Mother Mary Lange’s canonization cause reaches the Vatican

The Vatican is currently reviewing Mother Lange's cause, with hopes that she will soon be named "venerable."

Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange is among six African American Catholics on the road to sainthood, and recently her cause was accepted by the Vatican.

According to OSV News, on February 27 the Vatican informed Mother Lange’s religous order that “it has approved the ‘positio’ — the documentation on the life of Mother Lange, which includes both the theological and historical record of her life.”

This marks an important step in her cause for canonization, as the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will review the “positio” and then hand it off to Pope Francis for him to declare Mother Lange “venerable.”

Larry Peterson, in an article for Aleteia, explains how Mother Lange ” left Cuba to seek a new life in the United States. She eventually settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where many French-speaking Catholic refugees from Haiti had settled. Elizabeth quickly recognized that the children of the many Caribbean immigrants needed education. A loving and courageous woman, Elizabeth translated her deep spiritual life into concrete actions.”

Despite opposition and prejudice at the time, she was eventually given permission to start her own religious order, the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

Mother Lange was a hard-working woman, who persevered through a difficult time in the United States, staying faithful to God and to the Catholic Church.