Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 8, 2013 / 03:11 am
Devotees of the English writer and Catholic apologist G.K. Chesterton rejoiced at the news that a Catholic bishop in England is seeking to open an investigation into whether he should be declared a saint.
"A lot of people have been hoping for this for a long time," Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society, told CNA Aug. 6. "Chesterton has a huge devotion to him around the world, particularly here in America. There are people who have long believed that he is someone who should be raised to the altars and have already privately started asking for his intercession."
Ahlquist made the announcement on Aug. 1 during the American Chesterton Society National Conference at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., citing Martin Thompson, head of an English Chesterton group.
Thompson said that Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton is "sympathetic" to those who desire to see Chesterton canonized and is "seeking a suitable cleric to begin an investigation into the potential for opening a cause for Chesterton."