Communion wafer turns blood red in St. Paul church: Miracle or fungus? [POLL]

By Jessica Lussenhop Tue., Jul. 19 2011 at 7:19 AM

Christ or crud? You decide.

The local Catholic Archdiocese has a mystery on its hands of Da Vinci Code-esque proportions.

The burning issue at hand -- has a miracle occurred in the sleepy town of South St. Paul? Or were the events that have turned St. Augustine Catholic Church on its head to blame on a common airborne fungus?

At an ordinary 7 a.m. Sunday mass, communion was being distributed when one of the wafers fell to the floor. Since these consecrated "hosts" represent the body of Christ and are never simply thrown away, the wafer was placed in a golden ciborium -- or special cup for hosts -- in water so that it would dissolve.

When one of the church vicars looked in the ciborium the following Sunday, he saw that not only had the wafer not completely dissolved, it had turned a blood red color. When Father John Echert examined it, he described it as looking like a piece of bloody tissue:

Father John Echert via The Eponymous Flower

Last week, Echert turned the host over to the archdiocese to get an official opinion -- was this a miracle? So far, officials are being very tight lipped about the issue and what exactly goes into such an investigation.

"This is a very sensitive issue. We're taking a very cautious stance," says archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath.

Although there is a possibility the wafer will be sent to a lab to test for a more earthly explanation -- like a fungus or some other contaminant -- McGrath says no such plans have been finalized.

Spirit Daily

The 2006 bleeding host.

Skeptics point to a very similar incident that happened in 2006 in Dallas. In that case, a little boy spit out his wafer and it was dropped in a glass of water and left there for several weeks. Over time, it turned blood red and began to take on a fleshy consistency. But a University of Dallas biology professor who tested the wafer concluded that it was "fungal mycelia and bacterial colonies that have been incubated within the aquatic environment of the glass during the four-week period in which it was stored in the open air." Eew.

So, either Christ is personally sending good tidings to the people of St. Paul, or the folks over at St. Augustine need to run their ciboriums through the dishwasher more often.

What do you think?

Tags:

Archdiocese, bloody host, Dennis McGrath, Father John Echert, miracle, St. Augustine Church

We Recommend

Vikesfan4life

It's a miracle, just like the message that was left to me in my cereal. It said OOOOOOOOOOO.

Kirk the Conservative Jerk

Religion is a well thought out primitive tool which was inployed to bring society together for a common cause. The Bible is VERY CLEAR that no one shall eat pork and many other things.

Leviticus 11Clean and Unclean Food1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 4 “‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

This goes on and on and includes shelfish.I just love how Christians look foward to eating "heathen ham" for Christmas and Easter.

Bet I confused the crap out of people with this post!

Angel09

Um, I think you need to remember that when Jesus came (as the fulfillment of truth, aka He completed and clarified truth), a lot of things changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament...that is why there is a difference between Judaism and Christianity. Jewish people do not eat pork, Christians do (unless they choose to be vegetarians, which is fine too). To be honest, I don't care if you or anyone else doesn't agree with me or other Christians, I just think you need to remember that as you all ask that we don't impose our religion/morals on you, don't impose your beliefs/morals on us. Respect that we trust the Bible as a valid source of truth. I really don't understand why people are so disrespectful towards people with religion - most people with religion, just like most people without, are just searching for answers and truth, and how to live a life with meaning. Why can't you just respect that? At least they are searching for a reason for living, and if that reason ends up being found in a religion, so be it. It really shouldn't be that big of a deal to you or anybody else. I really don't care if someone's viewpoint differs from mine. Accept that everyone is different, and move on. And as a sidenote - if you had looked into this situation further, you would be able to tell that the Catholics are not running around crazily screaming MIRACLE at the top of their lungs...they are looking into this, because the situation looks a little strange, but they have already said that if it can be explained by natural causes, which they have also said they think is the most probable answer, they will accept it and forget about it. Also, the reporter clearly wasn't agreeing or supporting or even being kind about this situation, he was kind of mocking it, so it is most likely that Catholics didn't summon the media to do this article. The reporter probably just took the opportunity to be rude.

simon

What, you're a Jew now?

wakeup

god and science are one and the same. the miracles we see are just undiscovered reality. I saw the mother Mary in my wood floor. I have no doubt about what I saw. She appeared when I had all this Love in my heart and the atoms of the wood came together in the beautiful shape of Mary. yes there was fungus involved but it only gave me the ability to see something that was really there. both science and pure love which = Mary conciousness

zerofor

Paraedolia, anyone?

Michelle Bachmann

Obviously this is a miracle. See Jesus needs to prove to the faithful that he is real but he can't be like some fucking Kardashian so he has to do it in mysterious ways. It was like the other day when I was eating my coco rice krispies. Jesus wanted to prove to me he was real so he turned my milk a brownish tinge. Not a single one of you liberal science nerds can explain why that happened. Bam! Miracle. Miracles blow my mind like how the fuck do magnets work? We will never know.

sue

fucking magnets!!