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POSTULATOR FOR CAUSE OF VENEZUELAN MYSTIC RECOUNTS PREVIOUSLY UNREPORTED CASE OF ALLEGED BILOCATION THAT LED TO RESCUE

A New Jersey priest spearheading the drive to canonize Venezuelan stigmatic and seer Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini of Caracas writes in a new book of an astonishing case of bilocation, the phenomenon in which a mystic is said to seem to be in two places at once and one reported around the great Italian mystic, Saint Padre Pio (whom Esperanza knew).

Hard-pressed to explain it, Padre Pio called it a "prolongation" of his personality. Saints such as Anthony of Padua and Alphonsus Liguori also reportedly experienced it. We ourselves have spoken to a witness of one Esperanza bilocation that occurred when Maria was suddenly said to to have appeared in a bedroom during a crisis moment. There are other cases.

Father Timothy E. Byerley, Ph.D., pastor of Mary Queen of All Saints Parish in Pennsauken and vice-postulator for the Beatification and Canonization of Esperanza (whose current status is "Servant of God"), says in the book, Maria Esperanza and the Grace of Betania: God's plan for healing the family and society in the third millennium, that the instance in question took place on August 9, 1990, when Esperanza was with her family in Rome.

"There, as was her custom, she was praying the Rosary in the middle of the night for needy souls," he writes, relating the mystic's own account of it. "Suddenly, at three a.m., during her prayer, Maria Esperanza began 'visiting some places,' to use her own words. It was 9 p.m. back home (in Venezuela).

"She found herself waking down Las Mercedes in Caracas. Its main avenue is a hot spot for young people, lined with bars, clubs, restaurants, and shops.

"She approached a blinking neon light and entered the building beneath the light.

"Then she realized she was in the vestibule of a discothèque. In the vestibule, she saw a young blond woman, very beautiful, and two young men. One was tanned, tall, and strong. The other was fair, thin, and blond.

"These young men were trying to pull the girl by the arm in a direction against her will. In other words they were trying to force her to come with them. They had evil intentions. The young woman was in extreme danger."

When Esperanza appeared, according to the account she gave, she instantly put herself between the two men and told the distraught woman, "Daughter, let's go."

The men, taken by surprise, released the woman -- thinking Esperanza was her mother -- and a taxi took her home.

Writes Father Byerley, "Some months later, on December 8, 1990, Maria Esperanza was in Betania [the site of Church-approved apparitions near Caracas] greeting pilgrims.

"From the midst of the crowd swarming around her, this same girl from Las Mercedes came forward with her mother and approached the Servant of God. She indicated to her mother that Maria Esperanza was the woman who rescued her on that fateful night the previous August.

"The young woman smiled at Maria Esperanza and said to her mother, 'Yes, she is the lady who helped me in Las Mercedes.' She drew close to Maria Esperanza and said, 'Dear lady, I will never forget you.' She was crying. Margarita Tarre who was listening to Maria Esperanza give this testimony that day at the house in Caracas retorted, 'You were in Rome at the time! So it was bilocation!'

"The Servant of God responded, 'This is one of the biggest miracles.'"

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