Eucharistic Miracle of Tixtla, Mexico, of 2006.
In
this account, you will recognize similarities to the last two articles on
Eucharistic miracles from Buenos Aires. The same investigator from Buenos
Aires, who had associates and funding from Australia, again provided the means
for extensive investigation of the Tixtla miracle.
Tixtla
is in southwestern Mexico, about 100 kilometers inland from Acapulco. It
happened on Sunday, October 22, 2006, at the concluding Mass of a spiritual
retreat of about 600 persons. An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a
religious sister, noticed that in the ciborium of consecrated Hosts she was
holding as she gave out Communion, one of the Hosts appeared to be stained with
Blood. She brought it up to the priest. The diocese was informed. Testimonies
of those directly involved, plus 17 persons who were also present, were taken,
all in agreement.
The
multiple investigations took four years. Forensic medical laboratories from
Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, and the United States were used, the findings
verified multiple times by different labs and with different analytical
methods. Other than Dr. Castañón, none of the scientists knew the source of the
material examined, and none knew the work of the other scientists.
Dr.
Castañón’s February, 2013, report found that human hemoglobin was present,
identifying the material as red blood cells. Some areas of the red blood cells
were spontaneously self-degrading, indicating they could have been part of a
clot. White blood cells (leukocytes) were found: neutrophils, macrophages, and basophils,
each playing different roles in tissue trauma, inflammation, and infection. One
of the macrophages was full of fatty material, meaning it was doing its job of
swallowing some fatty debris. As we saw with the 1996 Buenos Aires miracle, the
presence of leukocytes means the tissue was alive at the time of sampling –
alive and doing its job! (It had been kept over three years at room
temperature, not in any sterile condition.) Also, leukocytes do not arise from
inflamed tissue, they come from elsewhere, via blood circulation, when
attracted by the inflammatory response.
The
blood type was AB, with the minor MN blood group, and Rh negative.
Abundant
bundles of elongated cellular fibers were found to be cardiac (heart) tissue
(also confirmed in a later 2014 examination), although the tissue was degraded
(autolysis), such as occurs in inflamed, infected, or otherwise traumatized
tissue. Striations and intercalated discs were missing. As in the 1996 Buenos
Aires miracle, all this indicates tissue under great “suffering.”
In
addition, mesenchymal cells, which retain the properties of embryonic stem
cells, were present. Human DNA was identified, but no genetic profile could be
obtained.
In
2010, an imaging expert came to the chapel in Tixtla where the Host was
preserved. Under digital microscope scanning studies. it was seen that under a
superficial layer of clotted blood on top, fresh blood was still present in
contact with the Host. Under two other and separate studies, it was
conclusively determined that the blood arose from within the Host and not from
outside of the Host. In fact, the blood seemed to behave as if it were coming
from an actual small wound: a blood vessel bleeding from a superficial point of
injury, with the blood rising toward the exterior of the wound.
On October 12, 2013, the bishop issued a formal and solemn declaration recognizing the supernatural nature of the Tixtla event, declaring it a miracle.
Dibby Allan Green