Rosemary Campbell

Rosemary and Beth’s St. Philomena Story Beth was born on the 15 Dec 1993. She was a bit reluctant to come into the world and decided to arrive 10 days late. She was the most perfect baby I have ever seen and was so good that she even slept the whole night the day she was born. I said to my mum that I thought that she was too perfect and never a truer word was spoken.

The first 14 weeks of Beth’s life were absolutely perfect and she was just my little angel. Beth has two big sisters Karen and Fiona who absolutely adore her.

At 15 weeks old Beth received her second round of injections on the Tuesday, she seemed to be fine but on the Wednesday night she was very sick and had a pin prick rash all over her. I put this down to a reaction to the jag but the next day her big sister Karen noticed that she had what looked like bruises all over her. I immediately phoned the doctor who arrived within minutes. Meningitis was diagnosed and we were rushed into hospital rushing through every red traffic light. When we reached the hospital a nurse grabbed Beth out of my arms and ran with her. I was in a daze and didn’t realise how sick my baby was. I was taken into the intensive care unit where a doctor and nurse came to tell me that Beth was dangerously ill and that it was possible that she might not survive.

They took me to see her and I didn’t recognise my little girl. She had monitors attached to every part of her body and the bruise like rash was now very dark and her fingers and toes looked like pieces of charcoal. The dark rash was now up the whole length of her right leg and there were large blisters all over her. I learned that this was septicaemia and if she did survive there would have to be a degree of amputations, but this was way down at the end of the line.

Beth’s life functions had completely closed down and she was on full life support. Once Beth’s dad arrived the doctors came to see us and told us that her blood pressure had fallen so low that there would be massive brain damage and that they recommended that we turn off the machines in half an hour. Initially we were praying for God to make her survive and then we started to question if we were being fair to Beth. We then prayed for her to survive if she was going to have some quality of life and arranged for the hospital chaplain to give her the sacrament of the sick and she was also confirmed. At this time I telephoned the family and my Parish Priest to ask them to pray for Beth.

Unbeknown to me, my dad and my aunt Grace started praying to St Philomena. (Both had a great devotion to Her since they were children) .

Thanks to one doctor who refused to give up on Beth she is with us today but he did tell us that the road ahead of us was not going to be easy. We didn’t ask for easy we only asked that she survive. Beth was in intensive care for two weeks and slowly regained each life function. She was taken for a brain scan and we were told that the damage was excessive and only by living day to day would we find out what her capabilities would be.

She was then taken up to a ward as the wounds that she had from the septicaemia were so bad that they had to be treated as burns. She had all of the fingers on her right hand amputated, some of the tips of the fingers on her left hand and part of her foot and toes on her right foot. She also had to have skin grafts on her right leg. Altogether Beth was in hospital for 4 months. When we got her home the hard work really started. She cried constantly and hardly ever slept. I remember walking the floor with her at night and shouting at God because she wouldn’t stop crying. There were times when I cried along with her and this was like a release valve. I remember one of the nurses in the hospital asking me if this ever made me doubt my faith. I didn’t have to think about the answer at all because I would say, if anything it made my faith stronger. After all we were told that our little girl was going to die and only through all the prayers which were sent her way did she survive. We had to see lots of different doctors and therapists. She had to have loads of different tests as meningitis is known to affect the eyes and the ears. After seeing various doctors Beth was diagnosed as having very severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and was also registered blind. Her circulation is also affected and she cannot tolerate the cold for very long.

Fast forward to December 1999 when I met Marie Burns through a group for families with children with special needs. Marie gave me a Christmas card with a relic medal of St Philomena for Beth. I didn’t know anything about St Philomena at this time and I telephoned my dad who told me that he had a great devotion to St Philomena and had been praying to her for Beth all these years. My dad told me that he had a cure with a St Philomena cord when he was 3 years old. He had pneumonia and the doctors couldn’t get his temperature down, so my gran tied a St Philomena cord around him and his fever broke immediately.

I went to the first Mass Marie organised which was on 10 January 2000 and had a very specific thing to pray for. This prayer was answered on 11 January 2000 and I called to let Marie know. That was the beginning of our venture together in trying to promote St Philomena and her works to as many people as possible and thus began “The Family of St Philomena”.

