We publish this touching testimony received from Fiorella
Hello Fiorella, I would like to share with you the immense joy I had after so many years of grueling waiting, between doctor’s visits, useless treatments, trips to the best specialists who finally ruled my infertility. But my great faith has always sustained me helped mainly by Fra Elia. I experienced the most beautiful day of my life on Christmas Day 2023, and only after a year after the birth of Myriam am I able to truly become aware that the beautiful baby girl I hold in my arms is indeed my daughter!
Giovanni and I were married on July 22, 2004. Giovanni is a gardener and I, Maria Luigia. i have been working for the first 2 years of our marriage in tailoring We wanted children from the very beginning but they were not coming, then one day I saw and heard on TV fra Elia. My husband and I were immediately attracted by that Friar so humble who spoke about Jesus like an Angel…he said simple things and didn’t accuse anyone.
On July 28, 2006, we went to the convent and we’ve been going there often since then. Fra Elia told us that we would have a child. We prayed together and he blessed us. So I was reassured and we returned home more serene. He didn’t demand anything of us, recommended that we live and feed ourselves with wholesome foods, sleep the right amount and invited us to pray 10 minutes a day especially spontaneously, face to face, a sincere prayer coming from the heart. Days passed but I was quiet. Fra Elia had assured me that the son would come ..and I was convinced. I finished treatment by a gynecologist anyway, then I thought that perhaps the herbal teas from the convent or the mushrooms of ancient Chinese medicine would surely benefit me and raise my defenses. Every month I would go to the convent and ask Fra Elia: When do you think he might be born? “ Heavenly times cannot be calculated…up there is the eternal present…I am sure the baby will come, indeed it will be a girl”. And so I went back and forth for 10 years continuing to be examined by famous doctors, also undergoing very expensive treatments, falling into periods of depression…but I kept fighting with myself since Fra Elia reassured me every time. The worst happened when the a distinguished gynecologist wrote that i was sterile and would never have a son!
My husband did not know what to do for me anymore, and in the meantime a beautiful friendship was also born between us and Fra Elia. We would often stay at the convent for a few days, my husband helping her with the work while I, wasting away, continued to lose my appetite…but Fra Elia forced me to eat the good things prepared for me,,,and I recovered each time.
Every September, during the two days of prayer dedicated to Our Lady Pilgrim, I and a few others would keep vigil all night in prayer. So many supplications to Our Lady with the promise to name my child Maria or Miryam after her. Prayer to Our Lady was healthy for me and gave me patience and courage…so I continued to believe and hope.
Slowly 9 more years passed and I was now 48 years old. It was now February 2023 and after a few months I thought I had crossed that period that every woman dreads: menopause…but deep in my heart there was still a little hope. Instead, Giovanni phoned Fra Elia who immediately told him that his wife was pregnant. “Don’t tell your wife…just in case, let the three months pass….she will perhaps phone me. I confirm that a beautiful baby girl will be born. After the famous three months I don’t really remember what happened, I remember that I was always in contact with Fra Elia who reassured me until my anxiety and fears miraculously vanished.
It was a beautiful pregnancy I had no discomfort nor vomiting nor nausea. I carried out to the letter what Fra Elia told me to do and we did not say anything to anyone. .



On December 25, 2023, Myriam was born. Weight Kg,2,420….beautiful and healthy amid the joy and immense emotion of her parents….and also of Fra Elia.
On December 8, 2024, feast of the Immaculate Conception, we brought our little one to the Calvi Convent to introduce her to our second family, the friars and all our closest friends including you, in an atmosphere of great joy, which I will never forget. Praise and thanks be to Our Lady and her Son Jesus.