On October 26, 1996, Deanna Rovacchi of Florence, Italy, gave this signed testimonial of her treatment: “I had been fighting cancer for eight years. I had one mastectomy (removal of the right breast) and for the past eight years I have been under the care of one of the most reputed cancer clinics in Europe, the Steiner Clinic in Bern, Switzerland. With careful diet, drugs and injections I was able to slow down the spread of the disease but ultimately, by early 1995, the best I could expect was another twelve months of life . . . I had two tumours on my neck, a larger one in my abdomen and small nodules on my left breast. . . . In the first week in July 1996 I flew to Brazil with . . . my best friend Mara who had a similar condition to mine. We were operated invisibly by João Teixeira da Faria, given herbs and returned to Italy. . . . On 11 October 1996 Mara and I went for our regular check-up at the Steiner Clinic. The doctors were amazed. Mara was declared totally clear of tumours and all of my tumours had disappeared except for one on my neck which was shrinking rapidly. The doctors said they had never seen anything like it in all their years at the clinic. Not only were the tumours gone but the disease was in full remission” (Pellegrino-Estrich 1997, pp. 136–137).
Surprisingly, some of John of God’s enemies have become his satisfied patients. For example, on July 3, 1996, John of God spotted among the patients waiting in line to see him police commissioner Firto Franki, one of the prosecutors who filed cases against him. John of God, under the control of one of his entities, said, “You have pursued me for more than ten years. You have made my life hell and now you come to me for help?! Let me show you, once and for all, the extent of my work” (Pelligrino-Estrich 1997, p. 40). John of God had six of his patients testify to their cures. Then John of God said, “You came to me ten years ago under the pretences of being ill and then testified against me as a fraud based on your own lies. You knew my work was authentic because you sent your friends to me for treatment, but still you continued to persecute me. Do you publicly acknowledge here before these witnesses that my work is genuine?” (Pelligrino-Estrich 1997, p. 41) Franki agreed to give a statement that John of God’s cures were genuine.
Healings by Supernatural Beings at lourdes
Lourdes is a town in southern France, at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains. It is the site of one of the most famous Marian apparitions and has become synonymous with miraculous healings. The Lourdes healings are not mediated by a human intercessor, such as John of God. At Lourdes, the influence of the entity apparently acts directly on the subjects. The entity, whether or not correctly identified as the Virgin Mary, appears to occupy a higher place in the cosmic hierarchy than an ordinary departed human.
On February 11, 1858, three girls from Lourdes (Bernadette Sourbirous, her sister, and a friend) went out to search for firewood. While the other two girls crossed a stream called the Gave, Bernadette, afraid of catching a cold, remained behind, watching. While her friends were gone, she saw a golden cloud emerge from a rocky hillside grotto on the other side of the stream. In the middle of the golden cloud she saw a beautiful young lady dressed in white. Bernadette knelt in prayer. When the other two girls returned, they saw Bernadette kneeling, but could not see the entity. Bernadette told the girls what she had seen and asked them not to tell anyone, but they did. At first, no one in Lourdes took the story seriously. Bernadette felt compelled to return to the grotto and did so on February 14, accompanied by some townspeople. Bernadette saw the entity, but the townspeople did not. The same thing happened on February 18. During these visitations, the people who came along could see Bernadette enter into a trancelike state, as she replied to the words of the invisible entity only she could see and hear. With each visitation the crowds grew larger (Rogo 1982, pp. 284–285).
On February 25, Bernadette, as usual, knelt on the ground and went into her trance. At one point, she stood up. She walked a short distance and then fell to the ground. She began digging, and some water began to fill the hole. Later she explained, “Whilst I was in prayer, the Lady said to me in a friendly but serious voice, ‘Go, drink and wash in the fountain.’ As I did not know where this fountain was, and as I did not think the matter important, I went towards aside the Gave. The Lady called me back and signed to me with her finger to go under the grotto to the left; I obeyed but I did not see any water. Not knowing where to get it from, I scratched the earth and the water came. I let it get a little clear of the mud, then I drank and washed” (Estrade 1958, p. 94). Over the next few days, the water continued to flow out, forming a pool. The miraculous appearance of the spring increased the faith of the people who gathered there.
Another paranormal occurrence was recorded by Dr. Pierre Romain Dozous, who was present at the grotto during one of Bernadette’s trances. He stated: “Her rosary was in her left hand, and in her right she held a blessed candle which was alight. . . . She suddenly stopped, and placed the lighted candle under . . . her left hand. The fingers were sufficiently apart to allow the flame to pass through . . . but I could not see any sign of burning on the skin. . . . taking my watch, I observed her in this position for a quarter of an hour. . . . Bernadette rose, and was about to leave the Grotto. I retained her a moment, and asked her to show me her left hand, which I examined most carefully. There was not the slightest trace of a burn” (Bertrin 1908, pp. 49–50).
Others witnessed similar episodes involving Bernadette and candle flames. The significant fact is that Bernadette’s flesh was not burned. Bertrin (1908, pp. 50–51) stated, “A nervous state may cause insensibility, but it could not prevent fire from consuming the flesh with which it comes into contact. . . . where is the delusionary who can put his hand over a strong flame and keep it there for fifteen minutes without being burnt?”
Residents of Lourdes began taking water home from the spring in the grotto, and they claimed that it cured a variety of illnesses. Today there is a church at the site, and the spring water has been channeled into bathing pools. Pilgrims seeking cures are monitored and regulated, and since 1884 cures have been carefully documented by physicians of the Bureau des Constatations Médicales, the BCM. The membership of the BCM is not restricted to Catholics. The BCM has an office directly at Lourdes and also has an advisory committee in Paris that reviews cases of special interest (Rogo 1982, pp. 285–286).
Rogo (1982, pp. 286–287) describes the procedures the BCM employs for documenting cases: “When a Lourdes pilgrim believes that he has been cured, he is taken immediately to the BCM’s offices where he is examined by a physician, who also takes possession of all pertinent medical data and documents the patient may have brought with him. This initial evaluation at the BCM is intended to determine whether the patient was actually sick or injured at the time of his journey, was actually cured at the shrine, and was cured in a medically inexplicable way. If the healing seems to meet these three tests, a doctor registered with the bureau in the patient’s hometown or district is contacted. The patient is sent home, and the doctor there is given the responsibility of observing him for one year. This procedure serves as a precaution against the occurrence of a relapse that might not otherwise come to the attention of Lourdes officials. The doctor is also expected to interview the patient’s own physician and collect any medical records from him that may bear on the case. The patient is then asked to return to Lourdes after the year has expired, at which time he is once again examined by the BCM. Only when all the doctors involved in this evaluation agree that the cure seems inexplicable is the case given candidate status as a miracle. In making its final evaluation, the BCM looks for several characteristics that they consider differentiate a miraculous healing from a biological one. They verify that the cure was instantaneous, that it led to the termination of the patient’s convalescence, that it wasn’t consistent with the normal process the condition in question undergoes while healing biologically, and that it occurred at a time when the patient was no longer receiving any conventional treatment. Also subject to this careful analysis are cases in which a damaged limb or organ—such as a permanently damaged eye—is miraculously restored to use.”