Pope declares that the healing of a Minnesota woman is a miracle
The healing of a St. Cloud, Minn., woman
more than 30 years ago may result in the canonization of a Benedictine
priest. It was 1966 when Pat Bitzan, a 39-year-old
wife and mother living in St. Cloud, was told by doctors that
breast cancer had spread to her lungs and that her future was
grave. Bitzan, a Roman Catholic, immediately traveled
with her husband, Donald, to an obscure monastery in Belgium,
where a dead priest named Columba Marmion was rumored to have
healing powers. Marmion, who died in 1923, was well-known
for his spiritual writings and his holy life as the abbot of the
monastery in Belgium. As early as the 1950s people were working
for Marmion's canonization. But the Catholic Church is cautious about
designating people as saints. The process of beatification, one
step below sainthood, must include evidence of at least one healing
resulting from prayers to the dead candidate for sainthood. Priests
advised Bitzan to pray only through Columba Marmion. "We talked to God and asked Abbot Marmion
to ask God to intercede for us with a miracle cure," Bitzan
said from Florida, where she is vacationing. "We didn't pray
to the Virgin Mary at all. We prayed only to Abbot Marmion because
then we can prove that he is where we got help." Bitzan and her husband spent four days at
the Maredsous Abbey in Southern Belgium asking the deceased Abbot
Marmion to intercede on her behalf. "We went to the abbot's tomb every
day and said our prayers," Bitzan said. "We had been
in contact with the monks there, so every day we were at the monastery,
the monks came to Abbot Marmion's tomb and celebrated a Mass." By that time, Bitzan had recovered from
surgery, which removed a tumor from her breast. But doctors in
St. Cloud told her the cancer had spread to her lungs. Still,
during her time in Belgium, Bitzan said she felt strong and healthy. When she returned to the United States,
doctors examined her but found no cancer. "My doctor is not a Catholic, but he
said he could not explain it through medicine," Bitzan said.
"He said I had cancer in my lungs, and it had disappeared." Now 73, Bitzan and her husband are avid
golfers, and she is in good health. After her cure in 1966, Bitzan
continued to pray to Abbot Marmion for family favors. In the 1970s,
the Catholic Church asked her to testify at a hearing about her
healing. "About 10 years after I was cured,
the Catholic Church had a hearing in the St. Cloud Diocese,"
Bitzan said. Several Catholic leaders gathered, including St.
Cloud's then-Bishop George Speltz, three or four priests from
the diocese, and a Catholic doctor who specialized in cancer. "My husband, Donald, and I met separately
with the committee, and then each of my three doctors met with
them," Bitzan said. "We had to swear we would not tell
what was said. Then they sent doctor's records, X-rays and all
our testimony to Rome." In January of this year, Pope John Paul
II approved the decree that a miracle of healing was performed
through the intercession of Abbot Marmion. The official press
release from the Marmion Abbey in Aurora, Ill., says cardinals
of the Catholic church and doctors in the United States and Rome
had conducted an "exhaustive medical study" of Bitzan's
medical records. Bitzan's miracle cleared the way for two
significant steps in Abbot Marmion's pilgrimage to sainthood.
Last June, Marmion's "heroic virtue" was established,
and the Vatican proclaimed him to be "venerable." This
year, Bitzan was informed that Marmion would be beatified by Rome,
the second step in the sainthood process. Marmion was born in 1858 in Ireland and
became a priest for the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1881. But seven
years later he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium
and devoted his life to writing, teaching and prayer. In 1909,
Marmion was elected abbot of Maredsous Monastery and became the
leader of 150 monks. He died in 1923. In 1957 the formal investigation into the
life and works of Marmion was begun. The Vatican appointed the
Rev. Alcuin Deck of the Marmion Abbey in Aurora, Ill., as the
North American vice postulator for the cause for beatification
and canonization. Today at the age of 87, Alcuin Deck continues
his work as vice postulator by helping the Vatican gather evidence
and promote the cause of Marmion's sainthood. "People write in for holy cards and
book marks, and they send me information about favors they have
received," Deck said. "I try to get a newsletter sent
to about 50 Benedictine abbots around the world just to keep them
informed." In 1963, Deck was one of nine Catholic officials
present when the church exhumed Marmion's body. "They moved the abbot's body from his
crypt outside the monastery to the side chapel inside the monastery,"
Deck said. "When they opened the coffin, the body was not
corrupt. They left the body in the coffin and then closed it and
put it into a bronze box. Then they carried the bronze box with
the body in procession into the chapel and it was buried in the
floor." According to the Rev. Charles Reichenbacher,
director of public relations at the Illinois abbey, after the
beatification in September special, Masses can be said in Marmion's
memory anywhere in the world. "For the next stage, I can't speculate
on his cause," Reichenbacher said. "For a canonization
the church usually requires two more miracles. They also usually
ask that the saint have universal appeal and that declaring him
a saint would be significant for the entire church. That's what
the pope has done in the past - universal appeal and that the
new saint would be helpful to the church." Bitzan, her husband and their seven children
will travel to Rome this fall for the beatification ceremony.
After Rome, they will travel to the Maredsous Monastery to visit
the tomb of Abbot Columba Marmion. "If I'm a tool for the beatification,
then I want to help in any way I can," Bitzan said. "This
experience has been a great influence in our life and our family.
All of our children are still loyal Catholics."
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For April 1, 2000