Many times it has been said that Father Solanus has a message for our times. That Message comes through not only in his letters and writings but even more so in the study of his life and virtues. The most important study has been the "Positio" otherwise known as the brief, prepared for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. It was from this official document that they were able to base their decision about Father's heroic practice of virtue - the very hallmark of holiness.
In the near future this three-volume work will be published in a one- volume edition. It will give an important and inspiring overview of his life and virtues; those virtues which must be the best source of inspiration for all who know and love Fr. Solanus.
Past issues of the Guild News have featured excerpts from the treatise written about Fr. Solanus' virtues by the theologians in the Congregation for Causes of Saints. In subsequent issues we will give our readers some excerpts from the actual analysis of Fr. Solanus' virtues, as they were found in the above mentioned "Positio."
Humility: We begin with the study on Humility because this is the basis for all the virtues. The Introduction to this volume begins:
The third volume in the trilogy of material that had to be considered in the Cause for Canonization of the Servant of God, Solanus Casey, OFM-Cap, focuses on the way the virtues were exemplified in his life. It shows how the Servant of God vigilantly practiced the theological and cardinal virtues, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, the evangelical counsels and humility. The goal is to reveal the Servant of God as a man whose life has a definite and hopeful message for our age, and all ages.

 In the words of Fr. Solanus: "It seems to me that, were we only to correspond to God's graces, continually being showered down on every one of us, we would be able to pass from be- ing great sinners one day to being great saints the next."
Among the many virtues attributed to Solanus Casey, humility ranks among the most notable. In the opinion of some witnesses, in fact, humility did become the virtue from which "all other virtues worthwhile in God's sight took root and nourishment" in Solanus' life.
When he was a novice Solanus cautioned himself. "Beware of congratulating thyself on the blessing wrought through thy medium." That  he remained true to his caution  especially in not taking credit for grace of God worked through I has been attested by many. Jo Maher stated that, "He attributed  any cures or good works that were performed to God and not to his own self. He was not a person who blown up with his own important was one of the things that impressed me, that he realized his own smallness in the sight of God and anything  that came through him, came from God." When people would "Speak way in which we would be gii credit to him for things that had I done, he would insist that this ho be given to God." More specific his confrere Father Blase Gitzen recalls:
 
 

 "He never took any credit to himself for any of the wonderful things that happened during his life. They were attributed either directly to  God ( or to the influence of the Serap Mass Association. He talked about, certain cures, and there were a few that were special to him that he like to talk about. But, never in a sense that it was through his doings. He was always extremely humble this regard, and in giving credit God or to prayer." Casimira Scott marked that she once thanked Solanus for his help at the time her mother died. He merely said "It was God who helped you not me." At other  times he would tell people it was their, own prayer's that helped them receive the favors they requested: "It's not me." He would say, "It's your prayers." The degree that Solanus attributed all such happenings to God to the prayers of others, and to the saints and sacramentals  invoked and never to himself - is best described in the reflections of Faith, Gerald Walker:
"It never seemed to dawn on him  that God was using him in a special way. If cures were worked through his intercession, he never even seemed to advert to it. I think I would have be surprised if he had been surprised. I other words, he gave credit to God f( all of the things that happened, an took none of it to himself I also hear someone state that when they ask Father Solanus for his blessing he gave it willingly, but he also said, "You know, other priests are here who can give a blessing."

Solanus once wrote, "In his divine economy God has honored his creatures - most especially rational ones - by givving them each, according to his ability, a part of His own work to do - by participation in His own divine activity." Fidelity to that role implied becoming an instrument of God's grace in the world. In the mind of Sister Mary Solanus Ufford, Solanus showed his humility "First of all, by always attributing to God the credit for things that were done. He would refer to himself as only the channel through whom God worked... He never took any credit to himself for the fact that so many people sought him out."
Even  though at this time people flocked around him, Solanus did not let their admiration affect him. He showed no ostentation, pretense, or vanity. "He didn't ever give any indication that he was anyone special. I think he felt that his relationship to God was the same to be found in others. " "He was never vain. He took no pride in the fact that people sought him out or the numbers of people that sought him out. He merely felt that he was helping them come closer to God."
Solanus rarely spoke about himself; this made it difficult for people who wanted to study his life to understand him. However, self-forgetful- ness, he noted while still in simple vows, was the "Most important quality" of humility. Consequently, he spoke neither about his sufferings and problems nor his successes and accomplishments.
In his retreat notes from 1945, reflecting on a conference on humility and simplicity, Solanus wrote: "Of myself I am nothing. Only in as much as I shall succeed in humbling myself can I expect to be anything in God's eye, anything therefore in reality worth seeing. Humility and simplicity belong together and to one another more than do twin sisters." That these twins found a home in Solanus is evident from those who testified about his virtue. "Father Solanus possesses the biblical simplicity of the dove, without having the cunning of the serpent." Father Marion Roessler commented:
"In his deep Irish faith, his Catholic practice was that of an innocent child. His religious obedience was naturally linked to holy simplicity, even as St. Francis linked these two virtues. His humility made it easy for him to realize his limited abilities in theory and practice."
While recent data indicates that Solanus may not have had the "Limited abilities in theory and practice" noted by Father Marion, Solanus had come to believe that he was not very gifted. When the superiors decided he could be ordained but had to remain a simplex-priest, his resignation to their decision not only manifested his humility, but, exemplified it as his sense of the 'Truth' about himself. In his mind, "Patient resignation [is] at once a great promoter and a fruit of Christian humility." Diocesan priest Father Anthony Kerry reflected: "I think the fact that he was ordained a 'Sacerdos-simplex' is evidence of his humility. He accepted this. I never heard him complain about this restriction that was placed upon him."

                                                                                          INDEX
--Vocations -- Fr.Solanus Casey--Parish Hx--Letters--Mass Times and More--RCIA--NEWS--LINKS