Blessed Solanus Casey

Blessed Solanus Casey emoji

How rare and difficult it is to be holy!  How wonderful when we discover someone who really stands out in a crowd of faithful and is so well known for their spiritual strength that we all long to model our lives after them.  Sanctity is so rare, in fact, that America can only boast of 15 saints and blesseds from our country.

On Saturday, November 18th, 2017, Fr. Solanus Casey, OFM, was beatified in Detroit, Michigan.  Well known by many for his gifts of healing and prophesy, this man who was the sixth child in a family of sixteen, born in Prescott, Wisconsin and was not particularly gifted in educational skills, a man who was very humble and obedient, has become the latest American example of sanctity recognized by the Church.

I had first learned of Solanus Casey about 30 years ago.  Fr. Jeff VandenHeuvel, a priest who had been assigned at my hometown parish of Holy Innocents in Manitowoc was so gifted in singing his homilies that he recorded several of them on tape as a fundraiser.  I had purchased his tapes and listened to them over and over again until they completely wore out.  One of his homily stories featured Fr. Solanus Casey whom Fr. Jeff described as the lowliest of the Capuchins who became the greatest of the Capuchins.  Fr. Jeff's story so captivated me that I never forgot it and have been intrigued by Fr. Solanus ever since and have turned to him in prayer on many occasions.

Born on November 25th, 1870, Fr. Solanus' vocational call came while witnessing a brutal murder of a woman in Superior, Wisconsin.  Struggling through the academic rigors of seminary which was taught in German and Latin, Fr. Solanus was ordained a "simplex priest."  He could not hear confessions or preach.  His assignment was to become the porter at St. Bonaventure Friary in Detroit and several places in New York and Indiana.  It was through this humble job that Fr. Solanus began to gain notoriety as an excellent listener and wonder-worker.  People would come and share their trials with Fr. Solanus and, with his encouragement toward prayer, people would leave him healed of burdens and suffering.  For those for whom healing would not be possible, Fr. Solanus would encourage them with a reminder that the "Good God" knows what is best.  

Fr. Solanus was known to spend entire evenings in prayer in the church.  He was so closely connected to God and in tune with his faith that he was an inspiration to his brother priests.  He also loved to play the violin, although it's said that he played very poorly.  Nobody could stand to listen to him play so he took his violin to the church to play in front of the tabernacle for Jesus and at Christmas would offer a gift of music to the Infant Christ.

Above all, Fr. Solanus stressed the need for gratitude in all things.  He would say "Thank God ahead of time."  That way you put him on the spot and he will be more inclined to your desires.

There are thousands of stories of miracles and answered prayers through Fr. Casey's help while he was alive.  He would always be sure to remind everyone that it was God who brought the healing and answered prayers, not him.  When he died on July 31st, 1957, he was said to have sat straight up in bed with his arms out like a cross and said, "I give my soul to Jesus Christ."  Nearly 2000 people came for his funeral.  He truly was the least Capuchin who had become the greatest.

Upon exhuming his body in 1987 to be moved from the cemetery to the Solanus Center, he was found to be incorrupt, an occurrence that is extremely rare among the saints.

I was so blessed to personally attend Fr. Solanus' beatification Mass in Detroit.  Making our way through a crowd of 70,000 in the cold, pouring rain only made the occasion more meaningful and memorable.  The following day we paid a visit to the Casey Center to pray at his tomb.  The experience was deeply moving and more than once I had tears in my eyes as I pondered the grace that I had been given.

One of those teary-eyed moments came when Ms. Paula Medina Zarate, a teacher from Panama whose miraculous healing of her skin disease brought about the beatification, carried in Fr. Solanus' relics to be placed at the altar during Mass.  The following description from the Solanus Center in Detroit offers a great explanation about both the relics and the reliquary in which they were contained.

Relics of Fr. Solanus Casey's arm

A closer view of the relics

"Relics are an important part of our Catholic faith. They provide us with a physical, tangible connection to the Communion of Saints, and help us draw closer to God. A relic of Father Solanus Casey was presented during the Beatification Mass this past Saturday. This relic, a portion of bone removed from the arm of the Blessed Porter who reached out to so many people, was carried to the altar by Ms. Paula Medina Zarate of Panamá. Paula received a miraculous healing of a skin disease after praying for the intercession of Blessed Solanus. Brother Michael Sullivan, our Provincial Minister, and Brother Jozev Timmers, who has ministered in Panamá for many years, escorted Paula to the altar. Cardinal Amato later incensed the relic in a humble act of veneration.

