Father Solanus Casey:
Will He Be Beatified Soon? (Part I)

Q U I C K S C A N

Detroit’s Solanus Casey Center
Who was Father Solanus Casey?

This watercolor portrait of Father Solanus is on display at the Solanus Casey Center. (Photo by Jack Wintz, O.F.M.)

On July 31, 1957, Capuchin friar Father Solanus Casey died in Detroit, Michigan. The whole city seemed to mourn his passing. His funeral Mass was celebrated in the chapel of St. Bonaventure Monastery where Father Solanus had lived for some 20 years. The chapel was packed. The streets outside were closed to traffic and a spillover crowd jammed the sidewalks and streets in front of the monastery.

In a recent interview, 89-year-old Brother Leo Wollenweber told me how he met Father Solanus in 1938 and served with him at the Detroit monastery until 1945. In his book, Meet Solanus Casey: Spiritual Counselor and Wonderworker (2002), Brother Leo notes further that during these same years “Solanus was at the height of his fame as an extraordinary holy man. He was known for the wonders he obtained by prayers for many of the sick and for troubled souls in Detroit and beyond.”

Within 10 years after the death of Father Solanus, hundreds of ordinary people began calling for his canonization. Many of these voices belonged to members of the Father Solanus Guild, formed in 1960 in collaboration with the Capuchins in Detroit. Other voices were coming from outside the Guild. Soon the Capuchin Friars officially got behind Solanus’s cause for beatification. Progress for the cause developed rather rapidly. Meanwhile, extensive information was carefully being gathered to provide evidence of Father Solanus’s heroic virtue. On July 11, 1995, an important milestone for the cause was reached when Pope John Paul II conferred the title of Venerable upon the Capuchin friar.

Detroit’s Solanus Casey Center

My own personal interest in the cause of Venerable Solanus Casey began in earnest when I went to Detroit last August (2006) to begin preparing an article for St. Anthony Messenger on the Solanus Casey Center built in Detroit by the Capuchin friars. The center stands adjacent to the Monastery of St. Bonaventure where Solanus lived for some 20 years and where his body was buried. The article—set for publication in the July 2007 issue of St. Anthony Messenger—will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Father Solanus’s death on July 31, 1957.

	A visitor prays at the tomb of Father Solanus. Written petitions lie atop the coffin. (Photo by Jack Wintz, O.F.M.)

I was amazed at the beauty and creative concept of the center and the spiritual impact it was having on the growing number of visitors coming to this pilgrimage site from the Detroit area and beyond. A key feature of the center is the tomb of Father Solanus. His burial place is now located inside the center near the monastery chapel and marked by a simple wooden coffin that sits directly above the saintly friar’s interred remains. Pilgrims can kneel alongside either side of the coffin and pray for Father Solanus’s intercession or leave written petitions lying on top of it.

Who was Father Solanus Casey?

Bernard Casey was born in 1870 to Irish immigrant parents on a farm in Wisconsin, near the town of Prescott, on the banks of the Mississippi River. His family and friends called him “Barney.” He had nine brothers and six sisters. Having received a very religious upbringing, Barney more than once thought of dedicating his life to God. He worked on the farm for several years before trying out other jobs such as a part-time prison guard and a streetcar operator.

In 1892, Barney entered St. Francis (archdiocesan) Seminary in Milwaukee. Finding the studies there very difficult, he was told he might be better off seeking a vocation with a religious order. In 1896, he received a letter of acceptance from the Capuchin Franciscan Friars at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit, Michigan. The following year, he received the Franciscan habit and the name Solanus (after St. Francis Solano, a Spanish Franciscan missionary who died in Peru in 1610). Studying for the priesthood was again a real struggle, but he managed to be ordained in 1904 as a simplex priest. This meant that Father Solanus could celebrate Mass, but not hear confessions or give doctrinal sermons. That is, he should restrict himself to talks of an inspirational nature.

	This black and white image of Father Solanus hangs in the Solanus Casey Center. (Photo by Jack Wintz, O.F.M.)

Father Solanus’s first assignment was to a Capuchin parish in Yonkers, New York (1904-1918). His main tasks were those of sacristan and porter (doorkeeper). But Solanus found these tasks very much to his liking—along with his celebration of daily Mass. Ironically, Solanus’s assignment as monastery porter brought him much closer to the everyday people and their spiritual needs than if he were their confessor. Both men and women flocked to this kind, holy friar and spoke to him of their trials and heartaches, or they sought his spiritual advice. Cures were often attributed to his prayers and blessings. In similar style, Solanus served two other parishes in New York: Our Lady of Sorrows in Lower Manhattan (1918-1921) and Our Lady of Angels in Harlem (1921-1924). The friar’s reputation for holiness followed him here also.

Solanus returned to Detroit and St. Bonaventure Monastery in 1924 and served there until 1945. As noted earlier, the people of Detroit soon discovered they had a saintly friar among them. People reported that when Solanus prayed for them, healings often followed.

That’s all that space permits for now. We'll conclude this story, with Solanus’s illness, death and beatification cause, in the March 15 issue of Friar Jack’s E-spirations. For more information, see www.solanuscenter.org and www.solanuscasey.org.

Send your feedback to friarjack@americancatholic.org.

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