Argentina - Parliamentarians in Argentina promoting an initiative to have Laura Vicuña declared a saint.

29 December 2016
Argentina - Parliamentarians in Argentina promoting an initiative to have Laura Vicuña declared a saint.

(ANS - Buenos Aires) - A group of Argentine members of parliament are calling on Pope Francis to hasten the canonization of Blessed Laura Vicuña, as patroness of refugees and women who suffer violence. One of the promoters of the initiative is the deputy Giovanni Bruges who said he was a relative of the Argentine-Chilean child through his mother.

"Laura Vicuña, was a Chilean girl whose widowed mother had to emigrate to Argentina because of political persecution, somewhat like a political refugee.  Laura was educated by the Salesians," according to the promoters.

"She and her mother suffered domestic violence at the hands of a man in our country and Laura offered her life so that her mother might repent and leave the man who treated her violently", they added.

"Vicuña is the patron saint of the family and could also be patron of refugees and women who suffer violence," they added.

Blessed Laura Vicuña was born on 5 April 1891 in Santiago, Chile, and died on 22 January 1904 in Junin de los Andes, Argentina, before she turned 13 years of age.

The Chilean-Argentine girl was beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 3 September 1988, and her feast day is celebrated on 22 January.

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