The reliquary, or the vessel in which the relic is housed, was designed by Brother Mark Joseph Costello. It is a simple wooden cross that incorporates into its design a wooden dinner plate, which would have been used to feed both the Friars and the poor alike during the lifetime of Blessed Solanus. This provides yet another link to the Blessed Friar who served the poor and who was instrumental in the foundation of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. This relic will eventually come to reside at the St. Bonaventure Chapel at the Solanus Casey Center, where it can be venerated by the many pilgrims who visit the center." http://www.solanuscenter.org/home

Please join me in praying for one more miracle so that our Blessed Solanus may soon become Saint Solanus.

CANONIZATION PRAYER

O God, I adore You. I give myself to You.

May I be the person You want me to be,

and May Your will be done in my life today.

I thank You for the gifts You gave Father Solanus.

If it is Your Will, bless us with the Canonization of

Father Solanus so that others may imitate

and carry on his love for all the poor and

suffering of our world.

As he joyfully accepted Your divine plans,

I ask You, according to Your Will,

to hear my prayer for… (your intention)

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Blessed be God in all His Designs.”

Imprimatur:

The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron

Archbishop of Detroit

May 2017

To learn more about Blessed Solanus including many fascinating stories of healings and other miraculous events of his life, visit Michigan Catholic.

Pictures from my visit to the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit:

Prayer items of Blessed Solanus

His sandals

Habit and Violin

Blessed Solanus' Prayer Intention Book

The covering for his tomb before the beatification.

Blessed Be God!

Blessed Solanus Casey, pray for us!

A RUGged Post

I'm still sifting through memories and moments of the big Philly trip to see Pope Francis last September, and I'm still marveling over the monumentalness of it all; the fact that I took a fifteen hour bus ride anywhere, the fact that the city of Philadelphia was so unexpectedly fascinating, and the fact that I was on the same street as Pope Francis all astound me.

Considering how much I love and admire Pope Francis I should really just be marveling about the fact that I'm on the same planet that he is on, shouldn't I?  He has so much to teach us about love and kindness and mercy and God and yet we seem to spend so much time arguing about what he says and what he means.  We just don't understand him, do we?  Sort of like those Pharisees who argued with and questioned Jesus every time he spoke.  Truthfully, I have to admit that sometimes when I read the words of Jesus, I don't understand Him, either.  I mean, why did He say that He came to bring division? What's that about?  Doesn't scripture say that "He shall be peace"?  It's just too confusing for me to wrap my head around the whole concept.

But whether or not I always understand Pope Francis doesn't matter because I love him, anyway. And whether or not I always understand Jesus doesn't matter, either, because I for sure love Him, anyway!  I love Him with all that I am.

But back to Pope Francis in Philly-I'm sure it's no secret that I'm a nerd for all things Catholic, so I was thrilled to learn that a piece of carpeting upon which Pope Francis walked while saying Mass in Philadelphia could be had for the cost of a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  What a unique memento!  I dashed off an email to Flemington Department Store in New Jersey lickety-split, sent in a donation to St. Jude's, and within a few days was proudly admiring my future second-class relic of a future saint.  Now I just need to have it blessed!

The authenticity letter.

I won't sweep my admiration for Pope Francis under the rug!

Philly Photos

Quaint alleys were everywhere!

I loved the majestic and historic buildings.

We saw a lot of bark-less trees.  I've never seen anything like them anywhere!

Wish I could have stopped to smell the roses!  What a lovely outdoor display!

The City Hall is so beautiful!

I did not try the Pope's favorite coffee.  Was it Argentinian, perhaps?

Street musicians!  Fun!

Floral-painted garbage trucks!  Might as well disguise the smell with something sweet to look at!

St. Maria Goretti

This relic of St. Maria Goretti was a gift to me from a Sister of St. Benedict Center.
I have since given it to one of my sisters but was so blessed to have her in my home for a short time.

