BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Vatican representative has begun investigating whether divine intervention allowed the Rev. Nelson H. Baker's blood and body fluids to remain liquid for 60 years after his death.
Baker's fluids were collected when he died in 1936, then sealed in three vials and buried in a small container atop the coffin in a local Catholic cemetery. When the body was moved last year, the fluids were still in liquid form.
Local church officials consider this miraculous and thus pertinent to hopes of having Baker declared a saint. The unnamed investigator will take testimony from medical experts and cemetery workers who attended the burial, then present it to Vatican officials.
Baker, known as the "Padre of the Poor," founded Our Lady of Victory Homes of Charity. An estimated half-million people attended his funeral.
In 1987, the pope named the Buffalo priest a "servant of God," the first step toward canonization.