About five months ago, Giovanni Minguez of West New York, a devout Catholic and church volunteer, was opening St. Joseph’s of the Palisades to prepare for an early morning breakfast celebrating the Feast of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, the patron mother of Mexico.
Minguez then became a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as he was stabbed nine times in the back and left in front of the steps of the church.
This story first appeared in the December 14, 2003 issue of the West New York Reporter.
Minguez was rushed to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, where he was placed in stable condition. After a short duration at the hospital, Minguez was released and began his speedy route to recovery.
Recuperating
“It struck the membrane between the ribs and the lungs, but it didn’t hit anything crucial,” said Minquez, 40, last week. “I was in the hospital for a couple of days, and about two months later they told me I could go back to work.”
In the few days he was at the hospital, he received many visitors and much support from family and friends. “I had support, but I didn’t know I was going to have a lot,” said Minguez. “I was extremely happy because support is what you need mostly. The hospital was full of people back and forth.”
Continuing with regular doctors’ visits for check ups and removal of stitches, everything seemed to indicate that Minguez had been very fortunate to not have suffered more severe or permanent injury. However, Minguez, and his family and friends believe that there was a greater power on his side that day, as an unexplainable phenomenon revealed itself to them which they could only describe as miraculous.
Unexplainable phenomenon
“That night I had a piece of paper in my pant pocket that caught my blood,” said Minguez, who wasn’t even aware he had this paper and only realized it after some of his belongings were returned to him after the attack. “My family discovered that I had this paper and that my blood had mysteriously formed into a cross.”
Automatically, family, friends, and people of the church were saying it had to be a miracle, a sign from God himself.
“It was a miracle,” said Ofelia Estrella of West New York, Minguez’s mother. “It was a sign from God saying that he was here and he will always be here.”
The mysterious shape of the blood soaked well through the paper to the other side, maintaining the same shape. Minguez had the piece of paper laminated in order to preserve the image, and keep it as a reminder of his ever constant faith.
“It just confirms that all my life work in the church really pays off,” said Minguez. “He presented his signal.”
Mysteriously, once again, a week after finding the image, family friends came to visit Minguez at his home while he was recovering. Being of strong faith themselves, they believed that God and the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe saved his life that day, so they brought him a rosary with an image of the patron mother. Minguez and his family immediately compared the crucifix of the rosary to the image on the paper. In their eyes, it was a perfect match, and yet another sign of God’s presence.
“The rosary’s similarity to the impression was a complete coincidence because the couple already had the rosary before they saw the paper,” said Minguez. “I did believe it at first, but I was shocked at the same time.”
These days, Minguez has returned to his normal life working as a computer operator for the Hudson County Welfare Department, and continuing his volunteer work at St. Joseph’s of the Palisades. Minguez has been involved with the church since he was a young child when he used to be an altar server, and now plays music for the regular masses. He continues stronger than ever in his faith and thanks God for his blessings.
“I’ve always been a believer and I just continue stronger that’s all,” said Minguez. “Everything in my life is fine with me now, thank God.”
Minguez will continue to show the mysterious image to anyone who wishes to see it.