More than a year after a possible miracle occurred at St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in Thomaston, the church and the Archdiocese of Hartford have yet to hear the results of the Vatican’s investigation.
“There is no expectation for how quickly a determination will be handed down to us, so we’re just waiting for right now,” said David Elliott, spokesman for the archdiocese, who noted the systematic way the Vatican approaches such matters.
On March 5, 2023, the Rev. Joseph Crowley, pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, which includes St. Thomas, reported that during Holy Communion a lay person distributing hosts had found the wafers had multiplied in the ciborium.
“God duplicated himself in the ciborium,” Crowley said after Communion at the time. “God provides and it’s strange how God does that. And that happened.”
Archdiocese of Hartford investigating report of possible miracle at Thomaston church
The archdiocese investigated and sent its report to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. The section of the dicastery that focuses on doctrine oversees “safeguarding faith and morals and protecting their integrity from errors,” according to the Vatican’s website. It investigates possible miracles.
St. Thomas was the last parish served by the Rev. Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, who has been beatified after a miracle was attributed to him.
A Waterbury native, McGivney was beatified in 2020, as authorized by Pope Francis, making him the first Connecticut resident and one of only a handful of Americans, to be recognized as “Blessed.”
McGivney was the son of Irish immigrants to the United States. In March, 1882, he was an assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and founded the Knights of Columbus with a small group of parishioners. While McGivney was born in Waterbury, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1877. He served as parochial vicar of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and then pastor of St. Thomas church in Thomaston.
McGivney needs one more miracle to become a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. However, that miracle would have to be connected to someone praying to McGivney directly.
Then-Archbishop Leonard Blair issued a statement last year saying, “As people of faith we know that miracles can and do happen, as they did during Christ’s earthly ministry. Miracles are divine signs calling us to faith or to deepen our faith.
Elliott said there is no set time for the Vatican to respond.
“I don’t know if there’s anything to indicate that this will take years but, in theory, it can certainly take weeks, months or even years,” he said.
“There’s nothing we know right now,” Elliott said. “We’re waiting along with everyone else. You know how those things go, especially with the Vatican.
“They like to do their work in a very methodical and thorough fashion,” he said. ” And we’re grateful for that. But it leaves us in this holding pattern, and we’re just waiting along with everyone else.”
Crowley did not respond to a request for comment.
Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com.
