Benyo, who has organized bingo, bowling, field trips and special events for 17 years at the center, said Jugan found and harbored the poor and elderly during the French depression of the 1860s.

“It confirms what we already knew,” she said. “If anyone qualifies to be a saint, it would be her.”

Jeanne Jugan, 1792-1879, dedicated her adult years, first as a lay Catholic and later a consecrated nun, sheltering and caring for poor and elderly people in France in private homes, then in residential facilities. She carried a basket begging for in-kind necessities such as wool, clothing and food. Jugan founded the religious order Little Sisters of the Poor, a model for modern-day nursing homes.

“It’s a great day for the Jeanne Jugan Center here in Kansas City,” said the Rev. Richard Saale, retired priest and resident at the center. “The canonization is a ratification of all the work being done under the leadership of Jeanne Jugan throughout the world.”

Today the Little Sister homes provide care for poor, elderly and dying, with 30 facilities in the United States and 202 worldwide. Medicare and Medicaid fund 60 percent, and the Little Sisters say they continue to beg, through modern means, for the balance.

Benyo compares the center to a real home.

“They’re like extended family,” she said. “We mourn right along with their families when we lose them.”

Marge Clanahan, dietary supervisor, will travel to the canonization. She enjoys hearing residents’ stories and considers them living history.

“You learn how to honor the elderly here,” she said.

Though Clanahan is not Catholic, she expects to return from her trip with a greater understanding of the faith.

“I will come home with a sense of what being Catholic really is,” she said.

Ann Bishop, resident, will attend the canonization, which falls on her 78th birthday.

“It’s a birthday I’ll never forget,” she said.

Bishop, a retired nurse, volunteers nursing skills to other residents, focusing on blood pressure checks.

“We’re one big happy family,” she said. “My social life has gone up. We’re always on the go.”

For information, visit www.littlesistersofthepoor.org.