The miracle pills of Friar Galvao, Brazil's soon to be saint

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

SAO PAULO (AFP) — Day after day, cloistered Catholic nuns at a Sao Paulo monastery roll up thousands of tiny prayer scrolls credited with the miraculous powers of an 18th-century monk the pope will elevate to sainthood in this Brazilian city on Friday.

Outside the Monastery of Light, supplicants line up under a scorching sun convinced the "Galvao pills" will cure them of disease, infertility or abject poverty.

"My six-year-old girl suffers from leukemia, but I'm sure the pills of Friar Galvao, our saint, will cure her," said Conceicao Antunes.

Like many others, Antunes, a 35-year-old domestic worker, has spent hours waiting for her turn to receive her snippet of printed rice paper.

Next in line, is Henrique da Silva, a seemingly well-off 18-year-old,...