Did you know?
The archives would like to welcome Mr. Sean Peragine. He has been a staff member since May. He has written this “Did you know?” about an event he found of interest while processing Passionist documentation.
Healing in Pittsburgh!
June 29, 1867 was truly a miraculous day in Passionist history. Not only did this night mark the canonization of Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, but this was also the night that a young woman living in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received what must have been a gift from God.
Miss Pauline Beal, just 26 years of age, had already suffered through a painful life complicated by a tumor growing in her bowels. Bed-ridden for some seven years, she had become so weak that her body permitted her only on the rare occasion to even sit upright. Her attending physicians, feeling that there was nothing more to be done to allay her discomfort, found themselves in agreement that the condition was terminal.
Pauline, however, still had her faith.
On the very day that Paul of the Cross was to be canonized, Pauline arranged to make her own Novena at home with the assistance of Fr. John Luke Baudinelli, who prayed for her and blessed her with the relic of St. Paul. She then requested that Fr. Luke also bless her sick aunt in the adjacent room. Fr. Luke agreed, adding that he would return to Pauline’s side immediately thereafter.
Fr. Luke did indeed return-only to find that Pauline’s bed was no longer occupied! During his brief absence, she had risen up from her sick-bed and, feeling an impulse she had never felt before, walked across the room as a test of her newfound vigor. Fr. Luke was stunned, but Pauline assured him and proved by her mobility that she felt cured. Indeed, her atrophied muscles were inexplicably strong again, her tumor was diminished, and her vapid demeanor had vanished. The shackles of her crippled body were broken, her passion restored.
Pauline Beal enjoyed a healthy 33 years of life after the miracle cure. She passed away in 1901 at the age of 59.