St. John Paul II Feast Day Celebration

Feast Day October 22

With St. John Paul II feast day just around the corner, Saturday, October 22, take a moment to brush up on his wonderful life and celebrate with a prayer.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Saint John Paul II was born May 19, 1920 and passed away April 2, 2005. He was beatified on May 1, 2011 and was canonized by Pope Francis on April 27, 2013.

John Paul was born Karol Józef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland and was the first non-Italian Pope in over 400 years. During his vocation and papacy, he visited over 100 countries and initiated World Youth Day in 1985. Because he and Mother Teresa of Calcutta began World Youth Day, he is sometimes called the patron saint of the celebration. 

He often spoke out on human rights topics, but is known for using his influence to bring political change -he is even credited for the fall of communism in Poland.

When Pope Francis allowed his canonization only one month following his death, which was met with public disdain since canonizing someone is usually a lengthy process. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI and two miracles were attributed to him: a French nun and a 50-year-old woman were healed.

The first miracle was when Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre Normand was dying with Parkinson's disease, the same illness St. John Paul II suffered. She prayed to John Paul and was cured.

A 50-year-old woman claimed to have been cured of a brain aneurysm after a picture of Pope John Paul II spoke to her and her healing was accepted as the second miracle.

Following his death, people began to call him John Paul the Great, and is the fourth Pope ever to be labelled "Great."

A wonderful prayer to recite on his feast day is the following:

O Holy Trinity, we thank you for having given to the Church, Pope John Paul II, and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness, the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love

He, trusting completely in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd and has pointed out to us holiness as the path to reach eternal communion with You. 

Grant us, through his intercession, according to your will, the grace that we implore, in the hope that he will soon be numbered among your saints. 

Amen

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