Vatican to determine if ‘miracle’ happened at Conn. church where parishioners reported multiplying hosts

The Vatican is reviewing claims of a “miracle” at a Catholic church in Connecticut after parishioners reported that Communion hosts mysteriously multiplied at a March Mass.

The Archdiocese of Hartford investigated the claims at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Thomaston and is sending the results to the Holy See in Rome, the Hartford Courant reported last week.

The reported miracle occurred at a March 5 Mass, when a parishioner assisting with Communion reported that there was a shortage of hosts — wafers used during the ritual to symbolize the body of Jesus Christ — only to then find there were plenty.

“God has duplicated himself in the ciborium,” said the Rev. Joseph Crowley, who oversees the congregation, referring to the type of container used to hold the hosts. “It’s really, really cool when God does these things, and it’s really, really cool when we realize what he’s done.”

After the incident, Hartford Archbishop Leonard Blair told reporters he appointed a priest well-versed in church law to look into the reported miracle.

4

4

The bishop said he would decide whether to involve the Vatican.

David Elliott, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told the Courant that “reports such as the alleged miracle in Thomaston require referral to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.”

The dicastery, the oldest department of the Roman Curia, was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy, according to the Vatican.

4

4

“The Archdiocese has proceeded accordingly, and will await a response in due time,” Elliott said.

But Michael O’Neill, an author and radio host known as “The Miracle Hunter,” said the Connecticut church might have difficulty qualifying the multiplying wafers as a genuine miracle.

“I’d be highly surprised that they were able to have enough evidence to declare it a true eucharistic miracle,” he told the Courant.

“I’m guessing they have the testimony of numerous people who would have been able to say that they saw something and understood that this had to have been miraculous,” he said.

“So I’m guessing they’re caught in the middle a little bit not having the hard evidence but having good testimony,” O’Neill added. “So they’re looking for some guidance from the Vatican.”