ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — He's a man of faith who believes he has a calling to help other people. Two weeks after almost losing his life while waiting to have breakfast, Father Matt Marino opened up about the moment that he was stabbed and lay bleeding hoping for help.
"I'm just sitting at a breakfast joint with a friend," Marino said. "This girl just walks past, turns, looks at me and says something like 'I have problems' and as a pastor I instinctively go 'tell me your story' and so I lean forward and she pulls a knife out and sticks it in my chest and pulls it back, I just looked down and said 'you stabbed me.'''
It was before 8am on October 23 when Fr. Matt Marino was stabbed on San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine. As he began to cough up blood he laid on the ground.
"I roll over and look up at the sky and the sky is just really gray, I remember just sitting thinking 'this is a really weird way to die, I had a lot of important meetings today,'" said Marino.
All jokes aside, the priest had an unscheduled meeting that he believes may have set the tone for the rest of his ordeal.
"Then I remember thinking I just don't want to go like this, this seems senseless and random and not today Lord," said Marino, "and I felt like the Lord said ok."
It's natural for a priest to believe in a higher power, but the firetruck that responded to the 911 was actually blessed by Fr. Matt 3 years earlier, and that's not all.
"I was told by the fire chief that a customs and border patrol training officer was driving by and saw me on the ground and happened to be the one person in the county that had a combat chest seal in his car," said Marino.
Twenty-two-year old Arieana Gibbs is charged with 2nd degree attempted murder for the attack on Marino; she has pleaded not guilty.
"Who knows why random things happen," said Marino, "I know a completely random thing happened to me and then I know that a series of random things conspired to make sure I'm still here today."
Marino said that he has a ministry to continue and is grateful to the help of first responders and medical professionals that will soon let him continue that ministry after being stabbed in broad daylight. Marino said that in the midst of that terrifying ordeal he was put at ease by prayer and a belief that God would bring him through.
"I hear the first responders trying to figure out where we take him because he's not going to survive the transport and I just remember sitting there thinking 'hmmm, we'll see,'" said Marino recalling the moments after he was stabbed.
Marino was rushed from San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine to HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville with a severed pulmonary artery and a collapsed lung. The trip would take 40 minutes.
"I hear the trauma surgeons in the hospital tell me that I lost 2 and a half units of blood, that's half my blood," said Marino.
Faith is a huge part of Marino's life. Faith in a higher power and faith in the medical team that held his life in their hands.
"Although I kept hearing people say this guy's not going to make it, I think I always thought from that initial prayer and I didn't hear a voice or see lights, I just had this sense that it's going to be ok," said Marino, who spent 6 days in the ICU.
"I still have pain, all said and done, I probably had 5-6 feet of tubing in and out at some point and where those tubes went in and out is still painful, getting back full range of breath is painful," said Marino, "I'm seeing a therapist and trauma specialist."
Despite trying to stand up from his hospital bed in the ICU the day after being stabbed, Marino is taking things slowly. Just last week he began taking walks through St. Augustine, but there's no timetable to getting back inside Trinity Parish for services.
"My internal wiring says yesterday, but my therapists and doctors say to hold off for a while," said Marino, "I miss church, miss the people, miss the work."
Marino said his physical pain will heal, he hopes his attacker finds healing as well.
"Whatever this poor girl was going through, it was surely worse for her," Marino said, "who wakes up on a Wednesday morning and says I'm going out to knife people?"
Marino's physical wounds are still healing two weeks later, but spiritually he said he found comfort in one of his faith's most important principles.
For Marino, forgiving his attacker is the most fundamental exhibition of a faith in which he has dedicated his life.
"The law is going to do what the law is going to do, and it's going to make sure that society is safe and hopefully get her help," Marino said, "but I harbor no ill will and when the time comes to see her I'll tell her, I forgive her utterly and completely."
"It is Christianity, Christianity is you are forgiven through the love of Jesus," said Marino, "how can I not forgive her, I've been forgiven so much, how could I not extend that forgiveness?"
Compassion from a man who went through life-saving surgery. Marino is not yet healthy enough to return to work, but when he does return he hopes to continue a ministry that helps young people, just like the young woman who stabbed him.
"I don't know what this means for me," said Marino, "personally in my ministry, I do know that I want to make sure she knows that as far as I'm concerned she's free."
He continues to heal physically and hopes the simple fact that he is alive today can help the woman behind bars accused of stabbing him.
"I'm hoping that this saves Arieana, because if you knife a pastor at breakfast in a state with the death penalty, that's kind of it," said Marino. "The fact that I'm alive might be a chance for her."
Gibbs is currently being held in St. Johns County Jail without bond. She has pleaded not guilty and her next court date is December 2.
Marino said that he's trying to walk through his neighborhood to gain his strength back and added that he's grateful to everyone who has prayed for him.