The Greatest Historical Miracle You’ve Never Heard Of

From http://catholicexchange.com/greatest-historical-miracle-youve-never-heard

After Constantine the Great, there were emperors who were heretics and emperors who adhered to Christian orthodoxy.

Then there was Julian the Apostate.

From the time of Constantine to the French Revolution, he is the only Christian monarch ever to openly reject the faith, according to Catholic historian Warren Carroll. For reasons both personal and intellectual, Julian launched the last great attempt to revive ancient Roman paganism. Animal sacrifices resumed in the reopened pagan temples while the Church was stripped of the imperial funds and lands that had been granted under past emperors.

Julian so despised the Christian faith that he even attempted to reverse his baptism by bathing in a bull’s blood. One ecclesiastical historian describes him as a man “who had made his soul a home of destroying demons.”

For Julian, persecution, oppression, and financial extortion of Christians weren’t enough. In the second year of his reign, in 362, he conceived an extraordinary plan to undermine the credibility of Jesus Christ by annulling one of his prophecies. InMatthew 24, while the disciples were pointing out the temple buildings, Christ told them, “You see all these things, do you not? Amen, I say to you, there will not be left here a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” As students of history will remember, this was fulfilled with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, during the First Jewish-Roman War.

For Julian, the solution was simple: all he had to do was rebuild the temple.

A special imperial official was appointed to oversee the task. And Julian was able to take advantage of the pious enthusiasm of Jews from across the empire, some of whom contributed money to the effort, others volunteering as laborers, according to accounts from early Church writers.

Special tools of silver were forged for the occasion. Ground was broken. The small army of workers poured right into the work, toiling right up until nightfall.

Signs of trouble immediately appeared: after the first day, the workers awoke to find the soil they had removed had shifted back into place. Undaunted, they resumed work when “of a sudden a violent gale blew, and storms, tempests and whirlwinds scattered everything far and wide,” according to the account of the ecclesiastical historian Theodoret.

Then calamity struck: an earthquake rocked the site, followed by fireballs that burst out of the unfinished foundations for the temple, burning some men, and sending the rest in flight. Some rushed into the church that had been built by Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, only to have its doors shut in front of them by “an unseen and invisible power,” according to one account.

Some accounts of the disaster read like a retelling of the plagues visited upon Egypt: the fountains by the old temple stopped working, a famine broke out, and two imperial officials who had desecrated some sacred vessels met with grisly deaths. One was eaten alive with worms. The other “burst asunder in the midst.”

All this culminated with the appearance of the cross—either in the sky or sprinkled like stars on the garments of the workers, according to early Church accounts.

Needless to say, the temple was never rebuilt. This much is certain.

But how credible are the accounts of the miraculous events that halted the construction? The above synopsis is taken from five Church writers, all of whom lived during the events they described or immediately afterwards when eyewitness testimony would still have been available. Though they vary in some details, all five agree on three essentials of the narrative—the earthquake, the fire from somewhere below the temple, and some miraculous appearance of a cross symbol.

Three are ecclesiastical historians—Theodoret, Sozomen, and Socrates Scholasticus. Maybe you haven’t heard of those historians and aren’t too inclined to trust them, but how about saints like John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nazianzus, who also wrote about the foiled rebuilding of the temple? (Read their accounts here and here.)

All five writers present the calamitous rebuilding as historical fact. Some go at length to demonstrate that they personally have done their due diligence in assessing the veracity of the story. Gregory of Nazianzus notes that there might be some factual disparities in accounts, but he then adds: “But what all people nowadays report and believe is that when they were forcing their way and struggling about the entrance a flame issued forth from the sacred place and stopped them.”

Likewise, Sozomen writes the following regarding the fire: “This fact is fearlessly stated, and believed by all; the only discrepancy in the narrative is that some maintain that flame burst from the interior of the temple, as the workmen were striving to force an entrance, while others say that the fire proceeded directly from the earth. In whichever way the phenomenon might have occurred, it is equally wonderful.” Such are not the words one would expect from writers who are embellishers of pious legends.

What makes the story so compelling is that it is also reported in a matter-of-fact fashion by the Roman pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who confirms the core narrative about a strange fire breaking out in his work, Res Gestae (“things done”):

[T]errifying balls of flame kept bursting forth near the foundations of the temple, and made the place inaccessible to the workmen, some of whom were burned to death; and since in this way the element persistently repelled them, the enterprise halted.

