Fr. Jacques Hamel . . . Process Of His Beatification Is Now Opened
By MARINA DROUJININA
ROUEN, France (ZENIT) — The first audience of the process in view of the beatification of Fr. Jacques Hamel was held on Saturday, May 20, in the Chapel of Aubigné of the archbishop of Rouen, France, according to a press release from the archdiocese.
Some 50 people — families, witnesses of the murder, parishioners, and Muslim friends of St. Etienne du Rouvray — gathered under the presidency of the archbishop, the Most Rev. Dominique Lebrun. The meeting, which lasted an hour, was organized by the postulator, Fr. Paul Vigouroux.
Fr. Vigouroux asked officially for the archbishop’s approval of the opening of the process in view of the recognition of the martyrdom of Fr, Hamel.
The tribunal was set up, with a delegate judge, a promoter of justice, and three clerks. In the forthcoming months they will interview 69 witnesses.
“[Archbishop] Dominque Lebrun stressed the spiritual reach of this event,” stated the press release.
If the martyrdom is recognized, the beatification does not require a further miracle.
Fr. Jacques Hamel was murdered, while celebrating Mass, by Muslim terrorists on July 26, 2016 in his church at St. Etienne du Rouvray, on the outskirts of Rouen.
Pope Francis described him, during the Mass at Casa Santa Marta on September 14, 2016, as a “good, gentle, fraternal man who always sought to make peace” and he stated that he was a martyr.
The Pope decided to dispense with the usual five-year delay to open the process of beatification of Fr. Jacques Hamel. The announcement was made by Archbishop Lebrun on October 2, 2016, during a Mass to mark the reopening of the St. Etienne du Rouvray church.
Fr. Hamel’s breviary was deposited in Rome’s St. Bartholomew’s Basilica, the Basilica of New Martyrs, by Archbishop Lebrun on September 15, 2016.