Wednesday 21 March 2018

TRASLADATION OF ALEXANDRINA'S MORTAL REMAINS TO THE TOMB CHAPEL IN THE BALASAR CEMETERY IN 1957


In 1957 the auxiliary bishop of Braga went to Balasar to bless the chapel built in the cemetery and to exhume the body (of Alexandrina), which had been buried in the earth, and to transport it to the new grave. It was October 11; were present in addition to the auxiliary bishop, the Mayor of Póvoa de Varzim, Dr. Manuel Melo Adriano, professor of medicine at the University of Porto, the deputy doctor of health of the region, Dr. Costa Azevedo, and Dr. Manuel Augusto Dias of Azevedo.
To the mass of the faithful people was forbidden to enter the cemetery; many of them climbed up to the fence wall to see.
Dr. Adriano, at the request of auxiliary bishop Mons. Francisco Maria da Silva, wrote a report on the exhumation of Alexandrina's body on the following 23 December. Among other things he wrote:

Proceeding to the removal of the earth, appeared a niche in cement with about two meters of length by one of width and one of height, open in one side until the bottom, and shown part of the mortuary box. The cement plate, with two iron rings and crossed by iron wires surrounding the structure, was removed and was removed also the earth covering the mortuary box, which appeared in a discreet state of preservation, eroded only in a small part of the cover, in the end, corresponding to the head of the body.
You did not feel the slightest odor of corpse putrefaction. I was invited by the auxiliary bishop to enter the mortuary chapel. Once the cover of the mortuary box was removed, the body showed no sign of putrefaction. By the examination I can say that I found myself facing a case of corpse destruction without corruption. With all due respect, I take Jesus Christ as my witness and before him I humbly swear that everything I write does not depend in any way on external suggestion of whoever it is and that it is the pure expression of the truth and that on my part there is not the least preconceived idea.

Dr. Azevedo told me that the decomposition of Alexandrina's body without putrefaction is an extraordinary fact that escapes the laws of nature.

From Fr. Humberto Pasquale’s autobiography.


The chapel where Alexandrina’s mortal remains were buried in 1957.

No comments:

Post a Comment