Chemperi: Hundreds of people are flocking to a village in northern Kerala after news spread that oil, milk and honey oozed from a Marian statue kept in a Catholic family.
The phenomenon began on October 3 when the family of Kurian Mulanthanath experienced the smell of jasmine filling the prayer room. His house is at Chemperi, some 45 km northeast of Kannur town.
“We found the paper on which the statue was kept was wet. Later, honey, oil and milk began to ooze from the statue in turn,” Mulanthanath, a 54-year-old realtor, told Matters India on October 10.
The father of three boys also said when he informed his parish priest about the happenings, he was advised not to publish it. The priest also told him that the phenomenon could be asign from God for people to increase their faith.
The Chemperi parish comes under the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Tellicherry that has been reporting such “miracles” for the past few years.
According to Mulanthanath, more than 200 people now visit his house daily. “Some come alone and others in groups,” he added.
Father Joseph Karinattu, parish priest of Chemperi’s Our Lady of Lourdes Forane Church, says it was too early to say anything about the happening. He said he had visited the family and saw honey kept in a tray near the statue. At another time, the statue also produced milk, the priest said.
The priest said similar incidents have occurred in other neighboring parishes, but most of them stopped after a while. “We would like to wait and watch before coming to any conclusion,” he told Matters India.
The priest also spoke of a Marian statue kept in a Hindu convert’s house at Balal in Kasergod district, 65 km northwest of Chemperi, producing oil for the past two years. “The statue there at times produces 10 liters of oil a day. Compared to that what is happening here is very little,” he added.
The statue kept in the house of Omana, a widow, started producing honey and oil, in December 2014. Ever since, thousands of people have flocked to the house to pray and collect oil to apply on sick people.
Omana, who was bedridden, claimed that an old woman had come to her house and rubbed some ointment on her. She felt cured and looked around for the old woman, but nobody else had seen her. The archdiocese then appointed a committee to study the Balal phenomenon and on receiving its report reserved the judgement.
Nearly a year earlier, more than 100,000 people visited Christ the King Church, Vilakannur, some 10 km west of Chemperi, in three days after news spread that Jesus’s face appeared on the Sacred Bread during Mass on November 15, 2013.
The archdiocese then conducted various tests and sent it to the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kochi for further scrutiny. Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Church, then closed the matter and forbade further discussion about the host.
However, the host remains intact even after three years, Fr Karinattu said. The priest said the host is likely to be declared a miracle.
Catholics all over the world observe October as the month of rosary, reciting the Marian prayer in parishes, family units and homes.
Mulanthanath also said that his family had begun to experience strange happenings for some four months now. One day blood came out from a Divine Mercy calendar kept on the wall above the Marian statue. He said the kept it as a secret.