Born on a farm in Oak Grove, WI in 1870, he was one of sixteen children, and his parents, Bernard and Elizabeth, were Irish immigrants and his Baptismal name was Barney. 

When he was eight, Barney contracted diphtheria, which took the lives of two of his siblings and permanently damaged his voice. 

In his late teens, he left home and found work, initially, as a lumberjack in Minnesota, then as a hospital worker, a streetcar operator, and, at one point, a prison guard where he met members of the Jesse James gang. 

He was engaged to married but that ended when the mother of his fiance sent her away to boarding school. 

Then his life was changed when he witnessed the murder of a young woman by a drunken sailor. 

From that point on he resolved to become a priest. 

In 1896 he entered the St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee but, with all the classes taught in Latin and German, he found the studies too difficult. 

Then he heard the voice of The Blessed Mother telling him to go to Detroit and there he joined the Capuchins. 

Ordained in 1904, he took the name Solanus. 

However, because he was weak in his understanding of theology, Fr. Solanus Casey was not allowed to preach or hear confessions. 

For the next fourteen years Fr. Casey served at a number of different seminaries in New York. 

While in Yonkers he was given permission to do inspirational talks and they were outstanding. As it turned out, he had a great gift for speaking. 

In 1924, Fr. Casey returned to St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit and, every Wednesday afternoon, led a service for those who were sick. 

Afterward, he would give anyone who asked his blessing and there were many cures reported. 

He would then meet with up to 40-50 people individually for consultation and prayer. 

During the Great Depression, Fr. Casey helped the Capuchins start a soup kitchen in Detroit that is still in service today. 

When his health began to fail in 1946 he was sent to a community in Huntington, IN where he lived for ten more years before going back to Detroit to be hospitalized. 

He died on July 31, 1957. 

At his funeral, an estimated 20 thousand people filed by his coffin, and at a large ceremony at Ford Field in Detroit, he was Beatified on November 18, 2017. 

Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey, please pray for us.