A Model of God’s Love

On July 30, the faithful in the Archdiocese of Detroit and across the world celebrated the first memorial of Blessed Solanus Casey. Here at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Mass for the feast day was celebrated in the main chapel. Students and faculty gathered to celebrate the life and ministry of the local Capuchin, whose humble service in the city of Detroit provides a wonderful example of God's love.

Bl. Solanus Casey, whom Pope Francis declared “blessed” last year, was remembered on the first-ever celebration of his feast day. To mark the historic occasion, Mass was celebrated by Fr. Charles Fox, director of graduate seminarians and director of Liturgy at Sacred Heart. During his homily, Fr. Fox explained how Bl. Solanus was a living icon of Jesus Christ in the world, who served Christ in the sick and the poor.

“Solanus Casey sets for us a model of what it means to love God and our neighbor and to offer ourselves in self-sacrificial love, not just giving from our abundance but giving from the very substance of ourselves,” said Fr. Fox. 

Immediately following Mass, attendees received a blessing and had an opportunity to venerate a first-class relic of Bl. Solanus. The relic, which is a small bone fragment encased in a silver reliquary, was given to Sacred Heart as a generous gift from the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph. Attendees were invited to venerate the relic by either kissing the reliquary or by simply bowing to the relic.

Bl. Solanus is well known at Sacred Heart for sowing incredible seeds of the Kingdom, both here in Detroit as well as the other places he served. Fr. Fox encouraged attendees to move from simply admiring Bl. Solanus, to imitating him.

“The lesson for us on this feast day is to move from mere admiration—which is a good thing in itself—to imitation of the saintly virtues we see.”

Blessed Solanus Casey, pray for us!