Catherine's Canonisation Cause

The Cause of Catherine McAuley

Anne Hannon is Vice-Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Catherine McAuley

When asked to be Vice –Postulator for the cause of Venerable McAuley two years ago, I was entrusted with the following mission:

• To be proactive in enthusing the sisters and others to promote awareness of the life, vision and virtues of Catherine among members of the Sisters of Mercy throughout the world as well as among the public

• To be active in encouraging prayer to Catherine on behalf of the sick, which might result in the miracles we need for her beatification and canonisation.

It was a challenge, but one which I accepted because I am convinced that good is communicative of itself, and I believe that what we have to communicate is very good. Catherine wrote when in the midst of the Birr foundation: “ We have ever confided largely in Divine Providence . The Lord and Master of our house and home is a faithful provider. Let us never desire more than enough. He will give us that and a blessing ” I believe that reliance on providence which was so much part of Catherine's life will see the above mission come to fruition.

What is it about Catherine, which holds appeal for sisters and people across the world? Surely, it is because she was a holy woman? A saint is someone in the Christian tradition whose holiness is recognised as exceptional by other Christians. Can we claim that Catherine's holiness was recognised as exceptional by those around her? Indeed we can. Mary Vincent Hartnett said of her “ Her instructions were the fruit of prayer to which she had recourse in difficulty ”. Because we are all members of the Communion of Saints, we are all connected in God, giving and receiving unexpected and undeserving acts of grace. It is a graced world in which we live and so miracles are entirely possible and do happen. Graces or miracles received by the faithful and attributed to a Servant of God are ‘ collected, sifted, tested and authenticated as God's own proof of a candidate's holiness.

What is the status of Catherine's cause right now? Thanks to the Trojan work undertaken by Angela Bolster RSM for many years the process for canonisation is at the stage of readiness for beatification. The purpose of canonisation is to set before the faithful fresh and unique examples of Christian holiness. It is the Holy Spirit who provides the necessary divine signs in the form, most often, of inexplicable physical cures. If God wants a Servant of God canonised, it will happen. Holiness implies wholeness . To aspire to holiness is to aspire to something other than a complete life or a morally good life. The attraction of saints is ‘ their power to lure us beyond virtue to virtue's source' . The story of a saint is about God and His relationship to humankind. It is about the raw data of a human life transformed by divine grace. Saints have the same experiences as we do, but their insights into them are different. It is this which distinguishes the saint from others, and one saint from another. As Sisters of Mercy it is our task and privilege to search out and illuminate what it is that makes Catherine different; to discover what fresh and formative insight the love of God has produced in her and trace the effect of her total surrender to God's will. Only God makes a saint but is up to us to tell her story. Her story, like the story of all saints, is a love story. It is the story of a God who loves and of the beloved who learns how to reciprocate and share that love.

Of all the elements in the making of a saint, proof of a miracle is the one which most intrigues us. While miracles are a sign of divine approbation, their lack in no way diminishes a candidate's reputation for holiness nor inhibits an authentic cult of the saint. Miracles are gifts, and who are we to say that God no longer responds to prayer addressed to saints? As Roman Catholics, we shouldn't have any difficulty in believing in miracles. In fact, we have all experienced graced moments in our own lives and in the lives of others, which have come as gifts. To believe in miracles one must be able to accept gifts, freely bestowed and altogether unmerited. Neither should we find it difficult to accept that gifts have come our way because someone who cares for us prayed to God on our behalf. There can be no miracles without prayer, no prayer without confidence and trust.

In 1990, Catherine was declared Venerable by decree of John Paul 11. This followed a declaration by eight theological consultors that Catherine was the possessor of deep spiritual qualities, the exemplar of heroic virtues and was of sterling stature as a contemporary model of Christian living. The journey of a Cause is slow and painstaking and involves the judgement of God and man. The human decision has been that of the Church which has declared that Venerable Catherine practised Christian virtue in an heroic way, to an heroic degree. The divine voice speaks through miracles, and without it the Church does not give the full weight of its authority to a Servant of God before beatification, we ought to promote private devotion, in season and out of season, to Catherine, confidently expecting that the divine signs which the Church requires will be given.

In May, I travelled to Boston to the Metropolitan Tribunal to meet the Judicial Vicar to discuss with him the setting up of a tribunal to examine an alleged miracle of a young man's cure from cancer. At the present time they are working on another case but have promised to examine our case next.

We are Sisters of Mercy . The word Mercy makes us think of that particular quality in God, which is, for each of us, the real reason for our hope and the grounds for our confidence and trust in his Providence . Catherine is the exponent, par excellence , of the true biblical meaning of Mercy . She saw it as a gift to be passed on and shared with others, and everything that she did was motivated by a steadfast love.

We, her daughters, are by our religious profession special witnesses of Mercy , witnesses to God's power and His tenderness. Let us pray with complete trust that He will grant our wish and raise Venerable Catherine to the Calendar of Saints.

Reprinted with permission from Mercy Live, the newspaper of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Issue 12, June 2005

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