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Miracles Jar

The Top 10s

Ranked by how strongly the evidence resists a natural explanation — no editorial thumb on the scale. The same method that surfaces the strongest cases is the one that sinks the weakest; that symmetry is the whole point.

The gold standard: of 253 assessed claims, exactly 4 are both clearly miraculous if true and strongly evidenced. The whole mission is making that number bigger — honestly.

Most likely authentic

The ten claims where the documentation most strongly resists a natural explanation.

1
Sepia photograph of a young Padre Pio showing the stigmata on his hands, taken 19 August 1919

Consiglia De Martino: Ruptured Thoracic Duct Heals Before Surgery

Gold
2
Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at the Sanctuary of Lourdes seen across the esplanade, 2018

Antonietta Raco: Primary Lateral Sclerosis Healed — The 72nd Recognized Miracle

Gold
3
The grotto of Massabielle at Lourdes with candles, altar, and the statue of the Virgin in the rock niche

Vittorio Micheli: Pelvic Sarcoma Healed — Bone Reconstruction Documented by X-ray

Gold
4
Black-and-white portrait of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in cassock and pectoral cross, 1952

James Fulton Engstrom: Stillborn 61 Minutes, Full Recovery — Fulton Sheen's Miracle

Gold
5
The Grotto of Massabielle at Lourdes, France — the limestone cave with the statue of Our Lady in a niche above the spring, site of the Lourdes pilgrimage.

Sister Bernadette Moriau: 70th Lourdes Miracle — Cauda Equina Syndrome Resolved

Silver
6
AI-generated dramatized reenactment — John Traynor: WWI Wounded Sailor Walks — The 71st Recognized Miracle

John Traynor: WWI Wounded Sailor Walks — The 71st Recognized Miracle

Silver
7
Pope John Paul II in white cassock waving beside President Ronald Reagan at Fairbanks Airport, Alaska, 1984

Floribeth Mora Díaz: Inoperable Brain Aneurysm Disappears After John Paul II Beatification

Silver
8
Oil portrait of Cardinal John Henry Newman in red cardinal's robes by John Everett Millais, 1881

Melissa Villalobos: Placental Abruption Bleeding Stops Instantly After Newman Prayer

Silver
9
AI-generated dramatized reenactment — Gabriel Gargam: Railroad Accident Survivor Walks After Two Years Bedridden

Gabriel Gargam: Railroad Accident Survivor Walks After Two Years Bedridden

Bronze
10
AI-generated dramatized reenactment — Delizia Cirolli: Ewing's Sarcoma Vanishes Months After Lourdes Visit

Delizia Cirolli: Ewing's Sarcoma Vanishes Months After Lourdes Visit

Bronze

Least likely — the clearest misses

Confessed hoaxes, exposed frauds, and claims the evidence flatly contradicts. Publishing these is what makes the list above worth anything.

1

The Angels of Mons

Disproven
2

The Holy Lance (Spear of Longinus / "Spear of Destiny")

Disproven
3
AI-generated dramatized reenactment — The Veil of Veronica and the Holy Face of Manoppello

The Veil of Veronica and the Holy Face of Manoppello

Unproven
4

Angela of Foligno — Medieval Mystic, Questionable Preservation Claim

Unproven
5

Apollonius of Tyana: The Resurrection of a Roman Girl

Unproven
6

Blessed Imelda Lambertini — The Child Who Died at First Communion

Disproven
7
Jules-Eugene Lenepveu's Pantheon mural of Joan of Arc in armor with banner at the siege of Orleans

Joan of Arc 'Relics' — Confirmed 20th-Century Forgery

Disproven
8
The Las Lajas Sanctuary, a neo-Gothic basilica built into a river gorge near Ipiales, Colombia, home of the image said to have appeared on the rock in 1754

Our Lady of Las Lajas (Miraculous Image in Stone)

Unproven
9
A devotional painting of Saint Rita of Cascia in her Augustinian habit, by Pedro Antonio Fresquís

Saint Rita of Cascia — Six Centuries of Wax-Repaired Preservation

Disproven
10
The Church of the Holy Miracle (Igreja do Santíssimo Milagre) in Santarém, Portugal, which houses the relic of the 1247 Eucharistic miracle

Eucharistic Miracle of Santarém

Unproven

Percentages are the editors’ calibrated estimates — never 0 or 100, because certainty isn’t earned in either direction. Each entry links to the full evidence ledger and reasoning, and every badge is defined on the methodology page. How ratings and tiers work →