Audrey Santo

Audrey Santo

Audrey Marie Santo (December 19, 1983 – April 14, 2007), often referred to as Little Audrey by pilgrims to her home, was an American young woman from Worcester, Massachusetts through whom miracles were said to have happened during her lifetime.

On August 9, 1987, when Audrey was three years old (while playing in the driveway with Stephen, her brother), she fell into the family swimming pool. Audrey recovered but was rushed to the hospital, remaining in a coma for about three weeks, in intensive care with 24-hour attention. When she awoke from the coma, she remained in a state called Akinetic Mutism — non-speaking and limited movement. Her family was recommended to place her in an institution. Audrey’s mother Linda, felt that she would receive better care being home with her family. In November, four months following the accident, Audrey was brought home.

Shortly after the accident, Linda took Audrey to Međugorje, a popular pilgrimage site in the then Yugoslavia, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to six visionaries since 1981. Audrey was present at one of the alleged apparitions; she seemed to be aware, and nodded her head as if to say 'yes'. Linda states that Audrey communicated directly with the Virgin Mary and agreed to become a victim soul. In Catholic popular spirituality, a "victim soul" is someone who willingly takes on the suffering of others. Audrey subsequently went into cardiac arrest and almost died, requiring a medical evacuation back to the United States. Rather than assuming that Audrey's health simply was not up to the strain of that much travel, her mother interpreted the child's heart failure as having to do with the fact that the apparition site was close to "the biggest abortion clinic in Yugoslavia".