Marcellinus, of course, does not call this a miracle, and the significance of the event in the history of Judaism and Christianity seems lost on him. But his account—presented without any qualification about the credibility of the story—stands as an extraordinary corroboration of the five accounts by Christian authors.

And yet, the event doesn’t seem to have gotten much attention from contemporary historians, who don’t seem to share Marcellinus’ commitment to even-handed reporting. As Warren Carroll has written in The Building of Christendom,

It is one of the most remarkable events in Christian history, for which no natural explanation is possible, and which all too many historians have seen fit to ignore despite the high repute of Ammianus Marcellinus as a historian, the confirming of his account by many Christians historians, and his obvious lack of bias and the lack of time before he wrote which would have been required for an unhistorical legend about the event to have developed.

As Christians we believe miracles still happen in the here and now. But usually, what’s involved is some sort of personal healing of someone with an ailment or injury—those, at least, seem to be the most common sort of miracle used nowadays as a criterion for canonizing saints.

However, public miracles that leave lots of eyewitnesses and involve some sort of dramatic occurrence seems like a thing of the Old Testament past—the parting of the Red Sea, the tumbling walls of Jericho, the fire and brimstone that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind. The foiled rebuilding of the temple under Emperor Julian the Apostate stands as an extraordinary witness to God’s enduring intervention in the created order.

Lourdes: 69th official miracle announced

From http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=22985

The Sanctuary of Lourdes has announced the 69th official miracle of Lourdes - the curing of an Italian woman,  Danila Castelli,  following her visit to the Baths at the Shrine in 1989.
Danila Castelli, born on 16 January 1946, a wife and mother, lived a more or less normal life until the age of 34 when she started having spontaneous and severe blood pressure hypertensive crisis. She also suffered a number of other serious health problems and underwent a hysterectomy an annexectomy and a partial pancreatectomy. As her condition deteriorated, her husband who is a doctor planned to take her to the Mayo Clinic in America, but at the last moment Danila said she wanted to go to Lourdes. The couple went in May 1989. When Danila came out of the Baths she said she experienced an extraordinary feeling of wellbeing. Shortly afterwards she reported to the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations her instantaneous alleged cure. After five meetings (1989, 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2010) the Bureau certified the cure with an unanimous vote. They agreed that Mrs Castelli had been cured, in a complete and lasting way, from the date of her pilgrimage to Lourdes 21 years ago, of the syndrome she had suffered and with no relation with the treatments and the surgeries she received.
Danila Castelli has since gone back to an absolute normal life. The CMIL (Lourdes International Medical Committee) in it's annual meeting of 19 November 2011 in Paris has certified that the cure "remains unexplained according to current scientific knowledge". On 20 June 2013 Monsignor Giovanni Giudici, Bishop of Pavia, the diocese where Danila Castelli lives, declared the 'prodigious-miraculous' character of this cure.
In this video, Dr Allessandro De Franciscus, Director of the Medical Bureau at Lourdes, explains the rigorous process by which the cure was accepted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ixlLiHnBI

This Is My Body--This Is My Blood: Eucharistic Miracles centuries apart but with identical blood type & dna

