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Unexplainable Miracles in Catholicism                                                                                        83






           Miracles In Catholicism                       occasions until September 1981 - with one such Anatomy at the Hospital of  Arezzo and
                                                         episode airing on television. Allegedly, not only professor of sciences, released his findings on
              No One Can Explain                         was Sister Agnes cured of her deafness in 1982, the supposed blood and flesh held by the
                                                         but a visitor was also cured of her brain cancer Catholic Church since the eighth century. He
                                                         in 1981 after praying in front of the statue.    determined the flesh to be blood type AB and the
                 Continued from Page 81
                                                                The liquids the statue produced tissue that of a human heart, specifically the
                                                         underwent scientific testing by three different endocardium. He found the blood to be
                                                         researchers starting in 1975. The first, Professor consistent with that found on the hotly debated
        Investigations by local police tried to debunk the
                                                         Eiji Okuhara of Akita University, determined the Shroud of  Turin, and the tests revealed no
        miracle and disperse the crowds from the area. A  samples were actual blood, sweat, and tears; the preservatives in the samples.
        search within a 15-mile radius of the church
                                                         sweat and tears were type AB and the blood type         A     World     Health    Organization
        uncovered no special effects equipment, special
                                                         B.  The second test, performed by forensic commission confirmed Linoli's findings after
        lighting rigs, or projectors capable of putting on
                                                         scientist Dr. Kaoru Sagiska, gave the same 500 experiments conducted over 15 months
        such a spectacle. Some theories include mass
                                                         results as those of Okuhara. A later examination
        hysteria, with the gathered people seeing what   revealed the fluids to be type A and AB and the The Virgin Of Guadalupe
        they wanted or expected to see. Many of the
                                                         blood type O, but the samples had allegedly
        assembled witnesses, though, were Muslim and
                                                         become contaminated during handling over         For three days in December 1531, the  Virgin
        had no reason to imagine a figure they don't
                                                         time.                                            Mary supposedly appeared to Aztec Juan Diego
        consider highly significant to their religion.
                                                                                                          during his trek through Mexico. Bathed in light,
               Many religious scholars point to Mary's   St. Januarius's  Annually Liquefying
        appearance as the fulfillment of a promise she                                                    Mary came to him, explained her wish to have a
                                                         Blood                                            church built where she was standing and asked
        made to the family who built the church. Around
                                                                                                          Diego to take her message to the bishop. Diego
        1918, the  Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to
                                                         St. Januarius served as a bishop of Naples until  did as she asked, traveling to the home of Fray
        Ibrahim Khalil in a vision and told him to build                                                  Juan de Zumarraga, but he failed to convince the
        the church in her name on the land. She          his decapitation at the hands of Diocletian
                                                         persecutors around the year 305.  After his      bishop.  After a second visit with Mary and
        promised to return to the location and bless the
                                                         beheading, a woman allegedly collected blood     another attempt at getting the church built, the
        church in 50 years. The church was completed in
                                                         from his body and placed it in a container. Eight  bishop asked Diego for proof of Mary's
        1924, and the Virgin Mary returned in 1968 to
                                                         years after his death, the first Blood Miracle of  appearance.
        perform what is now considered the miracle of                                                            On his third encounter with Mary, she
        Zeitoun.                                         St. Januarius occurred.  The Blood Miracle is
                                                         still reported and was captured on video in 2015.  instructed Diego to fill his tilma - a type of cloak
                                                                The miracle generally occurs three times  - with roses cut from a snowy hillside where
        Consecrated Hosts  That Survived
                                                         a year, when the dried blood kept in its sealed  flowers normally did not grow in December.
        Disaster
                                                         container liquefies on the first Saturday of May,  When Diego returned to the bishop and allowed
                                                         September 19, and December 16.  When the         the roses to fall from his tilma, a painting of the
        The consecrated hosts refer to the wafers used in
                                                         blood fails to liquefy, the Catholic Church      Virgin Mary appeared on the fabric, just as
        Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe the wafers,                                                     Diego had described to the bishop.
