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MIRACLES AND THE PLAN OF GOD

A Look at the Facts

       "But they going forth preached everywhere; the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed."

—Mark 16:20

As was noted in the beginning, this volume is not intended to be either an encyclopedia of all the miracles of the dead who have been raised, or a scientific work with detailed documentation and critical comments. Such aims would involve too extensive a volume and defeat its actual purpose: a popular work for the the average, not scholarly, reader.

For those who desire more detailed and critical treatment of miracles, an extensive bibliography has been provided. Three volumes, those by Aradi, Leuret and Bon, and Monden, are particularly excellent. In the latter two especially, one will find complete case records of cures with all the minutiae of medical diagnosis, progress of diseases, cure reports, scientific terminology and professional statements.

This book was also not written to provide the titillations of sensationalism—although curiosity may well be the first motive that prompts many readers to pick it up. Admittedly, resurrection miracles are sensational. When Our Lord lived on earth and worked His great miracles, He knew that some would seek only their sensational aspects, refusing to take the next step and put their faith in Him and His words. Yet He continued to perform miracles for the good of those who would accept them properly, even to the raising of Lazarus and His own Resurrection from the dead. But Christ would not put on a circus show for the Tempter (a leap from the pinnacle of the Temple), nor would He perform a "magic trick" for King Herod and his curious but faithless court. Neither would He come down from the cross on Calvary, as some of the irreverent onlookers urged Him. Our Lord's every miracle was completely in accord with the will of His Father in Heaven.

What, then, is God's purpose in performing miracles?

Miracles are performed for the glory of God and the good of men. The famous 19th-century Catholic mystic, Anne Catherine Emmerich, saw visions of Our Lord performing His miracles. Though these constitute private revelations, not binding in faith, they are valuable for the light they shed on the life of our Saviour. Sister Emmerich says that Our Lord always made His manner of curing correspond to the special needs of the recipient: "As every malady of the body symbolized some malady of the spiritual order, some sin or the chastisement due to it, so did every cure symbolize some grace, some conversion, or the cure of some particular evil." (The Life of Christ, Vol. 2, p. 229).

Miracles also provide proofs for the truth of the Catholic Christian Faith. Vatican Council I (1870), in fact, addressed this very point in its chapter on Faith:

       "Nevertheless, in order that the obedience of our faith might be in harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior help of the Holy Spirit there should be joined exterior proofs of His revelation, to wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies, which, as they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all men." (Chapter 3).

Further, Vatican Council I issued two canons, or solemn dogmatic statements, on the value of miracles for our faith:

III. If anyone shall say that divine revelation cannot be made credible by outward signs, and therefore that men ought to be moved to faith solely by the internal experience of each, or by private inspiration, let him be anathema.

IV. If anyone shall say that miracles are impossible, and therefore that all the accounts regarding them, even those contained in Holy Scripture, are to be dismissed as fabulous or mythical, or that miracles can never be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity is not rightly proved by them, let him be anathema.

As Our Lord said, "The works themselves, which I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me." (John 5:36). And also: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." (John 10:37-38). And when questioned by St. John the Baptist's followers as to whether He was the One to come, Our Lord answered by pointing out His miracles; He told them to report to John that "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." (Matt. 11:5-6; also Luke 7:22). Finally, we recall St. Peter's description of Our Lord, spoken on the first Pentecost: "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs . . ." (Acts 2:22).

Vatican Council I also set forth the following additional reason for believing the teachings of the Catholic Church:

       Nay, more, the Church itself, by reason of its marvellous extension, its eminent holiness and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good thing, its Catholic unity and its invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefutable witness of its own divine mission. (Chapter 3, "Of Faith").

Thus, in addition to miracles, the Church's claim to be the One True Church of God is also testified to by the holiness and worldwide unity of her teachings, by her manifold works of charity, by her innumerable consecrated virgins—who have made a holocaust of their lives by the vows of perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience—and by her saints.

These are all facts which a person can see, even before he makes the act of faith. These facts convince the honest inquirer that the claims of the Catholic Church are indeed credible, and that he should take the next step and embrace all the teachings of the Catholic Church. These teachings must all be accepted, since the Church conveys them to us from God Himself. The Christian accepts them not on any human authority, but on the authority of God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

It is this total act of faith that God desires from every soul. By this act the soul renders to its God the homage of the intellect, the obedience of the mind (which is just as necessary for salvation as is the obedience of external acts). In His divine truthfulness God does not allow the soul to pick and choose what it wishes to believe (a practice which is well described by the term "cafeteria Christianity"). The act of faith is a supernatural act, essentially a gift of God, and impossible without His grace. By this act man offers to God a free obedience inasmuch as he concurs and cooperates with God's grace, when he could resist it.