From http://www.catholicjournal.us/journal/tag/last-supper

The Gospels record for us the story of the Last Supper and those famous words spoken by Jesus, “This is My Body ---- This is My Blood.”  Those are very powerful words, for they provide us with the opportunity of experiencing the very real and tangible presence of Christ among us even today, 2,000 years after that Last Supper.  But I wonder if we truly appreciate the power and the love given to us in those words.
One day in late October in the year 700 A.D., a Basilian Monk was celebrating Mass in a church dedicated to Saints Legontian and Domitian in a town called Lanciano, which is located in southern Italy.  During the consecration of the Mass, the Monk was entertaining serious doubts that the wine and unleavened bread in front of him was actually the real and substantial presence of the Body and Blood of Christ.  After pronouncing the words of consecration, “This is My Body ----- This is My Blood”, the Monk was shocked to see the host in front of him change into, what appeared to be, a real piece of flesh, and the wine change into what looked like real blood.  Confused and frightened, the Monk called those in attendance up to the altar to see what had just happened.  Needless to say, all were amazed, many tears were reportedly shed, and the news of the event quickly spread throughout the town and eventually all of Italy.
After a few days, the wine which was now blood coagulated and split into five globules of different and irregular shapes and sizes.  There has been much speculation, questioning why the number five?  Why did it split into five pieces?  It is interesting to note that the number five corresponds to the number of wounds Christ suffered on the Cross, the nail wounds in each hand and in each foot and the wound in Christ’s side from the centurion’s lance.
This event, which has become known as the Miracle of Lanciano, is officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a Eucharistic Miracle.  This host that became flesh and this wine that became blood can be viewed and venerated even today, for it is contained in a monstrance within that same Church.
Over the years, many tests and investigations have been conducted on these two Sacred Species.  The oldest documented test results still in existence are from a test conducted in 1574.[i]  In those documents an unexplainable phenomenon was discovered and reported. “The five pellets of coagulated blood are different sizes and shapes. But any combination weighs the same as the total. In other words, 1 weighs the same as 2, 2 weigh the same as 3, and 3 weigh the same as 5.”[ii]
The latest and most impressive investigation was conducted by the scientific community and it took place in 1970 and 1971.[iii]  The team conducted their studies over a 15 month period and their testing involved a total of 500 different examinations.  Their report was published in 1971.[iv]
The following is a summary of their report:

1)    The samples tested were absolutely free of any foreign agents normally used in the preservation of human flesh.

2)    The Flesh is real Flesh and the Blood is real Blood.

3)    The Flesh and Blood belong to the human species.

4)    The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the human heart.

5)    The Blood was type “AB” positive, characteristic of a man who was born and lived in the Middle East region.

6)    Even though the coagulated blood samples were of five different and irregular shapes and sizes, they all proved to be of exactly the same weight.

7)    In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.

8)    In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.

9)    The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for over twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.

I would like to emphasize one fact stated in that report.  When human blood is left unrefrigerated, the natural physical and chemical properties will break down rapidly through decay.  The blood from this Lanciano miracle is over 1,250 years old, yet it still contains all the proteins, chemicals and physical properties of freshly shed blood.  Yet these test results state that no preservatives of any kind could be found.
Many miracles, similar to the miracle of Lanciano, have been documented and officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as Eucharistic Miracles.  This next event that I would like to share with you is the latest reported Eucharistic Miracle.  And its similarities to the Lanciano Miracle are both shocking and inspiring.
On August 15, 1996 an elderly Eucharistic minister was distributing communion during Mass in a church named Santa Maria, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  He accidentally dropped a Host.  Not sure of what to do, he asked the priest for assistance.  The priest reverently picked up the Host and placed it in a small container of water that is traditionally kept next to the Tabernacle for such an event.  The priest placed the container in the Tabernacle where, over time, the Host would be expected to dissolve, at which time it could then be disposed of properly.
Six days later the priest examined the container, expecting to find that the Host dissolved.  He was confused, however, by what he found.  The Host had grown in size and it was covered with red spots or stains.  The priest left it in the Tabernacle, thinking that eventually it would dissolve.  It was just a matter of sufficient time.  But over a period of several more days, the Host changed in appearance to that of coagulated blood, till it eventually looked like a piece of flesh. [v]
A sample of the tissue was sent to a lab in Buenos Aires.  The lab reported finding red and white human blood cells and tissue from a human heart.  The lab further reported that the tissue sample appeared to still be alive, because the cells were moving or beating as they would in a live human heart.
Three years later, in 1999, Dr. Ricardo Castanon Gomez[vi] was contracted to perform some additional testing.  Dr. Gomez sent a sample of the tissue to a lab in New York City.  For the purposes of fair and unbiased testing, the lab was not told what the sample was or anything about its origin.  The lab reported that the sample received was living muscle tissue from a human heart.
Five years later, in 2004, Dr. Gomez contacted a Dr. Frederick Zugibe[vii] and asked him to evaluate a test sample, again without telling him anything about the sample or its origin.  Dr. Zugibe also reported that the sample was that of living muscle tissue from a human heart.  The doctor further reported that the muscle tissue appeared to be taken from a person whose heart had been severely traumatized or beaten.
The doctor was then informed of the fact that the sample was obtained in 1996.  To which, Dr. Gomez replied, “Then you have to explain one thing to me.  If this sample came from a person who was dead, then how could it be that as I was examining it, the cells of the sample were moving and beating?  If the heart comes from a person who dies in 1996, how can it still be alive?”  Needless to say, the doctor was shocked when he was told the whole story.
Then Doctor Ricardo Castanon Gomez arranged to have the lab reports from the Buenos Aires miracle compared to the lab reports from the Lanciano miracle, again without revealing the origin of the test samples.  The experts making the comparison concluded that the two lab reports must have originated from test samples obtained from the same person.  They further reported that both samples revealed an “AB” positive blood type.  They also said that the DNA report of two test samples were identical.  Therefore, the Lanciano sample and the Buenos Aires sample must have been taken from the same person.
There is one more very important and very interesting fact that I must report.  When the scientific findings of the blood samples taken from Lanciano and Buenos Aires are compared to those of the scientific team that analyzed the blood samples taken from the Shroud of Turin and from the Sudarium of Oviedo, they are proven to be 100% identical.  They are all an “AB” positive blood type.  They are all characteristic of a man who was born and lived in the Middle East region.
We will never be able to prove the Christian concept of Transubstantiation to an unbeliever.  But Saint Augustine responded forcefully, in the late 4th century, to pagans’ allegations that Christian beliefs were not only superstitious but also barbaric. He points out that science can and should be used to clarify and illuminate the Christian faith.
The examples that I have just cited should help confirm the faith of we, the faithful.  These examples should also serve to remind us of the fact that the Eucharistic presence that we see on the altar is much more than just a piece of unleavened bread and glass of wine.  That it is actually the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus.  But most importantly, may we always remember that these miracles that I just cited are not unique.  This miracle happens every single day, in every Church throughout the world, at the consecration of the Mass.  And with this understanding may we forever treat this Sacred Species with the reverence it deserves.

