Father Solanus Casey, American priest beatified

Venerable Solanus Casey
 

He was the second American-born male to be beatified. Father Stanley Rother, an Oklahoma priest martyred in Guatemala, was beatified in September.

Therese Recinella, a native of Detroit and currently the Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, was among the more than 65,000 that attended the beatification. She was “blessed” to be among the pilgrims that day, making the journey from South Texas to Detroit.

Therese Recinella, a native of Detroit and currently the Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, was among the more than 65,000 that attended the beatification. Contributed photo

“My parents emigrated from Italy prior to World War II. Their families settled on the eastside of Detroit. Like many immigrants of that time, they knew the ‘holy priest,’ as Italians would say. I was raised in a household influenced by Franciscan spirituality. Stories of miracles through Father Solanus Casey were part of my upbringing,” Recinella said. 

Born Bernard Casey on Nov. 25, 1870, Father Casey was the sixth child of 16 born to Irish immigrants in Wisconsin. At age 17 he left home to work at various jobs, including as a lumberjack, a hospital orderly and a prison guard.

Re-evaluating his life, after witnessing a drunken sailor brutally stab a woman to death, he decided to act on a call he felt to enter the priesthood. Because of his lack of formal education, however, he struggled in the minor seminary. At that time, all the seminaries in Wisconsin conducted classes in German, a language that he struggled to learn. Eventually he was encouraged to become a priest through a religious order rather than through the diocese.

At prayer, Father Casey experienced a locution from the Blessed Virgin Mary “Go to Detroit.” He obeyed what he received in prayer and in 1898 went to St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit where he was accepted into the Capuchin Franciscan order. After struggling with his studies, in 1904 he was ordained a “sacerdos simplex;” priest who can say Mass, but not publicly preach or hear confessions. Wherever Father Casey was sent, he was assigned as the monastery porter, whose role was to answer the door, the phone and record Mass intentions.

Father Casey greeted dozens and sometimes hundreds of visitors a day. He patiently listened to each person’s struggles and concerns. He recorded each person’s prayer intention in a small book along with enrollment in the Seraphic Mass Association. He also recorded answers to the prayers. People of all walks of life, religions and ethnicities came to see the “holy priest.” It did not matter what the concern was, he listened to each person. At St. Bonaventure, so many people came daily that the monastery had to expand the waiting room, add chairs and reposition Father Casey’s desk. 

“There was no one, after visiting Solanus Casey at the door of the monastery, who returned with nothing. Everyone received something, spiritual or material,” said Franciscan-Capuchin Father Carlo Calloni, the postulator of Father Casey’s cause for sainthood. He added that the life of Father Casey is the story of his “humility, his simplicity, as well as his acceptance of whatever life gave him.” 

For 21 years he was porter at St. Bonaventure Monastery. Rather than show resentment to being placed in the lowest position in the monastery, he was obedient. 

“This allowed God to work through him and transform the places where he was,” Recinella said. 

He was very close to the sick and was highly sought-after throughout his life, in part because of the many physical healings attributed to his blessings and intercession. He was also a co-founder of Detroit's Capuchin Soup Kitchen in 1929.

He was also known for his fondness for playing the violin and singing, although he had a bad singing voice because of a childhood illness, which damaged his vocal chords. Even in his 70s, Father Casey remained very active, and joined the younger religious men in a game of tennis or volleyball. 

“Thank God ahead of time,” Father Casey often said. Other of his well-remembered sayings included: “Shake off anxiety. Last year it was something that you now smile about. Tomorrow it’s about something that will not be serious if you raise your heart to God and thank him for whatever comes” and “One of humanity’s greatest weaknesses is setting a limit to God’s power and goodness.”

When Father Casey died in Detroit in 1957 from erysipelas, a skin disease, on July 31, 1957, at the age of 87, 20,000 people attended his funeral at St. Bonaventure. 

“He demonstrated the gifts of prophecy, healing and wisdom. As extraordinary as this is, the gift of listening to each person with love is a lesson in charity that our modern world desperately needs,” Recinella said. “In our world today listening to others seems to be lost. We can learn from Blessed Solanus the importance of presence and of listening prayerfully with love to others. By bringing God’s presence into our everyday lives we can allow God to transform these situations as places of encounter with God’s love.”

Eventually, because of his humility and good counsel, people began to seek out Father Casey for spiritual guidance. Over the course of his life “he also wrote many letters in reply to the people who asked him for advice,” Father Calloni said.

Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to Father Casey’s intercession at a May 4 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Father Calloni said because the miracle is a “delicate” matter, he could only speak of it in general terms, but said it occurred to a Panamanian woman who was invited to visit Detroit by Capuchin Franciscan missionaries.

During her visit, the woman, who had a grave and incurable genetic skin disease, visited and prayed at the tomb of Father Casey. Like many devotees, she wrote a note to place at the tomb, asking for a special grace or favor. She prayed for a long list of family and friends, but then was moved to ask for something for herself. “And she asked only to have a greater faith. This is all,” Father Calloni said. She was completely healed.

“The beatification of Father Solanus is a tremendous blessing for the whole community of southeast Michigan, an opportunity for all of us to experience the love of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit said.

The beatification Mass was celebrated at Ford Field.