1. What makes the life and holiness of Cora Evans unique even among American causes for sainthood? 

A twentieth century woman, wife, mother who suffered a loss of a child, mystic and convert who for ten years searched to find God on earth and found Him in the Catholic Church through the Sacraments. 

Cora Evans experienced the daily difficulties of balancing her duties of marriage, raising children and devotion to prayer life and her extensive writings while suffering with multiple physical illnesses. Her recognition as a saint would be a guiding light for our modern-day Christian mothers who face these issues and the secular societal changes in today’s world.

She was a laywoman who was blessed with many supernatural mystical gifts as a means of drawing the faithful to a deeper and more intimate union with the Sacred Heart, and the practice of Eucharistic spirituality through the divine indwelling, the Mystical Humanity.

2. How would Cora’s experience as a woman, wife and mother relate to our society today?

Cora is a Christian to remember and a model for anyone who is interested in advancing in wisdom and in grace. Cora’s habit of daily Mass and Holy Communion usually followed by her making of the fourteen Stations of the Cross and throughout the day, after finishing her daily chores, she prayed the fifteen decades of the Rosary in her home.   

Cora’s daily practice of the Cardinal and Theological Virtues is confirmed countless times by hundreds of people including Priests, Sisters, family and friends in letters and interviews, but especially by her Spiritual Director, Father Francis Parrish, S.J.

Our Lord made Cora steadfast in faith, joyful in hope and untiring in her love for the Holy Trinity and for her neighbors. Her adult life was centered on the person of Jesus.

3. Are Cora’s struggles with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints likely to strain relations with the Catholic Church in Utah or California?

Cora Evans chose to become Catholic for personal and religious reasons. While experiencing frustration and doubt about Mormon belief at her Temple marriage, she was also a close observer of religious practices around her. From early childhood, for example, Cora was gifted with mystical experiences which she later identified with Catholicism. Drawn to Catholic belief by personal study, radio preachers and her friendships with Catholics, Cora’s decision to be baptized a Catholic reflected a long journey of consistent spiritual growth, rather than anti-LDS sentiment.  Throughout her life, Cora showed affection and welcome to Mormon friends and acquaintances. She never disparaged or demeaned LDS beliefs or practices. As a result, Cora’s story poses no challenge to today’s cordial and productive relationship between the two churches. 

4. What is at the heart of her teaching on the Mystical Humanity of Christ?

The Mystical Humanity of Christ is about living with a heightened awareness of the indwelling presence of Jesus in daily life. In her writings, Cora attributed these words to Jesus, “I have asked My friends to follow Me all the way . . . I want My followers to live this part of My life also by allowing Me to dwell within them – which means that their bodies will be My other borrowed humanity.” With this way of prayer, the Eucharist is recognized as a mystery to be lived.

5. What are some of Cora’s unique contributions to spiritual theology?

Cora Evans was a prolific writer in the area of spiritual or mystical theology. Her journals, reflections and dedicated works are almost entirely developed from her prayer life with Christ and his saints. Consequently, her works reflect a theology of relationships, rather than of ideas as would be found in great systematic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas or even Benedict XVI. Cora’s greatest insights are described in her teaching about “the mystical humanity of Christ” or how Christ indwells in human nature. This unique contribution echoes many of the same ideas found in Pope Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical, Mystici Corporis, which outlined Catholic teaching on Christ’s relationship to the Church as his mystical body. In addition, Cora offered her readers unique commentaries on gospel stories, as well as accounts of the saints and their personalities as she encountered them in her mystical life. 

6. How did Cora see her mission in the Catholic Church?

There appear to be three principal elements to Cora’s mission as she identified them over the course of her life. First, Cora was a “seer” in the mystical life, charged by Christ with relating his messages to the Catholic faithful. Second, Cora saw herself as a convert to Catholicism and as a bridge between LDS believers and her new faith. Third, Cora’s great contribution to Christology or the understanding of Jesus as savior, is found in her most widely read work, Refugee from Heaven. There, Cora gives an original view of Christ shaped by a new religious aesthetics. The Christ of Cora Evans brings beauty to the world as he embraces people of every race and tongue. As a result, Cora saw Christ as made human in the myriad of cultures and peoples that have lived on earth since its start. Her unique writings are filled with the urgency of care for the earth, the love of God for all, and her desire to see the message of Christ brought to everyone who would hear it.

The writings of Cora Evans clearly state that Our Lord wants his mystical humanity known and lived. He wants the faithful to live with a heightened awareness of His indwelling presence, not simply as a pious prayer, but a way of life. Father Frank Parrish, S.J. Cora’s spiritual director, described his understanding of the devotion, 

I’ve always been of the mind that the Mystical Humanity of Christ was the life of the interior Indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. That Christ, the blessed Trinity itself, dwells within us. It’s that we become His other humanity, His resurrected life. He died and left the world, true, but He continues to live in His resurrected life through our humanities. To me this is the very heart and apex of our Catholic faith. It is a devotion which is strengthened by the Eucharist—the cornerstone of our faith. 

