The priest paused after finishing a prayer, looked at someone off to his side and scratched his forehead.
“We had something happen,” he told the congregation.
The Rev. Joseph Crowley paused again, video shows.
“It’s hard to say, actually,” he added.
What happened, some at the Connecticut parish now say, was a miracle: During Communion, a bowl holding the hosts — the wafers that Catholicism teaches are transformed into Jesus Christ’s body during the Mass — began to run out. And yet, Crowley said, the bowl never emptied.
The possibility that the receptacle may have refilled itself during a March 5 service has kindled fascination among the faithful. It has also inspired the Archdiocese of Hartford to launch an investigation, which has since been sent to the highest echelons of the church hierarchy for review. If the Vatican finds that the reported increase in Communion hosts defies rational or scientific explanation, the conclusion could bolster Catholics’ belief in the teaching that the sacramental wafers literally become Jesus.
The probe could take months or years, so the parishioners of St. Thomas Church are relying for now on the proclamation of their pastor. Standing before his congregation in the 7,400-person town of Thomaston, Conn., Crowley said the reported miracle was evidence that God provides.
“Very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking — but also, it happens. It happens,” he said moments after the incident. “And today, it happened.”
The multiplication of hosts, if verified, would bolster efforts by the U.S. bishops to renew Catholics’ belief in the “daily miracle” of the wafers becoming Jesus’s body during the Mass, the archdiocese said.
“Through the centuries this daily miracle has sometimes been confirmed by extraordinary signs from Heaven, but the Church is always careful to investigate reports of such signs with caution, lest credence is given to something that proves to be unfounded,” the archdiocese said in a statement.
Ken Santopietro, a religious education teacher at St. Thomas, attended the Mass where the potential miracle occurred and was interviewed by representatives of the archdiocese. He recalled telling them that the people distributing Communion huddled with the priest afterward as if something unusual were happening.
Moments later, Crowley announced that the hosts had multiplied.
“I immediately believed in what he said he saw because of the reaction of not only him, but because of the group of people who were there — his ministers,” said Santopietro, who directs the Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference.
When the church acknowledges a miracle, believers flock to the site to see evidence and reinvigorate their faith. Millions of Catholics each year travel to Fátima, Portugal, and Lourdes, France — both places where the Virgin Mary has reportedly appeared to people — among other locations.
St. Thomas would probably also attract visitors if it were declared the site of a miracle, said Michael O’Neill, author of “Science and the Miraculous: How the Church Investigates the Supernatural.” If the Vatican finds the multiplication claim to be credible, he said, they would encourage the church to display the leftover hosts in a small shrine.
The parish distributed some of the remaining wafers after the occurrence but saved others, Crowley told his congregation. He did not respond to an interview request from The Washington Post.
For the Catholic Church, investigating a supposed miracle is a rigorous process that often solicits input from scientists, doctors and other experts in their fields. The church relies on the technology available at the time, and experts said some occurrences deemed miracles years ago might not be understood that way if they were investigated today.
In Connecticut, the case of the multiplying hosts has parallels to the biblical story of loaves and fishes, in which Jesus is said to have used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 men. The probe probably centers on the testimony and credibility of witnesses — the person distributing Communion from that bowl and anyone else who may have seen what happened.
Church officials will be interested in whether some could have refilled the receptacle without the distributor noticing or whether that person may have not seen how many hosts were there in the first place, Llywelyn said. They will try to ensure that any witnesses are of sound mind and not seeking publicity.
Church officials may also review any available video and test the remaining wafers for differences in composition between them and other Communion hosts, O’Neill said.
The Archdiocese of Hartford was the first to investigate the potential miracle; whether it drew a conclusion is unclear. Elliott told the Catholic publication OSV News that the probe was led by the archdiocesan judicial vicar, who is tasked with judging spiritual matters. Dioceses will draw from their communities if they need people with specific expertise to help with an investigation, O’Neill said.
The Vatican’s department for doctrine and matters of belief, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is reviewing the Hartford archdiocese’s investigation. They will involve theologians and canon lawyers — people with expertise in internal church law — in discussing the archdiocese’s reports and mulling whether rational explanations have been thoroughly considered, Llywelyn said.
“We had something happen,” he told the congregation.
The Rev. Joseph Crowley paused again, video shows.
