Birth and maternity

Postpartum in a Miracle Account

Postpartum here designates suffering or a complication explicitly situated after birth, and not the labor of childbirth itself. The currently classified corpus contains only one example, associated with Saint Bridget of Sweden. The page must assume this singularity: it documents a precise motif without claiming to represent all traditions related to motherhood. The account attributes a recovery to a religious intervention and takes place in a biography where Bridget's maternal experience is important. Its interest lies in the way a hagiographic source brings a postnatal bodily ordeal into a saint's journey. This testimony must be read with its vocabulary, date, and level of tradition. It allows for no medical conclusion and obviously replaces neither the evaluation nor the care necessary after childbirth.

This motif is sparsely represented in the Sancteo corpus.

Accounts
6
Saints
6
Period
14th century – 20th century
A mother rests after a birth in a calm ancient room.
A mother rests after a birth in a calm ancient room.

Definition

Understanding this type of miracle

Postpartum here designates suffering or a complication explicitly situated after birth, and not the labor of childbirth itself.

Forms included from the sources

  • suffering explicitly posterior to birth

Not to be confused with…

  • labor and childbirth in progress

Documented examples

Major figures

Explore all accounts
  1. Saint Bridget of Sweden (Widow) 14th century · 1 account
    « Instantaneous healing after childbirth by the touch of the Virgin »

Classified sources

Accounts in the corpus

6 results

Healing
Postpartum healing through intercession
After childbirth
« Instantaneous healing after childbirth through the touch of the Virgin »
Saint Bridget of Sweden (Widow)·14th centuryToposCertainty: Hagiographic topos
Healing
Guérison d'une éclampsie post-partum à Turin
After childbirth
« Guérison de Maria Stella Ingianni (épouse Vottero) d'une grave éclampsie post-partum et d'un coma profond en 1932 à Turin »
Marcantonio Durando·Turin·19th centuryCanonizationCertainty: Recognized in canonization
Healing
Guérison d'une hémorragie post-partum
BleedingAfter childbirth
« Guérison de Cláudia Cristiane Santos Araújo d'une hémorragie post-partum massive et incontrôlable en 2001 »
Dulce Lopes Pontes·20th centuryCanonizationCertainty: Recognized in canonization
Healing
Guérison d'une hémorragie post-partum
BleedingAfter childbirth
« La guérison inexpliquée d'une femme victime d'une grave hémorragie post-partum »
Odette Vidal de Oliveira·20th centuryTraditionCertainty: Tradition
Healing
Guérison de Begoña León Alonso
PregnancyAfter childbirth
« Guérison extraordinaire de Begoña León Alonso atteinte du syndrome de HELLP »
Rafael Arnáiz Barón·20th centuryCanonizationCertainty: Recognized in canonization
Healing
Guérison de Cecilia Maribel Flores de Rivas
ChildbirthAfter childbirth
« {'description': 'Guérison jugée scientifiquement inexplicable de Cecilia Maribel Flores de Rivas, Salvadorienne gravement malade après son accouchement en 2015, reconnue par décret du 6 mars 2018 et retenue pour la canonisation.', 'source': 'https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/03/12/romeros-miracle-canonization-healing-woman-life-threatening-condition/'} »
Óscar Romero·20th centuryCanonizationCertainty: Recognized in canonization

Editorial transparency

Method and sources

Sancteo presents these accounts as hagiographic and historical traditions, without ruling on their origin or making medical or spiritual promises.

Volumes are calculated from technically validated classifications in the canonical database. Each figure above has a quotation directly linked to this theme. Last recalculated: .

Editorial responsibility: Sancteo · Corpus source: Les Petits Bollandistes and documented enrichments. Version: miracle-topic-editorial-en-v1.