recorded November 20, 1990

Life after Death

Veronica: Hello, Michael, this is Veronica. I'm calling in response to your request that I tell the world—I hope it reaches the world, many people in the world—about the living proof that I had that there is life after death.

Now to start with what happened, with the actual facts, which can be borne out by a Sister by the name of Sister Martha—she's a resident, I believe, with the hospital, St. Charles Hospital, where this incident happened that I'm going to tell you about. Now Sister Martha can always be reached at St. Charles Hospital. I'm sure she'll never forget my talk with her after the miraculous happening.

Now we would have to go back to the early part of the 1980s. Now I've been hospitalized out here on the Island about ten to twelve times since I've lived out here, so it's sometimes difficult to get the exact date, but the hospital records will probably indicate my visit there.

And Sister Martha may remember my visit there, because it was their 50th anniversary. Now the 50th anniversary, I'm not certain whether that was her 50th anniversary of being a nun, or the 50th anniversary of her order, or what, but I believe that her order was called the Daughters of Wisdom, or the Sisters of Wisdom, something like that.

Well anyway, to get on with what actually happened, I was in a room, two beds to the room—I forget which floor I was on—at St. Charles, recovering from a heart attack, a slight heart attack compared to the one that I had in '79. But while I was in bed there, I became very friendly with the lady who was at my right. I understood that she had cancer, and she suffered a great deal.

Now at that time I was pretty mobile and able to get around, so I would give out as many Rosaries as I could to anyone who came to the hospital, because St. Charles is traditionally a Catholic hospital. It belongs to the Diocese of Rockville Center, and there are crucifixes on every wall, in the rooms, which is wonderful. That's why I like St. Charles.

But anyway, what happened is that my husband came in one day with the Rosaries. I had requested over the telephone to him to bring me Rosaries, because the people—as I walked through the halls, I noticed they did not have Rosaries. Then I would give them out, or have my sons go around and give them out.

So my husband brought some that were really golden in color. They were beautiful. I don't think they were solid gold, I think it was a paint or something, but they looked beautiful. And they were all gold. All the beads were gold.

And I noticed as I was praying my Rosary with one of these, that the lady in the bed next to me, who had an accent that sounded like Russian to me—it's the only way I could put it, because she used to call me "Ver-o-nica." I can still hear her voice saying "Ver-o-nica." She couldn't say "Veronica", she said "Ver-o-nica." So what I did is, I gave her a gold Rosary that she was admiring. And do you know what she did? She went and she took the crucifix and kissed it and placed the Rosary right by her chest, you know.

Sister Martha came around about that time, and she asked me, Sister Martha, if she could have several of those gold Rosaries, because there was an anniversary, which I already told you about. I don't know what the 50th anniversary was now. I don't remember whether she was fifty years a nun, because she was quite elderly, Sister Martha.

So I gave her the Rosaries that she wanted, and one for another sister that she had in her order, and the lady next to me, I kept giving her Scapulars, I don't know why. I'd put a Scapular on her and the nurse would take it off and put it in her drawer. So I'd hide a Scapular under her gown where they wouldn't see it, so that she kept the Scapular, because I knew that the woman was going to die.

But the one thing I didn't know until I was told by a nurse was that the woman was Jewish! Well, I had never thought of that, you know, being in a Catholic hospital, it kind of surprised me that I was told she was Jewish.

So I said "Well, that doesn't make any difference. She loved that Rosary." See, I was putting another Scapular on her and the nurse caught me. And she said, "Don't do that because she's Jewish." And I said, "Well, she really likes it." And the lady was shaking her head.

I forget her name now. Sister Martha may remember it, but she had told me. The only thing I can remember about my bedmate next to me was that she was Jewish, and also that she was in her sixties, with cancer. And so she was very loaded with the cancer, dying, and so what happened was I became very friendly with her.

I prayed the Rosary and she followed me, watching what I was doing with the beads. And the nurse came along and she said, "Don't do that!" And I said, "Why not?" She said, "Well, she's Jewish, and they wouldn't like that; her family wouldn't like it." I said, "I've met her brother already who came up from Florida to see her, and he didn't say anything bad about the Rosaries."

I'll bet he saw them on the table. And I told him I gave them to his sister. And the reason I said that, I remember the young boy came up on a motorcycle all the way from North Carolina to see his mother who was dying there next to me.

