The Vatican has announced that the Passionist priest Blessed Charles of Mount Argus in Dublin will be canonised by Pope Benedict in Rome on June 3rd next.
Born John Andrew Houben, at Munstergeleen, Holland, in December 1821, Blessed Charles, a Passionist priest, came to Ireland 150 years ago in 1857 and served at Mount Argus in Harold's Cross.
While a layman in military service from 1840 to 1845 he had heard of the Passionists and joined them in 1845, entering the novitiate at Ere, near Tournai, in Belgium. He was ordained in December 1850. In November 1852, he was sent to England and there came into contact with the Irish who were emigrating from the Famine.
Never a good preacher, in Dublin he excelled in the confessional and in comforting the sick. Soon he was very popular, not only in Dublin but all over Ireland, with as many as 300 people a day coming to be blessed by him.
He was transferred back to England in 1866 but returned to Ireland in 1874, remaining at Mount Argus for the rest of his life. He died on January 5th, 1893. His body was brought to the church at Mount Argus and lay in state for five days.
Thousands filed past his coffin, with his funeral reported to have been bigger than Parnell's two years previously.
His remains were laid to rest in the cemetery beside Mount Argus Church and his grave became a place of pilgrimage, where people came daily to pray.
In 1949 his remains were moved inside the church.
Father Charles was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 16th, 1988, after the cure of a Dutch lady, Mrs Octavia Spaetgens Verheggen, was approved as a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father Charles.
It is the approval of a second miracle, the cure of Dolf Dormans, also from Holland, that has paved the way for his canonisation.
A portrait of the saint by James Hanley will feature on a stamp being launched by An Post to mark the occasion, while a new song has been written and performed by Fr Liam Lawton.
Plans are under way for a pilgrimage to Rome for the canonisation, and this will be paralleled by a series of events in Mount Argus itself.
A special Mass to mark the announcement will be held in Mount Argus on Saturday, March 3rd, at 11am.
The Passionists say they are inviting everyone in Ireland to rejoice with them at their good news, that Ireland has a new saint whose remains and shrine are in Dublin.
He is a saint for the poor, a saint for the sick, a saint for immigrants and emigrants, a saint for everyone, the order says.