Blessed Solanus Casey

Life story

Bernard Francis Casey was born on 25 November 1870 at Oak Grove, Wisconsin, one of sixteen children of an Irish immigrant family. As a young man he worked many jobs: lumberjack, prison guard and streetcar operator. In 1896, after witnessing a violent incident, he felt called to religious life. In 1897 he joined the Capuchins in Detroit and took the name Solanus.

Because of poor marks in the seminary, he was ordained in 1904 as a so-called simplex priest: allowed to say Mass but not to hear confessions or preach formally. He was given the post of doorkeeper at friaries, first in New York and then in Detroit. There visitors came to him for advice, prayer and help, including during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He helped establish a soup kitchen for the hungry near St. Bonaventure Monastery.

Late in life he lived at Huntington, Indiana, then returned to Detroit for medical care and died on 31 July 1957. He is remembered as a simple, gentle friar. Many people recorded accounts of favours they felt they had received through his prayers. He was beatified on 18 November 2017.

He was also known for playing the violin, and though his singing was not good, he enjoyed singing for his brothers. So many people came to see him at the friary door that his brothers kept notes of his advice. His tomb is now in St. Bonaventure Church in Detroit.

Works and witness

• Worked as a lumberjack, prison guard and streetcar operator before entering religious life
• Joined the Capuchins in 1897; ordained in 1904
• Served as friary doorkeeper in New York and Detroit for many years
• Helped found a soup kitchen in Detroit; beatified in 2017

Saints from the same country

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Katharine Drexel, Saint Théodore Guérin

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Capuchin Province of St. Joseph – materials on Solanus Casey

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.