But the assent of faith is by no means a blind impulse. God does not fail to provide the potential believer with abundant motives for making this all-important act of faith. Among these motives are miracles, which, "as they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation adapted to the intelligence of all men."

The gift of working miracles is one of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost; it is mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:9-10 among several other extraordinary gifts. These gifts—known as charismata, or graces gratis datae (gratuitously given)—are distinct from the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost which all Christians receive in Baptism and which remain in the soul so long as a person is in the state of grace—that is, while the Blessed Trinity is dwelling in the soul. These seven gifts, enumerated in Isaiah 11:23, are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

As a person becomes holier, through the practice of the Christian virtues—especially faith, hope and charity—he comes to live more and more in accord with these seven gifts. These gifts have traditionally been compared to seven sails on a ship, enabling the Christian to catch and profit by the breathings of the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately, in very many Christians, these seven gifts remain dormant, with the person therefore living a stunted Christian life. And if a person has the misfortune to commit a mortal sin, these gifts immediately leave the soul, along with the indwelling Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God and His gifts do not abide in a soul in the state of mortal sin.

The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are therefore intimately connected with sanctity of life; they are possessed by all Christians in the state of grace. Though they are completely and sublimely supernatural, they are part and parcel of the way of holiness prescribed by God for every Christian.

The charismata, on the other hand, are special and extraordinary powers vouchsafed by God to only a few, and primarily for the spiritual good of others rather than of the recipient. Thus, although the grace of miracles is very often a sign of sanctity in the miracle-worker, this is not necessarily the case.

Miracles are usually required as evidence in the beatification and canonization investigations of saints, as proofs of their sanctity. Yet more important than miracles is evidence of holiness in the life of the person who is under consideration for beatification or canonization. The "bottom line" in such an investigation is the answer to the question: Did he practice the Christian virtues—especially Faith, Hope, and Charity—to an heroic degree? Pope Benedict XIV explained that miracles alone are not sufficient to prove a person's sanctity—indeed, it is even possible for a person who is in the state of mortal sin to perform miracles:

"It is the common opinion of theologians that the grace of miracles is a grace gratis data, and therefore that it is given not only to the just [those in the state of grace], but also to sinners [those in the state of mortal sin], (though only rarely). Christ says that He knows not those who have done evil, though they may have prophesied in His name, cast out devils in His name, and done many wonderful works. [Matt. 7:22-23]. And the Apostle said that without charity he was nothing, though he might have faith to remove mountains." (Treatise on Heroic Virtue, III, 130).

Yes, it is true that there have been miracle-workers who were not sent by God—like Simon Magus (Acts 8:9), Elymas the magician (Acts 13:8), and Pharaoh's magicians (Exodus 7:10-12, 22; 8:7). It should also be remembered that Our Lord warned us: "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, inasmuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect." (Matt. 24:24).

Thus, holiness of life, as evidenced by a person's practice of the Christian virtues, and by the flowering of the seven "ordinary" gifts of the Holy Ghost in his life, is infinitely more important than the extraordinary charismata, splendid though these may be. Both types of gifts have been evident throughout the centuries in the lives of the Catholic saints.

And in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ there was evident, in addition to most striking miracles, holiness of life and of teaching, fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, divine authority, and complete truthfulness. Together these provide abundant evidence for believing in Him.

The Resurrection of Christ is a matter of historical record. However, those so-called—and often ivory-tower—Scripture scholars, exegetes, theologians and other writers who deny biblical miracles, mythologizing them or turning them into mere "symbols," should consider that the many well-attested miracles of later centuries are themselves a testimony to the miracles of Christ. If the humble servants of the Master can work such wonders over the Christian centuries, then surely the very Son of God, He who is claimed as the source of power for these many resurrections, could and did work authentic miracles Himself. The miracles of Christ were not "symbols" thought up by some "ruminating" early community, but actual deeds testified to by actual witnesses.

Further, the miracles of Christ's Apostles, and later on those of His missionaries, saints, and lesser holy ones, fulfill both Christ's orders to work miracles and His prophecy that His servants would work even greater wonders than He had worked—not because they would have any greater powers than the Master, but because they would have a longer time and more occasions to exercise them in public ministry than He did. "Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do." (John 14:11-12).

