Church Finds No Trickery In Claims Of Girl's Miracles

Worcester, Mass. (AP) -- Roman Catholic investigators haven't been able to establish whether wondrous happenings attributed to a disabled girl are definitely miracles. But they are satisfied the peculiar events are no flimsy hoax. "I don't know," Bishop Daniel P. Reilly said Thursday. "These are things you have to live with, even though we don't like to do that in this day and age." Reilly, who is supervising the investigation, formed a team of two psychologists and a theologian 14 months ago to investigate claims of miracles at the home of Audrey Santo, 15, of Worcester, Mass.

Rev. F. Stephen Pedone, a canon law expert for the diocese, said there are only a handful of such investigations under way in the entire church. The girl has been comatose since she nearly drowned at age three in a backyard swimming pool. Visitors to her Worcester home say statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary appear to weep as they inexplicably weep oil. Hosts, the wafers, which become the body of Christ upon consecration during the Holy Mass are said to bleed. It is not known if the hosts in question have been consecrated as the body of Jesus may only be kept in a private residence with the permission of the Bishop of the local Diocese and under strict guidelines. Some visitors say the girl takes on the suffering of others and helps rid others of ailments. At a news conference Thursday, the investigators said they witnessed the weeping of oily liquid from statues and saw red, blood-like stains on hosts.

They said laboratory tests identified a sample purportedly taken from a host as human blood from someone other than a family member. "We found nothing we could consider to be trickery," said John Madonna, a psychologist on the investigation team. The investigators said they will continue to study the evidence and conduct more laboratory tests of religious objects in the home. They have no deadline to complete their work. Madonna said they may never be able to explain the happenings as either natural or divine. "In the final analysis, it may simply be a matter of faith," he said.

However, the bishop did speak of a "special presence of God" within the home. "People are in such need of hope and healing, and I think Audrey brings something of that into their lives," he said. He praised Audrey's parents, Steve and Linda Santo, for their constant care for their daughter. "There's something, at least in the general sense, ... miraculous about that," he said. However, church officials also denounced some practices surrounding the girl. They said Catholics should pray for -- but not to -- her. They said sick people should not be anointed with oil from the statues, and the bishop said he regretted huge public services centred on Santo because "it turns the girl into a spectacle." About 8,000 attended such a service in August.

Some miraculous events reported at the Santo's Home

Religious statues weep oil. Oil seeps from some walls of the home. Communion Hosts bleed during a mass said at the home. Chalices fill with oil. Statues move by themselves. A vision of the Virgin Mary was claimed to have been seen in a cloud formation over the Santo home. The overpowering scent of roses (a flower often associated with the Virgin Mary) from an unknown source often permeates Audrey's room or other rooms of the home. Spontaneous healings: a local man reported a remission of his throat cancer.

Note from webmaster - [See here] a story reported in Spirit Daily.com online newspaper titled "Said to be at center of miracles, girl in Worcester is example of human dignity."

[See video] of Audrey Santo a victim soul - Eucharistic miracles, oil seeping from statues, walls. Above video's used with permission from PDT's Prophets, visions, miracles & signs from God website. Watch the above videos using the RealOne (Real Video Player) Click on the following icon if you don't already have this on your computer and select the free player at the bottom of the page.

Learn more about these events at Little Audrey Santo.org

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