The Cause of the Servant of God, Fr. George J. Willmann
THE inspiration to pursue the Cause for Sainthood of the Servant of God Fr. George J. Willmann started during the year-long celebration of the centennial of his birth in 1997.
In 2001, the officers of the Knights of Columbus in the country consulted the archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, D.D. about the possibility to initiate a Cause for Fr. George J. Willmann. Cardinal Sin warmly received the plea but advised that such a plea must come from the Jesuit Order.
The Knights presented to the Jesuit Provincial, Fr. Romeo J. Intengan, S.J., their desire to open the Cause, but he opined that it was premature to promote Fr. Willmann’s Cause. Primary reason cited was the statement of the Jesuit Postulator General in Rome, Rev. Paolo Molinari, S.J. that there was a need to ascertain the existence of a true and very widespread “fama sanctitatis” that has touched “hundreds or thousands of people of all walks of life.” Nonetheless, Fr. Intengan issued a letter to the Jesuits on May 5, 2001 soliciting their cooperation and assistance for the Knights of Columbus to access pertinent information and memorabilia that may support the Cause.
Over the years, the Knights of Columbus have been trying to establish and widen the fame of sanctity of Fr. Willmann. The membership to the Fr. Willmann Fellows open to all Knights of Columbus councils, members, their families, friends and even to business institutions, has grown. As of December 31, 2021, there are already 1,208 individual persons and 32 institutions nationwide who have joined this fellowship. The Fellows serve as collaborators in the work of spreading the “fama sanctitatis” of Fr. George Willmann.
Since 2001, the Order of the Knights of Columbus in the Philippines has been appealing to all Brother Knights, their families and friends to submit testimonials on Fr. Willmann’s heroic virtues. They have also been encouraged to report answered prayers through the intercession of Fr. Willmann; to visit his tomb in Novaliches and to become members of the Fr. Willmann Fellows. A number of printed materials have also been produced in support of the furtherance of the Cause of Fr. Willmann, S.J. Aside from Fr. Reuter’s “The Gentle Warrior” in 1998, the KC Order released a pamphlet in May 2002 entitled “A Quest for a Cause of Fr. George J. Willmann, S.J.
On December 7, 2015, Manila Archbishop, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, finally opened the Diocesan Phase of the Cause of the Servant of God, Fr. George J. Willmann. A Tribunal was convened by the Archbishop of Manila to hear about 50 “de visu” witnesses to the heroic virtues of the Servant of God. However, from 2017 to 2019, the Cause was halted pending upon the transfer of competence from the Archdiocese of New York, where Fr. Willmann died after attending the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention, to Manila, as provided in the Instruction Santorum Mater and in Normae servandae in Inquisitionibus ab Episcopis Faciendis in Causis Sanctorum.
In 2019, the transfer of Competence was granted by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York. In January 2021, the “Nihil Obstat” was granted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On July 4, 2022, the new Archbishop of Manila, Jose Cardinal Advincula caused the resumption of the Diocesan Phase of the Cause of the the Servant of God, Fr. George J. Willmann.