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The sainthood cause of Rev. Patrick Peyton, the Holy Cross priest whose worldwide Family Rosary ministry was based in Albany, will take a major step forward during a June 28 Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany.

At the Mass, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard will formally receive the results of an investigation into a possible miracle attributed to Father Peyton's intercession.

While some details of the miracle are kept confidential, such as the identity of the person receiving the possibly miraculous cure, it is known that the case involved someone who was being treated at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany.

"He was suffering from life-threatening multiple organ failure," said Rev. John Phalen, CSC, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton, Mass.

After the family prayed the Rosary, asking for Father Peyton's help, the man recovered - something medical personnel did not think was possible.

Grateful recipient

"I have met the man," Father Phalen said. "He is very grateful. He has been given a reprieve. He's thrilled about that. I get the impression that he's much more religious now. He feels he's living his life out of gratitude."

The priest added that the man is also "excited" about the possibility of being the miracle needed to move Father Peyton through the process to sainthood.

Currently, Father Peyton - who coined the phrase "the family that prays together stays together" - is in the first stages of the process of canonization.

"A saint needs one miracle to be declared blessed and one for sainthood," Father Phalen explained. "Before that, Father Peyton needs to be declared venerable.

"The witness interviews needed for that step are finished, and 16,000 pages of information have been sent to Rome. When they have been digested by the Congregation of Saints at the Vatican, we hope he will be declared venerable."

Father Phalen does not know how long that process might take. Meanwhile, the miracle in Albany will be on hold for presentation to the Vatican when the time is right.

Another miracle
That case is not the first one attributed to Father Peyton's intercession. An earlier cure in Uganda has also been studied and is ready to be submitted to Rome.

The investigation into the Albany miracle, which occurred about three years ago, was done by the Albany diocesan Tribunal. An independent and objective examination by doctors is a key part in the process.

A natural recovery from an illness, even a severe one, is not considered a miracle.

"It's difficult to have a miracle accepted by the Vatican," Father Phalen noted. "But this cure had to be by divine intercession. It's not explainable medically."

Albany connections
He expressed his appreciation to the Tribunal and the Bishop for "all of the hard work put into this investigation. It required a lot of time and effort."

Attesting to the importance of the Mass will be the presence of Revs. Hugh Cleary and Tom Looney, former superior general and current provincial, respectively, of the Holy Cross Congregation.

Asked to estimate when Father Peyton would be declared venerable, opening the way to the submission of the miracle to the Vatican, Father Phalen replied, "It depends on God's timing, not ours. A number of sainthood causes wait a long time.

"I am encouraged that we have two miracles to offer," he added. "The Vatican knows about them."

He said that "it's significant that the miracle happened in Albany because Father Peyton worked for so many years out of Albany. It's a wonderful, providential reality that the man who was cured was in a hospital in the city where Father Peyton's ministry began."
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