September 24, 2023 - "Blessed Solanus Casey"

Bernard Francis Casey (nicknamed Barney) was born on November 25, 1870, in Oak Grove, Wisconsin.  He was the sixth of sixteen children born to Irish immigrants Bernard James Casey and Ellen Elizabeth Murphy.  He felt called to the priesthood after witnessing a drunken sailor stabbing a woman.  First, he studied at the seminary for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  Classes were taught there in either German or Latin—neither of which he knew because of his limited educational background.  In time he was advised to consider a religious order if he wanted to pursue ordination to the priesthood. When he prayed about what he should do, he felt led to apply to the Capuchin Friars in Detroit. After entering the Capuchins in 1897, Barney Casey was given the religious name Solanus after Saint Francis Solanus (1549-1610), a Spanish Franciscan friar and missionary in South America.
 
After entering the Capuchins, he was ordained a priest.  But because of his academic limitations (i.e., limited knowledge of German and Latin), his superiors put restrictions on his priestly faculties.  He was not allowed to hear confessions or preach on doctrine.  He spent most of his time serving as the porter in various Capuchin friaries in New York, eventually being assigned to St. Bonaventure Friary in Detroit. Despite his humble assignment, the extraordinary spiritual gifts of Fr. Solanus Casey were quickly recognized.  He became well-known for his ministry of healing prayer.  Many people sought his spiritual counsel and intercession. At the request of his Capuchin superiors, he dutifully wrote down their petitions in his prayer book and promised to seek God’s assistance on their behalf. During his lifetime hundreds of miraculous cures were attributed to his prayers. He also loved to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the stillness of the night.
 
During his time at St. Bonaventure’s, Father Solanus was involved in the formation of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, which was opened in 1929 to provide food for the poor people of Detroit during the Great Depression.  This soup kitchen is still in operation to this day.
 
Fr. Solanus loved to play the Irish songs for his fellow friars during their periods of recreation.  He was not a gifted instrumentalist. Because he had suffered from diphtheria as a child, he had a poor singing voice.  Many of the friars who lived with him considered his playing the violin and singing to be somewhat of a penance.  Often, he could be found playing his violin in the chapel before the tabernacle.  Until his late seventies he joined the younger friars in games of tennis and volleyball.
 
Fr. Solanus was diagnosed with erysipelas and died on July 31, 1957. His body was found incorrupt thirty years after his death.  He was declared venerable by Pope Saint John Paul II on July 11, 1995. Casey's confirmed miracle for his beatification involved curing Paula Medina Zarate's ichthyosis, a genetic skin condition. The miracle occurred at St. Bonaventure Friary in Detroit in 2012. Fr. Solanus Casey was beatified on November 18, 2017, in Detroit.
 
Let me conclude this column with this quotation from Blessed Solanus Casey: “We must be faithful to the present moment or we will frustrate the plan of God for our lives.”
 
Until next week,
Fr. John