Detroit, Michigan tends to get a bad rap. Crime, drugs, and
violence haunt its burned out houses and abandoned factories. Growing up in the
suburbs of Detroit, I’ve seen two sides of the city: a rough, threatening place
and a place where small bits of hope peak through. These small bits of hope are
seen in Detroit’s many gems like the Detroit Institute of Art, Eastern Market
on a Saturday morning, Belle Isle andTigers Stadium. Each of these places serve as a reminder that
hope is on the horizon, and one place
where I really feel this sense of hope is at the Father Solanus Casey Center.
Father
Solanus grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin in the late 1800s. He worked as a
logger, prison guard, and streetcar operator. After praying a novena for direction, he discerned his vocation to join the Capuchin
priests and heard Mary tell him to “go to Detroit.” He struggled with the
coursework and his superiors determined that he was not fit to fulfill the
duties of a priest. He was ordained a simplex priest and was given the job of
porter. That was where the miracles began. He would listen to people’s problems
as they approached the door to the church and tell them to start thanking God because
their prayers were already being answered. As time went on he grew very famous
for his miracles and people came from all over to meet him and ask for
miracles. His intercessions continued throughout his life and he continues to
work them today. Even St. Andre Besset, who has a special connection to Notre
Dame and the Holy Cross Order, asked for a blessing from Father Solanus while visiting
Detroit in 1935.
The church
and monastery where he lived, St. Bonaventure on Mount Elliot road in Detroit,
has since been turned into a museum and pilgrimage center. With a prayer
sculpture garden (based on St. Francis’s Canticle of the Sun), a museum of
Father Solanus’s life, and Father Solanus’s tomb to pray beside, the center is
a place of peace in one of Detroit’s rougher neighborhoods. It has become a
place where people flock still for answers to their prayers and deepen their
relationship with God through learning about the life of this very holy man.
The greater
goal of the Father Solanus Casey Center is to work to help him become a saint. Recent
years have brought forth the stories of many miracles worked by Father Solanus.
One miracle involves a child without bones in her legs suddenly gaining them
when she was placed on his tomb. Another is of a woman with a severe skin
condition that was suddenly cured. Unfortunately, however, miracles are not
always enough for sainthood. The process of becoming a saint is difficult. The
miracles must stand up to doctors in the
Vatican who determine whether there is no scientific explanation for the
miracle. It is a thorough process, but the people who work at the center remain
determined to help him become a saint. Father Solanus is currently Venerable.
More miracles are being examined in order for him to become Blessed and
Beatified.
To learn
more about the center and Father Solanus, please click here [ LINK TO http://www.solanuscenter.org/]. And if
you are looking for a weekend getaway or a convenient pilgrimage, turn your
eyes to Detroit. You’ll find a place filled with hope, particularly at the
Father Solanus Casey Center, where you can join Father Solanus on his road to
sainthood and your own.
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