Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, thus paving the way for her canonization on Dec. 17. The postulator for her sainthood cause, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, said the second miracle that was approved involved the healing of a now 42-year-old mechanical engineer in Santos, Brazil. Doctors diagnosed the man with a viral brain infection that resulted in multiple brain abscesses. Treatments given were ineffective and the man went into a coma, the postulator wrote. The then-newly married man’s wife had spent months praying to Blessed Teresa, and her prayers were joined by those of her relatives and friends when her dying husband was taken to the operating room on Dec. 9, 2008. When the surgeon entered the operating room, he reported that he found the patient awake, free of pain and asking, “What am I doing here?” Doctors reported the man showed no more symptoms and a Vatican medical commission voted unanimously in September 2015 that the healing was inexplicable.

This article appears in January 4-11 2016.