Healing of Anne Theresa O'Neill from Acute Leukemia

Spontaneous normalization of blood counts following pilgrimage to Emmitsburg and novena; sustained remission confirmed by multiple bone marrow aspirates through 1957

Anne Theresa O'Neill was four years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore on February 17, 1952. Her symptoms included ecchymotic lesions, pallor, irritability, and cervical lymphadenopathy; bone marrow analysis confirmed the diagnosis. She was treated with blood transfusions, cortisone, and aminopterin, but her condition continued to worsen. By late March 1952, her physicians told the family there was no hope, and she was discharged as incurable on March 27. When she was readmitted on April 9, the attending hematologist, Dr. Milton Sacks, estimated she had approximately two weeks to live. He stated plainly that no one had ever been documented to survive leukemia.

Sister Mary Alice Fowler, a Daughter of Charity nurse supervisor at St. Agnes, introduced the family to the cause of Mother Seton and encouraged them to seek her intercession. A relic — a piece of cloth touched to Mother Seton's remains — was pinned to Anne's hospital gown. The Daughters of Charity, along with family and friends, organized a sustained novena of prayer. During Holy Week, Anne's mother carried her to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she was laid on Mother Seton's tomb in the cemetery and brought to the room where Seton had died.

Anne's blood counts normalized almost immediately following the Emmitsburg pilgrimage. She was discharged on April 27, 1952. Follow-up bone marrow aspirates in July 1954, October 1954, January 1956, and March 1957 were all normal. The recovery was complete and sustained.

The Vatican Medical Commission found the cure scientifically inexplicable, given that acute leukemia in 1952 had no documented survivors. The case was accepted among the two miracles approved for beatification in 1961.

Anne Theresa O'Neill attended the canonization ceremony on September 14, 1975, and met Pope Paul VI in person.