The Archdiocese of Hartford is appealing to the Vatican for guidance on how to proceed with its investigation of a possible eucharistic miracle at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Thomaston, Connecticut.
The referral is the first public update by the archdiocese since it was first reported in late March that Jesus, truly present in the holy Eucharist, appeared to multiply himself in the ciborium, typically a gold chalice that holds the eucharistic body of Christ.
“Reports such as the alleged miracle in Thomaston require referral to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. The archdiocese has proceeded accordingly and will await a response in due time,” David Elliott, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told CNA Thursday.
It’s unclear how long the dicastery could take to respond to the archdiocese’s request, Elliott told CNA.
Since news of the possible eucharistic miracle spread, a number of pilgrims have flocked to the church where Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, was once the pastor.
On March 5 at the the conclusion of Mass, Father Joseph Crowley announced that a eucharistic minister witnessed something unexplainable as he was distributing Communion.
“One of our eucharistic ministers was running out of hosts and suddenly there were more hosts in the ciborium. God just duplicated himself in the ciborium,” an emotional Father Crowley told the faithful.
“It’s really, really cool when God does these things, and it’s really, really cool when we realize what he’s done, and it just happened today,” the priest said.
“Very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking. But also, it happens, and today it happened,” he said.
“They were running out of hosts and all of a sudden more hosts were there. So today not only did we have the miracle of the Eucharist, we also had a bigger miracle. It’s pretty cool,” the priest said.
On March 28, the Archdiocese of Hartford put out a statement saying: “As people of faith we know that miracles can and do happen, as they did during Christ’s earthly ministry. Miracles are divine signs calling us to faith or to deepen our faith.”
“Roman Catholics experience a daily miracle because every time Mass is celebrated what was bread becomes the Body of Christ and what was wine becomes his Blood,” the statement 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 statement continued.
“What has been reported to have occurred at our parish church in Thomaston, of which Blessed Michael McGivney was once pastor, if verified, would constitute a sign or wonder that can only be attributed to divine power to strengthen our faith in the daily miracle of the Most Holy Eucharist. It would also be a source of blessing from Heaven for the effort that the U.S. bishops are making to renew and deepen the faith and practice of our Catholic people with regard to this great Sacrament,” the statement said.