His name is Hugo Schnell, he is 80 years old and he still runs his grocery store in the Guadalupe neighborhood. A few days ago, more precisely on the night of Wednesday, April 10, it was news when he received five stab wounds during an assault on his business. One of the blows pricked his heart. In his inner circle they prepared for the worst. To everyone’s surprise, within a week the man recovered. He left the Cullen Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, then went to a General Care room and today he is already at his house. Safe. A miracle?
At least for Schnell’s family it is considered that way, as the story of a miracle. One more from Mama Antula. The first since Pope Francis declared her the first Argentine saint last February. But why all this? It is only explained by a plan of faith.
The thing is that one of Schnell’s neighbors is Claudio Perusini, whose case of survival was attributed to a miracle by Mama Antula. This was determined by a special investigative commission of the Vatican in Santa Fe, which found no medical explanation for his recovery, after having suffered a heart attack that left him in a coma, with multiple organ failure. It was thanks to that fact that Pope Francis had in his hands the key and defining element to ratify that a miracle occurred, and thus consecrate Mama Antula as the first Argentine saint. The fact is that Perusini himself – who lives next to the grocery store – gave her a little card of Mama Antula for her protection. “I thanked her for her gesture and left her at my business,” says Schnell, upon receiving El Litoral in his simple, worker’s house, located a couple of blocks from the greengrocer.
Blessed María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, from Santiago, was an Argentine consecrated laywoman and founder of the House of Spiritual Exercises of Buenos Aires. Several miracles are attributed to her, one of which is that of Perusini, in Santa Fe. Since her consecration, there have been many who venerate her and ask her for help. The faithful come daily to pray to her in the Basilica of Guadalupe.
See alsoPope Francis made Mama Antula the first Argentine saint During the second half of April thousands of faithful Catholics came to the Basilica to ask or thank Mama Antula because her relics (a bone) were there. “The number of people who come is impressive,” says Father Olidio Panigo, spiritual leader of the Basilica. “Today I had to order more cards at Santería because we can’t keep up with the orders.”
Pope Francis declared Mama Antula a saint. Credit: El Litoral Archive. The little card that Perusini gave to Schnell was left on a wall of the grocery store located on General Paz Avenue at 7600. “The night they attacked my father, he was next to the little card,” says Patricia, the greengrocer’s daughter. She was the first to associate the presence of Mama Antula’s image in the business with the fate that would befall her father. “The morning the hospital called me, I didn’t want to answer the phone because I was expecting the worst,” she says. “That morning I had gone to pray to Mama Antula to intercede,” she continues her story. “And when I answered the phone full of fear I heard the doctor on the other end telling me that they had moved him to a common room and that he was recovering. I could not believe it. Then I said, ‘It was Mama Antula.'” For Patricia and her family a miracle had occurred. Without a doubt. “That’s why I now say that I am Mama Antula’s first miracle after she was declared a saint,” says Hugo, in the same sense as her daughter. “There is no other explanation for why she recovered so quickly and well from the attack.”
Patricia, Hugo’s daughter, is hugged by a neighbor at the door of the grocery store, after the event. Credit: Mauricio Garín -At what point did you associate your recovery with Mama Antula?
-When I woke up in Therapy, I was there alone for 24 hours, thinking. And then I remembered that before the attack I had lit a candle for Mama Antula. And I had no doubt that if I was there alive it was because of her – says Hugo, the greengrocer -. Because the ambulance arrived immediately. ‘This is code red, this is code red!’ was the last thing I heard as I traveled to the hospital.
Hugo had no faith, he did not believe in Mama Antula or in God. But he accepted the card that saved his life, he says now. Credit: Mauricio Garín “If he says it was a miracle, it must be so,” says Father Panigo, consulted by El Litoral on the matter. “These are personal issues and no one can deny it,” he adds. “Yes, for it to be considered a true miracle, it is necessary to carry out scientific research, as happened with Perusini,” he explains. “But it is, without a doubt, a manifestation of the work of God through a saint.”
See alsoHow was the miracle in Santa Fe for which the Pope consecrated Mama Antula, the first Argentine saint Schnell still has to visit the hospital several times for minor treatment. The doctors advised him to rest for a couple of months. But he can’t wait to get back to his business. Everyone asks him for patience and for him to continue following medical instructions.
Symbolic hug. It was carried out by Hugo’s neighbors and clients, after finding out about the attack. Credit: Danilo Chiapello Upon learning of the criminal attack, the neighbors who go every day to buy fruits and vegetables from Hugo embraced the store and made themselves available to the family. He wants to thank you for that gesture. Just like he plans to thank Mama Antula. “As soon as I can, I am going to travel to Santiago del Estero to thank him,” says the man who now confesses that before he had no faith. He had accepted the prayer card from Perusini but he did not believe. “My dad is not a man of faith,” says his daughter. “I accepted the card and had lit a candle for my wife to stop smoking,” confesses the greengrocer, “but I’m not one to go to Church and all that.” He also has the figure of Gauchito Gil hanging on the wall of the grocery store. “Now I have no choice but to believe,” he says, about the end of the talk. “When I told Perusini I couldn’t stop crying, she got emotional,” she adds and jokes: “I don’t know which of the two was more of a corpse.” A story of faith, a story to believe or burst.
