During the US bishops’ autumn general assembly in Baltimore this
week, they approved by voice vote the Causes of four men and women as
part of the episcopal consultation in the Catholic Church’s process for
possible canonisation.
The four candidates are Julia Greeley, a former slave who lived in Colorado; Sister Blandina Segale,
a Sister of Charity who served on the frontier; Fr Patrick Ryan, who
ministered to those suffering yellow fever; and Mgr Bernard Quinn, who
fought bigotry and established a black church and orphanage in Brooklyn,
New York.
The four Causes were presented individually to the group of bishops prior to their vote.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver presented Greeley’s Cause to the
bishops because she lived her adult life in Colorado and ministered
there to those in poverty while she was poor too.
Greeley was born a slave in Hannibal, Missouri, some time between
1838-1848. She lost the use of her right eye from an assault by a slave
owner. Freed from slavery by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, she
went to Colorado, where she became Catholic a few years later.
As a lay Franciscan, closely affiliated with the Jesuits at her
parish, she was actively involved in promoting the faith and devotion to
the Sacred Heart. She died in 1918.
Sister Blandina was described to the bishops as anything but bland,
and even had a run in with Billy the Kid during her work in the American
frontier.
She was born in Italy in 1850 and immigrated to Cincinnati when she
was four. She joined the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati when she was
16 and worked in schools, orphanages and hospitals in Ohio, New Mexico
and Colorado.
She became a defender of the poor, the sick, the marginalised, Native
Americans and Mexican and Italian immigrants. She often visited jails
and became involved in issues such as human trafficking and juvenile
delinquency. She died in 1941 aged 91. Her Cause was introduced by
Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee, told the bishops about
Fr Patrick Ryan, an Irish immigrant, born in 1845 and ordained in 1869
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Fr Ryan was pastor of Ss Peter and Paul’s Parish for six years. In 1878, he died at 33 years old of yellow fever.
His community in Chattanooga was struck with the epidemic that killed
hundreds and during the epidemic the priest went to the worst infected
areas of the city to help the sick and the needy.
The other priest’s name submitted for the canonisation process is Mgr
Bernard Quinn, born to Irish immigrants in 1888 in Newark, New Jersey.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn presented the priest’s cause to
the bishops. Mgr Quinn was ordained to the priesthood in 1912, and
served as a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn where he particularly
emphasised priestly and religious vocations for black Catholics.
In 1922, he established St Peter Claver Church for black Catholics in
Brooklyn and years later built an orphanage for the African-American
community that was twice burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan before
it was successfully built the third time.
Five years must pass from the time of a candidate’s death before a
Cause may begin. The bishop of the diocese or eparchy in which the
person died is responsible for beginning the examination into his or her
life and names a postulator to conduct the investigation.
The local
bishop consults bishops in his region on the advisability of pursuing
the cause. A canonical consultation with the body of bishops is part of
the process.
Materials and documentation supporting the cause must be gathered.
Once that phase is completed, the documentation is sent to the Vatican
Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Three major steps come next: first is the declaration of a person’s
heroic virtues, after which the Church declares the person “Venerable.”
Second is beatification, after which he or she is called “Blessed.”
Third is canonisation, or the declaration of sainthood.
In general, two
miracles must be accepted by the Church as having occurred through the
intercession of the prospective saint; one must occur before
beatification, and the other after beatification.