The United States Conference of Bishops, during its Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, 13-16 November, among other decisions, gave the green light to the cause of beatification and canonisation, at the diocesan level, of the Servant of God, Isaac Thomas Hecker.
Isaac Thomas Hecker was born in New York City on December 18, 1819. He joined the Redemptorist novitiate and was ordained to the priesthood in 1849. In 1858, Father Hecker, along with three other American Redemptorists, sought to establish an English-speaking mission in the United States, which led to their departure from the Redemptorist order. They formed a new community, the Congregation of Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle, which is today known as the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, commonly known as the Paulist Fathers, committed to evangelising and building up the Catholic community in the United States.
Father Isaac Hecker died on December 22, 1888, after battling numerous illnesses during the last years of his life. “He left behind a legacy of recognisable holiness, and his reputation for sanctity was evident in his own lifetime and has continued to inspire pastoral and missionary zeal in the Church down to today”, reads the report of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Archdiocesan Inquiry phase of the cause of beatification and canonisation of the Servant of God Isaac Thomas Hecker was formally opened in the Archdiocese of New York in January 2008.
(Vida Nueva Digital/Scala News)
