Rhode Island celebrates Pope Leo declaration that baby's healing was a true miracle

(OSV News) -- Rhode Islanders are celebrating Pope Leo XIV's declaration that the healing of a baby born in their state back in 2007 was indeed miraculous, and advances the sainthood cause of a 19th-century Spanish priest.

Pope Leo XIV had promulgated the acceptance of the miracle for Venerable Salvador Valera Parra on June 20, with decrees for various other sainthood cause recognitions presented to the pope by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The dicastery's website specified that Father Valera's intercession had been attributed to the miraculous resuscitation of "little Tyquan," born critically ill Jan. 14, 2007, at the now-closed Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Catholic News Service in Rome had noted the U.S. connection in its June 20 story on the decrees. But local coverage of the miracle gained momentum July 18, following a GoLocalProv article published that day by religion writer Daniel J. Holmes.

Holmes cited a June 20 interview by Vida Nueva -- a Madrid-based Catholic news outlet -- with the attending physician at the infant's delivery, Dr. Juan Sánchez-Esteban, a native of Huércal-Overa, located in Spain's Diocese of Almería. Vida Nueva published the child's full name as Tyquan Hall.

Sánchez-Esteban told Vida Nueva the infant -- who according to the dicastery's website had been prematurely through induced labor and then Caesarean section due to a low fetal heart rate -- was barely breathing and after an hour of recovery efforts lacked a pulse.

In a July 18 statement posted on its Facebook page, the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, explained baby Tyquan had not drawn a breath or demonstrated a pulse "for 65 minutes despite life-saving measures."

Desperate, the Spanish doctor recalled a childhood prayer to Father Salvador Valera Parra, a diocesan priest born 1816 in Sánchez-Esteban's hometown. The dicastery noted on its website that Father Valera, who died in 1889, "distinguished himself for many works of a spiritual and social nature," especially during cholera outbreaks and earthquakes in his area of service.

Sánchez-Esteban told Vida Nueva that he said, "Father Valera, I have done everything possible; now it's your turn."

As the doctor headed to inform the parents of their child's death, a nurse advised that the child began breathing normally, with a restored heartbeat, according to Vida Nueva -- with the dicastery noting on its website the recovery took place "without any external intervention."

The dicastery webpage said Tyquan was then transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at the Women and Infants Hospital, and remained there "for 15 days with a diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy."

"Doctors were certain he would suffer serious developmental damage, such as cerebral palsy or intellectual disability," said the dicastery on its website. "However, despite his clinical symptoms, the child showed spontaneous activity."

On March 1, 2007, Tyquan was transferred to Hasbro Children's Hospital, having undergone a colectomy procedure, and then fully discharged on April 3, 2007.

"Subsequent checkups revealed psychomotor development that led him to speak at 18 months and walk at 2 years of age," said the dicastery. "Little Tyquan continued to grow like a normal child, leading a regular life and participating in sports."

The Providence Diocese's chancellor Father Timothy Reilly called the miracle "wonderful news" in a statement and said the diocese was "thrilled" the miracle would advance Father Valera's cause forward toward beatification and finally canonization, which would require a second verified miracle.

Father Reilly, who had assisted the Diocese of Almería in the 2014 investigation of Father Valera's sainthood cause according to the Providence Diocese, said the miracle "is a reminder of the power of prayer and the intercession of holy men and women. God is indeed close to us."