A year after having her eyesight seemingly miraculously restored, a young Spanish woman who had been blind recently made a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome upon Pope Francis’ recommendation.

After news first spread of the healing, Jimena (only known publicly by her first name) and her family met with Pope Francis in December 2023. The Holy Father suggested the family visit the Basilica of St. Mary Major to share their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Jimena and her family visited the basilica last year and again this year on Aug. 5, the feast day of Our Lady of the Snows and the one-year anniversary of her healing.

“This family was truly touched by the special grace, and they also wanted to thank the Blessed Mother in this very shrine,” the archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas, told Rome Reports.

Jimena prayed a novena to Our Lady of the Snows while attending World Youth Day in Lisbon, hoping to restore her eyesight. On the final day of the novena, Jimena attended Mass and, after receiving Communion and praying for healing, she said she “began to cry from a sense of peace.” Upon opening her eyes, she could see clearly again.

Jimena told ACI Prensa in May 2024, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, “I was like super peaceful, as if inside I already knew what had happened, without opening my eyes. And then I opened them, I dried my tears, and I could see the altar, the tabernacle perfectly.”

Jimena suffered 95% loss of her vision when she was 14 years old. Doctors considered her condition incurable after she underwent unsuccessful treatments that left her suffering with nausea and headaches. She asked to stop the treatments, though she still hoped for healing.

And she turned to Our Lady throughout her suffering.

The basilica honoring Our Lady of the Snows famously commemorates the feast by dropping white rose petals, resembling snow, from the ceiling after Mass — to acknowledge how, according to legend, snow fell Aug. 5, 352, on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. This year was the first time Pope Francis attended Mass at the basilica for the feast day.

Jimena previously received another miraculous healing through the intercession of Our Lady. Before her complete healing, she was supposed to undergo an emergency operation. Jimena’s father told ACI Prensa she prayed that night seeking Mary’s intercession, and the next day, she no longer needed the surgery.

After the first healing, Jimena and her father walked together on a beach in Malaga, Spain, where they were going to pray in front of an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the rocks.

“It was on that walk on the beach where we remembered a very important thing, which I believe is essential in this entire process, and that is to let God act, not to put God in our plans, but to be part of his. So, you change the way you pray. It’s not about praying for God to do what you want, but about praying to understand what God wants you to do,” Jimena’s father said.

The father and daughter were inspired on that walk to pray the novena to Our Lady of the Snows for Jimena’s healing, in which thousands participated, Jimena’s father told ACI Prensa.

After returning home from World Youth Day, Jimena saw a doctor who determined Jimena’s condition could not have improved suddenly on its own.

Jimena’s father told ACI Prensa, “I think that part of the beauty of a miracle is that it is not exclusive to one person or one family but rather that it is as big as possible. And in this sense, it has also gone beyond us. It has already crossed borders.”