Potential sainthood cause progresses for Tom Vander Woude, who saved son

 ANNA DONOFRIO | CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF WRITER

9/10/26

  

Tom and Mary Ellen Vander Woude. COURTESY

Tom Vander Woude holds his youngest son, Joseph, in a family photo from 1988. COURTESY

Tom Vander Woude coaches a basketball team at Christendom College in Front Royal during his time as the head men’s basketball coach. COURTESY

Tom Vander Woude. COURTESY

It’s been 18 years since Thomas Vander Woude gave his life to save his son Joseph from drowning in a septic tank. Now, the Arlington diocese is investigating his cause for canonization.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge released an edict Sept. 10, asking the faithful in the diocese to submit any information that should be considered as the diocese continues its investigation.

“We therefore invite all the faithful to communicate directly or to submit to the Rev. Msgr. Paul deLadurantaye, Chancellor of the Diocese of Arlington, all information from which elements favorable or contrary to the reputation for holiness, the offering of life, or the reputation for signs of Thomas Stephen Vander Woude may be inferred,” the edict read. “Furthermore, in accordance with the applicable canonical provisions, all writings attributed to Thomas Stephen Vander Woude, including diaries, letters, correspondence, manuscripts, notes and any other private writings, as well as documents in any way relevant to the Cause, must be collected.”

An edict is “the first public notification” that a cause for canonization is being considered, according to Msgr. deLadurantaye. The edict solicits information from those who knew Tom. Any materials written by him will be “examined for theological accuracy, to make sure there’s nothing that contradicts the faith or moral teaching of the church,” according to Msgr. deLadurantaye.

More: https://x.com/arlingtonchurch/status/2098117224410059176?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

Naples: Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds

 

Secular Franciscan of Deep Prayer and Charitable Works

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Published in  

October 05, 2026

On October 6, Franciscans honor the memory of Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds (1715-1791), a Secular Franciscan noted for her deep life of prayer and works of charity.

She was born Anna Maria Gallo in the "Spanish Quarters" of Naples to a middle-class family. Her father, a skilled worker in gold lace, was a hot tempered, abusive man, her mother quiet and gentle. Anna Maria was a small, delicate child devoted to prayer and her father taught her his trade at which she became very skillful. When she was 16, a wealthy young man asked for her hand; her father enthusiastically gave his consent, but Anna Maria refused and said she wished to dedicate her life to God. In response, he beat her severely and locked her up.

The narrow street in the crowded Spanish Quarters of Naples on which St Mary Frances lived.

Finally relenting, he allowed her to join the Third Order fraternity at the Discalced Franciscan church of Santa Lucia al Monte, where she had as her spiritual director the friar John Joseph of the Cross (later canonized). At that time she took the name of Mary Frances of the Five Wounds in honor of the Passion. Mary Frances continued to live and work at home, but now devoting long hours to prayer. She also reached out to care for the poor and sick of her neighborhood.

Franciscan church of Santa Lucia al Monte in Naples; friary on the left.

Despite almost constant ill health, Mary Frances practiced severe bodily penances. After her mother’s death in 1753, she and a companion moved into a priest’s house as his housekeepers. As she grew older, she increasingly experienced visions and signs of mystical union and was said to bear the stigmata. She also became a spiritual counselor to many people, becoming skillful at advising priests on how to deal with their women penitents. She died in 1791. Immediately a great popular devotion sprung up to her in Naples.

Wax mask of St Mary Frances made only a few hours after her death.

Mary Frances was declared venerable only a dozen years after her death and canonized in 1867. Originally buried in the church of Santa Lucia, her remains now rest in a chapel of the house where she lived and died in Naples, now a shrine to her memory.

The shrine of Saint Mary Frances in Naples – the door to her residence (now a museum) on the left; chapel is on the right.

Main image: Detail of statue of St. Mary Frances in her shrine in Naples.

Source: https://www.franciscantradition.org/blog/saint-mary-frances-of-the-five-wounds-secular-franciscan-of-deep-prayer-and-charitable-works/

Planned Parenthood Leaders Admit Under Oath to Harvesting Body Parts From Babies Born AliveO

 National  |  Micaiah Bilger  |   Jun 30, 2020   |   3:15PM   |  Washington, DC

The Center for Medical Progress released horrific new video footage Tuesday showing a Planned Parenthood partner admitting that body parts were harvested from aborted babies who still had beating hearts.

