After thanking the tribunal for their willingness to serve, Bishop Morlino gave a synopsis of the life of Samuel Mazzuchelli.
In 1828, the young Mazzuchelli - just 21 years old, a Dominican friar not yet a priest - left his native Italy to labor as a missionary in the United States. Not even knowing how to speak English, he came in response to an appeal that he heard from Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati.
After further studies and ordination, Father Mazzuchelli was sent to Mackinac Island on the northwestern frontier of the Diocese of Cincinnati as the only priest to serve an area larger than Italy.
Father Mazzuchelli spent most of his remaining years working tirelessly to build up the Church in southwestern Wisconsin and the adjacent parts of Iowa and Illinois. He established more than 30 parishes and designed and built more than 20 church buildings, along with a number of civic buildings for his pioneer territory. He also founded the congregation of Dominican Sisters, whose motherhouse remains at Sinsinawa.
The outstanding virtues and heroic labors of Father Mazzuchelli were never forgotten by the people of this area nor by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.
Cause for canonization
His cause for canonization was formally opened in 1964. After an exhaustive investigation of the facts of his life and his surviving writings, Father Mazzuchelli was declared a Servant of God - honored with the title "Venerable" - on July 6, 1993.
Before he can become "Blessed," the Church waits for his sanctity to be proven by testimony in the form of miraculous favors granted through his intercession.
Fr. Vito Gomez, a Dominican who is postulator of the Cause of Venerable Samuel Mazzuchelli, has named Sr. Mary Paynter, a Sinsinawa Dominican, as vice-postulator for the cause. Sister Mary asked that a diocesan inquiry be convened to examine whether a miraculous cure was granted to a Madison man through the intercession of Father Mazzuchelli.
For more on Venerable Samuel Mazzuchelli and other North American Saints (and causes) check out Father Vincent O'Malley's:
Saints of North America
