A baby girl from the Philippines, who was miraculously healed by one of the new saints, met Pope Francis on Sunday, May 15 in the Vatican.
A six-year-old Angel Marie Vier Albaracin Degamo offered gifts at the altar during the canonization of ten new saints.
Angel was accompanied by her mother Mrs. Gemma.
Angel Marie, born in Clarin town, Bohol, a province of the Philippines in the Central Visayas region, is the miracle baby who was known to have been healed by French Saint Marie Rivier (1768–1838), one of the ten saints canonized by Pope Francis.
Pope Francis presided the Holy Mass for the Canonizations of Blesseds Titus Brandsma; Lazzarus Devasahayam; César de Bus; Luigi Maria Palazzolo; Giustino Maria Russolillo; Charles de Foucauld; Maria Rivier; Maria Francesca of Jesus Rubatto; Maria of Jesus Santocanale and Maria Domenica Mantovani.
More than 50,000 people attended the ceremony in St Peter’s Square.
When baby Angel was still in her mother's womb, she was diagnosed with Fetalis Hydrops, a serious fetal condition defined as abnormal accumulation of fluid in two or more fetal compartments, including ascites, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, and skin edema.
The survival rate for this fetal condition is low. More than half of all babies with the condition die before birth or soon after delivery.
After her mother, mother Gemma, asked for the intercession of Saint Marie Rivier, Angel was miraculously healed.
Father Ramon Jose Oncog, clergy of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, Philippines was appointed by Bishop Abet Uy as his Episcopal Delegate from November 19 to December 1 of 2018 to investigate the miracle attributed to Mother Rivier that led to her canonization.
Tagbilaran Bishop Uy, Father Ramon, and a nun from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary that Saint Anne Marie Rivier founded attended the Canonization ceremony.
On December 13, 2021, Pope Francis recognized the miraculous healing of Angel Marie, who was suffering from an “early generalized non-immunological embryo-fetal hydrops.”
Hydrops fetalis has been a well-recognized fetal and neonatal condition throughout history in which there is a buildup of fluids around the lungs and heart. With inputs from Bohol Island News
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