“It’s hard to say, actually,” he added.
What happened, some at the Connecticut parish now say, was a miracle: During Communion, a bowl holding the hosts — the wafers that Catholicism teaches are transformed into Jesus Christ’s body during the Mass — began to run out. And yet, Crowley said, the bowl never emptied.
The possibility that the receptacle may have refilled itself during a March 5 service has kindled fascination among the faithful. It has also inspired the Archdiocese of Hartford to launch an investigation, which has since been sent to the highest echelons of the church hierarchy for review. If the Vatican finds that the reported increase in Communion hosts defies rational or scientific explanation, the conclusion could bolster Catholics’ belief in the teaching that the sacramental wafers literally become Jesus.
The probe could take months or years, so the parishioners of St. Thomas Church are relying for now on the proclamation of their pastor. Standing before his congregation in the 7,400-person town of Thomaston, Conn., Crowley said the reported miracle was evidence that God provides.
“Very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking — but also, it happens. It happens,” he said moments after the incident. “And today, it happened.”
The multiplication of hosts, if verified, would bolster efforts by the U.S. bishops to renew Catholics’ belief in the “daily miracle” of the wafers becoming Jesus’s body during the Mass, the archdiocese said.
“Through the centuries this daily miracle has sometimes been confirmed by extraordinary signs from Heaven, but the Church is always careful to investigate reports of such signs with caution, lest credence is given to something that proves to be unfounded,” the archdiocese said in a statement.
Ken Santopietro, a religious education teacher at St. Thomas, attended the Mass where the potential miracle occurred and was interviewed by representatives of the archdiocese. He recalled telling them that the people distributing Communion huddled with the priest afterward as if something unusual were happening.
Moments later, Crowley announced that the hosts had multiplied.
“I immediately believed in what he said he saw because of the reaction of not only him, but because of the group of people who were there — his ministers,” said Santopietro, who directs the Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference.
Miracles are foundational to Catholicism, which teaches that Jesus was God in human form, worked miracles during his life and then died for humanity’s sins before rising from the dead. As the church defines it, a miracle is a sign or wonder that can only be attributed to God — “a glimpse into heaven,” said the Rev. Dorian Llywelyn, incoming director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University.
When the church acknowledges a miracle, believers flock to the site to see evidence and reinvigorate their faith. Millions of Catholics each year travel to Fátima, Portugal, and Lourdes, France — both places where the Virgin Mary has reportedly appeared to people — among other locations.
St. Thomas would probably also attract visitors if it were declared the site of a miracle, said Michael O’Neill, author of “Science and the Miraculous: How the Church Investigates the Supernatural.” If the Vatican finds the multiplication claim to be credible, he said, they would encourage the church to display the leftover hosts in a small shrine.
The parish distributed some of the remaining wafers after the occurrence but saved others, Crowley told his congregation. He did not respond to an interview request from The Washington Post.
For the Catholic Church, investigating a supposed miracle is a rigorous process that often solicits input from scientists, doctors and other experts in their fields. The church relies on the technology available at the time, and experts said some occurrences deemed miracles years ago might not be understood that way if they were investigated today.
In Connecticut, the case of the multiplying hosts has parallels to the biblical story of loaves and fishes, in which Jesus is said to have used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 men. The probe probably centers on the testimony and credibility of witnesses — the person distributing Communion from that bowl and anyone else who may have seen what happened.
Church officials will be interested in whether some could have refilled the receptacle without the distributor noticing or whether that person may have not seen how many hosts were there in the first place, Llywelyn said. They will try to ensure that any witnesses are of sound mind and not seeking publicity.
Church officials may also review any available video and test the remaining wafers for differences in composition between them and other Communion hosts, O’Neill said.
The Archdiocese of Hartford was the first to investigate the potential miracle; whether it drew a conclusion is unclear. Elliott told the Catholic publication OSV News that the probe was led by the archdiocesan judicial vicar, who is tasked with judging spiritual matters. Dioceses will draw from their communities if they need people with specific expertise to help with an investigation, O’Neill said.
The Vatican’s department for doctrine and matters of belief, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is reviewing the Hartford archdiocese’s investigation. They will involve theologians and canon lawyers — people with expertise in internal church law — in discussing the archdiocese’s reports and mulling whether rational explanations have been thoroughly considered, Llywelyn said.
