The stained glass windows project, part of the Jubilee Preparations at the Newman Centre Catholic Mission, was completely funded by students, professors and friends of this Catholic University Chaplaincy at the heart of the University of Toronto. The windows to be dedicated and blessed feature Blessed Brother André Bessette [1845-1937]; Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla [1922-1962]; Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati [1901-1925]; Franz Jägerstätter [1907-1943]; Archbishop Oscar Romero [1917-1980]; and Georges [1888-1967] & Pauline [1898-1991] Vanier. The "Three Teresas" windows - Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), and St. Thérèse of Lisieux - were dedicated and blessed on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1999. The 10 Catholic women and men lived in Albania, Austria, Canada, El Salvador, France, Germany, India, Italy and Poland. They were lay persons - four were married and had families; one was a medical doctor; three were women religious (Carmelites and a Missionary of Charity); one was a Holy Cross Brother, and one an Archbishop. Stein died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, and Jägerstätter was killed by the Nazis in the Brandenburg/Havel prison camp in Germany.

While two of the people featured in the windows are already canonized, three have been beatified by Pope John Paul II. The causes for the beatifications of former Canadian Governor General Georges Vanier and his wife Pauline are now being studied in the Archdiocese of Ottawa. The cause for the beatification of Austrian-born Franz Jägerstätter is now opened in his home diocese of Linz. The process toward Mother Teresa's beatification is now underway in Calcutta.

Among the special guests attending today's ceremony are Pier Luigi Molla and Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, son and daughter of Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla. We also warmly welcome Wanda Gawronska, niece of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, the son of an aristocratic family from the northern Italian city of Turin.

This wonderful project attests to the great need for contemporary Christian heroes and heroines for young people today, women and men, lay and religious, who laid down their lives for their friends, and continue to offer credible, hopeful examples of heroism, strong Christian faith, concrete love of God and neighbor, selflessness, courage and generosity. The stained glass windows are not the ordinary ones we are accustomed to seeing in sacred places. They feature holy women and men dressed in ordinary clothes - a mother with a child in her arms (Molla); another leaning on his favorite motorcycle (Jägerstätter); an elegantly-attired couple standing before the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa (the Vaniers); a striking young man standing in the mountains he loved (Frassati); another frail man welcoming people into a church (Brother André); a white-robed bishop holding a child in his arms as a house burns in the distance (Romero) - in addition to the barbed-wire, the Star of David and the Cross in the background of Edith Stein's image; a battered child held in the loving embrace of Calcutta's angel of mercy (Mother Teresa); and the classical pose of the most recent Carmelite Doctor of the Church (Thérèse of Lisieux) - make the stories of the saints so relevant, contemporary and accessible to young people today. At the close of a century which has known terrible extremes of darkness, the striking images of this cloud of witnesses remind us that the light of conscience has not been altogether extinguished. Holiness, goodness, kindness, love and truth are still recognized when they appear on history's stage in the lives of such Christian heroes and heroines of this century.

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Homily of Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
Ceremony of Blessing and Dedication of the stained glass windows
Sunday, October 31, 1999

Your Excellency, Bishop De Angelis,
Your Honor, Mr. Zanini, Italian Vice Consul,
Carissimi Gianna, Pier Luigi, Lisi, Wanda,
Dear Friends,

There is something strange about this ceremony taking place on the campus of Canada's largest university on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Strange in that a prestigious university such as this one prides itself, rightly so, in the formation and training of specialists and critics, who, proceding from knowledge, information, data, will go out into the world to judge it, assess it, and try to make it a better place. Some would go so far as to say that such specialists often exaggerate their academic pursuits in applying their research and methods on the world. University and academic types can also remain insensitive to the reality of people's lives.

Today we as Church, celebrate not a feast of critics, but of artists, Gospel artists, who have judged and critiqued the world from a different set of data, information, knowledge. Their standards were found in a blueprint entitled the Beatitudes, and they attempted, each in their own time and unique ways, to take that extraordinary Gospel vision and transpose it on the world. G. K. Chesterton said that "[such] people have exaggerated what the world and the Church have forgotten". Sometimes on a university campus, such people are called fools, mad, unrealistic, dreamers. In our Church, we call them saints.

