Eastpointe — Following her ancestor’s continued process toward canonization, Kathleen Galen of Eastpointe found herself in New York in November for a very special occasion.

This occasion was the solemn closing session on the diocesan inquiry into an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Sr. Maria Droste zu Vischering of the Divine Heart of Jesus — Galen’s aunt of many, many generations back, and member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

Galen, who shared her original story with The Michigan Catholic in the newspaper’s Sept. 6 issue, had been invited to attend the closing session, which was held Nov. 1, the feast of All Saints Day.

“I’m learning about the making of a saint,” said Galen, reflecting on her experience in New York. She explained that she also had the opportunity to attend the Mass honoring Sr. Maria, held at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre prior to the closing session.

Sr. Maria, whose incorrupt body lies today in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ermesinde, Portugual, was born in 1863 to an aristocratic Catholic family in Munster, Germany. Joining the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd at age 25, Sr. Maria spent the majority of her religious life in a Portugal convent, helping orphans and dissolute women.

She also experienced mystical visions of Christ, which she reported to her superior. The visions of Christ requested that the entire world be consecrated to the Sacred Heart, which helped lead to Pope Leo XIII’s decree to do just that in 1899 in his “Annum sacrum,” (On Consecration to the Sacred Heart).

Her recent alleged miracle had taken place in the Rockville Centre Diocese in New York, and so the tribunal sessions were held under the direction of Bishop William Francis Murphy, bishop of the diocese.

According to a press release from the Missio Pastoralis Postulation Office — which assists local churches and religious congregations in processing beatification and canonization causes — the decision to open the inquiry came “after it was sufficiently established that an elderly laywoman … was likely healed from multiple organ dysfunction.”

Sr. Brigid Lawlor, petitioner of the cause, said several witnesses had been interviewed and had given their testimonies.

Rosemary Horgan, notary of the tribunal, presented three copies of the more than 580-page Acts of Inquiry to Bishop Murphy, two of which would be sent to the Holy See, and one of which would remain in the archives of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

“There was a panel of several doctors at the session,” remembered Galen. She said that Dr. Marie-Alberte Boursiquot, who served as medical expert for the cause, was the one who established the case for the alleged miracle.

Dr. Waldery Hilgeman, postulator, and Bro. Reginald Cruz, CFX, vice postulator of Sr. Maria’s cause, placed red ribbons on the Acts of Inquiry.

“The ribbons were red for the blood of Christ,” Galen said. “Then the bishop placed a wax seal on the ribbons.”

Galen was happy to witness this next step toward canonization for her relative, to whom she has spiritually grown very close.

“The fact that a woman with no husband or children was able to make such an impact so many generations later is very inspiring to me,” Galen said.