PRODIGIOUS MIRACLE OF MIRACLES, OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF CARMEN, in a devoted Co-Father of hers, who wore her Holy Scapular.

Place: Unknown
Year: 1657
Event: Milagro, Miracle

Ascertained and qualified in the form that I could the holy Council of Trent, by the very Illustrious and very Reverend Lord. Lord Don Fray Francisco Gavaldan Bishop of Segorve, not only with his ordinary authority, but with that of Delegate of the Apostolic See in general visitation.

Year 1657.

With license in Madrid. By Domingo García y Morta.

We Don Francisco Gavaldad, by the grace of God and of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Segorve of the Council of his Majesty and another Apostolic Judge, delegated by the same Holy See for the knowledge and declaration of the present cause, inasmuch as we have consulted it countersigned in actu visitationis generalis desta nuestra Diocefi,&c. Having seen, reviewed and attentively examined the answered depositions of the witnesses of this cause and the qualification of their cleanliness, quality and good opinion, together with the sworn relation of the physician and surgeon, quorum interst and the resolution and approval of the theologians and canonists, who for their deposition before us have been summoned with everything else that according to law must be attended to and examined, Christi nomine, eiusque fanctissima Genitricis inuocato.

We rule in the first place that we must declare and we declare that not having died suddenly and without sacramental confession (layme) Calpe, neighbor and sworn of the Villa de Castielmontant, county of Villanueva and parish of this our diocese, with the fatal wound of the lightning that fell on him on October 21 of last year of 1656 comprising him, bruising him and piercing his whole body from head to foot with such force and rigor that after having wounded him, it made some deep holes* in the ground next to him, through which he was submerged divided into different sparks in the bowels of the earth, it was a miraculous prodigy worked by the intercession of our mother and lady the Virgin of Carmen, to whom this singular devotee of his was on that occasion anxiously invoking so much more without any doubt, The horrendous wound and frightful circumcision of the fire, as well as the thick cloud of sulfurous smoke, in which without any sense or movement (he found himself returned to himself, in the same place and posture as before) he was enveloped for a very long time, which by the continuous voices that were heard afterwards, it is [deduced] was at least half a quarter of an hour, was each one of them of itself enough to leave him lifeless and drowned, the bad smell having especially been so vehement, that even after the wounded man had removed more than a thousand paces from the post and had been spaciously airing on the road with the wind and rain of the tempest then running, it still brought him so so drenched and incorporated in his body, that there was scarcely anyone who dared to reach him, since he had reserved himself with his life, and gave himself room to receive the Holy Sacraments and to dispose of the things of his soul and his estate.

Finally, we say that although some of the things referred to and others that, either ascertained from the process, or outside of it, have been found to be true and notorious, each one of them without any circumstance. and without the marvelous union and adjunction* which they have with their disposition and concurrence, they may appear to be fortuitous cases or effects of natural causes; But considered with the marvelous order and manner in which they have happened, and considering the singular attention with which on this occasion the Most Holy Virgin of Carmel has assisted this devotee of hers from the time the lightning struck him until he gave his soul to God, we declare them all in the manner that will be said below to be miraculous, that is, either as parts of the principal miracle or as miraculous effects of divine providence made by the special intercession of so holy and sovereign a lady. Wherefore, in order that without misgiving or given they may be held and revered as such and published as miraculous in the publication of the principal miracle, we say and pronounce to be a miraculous part of the said principal miracle and a marvelous effect of the intercession of the Virgin that, the day in which the lightning was to fall and wound her devotee in such a retreat and distance from the place, that he could not have confession nor human remedy, a fawn appeared to the rector of the place immediately in the morning, or consolation, peacefully grazing in the orchard next to the walls of the village in whose outskirts, and causing that without being a hunter and having no trace of the said doe because she had disappeared suddenly, she went with others crossing hills and valleys for more than five hours in pursuit of her, until she matched (although from afar) with the heredad that layme* Caloc was hunting, a great and sudden storm of wind, thunder and water prevented him from passing ahead, forcing him to take refuge in the aforementioned dyeing place where, if he were not there, he could not have any remedy for his body, nor for his soul through any man, since that wild and monstrous place is so far removed from any human remedy.

