New saints and blesseds.

Vatican City -- Pope Benedict XVI has authorized the canonisation of four new saints. These are:

* Szymon of Lipnica, Polish, priest of the Order of Friars Minor (1439-1482);

* Antonio de Santa Ana, (Antonio Galvao de Franca), Brazilian, priest of the Order of Discalced Friars Minor, and founder of the Convent of the Conceptionist Sisters (1739-1822);

* Charles of St. Andrew (Johannes Andreas Houben), Dutch, priest of the Congregation of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1821-1893);

* Marie Eugenie de Jesus (Anne-Eugenie Milleret de Brou), French, founder of the Institute of Sisters of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1817-1898).

In addition, 78 persons will be raised to the rank of Blessed on the same occasion. These include 74 martyrs, the majority from the era of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.

St. John Bosco's mother is now decreed Venerable. Mama Margaret, as she was and is known, as a young widow raised her own two boys, John and Joseph, and cared for her mother-in-law at a time of starvation in Italy. Later, she followed John in his mission among the poor and abandoned boys of Turin, which was the beginning of the Salesian Order. She was Don Bosco's first and principal cooperator, and became the "cofounder" of the Salesian family.