Digital Marian Helper Spring_2018

14 th Annual Medicine, Bioethics, and Spirituality Conference MAY 10-11: Sister Ângela de Fátima Coelho, MD, postulator for the causes of Sts. Jacinta and Francisco, will be the keynote speaker at the conference hosted by Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Very Rev. Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC; Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC; and Marie Romagnano, RN, along with several other notables, will also be speakers. Visit TheDivineMercy.org/worcester or call (413) 298-1303 for details. MH For the past eight years, Sr. Ângela has enthusiastically lived her life with great confidence in Jesus and Our Lady. Every time she received a medical case reported to be a miracle, she had to take a risk — a risk of putting long hours and heart-filled dedication into a study, many times concluding that the case would not be approved. “That is the risk that a postulator takes,” Sr. Ângela said. “In those moments, as expected, is frustration, feelings of deception and discouragement. I had to pray and abandon myself to God’s will many times, knowing that He knew better than I did what the right time was to grant us the grace of the canonization of the little shepherds.” On March 3, 2013, in Brazil, a 5-year-old boy, Lucas Baptista, fell out of a window from a height of 20 feet while playing with his sister, Eduarda. He landed on his head. After surgery, doctors told his parents that Lucas had little to no chance of survival, and if he did survive, he would be in a permanent vegetative state. His par- ents and a convent of Carmelite nuns turned to Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto for their intercession. Six days later, on March 9, 2013, Lucas woke up and began to speak. Since that time, Lucas has been com- pletely well and has absolutely no lingering effects from the accident. Lucas’ case was submitted to Sr. Ângela and her team. Sister Ângela shared that from the moment she started sensing that the medical case of Lucas was pre- senting the characteristics needed to be approved as a miracle, she lived in a constant state of commotion. She said, “The work that I had ahead of composing the Positio (the official documentation of the case to submit to the Vatican for approval as a miracle), though complex and arduous, seemed light to me. [It] was my joy.” On March 23, 2017, the Vatican promulgated their decree approving the miracle. Sister Ângela said, “It was the moment for me to pray my Magnificat.” Jacinta and Francisco Marto were canonized b y Pope Francis on May 13, 2017, during his pilgrimage to Fatima. “The canonization gave a new meaning to my love for these children, who touched [my heart] since I was little,” Sr. Ângela shared. “Until the date of my nomination [to become the postulator], Francisco and Jacinta were only the little shepherds of Fatima. Since then, they became part of my life and mission. And I feel that a postulator cannot desire to have a life different from the life of the saints which he or she represents. Thus, since 2009, Sts. Francisco and Jacinta have become a portion of the iden- tity of my vocation. This is a gift and a privilege that only in eternity I will be able to entirely understand, but for which I already thank the Lord.” Sister Ângela continues to practice medicine to this day. In 2014, she consented to be a vice-postulator for the cause of beatification of the third and final Fatima visionary, Sr. Lúcia de Jesus dos Santos.