The relics of St. Maria Goretti, the eleven year old Italian girl who lost her life to save her purity and the purity of her attacker, and then forgave her murderer before she died, have been on a tour in the United States while the church where they are normally kept is being restored.  The tour has been called "The Pilgrimage of Mercy."  The remarkable story of the conversion of Alessandro Serenelli, St. Maria Goretti's murderer, was highlighted during the tour as well.

I was anxiously anticipating this visit from St. Maria Goretti as the reports coming from her visit in Chicago were amazing. She was escorted by Homeland Security and many of Chicago's finest police officers.  Her story was covered by several secular news outlets and we were told that people would leave her presence with tears in their eyes and a sense of deep love and respect for the saint even if they didn't know anything about her before coming to venerate her relics.

My family was blessed to visit the relics of the youngest saint while she was at St. Mary's Visitation Parish in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.  I had never before witnessed such a long line to enter a church!  It was a beautiful sight!

The line waiting to venerate the relics of St. Maria Goretti at St. Mary's Visitation Parish
in Elm Grove, Wisconsin while we were visiting.  We were told that the lines were long and constant
during the entire time that St. Maria's relics were there.

Each visitor was allowed 15 seconds to venerate St. Maria's relics in the glass case before moving on for silent, private prayer for as long as desired within the church.  While it appears that Maria's body is incorrupt, this is not so.  Maria's skeleton is encased within a wax body.

We were fortunate to find a place in the front row of the church to pray
following our 15-second veneration of the relics.
This photo was taken from that vantage point.

It was deeply moving for my family to pray before the relics of this mighty young girl, perhaps mostly so for my daughter who is very near to the same age as Maria was at the time of her death. Even more moving was the report of a Wisconsin woman who was healed from the degeneration of a ball joint in her arm upon touching the case that contained St. Maria Goretti's relics.

In this upcoming Year of Mercy beginning on December 8th, I pray that I will learn to forgive like the beautiful and remarkable St. Maria Goretti.

If you don't already know her fascinating story, you will want to read about St. Maria Goretti and the Pilgrimage of Mercy and will learn a great deal when you visit this link.

These are the items that I brought to touch to St. Maria Goretti's coffin.
The artwork was purchased at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The charms and the small, second-class relic were gifts to my daughter from a
 Handmaid of the Precious Blood.

St. Francis of Assisi Parish and Fr. Solanus Casey

"Man's greatness lies in being faithful to the present moment.  We must be faithful to the present moment or we will frustrate the plan of God for our lives.  We are continually immersed in God's merciful grace, like the air that permeates us."  ~Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey

Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey (source)

St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Milwaukee (source)

source

St. Francis of Assisi Parish on 4th and Brown St. in Milwaukee, a German Church built in 1876 and run by the Capuchin Franciscans, has recently begun to hold a Blessing of the Sick Prayer Service on the first Friday of every month, at 2 PM, in honor of Fr. Solanus Casey.  Led by Fr. Mike Bertram, with the assistance of Fr. Marty Pable, the prayer service includes an opportunity for confession (at 1:30 PM), scripture readings and a homily, prayer intentions of gratitude and petition, an individual blessing with a relic of the True Cross, and the opportunity for Anointing of the Sick.

Fr. Mike Bertram,
Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish (source)

I had the great joy of attending the most recent service with my sister and my son, and we found it to be deeply touching and filled with compassion for all of those present. Following the service and a light social, we were able to spend quite a bit of time talking with Fr. Bertram, who very generously and graciously shared a bit of the history of the church and the organ with us, as well as the story of Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey, for whom the prayer services are dedicated.

Fr. Bertram shared anecdotes about former pastors of the parish.  He told us about the financial savvy of a pastor from the 1980's whom Fr. Bertram credits with saving the beauty of the parish through great resourcefulness and clever bargaining with local painters.  He also told us about a pastor from the 1970's who had tried to sell the historic pipe organ that is now valued at over one million dollars, but his plan was thwarted, which turned out to be a blessing since the organ was built for the church and never would have sounded the same anywhere else.  The Schuelke Organ, built in 1885 for St. Francis of Assisi Parish, is one of only two in the United States from that era that is still in use today.  In 2013  a local organist offered a free recital hosted by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Organ Historical Society and the Milwaukee Chapter of American Guild of Organists.  For a small sampling of that recital as well as some sights of the inside of the church, visit this link or watch the you tube video at the end of this post.

