18-07-2025
First U.S. born male saint could be from Wisconsin. Who are the female American saints?
Almost 70 years after his death, the Solanus Casey Foundation is building momentum to make the Wisconsin-born priest a saint. If it succeeds, he would be the first U.S.-born male ever canonized.
Two saints were born in the United States: Elizabeth Ann Seton, born in New York in 1774 and canonized in 1975; and Katharine Mary Drexel, born in Philadelphia in 1858 and canonized in 2000.
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in Ossernenon near what is now Auriesville, New York 1656 and canonized in 2012. However, she was born in a Mohawk village; the United States didn't exist at the time. She became the first Indigenous saint.
More: Hundreds lined up daily to meet Wisconsin-born priest. Now, he's on path to sainthood.
The first male saint tied to the United States was John Neumann, born in 1811 and canonized in 1977. However, he was born in Prachatice, Czechia.
Casey was born in Oak Grove, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee in Dodge County, in 1870. He was the sixth child in a family of 10 boys and six girls. As he grew older, Casey took on a variety of jobs, such as lumberjack, prison guard and trolley operator.
He was ordained in 1904 by Archbishop Sebastian Messmer at Milwaukee's St. Francis of Assisi Church.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What Catholic saints were born in America?
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