Miraculous healing of the "Madonna dello Scoglio"

The testimonies of thanks for the intercession of the Madonna dello Scoglio and for the prayers of Brother Cosimo are thousands, seriously documented and archived by the Foundation. One of the best known is the following.

Rita Tassone was born in 1946, is the mother of 4 children and lives in the Calabrian mountains, not far as the crow flies from the rock.

At the age of thirty, Rita is gradually reduced to immobility by typhoid osteomyelitis with bone sarcoma. Science cannot do anything, only its great faith sustains it. Morphine is required to relieve excruciating pain. After years of slow ordeal, finally in 1981 her husband learned of the countless graces and healings that take place at the Rock. Hope rekindles in him, so he brings a photograph of his wife to Brother Cosimo. He replies that man's hand cannot do anything, only a miracle is needed, and he specifies: "If you have a grain of faith, it will heal."

Since then Michele never misses the appointment on Wednesday and Saturday, for the prayer animated by Brother Cosimo and his community, until in 1982 he decides to also take his wife on a wheelchair, despite the suffering that the journey causes her. Years go by and the situation does not change. Michele, marked by the trial, begins a relationship with another woman and thinks about the divorce, but when he returns to Fratel Cosimo and asks him for a blessing, he denies it: «You don't deserve any blessings - he replies - this woman sent it to you satan and you must leave her. If you don't, it will ruin you and your family. Your poor wife will suffer especially the consequences. And all these years in which you came to the Rock will not help you: it won't heal. "

Then Michele, taking courage, breaks the relationship and between innumerable obstacles, sufferings and difficulties, every week leads Rita to the Rock. The woman is so serious that her death is feared, but Brother Cosimo warns her: «Jesus wants your recovery so that many hardened hearts return to him. If you accept, there will be a great struggle between Jesus and satan, even if we will win in the end. Satan will combine you with all the colors. Pray and have faith ».

From that moment the devil is unleashed.

On August 8, 1988 Rita is very ill, she no longer eats and asks to go to the rock, because she feels called by the Madonna. Her husband initially refuses, but on August 13 agrees. The journey is hellish and the excruciating pain. Several times Michele is tempted to bring her back.

Upon reaching the rock, Rita says she sees the Virgin Mary. Brother Cosimo confirms his presence and asks the sick woman: "With what intention did you come tonight?" and she replies: "If it is possible to return home with my feet."

"And do you think Jesus can do this?" goes on. "Yes, only Jesus can do this," says Rita convinced.

«We test your faith. If your faith is strong, as you say, Jesus will answer you tonight ».

After these words, Brother Cosimo prays on her and says to her: «At this moment it is not I who speak to you, but it is Jesus who repeats the same words to you that he said to the paralytic in Galilee: Get up and walk!».

Rita then, relieved of a mysterious force, starts walking. Her husband wants to help her, because she hasn't moved in 13 years and has atrophied muscles. He fears that it will fall, but Brother Cosimo intervenes: "Do not touch it, let Jesus do his work".

Rita goes down the steps, puts her hands on the Apparition Rock and prays. Then go up the staircase, enter the chapel and stop in prayer in front of the painting of the Virgin Mary. Only when the ecstasy ends does the woman notice the miracle.

The news spread quickly and healing was certified by his attending physician. Today Rita, together with her husband, is a volunteer from the Scoglio. Michele recalls that it took many years of faith, suffering and prayers to tear the miracle, and he urges pilgrims to combine faith with perseverance: "Many come here only once - he says - thinking of going home healed, and sometimes it happens, but it is not always the case. Our faith was put to the test for years, before the Lord granted us grace. "