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Vatican official to visit South Dakota over sainthood case

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A Vatican official is headed to South Dakota to consider promoting the case of sainthood for a Lakota holy man who converted more than 400 people to the Catholic faith.

A bishop last year accepted a petition signed by 1,400 people that opened the cause for the canonization of Nicholas Black Elk, the Rapid City Journal reported. A Vatican official from Rome will arrive in Rapid City this month to potentially write a paper summarizing Black Elk’s life and virtues to push forward the case for sainthood.

Black Elk was appointed a catechist by Jesuits in the early 1900s to evangelize on tribal lands. Black Elk taught, performed marriage ceremonies and distributed communion, said Deacon Marlon Leneaugh, director of Native Ministry with the Diocese of Rapid City.

“He was like St. Paul, from Wind River down to Yankton up to Standing Rock. He kind of had a circuit,” Leneaugh said.

If the official chooses to write the paper, it’ll then be voted on by a theological commission in Rome. The issue will then be sent to the pope, who may kick off the miracle reporting process.

“We’ve heard from friends in Rome that the Pope (Francis) really likes this cause,” Leneaugh said.

The pope’s approval would determine Black Elk as “venerable,” but his sainthood depends on proving two miracles.

Miracles usually relate to some form of healing, but none have been reported for Black Elk yet. Miracles must be reported by a witness or a secondhand witness, which is an individual who was told directly by someone who was healed or witnessed the act of God.

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