61 minutes to a miracle

"You probably meant sixty-one seconds. You said sixty-one minutes, but you obviously meant just over a minute."

"No," I replied, "he had no pulse for over an hour."

On 16 September 2010, after an uncomplicated pregnancy, Bonnie L. Engstrom gave birth to a stillborn baby boy. After sixty-one minutes, at the exact moment the doctors were about to declare him dead, James Fulton Engstrom's heart suddenly began to beat.

During those sixty-one minutes, the Engstroms prayed to James's namesake, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, relying on his powerful intercession.

The fact that James came back to life at all was a miracle. However, the rest of his story is even more astonishing. While the Engstroms were preparing themselves for the reality that their boy would be blind, unable to walk or talk, and tube-fed for the rest of his life, another miracle began to unfold. Defying all medical predictions, James not only survived but gradually began to recover and thrive. Today, he continues to enjoy good health. In 2014, medical experts and theological advisors to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously recognised this miracle as genuine.

This astonishing yet true story, full of weakness and strength, grief and elation, hope and joy, teaches us that miracles are possible – through our faith in Christ and the intercession of a great cloud of witnesses.

"Believe the unbelievable, and you can do the impossible." (Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)