September 17, 2017 - "Fr. Solanus Casey"

On May 4, 2017 Pope Francis announced that Father Solanus Casey, a beloved Capuchin friar who had ministered for many years in Detroit would be named “blessed.”  The beatification will take place during a Mass in Detroit on November 18, 2017.  Born Bernard Casey in Oak Grove Wisconsin in 1870, he was the sixth of sixteen children born to Irish immigrants.  He enrolled in St. Francis High School Seminary near Milwaukee when he was twenty-one, but because of academic limitations he was advised to enter a religious order.  Praying before a statute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he felt the urging “to go to Detroit.”  There he met the Capuchin friars.  After he had joined the Capuchin Franciscans in 1897, he was given the religious name Solanus.  Although he continued to struggle academically—he could not master Latin--, Friar Solanus was ordained in 1904 by Milwaukee Archbishop Sebastian Messmer as a “simplex priest,” meaning he could celebrate Mass but he could not preach doctrinal sermons nor hear confessions.  After serving in various churches and friaries in New York for two decades, Father Solanus was transferred back to Detroit where he began working as porter, or doorkeeper, at St. Bonaventure Friary.
In this assignment in Detroit Father Solanus became well known for his compassion and holiness.  As the porter he would greet those who came to the monastery doors, he came to know those who were ill or in need of assistance.  In time Father Solanus conducted well-attended services for the sick.  Indeed he was highly sought after throughout his life in part because of the many physical healings attributed to his blessings and intercession.  In 1929 he helped to establish the Capuchin Soup Kitchen to feed hungry people during the Great Depression.  That work of mercy continues even to this day.
Even in his 70’s Father Solanus remained active and would often join the younger friars in a game of tennis or volleyball.  He died from erysipelas, a skin disease, on July 31, 1957 at the age of eighty-seven.  In some ways, then, it is ironic that the miracle needed to raise Father Solanus to blessed involved a woman with an incurable genetic skin disease.  The woman was visiting friends in Detroit and stopped by the tomb of Father Solanus to pray for the intentions of other relatives, friends, and acquaintances.  After she finished her prayers, she felt a strong urging to ask for the intercession of Father Solanus for herself.  After she did this, she received an instant and visible healing.  The miraculous nature of her healing was confirmed by doctors in her native land, in Detroit, and in Rome.  All were agreed that there was no scientific explanation for what had happened to her.
Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron ought to have the final word here.  “The beatification of Father Solanus Casey is an incomparable grace for the church in the Archdiocese of Detroit and for the whole community of Southeast Michigan.  He is an inspiration to all of us Catholics—and to all—of the power of grace to transform one’s life.”
 
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon