Category Archives: Miracles and Apparitions
Miracles and Apparitions
Saint Augustine taught something to the effect that many spectacular ordinary events would be deemed miracles if they occurred but rarely in history. I think he gave the example of a sunrise. In saying this, he was attempting to lift the minds of his flock to contemplate the wisdom and power of the Creator, who does unfathomably great things continuously in the order of nature, but especially in the order of grace. “The conversion of one sinner,” the holy doctor said, “is a greater act of omnipotence than the creation of the universe.”
A miracle, therefore, must be either preternatural or supernatural. A miracle of grace, such as a sudden conversion of a notoriously evil man, would be a supernatural miracle because, even though the act of conversion is invisible, it manifested by visible acts. All other miracles are divine interferences with the physical laws of nature. They are preternatural, which means beyond nature, and visible. Matters of Faith, such as Our Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament, is a mystery, not a miracle, because the Reality is not visible to the human eye.
The power for miracles can only come from God, but God can share this power with His saints. Miracles can be above the laws of nature: such as the raising to life of a dead man. Jesus gave this kind of power to His Apostles. Miracles can be contrary to the laws of nature, such as Moses splitting the Red Sea or causing water to issue from a rock. The sun dancing in the sky at Fatima, and not elsewhere, is contrary to the laws of nature. Miracles can be independent of natural law, such as a miraculous cure of a deaf man, or a blind man, or the physical cure of any other affliction that is beyond the capacity for ordinary medicines or treatments to effect. Sometimes these kinds of cures are contrary to nature as well, such as a person with no pupil in his eye being able to see.
Can evil people, or demons, work miracles? Only to a certain extent. In the former case, the preternatural prodigy is done by demons through a human instrument, such as the miracles of Pharaoh’s magicians. Our Lord Himself quotes a certain group of those about to be damned as pleading before Him, “But we have worked miracles in thy name.” When St. Joseph Cupertino levitated off the floor, it was not the angels lifting him up, but the angelic purity of his own soul rapt in ecstasy with God and putting gravity to naught. When medicine doctors in pagan lands levitate off the ground it is a demon doing the lifting.
Apparitions are different than miracles. The person viewing the apparition with the human eye is seeing an angel or a departed soul, but under a material human form, or they may be seeing a glorified body, such as that of Our Blessed Mother, who has come to her children in countless apparitions. But these visions are not necessarily miraculous for the one receiving them, unless a person in the same place could not see the apparition. Bi-locations, on the other hand, are certainly miraculous, as they are contrary to nature.
Archaeologists in Jerusalem Discover Miraculous Red Stones Used to Build 6th Century Church
Haartz.com: An Israeli archaeologist says he has found the site of a Sixth Century miracle documented by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. Full report here.
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Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
Yesterday, April 16, was the feast day of Saint Bernadette on the new calendar. This was the day that she died, her birthday into heaven. The old feast day for this most blessed saint was the eighteenth of February, for it was on that day in 1858, that Our Lady first spoke to her in the grotto at Lourdes.
Modern ER Miracle: Man Wearing Scapular Returns to Life After Being Declared Dead
“Oh, good, Father. I’ve been waiting for you. I want to go to Confession. Here is the account of the witnessing priest.
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Possible Miracle: Paralyzed Priest Prays to Blessed Redemptorist Father Seelos and Now Walks
Catholic Herald.co.uk: An American priest who was paralysed from the chest down has started to walk again after praying to the 19th-century Blessed, Father Francis Xavier Seelos. Read full report here.
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Eucharistic Miracle Reported in Poland
A Reluctant Sinner: A special Mass to celebrate a possible Eucharistic miracle was offered yesterday in the Polish town of Sokolka (Sokółce). The celebrations marked the official scientific confirmation of the fact that a small piece of a consecrated host, which had been accidentally dropped on the floor in 2008, is now tissue from muscle belonging to a human heart. It seems that most Poles, … More →
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Young Girl, Comatose and on Life Support, Miraculously Recovers After Baptism by Priest
CatholicOnline: Lucy Hussey-Bergonzi was 13 years old when she collapsed with a brain hemorrhage in February of 2009. At the hospital, her parents called for a Catholic priest to baptize her before she died. As the holy water touched her forehead, Lucy’s arm shot up in the air and within 24 hours she was taken off life support. Read full report here.
Novena to Our Glorious Lady of Mount Carmel Begins Tomorrow July 7
July 16 is the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There is something particularly wonderful about this feast, a double major liturgically, which makes it so embraceable for the faithful children of Mary. Perhaps it is the appealing simplicity of it, the maternal tenderness of it, as well as the magnanimous generosity of the promise. I used to be astonished when I was young … More →
Ambassador Says Padre Pio Cured His Son
Rome reports: Fernando Sanchez is the ambassador of Costa Rica to the Vatican, but his story has nothing to do with his job. He says, his son is alive thanks to a miracle of Padre Pio. He talks about it in his book “Birth of a spiritual child: Our history with Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.” More here.
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“They Shall Speak With New Tongues” Mark 16:17
Reading in the Book of Acts about the events of Pentecost, three physical things accentuate the spiritual. In fact, without them, the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles would be impossible to imagine, being, as we are, creatures of sense: mighty wind, tongues of fire, and speaking miraculously in foreign languages.
Doctors Gave Comatose Woman 48 Hours and Her Husband Prayed for a Miracle
LifeNews: An Australian woman who was declared “brain dead” regained consciousness after weeks of fighting doctor recommendations that her ventilator be shut off, according to a report in the Northern Territory News yesterday. Read this wonderful story here.
Astonishing Miraculous Cure If Approved Will Move Canonization for Blessed Kateri
The Vatican is investigating whether the healing of a boy in Washington in 2006 is a miracle attributable to the intercession of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. More on this here.
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His Paralyzed Leg Healed at Lourdes TV Repairman Walks 1000 Miles on Pilgrimage to Compostela
CatholicHerlad.co.uk: A man with a paralysed left leg has completed a 1,000-mile hike to Santiago de Compostela after being cured at Lourdes, it has been reported. Television repair man Serge François, 40, said he felt a warm glow spread down his herniated leg during a visit to Lourdes in 2002. Read more about this here.
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The Veil of Manoppello, The True Image of the Face of the Risen Christ
In our November/December 2007 issue of the Mancipia, Dr. Maike Hickson wrote a fascinating article about the Veil of Manoppello. Maike, who is from Germany, read an article about the veil by a German journalist named Paul Badde in a German magazine. She was extremely excited about the news of this miraculous veil and wondered if it really does carry the imprint of the face … More →
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A Fatima Reminder: Let’s Not Let Our Lady Down
In “Defending Our Queen’s Prerogatives” (The Remnant, 12/31/2010), Joseph Romanoski wrote: “Our Lady’s directives at Fatima were directed to Catholics (italics original) only, and not to the rest of Her children and subjects.” While plausible arguments can be offered showing it is profoundly mistaken for anyone to ignore the message of Fatima, let us here remind ourselves of our responsibilities — as Catholics — in … More →
