Sainthood Closer For Detroit Capuchin Priest

DETROIT, MI — A priest who devoted his life to ministry to the poor and co-founded Detroit’s Capuchin soup kitchens is a step closer to sainthood. In a ceremony to be held in Detroit this fall, the Rev. Solanus Casey will be formally elevated from venerable to blessed by the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis, who has named nearly 40 saints during his papacy, announced in May that Father Solanus would be beatified, the level before canonization. Father Solanus was the first American-born male to be declared venerable — by Pope John Paul II in 1995 — and will be among only three Catholics in the United States with the title “blessed.”

A member of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, Father Solanus was known as a “doorkeeper,” the Archdiocese of Detroit said, someone who would ladle soup for the hungry, speak kindly and compassionately with the troubled and heal the sick. It is the thousands of reported healings, known as “favors,” that make the case for sainthood presented to the Vatican.

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On May 4, Pope Francis recognized as a miracle the healing of a woman’s skin disease through his intercession. Another approved miracle will further advance the cause to sainthood. The woman said to be healed lives outside the United States and was was on a pilgrimage to Father Solanus’ tomb at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit.

The beatification ceremony will be held at a Nov. 18 Mass at Ford Field in Detroit, which can accommodate as many as 60,000 people. Complete details haven’t been finalized.

Were Father Solanus alive in Detroit today — he died on July 31, 1957, on the same day and hour of his First Holy Mass 53 years earlier — he would see a city on the mend economically overall, but still with pockets of deep poverty. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen he co-founded in 1929 still serves about 2,000 meals a day and has branched out to provide an emergency food pantry, tutoring, and services to assist with addiction and other problems of a modern society.

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For example, Jefferson House, a 12-bed residential treatment facility, offers drug treatment for indigent males, and On the Rise Bakery supplies the Soup Kitchen and helps ex-cons assimilate back into society. The food-insecurity rate in Wayne County is around 21 percent, and Earthworks Urban Farm harvests six tons of produce from a two-and-one-half acre organic farm.

Officials with the Solanus Casey Center that attracts about 250,000 visitors a year to Detroit, said the beatification ceremony brings critical awareness to the importance of service to the poor.

“In his own time, he was far ahead of his time. Like a prophet, he was a man with a message for our times. Like a prophet, he lived a life concerned for God's people, suffering and laboring for the conversion of sinners. His message, always one of faith and trust in God, was to console and to encourage,” the Solanus Casey Center says on its website. “He brought about peace by a kindly insistence on our right relationship to — and dependence on — God and neighbor.”

Added the Rev. Michael Sullivan, provincial minister of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, a religious community of friars inspired by St. Francis of Assisi to work with the poor and disenfranchised:

“Known for his compassion and simplicity, he drew many thousands to God. Rather than call attention to himself, he taught people to thank God for His blessings,” Sullivan said in a news release.

“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,” said Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, Archdiocese of Detroit, in the statement. “He is an inspiration to all us Catholics – and to all – of the power of grace to transform one’s life.”

Drunken Sailor Turned Him To Priesthood

Bernard Casey was born Nov. 25, 1870, the sixth of 16 children born to Irish immigrant parents who had settled in Wisconsin. He left home when he was 17 and worked at various jobs, including stints as a lumberjack, hospital orderly and prison guard. He reevaluated his life after he watched as a drunken sailor brutally stabbed a woman to death, reigniting a long-held dream to become a priest.

He enrolled in St. Francis High School Seminary in Milwaukee at age 21, but the path to diocesan priesthood was difficult for Casey, who lacked a formal education. Following the advice of his mentors, he joined the Capuchin Order of Detroit in 1897 and was given the religious name of Solanus. He was ordained as a “sacerdos simplex” priest, which meant he could say Mass, but could neither publicly preach or hear confessions.

Father Solanus began his ministry in New York where he served three parishes over 20 years and earned a reputation as a beloved “Capuchin friar” among those who valued his wise and compassionate counsel and miraculous cures.

He returned to Detroit in 1924. He served at St. Bonaventure Monastery on Mt. Elliott Street, where he worked for 21 years as a porter and spent his life in the service of people, endearing himself to thousands who would seek his counsel.

Father Solanus led a full life well into his 70s, often joining younger priests in a game of tennis or volleyball, the Catholic News Agency reported. He died of the skin disease erysipelas at age 87.

Photo courtesy of the Capuchin Franciscan Order of St. Joseph in Detroit