As university chaplain, I am convinced that the world today, and especially young people, have the increasing need of the fascinating lives of the saints. During his Pontificate, Pope John Paul II has certainly helped us to rediscover these heroes and heroines in our tradition- in fact, he has beatified well over 800 women and men, and canonized over 280. To be sure, the prudence of the Church, the Canonical verification procedures, the in-depth examinations of claims throughout, as well as the detailed medical analysis of miracles is all part of the Church's legacy of wisdom which is truly the mark of truth and certainty. The proclamation of so many new blesseds and Saints who lived in our times has been of tremendous help in confirming hopes of old and inspiring new ones.

The world today needs heroes and heroines who fought the good fight, won the race, and were faithful to the end. The world today needs voices of justice, compassion and hope resounding from the palaces of governments like Rideau Hall, [the Vaniers] and from clinics like the one in Mesero [Blessed Gianna Molla]. We long to catch glimpses of men and women of conviction and truth- people who live in the small towns and parishes like the one in St. Radegund [Jägerstätter]. Even in the hell holes like Brandenburg/Havel [Jägerstätter] and Auschiwtz [Edith Stein], we are able to find brilliant examples of extraordinary light in the midst of darkness and death.

Our world today rejoices in the holy men and women who labor in the Kaligats and Nirmal Hridays [Mother Teresa]. The world, and particularly young people need the convincing examples of women and men who enter cloisters, not to be shut off from the world, but rather to embrace the world with love, prayer and a true missionary spirit [Thérèse of Lisieux].

Our world delights in the hundreds of Catholic intellectuals- women and men who embark on the painstaking journey toward the truth, and who seek that truth with love and faith in their hearts- especially at universities like this one. We need to make Edith Stein's words our own each day on this campus: "Do not accept anything as truth if it lacks love; and do not accept as love anything which lacks truth."

Our world today badly needs Church leaders [Oscar Romero] who will stand up, speak out and be counted- in places like El Salvador, East Timor, the Balkans, East Africa, Palestine, Israel, and wherever the human spirit is crushed.

Our world today longs for the crystal clear message of young, committed Catholic Christians, who, like the mountain climber from Pollone [Frassati], risk everything, leave the comfort or the pain of a home environment, and go to the big, anonymous cities of our time to give flesh and blood to the Beatitudes.

Our world rejoices in the poor, humble porter of Montreal [Brother André], and all those like him who graciously offer hospitality and kindness to the multitudes, without ever counting the cost.

You see, dear friends, we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses who model for us humanity at its best, and show us what a beautiful world this can be- a world in which we can already taste the glory of heaven here and now. And this cloud of witnesses is here today with us, not only in beautiful lead and glass, but in flesh and blood, in legacy, and longing, in memory and hope. The Saints have come marching into our midst- the officially canonized and blessed, and those in waiting: this incredible array of heroes and heroines of our century.

One month ago, I had the privilege of sitting in Blessed Gianna Molla's home in Milan, delighting in the unforgettable hospitality of her husband, Pietro, now 87 years old, and her daughter, Dr. Gianna, who is with us today. And later that week, I enjoyed a marvelous afternoon of Roman hospitality in Trastevere, in the home of Pier Giorgio's niece, Wanda Gawronska. Both families, particularly Mr. Molla, said something to me that I shall never forget. They said how difficult it was for them to lose their loved ones in death at such young ages-Dr. Gianna Beretta Molla, a successful pediatric surgeon, at the age of 40, and Pier Giorgio Frassati, the handsome, athletic young man (Brother Jerome to his friends), at the age of 24. Both families told me that they lost their loved ones twice- once in death, and the second time when the Church asked the families to begin the canonical process for beatification and sainthood. The families said that losing them the second time was even harder than losing them in death. No longer would Blessed Gianna be the private possession of a particular family in history, the loving wife, mother and doctor to a small group of people. No longer would Pier Giorgio be the respected leader of a group of young people in Turn who were learning to love God, remain faithful to the Church, and make a difference in society by helping others.

Today I say to you, Gianna, Pier Luigi, Lisi and Wanda: you have not lost your mother and uncle, but rather you have shared them with us and with the whole Church as tremendous gifts. Now they, too are our friends, our models, our intercessors, our heroes and heroines who beckon us forward on the pilgrim journey.

