Prayer for the Canonization of Father Solanus Casey

Father Solanus Casey, Capuchin, was born on November 25, 1870 on a farm in Wisconsin. His Irish immigrant parents named him Bernard. He was the sixth child in a family of ten boys and six girls. After he left the farm, he worked throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota as a logger, a hospital orderly, a street car operator and a guard at the penitentiary.

At the age of twenty-one, Bernard entered St. Francis High School Seminary in Milwaukee to study for the diocesan priesthood. Five years later, he decided to enter a religious order. He was invested in the Capuchin Order at Detroit in 1897 and received his religious name of Solanus.

After his ordination in 1904 as a simplex priest, Father Solanus spent 20 years in New York, Harlem, and Yonkers. In 1924, he was sent to Bonaventure Monastery, Detroit where he worked for 20 years. In 1945, he returned to New York for one year. He was assigned to Huntington, Indiana from 1946 to 1956. He was reassigned to St. Bonaventure in 1956.

Father Solanus spent his life in the service of people. At the monastery door, he met thousands of persons from every age and walk of life. In time of trouble and sorrow, they sought his prayers and advice. Many attributed favors to his prayers. He constantly showed his love of God by loving all of God’s people. He was always ready and willing to listen to anyone any time of the day or night. In return, he asked people to love and support the missions.

During his final illness, he remarked: “I’m offering my suffering that all might be one. If only I could see the conversion of the whole world.” His last conscious act was to sit up in bed and exclaim: “I give my soul to Jesus Christ.” He died in Detroit at the age of 86 on July 31, 1957 and is buried at St. Bonaventure Monastery.

(Please report any personal knowledge of Father Solanus or favors to: Vice-Postulator, 1780 Mt. Elliott Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207. Phone 313-579-2100 Ext. 140.)

“It is story in which I participated.

As a young novice, I was unable to sleep one night. Finally I gave up trying, and at about two o’clock in the morning, I went down to the darkened chapel to pray. I assumed I would be alone, but it turned out that I was not.

As I turned on the two strong lights that were trained on the altar, I discovered Fr. Solanus in front of me, kneeling on the top step in front of the tabernacle. Seeing him was a shock, because he was clearly in some kind of ecstasy and completely unaware of my presence. He didn’t even realize that I had turned on the lights. Hie eyes were fixed on the door of the tabernacle. The arms of this elderly man were extended outward in prayer, as the seconds passed, I realized he was absolutely unmoving; his arms did not tremble in the slightest.

I watched for a few minutes, and during that time he did not move at all. I then put out the lights and went back to my room, feeling very embarrassed. It was as if I has seen something that I should not have, something that was intensely private. In fact, as I look back on that night, I now realize I was wrong. Those few moments gave me the opportunity to be a witness in Fr. Solanus’s cause for beatification, to enable the world to know a little more of his deep sanctity.”

This is taken from Father Benedict’s book entitled “Travelers Along The Way The Men and Women Who Shaped My Life” about Father Solanus Casey.