(serie 50 por 50) Retired nurse Peggy Salzano believes in the healing power of prayer. She also strongly believes that the Green Scapular offers unique comfort and healing. She has distributed thousands of them to friends, family, and complete strangers over the years and has chronicled hundreds of cases of what she describes as miraculous recoveries. She started buying them from the Marion Center at the Saint Joseph’s Provincial House in Emmitsburg, MD and now orders them from the Seton Shrine gift shop in bulk.
“I always kept scapulars at my desk at work and gave them out. People that I had given them to would come back and tell me of miracles that have occurred and then ask me for more for friends or relatives,” said Peggy Salzano. “I am in awe of the wonderful things that occur as the result of someone receiving the scapular and I continually pray to the ‘Green Lady’ as I have come to call her.”
The Green Scapular’s history is entwined with the Daughters of Charity. Ten years after the manifestation of the Miraculous Medal to Sister Catherine Labouré in 1830, the Blessed Mother entrusted the Green Scapular of the Immaculate Heart to Sister Justine Bisqueyburu.
The Green Scapular was given to the Daughter of Charity with the assurance that it would contribute to the conversion of souls. As such, it symbolizes the call to conversion that Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton felt in her life and which Christ continues to extend to us
all. The congregation of Sisters founded by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809 joined with the Daughters of Charity of France in 1850. Their provincial house in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the current site of the Seton Shrine, became one of the very first places in the United States to serve as a distribution point for the Green Scapular. The prayer on the scapular reads, “Immaculate Heart of Mary Pray For Us Now And At The Hour of Our Death.”
Peggy Salzano’s experience with the Green Scapular extends over decades and she says she has seen countless examples of its healing power. Here are excerpts from the volumes of notes she has kept over the years.
- She gave a scapular to a Jewish man whose wife was critically ill. She had an aneurysm and had been in a coma for 56 days. He brought the scapular to his wife and Peggy said prayers for her. He called and said that within two hours of receiving the scapular, his wife had opened her eyes. The doctors called her their prize patient, and she returned home after undergoing rehabilitation and thanked Peggy for her prayers.
- A nurse whose son was diagnosed with colon cancer accepted a Green Scapular from Peggy. While praying to the Blessed Mother, she had a feeling of wellbeing. Her son had surgery and chemo and after a repeat colonoscopy no cancer was found.
- A manager at the hospital where Peggy worked asked for a green scapular for his wife who was scheduled for surgery. He reported that the planned surgical procedure was deemed unnecessary after more tests were conducted. The manager attributed the good news to the scapular and asked her for more of them to distribute to other family members.
- A friend told Peggy that her daughter was dying of congestive heart failure. She held the scapular that Peggy had given her seven years earlier and prayed. The friend believed the scapular gave her daughter the strength to make it through the night. The daughter was in terrible pain and was on morphine. Peggy says she prayed that the pain would be relieved and when she visited, her friend’s daughter said her pain was gone.
Peggy says she has witnessed the tremendous power of healing through the Green Scapulars. She continues to purchase them through the Seton Shrine’s gift shop and distribute them.
50 for 50 is a series of stories, quotes, clips, photos, and/or devotional statements from ordinary people to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton as the first native-born American saint.