Graces received

The testimonies of graces received through the intercession of Fra Elia are constantly increasing and are often published in our magazine “Angels and Archangels.” Below we share some of them so that you can get to know Fra Elia better.

One evening my friend from Verona called me, “Fiorella, two miracles happened today!” “What are you telling me? Did I understand correctly?” “Yes, two miracles,” she continued in a voice excited with emotion. “Strange, I heard Fra Elia just now, but he didn’t tell me anything….” “You know how he is… he doesn’t like to talk about his dealings with the sick… anyway I’ll tell you… Today a young man came to see him who has been immobilized in a wheelchair for 8 years and got out of here on his own legs… and then a doctor with his mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and she too miraculously regained her speech so much so that the doctor himself cried miracle!” I listened happily, hoping that when he returned Elia would fill me in on these extraordinary events. I already knew of many healings that occurred after the laying on of his hands, but this was the first time I had heard of such sensational events without his direct intervention. In any case unable to wait I immediately called him. He greeted me with such a joyful voice that I seemed to see him.
“Elia, what happened today?” “You won’t believe it but two extraordinary healings happened!” And briefly he mentioned to me what happened. “Tomorrow, when I come back, I will tell you more about it. Good night.” And so the next afternoon here he was arriving beaming, ready for his story, which I transcribe in his own words. “At a certain moment I see a boy in a wheelchair come in squeezed into a girdle holding him up to his neck. Feeling helpless I asked my Angel, ‘What can I do for him?’ ‘Tell him to get up,’ and I obeyed. ‘I can’t,’ the boy replied. Then Lechitiel told me to help him and hold him upright leaning against the crib. ‘Now put your hands on his back,’ continued the Angel, and I did so. ‘Tell him to walk.’ And I said, ‘Walk. ‘I can’t,’ the boy replied alarmed, but in the meantime he remained standing without my help. ‘Now tell him to open his shirt and unfasten his girdle,’ Lechitiel suggested again and I carried out the order. The boy slowly undid the buttons of his shirt saying ‘I am afraid,’ and then I marked him with small cross marks and prayed. Then he said, ‘I feel light. ‘Try to undo your shoes,’ I continued. ‘I can’t.’ ‘If you want to walk, untie your shoes…’. So he did. He bowed, lifted himself up, and hugging me he burst into a sobbing fit. I petrified said ‘Let us thank God together.’ Then he walked away with his legs.” (He is now well and working).
“Shortly thereafter a doctor arrived, holding an elderly lady who was apparently very weak and insecure. ‘It’s my mother,’ he told me, ‘she has Alzheimer’s disease. I brought her here because she has been trying to talk to me for days without succeeding… she probably has something important to tell me…’ I made them sit next to me and looked at the lady who was babbling unintelligible sounds while the doctor shook my hand begging for a pardon for his mother. ‘Can you hear her Fra Elia? I don’t understand her…’ ‘But I do,’ and as he uttered these words the doctor burst into tears. At that point his mother turned to him and said, ‘Why are you crying? You should be glad that I am cured.’ And it was at this point that the doctor leapt from his chair and ran out into the street shouting, ‘A miracle has happened!'”
The young lady I am talking about is called Ottavia, I had met her in Benevento during a meeting with Fra Elia, she told me she had to go to the hospital for an incurable disease but I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. About a week ago, Octavia called me, “My illness is getting worse…I’m in the hospital, I’m desperate, the herpes is still eating away at me but only externally, thankfully. The best specialist in the field doesn’t want to kill me with antibiotics. He wants to look for the cause, which he thinks is in the teeth. I have been to dentists for 4 months. I also took a series of x-rays: my teeth are very healthy. I was also afraid because if you don’t find the cause quickly, you have to start all over again. Please phone Fra Elia and ask him what to do.” I spoke to Fra Elia. After a very short reflection he said, “Perhaps the cause lies in the teeth themselves, the metal of a filling. It is necessary to continue the investigation.” I immediately reported this to Octavia, who immediately seemed very heartened by the news.
In the afternoon a desperate father came to Fra Elia with a picture of his young and beautiful daughter, suffering from severe Mediterranean anemia with the complication of a violent internal herpes invading her lungs, throat and lips. The doctors despaired of saving her and feared she would not make it through the night. Fra Elia blessed her picture and prayed. Dr. De Maffutis also showed me the girl’s photo and asked if it was possible to accompany Fra Elia to the hospital because the girl was calling out for him-she wanted to see him again and she might be dying. Unfortunately, there were so many people and Fra Elia could not reach her that same day, but the next day, at the end of all the meetings. We reached the hospital, at the infectious ward, around 5 p.m. and found the parents waiting for us anxiously. Unfortunately, Fra Elia also had his open sores, and for safety he put on the famous green socks and protective gloves. Crossing the ward, he gave off a trail of suave rose scent that everyone could smell, including two doctors who greeted him with great respect. “Yesterday we feared we would lose her,” they told us, “but in the afternoon she suddenly revived….” She had recovered just as Fra Elia blessed the picture and prayed for her. Then Fra Elia went into the girl’s room and I saw her too…her frightened doe eyes shouted all her pain as she was immobilized by an IV in her arm and gauze all over her body (even on her mouth), being comforted by her mother. Then we all went out, but first I made time to see Fra Elia kissing her on the forehead, heedless of the danger of infection. We stood waiting in the hallway, comforted by the wonderful scent of roses coming out of the ajar door. After a short time Fra Elia reached us saying that the girl would be saved and that after she recovered she would have to undergo a minor surgery. After a few days Octavia called me back, “Thank Fra Elia for me, next Wednesday I will have to undergo an operation… They will remove my wisdom tooth and a clogged tooth… Thank you, thank you.”