In the same way we declare, not only as part of the same miracle, but as a different and new miracle of the same intercession of the Virgin, that the wounded man’s sight was restored to him, on the same night that he was taken blind to the same night that he was taken blind to his home, the lightning having left his eyelids so swollen* and the tunics of his eyes so blackened, troubled and as if wrinkled that no natural medicine could have caused such a sudden effect without the intercession of this sovereign lady, who by mercy -singular has the management of divine Providence to perform such miracles and especially this one for the consolation of this her great devotee, who used to have fervent acts of charity, penance and devotion just by looking at a holy image of her that she had in her house, with the new sight, from which she was disposed to die very saintly.

We also declare also to be part of the same principal miracle, the singular assertion with which within the last six days of his life he was always being the wounded man when it seemed that he was completely expiring (as he was at times before the day he died) that he was not to die until the following Saturday, a day dedicated to his most holy mother and lady the Virgin of Carmel, because it seemed to him that those who served and assisted him must be tired because with the continuous deliquies* they did not finish giving the last sigh, he would say to them when he was in them: “Have patience for the love of God from now until Friday passes, that I do not die now nor will I die until Saturday, the day of my mother and mistress the Virgin of Carmel, enters.” Words that being so in himself and so well disposed to die and so far from feigning miracles, must judge him by the effects of superior impulses caused miraculously by the intercession of the Virgin of Carmen, who with her miraculous assistance was disposing this devotee of yours, until taking him the following Saturday before dawn, when it seemed that he was farther from dying than the days before, which was just 15 days after he was struck by lightning.

Wherefore, we say and declare that all the things referred to in the manner above said and declared, are parts of the principal miracle or special miracle, all made through the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by means of her holy Scapular, and as such, we declare and decree them, ordering all the parish priests, preachers and parishioners of our bishopric to preach, publish and with great veneration to consider them as such, charging them in our Lord Jesus Christ to have a cordial devotion to this holy lady and to take care to wear her holy Scapular in her honor. Thus we say, we sentence, declare and pronounce it pronounce for her intolerable stench, as well as for her horrendous and dreadful figure.

In consequence of which we declare that it was manifest evidence and miraculous testimony of the aforementioned miracle and of having been done by the singular favor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by having reserved from the fire on said occasion the front part of her holy Scapular hanging from the neck with white ribbons and attached to the root of the flesh of the heart and chest of the wounded man, The lightning left the said wounded man in living flesh and burned him and consumed all the clothes he was wearing, both under and over the Scapular, a large part of which he had just put on to defend himself from the rain, and he put on one over it to be better defended, that is to say, cloak, cape, cape, cape*, breeches, socks, shirt, hat and hat, and so on, of all of which no trace remained except a few small rags of a [geme], half rolled up* and buried in the holes* mentioned above, and two other pieces of a smaller almilla*, not without wonder supported on both shoulders [consoles] by the white braids of the Scapular, until the fire could cover him with other clothes in another very distant place, because this miraculous reservation of the fire and of the stench and scorching of the lightning that is seen in the Holy Scapular, could not naturally happen, the voracious fire consuming and infesting* the garments that were above and below it as is indicated by the said braids remaining on the pieces of the scapular* and the bad odor soaking into the flesh.

