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Verification of miracle took years
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
When Dr. Samir Latifi commented to Sister Vittoria that “the hand from above saved him,” the nun had confirmation that something extraordinary had happened to Jacob “Jack” Sebest through intercessory prayer to Mother Maria Teresa Casini.
Jack Sebest, 5, drowned on June 25, 2003. The Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus knew Jack and his brother, Joseph, 7, because they were students in the Oblates’ preschool and kindergarten in Liberty and had a friendly relationship with their parents, Marcy and Joseph Sebest Jr. of Campbell.
As Joseph Sebest waited at Tod Children’s Hospital for Jack to be transported from a hospital in Sharon, Pa., where he first was taken, he called the Oblate Sisters, explained the situation and asked them to pray.
The request for prayer started a chain of events that eventually led to a miracle credited to Mother Maria Teresa Casini, foundress of the Oblate Sisters. “I believe the Holy Spirit was guiding us,” Marcy Sebest, referring to the family’s appeal for prayer through Mother Casini.
Sisters Vittoria and Louann brought a prayer card of Mother Casini, and it was placed near Jack.
Latifi and other doctors at Tod had told the Sebest family that Jack had brain lesions and the trauma was irreversible. But Jack was discharged from Tod’s pediatric intensive care unit June 29, and had no sign of brain lesions and was behaving normally. Sister Vittoria said Jack’s doctors noted they had kept him alive but didn’t reverse the trauma.
To those who had experienced Jack’s recovery, what had transpired was beyond medicine; it was divine intervention.
The process to affirm the miracle began in 2004 when Sister Teresina, then regional superior of the Oblate Sisters in Youngstown, spoke to then Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Diocese of Youngstown. In 2005, “many of the most essential pieces of the event” were gathered, said Sister Joyce Candidi, current regional superior of the Oblate Sisters and director of the office of vowed religious in the Diocese of Youngstown.
On May 7, 2007, the Rev. Luca DeRosa, postulator for the cause of the beatification and canonization of Venerable Mother Casini, petitioned Bishop George V. Murry, who was installed in March 2007, to start a canonical investigation of the Sebest case. In December, the bishop gave permission for the Diocesan Curia to begin the investigation.
Monsignor Michael Cariglio, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica, then judicial vicar in the diocese, handled the investigation and medical documentation. Monsignor Cariglio said a certain process according to Canon law is followed. Dr. Robert Cuttica, a permanent deacon in the diocese, was named as a medical expert.
Monsignor Cariglio served as judge instructor and enlisted the assistance of Monsignor Peter Polando, current rector of St. Columba Cathedral, as vice postulator. Monsignor Cariglio flew to London, England, to take first-hand testimony from Dr. Samir Latifi, an internist in pediatric critical care medicine, who had cared for Jack. Latifi confirmed the diagnosis, explained tests and what transpired.
Monsignor Cariglio said the information must be well documented. Latifi, a Muslim, and doctors of other faiths, were sources of medical data and had no vested interest in seeing Mother Casini become a saint. The investigation involved testimony of 27 witnesses.
Monsignors Cariglio and Polando presented the information to Bishop Murry, who approved it be sent to Rome. The documentation was translated into Italian, and three identical boxes of documents went to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints at the Vatican, where it was presented in April 2009. Theologians and physicians examined the material, asking questions.
“That’s called playing the ‘devil’s advocate’ as questions are asked,” Monsignor Cariglio said. The information was examined at the Vatican from 2009 to 2015. The miracle was approved Jan. 22, 2015.
“In the end, it was concluded that immediate and total healing of Jack could not be explained by natural causes, and it had to be supernatural intervention,” Monsignor Cariglio said.
“This was an affirmation of what we knew ... our beloved foundress was holy ... it can be seen in her writings,” said Sister Joyce.
Mother Casini founded the Oblate Sisters in 1894 in Italy as a contemplative, cloistered order whose mission was “to pray for priestly holiness,” Sister Joyce said. In 1946, two Oblate nuns came to the United States; in 1949, 10 Oblate Sisters followed and established the Oblate Sisters Motherhouse in Liberty. The order evolved into other ministry. The nuns run a preschool and kindergarten and priests’ retirement home, teach and work in parish ministry.
Sister Joyce said it is significant that Jack showed signs of life on the Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “For us, this is a major feast,” she said. “Our sisters prayed for our foundress to intercede for Jack. We prayed and something happened.”