The Living Proof of Brother Pedro's Holiness

GUATEMALA CITY, JULY 29, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Adalberto González is living proof of the holiness of Brother Pedro of San José Betancur.

González's miracle cure was attributed to Brother Pedro's intercession, which opened the doors to his process of canonization.

"I had intestinal lymphoma; my intestine was full of tumors, of cancer, and doctors said it was impossible to cure me," González told ZENIT.

At age 22, González is thin and of medium stature. He is a native of Vilaflor de Chasma, the same village in the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife, which was home to Brother Pedro. John Paul II will canonize Brother Pedro in Guatemala on Tuesday.

After being diagnosed on April 24, 1985, González, then 5 years old, underwent intensive therapy. In time, his treatment was slowed down, but a cure seemed impossible.

Then Sister Giorgina, an Italian Bethlemite nun, gave the child a relic of Brother Pedro.

"I had severe pains that were terrible, as I was lying down," González recalled. "I would take the relic and rub it [on my abdomen] and the pain would go away."

On April 25, 1985, González's family had begun a novena, praying to God for the child's health through Blessed Pedro's intercession.

The novena was made public and a pilgrimage was organized to the cave in Tenerife where Brother Pedro used to pray as a child.

"After a period of medication, the doctors were going to operate on me to see if I had improved a bit," González continued.

To the doctors' great surprise, they discovered that "everything was clean," he said -- as if the cancer "had been erased."

Asked about his current state of health, González replied: "I go to the doctor's once a year, but only to visit him."

More than 15 years since the miracle, González is very conscious of his debt to Brother Pedro. "He is something very great, because the miracle was wrought in me," he said. "I am very proud of this. He is the greatest for me."

Asked about the canonization, González replied: "It was high time."

During the ceremony, which will be held in the Southern Racetrack, González will be seated close to the Pope, and he and his family will be able to receive Communion from the Holy Father.

Today, Adalberto González leads a quiet life in Vilaflor de Chasma.

"I have finished studying electronic engineering and I am now working in a water bottling factory," he said. He also has a fiancée.

With tears in her eyes, María del Carmen Hernández, Adalberto's mother, expressed what the miracle meant to her.

"No matter how much they love their children, parents do not realize what they have until they see them as we saw him, so sick," she said.

"We began to pray and to ask Brother Pedro to intercede before the Lord. And so, little by little, he began to improve," the mother said.

"It is wonderful to be here where [Brother Pedro] did all his work -- a universal saint, whom we must imitate, in his love for his neighbor, in charity, and in seeing Christ in one's neighbor," she stressed.