The Healing Journey

June 21, 2025

Silvana and Franco’s 7-year-old son Mauricio died from a neuromuscular disorder. It had been a painful journey for the family since the time he was born, and during the years of anxiety and disappointment, when they tried to find a cure. For the next 40 years after his passing, they had a small shrine to him with his picture, a votive candle, and rosary beads in their home. Throughout those years, his mother prayed for him to intercede for them, to watch over their family, including his two sisters whom he had never met, and his five nephews. And whenever she had a need, she turned to him and was confident that he prayed for their family in Heaven.

Then, one of his nephews left to study in Milan, and Silvana asked Mauricio to watch over the boy. To pray for his well-being and spiritual protection as he set out to study at the university. And to pray that he didn’t stop going to Mass.

Shortly after the boy arrived in the city, he called his grandmother and told her that his apartment was only five minutes from a beautiful church, and she was so pleased to hear he would be going to Mass.

He was so excited that he FaceTimed Silvana to show her the magnificent church. He even took her on a virtual tour.

She asked, “What’s the name of the church?” The boy didn’t hear her, and she asked again. “I don’t know,” he finally responded. Then, he asked a passing stranger, who told him, “It is San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore.” The boy spoke Italian and realized immediately it was the “Church of San Mauricio,” also known as the “Sistine Chapel of Milan.”
©J Pisani

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