India · 21th Century
Chirattakonam
On April 28, 2001, at 8:49 AM during the beginning of the Annual Novena to St. Jude Thaddeus at St. Mary's Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Chirattakonam (near Trivandrum), Kerala, India, Rev. Fr. Johnson Karoor exposed the Most Holy Sacrament in the monstrance for public adoration. After a few moments, he noticed what appeared to be three distinct dots on the Holy Eucharist.
About this miracle
He invited the faithful present to observe the three dots and asked the congregation to remain in prayer. The monstrance was then reposed in the tabernacle.
Over approximately one week (April 28 - May 5, 2001), the three dots reportedly began to form a more complete image. On May 5, 2001, Fr. Karoor opened the tabernacle and saw in the Host 'the likeness of a human face, similar to that of Christ crowned with thorns.' As minutes passed during adoration, 'the image became more and more clear.'
To verify he was not alone seeing it, he asked his altar server: 'What do you notice in the monstrance?' The altar server independently responded: 'I see the figure of a man.' This confirmed objective visibility.
Fr. Karoor immediately summoned a photographer; per his deposition, all the photos were developed within two hours, and 'with the passing of the time the face in every photo became more and more clear.'
REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE
May 5, 2001 was the day the Gospel reading was John 20 (Doubting Thomas demanding to see Christ's wounds).
ECCLESIASTICAL RESPONSE
No formal commission report has been published; claims of a diocesan commission of theologians, medical doctors, and photography experts circulate only on secondary websites and cannot be traced to any primary archeparchial source. The documented ecclesiastical response is the written statement of Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios, who verified the event, stating: 'For us believers what we have seen is something that we have always believed... If our Lord is speaking to us by giving us this sign, it certainly needs a response from us.'