Solanus Casey

         Bernard Francis Casey was borrn on November 25, 1870 into a large Wisconsin farming family.  His parents, Irish immigrants, had sixteen children.  Bernard was their sixth.  The Casey family moved from Oak Grove to Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1878, and then again to Burkhart, Wisconsin, in 1882.  Bernard’s family was very close, a typical Midwest Catholic pioneer family that lived a simple, tough life, but together.  The family’s life was rooted in the Catholic faith, and like many boys, Bernard and his brothers played baseball, hunted, fished, and otherwise had a positive childhood.

         As he entered young adulthood, Bernard left the family farm and worked a variety of jobs, such as lumberjack,  prison guard, and a hospital worker, among others.  For a time he also worked as a street car, or trolley, operator.  It was during this time, when Bernard was 21, he saw a drunk assault a woman on the street car’s tracks.  This incident affected Bernard greatly, making him want to do something with his life to make the world better and to counteract with love violence like that he witnessed.  Bernard had as a teenager wondered about the priesthood.  This experience led him to pursue the call.  Bernard enrolled at Saint Francis High School Seminary for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in January 1891, aiming to become a diocesan priest.  

         Bernard struggled with his priestly studies, in large part because seminaries at the time often taught only in German or Latin.  He enjoyed his seminary time and got along well with his classmates but, after a time, he was told he did not have the academic ability to proceed to priesthood with the diocese and was encouraged instead to consider applying to religious orders.  Bernard returned home and spent much of the second half of 1896 to discern what step to take next.  He inquired with the Jesuits, Franciscans and Capuchins, all of whom invited him to consider their orders.  Joined by his mother and one of his sisters, Bernard decided to pray a 9-day novena to the Blessed Mother leading up to the Feast of Immaculate Conception.  At the end of the novena, after receiving the Eucharist at mass, Bernard heard the Blessed Mother tell him to “Go to Detroit”.  Bernard obeyed and arrived at St. Bonaventure in Detroit, the headquarters of the Capuchins in the United States, on Christmas Eve in time for Midnight Mass.  He was formally accepted into the order on January 14, 1897, taking the name Friar Francis Solanus after St. Francis Solano, a Franciscan Spanish missionary who had a heart for the poor and loved the violin.  As another Capuchin was also named Francis, Bernard went by just “Solanus”.

         Friar Solanus was sent to St. Francis of Assisi Monastery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to resume his priestly studies.  He continued to struggle with the academic curriculum.  The faculty questioned whether he should progress to ordination.  Solanus, despite his desire to be ordained, in a letter to them, surrendered himself to God’s will and their decision.  Ultimately, it was decided that Solanus would be ordained a “simplex priest”, which under the canon law of the time meant that Solanus would be able to celebrate the Mass but not have the authority to hear confessions or preach.  He accepted this fate with humility.  On July 24, 1904, Solanus was ordained to the piresthood and a week later celebrated his first Mass with his family in Appleton, Wisconsin.

          After ordination, Fr. Solanus spent the first 2 decades with the Capuchins in friaries in New York, first in Yonkers and later in New York City.  Next, he was transferred to Detroit where he served at the St. Bonaventure monastery for about 21 years.  Fr. Solanus is best known for his years in Detroit.  As a simplex priest, who couldn’t hear confessions or preach, the friars assigned him the duties of porter.  Fr. Solanus would serve in that role most of his time in Detroit, receiving people who came to the monastery’s door.  He developed a great reputation for sanctity and gifts for spiritual and physical healing.  Soon people would flock to receive his counsel, often bringing hopes for a miracle from God worked through this humble Capuchin they recognized as so close to God.  Many amazing stories are told of this time, from cures of the sick, to others that reveal the playful and joyful spirit of Fr. Solanus, like the multiplication of ice cream cones.  Fr. Solanus conducted healing services for the sick on Wednesdays.  On instruction from his superiors, he kept journals documenting the favors reported to him by those he helped, filling many volumes.  Fr. Solanus  also helped found the Capuchin Soup Kitchen to provide food for Detroit’s poor during the Great Depression.  The soup kitchen continues to serve Detroit’s needy to this day.

         Fr. Solanus loved to play the violin, even if his skills were marginal.  He would offer his playing to the Lord present in the tabernacle.  He enjoyed playing sports with his brother friars.  He maintained regular contact with his family outside of the monastery, facilitated in part by the birth of the automobile age.  “Blessed be God in all His designs!” and “Thank God ahead of time” were two sayings of Fr. Solanus that capture the posture of gratitude, trust, and humility that well represent the spirituality of Fr. Solanus.

         His health begining to decline, in 1946, Fr. Solanus was transferred to the Capuchin novitiate in Huntington, Indiana.  He lived there until 1956, in and out of hospitals, before returning to Detroit for medical treatment for a skin condition (thought to be erysipelas or psoriasis) that caused his skin to deteriorate.  Fr. Solanus died on July 2, 1957, at the age of 86, in St. John hospital in Detroit, in the presence of one of his sisters.  It is reported that, as he died, Fr. Solanus said, “I give my soul to Jesus Christ.”   Thousands came to pay their last respects at his funeral.

         The Archdiocese of Detroit began his canonization cause in the 1970s.  In 2012, Paula Medina Zarate received a cure of a genetic skin condition called ichthyosis when she came to the United States to pray at Fr. Solanus’ tomb at St. Bonaventure Monastery.  The Vatican recognized the miracle in 2017, which paved the way for Fr. Solanus to be beatified.  Fr. Solanus became Blessed Solanus Casey at a mass and beatification right held at Ford Field in Detroit on November 18, 2017.

         Blessed Solanus Casey has been suggested as a good patron saint for the sick, the poor, and those suffering setbacks or apparent failures.  Blessed Solanus’ tomb is housed within the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit, Michigan, which is on the grounds of St. Bonaventure Monastery where Solanus once lived and worked.  The center includes a museum with many artifacts from his life, as well as a votive chapel and opportunities for Mass and confession.  Efforts are underway at St. Mary’s parish in River Falls, WI, which Solanus attended in his youth, to develop a shrine at that parish.