Appleton couple attributes miraculous birth of child to Fr. Solanus Casey, who's first Mass was celebrated at their parish

On Nov. 18, Fr. Solanus Casey, who was born in Wisconsin, will be beatified at a Mass in front of more than 66,000 people at Ford Field in Detroit. Fr. Casey is only the second American-born man to be honored with such a distinction.

Fr. Solanus was born on Nov. 25, 1870, in Oak Grove. He entered the Capuchin Franciscan order in Detroit in 1897. He celebrated his first Mass at St. Joseph Parish in Appleton and passed away 53 years later on July 31, 1957. His body was found incorrupt 30 years after his death, and he was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II on July 11, 1995
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“In 2003 my wife Lara and I were blessed by God to have brought our son Kaden into the world,” said Bleck. In 2006 they became pregnant with their second child.

Lara’s water broke at the 22-week mark and on Feb. 2, 2006, their daughter, Lauren, did not survive the birth. “We still had hope for another sibling for Kaden,” said Bleck. “In early 2007 we were again blessed to learn we’d have a new arrival in late December.”

At 22 weeks, Lara’s water broke again and the couple believed they were faced with the same conclusion to her pregnancy. Days in St. Elizabeth Hospital turned into weeks.

“As I traveled back and forth to the hospital, one of my frequent detours would involve a stop at St. Joe’s,” said Bleck. “I became a regular visitor and was often in deep prayer asking for intercession from Fr. Solanus Casey before his prayer garden statue. At these moments I felt a level of peace and calmness.”

On Nov. 3, Lara came home from the hospital and on Dec. 13 she delivered a healthy son, Adam.

“There is little medically to explain how a significant breaking of the amniotic sac could have been solved with absolute permanence for an additional 16-week period for Adam to completely develop,” said Bleck. “In the words of Fr. Solanus, ‘We leave the remaining explanation of our miracle in God’s hands.’”

full story at The Compass

EF Mass in Detroit for Beatification of Ven. Solanus Casey July 23

There will be a special High Mass in the Extraordinary Form in honor of the beatification of Ven. Solanus Casey this Sunday, July 23, at 2:00 pm at one of Detroit’s grandest historic churches, Most Holy Redeemer. The celebrant will be Fr Ben Luedtke, locally known for his preaching and retreats; a reception will follow the Mass in the parish hall. The church is located at 1721 Junction Street.

continue at New Liturgical Movement

Father Solanus Casey's beatification ceremony to be held Nov. 18 at Ford Field, accommodate for 60,000

DETROIT - Father Solanus Casey's beatification ceremony will be held Nov. 18 at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit, the Capuchin Franciscan Order of St. Joseph in Detroit announced.

The arrangement follows the historic announcement by Pope Francis on May 4 that Casey will be elevated to Blessed in the Roman Catholic Church.

Information about tickets for the event will be released by Aug. 15.

Ford Field will be set up to accommodate approximately 60,000 guests for the ceremony.

continue at ClickOnDetroit

ht Guadalupe Shrine

Wisconsin native and patron of baseball, Fr. Solanus Casey takes another step toward canonization!

Just a refresher, it's been a while since I talked about Solanus Casey

Fr. Solanus Casey was born Bernard Francis Casey on Nov. 25, 1870 on a farm near Oak Grove, Wisconsin [later moved near Big River] along the Mississippi River. He was the sixth child in a family of ten boys and six girls born to Irish immigrant parents who left Ireland after the famine years, the scourge of the Emerald Isle.

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His childhood was rich in love, steeped in Catholic tradition. The children shared a love for sports, hunting, fishing, swimming, skiing, and skating. The ten boys formed their own baseball team: The Casey Nine. Barney played catcher, usually without a glove. 

-Ryan Blute, who credits his cure from cancer to the intercession of Ven Solanus “Barney” Casey. The high school junior keeps a relic of Solanus in his wallet when he goes for scans at the hospital and when he took the SAT. “When I need help, he’s always with me,” Ryan said.

Do not pray for easy lives; 

pray to be stronger people. 

 Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; 

pray for powers equal to your tasks.

 - Blessed Solanus Casey

He was a huge Detroit Tigers fan.

Eighty-five-year-old Brother Leo recalled that Fr. Solanus had “a great sense of humor. He would tell little jokes—often on himself. The friars would kid him a lot, too. He loved hot dogs smothered with onions and he loved baseball. Even when away from Michigan he would keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers. It was his simple and down-to-earth manner that made it easy for people to relate to him. No one seemed intimidated by him.”

There's much to say but lots of info online.  Graced by God to be a miracle worker, steeped in humility, and buried in Detroit it's said his body is incorrupt.

