Soon to be
Blessed, VERONICA ANTAL was a Romanian Roman Catholic professed member from
the Secular Franciscan Order and member
of the Militia Immaculatae. She was known for her
strong faith and her love for the Mother of God.
She had long desired to enter the religious life as a nun but settled on
the Secular Franciscans after the communist regime suppressed convents and monasteries in Romania.
Since her death she has been known as both "Saint Veronica" and has
also been titled as the "Maria Goretti of
Veronica
Antal was born on 7 December 1935 in Botești, the first of four children to
George and Eva. Her parents spent so much time at work in the fields that
her grandmother Zarafina raised her and instructed her in the faith and it was in her childhood that her devotion
to the Blessed Virgin was
manifested.
Her
schooling was spent in her hometown from age seven where she earned good grades
before leaving to join her parents to work in the fields. When she was sixteen
that she desired to enter the convent as a Franciscan nun and to help children. Her longing never materialized because the
communist regime had suppressed all convents and monasteries in Romania.
Instead she
joined the Secular Franciscan
Order making a private vow to remain chaste. Veronica walked five miles to the
nearest church just so that she could receive the Eucharist. She also joined the Militia Immaculatae that St Maximilian Kolbe founded. Not long
before her death she began reading about St Maria Goretti and confided later to
two friends that she wished to act much like the saint.
 |
| Veronica on left |
On the
evening of 24 August 1958 she returned from her local parish after having just
received Confirmation when Pavel Mocanu began to harass her en route home. He
made indecent proposals to her and then attacked her in a vain effort to rape her.
But Veronica fended him off to the point he stabbed her to death with a knife 42
times.
Her
parents grew alarmed that she had not returned home so searched for her. Laborers
en route to work discovered her corpse in the middle of a field on August 26 and discovered one of her rosaries clasped in her hands. Her
face was downwards covered in blood with a cross of corn pods on her back. Her funeral was
celebrated on 27 August.
Her
beatification cause opened in 2003 and she became a Servant of
God. Pope Francis confirmed that she died to
preserve herself as a virgin against evil which confirmed her
beatification (as opposed to needing a miracle).
The beatification will
occur in Romania
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