Elisa Aloi: Ten Years of Bone Tuberculosis Healed at Lourdes

Elisa Aloi of Sicily developed tuberculous arthritis of the right knee in 1948 at age 17. Over the following decade the infection spread to multiple bone and joint sites — hips, spine, and other joints — and she developed four actively draining fistulae. By 1958 she was encased in a pelvis-to-foot plaster cast and traveled to Lourdes in severe physical deterioration.

Just ten days after returning from Lourdes, her surgeon examined her and wrote in the clinical record that Elisa Aloi had returned "completely cured." The fistulae had closed, bone lesions resolved, and her mobility returned. The Lourdes Medical Bureau reviewed her case in 1960 and forwarded it to CMIL, which adopted Professor Salmon's report declaring the cure "medically inexplicable." Archbishop Fasola of Messina proclaimed it miraculous on May 26, 1965.

The main confound not fully addressed in the public record is whether Aloi received modern anti-TB antibiotics available since 1952. If she did, a dramatic medication response — even an unusually rapid one — could contribute to the recovery. The CMIL presumably reviewed this, but published summaries do not specify.

The treating surgeon's contemporaneous written declaration within ten days is the single strongest piece of objective documentation here. The antibiotic question is a real gap. Overall this sits above average in the Lourdes evidence quality range.