For some time I had had persistent tearing in my eyes, accompanied by a desire to wear sunglasses frequently. I therefore decided to go to the ophthalmologist. I underwent the examination quietly, thinking I had a conjunctival inflammatory or allergic form. Observing the kind optometrist Federica, her facial expression and hand motions as she proceeded with the examination, I began to sense that something was not right. In fact, the doctor I had gone to diagnosed severe glaucoma in my left eye. He decided to see me again after 4 days of intensive care, with the almost certain possibility that I would have to have surgery. What horrible days those were! “Lucky” fate had introduced me to Fra Elia of the Apostles of God to whom I turned like a frightened child. He, listening to me in silence, and staring intensely at me with his eyes, which seemed to pierce me, said softly, “Don’t worry, pray with your heart, do whatever you have to do and have faith.” Believing in Christ and trusting Fra Elia, I acted as recommended and at the same time marveled at how I was able to pray. The day of the visit arrived. Having prepared everything, I set off for the hospital restless, always thinking of these words of Fra Elia: “Take it easy, but above all you will have to remember this day.” Unbelievable, unbelievable, having done the assessment tests, in my eye I had nothing left!”
I met Fra Elia on a September afternoon at the Ignatianum Center in Messina. I had undergone two heart surgeries, one by-pass, the other angioplasty. A year and a half after the last surgery, about a month ago, I had a retrosternal discomfort that was causing me pain and ecided to ask Fra Elia for help. WHILE WAITING FOR MY TURN Fra Elia warned me…then he placed his hand on my chest following the diaphragmatic line, and asked, “Have you had surgery?” “Yes” “Don’t be afraid, you have to have another surgery, because what has been left in has to be removed,” and then he suggests an X-ray. Andrea asserts that he has already done it, that he has also done a scintigraphy, which ascertained the presence of a foreign body. In this testimony is the reality of the facts, which will be ascertained as soon as possible. Dr. Liliana Sanni On my agenda I jot down, I jot down quickly… Sometimes even just a few lines serve me then to remember… So many and such are the facts and testimonies that it is difficult for me to make a selection, also because I risk repeating myself and boring. In order not to dwell too long I simply try to transcribe some of my notes between October and November, so you will understand how I work.
Roberto Marino, who judged depression to be “a cabbage disease” (his exact words), tells me thus, “I had never experienced it, but one day I felt so bad that I couldn’t even leave the house anymore. I was no longer able to get up, I didn’t want to see anyone, but I still always clung to Jesus … however, I was making cabbage confessions … I was praying badly … I was pretending like a consummate actor because I didn’t want my friends to notice my state. I came to Fra Elia partly out of curiosity and partly out of faith, and accustomed to hiding my situation, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, but he said, ‘Can you tell me why you are angry with the whole world?’ He had already understood everything … and from that moment I healed.”
We met Elizabeth with her second child, the one who was to be born with severe malformations. He is healthy and beautiful. Received many requests for exorcisms also in Bergamo. Fra Elia is not able to do everything. After blessing the house, Fra Elia’ fragrance remained for many, many days.
Giorgio Bortoletti, with psoriatic arthropathy in his knee, with deformity and no cartilage, attending two healing masses by Fra Elia, felt that Jesus had healed his knee. He had a room on the ground floor because he could no longer climb stairs. Now he is back to sleeping upstairs like he used to. He is finally now able to visit friends on the fourth floor without any problems. “The most beautiful thing is that today I can kneel down and thank Jesus!”
A teacher recounts… “At school I have a child with a defective heart valve. As soon as he was born he was operated on with an incision. He was to undergo valve replacement later at the age of eight. I took his picture to Fra Elia, and from the examinations performed, an improvement was noted. The surgery is no longer necessary.”
A child who was nervous and rebellious, after Fra Elia’ blessing of her picture, she has become much calmer and her academic and motor performance has improved. Now she even goes swimming, a sport she refused before.
Three teachers, my colleagues, have had unexpected benefits, especially one lady with maculo-ocular degeneration, who would have faced five unsecured and very expensive surgeries. She had only two, which were perfectly successful, and no further intervention was necessary.

