Eucharistic Miracles of India

Chirattakonam, 2001

This contemporary Eucharistic miracle occurred on May 5, 2001, in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala, India. The image of a human face resembling Christ crowned with thorns appeared upon the consecrated Host. His Beatitude Cyril Mar Baselios, Metropolitan Archbishop of Trivandrum, wrote concerning this extraordinary prodigy:

Image of the Eucharistic miracle

[…] For us believers, what we have seen is that which we have always believed […]. If our Lord is speaking to us through this sign, it certainly demands a response from each of us.

The monstrance containing the miraculous Host is carefully preserved to this day in the parish church. Father Johnson Karoor, parish priest of the church where the miracle occurred, recounted in his official report:

On April 28, 2001, in the parish church of Saint Mary in Chirattakonam, we began our customary annual novena to Saint Jude Thaddeus. At 8:49 in the morning, I exposed the Most Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance for public adoration. After a few minutes, I noticed what looked like three dark dots appearing on the Holy Eucharist. I ceased vocal prayer and gazed intently at the monstrance, inviting the faithful to observe the three marks. I then asked them to remain in prayer, and I reposed the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.
On April 30, I celebrated Holy Mass, and the following day I departed for Trivandrum. On Saturday morning, May 5, 2001, I opened the church for sacred services; having vested, I opened the tabernacle to see what had become of the Host exposed days earlier. To my astonishment, I beheld the clear figure of a human face outlined upon the Host. Overcome with deep emotion, I asked the faithful to kneel and begin praying. Thinking that perhaps I was the only one seeing the face, I asked the altar server what he saw in the monstrance. He immediately answered: «I see the face of a man». I noticed that the other parishioners were also gazing with rapt attention at the monstrance.
We began solemn adoration, and the figure of the man became progressively clearer and more distinct. Overwhelmed, I had no strength to speak and wept. During adoration, it was our custom to read a passage of Sacred Scripture; the assigned reading that morning was the twentieth chapter of Saint John's Gospel, which recounts the Risen Jesus appearing to Saint Thomas and showing him His sacred wounds. I was barely able to utter a few words in my homily. Afterward, having to celebrate Mass in the neighboring parish of Kokkodu, I summoned a photographer as quickly as possible to photograph the Holy Eucharist with the human face. Within two hours the photographs were developed: in each photograph, the face appeared with unmistakable clarity.

Source

Text and photographs: international exhibition «The Eucharistic Miracles of the World», by Saint Carlo Acutis. Original panel at miracolieucaristici.org.

Chirattakonam, 2001

Image of the Eucharistic miracle

[…] For us believers, what we have seen is that which we have always believed […]. If our Lord is speaking to us through this sign, it certainly demands a response from each of us.

On April 28, 2001, in the parish church of Saint Mary in Chirattakonam, we began our customary annual novena to Saint Jude Thaddeus. At 8:49 in the morning, I exposed the Most Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance for public adoration. After a few minutes, I noticed what looked like three dark dots appearing on the Holy Eucharist. I ceased vocal prayer and gazed intently at the monstrance, inviting the faithful to observe the three marks. I then asked them to remain in prayer, and I reposed the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.
On April 30, I celebrated Holy Mass, and the following day I departed for Trivandrum. On Saturday morning, May 5, 2001, I opened the church for sacred services; having vested, I opened the tabernacle to see what had become of the Host exposed days earlier. To my astonishment, I beheld the clear figure of a human face outlined upon the Host. Overcome with deep emotion, I asked the faithful to kneel and begin praying. Thinking that perhaps I was the only one seeing the face, I asked the altar server what he saw in the monstrance. He immediately answered: «I see the face of a man». I noticed that the other parishioners were also gazing with rapt attention at the monstrance.
We began solemn adoration, and the figure of the man became progressively clearer and more distinct. Overwhelmed, I had no strength to speak and wept. During adoration, it was our custom to read a passage of Sacred Scripture; the assigned reading that morning was the twentieth chapter of Saint John's Gospel, which recounts the Risen Jesus appearing to Saint Thomas and showing him His sacred wounds. I was barely able to utter a few words in my homily. Afterward, having to celebrate Mass in the neighboring parish of Kokkodu, I summoned a photographer as quickly as possible to photograph the Holy Eucharist with the human face. Within two hours the photographs were developed: in each photograph, the face appeared with unmistakable clarity.