” Furthermore, he maintained that the regulations indicate that when a person dies he must have “characteristics of holiness“and carry out a investigation into the attributed miracles.
In that sense, he highlighted that for the second instance, it was necessary to prove “another miracle, which, if recognized by the Church, gives it the possibility of being canonized“, and recognized throughout the world.
That second miracle is the one that occurs in the province of Santa Fe with the healing of the man who had a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) that left him in a very difficult and serious condition due to injuries that, according to the doctors, could not be cured.
Then, “they prayed to María Antonia and the miracle of his healing. The medical history was sent to Rome to be evaluated by nine different doctors from other parts of the world.” The professionals found no logical explanation for the recovery, so the Vatican reanalyzed it and established the cure was due to the miraculous participation by Maria Antonia.
Thus, Mama Antula will become the first Argentine saint with a ceremony that will take place in Plaza San Pedro.
Mama Antula, the first Argentine saint
The blessed is considered the first human rights defender in Argentina. Cintia Suárez, co-author of her biography along with Nunzia Locatelli, explained to AFP that Mama Antula was committed to “people who were considered things in colonial times.”
Furthermore, the biographer says that the message from who will be the first Argentine saint was “very strong for its time and inspires women even to this day“. When she arrived in Buenos Aires after walking more than 4,000 km on foot, they mistook her for a “witch” and even threw stones at her, which made her take refuge in a chapel.
Every day it started to become more popular and influential and she was respected by the bishop and the viceroy of Buenos Aires, who at first refused to receive her. However, the bishop later granted him permission to open her spiritual house.
“She had a lot of courage and was rebellious in a good way. They called her the strong woman. She used her feminine cunning in a context of prohibition“he highlighted.
Source: Ambito