                                                         regards it as a warning about impending
        along with the wine, turn into the actual body                                                           Skeptics    theorized    the   Spanish
                                                         disasters. On various dates where it did not
        and blood of Christ during the priest's          transform, it was linked to earthquakes, disease  fabricated the miracle to convert  Aztecs to
        consecration of the items. The wafers reside in a                                                 Catholicism, with the apparition's insistence of
                                                         outbreaks, war, and the Nazi occupation in Italy.
        tabernacle until retrieved for Holy Eucharist or
                                                                The Church refuses to unseal the blood    being called Santa Maria de Guadalupe. But the
        other designated times outside of Mass.                                                           Spanish did not write of the miracle until 1548,
                                                         from its container, making it difficult for
               Sixteen months after a 2016 earthquake                                                     and supposedly the influx of Aztecs converting
                                                         scientists to test. Despite this obstacle,
        in Italy, Father  Angelo Ciancotti claimed he    researchers still theorize about possible        began in 1531.  The image of Santa Maria de
        recovered 40 consecrated hosts from the Our                                                       Guadalupe has not degraded over the centuries;
                                                         explanations. One scientist suggests it's a
        Lady of the Assumption church. Ciancotti said
                                                         material with a low melting point, which allows  testing showed the garment was made of hemp,
        he found the hosts' container had fallen in the                                                   explaining its longevity.
                                                         it to remain dry until removed from its altar and
        quake, but the lid remained intact. He maintains                                                         A photographer named Alfonse Marcue
                                                         held by priests or subjected to a room with a
        the hosts showed no signs of mold or staleness   large congregation or lit candles.               claimed in 1929 that he noticed the reflection of
        about them after almost a year and a half of                                                      a bearded man in the painting's right eye. In
                                                                Spectrographic tests run on the vial
        being locked in the rubble of the tabernacle.
                                                         contents in 1902 and 1989 supposedly revealed    1956, an ophthalmologist named Dr. Javier
               The nuns who made the hosts confirmed                                                      Torroella Bueno also believed there was a
                                                         hemoglobin present inside, though it's possible
        nothing but flour and water was in the wafers.                                                    reflection in the painted eyes of Mary. Peruvian
                                                         for some dyes to present themselves as the blood
                                                         protein.                                         engineer José  Tonsmann spent 20 years
        The Weeping Statue Of Our Lady Of                                                                 attempting to unlock the truth about the
        All Nations In Akita                             The Miracle Of Lanciano                          representation of the bearded man, claiming the
                                                                                                          supposed image "has not been painted by human
        The statue of Our Lady of All Nations in Akita,  Referred to by many as the first Eucharistic     hand."
        Japan, was carved from a Judea tree in 1963.     Miracle of the Catholic Church, the miracle of
        The miracle attached to the figure relates to the  Lanciano occurred in Italy during the 700s. A                         (Continued on Page 85)
        deaf Sister  Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, who         monk in the Church of St. Legontian wavered in
        reportedly saw bright lights and angels near the  his faith concerning the Catholic belief of           THANK YOU TO ALL THE
        statue's altar in June 1973. During prayer before  transubstantiation - the process that turns wine        NURSES, DOCTORS,
        the  Virgin Mary statue, stigmata appeared on    and wafers into the blood and body of Christ             PARAMEDICS, POLICE
        Sister  Agnes's hands and recurred for three     during their consecration at the Sacrament of the    OFFICERS, PUBLIC HEALTH
        weeks.  According to the story, Sister  Agnes    Eucharist.  As the monk spoke the words              OFFICIALS, FIREFIGHTERS,
        returned to the Statue of Our Lady of  All       consecrating the wafers and wine, the food and      CANADIAN ARMED FORCES,
        Nations to pray and heard the  Virgin Mary       drink allegedly turned into real human tissue and
        speak.                                           blood in front of witnesses at Mass. Throughout      CANADA BORDER AGENCY,
               Sister Agnes continued praying in front   the following centuries, the blood and flesh         C.S.I.S., ESSENTIAL RETAIL
        of the statue, and it revealed its own stigmata in  remained unchanged in an ivory reliquary that    WORKERS, TRUCK DRIVERS
        its carved hands. After this, the statue began to  traveled among different churches in Italy for  DURING THE COVID-19 WORLD
        sweat a rose-scented liquid that the nuns of the  display.                                            WIDE PANDEMIC AND  FOR
        order collected. In January 1975, the figure            On March 4, 1971, Dr. Edoardo Linoli,            BEING THERE FOR US!
        started weeping and did so on multiple           former head of the Laboratory of Pathological
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