Remembering a Visit to the Solanus Casey Center

Back in August 2009, the private school where I was teaching and serving as principal sent me to a conference in Detroit run by the network to which the school belonged. I knew that Detroit was also where the Franciscan monastery where Solanus Casey had lived for many years - St. Bonaventure Friary - and was the home of the Solanus Casey Center. I had read about him, and as I was at the time in formation with the Secular Franciscans, I wanted to learn more about him. At the time, his cause for sainthood was underway and he was “Venerable Solanus Casey,” having become the first U.S.-born male to be declare Venerable.S (He would be beatified in 2017.)


I planned to visit the friary and the center if I could get any free time. I was able to visit after the conference officially ended, and I stopped there for a short visit before leaving Detroit to drive home to Western New York.

Knowing my time was limited, I made a quick walk-through. Then I went back to a few spots and took some pictures.

The center had a nice exhibit about Father Solanus's life with lots of picture and artifacts. Among the items on display were his personal effects,

including the beloved violin he would play to entertain (well, by all accounts of his ability, not exactly "entertain"!) his fellow Franciscans, and in the chapel for the Lord.

The exhibit also included the vestment he wore for his last Mass, and his Chalice and Paten

...and the rubber stamp he used to sign the many letters he sent to people in response to their letters asking for his prayers and guidance. (He received so many letters that, as he got older and struggled with health, he would dictate letters to secretaries, then stamp them with his signature.)

His tomb had been moved into the church once the process had begun to investigate his sanctity - a first step toward him possibly being declared a saint.

The tomb of the long-time porter is located, appropriately, at one of the entrances to the church. There is a carving of a violin on it. 

It was also covered with slips of papers on which there were prayer requests. I wrote my own request, asking him to pray for something that is troubling my heart.

At the entrance to the Center, there is a garden with art reflecting lines from St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of Brother Sun."

I also got a lesson in Franciscan poverty. I'm a bibliophile (with a house jammed with far too many books). After my initial swing through the center and the chapel, I went to the bookstore/gift shop, hoping to find a book or two that I did not already have (or three or four!).

It closed at 4 - before I got to it. Ha!

In the years since that visit, Father Solanus has been beatified, and there is a miracle being currently investigated that could lead to his being officially declared a saint, though, in my mind he already is. I made my Secular Franciscan Profession in 2011, and took him as my patron saint.

Meanwhile, the center has undergone a major renovation since my visit. I believe the tomb has been moved.

I hope to get back there again some day.

Pax et bonum