Anne Catherine Emmerich, mentioned earlier in this chapter, says that Our Lord performed His more astounding and more prodigious miracles only in the presence of pagans. She even stated: "The miracles of the Apostles and of saints that came after them were far more striking than those of Our Lord and far more contrary to the usual course of nature, for the heathens needed to be strongly affected, while the Jews needed only to be freed from their bonds." In fact, Sister Emmerich states that Our Lord's miracles were usually not spectacular and instantaneous—though He could well have performed them in that manner. But they were not intended as spectacles; rather, "they were works of mercy, they were symbolical images of His mission . . . As He desired man's cooperation in the work of his own Redemption, so did He demand from those that asked of Him a miraculous cure their own cooperation by faith, hope, love, contrition, and reformation of life." (The Life of Christ, Vol. 2, p. 229).

In a word, the miracles of God's saints reinforce our faith in, and indirectly prove the authenticity of, the Gospel miracles. And one need not have been present when Christ worked His miracles to accept the testimony of the thousands who have died in defense of their belief in those miracles.

One can examine the contemporary records of the Medical Bureau at Lourdes or at Fatima. One can be present at sessions of twentieth-century canonical commissions of the Church that examine and authenticate hundreds of modern-day miracles in the processes of beatification and canonization of saints. All these wonders, both ancient and modern, hang together in one living, continuous Catholic Church, and they strengthen the credibility of each other.

They show the unity of the Church over the ages, for no other religion can show such a great and constant tradition of miracles.

These miracles show the holiness of the Church, for the power to work miracles is given only by God, and usually only to His holy instruments, the saints.

They show the catholicity or universality of the Catholic Church because they have been worked all over the world for a period of 20 centuries, among all peoples: for peasants and princes, by pope, bishop, abbot, priest or religious; by man, woman or even child saint.

These miracles show the apostolicity of the Church, for they involve gifts and wonders common among the Apostles, in fulfillment of Our Lord's prophecy to His Apostles.

In a word, these outstanding miracles are wonderful proofs of the truth of the Catholic Church. Any claims to similar wonders outside the Church cannot be authenticated as such, or if there is some rare case granted because of God's mercy, it would be an exception. At times, too, there have been so-called raisings from the dead in tawdry circumstances that make one uncomfortable—unnatural, unholy results of witchcraft and diabolical orgies.

An account of one such diabolical "raising of the dead" was given by Frederick Kaigh, an English physician who witnessed it, in Witchcraft and Magic of Africa; it was summarized by Edward Connor in Prophecy for Today (page 129) under the heading: "Can the Devil Raise the Dead?" In this account, an African chief was raised (in order to name his murderer), apparently through the words and actions of a witch doctor. The raising took place at night, and it involved strange preternatural phenomena; at the end of the ceremony the chief walked off down a lane in the moonlight and was seen no more. The accused murderer was found unexplainedly dead the next day.

Edward Connor comments: "Despite the impressiveness of the occurrence, it will be apparent that the chief was not returned to life in the sense that Christ gave life back to Lazarus or the widow's son. In true restorations, the person raised from the dead continues a normal life among men. In false restorations, there is no evidence that the soul has been restored to the corpse in anything like its true natural relationship, nor even any evidence that the spirit using the corpse is the soul which originally animated it."

On the other hand, one should note the "naturalness" of the miracles of the saints. Despite the variety of circumstances in these miracles, the actions of the participants in these scenes are true to life. There is nothing that smacks of contrivance or invention. We recognize the feelings of the people involved.

Resurrection miracles have been worked in widely varied circumstances and among different peoples from many lands: of various races, tongues and nations the world over. The recipient may be an infant—especially an unbaptized one—a child or youth dead from drowning or some other accident or disease, a young woman, a father, a wife, a knight, a prince, a priest or religious. Each case has its own interest.

These miracles nearly always involve a saint or very holy person, and/or the prayers of many people. If miracles, particularly miracles of the dead being raised, were reported to be performed by any Tom, Dick or Harry, there would be reason to doubt. But who can be trusted more than the saints, especially when their miracles have been reported by other saints, as St. Gregory related stories of miracles performed by St. Benedict, and Antoninus related those of St. Vincent Ferrer.

Saints, one should remember, have spiritual powers of discernment not possessed by ordinary Christians. Saints are also totally honest and truthful; when it comes to holy things or the honor of God and the Church, it is much safer to trust the discernment and truthfulness of the saints than that of some scientists. Of course, there are many open-minded scientists who readily acknowledge possibilities beyond their own area of expertise.

Divine miracles are worthy of the holiness, goodness, and justice of God. They also illustrate the teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, Our Lord's multiplication of loaves (John 6), miracle at Cana (John 2), and cure of the paralytic give a hint of His sacramental powers: to feed the whole Church with His Body and Blood, to change the natural institution of marriage into an inseparable supernatural bond, and to forgive sins. The raising of the dead signifies the souls, rising from sin to the life of sanctifying grace. Thus the miracles of Christ have an intimate connection with His life and supernatural teachings. This is also true of the miracles of the saints.

