May 6, 2025 // Bishop

Bishop Rhoades Opens Inquiry into the Life and Holiness of Brother Columba O’Neill

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

On the evening of Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, following vespers at a crowded Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, officials from the Congregation of Holy Cross and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend participated in the first session of the inquiry into the life and holiness of Servant of God Brother Columba O’Neill.

In his homily during vespers, Bishop Rhoades announced, “I am here this evening to officially initiate the cause for the beatification and canonization of Holy Cross Brother Columba O’Neill, a humble cobbler here at Notre Dame for 38 years, from 1885 until his death in 1923.”

Bishop Rhoades continued: “He was a great believer in the merciful love of Jesus and so had a deep and fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and spread that devotion by his words and deeds. Having completed the preliminary phase of the cause for beatification and canonization of Brother Columba, after vespers this evening, we will hold the first session of what is called in canon law “the instruction of the cause,” the official inquiry, the actual initiation of the cause.”

During the first session, several officials of the cause, including Bishop Rhoades, took oaths vowing to fulfill their duties related to the proceedings to the best of their abilities. These officials included: Father Mark Gurtner, vicar general of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who is serving as the episcopal delegate of the cause; Father Jake Runyon, judicial vicar of the diocese, who is serving as the cause’s promoter of justice; Joseph Garcia, chancellor of the diocese, who is serving as the notary of the inquiry; and Holy Cross Father Andrew Gawrych, who is serving as vice-postulator of the cause.

Bishop Rhoades also announced that he had appointed three people to serve on the historical commission for the inquiry – “experts in historical and archival research who will collect and examine all the writings of the Servant of God not yet published, as well as any historical documents, both manuscripts and printed, concerning the cause in any way.” The members of this commission are Holy Cross Father Richard Gribble; Peter Cajka, Ph.D., a professor of American studies at Notre Dame; and Michael Skaggs, Ph.D., who trained as a historian at Notre Dame and who is the co-founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.

“Please pray for all who will be involved in the instruction of the cause for Brother Columba,” Bishop Rhoades said in his homily. “Here at Notre Dame, I especially ask you to ask Our Lady to intercede for us. Brother Columba had a strong devotion also to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This was quite natural since … Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the heart that resembles that of Christ more than any other. May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Mother of Mercy, intercede for us!”

With the assistance of Father Gawrych, the vice-postulator of Brother Columba’s cause, who serves on the general council of the Congregation of Holy Cross and who traveled to South Bend from Rome for the proceedings, Today’s Catholic conducted an interview via email with Holy Cross Brother Philip Smith, the archivist at Notre Dame whose research into the extensive number of letters of Brother Columba led to the request of a cause for canonization and beatification, and Valentina Culurgioni, the postulator of the cause on behalf of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

More photos from the event.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Today’s Catholic: First, can you explain to readers who Brother Columba is and why the Congregation of Holy Cross thinks he is worthy of sainthood?

Brother Philip Smith: Brother Columba, born John O’Neill in Pennsylvania on November 5, 1848, joined the Congregation of Holy Cross at the age of 27. A cobbler by trade and in spite of his deformed feet, Brother Columba worked for most of his life, and nearly all of his time as a Holy Cross brother, at the University of Notre Dame. A contemporary of the founding fathers of Notre Dame, Brother Columba served as Father Edward Sorin’s night nurse from 1891 until Father Sorin’s death on October 21, 1893. 

In addition to working as a caretaker and cobbler, Brother Columba tirelessly promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He made more than 10,000 Immaculate Heart badges and more than 30,000 Sacred Heart badges, which he would send by mail to those requesting favors or cures of him along with instruction to “attach it to the part of the body that you want healed and say five times a day, ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus, cure me.’” He suggested praying this aspiration during a novena – nine days of prayer. Simultaneously, Brother Columba would pray a personal novena to the Sacred Heart for each person’s intention as well.

In the archive for the Midwest Province of Brothers of Holy Cross, there are more than 7,000 letters pertaining to Brother Columba, about 1,400 of which are in thanksgiving for various favors received from Columba’s intercession to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Because of these apparent cures and his saintly life, as early as 1916, Brother Columba was called the Miracle Man of Notre Dame, the divine healer. In his eulogy for Brother Columba, provincial Father Charles O’Donnell called him “a miraculous man.”

Why would the canonization of Brother Columba be of usefulness to the universal Church? Because the lives of ordinary men and women who are holy in spite of their ordinariness are always useful for the edification of God’s holy people. Brother Columba’s life orbited around devotion to the Sacred Heart.  The human heart, the organ we traditionally associate with loving, reminds us of God’s unconditional love for us. It also calls us to love as expansively as Jesus did.

Today’s Catholic: Brother Columba’s cause for beatification and canonization formally began in 2022. What are the steps of the cause, and where does the cause stand now?

