It was on November 12, 1997, that the then Postulator General of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, Father Angel Lucas, ss.cc., submitted a request to the Vatican medical group for analysis to assess the extraordinary event that had occurred in the throat of Father Gonçalo Belém. The priest had asked for healing from cancer and, through the intercession of Father Eustáquio, had received this grace.

After going through most of the Beatification/Canonization process, which is the investigation of a person's life of holiness, the candidate, in our case Father Eustáquio, needs to have proven the miraculous cure of an illness, in view of his intercession with God.

After being proclaimed Servant of God, Father Eustace had been considered a true hero of the faith, receiving the title of Venerable Father Eustace. Now, it was time to analyze the event that occurred with Father Bethlehem.

Then came the surprising cure of cancer through the intercession of Father Eustáquio for the benefit of the priest from Belo Horizonte, which was scientifically proven. See the account of Cardinal Dom Serafim Fernandes de Araújo, Archbishop of Belo Horizonte/MG (1986 – 2004):

“One Thursday morning, Father Gonçalo Belém Rocha asked Dom João and me to receive him. He was saying goodbye to us, as he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. We were distraught. Father Belém wept, and we both wept with our friend and son. That's how we said goodbye. Dom João looked at me, I looked at Dom João, and an inspiration came to me. I said: 'Dom João, let's go up to the Chapel and expressly and fervently ask God that, through the intercession of Father Eustáquio, He may cure Father Belém.' We spent a few minutes praying. And we placed that priest in the hands of Father Eustáquio, whose canonization process we had begun a short time before. During the operation on Monday, something unthinkable had happened. The doctors looked at each other, but the X-ray confirmed 'there was nothing to be removed' – someone had arrived first!… Father Belém lived for another 50 years. "Holy is holy, a whirlwind of God that no one can stop."‘.

Once the analysis by the local clergy (headed by the postulator) is completed, the case is then sent to the Vatican, which occurred in January 1998. The analysis there is carried out by a group called the Consulta Romana, with more than 80 doctors, mostly Italian. Between six and seven people, from various specialties, usually participate in each investigation. Their task is not to stamp any miracle on their record; on the contrary, the Church asks them for an explanation for a particular cure. If the doctors are unable to find this reason, then the Church may conclude that there was a divine cure.

The miracle in Father Belém's throat was investigated by a medical board and brought to the attention of Pope Benedict XVI, who effectively approved it in 2005, thus leading to his beatification.