Historic William Schuelke Pipe Organ from 1885 (source)

When it came to sharing stories of Fr. Solanus Casey, I'm sure that Fr. Bertram could have easily gone on for hours. His love and devotion to Fr. Casey was palpable.  He was clearly proud of the fact that Fr. Casey was a native Wisconsinite.  He told us about how Fr. Casey struggled in his seminary studies, and through a friendship with Archbishop Messmer who led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee at the time (sometimes it really is who you know) and who was impressed with Fr. Casey's holiness, Fr. Casey was ordained as a "simplex" priest, which meant that he was not allowed to preach or hear confessions.  When he was sent to Detroit, Michigan for the humble position of porter, he affected many lives through his ability to listen to their stories, pray for them, and somehow, bring about miraculous healings.  Fr. Casey loved the sick, but he also loved the poor very much and had great success in feeding the poor of Detroit, establishing a soup kitchen that still exists today.  Detroit likes to claim Fr. Casey as their own and he is deeply loved in that area.  Thousands of people make pilgrimages to visit his former home at St. Bonaventure Friary where he lovingly ministered to so many.

For more details about Fr. Solanus Casey and the Father Solanus Casey Guild, visit this link.  For more information about  St. Francis of Assisi Parish and the healing prayer services, visit this link.  And reading this link, a Milwaukee Catholic Herald story promoting the prayer services, has some some great information from Fr. Bertram.  Please note that there will not be a prayer service during the month of June as the Capuchins will be holding their tri-annual conference at this time.  The prayer services will resume on July 4th, 2014.  

Are you, or is someone you know, in need of healing? Why not plan to attend the monthly Blessing of the Sick services and pray to Fr. Solanus Casey for healing.  The peace and comfort you will find at the service and the possibility of a miraculous healing through the intercession of Fr. Casey await! 

relic from the Father Solanus Casey Guild given out at the prayer service

PRAYER FOR THE BEATIFICATION OF VENERABLE SOLANUS CASEY

O God, I adore You. I give myself to You.
May I be the person You want me to be,
and may Your will be done in my life today.

I thank You for the gifts You gave to Father Solanus.
If it is Your Will, bless us with the beatification of
Venerable Solanus so that others may imitate
and carry on his love for all the poor and suffering of our world.

As he joyfully accepted Your divine plans,
I ask You, according to Your Will,
to hear my prayer for . . . (your intention)
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Blessed be God in all His designs.”

Imprimatur: Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit
March 31, 2007   © F.S.G. 3/07

St. Margaret Mary

It's the feast of one of my favorite saints today so I'm celebrating with a picture and a poem that I love....

St. Margaret Mary

There were so many thorns

about his brow, 

so many red lips 

to prove the reality 

of His love, 

so little fertility 

in the soil of

His creature's affections,

so much of winter everywhere:

need we be surprised that

when the Gardener

found a rose

fragrant with remembrance

He should lift it

to His Heart?

~Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP 

Paths from Bethlehem

3 Reasons I Love Catholicism Vol. 6

It's time once again for the monthly link-up with Micaela at California to Korea in which bloggers are invited to share three reasons for their love of Catholicism.  Here I offer my humble contribution, sharing three more reasons why I love my Catholic faith from a list that grows more and more each day.

1.  Preferential Option for the Poor

"Oh how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor."  ~Pope Francis

As a long-term employee of the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program that offers nutrition education and vouchers for healthy foods to low income women and their young children, I love that my Church focuses on the importance of helping the poor and disadvantaged and offers many programs such as meal sites, food pantries, homeless shelters and other resources for those who are financially down and out.  I think it's significant that the Church offers not only practical help to the poor, but also spiritual help for their souls.  There are many downtown and inner city churches whose doors are open throughout the day, allowing the poor and homeless a place to sit and rest in the quiet of the presence of the Lord. How can time in His presence not spiritually enrich those who partake of it?

