Miracles
St. Peregrine was born in Italy in 1265. By God's grace, with the help of St. Philip, Peregrine began to place his energies into good works and joined the Servants of Mary. While working with the poor and the sick he imposed on himself a penance, Peregrine would stand whenever possible, rather than sit. This led to varicose veins which caused the leg to deteriorate into an open running sore. This was diagnosed as cancer. The wound became so obvious, odorous and painful that the local surgeon scheduled surgery to amputate the leg. The night before the operation he prayed before the image of the crucified Christ in the priory chapter room. His prayer led him into a deep trance-like sleep during which he envisioned the crucified Christ leaving the cross and touching his cancerous leg. When Peregrine awakened from the trance of prayer, he discovered the wound healed and the leg saved. Twenty years later he died at the age of 80.
Gemma has no pupils, but she sees! That's right!
This is Gemma. She was born without pupils, she was blind. Her grandmother took her to Padre Pio and both went to confession to him. Gemma's grandmother asked for graces for little Gemma to see. Gemma was very disturbed because she forgot to ask him. He said to the grandmother, "Do you have faith my daughter? The child must not weep and neither should you for the child sees..." Padre Pio gave her, her first Holy Communion. After the distribution of Holy Communion, Padre went to the altar again and placed his hands over Gemma's eyes and made the sign of the cross. When traveling, she began to see. To this day she has her vision, but she has no pupils! Many, many eye specialists have examined Gemma but they have no scientific explanation.
Saint Charbel
St Charbel lived in the hermitage for 23 years. On December 16th, 1898 he was struck with an illness while performing the holy mass. He died on Christmas' eve, December 24th, 1898, and was buried in the St Maron monastery cemetery in Annaya. Few months later, dazzling lights were seen around the grave. From there, his corpse, which had been secreting sweat and blood, was transferred into a special coffin. Hordes of pilgrims started swarming the place to get his intercession. And through this intercession, God blessed many people with recovery and spiritual graces. In 1925, his beatification and canonization were proposed for declaration by Pope Pious XI. The expectation that the world would be hearing more of Charbel was soon fulfilled: his grave was immediately surrounded by an "extraordinary brightness", according to a booklet produced by the Monastery about its most famous son. The light only finally faded after 45 days, unlike public interest which continued to wax brightly: pilgrims even tried to steal pieces of his remains, which gave the authorities a reason to open the grave. The body was found floating in mud but was itself completely free from signs of deterioration "as if it had been buried that same day." It was noticed that a "blood-like liquid" exuded from the body ó a phenomenon which can still be seen even now. The liquid is caught in a cloth and, according to the Monastery, has over the years been responsible for many cases of healing. In this century his grave has been opened four times, the last time being in 1955, and each time "it has been noticed that his bleeding body still has its flexibility as if it were alive".
Saints on Display
|
|