Thousands attend beatification of Father Solanus Casey, now 1 step from sainthood

Niraj Warikoo , Hasan Dudar | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Father Solanus Casey beatification: Why Catholics love the Detroit priest Father Solanus Casey beatification attendees share their stories about the beloved Detroit priest.

DETROIT — Thousands of Detroit area Catholics knew Father Solanus Casey as a miracle worker.

On Saturday, the Catholic Church officially recognized that quality in the late Capuchin friar, declaring him “Blessed Solanus” in a beatification Mass at Ford Field.

"I've been waiting for this day for 14 years," said Lily Flask of Livonia, Mich., who believes Casey's intercession helped save her husband from heart problems in 2003. "I prayed every day to him. ... I had to be here today."

The rare ceremony put Casey, who co-founded the Capuchin Soup Kitchen here, one step and one miracle away from being declared a Catholic saint. Detroit's ceremony was the third time a beatification has occurred in the United States and the first for an American-born man.

► Friday: Did Father Solanus Casey help cure a woman from Panamá?

► Friday: What it takes to become a saint

► Thursday: Priest's beatification will bring him one step away from sainthood

Casey, born Bernard "Barney" Francis Casey in Oak Grove, Wis., died in 1957 years ago in Detroit. But when he was the doorkeeper of St. Bonaventure Monastery on the city's east side from 1924 to 1945, his prayers and presence gave comfort to visitors suffering from illness and trauma.

Flask and her husband, Salvino, were waiting in line for was the largest Catholic service in Michigan since 1987 when Pope John Paul II presided over Mass at the Silverdome in Pontiac. The same mammoth wooden altar and matching pulpit were used in Saturday's service; 70,000 tickets were given away, and about 60,000 came despite a gray day with some rain and a high around 45 degrees, archdiocese officials said.

Casey was beatified Saturday because the Vatican and its experts said they could find no scientific explanation of how one woman’s genetic, disfiguring skin disease disappeared in the hours after she prayed at Casey’s tomb.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at the Mass and led the rite of beatification.

As the near-capacity crowd stood, Amato, wearing a large golden mitre, read out loud in Latin an Apostolic letter from Pope Francis bestowing on Casey the honorific “Blessed Solanus."

The crowd applauded as Amato stood up to display the decree. Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron read an English version. A life-size banner of Blessed Solanus was unfurled on the altar platform.

On the platform with the Catholic clergy was Paula Medina Zarate, a retired schoolteacher from Panamá whose skin disease was healed after she prayed at Casey’s tomb.

“Detroit is the place of my dreamings now,” said Zarate, through tears during a phone call earlier this month. “I never expected to find life in a tomb.”

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The presence of Zarate, carrying a wooden cross-shaped reliquary containing relics of bone removed from Casey’s remains, had special significance in Detroit, a city whose residents are about 80% African-American. Only a small percentage of Catholics in the U.S. are black.

“In time of trouble and sorrow, they sought his prayers and advice. Many people believed he had the gifts of healing and prophecy,” said Brother Richard Merling, a Capuchin friar who worked for decades as the co-vice postulator for Casey’s sainthood cause. “He constantly showed his love of God by loving all God’s people” and told the faithful, “I have two loves: the sick and the poor.”

The Mass included about 500 priests, including the Detroit Archdiocese’s retired leader, Cardinal Adam Maida; the pope’s apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre; Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley; and Newark, N.J., Cardinal Joseph Tobin, a native Detroiter.

Tobin said he came for the beatification because Casey “is a Detroit saint, and he speaks to every Detroiter, and the ones who are looked over or forgotten.”

Tobin’s sister, Gerarda Tobin of Grosse Pointe Woods, led the planning committee for the beatification.

The program was done in English, Chaldean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese, reflecting the multicultural makeup of the Archdiocese of Detroit, which has about 1.3 million Catholics. It was planned to be simple, yet elegant service, reflecting the personality of Casey, said Edward Foley, a Capuchin friar from Chicago who coordinated the liturgy.