The video exposes the testimonies of several top Planned Parenthood officials and a human tissue procurement company leader during a 2019 sworn legal deposition.

Perhaps the most horrific testimony came from Perrin Larton, the procurement manager of Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR), which harvests aborted baby body parts at Planned Parenthood facilities in southern California.

In her sworn testimony, Larton admitted that she has seen aborted babies’ hearts “beating independently” after they are born. She also confirmed that some aborted babies’ bodies are fully intact.

Larton explained that most aborted babies come out of the womb in pieces, but sometimes ABR sees fully intact bodies. Asked about those situations, Larton replied, “They just, sometimes they fall out” of the mother when she delivers the baby in the abortion operating room. When questioned about how often that occurs, she replied, “Once every couple months.”

Asked what happens next, Larton said an ABR staffer will “do a dissection” on the intact aborted baby “to get the tissues that the researchers have requested.” When asked if the babies that just “fall out” have a heartbeat, Larton said, “It would depend,” because “I can see hearts that are not in an intact P.O.C. [product of conception, meaning aborted baby] that are beating independently.”

More: https://x.com/lifenewshq/status/2097293499221610966?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

Hello, Florida: St John of the Cross, Vero Beach

 

Communion rail 

“Working” side altars 

Serviceable “high” altar 

The parish offers TLM on Sundays at 12:30 pm.

Virginity at marriage

Virginity at marriage used to be expected. Now it's mocked.

We've created a culture where a woman who saves herself is called repressed, and a woman who gives herself to dozens of men is called empowered.

But the data is clear: women who had zero sexual partners before marriage report the highest levels of marital satisfaction. Every additional partner before marriage statistically decreases the likelihood that the marriage will last.

The pair bonding that happens during physical intimacy is real. It's hormonal. It's designed to attach you to one person for life. Every time you bond and break, the mechanism weakens.

Your grandmother wasn't naive for saving herself. She was protecting something precious.

- @usuallypregnant

Pope Leo and the priority of Saint Peter’s

An intriguing new twist in the Gambetti story!

The Pillar is reporting rumours circulating in Rome that several people sounded out for senior positions under Pope Leo have actually declined them, including, apparently, a leading candidate to succeed Cardinal Gambetti at St Peter’s. That assertion deserves to be treated with a degree of caution & The Pillar itself acknowledges that the names, reasons and reliability of these rumours vary. But Ed Condon makes a much more important observation. Leo has several senior Vatican officials whose terms have expired or who are already beyond the normal retirement age. Cardinal Kevin Farrell is 77. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro is 78.

Yet the Pope chose to move Gambetti, aged just 60, out of St Peter’s before having his replacement ready. That makes it increasingly difficult to dismiss this as routine rotation. Indeed, The Pillar puts the point rather starkly: whatever is happening behind the scenes, removing Gambetti appears to have been sufficiently important that leaving his position temporarily vacant was preferable to leaving him in it.

There may be another piece of the puzzle too. Andrea Gagliarducci reports that Leo has called an unusual meeting with the Chapter and Fabric of St Peter’s for 30 November, and suggests that the Pope wants the Basilica’s finances and governance reviewed before appointing Gambetti’s successor. If so, perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Instead of “Who will replace Gambetti?”, perhaps the more interesting question is: what exactly does Leo intend to change at St Peter’s before he chooses the man who will implement it?

The rumours remain rumours. Sanguineti and Guido Marini have both been mentioned, and perhaps somebody else entirely will emerge. But one fact is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Pope Leo did not wait until he had Gambetti’s successor before moving him.

For whatever reason, ending the Gambetti era at St Peter’s appears to have come first.

Source: Mark Lambert @sitsio

Background to the story in The Pillar: https://x.com/sitsio/status/2107465075766206592?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

“The Catholic Church does not need a permanent synod about itself.”

Bishop Mutsaerts, Netherlands: “The Catholic Church does not need a permanent synod about itself. It needs saints. Bishops who teach. Priests who pray. Religious who live radically for God. Parents who pass on the faith. Young people who discover that truth is more than an opinion. A liturgy in which God truly occupies the central place. Confessional boxes in which sinners find forgiveness. Seminaries in which men are formed who are willing to give their lives to Christ. Catholics who do not constantly ask themselves how the Church should adapt to the world, but who have the courage to invite the world to allow itself to be transformed by Christ”

- Open letter to His Holiness on “Synodality”

@UnaVoceSevilla