Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo: Honoring Faithful Women
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree. —Romans 8:28 When many of us think of saints, our minds most often go to European or American models of holiness. However, recent years have seen an explosion in the number canonizations and beatifications of women, men, and children from Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. The small country of Madagascar (off the southeastern coast of Africa) has given the Church three new models of holiness since 2002, including Saint Jacques Berthieu , a French Jesuit missionary who was martyred in Ambiatibe in 1896, Blessed Jan Beyzym , a Jesuit missionary from Ukraine who died in Marana in 1912, and Blessed Raphaël-Louis Rafiringa , a native-born Christian Brother who died in Fianarantsoa in 1919. But honored alongside these male religious is a remarkable laywoman and Church leader who was beatified more than a decade before her male counterpa...