“We’re just joyed to be here to be witness of this,” said Janie Graves, 64, who came with her husband, David Graves, 59, and daughter Catherine Graves, 26. Graves’ son, Jason Graves, 30, is a Capuchin deacon who was at the altar during the beatification Mass and will take his vows in January.

Flask was of several Catholics who say that Casey's blessing has helped them cope with illness.

Eleeno Sammut of Detroit said that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago, but after praying to Casey, it went away.

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"Thank you, Father Solanus," Sammut said. "I pray to him every single day. I believe in him. I'm a believer."

More than 300 of Casey's relatives were at the ceremony, seated in sections directly in front of the altar.

They came from as far as Ireland. Many wore buttons with Casey's photo, and ribbons embossed with his famous saying "Thank God Ahead of Time" and "Casey Family."

Carol Daly was there with her grandson, Chase Kosoglow, 5 months, of Sacramento, who probably earned the title of youngest Casey relative in attendance. Daly and her four sisters, all granddaughters of Blessed Solanus' youngest sister, Genevieve Casey McCluskey, came to Detroit for the Mass.

"It's a blessing and an honor to be here and to bring a small child here," said Daly, also of Sacramento. "We'll have a story to tell him."

Whenever someone asked Kate Kosoglow, Daly's daughter-in-law, why they were planning a trip to Detroit, she said she gleefully explained: "My husband's great-great uncle is getting beatified."

Her parish priest thought that was cool.

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"Nobody in my family is worth beatifying," she said he told her.

Casey’s elevation illustrates “ordinary people who bring Jesus to the world around them,” said Rocco Palmo, a Philadelphia-based Vatican observer who authors the Catholic news website WhispersInTheLoggia.com. It is something anyone can do, and all of us are called to do.

Now that Casey’s declared “blessed,” his image can be included in paintings and statues inside churches throughout southeastern Michigan. More Catholic pilgrims will visit the Father Solanus Center on Detroit’s east side.

► March 2015: Pope Francis cleans up costly saint-making process

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Beatification also brings with it a feast day, July 30, dedicated to Blessed Solanus, to be celebrated on the church's liturgical calendar in Michigan and in Capuchin order-run churches elsewhere. It means statues and paintings of Casey can be placed inside Catholic churches because now he can be a subject of public veneration.

With beatification, the churches in the six-county Archdiocese of Detroit and Capuchin-run churches and monasteries worldwide will be allowed to invoke Blessed Solanus’ name in official church prayers and rituals. Before Saturday, such devotion to Casey was expressed through individual or private prayer.

Before the Mass in the stadium’s concourse, concessions and confessions were offered. Priests were stationed in quiet corridors for Catholics who wanted to partake in the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation before the beatification Mass.

Cheryl Haines, 71, of Warren, Mich., always has felt a connection to Casey. She sat in a wheelchair outside Ford Field before the Mass, her longtime friend Sandy Smith, 75, of St. Clair Shores, Mich., standing behind her.

Haines said she hopes Casey will intercede on her behalf for healing.

“I have health needs. If it helps, it would be wonderful, but I’m not expecting it,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Father Greg Mirto of Houston has paid respect to Casey in Detroit.

In 1999, he made a pilgrimage to Casey's tomb, where he prayed and asked for help in building his church. The next year, construction began at St. William Catholic Church in Fort Lupton, Colo., Mirto said.

“And the church has been built, so I came back to give thanks to the Lord for Father Solanus,” Mirto said.

Kevin Coupe, 49, of Kansas City, Mo., had a photo of Casey with symbols of the Detroit Tigers; Lions; and a fiddle, which represented Casey's love of playing Irish songs on his violin.

"He was a poor man, a humble man," Coupe said of Casey. "In the world today, people need to be humble."

Coupe had expected to travel to Detroit three years ago to visit the Solanus Casey Center and the monastery where Casey lived. But he unexpectedly suffered a back injury and was unable to make it.

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He knew he had to be here, walking one mile from his hotel to Ford Field.

"He knew life was full of disappointments," Couple said of Casey. "That's why people are so drawn to him."

Contributing: Patricia Montemurri and Ann Zaniewski, Detroit Free Press. Follow Niraj Warikoo and Hasan Dudar on Twitter: @nwarikoo and @h_dudar