7. What were her mystical gifts and how did she use them for the good of others?

Heroic Virtues: Cora became a permanent victim soul 
In the context of Cora’s writings, victim souls are people who offer themselves up to Christ. Becoming a victim soul is an act of faith and trust in Jesus. It is a complete gift of oneself to Jesus and demands prayerful reflection and the spiritual guidance of a priest. The story of Cora’s love of Jesus and her willingness to become what Jesus called ‘a Victim Soul,’ that is, physically and spiritually suffering for the benefit of others.

It is a gift that can be offered to Jesus for an hour or a day at a time—or for a lifetime. Cora received permission from Father Parrish to become a permanent victim soul for the good of others. 

Patience: In spite of her lack of education, Cora’s willingness to write for the benefit of others 
The most succinct statement that expresses the intended outcome that Jesus Himself desires is captured in Living Chalices of God. In this short piece, Jesus says to Cora, “My desire is to be a constant companion in the souls of My friends, and unless they receive Me in the Eucharistic Bread, where I am in Person, I cannot thus be with them except in memory or desire. I desire My creatures to know that I am real, and am a lonesome God on earth, because My Humanity is not known, nor believed, nor lived, yet every generation has heard My words of desire, My delights are to be with the children of men.”

Faith – In obedience to her spiritual director, Cora dedicated her life for others
In a document titled “The Mystical Life and Cora Evans,” Father Parrish wrote: “Her humility and obedience, her simplicity and childlikeness in submitting herself to the will of God’s Ambassador, His priest, completely in the governing of her soul is the strongest argument that the extraordinary gifts she has are supernatural gifts from God. Our Lord has told her to see Him in her director and obey him implicitly . . . I am certain if I told her to give up the mystical life completely, she would obey without hesitation.

Hope: Cora thought of her mystical gifts as God’s gift to the world
“All these mystical phenomena are but a shadow of my love for our Blessed Lord and is as His gift to the world.” Cora’s mystical, physical and mental sufferings were endured and they were offered for the intentions of Jesus, particularly reparation for the sins and the salvation of souls. She offered Him all the pain in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass wherever it was being celebrated. 

Humility: Acceptance of the call to the state of ecstasy
Cora freely accepted our Lord’s call to the depths of contemplative prayer knowns as ecstasy. Her mystical ecstasies, in which Our Lord Jesus would show and teach her about His life on earth, would at times involve the Blessed Mother and other Saints.

Cora’s mystical gift of language helped her interpret ecstasies in Arabic and Chinese. Cora continued mastering the mystical language of the ethereal under the guidance of St. Aloysius. She found it challenging and joyous.

Charity: Cora’s ecstasies and writings were always for the benefit of others
Every ecstatic experience increased Cora’s knowledge and illuminated her understanding from previous ecstasies. One ecstasy might shed light on historical facts while another was designed to complete a story. One ecstasy enlightened Cora as to her mission; another was designed to guide souls in the way of prayer. Though the stories were revealed to her out of sequence, she had perfect memory when it came time to recall it for the purpose of writing. Ecstasies, not creative imagination, were the source of all her writings. 

8. When will the diocesan process for her cause be completed?

The Diocesan process for the Cause of Cora Evans will conclude on January 22, 2023 with the closing Mass, celebrated by Bishop Daniel Garcia, San Carlos Cathedral, Monterey, California. 

This date has two important events: the closing session and closing Mass.  The closing session is the final meeting of the Tribunal where the final approval of the documentation to be sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will take place and the documentation will be ceremoniously wax-sealed and prepared for delivery in Rome.  As a final act, the members of the Tribunal will also take their final oath, swearing that they have faithfully fulfilled their task and that they will maintain secrecy of their office. Both of these events will be held concurrently.

9. What are the next steps in her process? When does the Vatican become directly involved in judging her case?

Soon after the documentation arrives at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, a date will be set to officially open the Roman phase of the Cause of Cora Evans and “break the seal” of the documentation received from the Diocesan phase of the cause. The Postulator, with the help of a Collaborator and under the guidance of a Relator appointed by the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints will then write the Positio, a summary of all the acts proving Cora's heroic virtues and reputation of holiness and intercessory power. The Positio will be then judged by a Commission of six Historians, a Commission of nine Theologians, the Members (Cardinal and Bishops) of the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, and finally by the Pope himself. Hopefully, he will then allow the publication of the decree on heroic virtues. At that point, Cora would be declared "Venerable."

10. Who is coordinating the case for Cora’s beatification and where can information about her and her works s be obtained?

The Mystical Humanity of Christ, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) organization, is coordinating the Cause for Cora Evans.  Individuals interested in learning more about Cora Evans are encouraged to visit CoraEvans.com, which has detailed background information about Cora, in addition to information about all of her published works.

 

For additional information about Cora Evans and her extensive writings, please contact:

Michael McDevitt
(310) 880-1704
Mike@CoraEvans.com

Michael Huston
(408) 857-1332
MikeHuston48@gmail.com