---

[i] February 17, 1574 by Bishop Antonio Gaspar Rodrigues
[ii] Book titled “This is My Body, This is My Blood Miracles of the Eucharist1 – Book 1” by Bob & Penny Lord.
[iii] At the initiative of Archbishop Pacifico Perantoni of Lanciano, and of the provincial minister of the Franciscan Conventuals of Abruzzo, and with authorization from Rome, the test was conducted by Doctor Oroardo Linoli, who is a professor of Anatomy and Pathological History and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy, and former head of the Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy at the hospital in Arezzo, Italy.  He was assisted by Doctor Ruggero Bartelli, a retired professor of human anatomy at the University of Siena.
[iv] Findings presented on March 4, 1971 and Published in Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori.
[v] Summary of information gathered from Dr. Ricardo Castanon of Mexico City and Father Jeffrey Montz Parochial Vicar at Saint Francis of Assisi, New Orleans.
[vi] Ricardo Castañón Gómez is president of the Grupo Internacional Para la Paz (International Group for Peace). Based in Bolivia, Castañón Gómez’s home country, and also operating out of the other members’ 12 countries, the nonprofit group is a collection of self-financed research professionals who investigate mystical phenomena. They report their results, as scientific opinion, directly to the Vatican for consideration.  Ricardo Castañón Gómez is a clinical psychologist specializing in brain biochemistry, has participated in more than half a dozen studies of Eucharistic miracles over the past two decades.
[vii] Dr. Frederick Zugibe is a forensic pathologist.

Burning and Bleeding Host: A Eucharistic Miracle caught on camera

For video see: http://www.dsanford.com/miraclehost/hostvideo.wmv

THE BURNING, BLEEDING, BEATING HEART HOST
NOVEMBER 13, 1998
AUGUSTINIAN NUNS CHAPEL - LOS TEQUES, VENEZUELA

Filmed on RCA Camcorder by pilgrim Dan Sanford of N. J.

This film is actually a Miracle within a Miracle. The first miracle occurred in Betania, Venezuela, on December 8, 1991 -- Feast of the Immaculate Conception during the celebration of the Holy Mass at midnight. The celebrant, Father Otty Ossa Arstiza'bal, Betania Chaplain had just finished the Consecration, had broken the large Host into four pieces and took one piece of the Host for his consumption and placed the remaining portions on the plate on the altar. When he looked down at the remaining Host, to his amazement he saw a red substance coming out of the Host which he described as if it was spurting from a wound. He placed the Host in a Chalice and put it in the Tabernacle until 6 A. M. the next morning. When he looked at it again it was still bleeding so he placed it in a Monstrance and took it to show the people at Mass. Eyewitnesses saw the Host bleeding and blood accumulating on the bottom of the Monstrance and some filmed it on their camcorders. Bishop Ricardo of Los Teques was advised and he had the Host tested in Caracus and was told that the red substance was in fact Human Blood. Subsequently, the Miracle Host was taken to the convent of the Augustinian Nuns in Los Teques for safekeeping, adoration and visitation by pilgrims. This was the reason, Dan Sanford went to Los Teques on November 13, 1998, to see the Miraculous Bleeding Host and was when he filmed this second miraculous event concerning this Host.

