THE MARVELS OF JOAZEIRAS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 28, 29 April 1892, Page 31

THE MARVELS OF JOAZEIRAS.

(From the Are ilana, )

A FOBKIOH correspondent sends us tba following acount of the marvels which have lately caused so mncb excitement in Brazil : It ia reported on reliable authority that in the little village of Joazeiras, neat the city of Grata, in the Bighopric of Ceara, Brazil, the Sacramental Host has been changed into blood several times within a few months. Taedioc.san commission sent to Joaz^iras to verify the facts, is said to posses* documaotary proofs which fully satiify its demands. The wonder Ukes place during the communion of an ©ostaclica named Marit de Aracji. In tbe last Communion given to her by the secretary of the commission, the Rev, Dr. Anthero, the sacramental species took the regular and perfect (orm of a heart made of human fl eh, from which blood and water was see a to flow, as from the Heart of our Divina Lord when opened by the laoca o i Calvary. The diocesan commisson left this miraculous heart exposed in a glaia cisc in tb« Chapel of the BlesseJ Sacrameut, wherj, fifteea days after the miracle, It could be •een incorruptible and perfect as if an object of art. It is very small scarcely an inch Ion?, but so wondronsly beautiful that no one can behold It without emotion, and feeling impelled to worship It. ' A document presented to the commission container the following statements madj on oath, and signed by fif y-aiae persons, witnesses of what is rtlated : {.. The s lgma'isation of Maria de Aranjo more than once, bef ire ■ everal persons, inclnding tne B ;v. Fathers Joaquim Sother d'Alencar, Cicero Baptista, ani Manoel Caodido dos Santos, curate of Bardalba. 2. The transformation of the Sicramental Host iato blood ia tbe act of commnnichtiog the tama Maria de A ran jo ; tbe circumstances plainly showing the blood proceeded from the sacramental species. This supernatural fact is not owing (as a journal of Oeara supposes) to hypnotic suggestion on the part of the Bey. Father Oiotro Baptista

to tbe communicant. She baa been bis penitent since she wm nine y«ars of age. The same marvel was repeated when other priests, from different dioceses, administered Holy Communion to her. It happened lately ibat the commissary of tbe diocestn Bishop having arrivtid in Joareira", the Sacred Host then given by Father Baptista to Maria de Aranjo remained intact and indissoluble, and impossible to consume, while the Host she received from the Epiccopal Commissary was changed into blood ; so that the influence of Father Baptista disappeared completely, but tbe supernatural fact continued to show itself always the same, both in Joaxeiraa and in Crato, to which latter town tbe diocesan authority ordered tht poor and humble Maria de Aranjo to be transferred. On the 24th of last September, in the presence of a great concourst of people of every class, the Sacred Host wm changed into blood at the Communion of Maria de Aranjo ; and half an hour afterward she showed tbe marks of stigmatiiatlon. On that occasion Dr Ignacio de Lonz\ Dias aod Dr Marcos Bodrigued Madeira, both medical doctors, examined attentively the state of Maria de Aranjo before, in the act of, and after receiving Communion, without find* ing tbe least trac3 of hypnotism, hysteria, or any other cause which could possibly explain the marvellous effects witnessed by all. On the following day the Bey Episcopal Commissary again gave Holy Communion to Maria de Aranjo, and again the Host turned into blood. Tbe above-mentioned doctors then administered to her a strong solution of per chloride of iron, with which they made he r gargle her throat and wash her mouth and gums, to convince them • selves the flow of blood was not caused by hemorrhage from any of the capillary vessels of the tongue. They then requested tbat Holy Communion be again offered to her ; but tbe Sacred Host took the form of a beart as before, and the blood that flowed from It was more vivid and redder than that of the previous transformation. This marvel was witnessed by numerons spectators.