An Episcopal priest who founded the Franciscan Society of the Atonement in upstate New York and later converted to Catholicism is being considered for sainthood.
Father Paul Wattson, who died in 1940 at the age of 77, "started a small week of prayer on the top of a mountain in Garrison, and now it's a worldwide movement," Father Brian Terry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement told Catholic New York.
The order began as an Episcopal movement but changed to congregation in the Latin Rite branch of the Catholic Church when Father Wattson converted to Catholicism in 1909.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York spearheaded an 18-month investigation of the merits for Wattson's canonization. That probe ended earlier this month and the findings will now be reviewed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.
Terry told Catholic New York that last year he spoke with Pope Francis about Wattson and his achievements and the pontiff "really seemed sincerely interested."
The Franciscan Friars said in a statement: "Father Paul was an indefatigable servant of God whose work was to spread the Kingdom of God on earth.
"He had the heart of a Franciscan and the missionary zeal of St. Paul, as evidenced by his many publications, sermons and letters he left behind, and the Ave Maria Hour Radio Show which brought the words of the gospel and the lives of the saints into people's homes."
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