Nun Links Cure to John Paul II's Intercession

French Religious' Case Is Being Studied

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2006 (Zenit.org).- An account of an inexplicable cure that might facilitate Pope John Paul II's canonization has been published in the bulletin promoted by the postulation of his cause of beatification.

The document was written by a French nun, whose identity has not been made public, who says she was cured of Parkinson's with the Polish Pope's intercession. He suffered from the same disease.

"It seems to me that I have been reborn," wrote the nun, in the testimony that appeared in the bulletin Totus Tuus.

"Today I can say that the friend who left our earth is now very close to my heart," she added. "What the Lord has granted me to live through the intercession of John Paul II is a great mystery, difficult to explain with words ... but nothing is impossible for God."

The case of the French religious is the object of study by the postulator of the cause of John Paul II's beatification.

The nun recalled: "The disease was diagnosed in 2001 and the symptoms got progressively worse: accentuation of the tremors, rigidity, pain, and insomnia ... a constant worsening." Another "heavy blow" was the sense of a great void after John Paul II's death, she continued.

"I had lost the friend who understood me and gave me the courage to go forward. But I also had the certainty of his living presence," the woman religious remarked.

Prayer chain

Then, on May 13, 2005, the French religious heard Benedict XVI's announcement of the special dispensation for the opening of the cause of beatification and canonization of Karol Wojtyla.

The next day, a prayer chain was activated by all the French and African communities of the nun's religious congregation, praying for her cure.

At one point, when the nun was reflecting on a quotation from John 11:40: "if you believe you will see the glory of God," she had to struggle just to remain standing. She wrote John Paul II's name with difficulty. A few hours later, the account continues, she wrote again but with greater ease.

Two months after the Polish Pope's death, in the middle of the night, the nun got up and realized she had no pain or rigidity.

She felt an irresistible impulse to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and engaged in long adoration with profound peace. She meditated on the rosary's luminous mysteries, introduced by the Pontiff. She felt an agility of movement that she had not had for four years.

On the feast day of the Sacred Heart, "as I came out from holy Mass, I felt certain that I was cured," wrote the French religious. "My hand no longer shook. The neurologist was surprised to see the disappearance of the symptoms. The congregation began a novena to John Paul II. Ten months have passed since then."

Totus Tuus is a monthly publication, promoted by the Postulation of the Vicariate of Rome, set up to document, analyze and report on the process of the cause of beatification and canonization of John Paul II, whose postulator is Monsignor Slawomir Oder, a Polish priest.

Comments

[michael mc dade]

Can I please have a relic and prayer card for the beatification of John Paul 11? I read of this in the "Scottish Catholic Observer" this weekend.

Many thanks.

Michael McDade
Dumfries/Scotland

[Mary Buenaventura]

I was told by a priest that I could request relics, how can I request relics? Is there an email I address I send my request to? How much will it cost for the shipping?

Many blessing to you all!