What do you know about Brother Carmelo Cortez? November 5, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Christendom, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Our Lady, sanctity, Spiritual Warfare.trackback
A reader queried me over the weekend about a Filipino Brother Carmelo Cortez and his – it is said – miraculous rose petals. Apparently, Brother Cortez has been given some special Grace by God, so that when he is present and rose petals are distributed, miraculous images of the Crucifixion, or of Our Blessed Mother, or of angels, form on the rose petals. See the video below. I have to say, even if these images were made by human hands, their clarity and composition would appear to be virtually miraculous in themselves, for being able to impose such an image on something as delicate as a rose petal. From what is claimed, the rose petals are just handed out, bearing no image, and then the images form over time during prayer? Some evidence (the images come around halfway through the video):
This video perhaps describes the “process” in action a little more directly:
When it comes to this kind of thing, I have to admit, I am normally rather skeptical. I have seen a lot of alleged “images” of the Blessed Mother, for instance, that are just so blurry or vague they could be anything. But these images are very clear. You can really see Joseph and the Child Jesus, or Our Lady, or the Crucifixion. Those giving testimonies in the videos state they are just regular old rose petals, but through some undefinable action in Brother Cortez’ presence, they reveal amazing images. From what I gather, the roses are brought by participants, not by Brother Cortez.
But as the priest points out in the first video, and I thank God he did, the REAL miracle that is so beyond our understanding and also the very Font, the Source and Summit of our Faith, resides every day in the Tabernacle – God willing! That is why the Tabernacle should always have “pride of place” in every church!
Nevertheless, if these miraculous rose petals be real, they are certainly a great testimony to Our Father and Our Savior, giving us these external signs of Their reality, a reality that is in fact much more real than all the stuff we see around us and occupy ourselves with.
I will note there are some sites out there purporting to “debunk” the rose petal images, but I do note that almost all the critical claims were pretty easily refuted by those stating they had eye-witness testimony – that Brother Cortez did not even handle the rose petals personally, they were brought in my random people participating so that Brother Cortez had no means to manipulate them beforehand (perhaps tracing a very light image, which then showed when the petals were immersed in water), that the images appeared suddenly, after prayer, and that they showed absolutely no evidence of an image under close examination before the claimed miracle.
Anyone have any personal experience of Brother Cortez, the rose petals, and the miraculous healings that are supposed to be associated with both? That is another aspect I completely failed to mention above, participants in these events claim miraculous healings occur, as well.
I will say one thing: I think it is sad the degree to which Catholics often feel ashamed about the mystical, as if we have to be embarrassed about it. We have been indoctrinated, by the culture, to disbelieve such things as “unscientific” and even medieval. That is a great shame, and it’s had a big impact. The Church’s claim to authenticity is based on miracles! Miracles by Christ, the Apostles, Saints, martyrs, etc. It was the plethora of miracles fired by great faith that caused the conversion of a worldly, pagan empire. We do a great disservice to God, the Church, and ourselves if we take an overly skeptical attitude towards the miraculous. I am not endorsing or claiming that Brother Cortez’ images are miraculous, only that miracles certainly DO occur, and on a regular basis. Most are mundane and hidden. But that doesn’t make them any less real.
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I’ll have to look at the videos later. Agree with your last paragraph. It’s because we’ve lost a sense of the supernatural. I believe God grants miracles to poor and humble people. I am willing to bet this happens more in third world countries. Do you believe in Medjugorje? I really don’t because of the seers. Most who have seen Our Lady become priests and nuns.
testing
And my love/hate relationship with WP resolves yet again.
My take on materialism and the miraculous is a little different- I’m one of those persons who finds the fact that there is anything at all so amazing that miracles are great, but hardly necessary to bolster faith or such.
So, we like stories like this, but don’t get too terribly excited about them, b/c there’s so much else to wonder at, as the priest pointed out.
Well we have to wait and see what the Holy See deal is…. All blessed images does bring peace,joy and happiness, but the best ones are the ones that came down from heaven Design from heaven.
I had never heard of this. Interesting.
Thank you for posting about Brother Carmelo. Friends of mine know him very well and speak of his humility. He has the approval of Cardinal George to speak in the Chicago Archdiocese.
Red flags for me. Why do the petals have to be tucked into clothing? (And very inappropriately in some of the women.) One woman put out her hand but was ignored. She got two! I wonder if body heat is involved in a trick.
It looks like he puts the petals in a bowl with a salt or other mineral solution. The solution then crystallizes or forms structured patterns when applied to heat (which is why he insists on putting them within the warm clothing). People then often see images that they want to see (suggestion/confirmation bias).
Not sure if you watched the videos or not, but many of these images are not vague or open to interpretation. Some of them are very clear, very well defined. There are very clear images of a crucifix, or a Saint, or Joseph and the child Jesus.
I’ve seen many “apparitions” that fit your description – vague, open to interpretation, etc. but many of these were really well defined. So, I tend to give it more credence.
My other theory was that he surreptitiously impresses the petals with a religious medal, cross, etc. and then the heat quickly brings out the impression. Maybe I’ll try that at home!