Valentina Culurgioni: The causes of beatification and canonization have several steps or stages. The first is the diocesan phase, in which all the documentation and testimonies about the life, virtues, reputation of holiness, and signs are collected and authenticated by the Tribunal instituted by the bishop of the diocese in which the Servant of God died.

The second step is the Roman phase. The acts of the diocesan inquiry are studied and systematized into a volume called the positio with the guidance of an appointed relator from the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints. The positio is then submitted to historians, theologians, bishops, and cardinals appointed by the dicastery. If their evaluation is positive, the Servant of God is declared Venerable. 

For the beatification, a miracle officially recognized by the Church is required. Once again, the process begins with an inquiry on the local level. This inquiry is conducted in the diocese where the alleged miracle took place. Afterward, there is the study and evaluation of the case in Rome. The same procedure is followed for the miracle required for the canonization.

Each of these phases can take several years or more, as the Church wants to be thorough in its inquiry and evaluation.

Brother Columba’s cause is now at the beginning of the diocesan inquiry. The tribunal and the experts appointed by the bishop are going to begin their work to collect all the necessary evidence to ascertain his life, virtues, reputation of holiness, and reported signs.

Today’s Catholic: Can you explain the work that was needed to officially begin the cause and the work that has been done between the announcement of the cause in 2022 and the first session of the inquiry?

Culurgioni: The cause officially begins now, with the first session celebrated on April 27, 2025. What was done prior to April 27 was a thorough study of Brother Columba’s life by the Congregation of Holy Cross, including reviewing the archival material and identifying potential witnesses. The results of that study led the congregation, who is called the petitioner in this process, and the postulator to recognize the fumus boni iuris: the reputation of holiness and signs. Then a supplex libellus, which is the formal request to open the inquiry, was submitted to Bishop Rhoades. The bishop, in turn, requested from the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints in Rome the nihil obstat to open an official inquiry into the life, virtues, reputation of holiness, and signs of the Servant of God. Having obtained this nihil obstat from the dicastery, Bishop Rhoades on April 27 now formally opened the inquiry.

Today’s Catholic: The cause is being petitioned by the Congregation of Holy Cross. What is the role of the diocese – and diocesan officials – in the canonization process?

Culurgioni: The role of the diocese is to ascertain super partes – the truthfulness of the testimonies of the witnesses called to testify – as well as the authenticity of the documentary evidence provided by the experts appointed to conduct the historical research and by the theologians appointed to read and evaluate the writings of the Servant of God. 

Today’s Catholic: You mentioned the first session of the inquiry that was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame on April 27. Can you explain what took place and the significance of those procedures?

Culurgioni: The first session of the inquiry is quite simple. During it, all the members of the tribunal, the historians appointed by the bishop, and the postulator or vice-postulator are called to make their oath to faithfully execute the tasks assigned to them. With this official juridical act, the inquiry is concretely opened and the work of the tribunal and of the experts can begin. 

Today’s Catholic: Can you explain what goes on in an investigation into the life and virtues of a candidate for sainthood?

Culurgioni: During the diocesan inquiry, there are three main routes of investigation that aim to gather all testimonial and documentary evidence about the heroic virtues of the Servant of God and the persistent and growing reputation of his holiness and of signs attributed to him.

First, the historical commission does research to collect all the documentation related to the life of the Servant of God and his reputation. As part of this work, the historians visit all the archives and libraries that could have documents, articles, books, etc., about the Servant of God, and they submit to the tribunal a reproduction of all this documentation.

Second, the theologians read the writings of the Servant of God and evaluate its faith and morals to verify that there is nothing in the ideas and spirituality of the Servant of God that could be against the life and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Third, the Tribunal questions and collects the testimonies under oath of all the witnesses called by the postulation – all the people who come forward to testify, and all the people whom the tribunal considers appropriate to summon.

These three avenues of inquiry are all aimed, again, at collecting what is necessary to be able to ascertain the heroic virtues, reputation of holiness, and signs attributed to the Servant of God. Once this work is completed, the diocesan phase is officially closed by the bishop and the cause moves to the Roman phase and the preparation of the positio, as described earlier.

Today’s Catholic: Is there anything else the Congregation of Holy Cross would like to add about Brother Columba’s life or cause?

Brother Philip: The example of Brother Columba’s love and compassion for every suffering human being can foster the question among the faithful: “How expansive is my love?” By comparing their lives to those of the saints, especially those saints whose lives are eminently “sane and human,” the faithful are encouraged to live their own flaws and foibles unto the betterment of the lives of all their brothers and sisters. This is especially significant today in a world and a nation that are becoming increasingly “tribal” with little tolerance for those who do not measure up to personal definitions of normal, ordinary, acceptable, worthy, or good. According to Holy Cross Father Charles O’Donnell, who celebrated Brother Columba’s funeral Mass, the divine healer, the Miracle Man of Notre Dame, “worked till in the course of time and the providence of God the cobbler’s shop itself became a shrine. The humble shoemaker had somehow learned to mend immortal souls.”

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.