Feast Day: February 16th
Last week we met Sister Felicita Nyaga, a Consolata Missionary from Kenya, confronted with the impossible situation of Sorino Yanomami’s losing chunks of his brain and skull to a jaguar attack. With little hope, she sent him by plane to the nearest hospital over 200 miles away only to be confronted by the pagan shamans of the local tribe who threatened to kill her if he did not return alive.
I had not thought much, I had acted. Now, when I entered the house, I went directly to the chapel and looked at the picture of Allamano [the founder of their order]. At that moment I thought, ‘I have a father, he is here.’ I was angry, I was so afraid and I was shaking. I thought, “Allamano tell me one thing, when you founded this congregation, did you want it specifically for the unbaptized? Did you know that we would experience all these difficulties? And right now where are you? Are you there?” When I asked this question I felt like a blanket enveloping me, a different warmth.
So I said, “Listen Jesus, through the intercession of Giuseppe Allamano I want to ask you just one thing. Sorino has gone to Boa Vista, he is very serious. If they can cure him there, I ask that he heal completely and come back as before. If he comes back with impairments, like a paralysis, he could not live in the forest as a hunter and fisherman. If he does not heal, it is better for him to die. And if he has to die, I also ask for grace to bear this arrow that will hit me”. Also, I wondered, “Is this really our mission place? Our charism? Only a complete healing of Sorino can give us an answer.
She lit a candle and prayed those same words each day waiting for news. At the hospital on Boa Vista, the team was horrified by what they found. Sorino was breathing with difficulty, his brain was infected, chunks of soil, blood, and bone fragments were mixed among the missing parts of his fronto-temporo-parietal lobe. They put him in a medically induced coma and attempted to clean the wound. The days of the novena crawled by. The sisters in Boa Vista joined in the novena to Allamano, praying for the healing of Sorino, and placing a relic of their founder under his pillow.
By the 16th, the awaited feast-day, Sorino was close to death. St. Lisadele, at his bedside, went for their local superior, Sr. Maria Costa, to see if there was a way to get Sr. Felicita out of Catrimani so she would not be killed by the locals when he passed. They spoke about this throughout the morning of the 17th, not knowing what to do. Around noon, Sr. Maria felt an impulse to look over at Sorino. He turned his head towards her and spoke “Maria, why are you crying?” He said he was hungry, and he began to improve.
Three months later, a plane landed again at Catrimani. The locals had gathered, and the men with their weapons, some saying “only the bones are coming.” The door opened, and Sorino stepped down and walked immediately to Sr. Felicta, “I want to show you the path I made from the incident to the maloca.” All this should have been impossible. His skull was still open so the wound could be cleaned (Sr. Lisadele loaned him her hat to protect it from the sun), but it allowed all to see what the operating doctor testified: the damaged part of Sorino’s brain was what allowed for motor coordination, he should have been neither able to walk or talk.
Sr. Felicita’s prayer was answered (and her life and that of the other missionaries!), against impossible odds, Sorino had been healed, and returned in full health to live and work in the forest with his people. Dr. Roberta Barbaro would add her own testimony to the account of this miracle sent to Pope Francis for the canonization of Giuseppe Allamano.
On 4 March 2019 (therefore, 23 years after the attack of the jaguar), I went to the Catrimani mission, I met Sorino Yanomami, and had the opportunity to observe him in his daily life. Sorino provided a detailed account of the accident which occurred in 1996. He reported leading a normal life, continuing to carry out his hunting and fishing activities, without problems. … The patient now presents complete functional recovery and without any after-effects, lasting over time, which in light of the extensive brain lesions reported following the trauma with loss of substance, is scientifically inexplicable.
Such was the miracle worked through the intercession of a diocesan priest from Turin, Italy who had never been on mission but whose missionaries had carried the Gospel to every corner of the world!
– Fr. Dominic will finally get to St. Giuseppe next week!