On Cool, Quiet Moments in History

when the great gather together--and the rest of the world is heedless:

In our modern world of overhyped events with video coverage of seemingly every event, the newsworthy and the forgettable, there was no film footage or even still photo shots of the two future saints meeting on that sunny, 1935 summer day in Detroit.  We can only visualize the brief meeting at the Saint Bonaventure Monastery, which was probably done with such little fanfare, that passersby would have failed to grasp the significance of the event.

Father Solanus Casey was 65, while Brother Andre was 90. Brother Andre had heard of Father Solanus Casey and while he was visiting the monastery inquired about Father Casey’s whereabouts. The two men met but were unable to engage in conversation as Father Casey knew no French and Brother Andre know no English. However, they did the only thing they could do in one language; they blessed each other in Latin, the language of the Church.

Their brief meeting over both returned to his work, though for Brother Andre his work would continue for less than two years. He died in Montreal in January of 1937. Father Casey would continue his work for some 20 years. Both men had funerals that would today be called epic. Not only were they remembered by the thousands who attributed the healing to their prayer, but the many thousands and in  Brother Andre’s case the nearly one million who became quite familiar with the stories. Not only were extra trains added by the Canadian rail authorities, but even in the US, especially the Northeast extra cars were added to accommodate the mourners headed to Montreal for Brother Andre’s funeral.