Nearly 15 years later, Jake Finkbonner’s remarkable recovery from flesh-eating bacteria continues to strengthen people’s faith

VATICAN CITY – Saints are people who recognized their need for God’s help, who took risks to discover God’s will and to help others and who nurtured a habit of thanksgiving, Pope Francis said.

VANCOUVER – When Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman becomes a saint on October 13, local family members will be on hand to witness the event.

WASHINGTON – The upcoming canonization of Blessed John Henry Newman begs the question: Do Catholic college students today even know who Cardinal Newman is?

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of Wisconsin-born Capuchin Father Solanus Casey, five religious, four laypeople and two cardinals, including Vietnamese Cardinal Francois Nguyen Van Thuan.

SEATTLE - Bernard and Ellen Casey passed along something priceless to their 16 children: their Catholic faith. The couple’s legacy includes three sons who became priests, including one — Father Solanus Casey — who has been declared venerable.

On a hot July morning in 1987, Holy Names Sister Anne Herkenrath stood by the grave of her great-uncle Father Solanus Casey, who had been buried 30 years previously. The cause for his canonization had recently begun, and Sister Anne was one of two family members invited to witness the exhumation of his body at the Capuchin Monastery in Detroit, Mich.

Like so many others around the world, I was overjoyed to hear of the recent decision of the Vatican to canonize Mother Teresa, a woman generally recognized, during her lifetime, to be a “living saint.” Mother Teresa first came to my attention through Malcolm Muggeridge’s film and attendant book Something Beautiful for God.