CHAPTER FOUR
Fr. Solanus Casey
I consider two encounters to be among the greatest blessings I have ever received. One was with the Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey, an old Capuchin. The other was with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It would be impossible for me to say which of these two people—who were very different from each other—was the greater. Each was truly and thoroughly holy. Each was extraordinarily close to God.
When I arrived at my novitiate—after meeting Br. Ferdinando—I soon had the opportunity to observe Fr. Solanus, the very gentle, holy soul whom many people already called a saint. This is because he was one of those few people who managed to achieve in their earthly lives the goal of full service to God without any complaint. This is also because many people claimed physical miracles had actually been performed through this humble man’s prayers.
Actually, by the time of Fr. Solanus’s death in 1967, there were nearly nine hundred claims that his prayers had been the cause of favors received from God, from small things to healings of severe illnesses. I have met some people who could give examples of this. Br. Leo Wollenweber, who is vice-postulator of the cause of canonization of Fr. Solanus, tells me that over the years he has received about two thousand reports of favors short of miracles that people throughout the world ascribe to the prayers of this humble but great Capuchin friar.
A number of biographies of Fr. Solanus are easily available, and so there is no need to speak here in detail about the events of his life. However, there is one event that is recorded in some of those books about which I do want to tell. It is a story in which I participated.
As a young novice, I was unable to sleep one night. Finally I gave up trying, and at about two o’clock in the morning, I went down to the darkened chapel to pray. I assumed I would be alone, but it turned out that I was not.
As I turned on the two strong lights that were trained on the altar, I discovered Fr. Solanus in front of me, kneeling on the top step in front of the tabernacle. Seeing him was a shock, because he was clearly in some kind of ecstasy and completely unaware of my presence. He didn’t even realize that I had turned on the lights. His eyes were fixed on the door of the tabernacle. The arms of this elderly man were extended outward in prayer, and as the seconds passed, I realized he was absolutely unmoving; his arms did not tremble in the slightest.
I watched for a few minutes, and during that time he did not move at all. I then put out the lights and went back to my room, feeling very embarrassed. It was as if I had seen something that I should not have, something that was intensely private. In fact, as I look back on that night, I now realize I was wrong. Those few moments gave me the opportunity to be
