What is Canonization?

What are the steps?

How is a miracle defined?

Father Baker's Progress

Historical Significance

What does the future hold?

Father Baker's "Road to Sainthood"

Father Baker officially began dow the long road to Sainthood in 1987, when he was named Servant of God by the Vatican, the first step (of three) to canonization.

In 1998, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome recommended that Father Baker's earthly remains be moved into the Basilica from nearby Holy Cross Cemetery.

On March 10, 1999, his coffin was unearthed and re-interred within the OLV Basilica. It is estimated that 6,000 well-wishers passed through the shrine that day, before the sarcophagus was sealed.

During the re-interment process, three vials of bodily fluid were found and removed from Father Baker's coffin. The containers were in pristine condition, as was the blood inside.

In 2000, the blood, which was still in liquid form 60-plus years after Father Baker's burial, was sent to the Vatican for testing. In the months following, Vatican officials convened a tribunal to interview and take testimony from those closest to the re-interment process.

All of the paperwork with the vials has been submitted to the Vatican and all are hopeful that word will come soon of the acceptance of the uncorrupted blood as Father Baker's first miracle.