Pope Leo XIV established Rev. Edward Joseph Flanagan Step closer to Possible holiness Monday as he declared the “heroic virtues” of the founder of Boys Town, a Nebraska home for at-risk youth that has gained national fame and inspired an Oscar-winning biographical show.
With Leo’s announcement, the priest known as “Father Flanagan” is now officially “venerable.” Subsequent steps on the potential path to sainthood will include beatification and eventual canonization.
Omaha Archbishop Michael McGovern said he was “very happy” with the news.
“We continue to pray that he will one day be beatified and eventually declared a saint,” the archbishop said in a statement. In the meantime, let us work to affirm the dignity of every person created in the image of God by serving the poor, the abandoned and the vulnerable, especially young people at risk.
Flanagan was born in Ballymo, Ireland, in 1886 and immigrated to the United States in 1904. He was ordained a priest in 1912 and began working for the Diocese of Omaha in 1913.
He provided shelter to homeless men, whose stories convinced him that many adult problems were rooted in broken homes and parental neglect, according to his biography posted on the website of the Father Flanagan Association, an association dedicated to promoting his cause for sainthood.
Flanagan began mentoring boys in the juvenile justice system and established his first home for boys in 1917 in downtown Omaha. In 1921, he purchased a farm on the western outskirts of Omaha and began building what became the campus known as Boys Town, which still exists there in the village of the same name.
By the 1930s, hundreds of boys were living on the site, which included a school and dormitories where boys elected a mayor, council and commissioners, according to the organization’s website.
Flanagan traveled to post-war Japan to help develop a child welfare program. In 1946, he visited his native Ireland and criticized its system of placing children in industrial schools and reformatories, calling it exploitative.
Flanagan died of a heart attack in 1948 at the age of 61 while visiting Germany. His grave at Dodd Memorial Church in Boys Town displays one of his most famous quotes: “There are no bad boys. There are only bad environment, bad example, and bad thinking.”
His work was depicted in the 1938 film Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy as the hero Flanagan and Mickey Rooney as one of the boys in his care. The film won Academy Awards for Tracy (Best Actor) and Writing (Original Story).
Boys Town opened various locations across the country and began accepting girls into its residential programs in 1979.
Boys Town praised the Vatican’s announcement in a Facebook post on Monday.
She added that Flanagan “believes that children have the right to be valued, to have the basic necessities of life and to be protected.” “His life-saving work continues across the country today.”
Flanagan is the second American cleric with Midwestern connections to be approached for sainthood this year under the Pope’s papacy. Pope Leo, born in Chicago. In February, the Vatican approved the Pope’s beatification ceremony Archbishop Fulton Sheen In his native Illinois after years of delay.
The Vatican’s Department for Saints reviewed a long file on Flanagan’s life, writings and works. On Monday, Liu signed the decree certifying that Flanagan lived a life of heroic virtue. This decree does not mean that he was free from sin and errors, but rather it means that he had a reputation for holiness as he lived all the Christian virtues in a heroic manner.
The next step toward potential sainthood is beatification. For Flanagan to be beatified, the presumptive — the person responsible for furthering the cause — must find someone who has been miraculously healed through prayer for Flanagan’s intercession. The process involves examination by theological and medical experts. If the court is satisfied, it sends the case to the pope, who signs a decree stating that the candidate can be beatified.
A second miracle is needed to declare the candidate a saint. Martyrs – people killed for their faith – can be beatified without a miracle. But a miracle is needed to declare the martyrs saintly.
A pope can also go beyond the miracle requirement to be declared a saint, as Pope Francis did at times during his 12-year papacy. Francis was canonized Sant Junipero Serra During a visit to Washington, D.C. in 2015, although the Vatican did not confirm that a second miracle attributed to his intercession had occurred.
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