When Michelle Schachle went for a routine ultrasound on December 31, 2014, she and her husband Daniel learned their unborn son might have Down syndrome. The couple, who already had 12 children, saw it as a blessing for their family because they believed Down syndrome children give love and receive love in a special way.
Pictured: THE MIRACLE OF LIFE—Daniel and Michelle Schachle and their five-year old son Michael McGivney Schachle
In February, the couple from Dickson, Tennessee, returned for another ultrasound to learn that their unborn son was afflicted with a narrowing of the aorta and a fatal condition known as fetal hydrops, when excessive fluid causes swelling in the organs and tissues.
“The doctor sat us down and showed us the diagnosis and said there was zero hope of him surviving,” they later recalled. “There really was no hope for him.” Their doctor also warned them that the condition could possibly lead to additional complications Answered prayers and miracles for the mother, so the hospital recommended an abortion.
“I was terrified of having a stillbirth; I would get sick and have 12 other children to take care of,” Michelle said. “I did struggle with having a baby die inside of you. I was very afraid.”
But the Schachles decided to take another path. They went home and told their family members, friends, home school community, and everyone who worked with Daniel, who is a general agent for the Knights of Columbus insurance program, urging them to pray to Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights. Father McGivney, whose cause for sainthood was before the Vatican, had been declared “Venerable Servant of God” on March 15, 2008, by Pope Benedict XVI who said his life displayed evidence of “heroic virtue.”
The Schachles, who have a devotion to Father McGivney, had prayed for his canonization. Now, they sought his intercession. They needed a miracle for their 13th child … so they prayed to the priest who was the eldest of 13 children born of Irish immigrants Patrick and Mary McGivney on August 12, 1852 in Waterbury.
To be declared “Blessed,” which is an intermediate step before canonization and a full declaration of sainthood, Father McGivney needed a miracle attributed to his intercession. At that time, the couple made the decision that if their son lived, they would name him Michael McGivney Schachle.
Answered prayers over the years
Brian Caulfield of Wallingford has been vice postulator for Father McGivney’s cause for sainthood since January 2012, and during that time he has examined hundreds of cases in which the founder of the Knights touched people’s lives. Since Father McGivney’s cause for sainthood began in 1997, Caulfield estimates there have been more than 1500 favors granted to individuals who prayed for his intercession—an alcoholic enters recovery, a marriage that seemed destined for divorce is saved, a woman whose cancer was considered terminal goes into remission, a man who was unemployed for years finds work.
After reviewing the reports of answered prayers from the last decade, Caulfield says there are four categories that predominate: recovery from addictions, family reconciliations, employment and a return to the Church.
“These are four things that were so important to him while he was a priest on Earth,” Caulfield says. “We can believe that Father McGivney is answering the prayers of the faithful.”
Many cases involve what he calls “moral miracles” in which a person’s moral, psychological or spiritual lifestyle is significantly changed. The accounts are recorded on the website of the Father McGivney Guild, which has more than 170,000 members and oversees the cause for canonization.
“Father McGivney was at a stage of the canonization process in which a miracle attributed to his intercession was needed for him to be beatified, and another one is needed to be canonized a saint,” Caulfield said. “The Vatican has very high standards for declaring some events miraculous and others not. What the Vatican is looking for in most cases is a physical healing that cannot be explained by medical science.” He stresses that only God can perform a miracle, which is described as a suspension of the created natural order.
As part of the process, a proposed miracle is brought to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which “considers almost exclusively extraordinary physical healings and recoveries since those incidents usually have verifiable facts such as medical tests and records as well as objective and widely accepted measurements for diagnosing a serious condition and declaring a person healed,” Caulfield said.
In addition, there must be evidence that people prayed exclusively to Father McGivney, although additional prayers to the Blessed Mother are allowed.
“If there is a general sense that there is no apparent medical explanation for the healing and that Father McGivney was exclusively invoked, then the evidence will go to the cause’s postulator in Rome,” he said. If the case is strong, a diocesan tribunal is formed where the miracle occurred to gather testimony and documentation before deciding whether to refer the case to the Vatican, whose experts review the material and then determine whether to send it to a board of cardinals and the Pope for final approval. Two possible miracles that had been investigated by the Vatican were not approved.
The process is long and meticulous, Caulfield says, because “the Church does not want to declare any event miraculous that may later be called into question.”
A miracle for an unborn child
In March 2015, Daniel and Michelle went on a pilgrimage with members of the Knights of Columbus to Europe. The group visited Rome, Lourdes and Fatima, praying the rosary daily with other Knights and Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson.
During the Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, the Gospel reading from St. John told of the Roman official who came to Jesus and asked him to cure his child who was dying, Caulfield said.
“And the second they heard the words of Jesus, ‘Go, your son will live,’ Michelle felt as if a veil had been lifted,” he said. “She felt something had changed inside of her. After they returned home, she went for an ultrasound, and when the doctor walked in and saw the ultrasound, she said, ‘It looks like a very beautiful baby. You should be proud.’”
When the parents asked about the fetal hydrops, the doctor called a colleague to look, but neither of them could detect any fluid buildup.
“This is the miracle we’ve been praying for,” Michelle said.
Michael McGivney Schachle was born more than two months premature on May 15, 2015 and weighed only three pounds. He had surgery for his heart condition and stayed in the hospital 71 days. Six months later, he was hospitalized with a respiratory illness and almost died.
Now 5 years old, Mickey, as his family calls him, is homeschooled and loved by his parents and 12 siblings.
Approving a miracle
When Brian Caulfield contacted the family and was able to examine the medical records, one thing stood out: “There was absolutely no medical intervention. Both doctors had said regretfully that this child will die and presented abortion as a merciful thing.”
The first time Caulfield met the Schachles, he said to them: “We know you prayed and the child was healed, but he was only healed of the fetal hydrops. What would you say if someone asked you why wasn’t he healed of the other two conditions?”
Daniel and Michelle looked at him in disbelief, Caulfield recalls, and said, “We never prayed that the Down syndrome or the heart would be healed because they weren’t fatal.”
“That is faith,” Caulfield said. “They were willing to accept a Down syndrome child as a blessing. So many of these children are aborted because, unfortunately, they are not welcome. I hope this can be a great example for the Down syndrome child that a family would sacrifice anything to keep him.”
For nine years, Caulfield has been vice postulator for Father McGivney’s cause. At least once a week, he visits his tomb at the Church of St. Mary in New Haven and sees people praying there.
“In my own life, I have come to see him as a real friend, one who walks with me,” he says. “It is a great honor to be involved in this kind of proceeding. It strengthened my faith to see that miracles really do happen. People are looking for miracles in their lives to rise above their daily troubles and tribulations, and this is a beacon of hope for them. The Schachle family are people of such strong faith. With 13 children, there can be a lot of messiness in life, but Daniel and Michelle are two people in love who staked their lives on their faith, and I hope they will become a source of inspiration for families wherever the Knights of Columbus are known.”
(For more information about Father McGivney or to become a member of the Guild, which is free, go to fathermcgivney.org )
