
CV NEWS FEED // A Los Angeles church celebrated a 43rd anniversary memorial Mass for beloved miracle worker Servant of God Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, CMF.
The Chapel of the Annunciation at Mission San Gabriel held the Mass on June 8th, along with a rosary, graveside blessing, and reception, Angelus News reports. The event was in both English and Spanish. Fr. Gabriel Ruiz, CMF, celebrated Mass, concelebrating with Fr. Charles Carpenter, MAP, Fr. Norbert Medina, CMF, and Fr. Kevin Manion.
Fr. Manion leads the organization promoting Fr. Aloysius’s cause for sainthood. At the Mass, Fr. Manion prayed, “We offer our prayers on this anniversary, so that our Venerable Servant of God may be advanced in the cause of canonization. Merciful Lord, turn towards us and listen to our prayers. Open the gates of paradise to your Servant.”
Countless faithful, both during Fr. Aloysius’s life and after his death, have testified to his holiness and his powerful intercession. Last year, Elizabeth Plaisted prayed at Fr. Aloysius’s grave for her husband, who had cancer. She returned this year.
“We came to pray to Father Aloysius for his intercession and now my husband is doing great,” Plaisted remarked. “He had his surgery. He’s cancer-free.”
Fr. Aloysius was born in the Basque region of Spain in 1905, raised in a very devout family, and joined the Claretians’ Minor Seminary at the tender age of 11. He entered the novitiate at the age of 15, and professed his final vows when he was 21. He was ordained as a priest in 1929 at the age of 24.
After spending six months in Panama, Fr. Aloysius was sent to San Diego, California, to teach Greek and Latin and to provide spiritual formation for students.
The Servant of God acted as rector, spiritual director, and superior in seminary formation, but he was better known for his ministry to the sick. Many local Catholics considered him a miracle worker and went to him for physical and spiritual healing.
Tony James Arpaia, who is now a retired computer support specialist, received healing at Fr. Aloysius’s hands when he was a little boy. Arpaia suffered from severe asthma and was not supposed to make it past the age of 7.
“I was hospitalized many, many times,” Arpaia explained. “Father Aloysius would bless me and it would relieve my symptoms. He had healing hands.”
When Fr. Aloysius’s cause for sainthood was opened in 2015, Arpaia gave his testimony. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles gave his approval to the cause, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gave their support. The Vatican issued the Nihil Obstat for the diocese to move forward.
For Fr. Aloysius’s cause to move forward, the Pope must recognize him as a martyr or a man of heroic virtue to become a venerable. Then he needs one miracle to be considered a blessed and another miracle to be canonized a saint.
