Surrounded by the very children the late Dr. Gertrude Barber made it her mission to teach, reach and serve, The Rev. Lawrence Persico, Bishop of the Diocese of Erie formally opened the cause for canonizing her as a saint.

Bishop Persico said, "She was driven by her faith to reach out to people, young and adults who were considered on the periphery of society, and she brought them into society.

Irene Smerick and daughter Rosemary, who was Born with Down Syndrome are among those already convinced Dr. Barber is a saint. "I think God sent us a lot of saints and one of them was Dr. Barber," Smerick said.

An educator ahead of her time, Dr. Barber bucked the prevailing view that children with disabilities should be taken away from their families and placed in institutions. "We didn't want to do that," Smerick said, "so our greatest hope was when Dr. Barber advised us about her staying here in the community with her family and her friends."

Current President and CEO of the Barber National Institute that his Aunt Gertrude founded, John Barber explained that it was her job in Erie's Public Schools, to meet with families and explain why their special needs children could not come to traditional school. But she raised funds and asked her colleagues to volunteer at night and on the weekends working with those children in a classroom provided by the YWCA. 

What started with just six students, grew into the Barber National Institute.  "When she began her work,the accepted wisdom was that people with intellectual disabilities couldn’t learn, and that they should be separated from the rest of society," Barber said adding, "through her work, there was a sea change in thinking that occurred all across the country."

Now a formal review of of her life, work and holiness begins to determine if Dr. Gertrude Barber's 70 groundbreaking years of advancements, educating and empowering those with disabilities amounts to miracles. Bishop Persico has appointed Msgr. Thomas McSweeney, a retired priest and former director of the Office of Evangelization for Communications of the Diocese of Erie to serve as postulator for the cause.  He will be the main point of contact for the gathering of documentation and formal interviews with anyone wishing to discuss the interactions they had with Dr. Barber during her lifetime.  The testimony will become part of the official documentation considered during the canonization process, all of which will eventually be sent to the Vatican.  To learn more click here.

Carol Reynolds Wolf, an adult served by the Barber National Institute since her childhood is already convinced of Dr. Barber's sainthood.  "She always says you know, don't look back, look forward do what you have to do you know each day."

Bishop Persico said, "By baptism we’re all called to be saints, this is a recognition of one person who because of their heroic virtue in life lived it in an extraordinary way."  He said her work was more than humanitarian, it was driven by her faith. "If you have faith we’re told you can move mountains...evidently for her to do all this she had to move a couple mountains."