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Beatification Mass of Fr. Solanus Casey

Salt + Light Media

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

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Fr. Solanus Casey was known as Detroit’s miracle worker, but in fact he was a humble Capuchin Friar who spent his life in the service of people. On November 18, he will be the second American-born male to be beatified.
Join us for the Beatification Mass of Fr. Solanus Casey, OFM, Cap, LIVE from the Ford Field in Detroit, with commentary by Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB.
At the funeral Mass of Fr. Solanus Casey, Fr. Gerald Walker said that “his was a life of service and love for people like me and you. When he himself was not sick, he nevertheless suffered with and for you that were sick. When he was not physically hungry, he hungered with people like you. He had a divine love for people. He loved people for what he could do for them – and for God, through them.”
On November 18, 2017, Fr. Solanus will become the second American-born male to be beatified.
In May of 2017, Pope Francis announced that Father Solanus Casey, a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Order of St. Joseph in Detroit and one of the co-founders of the city’s Capuchin Soup Kitchen, had passed the rigorous test assigned to the process of Sainthood, by being elevated from Venerable to Blessed by the Roman Catholic Church.
"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,” stated Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron. “He is an inspiration to all us Catholics – and to all – of the power of grace to transform one’s life.”
Throughout his ministry, beginning in New York for 20 years, serving at three different parishes, Fr. Solanus was a beloved Capuchin Friar credited with miraculous cures and valued for his wise and compassionate counsel. He served at St. Bonaventure Monastery on Mt. Elliott Street in Detroit, 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. He earned the recognition as ‘the Doorkeeper’ – a Brother who would provide soup for the hungry, kind words for the troubled, and a healing touch for the sick.
Vice Postulators and Capuchin Friars Larry Webber and Richard Merling continue to gather documentation of healings attributed to Solanus Casey’s intercession. This documentation is then studied in Rome. Another approved miracle will advance the Cause to sainthood.
“Over the years the fame of Fr. Solanus has extended around the world, and now has devotees in 27 countries,” said Capuchin Fr. Larry Webber. “Thousands of favors attributed to the intercession of Venerable Solanus have been reported to the Office of the Cause for Sainthood of Father Solanus.”
Fr. Solanus was born Bernard Francis Casey on November 25, 1870 on a farm in Wisconsin. He was the sixth child in a family of sixteen, born to Irish immigrant parents who left
Ireland after the famine years. At the age of 21, Bernard entered St. Francis High School Seminary in Milwaukee to study for the diocesan priesthood. In 1897, he joined the Capuchin Order in Detroit and received the religious name of Solanus. In 1924, he was assigned to St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit. During his final illness, he remarked, "I'm offering my suffering that all might be one.” He died at the age of 86 on July 31, 1957 at the same day and hour of his First Holy Mass 53 years earlier.
Archbishop Vigneron added, “We are so grateful that because of this beatification, the Gospel of
Jesus Christ – and the freedom He alone offers – will be proclaimed all the louder through Father
Solanus. Let us, like Father Solanus, thank God ahead of time for all of these graces!"
You can learn more about Fr. Solanus Casey at the Fr. Solanus Guild and at the Solanus Center.

Learn more about Fr. Solanus:

Solanus Casey: Priest, Porter, Prophet
This extraordinary film explores the heroic life Father Solanus Casey, who was relegated to doing little more than being a simple doorman in his monastery. But God would transform the role his superiors assigned him, appointing it a far greater significance to be continued even beyond his earthly life, that of prophet, healer, and intercessor.
Known as a wonder-worker and a powerful instrument of divine healing and hope, he touched countless lives. His untiring attention to the sick and poor, combined with his prayers, wise counsel, and burning faith brought an unprecedented outpouring of grief at his death in 1957. More than 20,000 people attended the funeral of this selfless American-born priest.
A gripping story of this priest's simple and unshakable faith in God's goodness unfolds through interviews with his friends, colleagues, eyewitnesses, biographers, and those direct recipients of his healing and prophecy. Rare, never-before-seen film footage and historical photographs are included with actual footage from the exhumation of this exemplary Servant of God.


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