Here’s the miracle leading to today’s Beatification of Solanus Casey

What a great story this is – he died in 1957. Lived for a number of years down the road, in Yonkers.

While he was in Detroit, his superiors insisted he keep journals of his contacts with so many people and there are more recorded healings then in all four Gospels combined. I heard about him in the 1990’s from talks by two Capuchin Franciscans, Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Fr. Michael Crosby and then read this amazing book The Porter of St. Bonaventure’s.

Here’s the healing –

‘The scales began to fall’: Woman recounts miracle that led to beatification

In Chepo, Paula is known for being a kind soul, a religion teacher and catechist for school children who spoke out for the poor and suffering, all the while dealing with ichthyosis vulgaris, a disease that caused her skin to turn into scales and bleed. A genetic condition, there is no known cure for the disorder.

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“My skin was like leaves all stuck together, and it was getting worse,” Paula said. “My hair stopped growing and my fingernails were giving me problems. When I was correcting exams and homework, my arm was causing problems, because when you grade papers you have your left arm rubbing against the desk.”

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Fr. Timmers called to Paula that it was time for lunch in the Solanus Center’s dining hall. She rose from the tomb and heard a voice: “And you, what do you need?”

“I fell down to my knees, saw the cross and thought about Christ’s Passion and all the pardons granted, thinking I didn’t ask for anything myself,” Paula said. “I asked God for my legs and arms to be healed, and then I began to feel this current of heat in my body. I felt dizzy, like in a dream. After a long time, I got up.”

Paula joined Fr. Timmers in the dining room but quickly excused herself to the bathroom. That’s when she made what’s now deemed a miraculous discovery.

“I felt a lot of heat in my body,” Paula said. “I was thinking, ‘My God, what’s happening?’ I was afraid, my legs were so hot. My doctors warned me that my skin might crack open and bleed. I touched my skin, and the scales began to fall off, with no blood.”

There’s more of course, if you hit the link above. This occurred in 2012, and was intensively studied before the Pope deemed it a miracle. The woman will be at the beatification.