Asteroid Named in Honor of St. Faustina’s Confessor
The latest edition of the International Astronomical Union’s bulletin has announced that two new asteroids have been named after Jesuit Fr. Józef Andrasz, the confessor of St. Faustina Kowalska, whose beatification process began on February 1 of this year, and Francesco Maria Denza, an Italian Barnabite who was an astronomer and meteorologist.
The asteroid, officially named “(722063) Andrasz,” was discovered on May 3, 2015, by Lithuanian astronomer and asteroid researcher Dr. Kazimieras Černis and Jesuit Fr. Richard B. Boyle from the Vatican Observatory. The discovery was made using the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), located on Mount Graham in Arizona.