DETROIT — Even six decades later, Bro. Richard Merling, OFM Cap., still recounts the story with emotion in his voice. His brother, Raymond, was in a serious auto accident at age 17 and needed an emergency amputation of his leg.

“My mother, given that we lived here in the city and knew of Fr. Solanus, said, ‘Let’s go down and see Fr. Solanus,’” said Bro. Merling, who today is director of the Father Solanus Guild and co-vice postulator of Fr. Solanus’ sainthood cause. “So we came down on a Sunday afternoon and were able to meet with him and explain the situation, and he simply said, ‘Oh, don’t worry, everything’s going to be all right.’”


Such an unassumingly calm and confident declaration of God’s mercy became a hallmark for the thousands who would visit Fr. Solanus with their troubles over the years.

“It was so casual, his assurance,” Bro. Merling said, even today bemused while thinking about it. “‘Don’t worry, things are going to be all right.’ And I remember thinking, ‘It’s fine for you to say that, but we’re all worried about it.’ But sure enough, the leg healed.”

Along with the gift of healing, Fr. Solanus seemed to have a gift for prophecy, too.

The late Bro. Leo Wollenweber, OFM Cap., who lived with Fr. Solanus and served for many years as his “assistant porter,” once related how Fr. Solanus would discern God’s will during a visit with a person seeking a favor.

“When someone was talking to him asking for a favor, he’d look up and look off into space. He was trying to discern what God was saying in that moment,” said Fr. Larry Webber, OFM Cap., the other co-vice postulator, recalling Bro. Wollenweber’s account. “Then he’d come back to the person and he’d say, either, ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine,’ or if someone would not be healed or would die, he’d say to them, ‘You know, sometimes God calls us to trust Him.’

“That was the gift he had — listening intently to God,” Fr. Webber continued. “He had this understanding of prophecy in the sense that everything would all turn out according to God’s will.”

One thing that was constant, however, was Fr. Solanus’ insistence that it was not him, but God, who was answering prayers.

“People would come back and say, ‘Father, you healed me,’” Bro. Merling said. “And he would say, ‘No, it wasn’t me.’ ‘It was God,’ he would say. ‘It was the Masses that were celebrated.’ And he would be very strong about it. He was insistent: ‘Don’t you dare say it was me who did this.’”

It wasn’t just those who needed physical healing who came to Fr. Solanus for wisdom; and sometimes they didn’t come at all. Often, he would go to them — especially if he thought a visit could help bring someone back to the Church.

“One of my favorite stories of Fr. Solanus is when he went out to a farm in the suburbs to get apples or vegetables for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. He had a driver who had taken him out to the farm to pick up these products, and as they were driving back, like a good Irishman, he told the driver to stop at the bar so they could have a beer,” Fr. Webber said.

“Fr. Solanus knew the owner of the bar was Catholic and had been away from the church,” Fr. Webber explained. “Well, he did nothing religious. He just talked with the man. He knew that this man needed to be brought back to church, and his presence moved this guy, so much so that he changed his life and became more faithful.”

Sometimes, it was that simple ministry of presence — to Catholics and non-Catholics alike — that made all the difference.

“All Fr. Solanus did was stop at the bar for a beer,” Fr. Webber said. “Some people might think, ‘My gosh, this isn’t something that a religious should be doing, dressed in their habit,’ but in some way it touched this man and brought him to a deeper faith. And sometimes that’s all Fr. Solanus would do: just be present, make a comment, pray for them. Somehow his presence itself inspired people.”

Fr. Solanus and the ice cream cones

Bro. Merling has heard countless stories over the years — many from Bro. Wollenweber.

It wasn’t unusual for families to line the hallways of the monastery’s foyer, waiting to see Fr. Solanus on a given day. Once, a mother and father arrived with their lame son and took a seat to wait their turn.

After waiting some time, the mother finally got up and walked across the room to speak with Fr. Solanus.

“She told him about the boy’s condition, and the next thing she knew, Fr. Solanus turned and called to the boy and said, ‘Come here, little boy,’” Bro. Merling said.

The mother, horrified, reminded Fr. Solanus that the boy couldn’t walk, but “when she turned around, her son was halfway across the room, walking to Fr. Solanus’ desk.”

Other times, Bro. Merling said, the stories took a more humorous turn.

Fr. Solanus had a famous sweet tooth, Bro. Merling recalled, keeping all kinds of candy and sweets for children and others who would visit him. Knowing this, a man once came in with two ice cream cones, “one for Bro. Leo and one for Fr. Solanus,” Bro. Merling said.

After the man left, Bro. Wollenweber watched in amazement as the often absent-minded Fr. Solanus opened his desk drawer — where he kept most of his candy — and deposited the two ice cream cones.

“Bro. Leo put his face in his hands,” Bro. Merling recalled, thinking about the “giant mess we’ll have to clean up later.”

Later on that day, a friar who was making his novitiate was bothered by a severe toothache. After trying home remedies without much luck, it was decided that the novice had to be taken to the hospital for surgery.

“Well, in those days, you would break your novitiate if you were away from the monastery for more than a few hours,” Bro. Merling said. “The friar was distraught because the extraction would require hospitalization.”

As the visibly upset friar was leaving, Fr. Solanus turned to him in his usual reassuring way and said, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Sure enough, the friar came back a few hours later, not needing an extraction.

“So to celebrate,” Bro. Merling said, “Fr. Solanus opened his desk drawer and pulled out three ice cream cones: one for him, one for Bro. Leo and one for the novice.”

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The Life of Fr. Solanus Casey

This article is the first of six about the life and ministry of Fr. Solanus Casey.

• Irish immigrant family instilled virtue, love of God in young Fr. Solanus


• A struggling student heeds a woman’s advice: ‘Go to Detroit’


• A ‘simple’ friar meets people where they are: at the monastery doors


• God sends a healing prophet: Fr. Solanus and the power of the Mass


• For Fr. Solanus, Jesus and the saints were a powerful combination


• Fr. Solanus’ last days: An ‘aura of holiness’ and suffering lifted to God