Sainthood for Father Serra?
He was called the “Saint Detective” in Irving Wallace’s book, “The Sunday Gentleman.” He was called the leader and vice postulator in the Cause of Padre Serra from 1941 to 1954. He is called “nothing” in the Pinsky article on Father Serra.
I was incensed at the omission of the name of the man who worked so long and so hard on the Cause of Serra. May his name be known now: Father Eric O’Brien.
This dedicated friar is the scholar who gathered the biographical data about Serra from around the world: California, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Majorca and Italy. He compiled more than 8,500 pages of material for documentation. It was Father O’Brien who prepared the legal brief, the “articuli , “ and presented it to the Fresno Bishop’s Court in 1948-49. From there he moved to Rome and lobbied for the cause until 1954.
Father O’Brien’s unremitting labor for the Cause of Junipero Serra should not be ignored nor forgotten.
LILLIAN LEAVITT RAFFEL
Beverly Hills
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