Getting a canonization cause underway:

A priest from Schuylkill County who spent 15 years in gulags for trying to spread the word of God in the atheist Soviet Union has cleared the first step toward recognized sainthood.

The Allentown Catholic Diocese recently shipped three wooden crates to the Vatican in Rome full of what they believe is substantive evidence detailing the Rev. Walter J. Ciszek’s life of ”heroic virtue.”

Inside the crates are six cardboard boxes of documents, including sworn testimony from 45 witnesses, and thousands of typed pages of Ciszek’s meditations and writings. As ancient traditions dictate, the boxes were carefully sealed with cord and red wax, and stamped with Bishop Edward P. Cullen’s signet ring.

A review of the documents, which have taken more than 16 years to compile and organize, begins Tuesday.

…Much of Ciszek’s life is documented in his two books, ”He Leadeth Me” and ”With God in Russia.” Altogether, there are 200 pounds of evidence the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will review, including thousands of pages of Ciszek’s other writings.