Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson
MANILA, August 29, 2012— A Catholic priest has revealed initial details about the miracle that paved the way for the canonization Blessed Pedro Calungsod.
Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, a lead advocate for Calungsod’s sainthood, recalled that the miracle took place in 2003 involving a woman who almost died because of lack of oxygen in the brain.
He said the woman was comatose caused by Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a deadly condition in which the brain does not receive enough oxygen.
“The doctor himself who knew the situation that the patient would die anytime prayed before Pedro Calungsod to save the life of his patient,” Leyson said.
Four hours later, the woman regained consciousness, he said, which surprised the doctor taking care of the patient.
In many cases, the priest said, most people do come out of coma for several weeks but they may not make a full recovery.
The doctor, he said, told him that other people who do not recover slip from coma into vegetative state.
“If there are chances of recovery, it’s not a complete recovery. Others get paralyzed because the brain is so delicate,” Leyson added.
But the woman, according to him, recovered quickly with “no sensory and motor deficit” despite what she had been through.
The hospital, he added, cannot explain what happened and even the doctors in the Vatican declared it as a supernatural healing.
Leyson refused to identify the woman but said she is from Visayas and was confined at a hospital in Cebu City when the miracle happened.
“She is now a devotee of Blessed Calungsod and is even serving as a church volunteer,” said Leyson.
Last December, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the woman’s healing as a miracle obtained through the intercession of Calungsod who would be second Filipino saint.
Along with six other soon-to-be-saints from other countries, Calungsod will be canonized in Rome on October 21.
Calungsod was doing a missionary work in Guam in 1672 when he was killed at age 17. Blessed John Paul II beatified him on March 5, 2000. [RL/CBCPNews]