And the news from today:

Father Solanus Casey, a Capuchin friar who died 60 years ago in Detroit, has taken a step toward being declared a saint Thursday, according to a release from the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Archdiocese announced Pope Francis's beatification of Casey in an e-mail this morning. His current title of "Venerable" will soon become "Blesssed."

Casey was a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Order of St. Joseph in Detroit and one of the co-founders of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, said the Archdiocese.

"The beatification of Father Solanus Casey is an incomparable grace for the Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit and for the whole community of Southeast Michigan,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron, the head of the Archdiocese of Detroit, said in a statement today. “He is an inspiration to all us Catholics – and to all – of the power of grace to transform one’s life.”

According to the Michigan Catholic, the miracle that Casey performed to become blessed ”involved a woman with an incurable genetic skin disease." Citing a news release, the report said that "her cure was verified by doctors in her home country, in Detroit and in Rome, all of whom confirmed there was no scientific explanation."

continue at Detroit Free Press (some nice photos there too - and good to see the friars in habits)

Venerable Solanus Casey, patron saint of baseball, ora pro nobis!

Solanus Casey was born in the La Crosse Diocese and attended seminary in Milwaukee.

He was a huge Detroit Tigers fan.

Eighty-five-year-old Brother Leo recalled that Fr. Solanus had “a great sense of humor. He would tell little jokes—often on himself. The friars would kid him a lot, too. He loved hot dogs smothered with onions and he loved baseball. Even when away from Michigan he would keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers. It was his simple and down-to-earth manner that made it easy for people to relate to him. No one seemed intimidated by him.”

There are photos somewhere that I have seen with him in full habit playing catcher at his friary.  (if you have seen them, let me know!)

A truly American Saint!

solanuscenter.org

Solanus Casey prayer service at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Milwaukee, WI

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.

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.

continue at Imprisoned in my Bones

Novena for Venerable Solanus Casey

Please pray with us a 9-Day Novena, July 23-31, 2013 to commemorate the 56th Anniversary of the Death of Fr. Solanus.

Daily Mass with Novena Prayers including Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Prayer for Beatification of Venerable Solanus Casey.

continue at Solanus Casey Guild

Solanus Casey was born in the La Crosse Diocese and attended seminary in Milwaukee.  

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He was a huge Detroit Tigers fan. 

Eighty-five-year-old Brother Leo recalled that Fr. Solanus had “a great sense of humor. He would tell little jokes—often on himself. The friars would kid him a lot, too. He loved hot dogs smothered with onions and he loved baseball. Even when away from Michigan he would keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers. It was his simple and down-to-earth manner that made it easy for people to relate to him. No one seemed intimidated by him.”

The American saints pastime

To get to know them and to win their trust, Solanus would often organize field trips for his gand of Mass servers.  Ice cream sodas always capped the trips, but visits to a church along the way were invariably included to "set a good example."  Slender buy wiry, Fr. Solanus also impressed the boys when they played baseball together.  Sometimes he would bat fly balls for them or hit them grounders to see if they were any good as shortstops.  When he played in a game, he was always the catcher, refusing to wear the catcher's mask, and played in his habit.  He played the game with gusto.  The boys loved him for his wild courage as well as for his kind of concern for them.

from Solanus Casey: The Story of Father Solanus By Catherine M. Odell

The Detriot Tigers and the saints who follow them

“We knew there was something different about Fr. Solanus,” said Capuchin Franciscan Brother Leo Wollenweber, who served as his assistant for six years. “But in the monastery he was just another one of the friars, and we didn’t know the deep impact he was having on so many people.”

Eighty-five-year-old Brother Leo recalled that Fr. Solanus had “a great sense of humor. He would tell little jokes—often on himself. The friars would kid him a lot, too. He loved hot dogs smothered with onions and he loved baseball. Even when away from Michigan he would keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers. It was his simple and down-to-earth manner that made it easy for people to relate to him. No one seemed intimidated by him.”

One of his favorite pastimes was playing his violin. “He was no virtuoso,” said Br. Leo. When his fellow Capuchins saw him coming, fiddle in hand, they would sometimes busy themselves to avoid the one-man show. “But if his friends didn’t want to listen, he would take his violin into the chapel and play before the Blessed Sacrament.”

Free Republic

I became very attached to Ven. Fr. Solanus Casey after reading about him.  The soon to be first US born male American saint "loved baseball."  Oddly, his guild removed a great deal of information about him which used to be online, maybe to sell books, I don't know.  There was a great picture of him playing baseball in full habit but I cant find it anymore.  I carry a ... probably like a 10th class relic ("cloth touched to his tomb") with me.  You might know Fr. Solanus Casey grew up in the Diocese of La Crosse.  Fr. John Hardon was also a Detroit Tigers fan and would listen when he could to the broadcast on the radio, but of course I can't find that now either.  *sigh*  A conspiracy against the Tigers?  I think so.