Cause of Servant of God Andrew Majcen Advances

The Cause of the Servant of God Andrew Majcen Advances

(ANS – Vatican City – October 2, 2026) – On October 1, during the special meeting of theological consultors at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, a favorable opinion was expressed regarding the heroic exercise of the virtues, the reputation for holiness, and the signs of the Servant of God Fr.. Andrew Majcen, SDB (1904–1999), a missionary in China and Vietnam.

The theological consultors were called upon to examine the Positio super virtutibus and to address the question regarding the heroic exercise of the Christian virtues practiced by the Servant of God, together with his reputation for holiness and the signs. The Positio super virtutibus, submitted on June 5, 2025, had Fr. Praskiewicz Szczepan, OCD, as rapporteur; Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB, as postulator; and Dr. Lodovica Maria Zanet as editor.

The favorable opinion of the theological consultors marks a significant stage in the progress of the cause. The Positio and the conclusions of the meeting will be submitted for examination by the cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Andrew Majcen was born in Maribor, Slovenia, on September 30, 1904. A Salesian priest, he devoted much of his life to the mission in Asia. Following his missionary experience in China, he arrived in Vietnam in 1952, where he carried out intensive work in evangelization, formation, and the support of the fledgling Salesian presence. In total, he spent 44 years in missionary service in China and Vietnam.

On his return to Slovenia in 1979, he continued his service for some 20 years as a missionary animator, spiritual director, and confessor, maintaining a close link with the missions and guiding numerous people on their spiritual journey. He died in Ljubljana on September 30, 1999, on the day of his 95th birthday.

An important testimony to his human, Salesian, priestly, and missionary journey is provided by his personal writings: over 6,000 handwritten pages of diaries, in which an inner life marked by the search for God’s will, fidelity to his Salesian and priestly vocation, and a profound missionary zeal emerges.

The favorable vote of the special meeting of theological consultors thus marks a new stage in the progress of the cause of the Servant of God Andrej Majcen, whose memory remains particularly vivid in Slovenia, China, and Vietnam – countries in which he carried out his long missionary service.

It is highly significant that this milestone was reached on October 1, the liturgical memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Fr. Andrej Majcen had a deep and constant spiritual bond with this young saint, regarding her as a true guide and “godmother” of his missionary vocation.

The “Little Way” of spiritual childhood was, in fact, the lens thru which he lived out the entire Salesian charism in the mission fields: “I owe everything to the grace of God and to the protection of Mary Help of Christians and Saint Therese, who taught me to make myself small among the little ones in order to win them over to Christ.”