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Kansas City Diocese to Investigate Beatification of Mary’s House Founder

Kansas City, Mo., Nov 18, 2010 / 02:49 am (EWTN News)Share

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is opening the beatification cause of Sr. Marie de Mandat-Grancey, the founder of Mary’s House at Ephesus in Turkey.

Inspired by the writings of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, Sr. Marie encouraged priests in Turkey to read her visions to find the house where it is believed the Virgin Mary and St. John lived until her Assumption. In 1891 they discovered the house. The next year Sr. Marie purchased the property and began restoring it.

In 1914 Pope St. Pius X granted an indulgence to those who visit Mary’s House. Bl. Pope John XXIII later granted a permanent indulgence.

The house is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims.

Sr. Marie, born to the French nobility, was a Daughter of Charity who also worked in orphanages in France. In 1886 she moved to work at a French hospital in Smyrna, Turkey where she used her own funds to refurbish the hospital and to establish a girl’s school, the Catholic Key reports.

Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph Robert W. Finn, writing in the Catholic Key, explained that he requested that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints grant his archdiocese jurisdiction over Sr. Marie’s cause for beatification.

Several years ago he made a pilgrimage to Mary’s House. During his visit he met Erin Von Uffel of New York, who had studied Sr. Marie’s life.

Von Uffel encouraged Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini of Izmir, Turkey to investigate the cause. He later petitioned Bishop Finn for assistance because of insufficient personnel and other resources.

“I felt very privileged recently when our Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was asked to participate in a Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of a woman who died almost 100 years ago half way around the world!” Bishop Finn wrote. He called Sr. Marie an “extraordinary woman” and predicted she will become better known in Missouri.

Dr. Andrea Ambrosi of Rome will be the postulator who will oversee the beatification process, which examines the candidate’s life, virtues, writings, reputation for holiness and reputation for intercession. He also handled the beatification case of Fr. Emil Kapaun, a military chaplain from the Diocese of Wichita.

A candidate for sainthood is called a Servant of God when her case opens. If her heroic virtue is proven, she is declared “venerable.” She can be beatified after a miracle is attributed to her intercession, while a second miracle is needed for canonization.

The official opening of Sr. Marie’s cause for beatification is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2011 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

“Sr. Marie seems to have been a holy woman who lived her life humbly in God’s service. Please pray for God’s blessing on our work,” Bishop Finn’s column concluded.

The website of the Sr. Marie De Mandat-Grancey Foundation is at http://www.sistermarie.com/.