EDMONTON – Touring the magnificent St. Joseph’s Oratory during a class trip to Montreal, student Noah Ethier was surprised to learn about his family connection to St. André Bessette, who helped build it. 

VATICAN – After Islamic terrorists stormed the Algerian monastery he called home, Trappist Father Christian de Cherge felt compelled to put pen to paper and write down his testament.

VATICAN – Appealing to the international community to help bring peace to Syria and Iraq, Pope Francis and Catholicos Gewargis III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also paid homage to the lands' persecuted Christians, who demonstrate that faith in Christ is a bond that is stronger than any denominational difference.

VATICAN – Saints are not just the well-known men, women and young people on the liturgical calendar, Pope Francis said on the feast of All Saints.

St. Francis of Assisi means a lot to me. Reading about him during the early days of my conversion really made Catholicism come alive. I even took the name Francis when I entered the Church.

WASHINGTON – Days after the Catholic Church declared Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero a saint, a judge in El Salvador issued a capture order for a former military captain suspected of killing the religious leader in 1980 as he celebrated Mass.

VATICAN – The twin canonizations — along with five others — of Pope St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero prompted many to look for similarities between the two. But the more suggestive similarity is between “San Romero” — as they call him in El Salvador — and the pope whose 40th anniversary is marked this week.

VATICAN – To "capture the imagination" of young people and inspire them, church leaders should offer them the example of modern saints and call young people to be "everyday saints, each in his or her own way," said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

It was eight years ago this week that Canada’s Br. André Bessette was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. The humble Holy Cross brother who was instrumental in the construction of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal died Jan. 6, 1937 at the age of 91. Over his remarkable life and in the years since, he has been credited with many miraculous healings. During the six days after his death, up to a million people filed past his coffin, surrounded by hundreds of crutches and canes from pilgrims who attested to his gifts. Here is an excerpt from The Register of Jan. 21, 1937:

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VATICAN – Pope Francis and many people attending the canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square were alive when St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero were alive, but the new saints' relics and those of five other people canonized Oct. 14 still were present at the Mass as reminders that the saints were flesh-and-blood people who lived holy lives.

VATICAN – Carrying Pope Paul VI's pastoral staff and wearing the blood-stained belt of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Pope Francis formally recognized them, and five others, as saints of the Catholic Church.

It’s a nine-hour flight from Toronto to Vatican City. It’s seven hours by jet to El Salvador. But Msgr. Oscar Romero’s canonization on Oct. 14 will not be a distant event for many Catholics. 

Fr. Louis Mousseau was a 21-year-old seminarian with the Capuchin Friars when he met 81-year-old St. Padre Pio in 1968, just three months before the death of the legendary priest. 

Sept. 26 is the feast day of Canada’s martyrs — St. Jean de Brebeuf, St. Noel Chabanel, St. Antoine Daniel, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Jean de Lalande, St. Charles Garnier and St. Gabriel Lalemant — who worked among the Huron-Wendat people in the 1600s. They were canonized in Rome by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930, but the occasion also drew large crowds to Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont. The Register recounted the scene of that special day in this excerpt from the July 3, 1930 issue:

QUEBEC CITY – St. Marie de l’Incarnation, a French Ursuline nun sent to establish the order in New France in the 17th century, has not yet delivered all her secrets.