CATHOLIC CAPERS
Relic thefts, Marian apparitions and a shortage of exorcists...
HOLY BLOOD RETURNED
“To have the ultimate relic in your home, that’s a curse”
On 1 June, thieves raided Fécamp Abbey in northern France and made off with a chalice, a ciborium, liturgical dishes, various works of art and several pieces of gold. They also stole an elaborate copper reliquary inlaid with blue enamel that housed two lead vials containing drops of Jesus’s blood, which, according to legend, had been collected at the Crucifixion in the Holy Grail and had arrived in Fécamp by washing ashore after being thrown into the sea in a trunk. The theft, which took place less than two weeks before an annual mass celebrating the relic, was described by the Bishop of Le Havre, Jean-Luc Brunin, as an intolerable attack on people’s faith and on a tradition that stretched back to the 12th century. However, six weeks after the theft, the holy blood and its reliquary were returned unharmed to Dutch art detective Arthur Brand, who passed them on to the Abbey. Brand said: “I think the thief had no idea what it was… When they realised what it was, that you in fact cannot sell it, they knew they had to get rid of it. To have the ultimate relic, the blood of Jesus in your home, stolen, that’s a curse.” Brand, who had been involved in the search for the stolen items, was contacted by someone who had received them from the original thief and arranged for them to be dropped off anonymously at his home, as his contact felt returning them directly to the Abbey was too risky. “A couple of days later, at 10.30 in the evening, the doorbell rang. I looked from my balcony outside and in the dark I saw a box,” said Brand. He described opening the box as an “authentic religious experience”, adding: “This is as close as one can get to Jesus Christ, The Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. As a Catholic myself and a huge Dan Brown fan, it doesn’t get any better.”
Thieves who raided St Nicholas’s Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, in May were not so contrite. They made off with a reliquary holding the blood of Jerzy Popielusko, a martyred priest murdered by communists in Poland in 1984, but have shown no sign of repenting and returning the relic. dnyuz.com, 12 Jul; bbc.co.uk/news, 12 Jul; D.Telegraph, 12 May 2022.
MIRACLE OR MOULD?
In mid-June, a social media post went viral in Ireland, spreading a claim that a miracle had taken place at St Joseph’s church in Aghamore Ballyhaunis near Knock, Co Mayo: the minister had accidentally dropped a consecrated host on the floor during Holy Communion and then, following the official Church procedure for a host that has been dropped, put it in a bowl of water to dissolve. Returning to it later, he is reported to have found that the water was blood coloured, at which point he “added some more water and then later saw that the Host had taken on the appearance of bloody flesh”. The post also provided a picture of a bloody-looking host in a bowl of water. However, a reverse image search on Google, carried out by Irish Catholic Robert Nugent, cast doubt on the miracle; it revealed the image was of a similar alleged miracle in Salt Lake City, Utah, seven years before ( FT336:20), which had been demonstrated to be red mould growing on a host left in water. He did, though, investigate the Mayo claim and verified that a host had been dropped and then placed in water at St Joseph’s on 15 June, and that it had turned red and taken on the appearance of a bloody clot – but while there were several witnesses, there were no photos. Nugent contacted the Aghamore parish priest, who said that this “appeared to be a reaction of water and therefore, it’s not now considered a
visible Eucharistic Miracle.” As a result, Nugent said that the Catholic Church “would need to do an independent investigation to determine if it’s mould (which can be red), or if it’s a miracle,” but added that the “phenomenon was real”. irishcentral.com, 22 Jun 2022.
THE BVM VISITS NIGERIA
According to Father Evaristus Bassey of the St Charles Lwanga Catholic Church in Calabar, Nigeria, on 22 June, the Virgin Mary made an appearance at the church witnessed by more than 100 parishioners and a visiting Anglican priest. The manifestation was first noticed by a man named Saviour Asuquo, who said that his attention was attracted by an intensely vivid rainbow on the horizon that “made him wonder what was up”. According to Bassey, almost immediately Asuquo saw “a beam of light that came from the sky” illuminating a spot in the church car park, and when he looked back at the rainbow he saw “the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary emerging” from it and coming towards him. “He saw very clearly a woman wearing a blinking crown and a rosary with lights blinking as well, and that all around her was light,” Bassey reported. Asuquo marvelled that the vision of the Virgin was so much more beautiful than her statue and said that she then smiled at him. Once the apparition reached the ground, Asuquo said that she merged with the beam of light in the car park and illuminated the whole area, causing the congregation to leave the church to see what was happening; then “she moved up to the Shrine dedicated to her and then was taken up. It was amazing.” Bassey quoted several witnesses, including a young woman who said, “I saw the apparition very clearly,” and another observer who said, “this wasn’t a matter of seeing only the brightness of the Sun, I saw her very clearly with my own eyes.” Despite many of the congregation having phones, the few pictures taken show only a vaguely figureshaped glow in the sky; but responding to critics, Bassey said: “The rays around her were too bright for a clear picture… maybe they think it is like the visit of a celebrity, where you have time to take all the selfies you want... a supernatural event such as this fills you with a certain awe that you don’t even think about reaching for your phone.” Although the Virgin did not impart any message during her visit, parishioners hope she will return with one, but Bassey said he felt “she came to assure the congregation of God’s presence with us,” and was content with “the fact that she came with a smile, which is a positive indication.” idomavoice. com, 1 Jul; coastotcoastam.com, 13 Jul; Twitter @FrEvaristus, 30 Jun 2022.
EXORCISM OVERLOAD
A survey of 120 Italian exorcists carried out by the Pontifical Athenæum Regina Apostolorum, a Catholic university in Rome, found that they feel overworked and under-supported in the face of a massive growth in the number of “possessed” people. Some exorcists reported seeing 30 to 50 cases a day but said that they get little help from their bishops. They also said they needed assistance from psychiatrists to enable them to separate the possessed from those who are mentally ill; the Catholic Church says that signs of possession include vomiting, unusual physical strength and a sudden capacity to speak ancient languages such as Latin, Hebrew or Aramaic. Benigno Palilla, a priest from Sicily, claimed that the demand for exorcisms had exploded in Italy, reaching 500,000 per year, and he expressed concern that this was leading to inexperienced priests or “self-taught” exorcists making errors. The surveyed priests also felt it was unfair that they were expected to conduct exorcisms on people with Covid after Italian archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano opposed shutting down church services to slow the spread of the virus.
Ireland is likewise short of exorcists, with a recent headline in the Irish Catholic, the country’s best-selling religious newspaper, saying: “Exorcist: Trained Teams Needed in Parishes to Fight Evil Spirits.” Father Pat Collins, a leading Dublin exorcist, said there was an urgent need for “deliverance ministry” to help people oppressed by evil spirits as “the demand is much greater than the supply.” In Manila, in the Philippines, the Archdiocese is tackling the problem by constructing a centre for exorcism for those who are “in bondage with the Devil”. It will be the headquarters of the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists, the Ministry of Exorcism and the Ministry on Visions and Phenomena, and according to the Archdiocese, “will be the first of its kind in Asia, if not the world.”
In the US, former Education Secretary Bill Bennet suggested that more exorcisms would be the solution to mass shootings, saying that as well as paying attention to “red flags” shown by potential gunmen “you may need an exorcist, too”. He went on to say: “It’s a deeply spiritual void, I think, that these young men have in their hearts and their souls, and I think it needs to be addressed.” Newsweek.com, 2 Jun; Guardian, 10 Jun; dailystar. co.uk, 13 Jun; huffingtonpost. co.uk, 7 Jul 2022.