HispanicBusiness

The Catholic Church will decide next week whether to canonize two Latin American nuns and the 15th century inhabitants of a southern Italian town who were killed by Ottoman conquerors, the Vatican said Monday.

A consistory of Cardinals, presided by Pope Benedict XVI, will vote on the matter on February 11, a statement said. Those nominated for canonization are almost always approved by the consistory.

The candidates for sainthood are: Antonio Primaldo and other martyrs from the city of Otranto who chose death over conversion to Islam after an Ottoman invasion; Colombian-born Maria Laura de Jesus Montoya Upegui, founder of a missionary order in 1914; and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, who co-founded a Mexican nursing congregation in 1901.