During the course of the Chapter’s work, on August 30, 2024, the friars were honored with the presentation of a new edition of the book, “In the Footsteps of the Saints. The Capuchin Sanctorale: Saints, Blessed, Venerable, Servants of God”. The book, which bears a preface by the General Minister, Br. Roberto Genuin, is the third edition of the work of the same name already published in previous editions in the years 2012 and 2018, in conjunction with the General Chapters.
Br. Carlo Calloni, Postulator General, moved forward with the updating of the book in its content and its typographical and iconographical aspects because the Order is a dynamic, living body. “It is alive because the Lord’s grace has found those who have welcomed it and allowed themselves to be won by it and have lived it as the restitution of a gift too great to be kept only for themselves.” Again, Br. Carlo continued, “The Order is alive because many of our brothers and our Capuchin Poor Clare sisters have seen their holiness or virtues recognized by the Church or for some have been granted the start of the particular canonical process provided for in the instruction of the Causes of Beatification and Canonization.” Remembering the Saints and Blessed, and celebrating them in the liturgy, is a way to give thanks to God, “to celebrate his glory through the holy and virtuous lives of many of our brothers and sisters who have offered their lives to God and neighbor.”
“In the Footsteps of the Saints. The Capuchin Sanctorale” is a voluminous work that sketches the biographies of the brothers and sisters of the Capuchin family who have already risen ‘to the honors of the altars’ or are on their way. It takes up key features for each figure; for many of them there is also a specific icon, taken from the recent paintings of the painter Paolo Orlando (April 2023), located at the General Curia; for others the iconography draws on classical sources.
The work is edited by Br. Costanzo Cargnoni and was revised and updated by Br. Gianluca Crudo and Br. Carlo Calloni. It was published by the General Postulation of the Capuchin Friars Minor, Rome 2024. According to the General Minister, the book offers itself “as a tool to get to know our brothers who have been able to respond to the Lord’s call with humility and joy and, at the same time, it becomes a stimulus so that the spiritual patrimony of the Order is not only to be guarded, but is alive and still has many pages to be written and is handed over to every Capuchin friar, to each one of us, so that it may also become our history, of today and tomorrow.”
