Reactions pour in as Pope Leo declares Father Flanagan “Venerable”

Servant of God Father Edward Flanagan received the title of Venerable on Monday after Pope Leo XIV recognized the founder of Boys Town’s heroic virtues. Archbishop Michael McGovern issued a statement in response to the news.

“I am overjoyed at the news that Pope Leo XIV has recognized the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Father Edward J. Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town. With the decree recognizing Father Flanagan’s virtues, he receives the title Venerable Servant of God or Venerable. In this, the 100th anniversary of Catholic Charities’ founding in Omaha, it is fitting that Father Edward Flanagan, an Omaha priest and a model of Christian charity, be recognized by the Holy See. This is the next step in Father Flanagan’s cause for sainthood, which began in 2012.

We continue to pray that he will one day be beatified and ultimately declared a saint. In the meantime, may we work to affirm the dignity of every person created in God’s image by serving the poor, the abandoned and the vulnerable, especially at-risk youth. May Venerable Father Edward Flanagan’s example inspire us to live the Lord’s command: ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’”

Humble beginnings

Father Edward J. Flanagan

Father Flanagan was born in Ballymoe, County Galway, in Ireland, in the Diocese of Elphin on July 13, 1886. His parents, John and Nora, were farmers and Edward was one of 11 children. Father Flanagan immigrated to America in 1904 and moved to Omaha in 1907. In 1917, he opened Boys Town in South Omaha before moving it to its current site in 1921.

Bishop Kevin Doran of Achonry and Elphin also welcomed the news, stating:

“Father Flanagan’s life and virtue have much to say to us today, in a wealthy country where so many children are forced to live with homelessness, and in a world in which we still find it so easy to define people as ‘hostile aliens’,” Bishop Doran said. “With the formal recognition of our own Father Flanagan as ‘Venerable’, I now invite people of faith, and especially those who work with young people, to take him as a model of Christian living and to pray for his Beatification.”

Bishop Kevin Doran | Courtesy Photo

More reactions

In a blog post on the announcement, Boys Town wrote that “This recognition affirms what generations of Boys Town youth, staff, and supporters have long known: Father Flanagan lived a life of extraordinary holiness, courage, and love.”

Father Edward Flanagan is surrounded by young men in his office at Boys Town in Omaha, Neb., in this 1942 photo. He is at the desk made for him by some boys at the home in the mid-1930s. Father Flanagan founded Boys Town in 1917, devoting his life to the care of troubled and abandoned boys. The Archdiocese of Omaha has begun an investigation into the priest’s life opening the first phase in the rigorous process toward sainthood. (CNS photo/courtesy of Boys Town) (March 2, 2012) See FLANAGAN March 2, 2012.

The title of Venerable by the Holy Father is a recognition that the Servant of God led a heroic life of Christian virtues. The next step in Venerable Father Flanagan’s cause would be beatification, during which he would receive the title “Blessed.” Beatification requires at least one verified miracle attributed to his intercession. Canonization, or being declared a saint, requires an additional verified miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession occurring after beatification.

Key moments in the Cause for Canonization

In February 2012, the Cause for Canonization was opened, and an archdiocesan inquiry began. Father Flanagan was officially declared Servant of God in a March 2012 Mass at Immaculate Conception Church at Boys Town. Fittingly, the Mass was on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.

Father Steven Boes, then executive director of Boys Town, said at the time that “though the process will be investigating proven miracles associated with Father Flanagan, we know that miracles occurred every day in his work to heal children in mind, body and spirit.”

In June 2015, the Roman Phase began, and the cause was reviewed by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. A Mass was held on June 18 at St. Cecilia Cathedral marking the occasion.

In his homily at the Mass, Archbishop Emeritus George Lucas told the nearly 700 people in attendance that, “We put it now in the hands of God, whose work is done on earth and in heaven. It will come to completion in God’s time, when God wills it for the good of the Church.”

The role of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion

The Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion (FFLSD) began gathering information to use in the canonization process nearly three decades ago. Steve Wolf, board member of the FFLSD and past president, said early efforts included monthly prayer meetings at Father Flanagan’s tomb, coordinating prayer groups in Ireland, public speaking events, and hosting pilgrimages to Boys Town.

When Father Flanagan’s Cause for Canonization was opened in 2012, Wolf said that the FFLSD saw it as “a response to the Holy Spirit that is moving through an international groundswell of devotion.”

More information on Father Flanagan’s Cause for Canonization visit Archomaha.org/FatherFlanagan.