American Holiness: 5 Catholic Witnesses Who Evangelized Through Mercy and Courage
- Guest Contributor
- Jun 22
- 6 min read
Through catechesis, works of mercy, hospitality, military chaplaincy and hidden priestly witness, these Catholics show that every age needs missionary disciples.
By Cecilia Dietzler
Evangelization Specialist
Archdiocese of Denver
In every age and time, though much differs and changes, one thing remains steadfast: God raises up saints to manifest his loving kindness to his people. He inspires people to live holy lives, following him even to the Cross, in love for God and neighbor.
The same is true here, on our shores. In the United States’ 250 years, the Lord has called individuals, both canonized and uncanonized, to follow him and to lay down their lives for their neighbors.
And we are called to do the same.
Servant of God Adele Brice
Adele Brice was a Belgian-born immigrant who, as a young adult, moved with her family to Champion, Wisconsin. In 1859, while on a walk in the woods, she came upon a woman in dazzling white, and while her companions could not see the apparition, the woman revealed herself to be the “Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.” She instructed Brice to gather the children and catechize them, and when Brice expressed concern about her ability to teach, the woman assured her to fear nothing, as she would help Adele on her mission.
Brice would travel from house to house, offering to do household chores in exchange for the privilege of teaching their children the faith. After several years, she gathered several women who began teaching as well, and the community built a chapel in 1861, followed by a convent and school in 1864. They relied radically on God’s Providence, and Mary helped when called upon, as promised, even saving them and the shrine area they had built from the Great Peshtigo Fire, which burned 1.2 million acres of the surrounding area.
Brice continued teaching long after the fire with her companions, known as the Sisters of Good Help, named after the Marian apparition, known as Our Lady of Good Help, the only confirmed Marian apparition in the United States. Brice’s commitment to evangelizing the children in their community continues to inspire all those who visit the shrine.
Blessed Solanus Casey
Father Solanus Casey, born Bernard Casey, grew up on a Wisconsin farm to Irish immigrants. He desired to be a priest from an early age and entered the seminary in Milwaukee at age 21. He was called to the Capuchin Order in 1896, and while he struggled a bit with his studies, his deep devotion to God and his vows led to his ordination to the priesthood in 1904.
Now Father Solanus Casey, the young friar went to New York, where he spent the next 20 years in ministry. Initially serving as doorkeeper, he gained a reputation for his prayerful celebration of the Mass and his love and devotion to the poor, the sick, children and Catholics and non-Catholics alike. He brought deep consolation to all he encountered in his ministry. In 1924, Casey moved to a friary in Detroit to serve the poor, sick and otherwise troubled. When the Great Depression hit a few years into his mission, he was so deeply concerned for the poor that the Detroit Capuchins established a soup kitchen that still exists today.
Later, during World War II, Father Casey ministered with particular concern and care for the families of those serving overseas. His message of hope and comfort touched all those he ministered to, but especially non-Catholics. He brought many to conversion before he retired in Indiana, where he spent his final ten years in continued devotion to prayer and to the sick before returning to Detroit in ill health and passing away in 1957.
Servant of God Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day spent her childhood in New York City, San Francisco and Chicago, born into a nominally Christian family in 1897. She was baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1911 at age 13, despite her family’s apathy toward religion. While in college, Day rejected organized religion, claiming it did nothing to help the poor and desperate people around her. After falling even deeper into secularism, the birth of her daughter convicted her that it was important to be baptized for a sense of order that she felt she lacked as a child. Despite pushback from her husband, who ultimately left her, she baptized her daughter Catholic and eventually converted herself as she fell in love with the faith’s deep heritage.
Day was introduced to the Church’s rich social doctrines by Peter Maurin, who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement with her. The movement consisted of houses that were centers of works of mercy and hospitality, farms that brought together scholars and agricultural workers and a newspaper that introduced many to Catholic Social Teaching and action, deepening their love of God and neighbor.
Day was a strong advocate for pacifism and the end of nuclear warfare, for care for the poor and for peaceful protest for the rest of her life. Notably, she was part of a delegation to the last session of the Second Vatican Council, where she led a group of women who fasted and prayed for 10 days as a penitential offering for the success of the council. The resulting document, “The Church in the Modern World,” was the answer to their prayers. Her last speaking engagement was at the 1976 National Eucharistic Congress, where she spoke of her love of God, the importance of pouring that love into all creation, the life of the Spirit given to her by the Church and a call for peace in the world.
Venerable Emil Kapaun
Born in Kansas in 1916, Emil Kapaun was destined for a life far bigger than his small farming community. After being ordained a priest in 1940, he felt called to minister to the Army, first during World War II and then eventually during the Korean War.
Through his ministry, Father Kapaun was a consistent reminder that God is not distant but is right beside us in good times and bad. His example of being Christ to others, whether by crawling across the battlefield to minister to the dying or saying Mass even dangerously close to enemy lines, inspired all who met him.
When his unit was captured, Father Kapaun willingly stayed behind to be taken into captivity with them, despite being able to escape. He ministered to the prisoners across the camp in big and small ways, caring for the sick and dying and finding ways to spark meaningful connection. Throughout his captivity, he continued to provide the sacraments despite the danger of having an openly religious service. He brought many souls to Christ and gave them hope, and when he died in the camp, the prisoners carved a crucifix to remember that Jesus would continue to be with them, even when their beloved chaplain could not remind them.
Father Walter Ciszek
Walter Ciszek was a Jesuit priest born in 1904 to a Polish immigrant family in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He had a deep desire to serve in Russia and traveled to Rome to be prepared for such a task, learning the language and the Byzantine liturgy. He was ordained a priest in 1937 and was assigned to Poland. When war broke out two years later, he entered Russia with false identification papers and found work as a laborer.
Father Ciszek was arrested by the secret police in 1941, accused of being a “Vatican spy,” and was interrogated and imprisoned for five years, largely in solitary confinement, before being sentenced to Siberia for 15 years of hard labor. During this time, he was able to minister as a priest to the other prisoners in the camp, hearing Confessions and saying Mass in secret and even baptizing prisoners who converted.
After gaining an early release from his sentence, Ciszek was moved to the gulag and able to write home to his family, who had presumed him dead. The KGB tried to shut down his ministry several times, but Ciszek would move to another gulag city before they could arrest him. Eight years later (and 24 years after entering Russia), he was freed and brought home to the United States as part of a prisoner exchange.
Examples of Holiness and Mission
While we may not see an apparition of Mary in the woods, start a national movement or find ourselves in a warzone, the Lord desires to enter into each of our lives right where we are. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “in every time and in every place, God draws close to man” (CCC 1).
He doesn’t wait for us to become saints; he can use the challenges of every day to form us into saints.
In our schools, workplaces, neighborhoods and relationships, God desires to meet us and offer opportunities to grow towards sainthood. What opportunities are showing up in your life right now to become more like Jesus? Where are you being called to grow into a saint?
