The following stories are excerpts from the minutes kept in the Archives of the Franciscan Friary.
“We got married in 2002, and I got operated on in the same year. After the operation, the doctor said I could only have a baby through IVF. We underwent IVF attempts in 2002 and 2003 with no success, and then we decided not to take part in any more. If it is God’s will, we would have a baby anyway. With fallopian tubes definitively blocked at two longer parts, it was medically impossible to have a natural conception. Thanks to a conscientious doctor, it turned out a few years later that a miracle happened: both of my fallopian tubes got penetrable – yet, the baby did not come. So, from then on, we truly started to pray to Mary of Szentkút for help. I realised on a Friday afternoon 4 May, 2007 that I was blessed with a child, and this got confirmed by my doctor on 8 May. At that time our daughter was already 2 months old. The baby behaved well and developed fine, all the indicators were good, and our little angel was born at Christmas with 3800 grams and 53 centimetres. I am grateful to the Blessed Virgin for helping us because I am sure that this miracle we have been experiencing every day since that Christmas can only be attributed to Her. Becoming a parent, and especially a mother, is a noble and nice challenge, and I believe it changes you in every way. You realize that now here is someone who needs not only to be cared for and fed but also set an example for. And this is a great responsibility. I think we have grown mature for this task by now, and, as everything else in our life, what happened to us did not happen by accident.”
I live in the Transdanubian region in Hungary where I was living with my family without any major health issues until the summer of 2007. I and my husband were raising our daughter, we were working, and we were living a life of ease. However, in 2007 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. The whole family got very scared. I had an operation, and got better soon. A year later, I got liver metastasis. Another operation and chemotherapy followed. I was in such despair that I often prayed to the Virgin Mary. When I got better, I visited my cousin in Salgótarján. She took me to Szentkút. I asked Her in prayer to help me get cured, and I also took a vow that if I can survive and get recovered for five years, I will return and thank Her for Her help. And I did! The Blessed Mary had listened to my prayer, and I could return to Szentkút to say thanks for Her help with prayers and a gratitude plaque.”
This happened in the summer of 2010: “My wife’s condition had been gradually deteriorating after having been diagnosed with leukaemia. She had been given special blood infusions for years, but in 2010 her doctor suggested the discontinuation of this treatment. At my request, our parish chaplain visited us with the hidden agenda of administering her the sacraments appropriate for her condition. However, due to her strong desire to live, she reacted badly to the priest’s visit. She made the following comment from her sickbed at the priest waiting in the other room: “What the hell does he want?” We were all shocked but agreed without any offence that with that attitude we could not reach our aim there and then. A few months later, at Pentecost, I received a phone call from someone on a pilgrimage bus homeward bound from Szentkút. This close acquaintance of mine told me that one of the pilgrims on the bus had a pastoral care licence valid in our region, and she thought we could still try to prepare my wife for the encounter with God after death. They visited us the following Friday. My wife was very weak and had heavy breathing but turned towards us briskly and welcomed us with joy. I gave her a piece of the Blessed Sacrament which she could only swallow with a sip of water. While we were putting away the church supplies, I noticed that my wife’s breathing, loud and heavy earlier, got softer. I stepped back to her bed anxious to hear any degree of breathing from her mouth – with no success. Shattered, I told the others that I believed my wife had passed away. They reaffirmed this fact. The sadness of the bereavement, however, was strangely eased by a kind of comfort that our beloved patient moved to the realm of eternity after receiving the Blessed Sacrament.”