The process of beatification of the Brazilian deacon John Louis Pozzobon, inspirer of the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate of Schoenstatt, has reached a significant milestone that we wish to accompany as Schoenstatt Family.
On June 17, some cardinals and bishops, members of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, will meet to analyze and evaluate the heroic exercise of Christian virtues in the life and apostolate of John Pozzobon. If the opinion is favorable, that is, if the participants express their moral conviction regarding the sanctity of his life, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery, will present this vote to the Holy Father, who will be responsible for promulgating, in the name of the Church, the decree proclaiming John Louis Pozzobon VENERABLE Servant of God.
In the process of life and virtues, this proclamation is the previous step to the beatification of a saint. It will take place when the Church recognizes as miraculous an extraordinary intervention of God worked through his intercession.
An original melody
St. Augustine affirms, “Music can speak when words are silent.” A metaphor also applicable to the saints: they are the voice of Christ in a world that often seems to have fallen silent in the face of love.
John Pozzobon’s voice intones a hymn to Mary’s education, to her work from the shrine. In his simple way, he expresses it by saying that his life, his vocation, his apostolate are the fruit of “placing himself at Mary’s disposal and listening when she speaks, of serving her, of being a servant”.
What makes John Pozzobon’s life exemplary?
The depth with which he lives his covenant of love in the concrete circumstances of his life is captivating. In his life as a husband and father, in his service to the local Church as a deacon, in his radical commitment to evangelization through the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, in his concrete service to those most in need, John inspires countless people throughout the world.
Other Schoenstatters with exemplary lives
The first Schoenstatt son to be beatified as a martyr in 1996 was Father Karl Leisner.
In the same decade, processes of beatification for various members of the Schoenstatt Family began. In 1997, the Diocese of Trier opened the cause of Emilie Engel, a Sister of Mary, who was declared Venerable in 2013.
In 1998, the process of Mario Hiriart was opened in the Diocese of Santiago, Chile. Mario, a member of the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary, was declared Venerable in 2018.
In 2023, the process for the beatification of Hernán Alessandri, a member of the Schoenstatt Fathers, commenced in Santiago, Chile.
The community of the Pallottine Fathers (SAC) is involved in the lives of two of its members: Joseph Engling and Franz Reinisch, whose lives of holiness mature in the covenant of love with the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt, in the shadow of the shrine.
The process of beatification of the founder of Schoenstatt, Fr. Joseph Kentenich, was opened in Trier in 1975. Currently, the diocesan bishop, Stephan Ackermann, has suspended the process pending a more detailed analysis of certain aspects of his pedagogy. As a Family, we trust that due clarification will enable the process to continue.
A path of holiness accessible to all
For all these Schoenstatters, as well as for many others, the slogan “nothing without you, nothing without us” awakened a need to make space for Mary’s education in their lives, inspiring their words, actions, and feelings. The fruit of this covenant was sometimes manifested in great apostolic actions, such as those promoted by Joseph Kentenich, John Pozzobon, or Hernan Alessandri; other times, in a more unnoticed but no less audacious commitment, as in the cases of Emilie Engel, Mario Hiriart, or Joseph Engling. All of them intoned, with their unique and original voice, the melody of the risen Christ.
The exemplary life of Deacon João Luiz Pozzobon is a testament to the covenant that makes us proud. However, his beatification process is not, in the first place, an honor for the Schoenstatt Family. Saints are not the property of their spiritual family, but a gift of God to the Church, a testimony that the charism is a way of holiness accessible to all. This is the deepest meaning of every canonization process in the Catholic Church: that the life and message of a holy person be a light that enlightens others. A melody of Christ resounds in the world when the word is silent.
