During his lifetime, Padre Pio performed a large number of miraculous cures. The following miracle is connected to Padre Pio’s beatification, which was approved by a Diocesan Scientific Board, a Diocesan Theological Tribunal, a Vatican Scientific Board, and a Vatican Tribunal.
Consiglia De Martino Discovers Her Tumor
The miracle used for St. Padre Pio’s beatification process was the case of Consiglia De Martino, a married woman with three children from Salerno, Italy. On October 31, 1995, Consiglia began to feel acute pain, followed by a very fast-moving growth in her neck. When it quickly reached the size of a grapefruit, her husband drove her to the Riuniti Hospital in Salerno.
After ordering two CAT scans, the examining physician determined that Consiglia’s thoracic duct in her neck had ruptured, forming a huge lump containing approximately two liters of lymphatic fluid. Consiglia was told that she would need to undergo a very difficult and complicated surgical intervention as soon as possible. The surgery was scheduled for November 3.
Padre Pio Miraculously Heals Consiglia
Consiglia immediately began to pray to Padre Pio. She phoned his monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo where she spoke with Fra Modestino Fucci—a brother to whom Padre Pio had promised to help with intercessory prayers. Fra Modestino Fucci prayed at the tomb of Padre Pio on November 1st and 2nd. During that time, prior to the surgical intervention, physicians gave no medical treatment to Consiglia.
On November 2, Consiglia noticed a marked decrease in pain followed by a rapid diminution of the swelling in her neck. The following day Consiglia was examined by physicians prior to the scheduled surgery. They immediately noticed the disappearance of the swelling in her neck and ordered x-rays of that area as well as her abdomen.
The x-ray showed the following: the complete cure of the rupture of the thoracic duct (the largest lymphatic vessel of the lymphatic system), which caused the lymphatic spilling; the complete disappearance of the large 2-quart liquid deposit in Consiglia’s neck; and the complete disappearance of other liquid deposits in her abdomen.
The surgery was canceled, and a CAT scan on November 6 confirmed the results of the X-ray taken on November 3. Evidently, Consiglia had been immediately and inexplicably cured of a complex and dangerous condition—without any medical intervention whatsoever.
She attributed the cure to Padre Pio, to whom she, her family, and Fra Modestino had been praying.
The Miracle is Attributed to Padre Pio by the Vatican
Subsequent examinations of Consiglia showed no long-term effects of her prior condition.
The diocesan investigation of the miracle took place from July 1996 to June 1997. Two ex officio experts and a medical consultant studied the published documentation and unanimously declared the “extraordinary and scientifically inexplicable nature of the cure.”
On April 30, 1998, the 5-member Medical Committee of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) at the Vatican declared unanimously that "the healing of the traumatically ruptured thoracic duct of Consiglia De Martino on November 3, 1995, is scientifically inexplicable."
After the positive conclusion of the Medical Committee, the assembly of Cardinals and Bishops Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the Consiglia De Martino case as a miracle on October 20, 1998.
For photographs and further explanation of Consiglia’s illness and healing, click here. For more scientifically validated miracles associated with Blessed Mary, saints, and the Holy Eucharist, see a document by Fr. Spitzer see here.
