News snippets...

There's an interesting piece in the Times about a man who has been masquerading as a peer for 22 years:

A BOGUS aristocrat who can genuinely be described as an international man
of mystery faces jail tomorrow because he refuses to reveal his identity.
For 22 years the intriguing character has styled himself Christopher Edward,
Earl of Buckingham. He married under the false name, passed it to his children,
laid claim to the Buckingham crest and promised his teenage son that the peerage
would one day be his.
(snip)
Curiously, despite this elaborate deception, he has led an unremarkable
life with no evidence of any other suspicious activity. Police are desperate to
identify him and released a picture of Buckingham to The Times last night in the
hope that the photograph, taken in the 1980s, will jog someone’s memory.
The
man in the picture has been living a lie since 1983 when he stole the identity
of Christopher Edward Buckingham who died, aged just 8 months, in August 1963.
The ploy of stealing the identity of a dead baby was copied from Frederick
Forsyth’s thriller The Day of the Jackal.

An account of a beatification in the Telegraph:

An Italian farmer's wife who brought up 12 children was beatified at
Vicenza Cathedral in northern Italy yesterday amid a Vatican campaign to
encourage larger families.
Even non-believers in the village of Marola where
Eurosia Fabris (1866-1932) spent most of her life probably called her a
saint.
She took care of two orphans, which she continued after marrying and
having nine children of her own, as well as leaving her home open to others,
gaining her the nickname Mamma Rosa.
(snip)
In a bid to emphasise Fabris's secularity, the artist who painted her
portrait for the ceremony at the cathedral added earrings at the last minute,
said a local journalist who attended.
If she continues the path to
sainthood, she will probably be the first saint to wear them.

Hmpf... not an unfriendly article, though I'd hardly describe it as a 'Vatican Campaign'. BTW, surely someone can contradict that statement vis-a-vis the ear-rings.
Update: I've confirmed my suspicions and found a picture of a saint with ear-rings. I'll not name her yet, but she's pretty obvious. Please post saintly ear-ring sightings in the comments box.