The claims
Each entry pairs a reported miracle with the documentary record and an honest, confidence-labeled estimate of how likely it is that no natural explanation accounts for it.
10 claims
10% authentic
Strong natural explanation
Four years after burying their 95-year-old foundress unembalmed in a simple wooden coffin, the Benedictines of Mary exhumed Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster in April 2023 and found her body and habit largely intact; the diocese's commissioned pathology team called the condition 'highly atypical' for the interval and conditions, forensic anthropologists answered that natural mummification in coffin burials is well documented, and the Church itself has declared no miracle and opened no cause.
Explainedrelics·Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus, Gower, Missouri, USA
Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster — The Intact Body of Gower, Missouri (2019–2023)
Four years after burying their 95-year-old foundress unembalmed in a simple wooden coffin, the Benedictines of Mary exhumed Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster in April 2023 and found her body and habit largely intact; the diocese's commissioned pathology team called the condition 'highly atypical' for the interval and conditions, forensic anthropologists answered that natural mummification in coffin burials is well documented, and the Church itself has declared no miracle and opened no cause.
1% authentic
Strong natural explanation
Angela of Foligno, the 13th-century Franciscan tertiary and mystic, died in 1309; her body is kept in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Foligno, with incorruptibility claimed but no modern forensic verification available.
Disprovenrelics·Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Foligno, Umbria, Italy
Angela of Foligno — Medieval Mystic, Questionable Preservation Claim
Angela of Foligno, the 13th-century Franciscan tertiary and mystic, died in 1309; her body is kept in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Foligno, with incorruptibility claimed but no modern forensic verification available.
8% authentic
Strong natural explanation
Lebanese Maronite monk Charbel Makhlouf died in 1898; his body was found incorrupt in a flooded grave in 1899 and reportedly exuded a blood-like fluid for 67 years until beatification in 1965, when it was found finally decomposed.
Unprovenrelics·Monastery of Saint Maron, Annaya, Lebanon
Charbel Makhlouf — The Fluid-Exuding Monk of Lebanon
Lebanese Maronite monk Charbel Makhlouf died in 1898; his body was found incorrupt in a flooded grave in 1899 and reportedly exuded a blood-like fluid for 67 years until beatification in 1965, when it was found finally decomposed.
12% authentic
Strong natural explanation
A dropped host placed in water on Christmas Day 2013 reportedly developed red tissue identified by forensic departments at two Polish universities as human cardiac muscle showing signs of agony, with human DNA confirmed.
Explainedeucharistic·Legnica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
Eucharistic Miracle of Legnica, Poland (2013)
A dropped host placed in water on Christmas Day 2013 reportedly developed red tissue identified by forensic departments at two Polish universities as human cardiac muscle showing signs of agony, with human DNA confirmed.
1% authenticStrong natural explanation
Relics claimed to be the charred remains of Joan of Arc, held in a Chinon pharmacy bottle since 1867, were analyzed in 2009–2010 by a multidisciplinary forensic team and confirmed to be a mummified cat leg bone and a human rib dating to the 6th–3rd century BC — Egyptian mummy components, not Joan's remains.
Disprovenrelics·Chinon pharmacy, then museum display, France
Joan of Arc 'Relics' — Confirmed 20th-Century Forgery
Relics claimed to be the charred remains of Joan of Arc, held in a Chinon pharmacy bottle since 1867, were analyzed in 2009–2010 by a multidisciplinary forensic team and confirmed to be a mummified cat leg bone and a human rib dating to the 6th–3rd century BC — Egyptian mummy components, not Joan's remains.
4% authentic
Strong natural explanation
John Vianney's body was found dried and darkened after death and bears a wax mask over the face; his heart, removed in 1904, is separately venerated as a first-class relic and described as incorrupt, though it has undergone a century of conservation treatment.
Unprovenrelics·Basilique d'Ars, Ars-sur-Formans, France
John Vianney (Curé d'Ars) — Dried Body, Wax Mask, Incorrupt Heart
John Vianney's body was found dried and darkened after death and bears a wax mask over the face; his heart, removed in 1904, is separately venerated as a first-class relic and described as incorrupt, though it has undergone a century of conservation treatment.
3% authentic
Strong natural explanation
Margaret of Cortona, a 13th-century penitent, died in 1297; her body has been displayed in the Basilica of Santa Margherita in Cortona for over 700 years and is described as incorrupt, though no modern independent forensic examination has been published.
Unprovenrelics·Basilica of Santa Margherita, Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Margaret of Cortona — 700 Years in a Crystal Reliquary
Margaret of Cortona, a 13th-century penitent, died in 1297; her body has been displayed in the Basilica of Santa Margherita in Cortona for over 700 years and is described as incorrupt, though no modern independent forensic examination has been published.
23% authentic
Likely a natural explanation
From 1973 to 1981 in Akita, Japan, a wooden statue of Mary in a convent reportedly wept, bled, and perspired on 101 occasions, with fluids analyzed by a forensic specialist as human in origin.
Unprovenapparition·Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist, Akita, Japan
Our Lady of Akita (Weeping and Bleeding Statue)
From 1973 to 1981 in Akita, Japan, a wooden statue of Mary in a convent reportedly wept, bled, and perspired on 101 occasions, with fluids analyzed by a forensic specialist as human in origin.
15% authentic
Strong natural explanation
The 16th-century Russian monastic founder's relics, seized by Soviet authorities in 1918, survived a Bolshevik examination that expected to expose fraud, and were returned to his monastery in 1998 after rediscovery in a Leningrad anatomical museum.
Explainedrelics·Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, Leningrad Oblast, Russia
The Incorrupt Relics of St. Alexander Svirsky — Soviet Examination and Return
The 16th-century Russian monastic founder's relics, seized by Soviet authorities in 1918, survived a Bolshevik examination that expected to expose fraud, and were returned to his monastery in 1998 after rediscovery in a Leningrad anatomical museum.
3% authentic
Strong natural explanation
An Italian statue of the Virgin Mary reported to weep blood in 1995 was investigated by forensic scientists; the blood was typed as male, the statue's owner refused DNA testing, and a subsequent Italian trial established a church custodian had applied blood to a different statue using his own blood.
Disprovensigns·Civitavecchia, Italy
The Weeping Madonna of Civitavecchia: Blood Matched to a Local Man's DNA
An Italian statue of the Virgin Mary reported to weep blood in 1995 was investigated by forensic scientists; the blood was typed as male, the statue's owner refused DNA testing, and a subsequent Italian trial established a church custodian had applied blood to a different statue using his own blood.