The cause for his sainthood, occasioned by the laity who so loved him, commenced a few years after his death; he was officially recognized as Servant of God in 1982, and he was declared venerable in 1995.

After a miraculous healing attributed to him was approved by Pope Francis in 2017, he was beatified at Ford Field in Detroit on November 18, 2017.

[2][3] Bernard Francis Casey (nicknamed "Barney") was born on November 25, 1870, on a farm in the town of Oak Grove, Pierce County, Wisconsin, the sixth of sixteen children born to Irish immigrants Bernard James Casey and Ellen Elizabeth Murphy.

[4] He contracted diphtheria in 1878, permanently damaging his voice, leaving it wispy and slightly impaired; two of his siblings died from the disease that year.

While working at his last job on the trolleys in Superior, Wisconsin, he witnessed a violent act that caused him to evaluate his life and future.

[7] He struggled through his studies but received ordination to the priesthood on July 24, 1904, from Archbishop Sebastian Messmer at Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Milwaukee.

He was later transferred to New York City, where he first served at Saint John's Church next to Penn Station and later at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Harlem.

[15] As a violinist, he loved playing Irish songs for his fellow friars during recreation time but was not a gifted instrumentalist.

[7] In 1946, in failing health and suffering from eczema over his entire body, he was transferred to the Capuchin novitiate of Saint Felix in Huntington, Indiana, where he lived until a 1956 hospitalization in Detroit.

The doctors diagnosed him with erysipelas or possibly psoriasis, which was beyond treatment, and they considered limb amputation, but the ulcers began to heal.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated this phase on November 7, 1986; around 1995, it received the Positio dossier from postulation officials.

The theological advisors approved the dossier on April 7, 1995; the cardinal and bishop members of the congregation did so on June 20, 1995.

On July 11, 1995, Pope John Paul II, in a private audience with congregation prefect Alberto Bovone, confirmed that Casey had lived a life of heroic virtue and titled him Venerable.

[19] For a person to be beatified - unless they are a martyr - ordinarily, a miracle (normally, healing) must be approved following confirmation that science could not explain it.

[20] The congregation approved the miracle on May 2, 2017, and Pope Francis did so two days later, meaning that the late friar would be beatified.

[21] Casey's confirmed miracle involved curing Paula Medina Zarate's ichthyosis, a genetic skin condition.

[22] The founding grounds of the Capuchin Franciscans in the United States, St. Lawrence Seminary, announced the construction of Father Solanus Hall, a new dormitory to house the senior class.