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The Irish-born priest is revered for his revolutionary approach to caring for impoverished boys at the group home he founded in Omaha, Nebraska. Pope Leo XIV approved the advancement of the beatification cause for Boys Town founder Father Edward J. Flanagan, declaring him “Venerable.”
The Irish-born priest, revered for his revolutionary approach to caring for homeless and impoverished children in the 20th century, famously said there was “no such thing as a bad boy, only bad environment, bad modeling, and bad teaching.”
His life and legacy were immortalized in the 1938 movie Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the priest. Thanks to his ministry to young boys in Omaha, Nebraska, Flanagan was invited to review the child welfare conditions in Japan and Korea in 1947, and the following year in Austria and Germany.
While in Germany, Flanagan had a heart attack and died on May 15, 1948. His body rests at Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Boys Town, Nebraska.
The Pope declared the “heroic virtue” of Father Flanagan alongside four other holy men and women on March 23. He also authorized the beatification of Italian Cardinal Ludovico Altieri, who died ministering to cholera patients during an epidemic in 1867.
Altieri was found to have made an “offering of life,” a legal path to sainthood created by Pope Francis in 2017. Tom Lynch, the official Boys Town historian, joins to share how Father Flanagan is remembered today, what it means to be named Venerable, and the next steps on the path to sainthood. Watch the full interview here.
Read the full story here.
