Canonization cause for Tom Vander Woude, who died saving son, takes key step forward
The Virginia Catholic gave his life to rescue his youngest son after he fell into a septic tank on the family farm in 2008. Long before this act of heroism, however, he was living a life of prayer and daily sacrifice that his family says was crucial in formation toward radical charity.
The bishop of Arlington, Virginia, this month issued an edict requesting the faithful to send the diocese information regarding the life of late Tom Vander Woude, marking a key official step in a path that could one day lead to the Church declaring him a saint.
Zeale News reported in October 2025 that the diocese has been investigating whether to open Vander Woude’s cause for canonization. Bishop Michael Burbidge’s Sept. 8 edict “is the first public notification that a cause for canonization is being considered,” according to Christendom College, where Vander Woude had worked as an athletics director.
The Tom Vander Woude Guild, which is promoting the cause for canonization, said the edict marks “a major step in the Diocesan Inquiry phase.”
The edict was issued 18 years to the day when Vander Woude gave his life for his son Joseph, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joseph, who has Down Syndrome and is the youngest of Vander Woude’s seven sons, had fallen into a septic tank on the family farm, and 66-year-old Vander Woude heroically and tragically gave his life jumping into the tank to help Joseph get out.
“His final act of self-sacrificial love was widely regarded as the culmination of a Christian life marked by faith, charity, humility, fortitude, and generous service to others,” the Sept. 8 edict stated. Zeale News previously reported that in May 2025 Bishop Burbidge appointed a vice-postulator to work with a postulator in Rome for the case reviewing Vander Woude’s cause.
The edict continued: “As his reputation for holiness, for the offering of his life, and for signs has grown and spread over the years, and having received the formal petition of the Postulator, Dr. Waldery Hilgeman, for the initiation of his Cause of his Beatification and Canonization, we hereby bring this matter to the attention of the ecclesial community.”
The faithful are now invited to send to the diocesan chancellor all information “from which elements favorable or contrary to the reputation for holiness, the offering of life, or the reputation for signs of [Vander Woude] may be inferred,” the edict announced. Additionally, all writings attributed to Vander Woude and any relevant documents must be collected for review.
The Tom Vander Woude Guild is promoting his canonization cause under the category of “offer of life,” a cause of sainthood that involves “a free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance propter caritatem (meaning: because of charity or through love) of a certain and untimely death,” as defined in a 2017 motu proprio by Pope Francis.
According to Christendom College, Bishop Burbidge emphasized that Vander Woude not only lived out Christian virtue in his death but also during his life.
“We see in the life and death of Thomas Vander Woude a sincere response to the Christian call to sainthood,” the bishop said. “As heroic as were the circumstances of Thomas Vander Woude’s death, this husband and father showed in a profound way that sanctity is to be sought first and foremost through personal faithfulness in daily life and to a consistent and sincere yes to God in the circumstances of one’s vocation and responsibilities.”
In a Sept. 25, 2025, interview with Zeale News, Bob Vander Woude, the fourth of his sons, explained that growing up he saw his father’s devotion to Our Lady, generosity, commitment to prayer, and regular fasting. His death was tremendously difficult for the family, but in the years since, his sons have carried on his legacy in numerous ways and continue to attest to the virtuous inspiration of their father.
“He was willing to make that sacrifice for Joseph that day,” Bob told Zeale News. “I mean, you [can] ask the question, who would jump into a tank of sewage? I mean it’s just, it’s so detestable. But he was prepared to do that because of his fasting, his sacrificing that he made for his family that he had done over the years in all kinds of ways, his devotion to the Eucharist, his devotion to Our Lady. Like he knew what he was called to do at that moment. It was to save his son.”
Watch Zeale’s powerful Forgotten USA episode on the life and legacy of Tom Vander Woude here.
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