Today is the feast of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, a Capuchin friar who died in 1619. He had a great gift of preaching and also spoke Hebrew, so Pope Clement VIII asked him to preach to the Jews of Rome. Think of that! A pope who thought Jesus was serious about baptizing men of all nations and asked a brilliant saint to bring the Jews to Christ. As an important figure in the counter-reformation, St. Lawrence established Capuchin friaries in Germany and Austria that brought many Protestants to the faith, perhaps some of my own ancestors. He also had great devotion to St. Joseph. St. Lawrence wasn't canonized for over 250 years. Do you really think that the Vatican II popes should have been rushed to canonization, especially in view of the crisis in the Church which, one can reasonably argue, they aided and abetted?Are canonizations infallible?
