A statue of Saint Michael the Archangel with what appears to be a blood-like substance dripping from his forehead. | Courtesy of Alicia Martinez
Does a statue of Saint Michael the Archangel exude blood in the United States?
On February 23, hours before the world heard that Russia had invaded Ukraine, a statue of Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of the capital Kiev, began to leak a dark liquid that some people say was blood.
A video shared on Facebook quickly made headlines.
Alicia Martinez, 57, from Broomfield, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, owns this statue. In an interview conducted by CNA –an agency in English of the ACI Group–, she described the experience as “inexplicable”.
While talking to a friend on the phone, one of her roommates knocked on her bedroom door and told her to come quickly. "I asked her what was going on, but she was standing there shaking," she said.
It was then that he saw that his statue of Saint Michael seemed to be bleeding from the right side of his head. "She's not crying," explained Martinez, who is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico.
“He is bleeding from his forehead. [Blood] runs around her eyes. It doesn't get into her eyes. She was dripping like when you cut yourself and blood drips; that's how it was," he said.
Speechless, all he could do was ask God what was going on. “I said, 'God, is it a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know what it is, but something is happening here,'” Martinez said.
“It didn't feel like it was a bad thing. It was an inexplicable feeling, but it was beautiful, ”she recounted.
Still questioning her experience, Martínez called a friend of hers who is a priest in Mexico. He told her that this was not a bad thing. Instead, he told her to pray more, that what was happening was wonderful, and that his house was blessed.
Another friend of Martínez, a nun, told her that the supposed blood would not stop flowing until it reached the head of the demon on which Saint Michael the Archangel steps. For a week the liquid kept coming out of the statue, about 76 centimeters, until it stopped when the liquid fell on the head of the devil represented in the statue.
Mark Haas, director of public relations for the Archdiocese of Denver, told CNA on March 7 that the Archdiocese "has recently been made aware of this claim and we will investigate it."
In an interview with the Spanish news agency Primer Impacto, Msgr. Jorge de Los Santos, pastor of Nuestra Señora Madre de la Iglesia, in nearby Commerce City, Colorado, said, “For the Church to take a stand, there would have to be a long, exhaustive and complex investigation to make a decision”.
Martinez has contacted a representative of the Archdiocese of Denver who is in charge of cases considered miraculous. If Martínez decides to continue with the investigation process, the object will undergo various tests to see if miracles occur.
After posting the video on Facebook, Martinez, who works at a grocery store, received several comments that she was just looking for money or fame, prompting her to remove the video.
She expressed several times that this was not her intention in sharing the video, but that it was "a real thing that happened to [her and her roommates]."
“What I was seeing was something real. It was something that has no explanation. This is not fraud. This is not becoming famous. Nothing of that. I know that it is something divine from God that does not happen to everyone, ”she concluded.
Translated and adapted by Diego López Marina.
Originally posted on CNA
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