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In 2020, a shooter dressed as a FedEx driver approached the home of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas in New Jersey.
Her son, Daniel Anderl, answered the door and was shot as he attempted to save his parents from the shooter. The murderer was a disgruntled attorney who was specifically targeting Judge Salas.
While his death does not qualify as a traditional martyrdom, Pope Francis created in 2017 a new category for canonization called the "offering of one's life."
The document, Maiorem hac dilectionem, states that the death must be, "a free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance propter caritatem of a certain and untimely death."
The individual must also "exercise, at least as ordinarily possible, of Christian virtues before the offer of life and, then, unto death."
Investigation by local diocese
Bishop James F. Checchio of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, has stated that he will begin an inquiry into the life and death of Daniel Anderl.
Daniel was a devout Catholic, who was at the time of his death a junior at the Catholic University of America.
According to an article for MyCentralJersey, Fr. Robert Lynam, pastor of St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, since Daniel's death there has been an outpouring of prayers and petitions that he has received.
Hundreds of petitions and prayer requests were left at Saint Augustine of Canterbury Parish, the church where Anderl was baptized, attended Catholic School, received his first Holy Communion and where his funeral Mass was held, and at the Holy Spirit Mausoleum, asking for Anderl to be considered for canonization.
At the moment, the local bishop will need to investigate the life of Daniel Anderl to discern if he lived a life of heroic virtue and to affirm that he truly did die in offering his life.
Only after the investigation has concluded can the bishop officially open his cause for canonization. Until then, individuals may privately invoke Daniel's intercession, hoping that someday his heroic life will be officially recognized by the Church.
