At the same time, renovations to the public chapel at St. Bonaventure Monastery, home to the Solanus Casey Center, have also begun. Outside, the steeples are being cleaned up before a new roof is installed. Inside, the seating in the chapel has been reconfigured to more closely resemble its arrangement during the time Casey lived and prayed there and to create more seating. Efforts are underway to bring the paint color back to something close to what it was at that time, and a statue of Casey has been placed in the back of the chapel where he would have wanted to be, Preuss said.

Casey's glass-encased tomb, replete with kneelers on each side for prayer, is now visible to the public, along with pictures of the exhuming of his casket last year in preparation for his November beatification at Ford Field and the few personal possessions he had at the time of his death, including a small notebook he kept of people who visited asking him to pray for them.

The expansion taking shape is focused on the Solanus Casey Center as a place of prayer, pilgrimage and reflection, providing spiritual nourishment for all seeking it, regardless of their religion or station in life, just as the Capuchin Soup Kitchen feeds their bodies, Preuss said.

"In essence, we're looking not just for the poor of the neighborhood. We're looking for the hungers of the people in Metro Detroit ... (and beyond) ... so that as people deal with illness ... loss ... confusion, that we have a place here for them to ask forgiveness ... pray quietly, reflect, maybe get some counseling."

Casey, who sought to enter the priesthood but did not do well enough academically, was a simple friar, Preuss said.

He was the doorman at the monastery, greeting those who came, praying with them and providing sandwiches to those who were hungry. Soon, hundreds of people started coming to the monastery when word got out that his prayers of intercession were helping to heal people.

"Here's a man who had great spiritual power, who was inspirational to many people," Preuss said.

"We're supposed to do what Father Solanus did: Listen ... pray with and ... serve in whatever way we can."