Blessed Zdenka Schelingová, a Slovak religious member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross (SCSC), may be one step closer to sainthood.
The postulator of her cause, Father Lucián Bogucki of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, handed the "positio super miro" to the archbishop of Bratislava, Stanislav Zvolenský, last month. The document, whose Latin title refers to a purported miracle, describes an alleged healing said to have occurred through her intercession in Denver.
"The very fact that the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is dealing with the extraordinary healing through the intercession of Blessed Zdenka Schelingová is a gift from God and a great encouragement," Zvolenský told EWTN News.
The date for the meeting of the commission of cardinals that will discuss the document and the reported miracle is not yet known but may come within a few months. The final decision on canonization rests with the pope.
The cause is an opportunity to enter "spiritual communion with those whom the Church presents to us as saints and blessed, so that we can also turn to them with a request for their intercession," the archbishop said.
Zvolenský encouraged the faithful to "admire God's goodness as he always gives us extraordinary signs of his love."
A martyr under communism
Born Cecília Schelingová on Christmas Eve 110 years ago in the village of Krivá, in modern-day Slovakia, the future sister joined the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross and worked as a nurse and later in a hospital laboratory. She helped a Catholic priest escape from a hospital and attempted to do so again; the second time it was a trap, and she was arrested. She was tortured, accused of treason by the recently established communist regime, and imprisoned in various jails across then-Czechoslovakia.
Sister Zdenka was released in April 1955 and died on July 31, 1955, from the effects of torture and her ruined health. She was exonerated of all charges against her in 1970 and was beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.
Respect and admiration for Sister Zdenka "is growing," as "we have seen this now during various events on her liturgical feast," which falls on July 30, said Sister Mária Terézia Dobrovicová, provincial superior of the Slovak province of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross. The congregation was founded 170 years ago in Switzerland, and soon afterward the sisters were invited to what is now Slovakia, she explained.
Bishop Tomáš Galis of the Diocese of Žilina celebrated Mass on the feast day, quoting Sister Zdenka: "Forgiveness is the greatest thing in life." The Confederation of Political Prisoners of Slovakia also organized a conference on the religious sisters who lived in secret under the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
Pilgrims are visiting sites associated with her, including her native village of Krivá; Podunajské Biskupice, where her remains rest; and Trnava, the seat of the congregation in Slovakia.
Sister Mária Terézia said the sisters "receive various requests from people to pray for the intercession" of Sister Zdenka, "but we also have various testimonies about how prayers for her intercession have been heard." This is encouraging, "and we are happy about it," she stressed.
The official website dedicated to Sister Zdenka's memory, zdenka.sk, shares several testimonies from people whose prayers were answered after they prayed to her. It does not, however, include the case contained in the "positio super miro."
The Denver healing
A man in Denver was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and sent home. His wife knew someone who was a distant relative of Sister Zdenka and, together with her colleagues, reportedly began to pray for him.
The man had his tubes removed and was ready to die, yet his appetite returned and he regained his strength. He later suffered an embolism and died, according to one Slovak daily, which, however, did not cite a source. An autopsy confirmed that he had been cured of cancer, with no trace of the disease, and died three years after his recovery, though from a different diagnosis.
EWTN News contacted Bogucki for details about the case and the alleged healing. Instead, the priest — who is of Polish origin, lived in Slovakia for many years, and served as a confessor at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome — asked for prayers for the final phase before Sister Zdenka's possible canonization.
