Suffering, Starving, Happy

Short Summary: Alexandrina da Costa, left partially paralyzed after a fall, endured a 13-year Eucharistic fast, baffling doctors with her ability to survive on only the Holy Eucharist until her death in 1955.

Details

Location: Balazar, Portugal

Year: 1955

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in your power to sustain me in all areas of my life, body and soul, mind and spirit, emotions and affections, values and beliefs. I give you permission to bring me what I need in order to grow closer to God. Help me to welcome, understand, and accept it. Amen.

Verse: I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. -Col 1:24-26

Full Story

Alexandrina da Costa, age fourteen, was at home sewing when three men violently entered. During the attempted rape, Alexandrina jumped out a second story window and became severely injured. She was partially paralyzed from the fall. Doctors diagnosed her condition as irreversible as well as progressive. Six years later, she became fully bedridden. Although she prayed incessantly to the Blessed Mother for a miraculous healing, the condition only worsened. Little by little, however, God helped her see the meaning of her suffering on earth. In time, she stated, "Our Lady has given me an even greater grace (than a cure): first abandonment; then complete conformity to God's will; finally, the thirst for suffering.” Over the years to come, her holiness continued to grow. She reported having many visions of Christ. Her physical condition, however, worsened. By 1934 she could receive only liquids, and in 1942 she was unable to receive any nourishment. The only substance she received was the Holy Eucharist, which she readily consumed. It seemed her death was imminent. Miraculously, she continued this “Eucharistic fast” for the next 13 years! Medical doctors were baffled, and ran several rounds of testing. One experiment in 1943 involved strict testing for over a month in a controlled hospital setting, from which the official report stated: “It is absolutely certain that during forty days of being bedridden in hospital, the sick woman did not eat or drink… leaving us perplexed." The report was signed Dr. Gomez de Araujo of the Royal Academy of Medicine, and undersigned by Dr. C. A. di Lima and Dr. E. A. D. de Azevedo, professors at Medicine of Oporto. The report continued, “We testify also that she retained her weight, and her temperature, breathing, blood pressure, pulse and blood were normal while her mental faculties were constant and lucid and she had not, during these forty days, any natural necessities... The laws of physiology and biochemistry cannot account for the survival of this sick woman… As for the phenomena observed every Friday at about 3 p.m. (i.e. her ecstasies), we believe they belong to the mystical order... For the sake of the truth, we have prepared this certificate which we sign.” Alexandrina died on Oct. 13, 1955. Early in the morning of that day, she called out, "Oh my God, I love you! I am yours completely! Oh how I long to fly to you! Will it be today? Oh I would be so happy… so happy!"

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