OMAHA, Neb. – A Roman Catholic priest whose efforts to help troubled Omaha youths were made famous by Spencer Tracy’s Academy Award-winning portrayal of him in the 1938 movie “Boys Town” has been nominated for sainthood.

Archbishop George Lucas posted an announcement on the doors of St. Cecilia Cathedral on Monday saying the Omaha Archdiocese had begun the process of seeking sainthood for the Rev. Edward Flanagan.

The Irish-born Flanagan, who died of a heart attack in 1948 at age 61 while visiting Germany, founded the Boys Town orphanage in a downtown Omaha home in 1917. Boys Town moved to its current west Omaha location several years later, and today serves as a center for troubled area youths while running campuses and programs for thousands of other boys and girls across the country. The organization also operates an Omaha research hospital and a national resource and training center, and it has publishing arm, Boys Town Press.

Lucas said the archdiocese will open a cause for sainthood on March 17, which is St. Patrick’s Day, at Flanagan’s gravesite on the Boys Town grounds. On that day, Flanagan will be named a “servant of God” and a group of tribunal members will be assembled to review Flanagan’s life work.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church then requires three more steps for a candidate to become a saint: veneration, beatification and canonization.

The title of “venerable” is given to someone who has died and been recognized by the pope as having lived heroic virtues. To be beatified, one miracle must be attributed to the candidate. Canonization requires a second miracle, although the pope may waive some of these requirements.

The Father Flanagan League has gathered testimony from six people in its quest to prove to the Vatican that Flanagan is responsible for several miracles, all involving the curing of illnesses.