So when they left a rabbi came in. And I wasn't too interested in that; I kept saying my Rosary there. And they pulled the sheeting around, you know, the covers, so you couldn't see. And I don't know what the rabbi was doing, anyway, but he left and then that night she became very bad.

I mean she was really dying, and the family came again. They all left in tears, and when they left and the evening wore on, something just made me go into the bathroom and get some water.

I knew that this lady wanted to be baptized. Somehow I just knew it, because of the way she loved those beads and the pictures I would give her, the holy pictures and the Rosaries and everything. I knew that I just had to baptize her—you know, conditional baptism. And so I said to her, "I think I should baptize you."

I can't remember her name now, but I grew very close to her. And she shook her head, yes, though she couldn't talk; she had an oxygen thing on her face, and all she could do was nod her head. So in I went to the bathroom, and I got both of my hands very wet, and I took my thumb and somehow I knew—I said to her, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." And she smiled.

All right, now I went over back to my bed. The nurse, in fact, came in and wondered what I was doing up, and she put me back in my bed. And the family came in; they were all distraught and crying. And then all of a sudden I didn't hear her moaning in the bed anymore, and I knew she had died. And the family left.

So I lay back, and I had to watch something that is a little different. The light was coming through the window, and—I never was in a room where somebody had died right in front of me. They had pulled all of the sheeting off and wrapped her in the sheet and just left her there; they took the mattress and everything. She was lying on the springs of the bed! Boy, that was scary, but I couldn't help watching, so I lay back on my bed.

And the family had gone, the nurses had gone out, and her body was lying in the bed next to me with the curtains drawn all around it. And I lay back and I started to say the Rosary for her, when all of a sudden I couldn't believe my own eyes! My head was looking up towards the ceiling, because I was lying back on the pillow.

And there she was! The lady next to me was all beautiful, in a yellow light; emanating all around her was this beautiful, pale yellow light. And she was moving slowly up from right in front of me, up to the ceiling. And her hair was so beautifully done. You see, with the chemotherapy and everything they gave her while she was there, she lost all the hair. But she had hair. Though it was gray, it was beautifully marcelled and everything.

And I'm looking there—I couldn't believe my own eyes! And she had—she looked healthy, smiling, and she was going slowly up. I knew she was going to go right through the ceiling, because she was slowly moving up.

But it was hard to explain her. She wasn't solid-like. I can't explain it, though I recognized her right away. And I knew she knew me, because she looked down at me and she said—and I have to pronounce my name the way she always did; I'll never forget it. She said, "Ver-o-nica, look at me!" And I was looking, I couldn't get over it. She looked so happy, so elated.

Well, all of a sudden she just drifted, and like a vapor, went—I don't know if she went through the ceiling, but anyway she vaporized or something. However, a theologian could explain it.

She had on a beautiful white gown that covered her arms and legs; I couldn't see her legs or her feet. The gown was exceptionally long, and it was all white, but the yellow light that was exuding all around her seemed to cast like a yellow glow onto the gown. But she went right up, and up through the ceiling and out, and then she was gone.

So I called her brother, who was standing out in the hall, crying, and I said, "Don't cry." I told him I was telling the truth, even though some people would have thought oh, she's lost her mind, or something. But I knew what I saw. So I called her brother over. I said, "Don't feel bad," I said, "I know she's in Heaven, or a place close to Heaven, because," I said, "she looked so beautiful and happy." And I repeated to him she said to me, "Ver-o-nica, look at me!" And the brother, he felt good that I talked to him.

And then that afternoon, they removed her body then. I guess they take it down to the morgue or some place, but they moved her out. And I was told to remain in bed, so I had to see all this. But I felt differently after they removed her body, because I know what I saw while the body was still there on the bed. But I told her brother exactly what happened.

And see, I knew the rabbi had arrived the morning before. I don't know what they do—give them the last rites or anything like that—but her brother who had come up from Florida was very, very happy to hear what I had to say. So I wound up giving him a Rosary, too, and some holy pictures. He took them, too! He was a very nice, sociable fellow.

But I said when Arthur came up to visit me again and brought me more Rosaries, I said—I told him the whole thing that happened.

I said, "Never will I ever forget this." I said, "I saw her, just as living as you and I." Of course, that wasn't the first time that had happened to me, because back in 1969 I saw my mother also. That's another story, but I saw my mother who had passed on. She was a very religious woman, and—but that's another story.