There have been many resurrected persons whose lives were utterly changed—by conversion, by repentance, by reparation, by holiness. These changes in way of life constitute one of the most cogent arguments that a momentous event actually occurred to these people. Both trees and human beings will reach upward and grow toward the Sun that has given them light and life.

In certain special cases, persons who returned from the dead were given very special missions, as were Drithelm of Northumbria, St. Christina the Admirable, and the boy Blasio. Others, particularly pagans raised from the dead, had their own unique part to play in the labors of the great missionaries of the early Christian centuries. They became an adjunct of the apostolate of the saints. They affirmed the truth of the saints' teachings, identifying them as messengers of the one true God, and thus they helped to lead thousands of others to the Faith. They were the greatest walking communication miracles of all, these persons not merely revived from sickbeds, lameness or paralysis, but returned from the funeral bier, or the sepulcher! Their constant narration of their resurrection experiences and their adventures in the other world or worlds—Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven—made a profound impression and altered the lives of many for the better.

These great miracles, along with innumerable "lesser" ones such as cures, enhanced the dignity of the special instrument of God, the miracle-working missionary, preacher, abbot, bishop or pastor. They compelled reverence for his person and office, credibility for his claims, and receptiveness for his teaching and counsel. The pagans soon learned that such men would rather die than lie. Thus the testimony of the converted would inspire belief in the minds and hearts of later generations.

Many of these miracles have been either worked or vouched for by some of the holiest persons and greatest minds in history. It is utter foolishness, bias, unscientific scholarship and uncritical research to accept the secular historical facts recorded by such authors as Venerable Bede (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) or Pope Gregory the Great (Dialogues) and to reject, debunk, mythologize or smile patronizingly over the miraculous or supernatural events concurrently recorded in those works. If the accounts of miracles are rejected, why should the other accounts be accepted? But if the "secular" accounts are acceptable, why not then the miracle accounts in the same historical work?

What is needed today is another Gilbert Keith Chesterton to make certain prejudiced historians acknowledge and laugh at the absurdity of their own objections and omissions. In his Life of St. Francis, Chesterton observes of such men:

       "I have never been quite clear about the nature of the right by which historians accepted masses of detail from them as definitely true, and suddenly denied their truthfulness when one detail was preternatural—I am puzzled about why the skeptics are not more skeptical."

In his masterpiece entitled Orthodoxy, Chesterton further comments:

       "Somehow or other an extraordinary idea has arisen that the disbelievers in miracles consider them coldly and fairly, while believers in miracles accept them only in connection with some dogma. The fact is quite the other way. The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles doubt them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them."

A critical attitude is good, but actually the most reasonable attitude consists in believing the testimony of trustworthy witnesses. This is also the approach of true humility. A wise bishop once commented on the miracles of St. Patrick and the acceptance of miracles in general:

       "Credulity may enter even the most virtuous mind; but when eminent men decline from this readiness of belief they fall into the opposite error, and become incredulous; while there is little fault in credulity, but much in incredulity."

Of course, if one does not believe in God, he is simply a fool, according to Sacred Scripture, that best-seller of all time and in the entire world. In denying the existence of a Creator, one must even fly in the face of reason! But if one admits a God, a Creator, there should be no problem at all in accepting that an exalted pre-eminent Being can employ powers that are natural to Himself, even if they are miraculous to man. This involves something that is "supernatural" only in relation to man's nature. It is "above" man's limited six-foot mental faculties and bodily powers. As Bon and Leuret put in in their Modern Miraculous Cures, "Miracles are only marvels at man's level. At God's level they are ordinary actions."

To further illustrate this ease of divine operation, one might note that it is as simple for God to work a miracle as it is for an electrician to put power through a copper wire by flicking a switch, or for an aviator to lift a dog off the earth in his jet plane. The copper by itself could never light up a lamp, nor could a dog fly through the air unassisted by the superior being, man.

Both the copper and the dog—one might fancy!—at the end of such a day's events, could return to their fellow pieces of copper in the mine or to the hounds in the countryside and relate their marvellous "miraculous" experiences, so outside and above the natures of animal or mineral.

Well, those things which are miracles to man, in his human nature, are quite natural and effortless to God in His divine nature. But because they are above our human nature's abilities, man makes much ado about them. So "the fool" accepts the electricity in the copper and the dog flying in the plane, but rejects the miracles of God. But it should be obvious that one can be raised in wondrous ways above his own level.

