OMQofP-Betania XIII
First Documented Miracle

Over our past 28 years we have had many prayer requests answered, and recorded a few in our newsletter. One was about a woman who kept having miscarriages. When we hosted Maria Esperanza in September, 1993 at St. Paul's Church in Brookville, the women asked Maria for her blessing. Maria smiled after she heard of her problem, and assured the woman that all would be well. (I personally witnessed this occasion.) The woman did become pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter who has since graduated from high school.

We have had many of these stories throughout the years and we wrote about a few of them in our newsletter, but now we have a documented alleged miracle from the doctors..

The condensed story of this miracle related below was written by a mother of teenaged children who wishes to be anonymous. Anything written in italics was editorialized by Fino Giordano, coordinator of OMQofP~Betania XIII.

On September 27th, 2012, I went with my mom, a social worker, to visit one of her patients. The patient was an 18-month-old girl, Juliet Medrano. She had cancer of the eyes. Her right eye had been removed three months earlier and a prosthesis was put in its place. The doctors advised the mother to remove the other eye which was also affected. (We assume the cancer would spread into the brain and the child would probably die.)

I asked my mother to make arrangements for me to be with the single mother, child, and grandmother, to pray with them. My mother conveyed the message and they welcomed the opportunity. They are not Catholic but they are Christian.

I put together what I called a "Holy Package" for the family. It consisted of the Maria Esperanza prayer cards, written in Spanish, since they only speak and read Spanish, rosaries, holy water and Saint Raphael's healing oil, plus a Barney doll for Juliet.

As I studied the historical background of the mystic Maria Esperanza, I noticed Maria's surname is "MEDRANO," the same as Baby Juliet. I felt a surge of electricity throughout my body and understood this to be a confirmation from the Holy Spirit that what I was doing was spiritually correct.

I proceeded to anoint everyone with the holy oil, the grandmother first as she was holding the baby, and I asked her to anoint the baby. I gave each a rosary and watched little Juliet put hers around her neck. I also gave them the directions on how to pray the rosary in Spanish.

I also printed out a different picture of Maria Esperanza that I love, and put it into a small frame. Little Juliet took the picture, put away the Barney doll, and held the picture of Maria to her chest! It was interesting to me that little Juliet wanted the picture of Maria instead of the toy that had lights and sounds.

I proceeded to show them what they must do each day to pray for a healing of the baby's cancer and restoration of her left eye. I knelt down in their living room with my mom and began to pray the rosary and the Maria Esperanza, Servant of God, prayer card.

That night the mother woke up and she saw a woman all dressed in white holding Juliet, and telling her, "Disregard what the doctors are telling you, Juliet will be okay!"

On November 14th, 2012, the baby had her appointment in a Manhattan hospital. The doctors, knowing the case, were ready to operate and take out the other eye. After many tests and examinations by several doctors, they could not find any cancer and Juliet's eye was perfect. The doctors were bewildered and they said, "It is a miracle."

To this day Juliet's vision remains strong and intact. The medical documentation has been sent to the Vice-Postulator, Father Timothy Byerley, for the Cause for Maria Esperanza's Sainthood. Copies were also sent to Maria's family in Venezuela. (And we assume they were sent to Rome also.)

At the time of this editorial, Juliet is doing just fine, plus the father has come back to join his family.

Maria Esperanza, Servant of God, was a missionary of peace, especially for families and youth, as manifested to her by Our Holy Mother under the title, "Mary, Virgin and Mother, Reconciler of All Peoples and Nations." Maria had a vision of multitudes of people coming to the Betanias around the world as places of refuge, peace and prayer.

Please pray that Betania XIII will receive a benefactor or benefactors so we can establish a sanctuary here on Long Island, a shrine that will be visited by millions of souls.

Praise God and thank you, Maria Esperanza, Servant of God, and we hope and pray you will become the Patron Saint for Long Island. We also hope our Latino family here on Long Island will join us to help make Betania XIII a reality.

Fino Giordano, Coordinator
OMQofP~Betania XIII