For what it’s worth, I’m no skeptic of the supernatural and mystical, and often believe in weeping statues and pictures, etc. However, I watched the video and he doesn’t speak with that arresting freshness of the Gospel, his handling and distribution of the petals is odd, and his blessings on the head look insincere and mechanical.
Unfortunately we do not have high speed, so watching these videos is out of the question, but I am glad to learn about him anyway. I’m not much for signs and wonders though. I have a hard enough time looking at the Tabernacle and trying to fathom that Miracle. “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”
Here is a link to a 5-year running blog on the subject:
http://innermagicclub.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/rose-petal-images-miracle-or-not/
I am an attorney.I have been at a number of services with Carmelo Cortez. He was invited to our Catholic church. The invitation had to be approved by the bishop of our diocese and the bishop of Carmelo’s diocese in the Philippines, as well as by our pastor. The purpose of Carmelo’s visit was to talk about the apparitions of Our Lady under her title Mother of the Eucharist and Grace, and to spread knowledge of and devotion to Our Lady under that title. In my opinion Carmelo is given this gift of the miraculous images on rose petals to get people to come to hear of this wonderful title of Our Lady, and to spread veneration to Mary and devotion and glory to GOD through Our Lady Mother of the Eucharist and Grace.
Shortly before Carmelo’s arrival at our church I picked up 4 dozen white, long-stemmed roses which I had ordered from our local Jewel grocery store. I brought them to the church, divided them into groups to place in vases at the altar. When Carmelo came it was first to attend (with the congregation) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. After the Holy Sacrifice, Carmelo then requested our pastor to bless him.
I had also purchased a 24 pack of 20 ounce water bottles from Jewel grocery store. Carmelo took one of these unopened bottles and requested of the pastor that the pastor open the bottle, take a drink, and confirm that the bottle contained only water. This was done.
Carmelo then requested the pastor to place the pastor’s rosary into the water bottle, for just a moment. When the rosary was dipped into the water bottle, the water became cloudy white, and emitted a rose-scented odor. This water was placed into small bowls and taken to the people who then could dip their own rosaries and medals into this rose-scented water.
Carmelo then requested of the priest and an altar server to take the white roses from the vases, remove the petals from the roses, and place the petals into a large, empty, clear plastic bowl. They took about two dozen of the roses and placed the petals into the bowl. The priest then blessed the bowl of petals. Carmelo took the bowl of petals and as people lined up, he would make the sign of the Cross over each individual, remove a petal and place the petal into the individual’s collar. I remember one individual quite clearly who removed the petal immediately from her collar. As we watched, the image of the Face of Christ appeared, crowned with thorns. Others waited for a moment or more, praying (as was requested), and different images appeared. One man who has a great devotion to St. Rita of Cascia had the image of St. Rita of Cascia appear on his petal. A woman friend of mine who is in the Blue Army received an image of Our Lady of Fatima.
Near the end of the service, Carmelo reached into the bowl and began giving the “extra” petals to our pastor, who is of Polish descent.
Images of Pope John Paul II and of the Papal “seal” of Pope John Paul II arrived. Additionally, between two rose petals, was a still damp “manna host”. The bread was in the form of a host, but of course was not consecrated. Our priest still has that “manna host” in a reliquary. Another priest who also received a “manna host” used that host to consecrate in his next day’s Holy Sacrifice.
These beautiful gifts are given to us to confirm and remind us of the wonders of GOD and the graces given to us through His Most Holy Mother, Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Grace, and our Mother.
Eddie L.
I am a hispanic and live in South Texas. I had the privilege of having Brother Carmelo provide a healing service at my house. I must say that I had never heard of Carmelo Cortez prior to our healing. I was told about him from some dear Philipino friends, a physician and his wife. They invited my wife and i to attend a healing service at their house prior to our service. I attended with a skeptical mind. I was astounded by what I witnessed. Still, I thought maybe the roses that were there were doctored somehow, so when he came to provide a service at our house a week later, I decided to play close attention to what he was doing. First of all we bought the roses our selves and chose the ones that would be placed in the clear bowl. Carmelo then did his blessing while I and another attendee held the bowl while he rubbed the petals. He then took some Ozarka water that was from our refridgerator and opened the bottles and poured them into another bowl. We drank from the water prior to the pouring. He then asked my wife if she had a rosary, which she got and he placed the rosary in the drinking water and it immeadiately turned into a cloudy solution and gave a very beautiful pundgent odor of roses. He then proceeded to take a scapular that we place by the roses of the baby Jesus being held by the holy mother and he placed it in front of my wife and my self for a split second, then he proceeded to take a petal from the bowl that we held and placed on in our chest. Within seconds he told us to take it out and look at it. It was a simular image of the scapular with the baby Jesus in different positions. Brother Carmelo is an extremely humble man with what I now know has a miraculous gift from God. There is no way that he could have doctored the petals I had full control of them at all times. For those who feel that he is doing this for money, he never once asked donations, we, the people at the service decided to donate out of pure faith. He is not a con man. This coming from someone who is not Philipino and who was a skeptic. By the way all the fifty plus people what attended were all blessed with varous images and all were as astounded as I was.