Founder of Illinois religious order to be canonized

RUMA, Ill. -- The founder of a missionary order of Roman Catholic nuns now based in this Randolph County town is being elevated to sainthood.

Maria DeMattias, who founded the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Italy in 1834, will be canonized during a ceremony May 18 at the Vatican.

"As far as the Adorers are concerned, this is something of great meaning," said order spokesman David Braun. "There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of religious orders across the world, and only a few have had their founders sainted."

At least two verified miracles are required for canonization in the Roman Catholic Church.

DeMattias' first credited miracle came in 1934 -- 38 years after her death -- when a woman in Carbognano, Italy, recovered from what was expected to be fatal pneumonia after claiming to see DeMattias at the foot of her bed. The second happened in 1942 when a little girl in another Italian town, fell and nearly completely severed her tongue. The child's mother placed a picture of DeMattias in the child's mouth. By the next morning, the wound was almost completely healed.

Besides the miracles attributed to DeMattias, Sister Flora Santel said she most admired the prospective saint for her pioneering role in the church.

"She was preaching the Gospel, which women weren't allowed to do at that time, and someone complained to the bishop," Santel said. "The bishop sent priests to check up on her, but she did such a good job, he wouldn't tell her to stop."

About 65 nuns live at The Adorers of the Blood of Christ convent here. They work as teachers in area Catholic schools, as counselors to prison inmates, and in various other area charitable endeavors.

Nuns from the Ruma order also do missionary work throughout the world. Five of them were killed in October 1992 while on missionary service to Liberia in western Africa.

Sisters Mary Joel Kolmer, Barbara Ann Muttra, Agnes Mueller, Shirley Kolmer and Kathleen McGuire were killed during a siege of the country's capital of Monrovia by a group of rebels.