Another step forward has been made as the Vatican considers the case for Charlene Richard to be designated as saint by the Catholic Church.
"Exciting news to share! The documents concerning Charlene Richard’s life and heroic virtue have now been officially and properly bound into books by the Vatican! In the next week, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will begin a thorough investigation of the procedures used during the Diocesan investigation to ensure all the documents were correctly submitted," a post by the Diocese of Lafayette states. "After that, they will begin looking into her virtue to hopefully soon declare her Venerable! Continued prayers for the Cause of our “Little Cajun Saint!”
In January, a special ceremony at her home church, St. Edward Church in Richard, was held on what would have been her 77th birthday. The ceremony formally closed the diocesan phase of the process for the Cause for Canonization of the Servant of God Charlene Marie Richard.
"Charlene Richard was born on January 13, 1947. After being diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia, she died on August 11, 1959, at the age of 12. During her last days on earth at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Lafayette, Charlene would offer her prayers and suffering to God each day for different people with miraculous results. Since that day, people have come from all over the world to pray at her tomb in Richard with many who have testified to her extraordinary intercession," the diocese stated at the time.
The investigation resulted in a cache of information about Charlene, and it is this documentation which has now been formally and properly bound for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to review.
"The more than one thousand pages of documents prepared carefully by expert volunteers are now an official record of how Charlene (a pre-teenager, daughter, sister, granddaughter, friend, athlete, cancer patient, hero…) lived a heroic life of Faith, Hope, Love, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. With our love and prayers, the pages of this investigation will be entrusted that day to the Official Currier, Father Korey LaVergne, Pastor of Charlene’s home parish of St. Edward in Richard, and begins the long journey to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints directly across from Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome," the diocese said at the time of the closure ceremony.
To see our story about the ceremony, click here.
Richard was formally nominated for Sainthood back in 2020 by Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel. To read about that, click here.
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