But perhaps the dissenters can be helped by means of their own "show me" attitudes, by the working of their faculties of reason—in a word, by dealing with facts. For no matter what one believes or disbelieves he can always look to the facts. Even if a man refuses to believe in God, even if he is a pagan with a pantheon of gods (and the latter is the more honest and humble of the two in admitting powers superior to himself), he must come, as the Christians did long ago, to the bar of reason and the admission of facts.

Now, in this book alone there are listed or described around 400 cases of the dead being raised. And exhaustive research would certainly turn up a lot more. But limiting the discussion to these 400 cases, the first thing is to ascertain the fact that deaths actually occurred.

Included in the cases detailed herein were men (or women or children) who had been dead for as long as 24 hours or even several days, persons who had drowned hours or days before the bodies were recovered, and of others who had been hanged by the neck for days or even a week. There were others who had suffered violent deaths, having been thrown from horses, crushed under wheels, fallen from great heights or buried by falling walls, debris, or landslides; some had dropped into a mine shaft or plunged into a well. Finally, there were those who had been sealed in a coffin, wrapped in shrouds and actually buried under earth or stone, some for long periods of time.

There are those who will say: Yes, but those people in bygone days did not always really know when someone was dead; they did not have the scientific know-how and medical technology of today to judge whether a person was actually dead. Granted, there may have been a few cases in which a person was mistakenly judged to be dead. But to assume that people in other ages did not generally know how to determine the state of death is simply preposterous.

In ages past, as in some underdeveloped nations today, death often came at an early age. Furthermore, it occurred at home, rather than in a far-off hospital, and people were very familiar with the sight of it. Older members of a community, as well as physicians, were often close to death and were quite able to determine it. If there was any doubt, they would certainly err on the side of life, waiting as long as possible to declare the person dead. Certification was often required, even as it was required for Christ on the cross. To think that people regularly buried their loved ones alive is ridiculous.

One factor common to many resurrection miracle accounts is the fact that the miracle-workers were usually priests. Other than doctors, who is it who has the most experience with the sick, dying, and dead? It is the priest. The parish priest or hospital chaplain, especially in time of war or plague, is constantly found with the dead or dying, either at the bedside or at some site of recent death (such as a street accident). Often the state of the person is clear to all.

At other times the priest, because of his responsibility for the administration of the Sacraments, has to make a judgment as to whether or not the person is actually dead. Now, throughout history, the priest was often the most educated man—or one of the few educated men—in the parish. And in the past, as today, the priest had to decide whether to administer absolution, anointing, or Baptism conditionally, depending upon his judgment of whether death had occurred. So the fact that most miracles of raising the dead were performed by very experienced priests, bishops or great missionaries, men well educated and familiar with sickness and death, further substantiates the reality of the raised having been really dead before they were raised.

In those miracles where the dying were restored to perfect health, it is sometimes claimed by skeptics that the patients, physicians, and priests involved could not distinguish between those who were simply sick and those who were critically ill. Ridiculous! And it is perfect nonsense to suppose that dead corpses were raised by hypnosis or mass hysteria—or that a drowned infant or mangled corpse arose by autosuggestion! There is a limit even to foolishness.

There is a further point to support the fact that death had actually occurred in the miracles related. As noted earlier, the saints usually have gifts of discernment beyond those of ordinary mortals. Moreover, some have had quite a few charismatic gifts—discernment of spirits, and unusual knowledge of those present or absent, living or dead, of past and future events, etc. Who, then, is better equipped than a saint to discern the real state of one considered dead, for whom the saint prays and appeals to God for restoral to life? Who could better determine life or death than one who was familiar with the condition and needs of that soul whose eternal fate was at stake? And who could tell better than the saint whether a true power of God was being exercised through them? "There are more things in this world than are dreamt of in thy philosophy, Horatio!"

Thus, it should be clear that the saints are well able to discern death and miracles, though scientists are better at diagnosing particular diseases. And sometimes, it is in the scientist's purview to document that somehow, inexplicably (and miraculously), the disease is gone! To each his own.

And finally, someone may say: Sometimes the saints referred to the "dead" person as being "asleep." Yes, perhaps in two or three cases in this entire book. But so did Our Lord first say of Lazarus. So is it said of the dead: "those who are asleep in the Lord." It is a phrase that permits a double interpretation: it is suited to console and raise hope in the mourners, who then have more insight as to the meaning of a temporary death; the phrase also seems to serve some saints as a way to hide their miracles, distracting attention from their own greatness.

So, too, when a miracle-worker uses some oil or water (not the oleum infirmorum of the anointing of the sick), or when he appeals to San Ciro or St. Philomena or some other saint, one can suspect a cover-up for his own miracles, a warding-off of the adulation he fears. Such oil or water, as the scientists could demonstrate, has no therapeutic value in itself.

