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Relics of the first married couple to be beatified together by the Catholic Church can be venerated inside St. Peter’s Basilica this week during the World Meeting of Families in Rome. Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi are the official patrons of the 10th World Meeting of Families taking place in Rome on June 22-26. The Italian couple was married for 45 years, enduring two world wars together and nurturing their four children’s vocations in service of the Church amid unprecedented difficulties facing Europe. Both of their sons became priests in the 1930s and went on to concelebrate the beatification Mass of their parents with John Paul II in 2001. Their eldest son, Father Tarcisio Beltrame, a Benedictine monk, and his younger brother Father Paolino, a Trappist, both risked their lives to secretly work with the resistance during the Nazi occupation of Italy in World War II, while the Beltrame Quattrocchi family’s apartment in Rome served as a hiding place for fugitives and Italians with Jewish heritage. The beatified couple are buried together in Rome’s Sanctuary of Divine Love.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251607/first-married-couple-patrons-world-meeting-of-families
Cardinal Kevin Farrell said on Thursday that Saint John the Baptist is a witness to the sacredness of life from conception to natural death. The Irish-American cardinal celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 23. The Mass in English was part of the World Meeting of Families 2022, taking place in Rome from June 22-26 with families from around the world. Families are also encouraged to participate in the event from home via livestream. Even before Saint John the Baptist was born, “at the moment of Mary’s greeting, he recognized the Lord Jesus and leaped for joy in Elizabeth’s womb,” Farrell said. The cardinal, who leads the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, which organized the World Meeting of Families, said Saint John’s reaction to encountering the unborn Jesus points to an important aspect of family life.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251614/cardinal-farrell-at-world-meeting-of-families-2022-st-john-the-baptist-is-a-witness-to-the-sacredness-of-life
Today, the Church celebrates The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
The Church also celebrates Saint Etheldreda. Commonly known as Audry, Etheldreda was Queen of Northumbria around the seventh century. Etheldreda was forced to marry out of political convenience, this time to the heir of Oswy, King of Northumbria. Throughout her 12 years of marriage, she kept her virginity, and she gave much of her time to devotion and charity.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-etheldreda-280
Finally, the Church celebrates Blessed Basil Hopko, considered one of the many priests and religious martyred by Communism.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-basil-hopko-513