American priest attributes healing to intercession of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

January 06, 2012

The inexplicable healing of a paralyzed priest in Baltimore could, if confirmed by the Vatican, provide the miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

Father John Murray, a Redemptorist priest, was told by doctors that he would never walk again after he broke his neck in a fall in 2009. But he regained the use of his legs after praying for the intercession of Blessed Seelos. Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, also a Redemporist priest, was born in Germany in 1819. Moving to the US, he was ordained in Baltimore, then moved to New Orleans, where he developed a wide reputation for sanctity as he worked with the poor. He died in 1867, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

Father Murray reports that he developed a special devotion to Blessed Seelos while he was assigned to a parish in Annapolis, Maryland, where the 19th-century priest had once served.

 

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Further information:

• Paralyzed priest’s ‘miraculous’ cure could lead to canonization (CNA)