The second Vatican-authenticated miracle in allowing a nun to soon become St. Marianne Cope involves the healing of a New York woman who had an infection disease destroying her organs. 

Details on the purported miracle were revealed for the first time today by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Syracuse, N.Y. They say a bag of soil containing Marianne’s bone fragments from the Hawaii peninsula where leprosy patients were exiled was pinned to Sharon Smith’s hospital gown. 

They say she recovered after months of prayer to Marianne. 

Marianne cared for leprosy patients at the Kalaupapa settlement in the 1880s. She died in 1918. To achieve sainthood the Vatican needed to authenticate two miracles that were a result of her intercession. 

Canonization is expected next year.