AN “ORDINARY GUY” with a serious spinal condition that caused him “intolerable pain with utterly no prospect of relief” was told by a surgeon that he was “on the brink of collapse”.But his pain suddenly vanished, and he “sprinted” out of his room, up and down the corridors of the hospital, while the nurse was shouting “Slow down! Slow down!”
The Revd Jack Sullivan, now a 71-year-old Roman Catholic permanent deacon, told this story of himself at Westminster Cathedral on Monday.
He attributed his cure, in August 2001, to the intercession of John Henry Newman, who became the lost leader of the Oxford Movement when he went over to Rome in 1845.
Newman became a cardinal in 1879.
His beatification, the last stage before canonisation, is expected in September 2010.
“For days after the surgery, I was still suffering incredible pain with no end in sight,” Dcn Sullivan said. “If I were lucky, my recovery would now take, at minimum, eight months to one year. . . After I was told I couldn’t return to classes [for the diaconate], I was compelled to get out of my hospital bed and attempt to walk. I was completely helpless and the situation seemed hopeless.”
It was then that he asked for help.
“I called upon my very special intercessor and faithful friend: ‘Please, Cardinal Newman, help me to walk, so that I can return to my classes and be ordained.’ Suddenly, I felt a tremendous sensation of intense heat all over, and a strong tingling feeling throughout my body, both of which lasted for a long time. I also felt an overwhelming sense of joy and peace, as well as a strong sense of confidence and determination that finally I could walk. I immediately exclaimed to the nurse: ‘I have no more pain.’”
Dcn Sullivan, who became interested in Cardinal Newman after watching a TV programme, believes that his ordination was “a victorious sign” that Newman “would soon be counted as one of the Blessed in heaven”.
Since his healing, he said, he had been involved in prison and parish ministry, including at least two healings after invoking Newman’s help.
The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, who invited Dcn Sullivan to England, said that seven doctors had found no medical or scientific explanation for what had happened to Dcn Sullivan, who now had the “spine of a 30-year-old man”.
In June, Pope Benedict XVI declared it miraculous. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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