Why visit Betania in the first place? Betania is the apparition site where mystic Maria Esperanza Bianchini experiences apparitions of the Blessed Mother. It is only the fourth site in the twentieth century approved by the Roman Catholic Church as a place worthy of pilgrimage and celebration of the sacraments of Mass and Reconciliation. Betania is also the only apparition site known in the world where others besides the visionary have seen the Blessed Mother. In March, 1984, 108 people experienced seeing the Blessed Mother at that site, beginning first with a group of children who excitedly reported to the adults that the Blessed Mother was in the trees near the jungle edge. The adults ran to the scene and also experienced seeing her. Their descriptions varied because they saw her under different titles. Some reported seeing her as Our Lady of Lourdes, others as the image of the Miraculous Medal and others as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Many cried and didn't know why they we! re crying. None were in a state of ecstasy or trance but were fully aware of their of their senses and surroundings. Our Lady appeared seven times that day for 10-15 minutes at a time to those present. Thereafter, the Bishop investigated the site and sent a letter to Rome on March 21, 1987 announcing his approval of Betania as a valid apparition site.

Who is Maria Esperanza Bianchini? Maria is a wife, mother of 7 children and a grandmother. Since she was a child she has experienced supernatural visitations from The Blessed Mother, Jesus and Saints. At age 5, she saw St. Theresa, The Little Flower; at age 12 the first visit from Blessed Mother and at age 14 The Blessed Mother told her about Betania. Being very religious, in 1954 she entered a convent but shortly later, on October 3, 1954, St. Theresa came to her and told her that her vocation in life was to become a wife and mother not a religious. She met her future husband in Rome and on December 8, 1956 they were married in Rome.

Maria had her first apparition of the Blessed Mother in Betania on March 25, 1976 and these were private apparitions. In 1978, Rome was advised of her situation. But on March 25, 1984, the Feast of the Annunciation, her apparitions changed from private to public when the 108 people also saw the Blessed Mother in Betania. Our Lady comes to Maria under the title of "Reconciler of People and Nations" and per Her request, a new church has been built by the Bishop and given this title. Her message is the same worldwide. She begs for all of Her children, regardless of faith, race, nationality, to Return to Her Son, Pray the 15 Decades of the Rosary as a weapon to overcome man's evil material ways and determination to destroy the world with armaments. She says only the Rosary will bring peace.

Betania is blessed with supernatural events such as mysterious fogs, intensive light, appearance of abundant flowers, especially roses - sounds of choirs singing hymns, mysterious rose petals falling from the sky, photographic phenomena and miraculous water, sometimes smelling like roses with many miraculous cures associated with the site.

This film is one more miracle given to us by the grace of God to help us recognize the true presence of His beloved Son in the Holy Eucharist.

(This video may be obtained by writing to:
Daniel Sanford
329 Cypress Ave.
Woodlynne, NJ 08107

The video is offered 'free of charge' but any donations to defray costs and to assist in furthe distribution of this wondrous video are gratefully appreciated.)

It also had a Letter of Approval from the Bishop of Los Teques, + Pio Bello, S. J., Bishop Emeritus of Los Teques, dated January 25, 1999, -- here are (sic) excerpts:

"After seeing the tape I became impressed.

As you should know, the experts in Spiritual Theology interpret the authentic visions as a mental phenomenon, that is, as an hallucination produced by God. They admit the possibility of optical visions, that is visions in which an object exterior to the seer is perceived by his eyes. Of this kind are the apparitions of Christ to the Apostles after his resurrection.

That a concrete vision is optical or only a mental one can be concluded by its characteristics. In your case your vision could be interpreted as a mental phenomenon since it was seen only by you and not by the other witnesses that were present.

But if we presume that hypothesis, it becomes outstanding that your filming camera could perceive and record your mental phenomenon against the laws of the Physic, since a camera, as the eye, can perceive only real objects that reflect the light.

