Update on Rhoda’s Cause, July 7th 2025

Our postulator, Dr. Valentina Culurgioni, was present at the annual Mass for the Cause of Beatification of Rhoda Wise on July 7th at Saint Peter Church in Canton. After Bishop Bonnar celebrated the Mass, Valentina presented the following update:

Your Excellency,

Dear Fathers,

Dear devotees,

I am very glad to be with you this year and to take part in this anniversary Mass in which we remember the passing of our beloved Servant of God Rhoda Wise.

During 2024 our collaborator, Dr. Claudia Ciotola, completed the Positio, that has been reviewed by the Relator of the Dicastery, V.Rev. Msgr. Paul Pallath. He requested some additional research from the postulation to integrate the work made by the historical commission during the diocesan inquiry.

With the cooperation of Karen Sigler and Hannah Shaw, we will be able to submit the definitive version to the Dicastery in the next few months. Then will begin a time of waiting during which we all must pray to support the Cause, because the Positio will be studied and evaluated by the historians and theologians appointed by the Dicastery, and also by the Bishops and Cardinals of the Dicastery. They will be asked to express a vote and a judgment about different aspects of Rhoda’s life, heroic virtues, continuous and growing reputation of holiness and signs, and the value of Rhoda’s testimony and spirituality for the Church of these days.

I warmly encourage all of you to continue praying for the Cause and to entrust your intentions and necessities to Rhoda’s intercession. She is a dear friend of the Heart of Jesus and of all of us. We are now called to pray that she will be soon declared Venerable by the Church and many other people can be reached by her testimony and can find relief through her intercession.

Thank you!

Valentina Culurgioni

Postulator

Canton, July 7th, 2025

77th anniversary of the Servant of God Rhoda Wise passing