John O’Neill was born in Pennsylvania on November 5, 1848. Because he was born with very deformed feet, he was not expected to live. Around the age of fourteen, he felt called to serve the Church as a religious brother, and while in California working as an itinerant shoemaker, he learned that the Congregation of Holy Cross might admit him. Traveling from California to South Bend, Indiana, he entered the Congregation as a brother on September 8, 1874 at the University of Notre Dame. He labored in the humble capacity of cobbler and shoemaker for nearly 50 years as Brother Columba.
Brother Columba became famous for his devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. By 1916, he was publicly proclaimed as the divine healer and the Miracle Man of Notre Dame.
There are nearly 8,000 letters written to Brother Columba requesting Sacred Heart badges and prayers of intercession to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for relief from physical, spiritual and psychological affliction. In 1920, Brother Columba recorded in his diary that he had over 1,400 letters testifying to cures received through the intercession to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These letters and other items are housed in the Midwest Province Archive.
Brother Columba died on November 20,1923 at the University of Notre Dame from the effects of Spanish Influenza. His death was reported throughout North America and Europe and as far away as Australia. For many years after his death, the faithful visited his grave at the University of Notre Dame taking dirt from it. Brother Columba’s cause for canonization began in 2020.