So, in any hypothesis or in any case, the filming of your vision points out the hand of God.

Continue evangelizing about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic with the help of this impressive tape."

ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE FROM 'MIRACULOUS' STAIRS IN SANTA FE FOUND UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WOOD

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/newmexico2.htm

You perhaps have heard of it, the staircase at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where -- according to the literature -- nuns who operated a convent there began a novena to Saint Joseph, patron of carpenters and builders, when they needed a way to easily traverse up to the choir loft, which previously had been accessed by ladder. Their dilemma was that there was no room for a stairway as normal stairways go. A flurry of carpenters they consulted had said so.
According to accounts, on the last day of the novena, a gray-haired man came to the convent with a donkey and a tool chest -- basically, a saw, a hammer, and a square. He also needed tubs to soak wood. They gave him the job, and he set about the work on July 25, 1873, taking what is now estimated as six to eight months to complete it. Only wood pegs (no nails) were used. And the result was exquisite.
"The winding stairway that the old man left for the sisters is a masterpiece of beauty and wonder," noted St. Joseph Magazine. "It makes two complete 360-degree turns. There is no supporting pole up the center as most circular stairways have. This means it hangs there with no support. The entire weight is on the base. Some architects have said that by all laws of gravity, it should have crashed to the floor the minute anyone stepped on it and yet was used daily for nearly a hundred years." Indeed, there are photos of the staircase filled with members of the choir!
When the sisters went to pay the man, continues the account, he had vanished. There is no record of paying anyone a penny for the incredible piece of carpentry.
We have had an article on this previously. "I spoke with Urban C. Weidner, a Santa Fe architect and wood expert, about the staircase," noted Sister M. Florian. "He told me that he had never seen a circular wooden stairway with 360-degree turns that did not have a supporting pole down the center. One of the most baffling things about the stairway, however, is the perfection of the curves of the stringers, according to Mr. Weidner. He told me that the wood is spliced along the sides of the stringers with nine splices on the outside and seven on the inside. Each piece is perfectly curved. How this came about in the 1870s by a single man in an out-of-the-way place with only the most primitive tools has never been explained."
Indeed, it is a gorgeous piece of woodwork -- now with banisters (it was originally constructed without any).
An angel? St. Joseph himself?
"Sisters, going in to the Chapel to pray, saw the tubs with wood soaking in them, but the man always withdrew while they said their prayers, returning to his work when the Chapel was free," says another account. " Some there are who say the circular stair which stands there today was built very quickly. Others say no, it took quite a little time. But the stair did grow, rising solidly in a double helix without support of any kind and without nail or screw. The floor space used was minimal and the stair adds to, rather than detracts from, the beauty of the chapel."
We would like to emphasize another twist to this mystery. It comes to us from Richard Lindsley, who managed the Loretto Chapel (which is now in private hands) from 1991 to 2006 and says at one point he took a sample of wood from the staircase and gave it to a scientist named Forrest N. Easley, who worked at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California.
"I went to the top of the stairs," Lindsley told Spirit Daily. "There's a crack that's held together with a metal plate. The staircase had sunk an inch or inch-and-a-half into the floor. That's where I pried a loose piece and gave it to him. I expected to hear the results quickly."
Instead, says Lindsley, two months passed and he all but gave up about hearing anything. But one day, he recalls, Easley showed up at the chapel because he wanted to report his results in person. What he told Lindsley was straight to the point: the wood sample was spruce of no known subspecies. It matched nothing in the scientific record. Easley had wanted to thoroughly search through all known data. That's what had caused the delay. He researched it further and after 18 months came out with a careful, measured statement saying that the wood from the staircase had molecules that were "very dense and square" and indicated that it had come from trees that grew slowly in a "very, very cold place," like Alaska (not New Mexico).
That was interesting because at the time the chapel was constructed -- by the mysterious stranger -- there was no rail system that could have brought in the wood from such a distance, and no local trees that grew above an elevation of 10,000 feet -- which is the only place of comparable cold.
The closest match remained spruce from Alaska.
In short, it was no known type.
"He claimed to have discovered a new subspecies," says Lindsley.
"He called it Pinacae Ticea 'Josefii' Easley," or 'Loretto spruce."
Let's call it a mystery.
Or a miracle.
Ah, St. Joseph!
How quickly he answers novenas!
How hidden he is.