Office of Native Ministry
Documents seeking to make Nicholas Black Elk a saint were signed, sealed and delivered to the Vatican recently. Black Elk was a Lakota medicine man and Catholic catechist who died in 1950.
The Office of Native Ministry in the Diocese of Rapid City celebrated the completion of the diocesan phase of the Black Elk canonization cause at a mass held June 25 at Black Elk's home parish, St. Agnes Church in Manderson, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Bishop Robert Gruss presided at the mass, before signing the final documents and sending them off to Italy with Fr. Louis Escalante, the Roman Postulator for the Cause, who delivered them, bound with bright red cord, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. If the cause is successful, Black Elk would become the first Native American man born in North America to be declared a saint in the Catholic Church.
A second anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving for Black Elk's canonization cause was held Aug. 17 in Manderson, with graveside prayer and a Lakota honoring song offered by Quincy Red Leaf at the grave. Black Elk died on Aug. 19, 1950.
Personal letters written by Nicholas Black Elk, both in Lakota and translated to English, have also been sent to Rome to substantiate the cause for canonization of Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk. These resources are available on the diocesan website and by social media as part of the Black Elk Historical Commission.
To see more of these letters visit https://buff.ly/2YRPJIL
