THE Pope has officially recognised a miracle attributed to an Irish priest who taught in Clane.
John Sullivan is said to have cured Irish revolutionary Michael Collins's nephew - also called Michael Collins - who was paralysed as young boy but miraculously walked after the priest touched his leg in October 1928.
Pope Francis approved the decree at an audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato who is in charge of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin welcomed the news yesterday and said Fr Sullivan was marked in a special way by a great care for the sick.
He said: "There was nothing that would hold him back from visiting someone who was sick and who had asked for his prayers."
Fr Sullivan studied at Trinity College Dublin before working as a Jesuit priest and teacher at Clongowes Wood College near Clane.
He was baptised into the Church of Ireland and converted to Roman Catholicism when he was middle-aged. He was ordained as a priest in 1907 at the age of 46.
Fr Conor Harper SJ, Vice-Postulator for the cause of Fr Sullivan said the long awaited news would delight many of his admirers throughout the world, adding that Fr Sullivan is 'remembered and revered in the two Christian traditions that were so dear to him, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant'.
Church of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson said: 'The holiness of the life of John Sullivan has touched and inspired countless people in Ireland and internationally.'
Fr Sullivan died peacefully on February 19, 1933, aged 71, after suffering various illnesses and was buried in Clongowes Wood Cemetery.
In 1960, his remains were transferred to St Francis Xavier's Church, Upper Gardiner St, Dublin as part of his canonisation. Thousands still visit his tomb to this day.
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