Mary Cherubini, a member of Three Holy Women Parish, Millwaukee, was blessed by Fr. Solanus Casey some 60 years ago. She believes the blessing is one reason she's able to see in spite of a genetic eye ailment that threatened her vision. (Catholic Herald photo by James Pearson).

Shorewood Woman Blessed by Saintly Friar

By Maryangela Layman Román
Catholic Herald Staff

SHOREWOOD — The details are a bit fuzzy in Mary Cherubini’s mind, but that’s understandable as it’s been some 60 years since she met the man she calls "her saint." One thing that’s clear in 84-year-old Cherubini’s mind is the belief that the blessing she received in Detroit in the early 1940s from Capuchin friar Solanus Casey is a key reason she can see today, in spite of a genetic eye ailment that threatened her vision.

Wearing thick glasses, and noting that she’s had two corneal transplants, one as recently as last fall, Cherubini told your Catholic Herald about the blessing that altered her life.

Shortly after she graduated from Denby High School in Detroit, she began having vision problems. At the suggestion of a neighbor who also had a daughter with vision troubles, she went to St. Bonaventure on Mt. Elliott where a simple Capuchin friar was gaining a reputation for prophecy and healing.

Capuchin Friar Solanus Casey was ordained at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Milwaukee, in 1904. Fr. Casey, a native of Prescott, Wis., is the first American-born male to be declared venerable. Pope John Paul II bestowed the honor in 1995. (Catholic News Service photo)

The friar, Fr. Solanus Casey, has strong ties to Wisconsin. He was born Nov. 25, 1870, on a farm in Prescott along the banks of the Mississippi River, the sixth child in a family of 10 boys and six girls. The family moved to Superior where he spent his youth. After working as a logger, streetcar motorman and federal prison guard, he enrolled at Saint Francis Seminary in St. Francis in 1892, intending to become a priest. He struggled, however, with the seminary’s German language curriculum and seminary administrators suggested he join the Capuchin Order. In 1904, at age 33, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Sebastian Messmer at St. Francis Church, Milwaukee, but because his German was still weak, he was barred from preaching or hearing confessions.

Fr. Casey spent the next 20 years in New York, before arriving at St. Bonaventure Friary in Detroit in 1924 where, as porter at the monastery door, he greeted thousands of people. He may have fallen short academically, but Fr. Casey’s reputation grew as a man who listened and connected with people. His deep faith drew people to him and Cherubini, a member of Three Holy Women Parish, Milwaukee, recalls waiting in a long line at the monastery for her chance to be blessed by the simple priest.

While she recalls few other details about the blessing, Cherubini said after she met Fr. Casey her vision was good enough that she was able to work as a stenographer for years.

"After that blessing, I just felt, I’m going to be OK. I was able to work for many, many years with that blessing," she said, adding, "I think it was a special thing."

At age 25, she married Mario Cherubini, a Milwaukee native that she met on a dance floor in Wisconsin while attending a wedding.

The couple settled in Milwaukee, had two children, Judy Johnson and James Cherubini, and opened a pizza parlor —Mario’s Pizza — on Brady Street.

A brain tumor ended Mario’s life abruptly at age 40, but Cherubini, with two young children to support, then ages 7 and 5, continued to operate the pizza parlor for another 17 years.

Her eyesight remained good enough that after selling the restaurant, she went back to clerical work, first for a dentist, and then for her son-in-law, before retiring some 20 years ago.

To this day, however, Cherubini is proud to note, "I read my newspaper, my magazines, whatever. With corrective lenses I can read the fine print, so I say yes, it was a blessing."

Prior to the blessing, Cherubini said she was fearful she’d lose her vision entirely. "I used to read a lot, but everything was blurry. I’ve had two corneal transplants since then."

"To me he was a saint then and he’s a saint now. I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten his blessings," she said, adding whenever anyone mentions Solanus, she let’s them know, "Oh, he blessed me!"

Cherubini said she never dwells on the crosses in her life, her vision struggles and the death of her husband, only 10 years after they were married.

Rather, she leans on her Catholic faith, especially her deep devotion to the saints.

She’s especially fond of St. Lucy who is considered the patron of those with eye afflictions. Over the years, Cherubini has amassed a collection of articles on Fr. Casey, and cherishes a prayer card with a relic from the priest who, in 1995, was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II, the first American-born male to reach this first stage on the road to sainthood.

For years, Johnson said her mother told her about the priest who blessed her eyes. "Of course I didn’t pay attention ... a priest blessed her eyes, back in the day, but I have come to realize a different story now that he’s becoming a saint, hopefully," she said.

Johnson noted Cherubini has passed her deep Catholic faith to her children, three grandchildren and great-grandchild.

"She has always impressed (faith) upon us — she is very religious and prays all the time for everybody to every saint. That’s just the way my mother is. (She tells us to) pray to the saints if you have problems, and the ones associated with the disease you have will help you and I must say, she’s been correct," said Johnson.

"She’s been an inspiration and having the faith that she does, she instills it in our children. It’s contagious. She has been through a lot in her life and if it wasn’t for the saints, she’d be a depressed person."

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