We thank you, Gianna, Pier Luigi, Lisi and Wanda for sharing the gifts of your holy ones with us. The lives and stories of your loved ones, and of each of these ten people will be forever woven onto the fabric and tapestry of our lives

Allow me to conclude with a little vignette of the past week. Several days after the windows had been installed, I came into the chapel to pray quietly before this cloud of witnesses. I found four young people kneeling before the windows. One was sobbing, rather uncontrollably before Blessed Gianna's window, one had her head bowed in prayer, a young man was praying the rosary, and the other student was humming something before Pier Giorgio's window. I went over to the young women who was weeping and asked if there was anything I could do for her. She looked up at me and said: "No, Father, I'm really ok. You see, I am not crying because I am sad. I am crying because finally I see holy people dressed like us, and they look like us, and it's really so beautiful and hopeful. Is it ok to feel like that, Father?" I assured her that it was all right.

Perhaps that is why so many of us are here today, with our own myriad of emotions of joy, tenderness, sadness, gratitude, hope. Because maybe we see in these windows a bit of ourselves, and of the glory that awaits us in the Communion of Saints. And in the midst of our emotions and tears of sadness or joy, we know that it is ok. What a cloud of witnesses to console us, strengthen us, encourage us, stir us, move us, and intercede for us as we try to imitate them here below.

To all of you who have given so generously to this wonderful Jubilee project, I thank you and we here at the Newman Centre will pray for you. To all of you have come from so many places far and wide, especially those who traveled great distances just to be near the families of the saints, I say, "Thank you." Georges & Pauline, Gianna, Franz, Mother Teresa, Edith, Thérèse, Oscar, Pier Giorgio, and Brother André: Saints and Blessed, holy ones in waiting, contemplatives and actives, bishops and brother, laymen and women, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, young and old, in you we see ourselves. Pray for us and help us to be the Gospel artists that you were.

[Photo by BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR appeared October 26, 1999]

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Read the Testemonies of:

Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, Daughter of Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla, Mr. Pierluigi Molla, Son of Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla,Testimony of Miss Wanda Gawronska, Niece of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

testemonies page

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Blessing of the Teresas Windows by Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. March 28, 1999
Catholic Register Report April 5, 1999

O God of Love and Peace, we thank you for abiding with us so powerfully and visibly in this holy place.
We thank you for the lives and memories of the three Teresas:
For St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose little way gives us hope and strength here below. She reminds the learned and the oblique, especially here at the University, that true doctors of knowledge are those who heal others of so much alienation in their lives.

For St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross,
whose fidelity and courage
to the God of Israel was unwavering,
even in the face of great fear,
persecution, and extermination.
She challenges Christians and Jews
to continue to build bridges
of reconciliation and peace in our world
and our common history torn apart
by hatred and war.

For Mother Teresa of Calcutta,
model of charity and simplicity
for millions of people of good will.
As we journey with her to official sainthood
in the Catholic Church,
she invites us to do small things with great love,
and to love the Church, our Mother, with generous and faithful hearts.

We ask you, God our loving Father, to bless these windows now.
May they forever reflect the light of your love to all who will look upon them. Hallow the memories of your Teresas in our hearts, in our Church, and especially here on this vast campus of the University of Toronto. May these holy women intercede for us before your throne.

Give us a deeper knowledge of the matters of the soul, the science of the cross, and the law of charity that the threr Teresas taught us through their living, and now through their memories and intercession.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord, the joy of the Saints and the hope of all believers, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

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During the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday, May 14, the three new stained glass windows of Venerable John XXIII, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko were blessed. The parishioners have presented the windows to the Newman Centre in gratitude for Fr. Rosica's six years of ministry as Executive Director and Pastor of the Newman Centre Catholic Mission at the University of Toronto. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his wife Madame Aline Chrétien were in attendance at the mass.

Blessing of New Stained Glass Windows

Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In this Jubilee year,
the joy-filled memorial
of Christ's coming into the world,
in the Easter light of his Resurrection,
we join in remembering before God
and before the world
these three great witnesses to the faith:

 

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha,
Lily of the Mohawks,
Lover of Jesus & Model of Purity,
Venerable Pope John XXII,
Apostle of Unity & Peace,
Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko,
Martyr & Servant of the Truth.

Two were martyrs for the faith,
and one was Peter's Successor in our own time,
a man who taught us
to take courageous risks
in opening wide
doors and windows to the Church
and the world.

May their faithfulness even to death,
their hope in eternal life
and their love for you
and for their brothers and sisters,
inspire us to be authentic witnesses to you
in the fulness of communion.
Bless these windows now
so that all who look upon them will be
confirmed in faith and strengthened in hope by the examples of these
and so many other followers of the Lamb who was slain.

May their memory help us
to be signs of love,
purity, courage,
unity and peace,
here on this campus,
throughout Canada and the whole world.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen