Sacred Hearts Father Bruno Benati was the one from whom official news regarding the canonization process of Blessed Damien had been trickling out of Rome over the past 12 months.

As postulator general for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, the Italian-born priest was the primary advocate and promoter of the cause. It’s a job he took over in 2007, a year after completing a two-decade missionary assignment in Colombia, from his able predecessor Father Emilio Vega Garcia, who had spent several years guiding the case through its most crucial phases.

Father Benati’s last public report, posted on the congregation’s website, modestly announced what the world for years had been waiting for:

“June 17th: Cardinals and Bishops will sign the document approving the miracle of Blessed Damien.

“June 30th: The document about the miracle will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI for his approval. We invite you all to be close through prayers.”

Then June 17 came and went with no word from Father Benati if the cardinals and bishops signed. That’s easy to explain: Father Benati died that day of a massive heart attack. The postulator was 66.

So did that document get signed or not? By the month’s end, Father Christopher Keahi, superior of Hawaii’s Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers, suspected the document had been signed on June 17, or later, but could not confirm it. If Bishop Larry Silva knew anything he wasn’t saying.

Sacred Hearts Father Alfred Bell was named on June 25 as Father Benati’s replacement, but he was in Germany and was not scheduled to arrive in Rome until early July.

But the news department of KITV-4 knew, and broke the story locally, though with sketchy details, on July 2. Reporter Pamela Young said her source was a known contact with ties to the office of Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels, the Belgian archdiocese sponsoring Damien’s canonization cause. The television station also stated that the pope had not yet been presented with the document.

KITV’s report set off a media flurry as other news organizations tried to catch up. Most called the diocese which, for a whole day, didn’t know much, couldn’t confirm anything, and wasn’t of much help. And the bishop was on a plane to California.

It finally fell on the shoulders of Father Edward Popish, a Hawaii Sacred Hearts priest serving as his congregation’s treasurer in Rome, to keep Hawaii informed through e-mailed reports and phone calls.

He reported, no, the pope had not been presented the document on June 30, the date Father Benati had announced, but, yes, the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints had signed the document, although he didn’t know the exact date.

Furthermore, he said, the pope was scheduled to receive the document the next day, July 3. (Which he wrote as “June 3,” adding to the confusion.)

Meanwhile, Bishop Silva received Father Popish’s e-mail update and shortly after landing in California, e-mailed his own statement, which was sent out to the media.

The bishop wrote: “We have all been praying for the canonization of Father Damien, and we thank God that the process is positively advancing. However, it is the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, who must ultimately decide whether Father Damien will be officially declared a saint, and we eagerly await word from him. … Even if the Holy Father makes his decision on July 3, it is possible we will have to wait several more months before a date is set for the Canonization Mass.”

July 3 arrived and Benedict XVI was presented the document by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and signed it, a fact confirmed by Father Popish, the Vatican’s website and Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service described the pope’s action as having “authorized publication of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien de Veuster of Molokai, clearing the way for his canonization.”

It was now official. Blessed Damien will be canonized. Hawaii will have its own saint.

Hawaii will need one. By the end of the day, the news about Blessed Damien had been eclipsed by the report of a tragic murder/suicide of a Catholic family in Mililani.