But I did want to tell you about this woman. I know she must have been a Russian Jew, because her accent sounds sort of like Russian. "Ver-o-nica!" She couldn't say Veronica, she kept saying "Ver-o-nica!" And when she said, "Look at me!" Oh, I tell you, I was really shocked.

But I remember every detail, because it was amazing, and so wonderful that all I can say is no one should ever be afraid to die. There's no real mystery behind it at all! You live, you actually live, though you leave your body. You live in another state. Yes, for us poor mortals here, and human, Heaven allows us to see this. If you see it with your own eyes, she looked—well, she didn't look solid, let me say that. She was very, sort of wispy, wispy-like, misty. I can't explain it, but similar to the misty way Our Lady looks like in the picture called "Our Lady in the Sky" that we give out to people, the miraculous picture, when Our Lady came in over the Vatican site. The way, also, the mistiness to that picture, too, as you can see, like a transparency. And this lady—I can't remember her name.

But Sister Martha came up and I told her everything that happened. And Sister Martha made me feel very good. She said, "Well, Veronica," she said, "now you have somebody else up in Heaven praying for you!" Oh, I think sister Martha will always remember that. Oh, the gold Rosaries, and on the 50th anniversary it was, or maybe it was of her being in the order. I forget exactly what it was. But she came by, and I'm sure she's still at St. Charles Hospital, and I think if anyone speaks to her there, she'll remember me because she kind of refers to me to people as "the lady with the visions!" I always thought that was quite cute.

So that is what happened, that makes me know that there is definitely life after death. We're told that, but when you see it with your own eyes, oh, that is really not only miraculous, but a grace that Heaven allows.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world that this has happened to; I'm sure there are others who never spoke about it. Because the first thing you do is you get your people who are not spiritual and they think oh, there's nothing to it or something like that, or what they'll say about you. But actually that is, I'm telling you exactly as it happened. I can't remember her name, but I think maybe Sister Martha would remember this lady that was in the room with me because Sister Martha will never forget about the gold Rosaries that I gave her.

So this is the whole story, Michael.

Michael: Yes. That sounds really something.

Veronica: This is the story of how it happened, and why I know, combined with my meeting with my mother on my birthday in my bedroom. To come—for my mother to come from another world when she had been dead about ten or fifteen years to say to me at that time—this is the other story of life after death that I saw. My mother was dressed in a beautiful red gown.

This was about 1968 or '69 that this happened, and it was my birthday that day, July 12. And I looked—I couldn't believe my eyes! There was the other experience I had—my mother coming through my doorway into my bedroom. And I'm sitting up on the bed wondering—I couldn't believe my eyes! She was in a beautiful red gown, and the thing that took my attention was the gown had three buttons on it that were covered in red material.

And I said inwardly, "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," counting the three buttons. And I said to her, very shocked, I said, "Mom, how did you get here?" And she smiled at me. And her hair was beautifully done, too, and she looked so healthy and so beautifully happy that you could feel the emotion that she gave off. It was of such peace, such joy.

And I said to her, "How did you get here?" And she said, "I've come to wish you a happy birthday." Then all of a sudden she just faded away, just like a mist, just like happened to the other lady, and she was gone. I don't think I ever received a more wonderful birthday present in my life.

Michael: When did she pass away?

Veronica: My mother passed away in the fifties, about 1954 or '56.

Michael: I see. I guess Heaven was giving you a consolation, knowing what lies ahead for you in the Mission.

Veronica: Oh, I've never forgotten that. It's like yesterday. All I have to do is just think and there it—I'll never forget it. It'll stay with me the rest of my life. So that's why I always say that those who are dying, they should have nothing to fear. God is most merciful.

We know there is a Heaven, a hell, and a purgatory, but if we do what Jesus and Our Lady want us to do in our lifetimes, we'll join Them, too, in Heaven.

Because I saw what I saw. The truth, as God is my witness, it is the truth. And I know for a surety that there is life after death. Even though, you know, we do have it in the Bible and everything, that writing, but when you see it, it really makes a big difference.

You know for a surety that it's nothing to be afraid of. I would say almost it's a natural thing. We all have to die sometime; we can't live forever. But then God prepares us for another world that is so beautiful that there are no human words to describe it.

Michael: Right. Well, that's beautiful. That's a very beautiful and touching story.

Veronica: Michael, I told everything as it happened.

Michael: OK. Thank you very much.