‘Faithful’ Detroit priest beatified by Catholic church

DETROIT » A priest who wasn’t allowed to preach instead turned his ears and heart to the needy. Now, decades after his death, Solanus Casey is on a path to sainthood, celebrated as an incredibly humble man who brought people to God.

Father Solanus, as he was known, was beatified Saturday at a Mass attended by more than 60,000 people at a stadium in Detroit where he spent much of his ministry. Pope Francis said he met the requirements to earn the title of “blessed,” especially after a woman from Panama was instantly cured of a chronic skin disease while she prayed at his tomb in 2012.

The woman, Paula Medina Zarate, had a formal role at the Mass, placing a cross in front of a portrait of Father Solanus after Italian Cardinal Angelo Amato read a decree by the pope, who described the priest as a “humble and faithful disciple of Christ, tireless in serving the poor.”

Father Solanus can be made a saint in the years ahead if a second miracle is attributed to him. He’s only the second U.S.-born man to be beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, joining the Rev. Stanley Rother, a priest killed in Guatemala’s civil war, who was beatified in Oklahoma in September. One U.S.-born woman has been beatified and two others have been declared saints.

“It’s a great event,” Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron said ahead of the Mass. “It’s hard to communicate how vivid and real the presence of Father is to our community.”

Even 60 years after his death, “people don’t say, ‘I’m going to Father’s tomb,’” Vigneron told The Associated Press. “They say, ‘I’m going to talk to Father.’”

Father Solanus, a native of Oak Grove, Wisconsin, joined the Capuchin religious order in Detroit in 1897 and was ordained a priest seven years later. But there were conditions: Because of academic struggles,