‘There has to be some miracle intervention’ after relic blessing

Lisa (37), originally from Drimnagh, was due on January 19. There had been difficulty with the water for one of the twins and she was experiencing bleeding. Once she hit the 24 week mark, she was admitted to St Monica’s Ward.

Two other mothers in the ward at the time, Rebecca Burke from Crumlin and Lucia Kilmartin from Mullingar, also gave birth later that day or the next morning after their relic blessing.

“The whole thing is just crazy,” said Simon McLean, Lisa’s husband.

It was Simon’s idea to contact Mr Wynne, whom he recognised through playing for football club Tallaght City.

However, he didn’t initially contact Jimmy for his wife but for his father-in-law, who had been moved from Beaumont to St James’s after an operation.

“Lisa’s father Aiden Ellis had fallen on October 17, banged his head and needed a brain operation,” said Simon (40), a Clondalkin resident.

“I was telling one of the lads at the club what we were going through and they said go online. On a WhatsApp group, one of the lads said ‘Jimmy has been up to his oul tricks again’ so I got in touch with him. I knew him from refereeing and cutting the grass. I grew up in Tallaght.

“As soon as I rang, there was a real urgency. I thought it would be a week before I’d hear back from him but he said he would go down to St James’s straight away.”

Blessed all three women in the ward

Jimmy ended up visiting the Coombe first on his way to James’s, after discovering what Simon’s wife was going through, and subsequently blessed all three women in the ward.

Simon continued: “Doctors told us if the twins do make it, there would be serious complications so I asked would he mind blessing them. I then had to call her and say there was a mad yoke coming in!

“Afterwards, Lisa told me she could feel them coming, and that night they were born.”

Lisa and Simon’s son Frankie did not arrive unscathed, and is currently being peg-fed, suffering from reflux problems, but his twin Pippa is healthy.

Sadly, Lisa’s father Aiden passed away from his injuries.

“The whole thing is just mad – when he was there, whatever happened, it [the relic] just needed to get the kids out now,” said Simon.

“Frankie was in an awful state, had chronic lung disease, but they brought him around. He has only been home eight weeks in ten months. We are trying to give him food at the moment. You can’t compare him to Pippa but the two kids are ok thank God, bar the eating.”

The couple have another child Madison (3), and are looking forward to raising a bigger family after facing their recent obstacles with a little faith.

Neither Lisa or Simon claim to be overly religious, but Simon feels there “had to be some spiritual intervention.”

Lisa said: “I was in the labour ward and a nurse said ‘one of your friends has followed you’ and then it happened again the next morning. It’s a mad story.”

A mad story but one Jimmy Wynne takes in his stride, telling The Echo it is about the family and nothing to do with him.

Jimmy was given the Padre Pio relic by his sister Elaine Quinn, a curer for nearly 40 years, and says it was presented with a piece of the Italian monk’s cloak soaked with his blood.

Two years ago, he treated a young student from Palmerstown who lost her voice, and has offered to help out where he can for over ten years.

“I can’t explain how the relic works, but I think it’s the energy between the relic and a person’s belief and their response to it,” he said.

After a skeptical start, the belief is now strong for Simon, who received a blessing from Jimmy at the Coombe.

“I closed my eyes, saw darkness, then a white cross. I’m not a holy Joe, I don’t go to Mass but this has restored my faith if I ever had one.”