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Bishop builds architect’s cause for sainthood
By Claudia I. Provencio, The Catholic Sun
October 19, 2006
Two decades after his death, a local man took another step closer to sainthood now that a prayer for the faithful to seek his intercession was recently approved by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted.
The prayer comes one year after the bishop began gathering information on the merits of the cause. The bishop received 5,700 signatures supporting Paul Murphy’s fama sanctitatis, or “fame of holiness.”
Friends say he is deserving of sainthood because of his chastity, his consistency in following God’s will and his commitment to consecrated life, which only increased after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Murphy, a local architect who died a virgin at the age of 36, lived the last 10 years of his life by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a member of Miles Jesu, a Catholic lay institute whose members promote Catholic ideals throughout the world.
In a book published by Miles Jesu, Fr. Alphonsus Maria Duran, founder of the lay institute, describes Murphy as a principled man with a strong personality.
He wrote, “From the very first moment that Paul accepted his vocation to Miles Jesu, I got a very strong impression that he was a great gift to us from God. Paul had so many outstanding qualities. He had a very open personality, full of joy, always ready with an amusing comment, intelligent, successful, very generous with God; he had a very clean life, and was popular with girls… yet so willing to give everything up to accept his vocation to serve God.”
Miles Jesu — Latin for “Soldier of Jesus” — will soon release a prayer card with Murphy’s picture, a short biography and a petition asking those who receive the card to inform the postulation of any favors they receive through Murphy’s intercession.
Prayer cards are commonly used to promote a cause and are helpful in establishing a candidate’s fama signorum, or reputation of intercessory power.
In a letter sent to parishes last August, Bishop Olmsted asked the public to contribute to a diocesan investigation into Murphy’s life. The bishop acknowledged that following Murphy’s death, “many people have expressed their conviction that he was truly a holy man and have invoked his intercession before God.”
The diocese continues to collect information from people who can testify to Murphy’s merits.
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