When Filomena learned about the arrest of Antonio in Paris she immediately went to his room and found the smallest piece of clothes that belonged to him. It happened to be an old pair of brief underpants. It was used to cover his sinful parts that got him in trouble, she thought, so it was appropriate. She knew she had to take the underpants to a Saint. But she was not very sure to what Saint. She decided to ask the priest.

Early next morning she left the house and walked about 3 blocks to find a Church. She could not find a priest at the altar so she looked at the confessionaries. Yes, there was a priest in one of the confessionals and she could see men’s shoes on the other side of it. She sat looking at the altar and she could see the crucified Christ on a cross. She offered 50 Hail Mary’s if she could find an answer to her question.

When the man kneeling at the confessional left, Filomena took his place. She heard the priest say something about her sins and she asked herself how the priest knew she was a woman if the person making the confession was supposed to be not known and not seen. But she proceeded to ask her question. She needed to know which Saint she had to touch with her grandson’s underpants so he would not only be released from his arrest but also from his sinful lusty nature.

The priest started to ask questions but Filomena, not sure if the priest could see her or not, assured him that that was everything he needed to know. The priest then told her to take the garment to Saint Rita, the Saint of the Impossible. Filomena was uncertain because she did not think that a woman should be involved in this miracle. However the priest told her he was almost sure that Saint Rita had been married before she was a Saint. This surprised Filomena. She thought all Saints were single.

So Filomena left the Church and started her search for a Saint Rita image located in a discrete place so she could touch her with the underwear.

She finally found a Saint Rita in a well-known Church in downtown, San Agustin. No one was there so Filomena took the pair of briefs and rubbed it all over her head. It came back full of real heavy dust. She figured that once was enough and then she sat down to pray the 50 Hail Marys, facing the crucified Christ with the crown of thorns on his neck. His body was almost black from the scars that crossed it. While she was reciting the Hail Marys, she thought how strange it was that she found the image in this famous place where she had heard la Quintrala had punished the wooden crucified Christ with a big whip because He had not granted her some favors. Thus the profound dark burgundy scars all over His body.

She remembered the story: When la Quintrala was dying, she asked the priests of that church to bring the crucified Christ to her so she could ask for His forgiveness. When they tried to turn the cross so the Christ would fit into Quintrala’s house, the cross would turn back around and get stuck on the double door. No matter how the carriers tried, the cross would turn and not go inside her house. So, they said, she died without having the pardon of the mistreated Christ.

Filomena thought nobody who mistreated Christ’s image or any Saint’s image should be pardoned. She felt a chill remembering when she dropped and broke the statue of Saint Anthony. Maybe she should go buy back the second Saint Anthony from Mr. Barceto.

She went home with the now very dirty underwear and put it back in Antonio’s room.

Three weeks later Antonio appeared at lunch time on a Sunday. After the shouts of surprise, the never ending hugs and long toasts with chacoli wine, Antonio solemnly declared that after the miracle of his release he was back in Chile to become a priest, an Augustinian priest. (Same order as Quintrala’s priests).

That night Filomena offered to light a candle to Saint Rita.

Acts 19:11-12 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.