We also say and declare that the wounded man being so battered and bruised by the lightning, so oppressed by the sudden fright of the blow and the flame and so badly affected by the infection of the smoke, it was a new miracle of the Virgin herself that among so many choking, fainting and oppression of spirits, he had in cold blood the breath to invoke the Virgin of Carmen and to ask for confession for a long time with such an encouraged voice, so strong and wholehearted as if he were completely healthy and miraculous that, although it is understood that he spoke in mockery, so that those who came to his aid would be wet, his voices and words were always clearly and distinctly perceived at a distance of half a quarter of a league, the whole of that intermediate environment being notably thickened and thick with the humidity of the fogs and the valleys and mountains confused and agitated with the tempestuous noise of the continuous thunder and of the continuous rain that was then falling, to which was added the noise of the wind that ran on high.

Likewise, we also declare it to be a new and singular miracle of the same Virgin of Mount Carmel worked by means of her Holy Scapular, that this devotee of hers, not only having been left in the form referred to above, but totally blind with his back from the nape of his neck to his loins in many parts furrowed and open, his spine pierced and cracked, the sole of his right foot from top to bottom girdled and open with the little finger missing, all wounds of fire and of pain no less sensitive than an unknown impediment, not only to walk a long way, but not even to be able to move, the said wounded man walked in search of a confessor, half a quarter of a league of monstrous and rugged land, full of ravines, slopes, shifting stones and undergrowth, waiting for gorse*, rosemary, heather, bushes [coscojas], thistles, brambles and other thorny bushes without hurting himself or receiving any damage to his flesh, which, tender with the rigor of the fire, any unusual touch was enough to mistreat and bloody it. Walking always without road or path, without any other company or external guide than that of the holy Scapular, so erect and lifted up his body, so at a straight and hurried pace, and so straight and straight to a corral or a dyeing place*, where he could understand that his parish priest and others had gathered to shelter him from the water, as if he were completely healthy and in no way blind, lame and overwhelmed, so faint and so cold that from the moment he heard the dyeing coming, his voices went out to help him, He could no longer stand up, nor, half fainting on the ground, could he get up or even take a step forward, but had to be carried in their arms, because every moment he was dying among them, without even being able to raise his voice freely, both before and after the sacramental confession he made with his parish priest, for which, by the singular mercy of the Virgin herself, he had it very full, ready and hard, going to confession as his faithful devotee, with much stillness, pain, judgment and remembrance. So then, as in the fifteen days that he survived, he repeated it many other times and gave to all a singular example of your great virtue and of the great devotion that he had all his life with this holy Lady of Mount Carmel and of the tender affections with which, until his death, he was grateful to her.

Tribunali fedendo de plenitudine totias noftræ poteftatis,tam ordi nariæ,quàm in actu Visitationis ab Apoftolica Sede delegatæ.In testimony whereof we give these our cameral writings, signed by our name, sealed with the manual seal of our office and countersigned by our secretary in this, our episcopal palace of Segorve on the 4th of July of the present year of 1657. Commanding that in this testimony of truth this process of chamber be kept and rounded in the archives of our ecclesiastical curia for perpetual memory of this miracle of miracles.

By command of the Bishop my lord.

Prior Iofepb Paftor Ser.

IHS. Ego Iofephus Paftor Prior Sancti Saluatoris, Secretarius ciufdem D.D.mei Episc.Segobric. & Not.Apoftolicus, fidem facio, cui cam intra,quàm extra quæcumque Tribunalia integra fides ad. hibenda eft,hoctranfumptum esse fideliter extractum ex quodam proceffu Camerali manu propria eiufdem Dnimei Episc, ob graui. tatem materiæ exarato , & in archiuo huius Curiæ recondito. In quorum teftimonium hicpono mcum quo vtor signum.

D.Riz Offic.pro Vic.gal. M. Roig.P.A.

Attentive to the certifications of the bishop of Segorve and justice of that diocese as far as we are concerned, we give license so that the relation of the case that happened can be given to the printing press. Given in Madrid on August 13, 1657.

Doctor Pedro Fernandez de Parga y Gayoso.

By his command, Iwan Baptista Saiz Brane,

By Father Catalan del Carmen.

To see the Spanish version, modernized and transcribed, click here.

To see the French translation, click here.