Pope Leo XIV on Sunday canonized seven new saints in a moving ceremony at St. Peter’s Square, marking a historic day for the Catholic Church. The canonizations, previously approved by the late Pope Francis, included four men and three women. The new saints include a former Satanist turned “apostle of the rosary,” a martyred Armenian archbishop, and a Venezuelan doctor revered for his service to the poor.
The seven new saints are: Bartolo Longo, Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan, Peter To Rot, José Gregorio Hernández, Maria Troncatti, María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez, and Vincenza Maria Poloni.
Bartolo Longo (1841–1926)
Bartolo Longo’s life is one of the most remarkable conversion stories in modern Church history. Born in Italy and raised Catholic, he turned to atheism and Satanism while studying law in Naples before being “ordained” as a priest of Satan.
Through the prayers of his family and guidance from friends such as Professor Vincenzo Pepe and Dominican Father Alberto Radente, Longo renounced Satanism and returned to the Church.
He devoted his life to spreading devotion to the rosary and founded the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, now one of the world’s great Marian pilgrimage sites. He also built schools and orphanages, especially for children of prisoners.
Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1980, calling him the “Apostle of the Rosary.”
Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan (1869–1915)
Archbishop Ignatius Maloyan of Mardin, in what was then the Ottoman Empire, was executed during the Armenian genocide for refusing to abandon his Christian faith.
When offered life in exchange for conversion to Islam, he replied that he “would never betray Christ.” On June 10, 1915, after comforting 447 Armenian prisoners facing execution, he was shot dead after again refusing to deny his faith.
Before dying, he said, “The shedding of my blood for my faith is the sweetest desire of my heart.”
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Peter To Rot (1912–1945)
Peter To Rot, a lay catechist, became a pillar of faith during the Japanese occupation of Papua New Guinea in World War II.
After Catholic priests were imprisoned, he secretly taught the faith, defended Christian marriage, and resisted polygamy encouraged by the occupiers.
Arrested in 1944 for defying bans on religious practice, he was executed by lethal injection in 1945.
Beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II, he is now the first saint of Papua New Guinea.
José Gregorio Hernández (1864–1919)
José Gregorio Hernández of Venezuela was both a scientist and a saintly physician. Deeply devout, he saw medicine as a way to serve God by caring for the sick, especially the poor.
A Third Order Franciscan, he gave up his academic career to try the monastic life but later discerned his call as a lay doctor. He died in 1919 after being struck by a car while helping a poor woman obtain medicine.
Beatified in 2021 by Pope Francis, Hernández is Venezuela’s most beloved figure of faith and will now be its first male saint.
Maria Troncatti (1883–1969)
Italian Salesian Sister Maria Troncatti dedicated 44 years of her life to serving the Shuar people in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest.
Known as “Madrecita,” she combined medical skill and missionary zeal, acting as nurse, surgeon, and catechist.
She died in a plane crash in 1969 and was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez (1903–1977)
Born without her left arm, Venezuelan nun María del Carmen Rendiles overcame her disability to live a life of deep holiness.
She joined the Servants of the Eucharist and later founded the Servants of Jesus in Caracas, devoted to Eucharistic adoration and service to the poor.
Her leadership and humility inspired generations of Venezuelan women religious.
Beatified in 2018 by Pope Francis, she becomes Venezuela’s first female saint.
Vincenza Maria Poloni (1802–1855)
Vincenza Maria Poloni, from Verona, Italy, founded the Sisters of Mercy of Verona during a time of great hardship.
Working through epidemics and poverty, she and her sisters cared for the sick, elderly, and destitute with tireless charity.
Her congregation, inspired by her motto “Serving Christ in the Poor,” now operates on three continents.
She was beatified in 2008.