Relentlessly pursuing facts, the strict inquirer and the dubious doubter will find that evidence accumulates rapidly. Christians in the latter part of the twentieth century have easy access to huge piles of accounts of genuine miracles, which continue to increase. Consider, for example, the number of miracles authenticated at Lourdes alone (under strict medical examinations, with cures of nervous and psychosomatic disorders being excluded), or the cosmic miracle of the spinning sun at Fatima in 1917.

St. Agnes of Montepulciano (1268-1317) holding the Infant Jesus. This saint raised to life a child who had drowned and whose body had been found floating in the water. Many other wonders also accompanied St. Agnes' life; for instance, the Mother of God placed the Christ Child in her arms, and angels brought her Holy Communion on several occasions.

St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) holding the Christ Child. Through St. Rose's intercession after her death, two dead people were raised to life—and many sick people were cured, women in difficult childbirth were assisted, lepers were cured, and infants were saved. St. Rose's heroic penances and gift of contemplation culminated in her mystical marriage to Our Lord; He said to her, "Rose of My Heart, be My bride." Our Lady called her "Rose of St. Mary," and permitted her to embrace the Christ Child.

St. Stanislaus of Cracow (1030-1079), Bishop and martyr. This early 14th-century fresco in the Church of St. Francis in Assisi apparently depicts St. Stanislaus' miraculous raising of a certain Peter Miles in order to clear Stanislaus of a false charge; the saint was acquitted. He then gave to Peter Miles, whose soul had come from Purgatory, the choice of returning there or of living a few more years; Peter chose Purgatory and the certainty of eternal salvation. Then he lay down in his grave, his body fell to pieces, and his bones lay there exactly as they had been when the grave was opened.

St. Philip Benizi (1223-1285), fifth General of the Servite Order. At his death, when his body was laid out in church before burial, a woman brought in the dead and partially devoured body of her little girl, who had been attacked by a wolf. The woman placed the body near St. Philip's body, and the child was restored with all her members intact. Here St. Philip Benizi is pictured in the cave he fled to when there was talk of electing him pope upon the death of Clement IV; note the triple tiara, in which he is obviously not interested, at bottom right.

St. Felix of Cantalice (1515-1587), Franciscan saint who restored a dead child to life and gave it back to its mother.

St. Peregrine (1265-1345), who is reported to have raised the dead on more than one occasion. St. Peregrine is the patron of cancer victims; for several years he suffered from cancer in his right leg. The night before a scheduled amputation, as he was praying before the crucifix, he saw Our Lord descend from the Cross and stretch out His hand. The next morning St. Peregrine found himself cured; there was no trace of cancer.

Saint Gerard Majella (1726-1755), Redemptorist lay brother who raised two infants, one of whom had died without Baptism. St. Gerard is a patron of mothers, particularly those in pregnancy, and of mothers of infants.

Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898), Lebanese hermit, through whose intercession a two-year-old child who had drowned was returned to life; St. Charbel is also credited with thousands of other miracles. His body remained incorrupt until 1965.

Padre Pio (1887-1968), Franciscan stigmatist and miracle-worker, through whose intercession a dead man is reported to have been raised.

Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth (1898-1962), Bavarian mystic and stigmatist who experienced the Passion and death of Christ hundreds of times during her life. After experiencing the death of Christ, Therese would show no signs of life for about 45 minutes, but then would gradually return to normal.

St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) preaching to the Moors; in his lifetime he converted 8,000 Moors, 25,000 Jews, and a total of 200,000 souls. This great Spanish Dominican performed an estimated 40,000 miracles, including the raising of at least 28 persons from the dead. On one occasion he raised a person to testify that he, Vincent, was "the Angel of the Judgment"; he raised another to testify to the innocence of a condemned man; and on another occasion he raised a Jew named Abraham, who then testified: "The religion of the Jews is not the true faith; the True Faith is that of the Christians." On still another occasion, St. Vincent Ferrer restored to life a dead child who had been chopped up, roasted, and served by its mother in a fit of madness. Vincent Ferrer is one of the greatest saints in the entire history of the Church—yet he is almost unknown.

St. Louis Bertrand (1526-1581), great Spanish-born Dominican missionary to South America who is credited with at least 13 persons raised from the dead through his intercession after his death, in addition to two he raised during his life. St. Louis Bertrand traveled all over the Caribbean area and became known for prophecies, miracles, and the gift of tongues.