Vigevano – I came back to see thanks to Fra Elia

VIGEVANO. A woman from Ivrea cried out for a miracle the day before yesterday morning during the mass attended by Fra Elia in the parish of Battù.

The church of the parish of Jesus Divine Worker was packed Sunday morning: at least four hundred people. It all happened at the end of the baptism of a little girl from Ferrara: the 30-year-old from Ivrea stood up and asked to speak in front of everyone. And so she did. But more than a story, hers was a public thanksgiving, accompanied by a flood of tears. A cry of joy, of course: for the woman would regain her sight after praying together with Fra Elia.

Battù’s parish priest, Fr. Florindo Arenghi, has one certainty: “It is clear that one cannot speak of a miracle until one has the medical tests to prove it. It would not be correct. But I can testify to the sincere joy with which this young woman thanked Fr. Elias for what had happened to her. She recounted that she felt a strong warmth, immediately afterwards she could see again. She had lost her sight in terrible car accident. The woman burst into tears, she seemed really sincere.” The woman, who reached Vigevano in a car driven by a friend from Ivrea, also reportedly turned to Fra Elia to tell him this simple phrase, “I see you well.”

Rosetta Terranova is one of the central figures in Battù Parish. She, for example, is in charge of pilgrimages and she keeps in touch with Fra Elia. “What is most striking about him is his great humility, his desire to put himself at the service of the Lord without any form of protagonism. If what we are talking about is a miracle? Well, it is not for us to say. We certainly were moved, we cried together with this woman, whom we had never seen before. I was there with many other people. It was something beautiful: Antoinette, that’s the name of the girl who was the protagonist of this grace, was crying with happiness and we with her. Fra Elia gave her a caress and talked about the light of Christ, how it gives Faith in our Lord. Fra Elia’s visits are always something special, a true gift for the whole community of the faithful.”

Borneo – Evening in the cathedral: an incredible evening

The Church is packed to capacity. We reach it on foot, always accompanied by the Vicar and his staff who also act as bodyguards to Fra Elia. The whole town is aware of His arrival and expects great things from Him. To cross the main artery, the police, complete with whistle, stop traffic and our small procession passes through the wings of the crowd. A large poster with Fra Elia’s picture hangs in front of the cathedral, and groups of people, as is usually the case, are waiting with their eyes on us. They want to see him up close, preferably touch him and possibly smell his perfume. The staff skillfully manages to lead the way and we enter following Vicar General Bishop Chang.

We immediately begin with the Vicar’s introduction of Fra Elia and then Holy Mass and catechesis by Fra Elia.
Father Gabriel translates and Bishop Chang seems to listen attentively. Other priests of the diocese, deacons and clerics are also present. In front of the altar a long transverse row of miserable mats on which lay the skinny sick, almost all of them crippled, or with deformities, the elderly, the young, malnourished children, people in comas all scantily covered because of the equatorial climate All cared for by their loved ones. A chilling sight.
Me, sitting in front of Fra Elia with my notebook and camera.
When the catechesis is over, Monsignor in procession, preceded by Fra Elia, slowly goes to expose the Blessed Sacrament which he will carry in procession down the left and right aisles to return to the center in front of the altar. Fra Elia next to Monsignor and Father Gabriel, who will translate, is kneeling on the steps facing the Lord and begins the spontaneous prayer, “Lord, look at these sick people, caress them, heal them, enlighten them…only You can…Lord, look at this mother who suffers for her child, help this sick person who is so afraid, alleviate the sufferings of all those present, sustain them, save them…”

