The Archbishop of Dublin has welcomed news today that the capital is to have a new saint by the summer.
Blessed Charles of Mount Argus will be canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in June. Dr Diarmuid Martin was, as Bishop of Dublin, Actor for the Cause of Blessed Charles.
Born John Andrew Houben in Mustergeleen, Holland in 1821, Charles joined the Passionist Order in Belgium at the age of 19 after three months of undistinguished military service.
He was ordained in 1850 and sent to England in 1852 where he made contact with Irish people who had emigrated because of the Famine.
He was transferred to Dublin in 1857 around the time Mount Argus monastery was being founded and he travelled Ireland raising funds to help build it.
His dedication to the sick and dying made him a popular figure in the city and people travelled from all over Ireland as word of his healing power spread.
The Mount Argus Parish website says Fr Charles's fame as a healer brought him into conflict with the medical profession who claimed patients were not attending doctors and instead visiting him.
He also got into to trouble with his superiors when Holy Water he had blessed was put on sale throughout Ireland.
Fr Charles he was transferred to England in 1866 and remained there for eight years. On his return he resumed healing and fund raising for Mount Argus Church.
He died on his the January 5 thwhich became his feast day. His funeral in 1893 thousands of people to Mount Argus, where he lay in state for five days.
His remains were moved to a Shrine in the Church in 1949. Today, people still regularly visit the relic of Blessed Charles in Harold's Cross. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
A statement on the Mount Argus Parish website today described news of the canonisation as " an historic moment for the Passionist Congregation, for Mount Argus and for our parish."