Deepertruth: Little Nellie - “The Little Violet of the Blessed Sacrament.”

The Reverend Dr. Scannell will now tell us what took place at tne exhumation:

"There were present a priest (this was Fr. Scannell himself), the Nurse, and two other reliable witnesses. To the great astonishment of all, for it must be borne in mind that the child had died of phthisis (a wasting or consumption of the tissue; usually, pulmonary tuberculosis) the body was found. intact, except for a small cavity in the right jaw which corresponded to the bone that had been destroyed by caries whilst the little one was still alive. The fingers were quite flexible and the hair had grown a little. The dress, the wreath and veil of First Communion, with which she had been buried as she desired, were still intact. The silver medal of the saintly child of Mary was bright as if it had been recently polished; everything, in fact, was found to be exactly as on the day of Nellie's death."

The permission of the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, having been obtained, the body was transferred from the public cemetery to that of the Good Shepherd Convent, where it was piously laid on the 8th of September, 1909.

Father Scannell finishes his report "The new grave is visited by groups of pious persons who ask that little Nellie may plead for them before the throne of the All-powerful God. The blind, the deaf, the lame, those in suffering or in sorrow, seek health and comfort at this peaceful holy shrine."

And those seeking the intercession of “Little Nellie” have not sought her help in vain as countless miracles have been wrought through her heavenly intercession in the 100 years since her death, and good number of these testimonies have been kept by the Good Shepherd Sisters as a living witness to her care and concern for those who pray for her help.