I’ve had St. Francis Solanus on the brain since we met online this past summer. Call it a crescendoing mix of awe and discomforting disequilibrium. It wasn’t only the miracles that hooked me. Finding conflicting information on Solanus fueled my confusion and my need to know, but I was too busy to look for answers at the time.
For months I was pestered by the same questions. Why does Solanus have different backgrounds and dates of birth? Are there two? If so, what’s the connection? And why do I need to know this?
Sunday afternoon I read the news online and then went in search of Solanus. Just like that. And finally cleared up my Solani misconceptions.
First, St. Francis Solano (or Solanus, 1547-1610), a Spanish Franciscan missionary, was quite a wonder worker. According to St. Francis Solanus– Apostle to America (Royer, 1955), miracles included saving a group of slaves from drowning at sea, preaching to various South American tribes in one language but being understood by everyone simultaneously, bringing a five-year-old girl back to life after she died from a fall, crossing a wide river in an unconventional manner, traveling without provisions and always arriving well taken care of, and converting 9,000 South American natives during one sermon.
Above all, however, he fervently believed in the power of Baptism and went to extreme measures to safeguard and Christianize the indigenous.
St. Francis Solanus was canonized in 1726. His feast day is July 14th.
Second, Father Barney Francis Casey (1870-1957), the sixth of ten children, was born to Irish immigrants on a farm near Oak Grove, Wisconsin. His academic challenges kept him from becoming a diocesan priest; but he persisted in the call of service when Our Lady told him to go to Detroit. Father Casey took the name Solanus when he joined the Capuchin Order at St. Bonaventure Monastery in 1897.
Although disallowed from formal preaching and hearing confessions, Father Casey was known for delivering feverinos, spiritual fires which gained him many listeners and ardent supporters; and he always made time for those who sought his assistance and guidance. Daily, he visited with 150 to 200 people who flocked to him for special favors– cures from illnesses, relief from economic woes, and many such miracles– that, in twenty-one years’ time, “he filled seven notebooks with more than 6,000 requests for help from petitioners.”
Again and again, in his letters, [Father Solanus Casey] repeated his life’s message– that confidence in God is the very soul of prayer and becomes the condition for supernatural intervention in our lives. “God condescends to use our powers if we don’t spoil his plans by ours…” (Baulach, 1996).
What a gift! Not one but two Solani miracle workers. They loved those they served and were loved in return.
When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, his Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them (Servant of God Dorothy Day, 1897-1980).
Father Casey was deemed Venerable in 1995 and awaits canonization. His feast day is November 5th.
Filed under: Capuchins, Father Solanus Casey, Franciscans, Our Lady, St. Francis Solanus, faith, gifts, prayer, saints | Tagged: Father Solanus Casey Guild, overcoming adversity, St. Bonaventure Monastery-Detroit MI | Leave a Comment »
















