By K J Thomas
Vilakannur: Hundreds of people from different religions on September 21 thronged a church in Kerala for in the installation of a Host on which a face resembling that of Jesus appeared five years ago.
Archbishop George Njaralakatt of Tellicherry led the Mass at Christ the King Church, Vilakannur, a remote village in the Kannur district of Kerala. He also installed the Host as a relic in the church.
The relic was brought in a procession from a wayside chapel situated at an intersection in Oduvally, 5 km away.
Earlier, parish priest Father Jacob Kutikattukunnel and 14 parish committee members brought the relic from the Archbishop’s House in Tellicherry, some 70 km south of Vilakannur.
Also present on the occasion was Father Thomas, who was the parish when the phenomenon occurred on November 15, 2013.
Joy Parakudiyil, a parish committee member, claimed lots of spiritual changes have taken place in the area in the past five years.
“Those who had kept away have rediscovered their faith and started coming to the church,” he told Matters India.
“The relic is a blessing for our church and surrounding villages,” he added.
The committee member attributed the phenomenon that happened five years ago to the saintly life of Father Pathickal.
He said the church draws now hundreds of people daily, and many of them are Hindus and Muslims.
Unlike the chaos five years ago, people this time were orderly and quiet.
When the phenomenon occurred five years ago, more than 100,000 people flocked to the church in three years hearing the news that Jesus’s face appeared on the Sacred Bread during morning Mass.
After three days, the archdiocese removed the Host for scientific study and kept it at an undisclosed location all these years.
A few months later, Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, forbade discussions on the matter and nothing was heard about the host until now.
The “Girideepam” (light of the mount), the archdiocesan magazine’s September carried a note signed by Archbishop Njaralakatt announcing the decision to return the Host to the parish as a relic.
“Giving the Sacred Host to the Vilakannur church does not mean that it has been officially accepted as a Eucharistic miracle,” Archbishop Njaralakatt had said in the letter.
The prelate said the archdiocese took the decision to study the matter further and to observe and record possible signs that could happen in future in the presence of the sacred Host.
The sacred host is not fit for consumption as it is four years old. So, it should be treated only as a relic and not as Eucharistic bread, the prelate further explained.
He also asked the parish not to keep the host on the main altar or to use it for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. “It should be kept on specially arranged place on a side altar along with other relics in the church,” the archbishop’s explained.
However, the prelate allowed use of the host for public veneration and that people could pray before it.
He wants the parish to record every signs and supernatural happenings and preserve them in a scientific way and make them available for inspection and study by the Church authorities.
The archdiocese had kept the host at its headquarters in Tellicherry town, under the archbishop’s direct supervision all these years as stipulated by the Vatican guidelines on such matters.
The Host has not undergone any changes nearly five years after the phenomenon, the magazine claimed.
Normally, such wafer, made of wheat flour, disintegrates after a weeks, especially in Kerala’s humid weather.
The phenomenon occurred when the then parish priest Father Thomas Pathickal was celebrating the 7 am Mass for a small group of parishioners.
Narrating the incident, the priest told Matters India on the same day that at the time of elevation he had noticed a spot on the large bread used for consecration. “It became large and brighter and a face appeared soon.” The priest said he kept the host aside and continued Mass using another host kept in the tabernacle.
After the Mass he called the sacristan, who told him the face resembled Jesus. The priest then placed the host in a monstrance and kept it on the altar for adoration.
The parish was then preparing for the feast of Christ the King on November 24.
Top officials from the police and vigilance department departments rushed to the place as vehicles blocked the road to Paithalmala, a famous spot for adventure tourism.
The archdiocese rushed a team to Vilkannur. The then Archbishop George Valiamattam of Tellicherry instructed the parish priest to keep the “miracle” host locked inside the tabernacle and hold prayers in the church.
Baby Joseph Payikatt, a church trustee, told Matters India that the parish now has more than 500 families and 1,250 Catholics, most of them second and third generations of people who had migrated from Travancore last century.