FR EDWARD FLANAGAN MOVES CLOSER TO SAINTHOOD
- Apr 4
- 2 min read
From Irish Bishops Conference
Welcoming Pope Leo’s announcement Fr Edward Flanagan is to be declared venerable, Bishop Kevin Doran said, “Father Flanagan was born in Ballymoe, Co Galway, in the Diocese of Elphin, on 13 July 1886 and, following his primary education in Drimatemple National School, went to the College of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill College, Sligo, to complete his secondary education. Like so many young people in his day, the young Edward emigrated to the United States, where he became a priest of the Diocese of Omaha. In a time of crisis, when many young people were living rough on the streets and getting in trouble with the law, Father Flanagan founded ‘Boystown’, which flourished to become a place where young people could feel at home, and have all the advantages of a solid education and formation for life.
“Since 2017, Father Flanagan’s ‘heroic virtue’ (the measure of his holiness), has been carefully considered by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, leading up to today’s announcement. His virtue shows clearly in many aspects of his life. One was the courage with which he pursued his vocation to the priesthood, in spite of difficulties with ill health. Another aspect of his holiness was his desire to help young people realise that they are loved by God. He expressed this in his own actions as a “father”, and in his statement that he never knew a child who wanted to be bad. “Kindness and love will open the heart of any problem boy. On a visit to Ireland in 1946, he raised serious questions about the imprisonment of children and the conditions in which they were forced to live and work.
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