Recently, it was announced at my parish, that a fairly young man who had regularly patronized the parish food pantry, had recently passed away. He had few friends and family as depression had caused him to alienate himself, so when he died he had no funeral; there was nobody to pray for his soul.  When the parish volunteers who run the food pantry heard about this sad situation, they quickly sought to remedy it, and they planned a memorial Mass for Stephen Luchinske at Our Lady of Divine Providence (St. Casimir's) with Fr. Tim Kitzke presiding.  There, at that Mass, Stephen's soul was given a reverent and prayerful offering to the state of eternal rest.  What a beautiful example of serving the poor, whether in life or in death!

Eternal rest grant unto Stephen Luchinske, O God, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May Stephen's soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

2.  Large Families

"How can there be too many children?  That is like saying there are too many flowers."  ~Mother Teresa

As the youngest of nine children and the mother of five, I love the fact that the Catholic Church teaches about the sanctity and value of all human life, and requires that married couples be open to all life within their marriage.  I can't imagine my life without a houseful of people around me.  There is always someone nearby to talk to and embrace, and with whom I can share every aspect of life.  I can never complain that life is dull or boring or lonely for long, before I become engaged in the needs of those who depend upon me, or am filled with the joy and peace that comes from being surrounded by those who care for me.  We are definitely a relational Church and healthy relationships have their ideal beginning in the Catholic home filled with love, faith and prayer.  When people look at my family and say, "You must be Catholic!"  I hold my head up high and exclaim, "Yes, we are!"

3.  Statues 

"If it is, as it is indeed, a good and virtuous thing to kiss devoutly a book in which Christ's life and death are expressed by writing, then why should it be a bad thing to kiss reverently the images by which Christ's life and Passion are represented by sculpture or painting?"  ~St. Thomas More

For me, one of the highlights of my role as President of Roses for Our Lady comes when I go to Catholic Conferences or other events where I am able to set up a table to promote Roses for Our Lady.  I always bring our statue of Our Lady of Fatima with me and place her on the table with her scapular and rosary in hand and a lit candle before her.  As I busily visit and share the history of, and events sponsored by Roses for Our Lady with those who pause at my table, I am often struck by the number of people who stop in their tracks with a look of deep love and devotion upon their faces as they gaze upon the statue of the Blessed Mother.  Many people will reach up to tenderly touch her face, or to give her a little kiss or a hug.

What joy it brings us as Catholics to have these visual reminders of the saintly ones who have gone before us, leading the way to our own sanctity by their holy examples.  Our desire to physically kiss a statue or a crucifix is simply a sign of our love for God offered through a reverent gesture of gratitude and love to those who have given their lives completely over to Him.

Photo credit:  Huffington Post

Want more reasons to love Catholicism?  Visit here for my previous posts on this topic and visit Micaela to find even more contributions.

What a Saint!!!

In my previous post I shared the story of St. Philomena and how my friend and I were making a pilgrimage to pray to St. Philomena on behalf of her daughter who has been very ill, in great pain and very often bed-ridden for the past few months.  Although our original plan was to travel to Briggsville, Wisconsin to the Shrine of St. Philomena, a winter snowstorm prevented us from making the two hour drive so we settled for a hometown pilgrimage instead.

The snow was softly falling outside as we began our day with a leisurely breakfast and the opportunity to catch up on all of the current news in our lives.  My friend spoke about her excitement over the fact that at that very moment there was a group of pilgrims praying for her daughter at the St. Philomena Shrine in Italy.   Before we left the restaurant I heard a loud knocking noise which I explained away as the kitchen staff working noisily.  But, at the same time that I became aware of the knocking sound, my friend received  a text message from her daughter saying, "I feel fantastic!"  My friend could not remember the last time she had  heard her teenage daughter express anything but pain.  We believed that the prayers of the pilgrims in Italy were already working.

Old St. Mary's

After lunch we went to Old St. Mary's in downtown Milwaukee for the noon Mass.  Old St. Mary's is one of the original fourteen churches that was built in the city of Milwaukee and is the only one of those fourteen that is still standing in it's nearly original glory.  The snow was falling heavier now and we were feeling grateful that we didn't make that two hour drive to the Shrine even though we had both wanted to go there so badly.  As we entered the church and  knelt down to pray we both heard a loud knock.  It was unmistakable in the silence of the church.  In the back of my mind I thought it might have been a noisy furnace, but still, it was most definitely a knocking sound so I told my practical mind to quiet down and gave the credit for the knock to St. Philomena.  After a lovely Mass and some time spent praying, lighting candles and admiring the beautiful Stations of the Cross, we decided we had better get a move on to our next destination-The St. Joseph Chapel inside the School Sisters of St. Francis Convent.