St. Hyacinth (c. 1185-1257) crossing the Dnieper River on his cloak, carrying the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Our Lady to save them from desecration at the hands of the invading Tartars. He raised to life 50 dead persons in Cracow alone, as well as restoring 72 dying persons to perfect health. The bull of St. Hyacinth's canonization declared his miracles to be "almost countless." St. Hyacinth is called "the Polish St. Dominic" because he established the Dominican Order in Poland; he traveled 25,000 miles on his evangelizing journeys, much of this on foot.

St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), "Apostle of the Indies" and "Apostle of Japan." This great Jesuit saint is considered to have been the greatest single missionary since St. Paul. In ten short years he converted hundreds of thousands, and the impact of his labors lasted for centuries.

St. Francis Xavier; this picture is apparently portraying the incident when the saint raised a boy whose dead body had been wrapped in a shroud for 24 hours. St. Francis Xavier made the Sign of the Cross over the body, took the youth by the hand, and bade him in the Name of Jesus to live.

St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1647), Jesuit missionary to the Hurons and Iroquois and the leader of the heroic eight "Jesuit Martyrs of North America." His picture is included here not for having raised the dead (we are not aware of any resurrection miracle attributed to this saint), but to point out the terrible tortures and bodily mutilations suffered by some of the servants of God, and to call to mind that these bodies will arise resplendent and whole on the last day. The Iroquois tortured St. Isaac Jogues for a year, cutting off some of his fingers. He escaped, and by a special dispensation from the Pope was allowed to continue saying Mass. He then set out again for Iroquois territory, but was tomahawked and beheaded near Albany, New York. The Jesuit Martyrs of North America were canonized in 1930.

St. John Francis Regis (1597-1640), Jesuit missionary in southeastern France, who raised a dead person and brought thousands back to the Catholic faith.

St. Francis Jerome (1642-1716), Jest it preacher who raised to life a man and a baby.

St. Patrick (c. 389-c. 461), Apostle of Ireland, who is said to have raised as many as 39 persons, including some who had been buried for many years. He consecrated 350 bishops, erected 700 churches, and ordained 5,000 priests. After 30 years of St. Patrick's missionary labors, the greater part of Ireland had become Catholic. St. Patrick's was a tremendous achievement, equalled by few saints in the entire history of the Church.

Our Lady of Czestochowa, through whose intercession 17 persons are known to have been raised from the dead over the centuries. The famous shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is located in the diocese of Cracow, Poland, on Jasna Gora (Bright Hill).

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico); in 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary miraculously imprinted this picture on the tilma or cloak of an Indian named Juan Diego. Science has determined that it could not have been painted; furthermore, it has the characteristics of a photograph.

The raising to life of an Indian who had been accidentally shot with an arrow during festivities attending the transfer of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to its first chapel (December 26, 1531). The Indian's body was laid before Our Lady's image, and the people prayed for a miracle. Their plea was granted. (Original painting in the Basilica of Guadalupe.)

Saint Louis De Montfort (1673-1716), who had to suffer physical attacks by the devil; witnesses at his beatification investigation stated that they had heard the commotion from these struggles, including the sound of fist blows and the swish of whips. St. Louis De Montfort is the Apostle of Mary, who in his True Devotion to Mary showed how the shortest and surest way to Jesus is through the Blessed Virgin Mary.

St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), famous mystic whose Treatise on Purgatory records the revelations she received. She also wrote Dialogue between the Body and the Soul. Catherine was married at age 16 to a man who proved to be shiftless, unfaithful, and a spendthrift. He then reformed his life, and the couple agreed to live in continence. They devoted themselves to an intense spiritual life and to work in the Pammetone hospital. St. Catherine was widowed at age 50 and died around age 63.

The Curé of Ars, St. John Vianney (1786-1859), who was subjected to continuing physical attacks by the devil over a 30-year period. St. John Vianney heard confessions 13-17 hours per day, and converted thousands of sinners in his lifetime. The devil once revealed to him that if there were three such men as himself on earth, his (Satan's) kingdom would be broken.

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), Augustinian nun, mystic and stigmatist, who was privileged to see visions of Heaven and Purgatory. Sister Emmerich was the greatest visionary in the history of the Church; she received innumerable revelations on all aspects of the Catholic Faith. Anne Catherine Emmerich had the use of reason from birth, and for the last 12 years of her life took no food except Holy Communion.

Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal, who on July 13 of 1917 showed a most terrifying vision of Hell to little Jacinta and Francisco Marto, ages 7 and 9—along with their 10-year-old cousin, Lucy. Our Lady told the three children: "You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." Our Lady also said, "Many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them."

