R.I. Catholics rejoice after pope declares a miracle in Pawtucket

Indeed, for Catholics in the Ocean State, the divine feels a bit closer to home these days after Pope Leo XIV declared the first miracle recognized during his papacy as having happened in a Pawtucket hospital in 2007.

The pope granted approval to the miracle last month, following a years-long review of the circumstances around the birth of Tyquan Hall, who was born with a slow heart rate at the now-closed Memorial Hospital, and his full recovery after a doctor invoked Venerable Servant of God Salvador Valera Parra, a 19th-century Spanish priest, in prayer, according to the Vatican.

The news left local Catholics with “excitement, joy, maybe a little bit of surprise, but overwhelming gratitude that God continues to answer our prayers,” the Rev. Nathan J. Ricci, vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, said in an interview on Monday.

“In an extraordinary way, [God] showed to us that he’s close to us and continues to work miracles,” Ricci said.

“He continues to work even in our little Ocean State,” Ricci added.

The Rev. Timothy Reilly, chancellor of the Diocese of Providence, who worked on an investigation of the miracle in 2014, said in a statement it is “a reminder of the power of prayer and the intercession of holy men and women.”

“God is indeed close to us,” Reilly said.

According to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, on Jan. 14, 2007, Hall was born “prematurely with symptoms of secondary apnea, cyanotic, breathless, and with a slow heart rate,” and showed “no signs of improvement” an hour after birth, as doctors could not detect a heartbeat.

Dr. Juan Sanchez-Esteban, Hall’s physician at the time, reportedly asked for intervention from Parra, a priest from Sánchez-Esteban’s native Huércal-Overa in Spain, while praying for Hall’s recovery, according to the Diocese of Almería.

Shortly after, Hall began breathing and his pulse returned, and he recovered without any complications, the diocese said in a statement.

Sanchez-Esteban, now a staff neonatologist at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, was not available for an interview on Monday, according to a spokesperson for Care New England, which also operated Memorial Hospital before it closed in 2017.

But in a statement, Sánchez-Esteban said, “As a physician, I have the privilege of witnessing both the fragility and the incredible resilience of life. Moments of recovery and healing touch all of us deeply — families, caregivers, and medical teams alike. While I cannot speak about any individual patient due to HIPAA privacy laws, I understand that a recent recognition by the Vatican has brought comfort and meaning to many.”

He added, “At Care New England and Women & Infants Hospital, we are honored to be part of the stories that inspire hope, and we remain committed to providing care grounded in compassion, excellence, and respect for every individual and their beliefs.”

Born in 1816, Parra was a priest who “worked tirelessly” during cholera epidemics and an 1863 earthquake that caused widespread destruction in Spain, and also led fundraising efforts for the needy, among other works, according to the Vatican. He died in 1889.

According to the Diocese of Almería, Parra’s cause for canonization – the process the church undertakes to determine sainthood – began in 1991.

In 2014, then-Bishop of Almería, the Most Rev. Adolfo Gonzales Montes, sent investigators to Rhode Island to collect information and investigate the claims of the 2007 miracle to support that process, the Diocese of Providence said.

“In order to be declared a blessed and then later, a canonized saint, you first need one official miracle and then two official miracles, which basically gives credence in our faith to the fact that God recognizes this person as holy, or this person is interceding from heaven,” Ricci said.

Parra still requires another official miracle to be considered for canonization, according to Ricci.

“The Vatican, they bring in their experts, and they put it through the paces,” James Keating, an associate professor of theology at Providence College said of the probe around the miracle in Pawtucket. “And, you know, it takes a long time.”

Keating said priests have told him the miracle’s approval has been getting “more enthusiasm than they might have expected.”

“It’s not only a connection to the new pope, but it is also… kind of old-timey Catholicism,” Keating said of the declared miracle’s allure to the public. “You know, a Spanish priest and a miracle in a hospital. It rings a lot of bells.”

Outside St. Timothy Church in Warwick on Monday, Jim O’Donnell had just finished praying the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy alongside his fellow members of the Legion of Mary, a lay Catholic organization, when he heard the news about the miracle.

“They had strong faith, and even if they don’t have faith, God can still grant the miracle,” said O’Donnell, of Cranston. “But they got to have some faith.”

“That’s wonderful,” he added. “The fact that something can happen here in Rhode Island is wonderful.”

Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.