The uncorrupted body of the ‘Venerable’ Fr. Solanus Casey O.F.M. Cap., or the “Best loved man in Detroit” as he is declared by many Michiganders, is interred at St. Bonaventure’s Monastery in Detroit, Michigan. Buried in the cemetery at St. Bonaventure’s Monastery in 1957, his body was exhumed in 1987, and moved to a special crypt within the transept of the monastery’s chapel. The Archbishop was witness to the fact that after thirty years the body of Fr. Solanus was found to be intact and lacking any signs of decomposition. Fr.Casey was then re interred and sealed in a steel casket with the seal of the Archbishop and entombed in the chapel. There are still numerous pilgrims everyday that visit St. Bonaventure’s and many claim miraculous recoveries and many are brought back to the faith at this spot. In staggering numbers, actually.
Born Barney Casey he was the oldest of 16 children. With his Irish-American roots, this Wisconsin bread boy became a lumberjack, a prison guard and a streetcar motorman before he received the call to the clergy. Barney witnessed the violent stabbing of a young woman, and the event was like a wake up call. He understood that God wished him to become a priest. He planned a novena (a series of daily prayers, a traditional Catholic form of prayer), to Our Lady for her Feast day of Dec.8th. It was during this novena that Barney felt the presence of Our Lady who told him to ‘Go to Detroit.’ He did.
Barney became Francis Solanus Casey in 1897 and was ordained in 1903. He had not been the scholarly type apparently, and he was ordained only with the stipulation that he was NOT allowed to hear confessions excepting in emergencies, and he was NOT allowed to preach. Undaunted, and very humble about it all, he was assigned to a parish in Yonkers and later in Harlem, New York. It was during this time that he started the Seraphic Mass Association, a prayer group in which each member had access to the prayer requests of all the members. By helping those in distress fill in their application cards, he would be able to hear their problems. After receiving some very quick and unexpected healings and solutions to problems, Solanus was directed to keep a record of all those that were helped by his superior. At St. Bonaventure’s alone he cataloged over 6,000 requests, and some 700 of those had footnotes. Upon inspection of Solanus’s notes the footnotes were found to be answers to petitions.
Solanus reported recoveries from ailments like cancer, leukemia, tuberculosis, diphtheria, arthritis, blindness and other maladies. His postscripts also contained information about favorable business outcomes, resolutions to domestic problems and the return of many who had turned from their faith. In 1925 it is reported that John McKenna enrolled Chevrolet Motors for 50 cents because he was afraid of losing his job. Chevrolet had been on the verge of bankruptcy but within two nights of Mckenna’s request they received an order for 45,000 machines.
He was sent to Huntington Indiana for a short time, he had over 200 letters a day by this time and so the other brothers made a rubber stamp with Solanus’s signature on it. In 1956 Solanus was diagnosed with skin cancer and was already suffering from arthritis. He was moved back to Detroit. He was still often heard playing his violin. He wished to remain fully aware at the moment of his death so he could consiouly give his soul to Christ. On July 31, 1957 the 53rd anniversary of his first mass he was granted that wish. Two nurses witnessed Solanus sit straight up in bed, feebly extend his arms and declared, “I give my soul to Jesus Christ.” He then expired.
After the death of Solanus, Clare Ryan started the Father Solanus Guild which today boasts a membership of thousands. In 1974 Brother Leo Wollenweber began collecting evidence for the canonization of Fr. Solanus. Two huge gray filing cabinets were filled with evidence. In 1994 the television show ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ did a segment about Solanus and the ’special favors’ he had obtained during his life. It took thirty years before Fr. Solanus was declared heroic or ‘venerable’ by Pope John Paul II. That is the first of three steps to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
So Michigan has it’s own uncorrupted saint, residing in death in Detroit. If you find yourself in that neck of the woods, might I suggest a side trip to St. Bonaventure’s in Detroit. Who knows, many still claim to be healed there. I myself have had a personal experience there. Maybe you’ll find a cure for what ails you.
sources:
Catholic Education Organization, Daily Catholic
referenced
- Father Solanus Casey And His ‘Favors’ -Vivian M. Baulch
- Daily Catholic, October 6, 1999 Vol. 10 no. 190
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The spirit of an adolescent boy has been seen on more than one occasion wandering down Jennings Rd., just before it intersects with Mt. Morris Rd. in Mt. Morris Township. I, myself encountered him on my way home from a friends house. He appeared to be roughly 15 years old and in a gray hoody and jeans. I sped by him at approximately 10:30 p.m. on a warm June night last summer. The one fact that made him stand out in my mind as I careened passed him is that he looked cold, and in a hoody, in June? When I glanced back in my rear view mirror he was gone. It gave me the chills for a moment, but I continued on, forgetting about it until just recently. I was just talking to my daughter, who lives in White Oaks Estates in that area. We were talking about this and that and during the conversation I mentioned that the block of Jennings by the park creeped me out. She asked me If I had heard of ‘The Ghost Boy’ as some of the residence refer to him.