St. Joseph Chapel

We drove across town and found that the streets were much more slippery than they had been when we arrived at Old St. Mary's.  We were more grateful than ever that we stayed close to home.  As we entered the chapel we found the sacristan near the altar.  We were close to a large reliquary about the size of a treasure chest under a side altar and I asked the sister who was sacristan about whose relics were within it.  She told us that the reliquary contained the entire skeleton of St. Leo.  She pointed out the relic behind it of the True Cross of Christ and shared some of the history of the chapel with us about the sources of the marble, the mosaics, the stained glass windows and the stations of the cross.  I told her that I had always wanted to go up to the balcony and asked her if it was possible.  She told us that we could access the staircase in the priest's sacristy and that we were welcome to explore the balcony.  Knowing that St. Joseph's chapel has many relics within it, I asked her if she knew whether or not there might be a relic of St. Philomena there.  She answered that there most definitely would be a St. Philomena relic there and that there was a small chapel in the balcony right above the priest's sacristy that contained thousands of relics.  The sacristan said that it would be awfully hard to find her particular relic considering the fact that there were so many which were above reach and the print was so small it would be hard to read, but she wished us luck in our search and she then excused herself so she could attend choir practice.

reliquary chapel

reliquary chapel

reliquary chapel with catalogue on altar

reliquary chapel

My friend and I had only intended to pray in the adoration chapel but now we excitedly headed for the priest's sacristy first so we could find the reliquary chapel!  When we walked inside the door we were astonished at the amount of relics within the chapel!  After looking for a while, my friend said that there must be a catalogue of relics somewhere. Then she glanced at the altar and sure enough, there was a shoe box filled with alphabetized index cards.  She found one with St. Philomena's name on it that described her relic as being one in a case of eighteen.  Even with that description we still felt as though we were looking for a needle in a haystack.  I began to pray to St. Philomena asking her to knock again if we were getting close and to please help us to find her relic.  Nothing-no knock, no relic.  We decided to take a break and explore the rest of the balcony.

When we came back she was determined to count the relics in each case looking for the one containing eighteen.  Suddenly she gasped, "Here she is!!!"  The St. Philomena relic was hidden in the very bottom right hand corner of a large case.

the case with St. Philomena's relic-she's hidden behind the crucifix on the bottom right

The V.M. stands for Virgin Martyr

After finding her relic, our time in adoration was filled with prayers of gratitude.  We  were so happy that even though we weren't able to travel to the St. Philomena Shrine in Briggville, we really didn't miss a thing since our day was filled with prayers to St. Philomena, the sound of knocking, a positive message from her daughter, safe travels and best of all the discovery of St. Philomena's relic right here in our hometown!  After we made the short but treacherous ride home, my friend wrote to say that her daughter had four hours without pain.  Could it be a miracle?  I would say most definitely and if you were to ask me if I believed that St. Philomena really is powerful with God as so many claim, my answer would be "You bet she is!"  What a saint!!!

More Than Just Old Bones!

My parish has a quarterly newsletter for which I write (you're surprised about that, right?) We have been running a Catholic Trivia Series and this is my latest installment. Do you like the title? I thought it was fitting for this blog, and for me because very soon I will be celebrating my 45th birthday and although my bones do audibly creak from time to time, I hope that I won't be looked at as just some old bones from now on!


When someone that we love moves away or dies, we long to keep a personal memento of that loved one so that we can look upon it with fond memories and it will become a reminder to pray for that person, and perhaps, to ask that person to pray for us. It’s no different in the Church. When someone who has lived a good and holy life has been elevated to the status of sainthood, we like to have those visual reminders that personal mementos provide to let us know that our beloved saint always remains with us in spirit. This is how relics can come to be a source of support in remembering the saints and in helping us to grow in holiness by turning to them in prayer.