In April 2000 Beth had to go into hospital to have her right leg amputated due to complications arising from the meningitis. I was very afraid for her at this time and Marie suggested that I pay a visit to St Philomena’s Shrine in Italy. We went in March 2000 and it was one of the most emotional times of my life. I literally sat in front of the Shrine for a week, only venturing out to get some heat. The Sanctuary was only at the beginning of the restoration works at this time and was freezing cold, it was warmer outside than inside.

At the end of the week I was at peace with the thought of Beth having the surgery and knew that she would be well looked after.

Before Marie and I left the Shrine Fr Braschi said the most beautiful Mass for Beth in front of St Philomena’s Shrine and we were joined by some of the parishioners of Mugnano del Cardinale. Fr Braschi told them about Beth and what she was about to go through and they were all very supportive telling me to be strong and hugging me, I don’t think I stopped crying until I got on the plane to go home.

Marie and I then started organising Masses in our local church and pilgrimages to the Shrine.

This involved a lot of hard work and Fr Braschi then asked me if I could design a calendar to be distributed worldwide.

I designed the calendar for the years 2003 to 2005 and also designed perpetual mass cards along with many other prayer cards and leaflets. I also redesigned the book about the cord which is used to this day.

In 2005 Fr Braschi asked me to take over the running of the whole of Scotland for the Saint Philomena and of course I accepted.

Since St Philomena came into my life she has made me work constantly on her behalf and has been a constant part of my family’s lives. .

I turn to her on a daily basis and feel confident that she will always help me through the worst and best times.

Beth was 16 on Dec 15 2009 and I can’t believe that so many years ago we were told that she had only half an hour to live.

She has been through many painful periods in her life, the most recent being two years ago when she had to be fitted with a gastrostomy feeding tube as she stopped eating, but she always comes through smiling at the other end.

Here is a poem I wrote about Beth a long time ago.

My Little Angel

A perfect little baby

Was called by God one day

To change the lives of many In a very special way

Your little limbs will be impaired

And your progress will be slow

But your halo of golden curls

Will turn heads where ever you go

The colour of the rainbows hue

Will be hidden from your eyes so blue

And pain will sometimes take it’s toll

And cause you to cry from your very soul

But when the breeze blows through your hair

Your laughter will fill the summer air

And much pleasure you will also gain

From the sound of music the wind and the rain

Your mum and dad will be put to the test

And they will not get very much rest

But love and faith will reap rewards In many different ways

And you will be very special

Until the end of your days.

R Campbell



Beth Receiving a Special Personal Blessing from Arch Bishop Beniamino Depalma, Bishop of Nola, (for the diocese of the Sanctuary of St Philomena)

Margaret Thomson

I have been a devoted follower of Saint Philomena since my childhood days when my primary school teacher told us stories about the saints, particularly stories of those who became saints at a very young age.

Throughout my life, I have made novenas to Saint Philomena for various reasons and, I have to say, my requests were always granted. Sometimes I had to wait for longer than I would have liked, but my prayers were always answered.

I started to attend the Masses in honour of Saint Philomena in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Glasgow and also the Masses at Carfin Grotto around 12 years ago. It was wonderful to see that this little Saint was being recognised and honoured again after the suppression in 1961 over the Liturgical Calendar, many quiet years had passed for Saint Philomena. It was also great to be with so many people who had a similar devotion to Saint Philomena and who wished to make her known again to everyone and to receive all those blessings from her Relic and from her Holy Oil.

I was honoured and I should say, lucky enough, to go on Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena in Mugnano del Cardinale on 3 occasions – 2003, 2005 and 2007. It was a wonderful experience and I feel blessed to have been there and to have received so much grace and fulfillment through sitting in the church and speaking to and praying to Saint Philomena.

I have also been a member of the Universal Living Rosary Association for approximately 15 years and I say my assigned decade – the Crucifixion – every day in honour of Saint Philomena. I love to volunteer with our St. Philomena Scottish Centre is truly is being part of a family.

Fr Anthony Gallagher – Assistant Spiritual Director for Scotland and the UK
St Catherine Laboure
90 Lamont Road
Glasgow
G21 399

Tel: 0141 558 6723

Carfin Lourdes Grotto
St. Philomena Shrine within the Grotto
Taylor Avenue, Carfin, Motherwell, ML1 5AJ
Tel: 01698 263308
Fax: 01698 268941
Email: info@carfin.org.uk