Saint Dominic Savio (1842-1857), who after death appeared in glory to his teacher, St. John Bosco; his motto in life had been "Death but not sin." Dominic told St. John Bosco that the thought that had sustained him the most at the hour of death was that of the assistance of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), Fatima seer whose heart was torn in agony by the thought of poor sinners falling into Hell. Jacinta constantly prayed and made sacrifices for the salvation of sinners. She said, "If men only knew what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives." Also, referring to Hell, "So many go there. So many."

Francisco Marto (1908-1919), brother of Jacinta, who was consumed by the desire to console Our Lord, so offended by sins. Our Lady promised to take him to Heaven, but she stated that first he must say "many Rosaries."

Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914), who performed various long-distance cures, such as the cure of the mother superior of an orphanage who was dying in India; when Pope Pius X telegraphed her his blessing, she was healed.

Jack Traynor just before leaving on his visit to Lourdes in 1923, and jubilantly returning home after his remarkable cure. Due to war injuries, his right arm had been paralyzed, with the muscles atrophied, his legs had been partially paralyzed, he had become epileptic, and he had an inch-wide hole in his skull from an operation to remove shrapnel. The British War Pension Ministry considered him completely and permanently disabled and granted him a 100% pension for life. All these serious infirmities were healed at Lourdes, and Traynor subsequently went into the coal and hauling business, which involved lifting 200-lb. sacks of coal. His cure resulted in a great number of conversions in Liverpool.

The resurrection of the body at the end of the world.

Modern man has the benefit of this vast store of wondrous works of God, brought about in His Church and through His saints. That was not the situation for those living in the early centuries. Today the evidence can be examined and the results of that search can edify, console, and convince an honest searcher of the greatness of God and the power of His Son.

But even for His first listeners, and also in early Christian times, Christ worked many and great miracles. The Jews were already established in their God-given faith; the pagans had never heard of the One True God or of Christ—in a sense both were entitled to great miracles authenticating the divine authority of Christ, so that they could reasonably accept His Faith with its demands and its eternal consequences.

St. Irenaeus (c. 125—c. 203), the first great Catholic theologian after St. John and St. Paul, wrote that miracles, including the raising of the dead, were frequent occurrences in the early Church. Regarding the magicians of his time, he states that "they cannot give sight to the blind nor hearing to the deaf, nor put to flight demons; and they are so far from raising the dead, as Our Lord did, and the Apostles, by prayer, and as is most frequently done among the brethren, that they even think it impossible." (Adversus Haereses, II). St. Justin Martyr (died 167), outstanding apologist, also testified that the gift of miracles and the casting out of demons were frequent in the Church of his day. So one must not jump to the conclusion that miracles were rare, or that they did not exist, in those early centuries. God grants more miracles when there is more faith, and there was more faith and less unbelief in those early times.

Nor is the power of miracles lessened in the Church today. Then why do we not hear of such miracles today? In many instances, faith has decreased. "And he wrought not many miracles there, because of their unbelief." (Matt. 13:58). The mustard seed of faith is the lever needed to move any mountain or obstacle. Now death is the greatest "mountain" to be overcome. Where holiness and faith increase, and where there is need, as for the pagans, miracles in general will increase, including the raising of the dead.

It is a fact, then, that human beings, objectively dead, have been restored to life through other human beings, instruments of God—usually saints. And this historical, universal, and continued phenomenon is found only in the Holy Catholic Church. God works this miracle in and of the Catholic Church in order to endorse its divine origin and its divine message.

Further, we know that if creature instruments of the Creator can work such wonders, it was certainly no problem for Christ, the Eternal Word, co-equal with the Father, to raise Lazarus or to perform any other miracle when He was on earth. Here is where demythologizing exegetes and "ruminating faith-community" theologians stumble over the mustard seed of faith and against God's power.

And if the miracles of today successfully withstand the probings of the Lourdes Medical Bureau, if the miracles examined in canonical processes can bear the scrutiny of outstanding scientists, why should one fear that the miracles of Christ or those of yesterday's saints would not have? It will pose no problem, likewise, for Christ to raise all human beings on the Last Day. The same God who has created billions can easily re-create or restore the bodies of billions.

As St. Paul says in Hebrews, Our Lord came "that through death, he might destroy him [Satan] who had the empire of death." (Heb. 2:14). But St. Paul also says a little later on regarding some people, "And we see that they could not enter in, because of unbelief." (Heb. 3:19).

As Vatican I stated, miracles in the Church are signs by which she is lifted up as a sign to the nations and proven to be the One True Church of God. And as Monden observes, "The miracle makes use of a language which is equally clear to the men of every age." For that reason, the miracles of Christ, those of the saints, and those in the Church today are all interchangeable. The authenticity of the one vouches for the authenticity of the other, and the authenticity of all holds them all together as one great sign from God.