A relic is often a piece of bone, but can also be a piece of clothing or other personal item, that had belonged to a saint and has been preserved and stored in a reliquary, or container specifically meant for holding relics, so that the faithful can venerate or honor that saint as a means to draw us into adoration of God, for whom the saintly person lived their life. The word relic is based on the Latin term “reliquiae” which means “remains.”

The practice of venerating relics is carried out in many world religions including Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. The Christian practice of venerating relics dates back to the Old Testament book of Kings: “So Elisha died and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet.” (2 Kings 13:20-21)

Another very moving example of the use of relics comes from the New Testament where a woman was cured of her hemorrhage just by touching the hem of Jesus’ cloak. She didn’t need to touch the body of Jesus or even to speak to him, but by simply reaching out to the fabric of his clothing in faith, a healing miracle occurred.

Now, today, we can’t really claim that the veneration of the relics of saints will bring about miracles, but it can draw us deeper into the mystery of God and the lives of His saints by spending some time praying over relics and reflecting on the lives of the people that they represent.

Perhaps the first saint whose relics were venerated after the time of Christ was St. Polycarp. According to Catholic Answers, the early Christians who were with him when he was burned at the stake saw to it that his remains were well cared for and they recorded the event with these words: “We took up his bones, which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place, where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.”

There are several different classes of relics. A first class relic is a part of the Saint’s physical body such as a piece of bone or hair and also the instruments of Christ’s passion such as a sliver of wood from the cross. A second-class relic is something owned by the Saint or instruments of torture used against a martyr. A third class relic is something that was touched to a first or second-class relic. It is possible to make a third class relic by touching a first or second-class relic, including the tomb of a Saint, with an object, for example, a rosary or a holy card. When relics are placed inside of churches, they are kept in one of two places: in a space inside of an altar or in a reliquary, a container specifically meant for the storage and veneration of relics.

In some cases, the body of a saint is found to be incorruptible, or without decay, when it is exhumed. In these cases, rather than separating the pieces of bones and sharing them throughout the world, the remains of the body are usually kept whole, possibly covered with wax or silicone for protection and aesthetics. There are many famous saints whose bodies are venerated as incorruptible relics such as St. Catherine Laboure from whom we received the Miraculous Medal of Mary, St. John Vianney, the patron saint of all priests, and St. Bernadette Soubirous who was the visionary at Lourdes, France.

Here in the United States there are only ten saints whose entire bodies are available for veneration. One of these can be found in Galesburg, Illinois. Fr. Jim Kubicki, SJ, the National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer based in Milwaukee, recently paid a visit to Corpus Christi Church in Galesburg, and shares the fascinating story of St. Crescent on his blog, Offer It Up:

“Around 1838 the body of a nine or ten year old boy was discovered during excavations of the catacombs of St. Cyriacus in Rome. He suffered martyrdom at that young age around the end of the third century in the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, one of the fiercest persecutions of the early Church. His name "Cresces" (anglicized to "Crescent") was on the marble slab that covered the tomb and next to the body was an urn in which had been placed the blood of the martyr now dried.

The body of St. Crescent was removed and the Holy Father gave it to Blessed Antonio Rosmini, founder of the Institute of Charity or Rosminians. Father Rosmini had the relic taken to Stresa, Italy, where it was placed under the altar of his chapel. In 1887, Rosminian Father Joseph Costa asked his superiors if he could have the relic for the church he had just built in Galesburg, Illinois. His superiors agreed.

St. Crescent's body was enclosed in a case of thin glass and Fr. Costa worried that it wouldn't make the long trip to the U.S. without being damaged. He expressed his concern to his superiors, one of whom told him: "St. Crescent will take care of himself, and you too!" And so it happened. The relic survived intact on the railroad trips through Italy, France, England, and from New York to Galesburg, but what was more remarkable was his ocean passage. Fr. Costa planned on crossing the Atlantic on a ship called "Alesia." Either because he suddenly changed his mind or because he missed the departure time, Fr. Costa and St. Cresent missed the boat. But the "Alesia" never completed the voyage; it mysteriously disappeared. Fr. Costa along with St. Crescent, having boarded a different ship, arrived safely.

You can see the body of St. Crescent in a glass case on the right side of Corpus Christi church. The bones are covered with wax except for two wounds through which you can see an arm bone and the skull. You can also see the teeth of the martyr through his partially opened mouth.”

Pictured: St. Crescent