Rise and walk

On either side of the altar and for all the faithful who remained outside, two giant screens are placed where all of Fra Elia’ movements can be seen, so that everyone can see him, including the people in the square in front of the Cathedral.
Now Fra Elia is leaning over a teenager in a white T-shirt also lying on the mat, when suddenly I see him stand up suddenly, look around in amazement, and after a moment turn his back to us and start walking briskly toward the exit, amid applause. At the same moment Fra Elia also stands up and quickly moves toward another sick person. I notice his face moved as if he were about to cry. Everything happened very quickly. I turn toward Monsignor who had meanwhile come up behind me. As did Father Gabriel. We look at each other astonished without saying a word. But immediately we hear more applause. It is the turn of a very old lady, thin, with shrunken legs. Fra Elia and the priest are helping her up as she smiles. She is up and walking by now.

I take pictures as I can. And here is a little boy in a yellow T-shirt. He also stands up in a rush surprising everyone. He stands still for a few seconds. He looks puzzled. Then he too starts walking and comes out down the center aisle followed by his mother. At this point I get tears in my eyes, in fact I cry my eyes out. And then it’s the turn of a gentleman who looked like he was in a coma and immediately after seeing Fra Elia he sat down on the stretcher stunned…and then another person I can’t remember if male or female stood. Basically 5 people regained the use of their legs at the first meeting of Fra Elia in Borneo. The Lord wanted to give great signs of his greatness through his instrument and everyone could see it. Thanks be to God.

Koenigstein (Germany)

During a dinner with the organizers, someone asked Fra Elia if he remembered their friend Ruth, a cancer patient, whom he had met the year before at a dinner similar to this one. Fra Elia nodded in the affirmative. “After your prayers, our friend improved greatly and is now well…she wanted to come this evening to thank you, but unfortunately cancer came to her husband…,” the hostess showed Fra Elia a photo of Ruth pictured next to her husband Kurz. Fra Elia, carefully scrutinizing the photo, asked, “Are you sure this gentleman has cancer?… To me he doesn’t!” The astonished guests cast astonished glances at each other and made no comment. When we said our goodbyes, despite the late hour, our friend immediately telephoned Kurz, very sure that Fra Elia had told the truth. Even “the sick” Kurz did not have the slightest doubt, so that the next morning he went to the hospital to speak with his oncologist. “You are mistaken, I do not have cancer!!! Fra Elia said so,” he exploded like a fuse. Naturally, the stunned professor tried to calm him down, inviting him to sit down and finding words of comfort, but Kurz, determined more than ever to prove his condition, demanded immediate checkups, including a CT scan. His insistence was such that the doctor was forced to accommodate him. Before our departure from Germany, Fra Elia and I were informed by Thomas that no trace of cancer was found in Kurz.

Feletto Umberto (Udine – Italy)

I had been suffering from hepatitis C for a long time. I was always sick so that the doctors decided to treat me for six months with Interferon. Three months into the treatment, tests revealed that the Interferon had done nothing, quite the contrary. I felt worse and the treatment was discontinued. After two months, despite my skepticism, I came to Feletto to meet Fra Elia, who immediately told me, “Go easy because you have nothing.” “Impossible,” I answered him, “the tests say it’s not true!” “And I tell you not to think about it, because you are fine!” At the first checkup, it turned out that I was completely cured! Today, this is the fourth time I have come to Feletto…when I can I meet Fra Elia from other places as well. I could tell you many other beautiful things… I converted, and with conversion my health, my family… everything improved!

Testimonies collected in Milan

Last year, Ms. Adele Anelli met Fra Elia for the first time in the Salesian chapel. For the past year (her exact words) her husband had been suffering from thrombosis. The doctors were treating him but he was not getting better. Three days after meeting with Fra Elia, the ultrasound examination showed that her husband was completely cured.
Mrs. Lazzaroni first met Fra’ Elia, in Milan, the year before. Her son was hospitalized with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Fra’ Elia reassured her and recommended that she pray, and the lady prayed. After a fortnight, the boy underwent an MRI scan-there was no sign of sclerosis. It was a simple myelitis. Today the lady came to say thank you.
One of Fr. Anthony’s parishioners was very concerned about her son-in-law, who was suffering from cancer. She did not know that Fra Elia was a guest of the parish priest. When the parish priest saw her in the church, he warned her so she brought him a picture of her son-in-law so he could take it to Fra Elia. As Fra Elia gathered in prayer with the photo of his son-in-law in his hand, the lady sitting not far away smelled a strong scent of roses. After a couple of months, redoing the appropriate checks, the tumor had stopped.