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INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL

Belgian Miracles

member of the European open and festering wound. Then Union, Belgium is located in April 1875, he visited the A between the Netherlands, Oostakker shrine where, allegedly, Germany, and France. The coun- he was instantaneously healed, try takes its name from its first after which he “walked normally recorded inhabitants, ancient Celts until his death in 1898” at age sev- known as Belgae, and has a rich enty-six (Neiman 1995, 100–101). history, having been a province of On July 25, 1908, the Holy See the Roman Empire, the heart of of Bruges declared the healing the Carolingian dynasty, and a supernatural. celebrated medieval textile center. Over time, a number of leg- Today, among its many great ends grew up about the case, in- attractions are such historic cities cluding a claim that De Rudder as Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges, had been treated by professor together with museums of Flemish Thiriar, physician to King Léopold art. While it is a country of scien- II (a claim dropped by the mirac- tific advances (a world leader in ulists after a denial by Thiriar him- heart and lung transplants as well self). More significantly, it was as in fertility treatments [World claimed that prior to 1875 De 2000, 129]), it is also, according to Rudder’s unmended leg could be many, a place of miracles. twisted at the fracture point to the I made my first investigative extent of revolving the foot half a pilgrimage to Belgium in 1998 turn (i.e., putting the heel in (accompanied by local skeptic Tim front). Then, when De Rudder Trachet). I returned in 2006 (with was allegedly cured in 1875, the Copy photo from shrine at Oostakker, Belgium, by Joe Nickell Dutch science writer and translator Figure 1. The lower left leg bones of Pierre De Rudder, mending was “instantaneous.” Jan Willem Nienhuys) as a side excur- allegedly healed by a miracle in 1875. Unfortunately, most of the sion from travels in the Netherlands important testimony in the case (Nickell 2007a). On both occasions, I The Belgian Lourdes went unrecorded for eighteen years, and looked at purported wonders such as the I have twice visited the Shrine of Our memories of this age are subject to error healing shrine known as the Belgian Lady of Lourdes (named after the (Delcour 1987). Lourdes, an ancient miracle statue, and a famous healing-spring grotto in the For example, Dr. Van Hoestenberghe vial of the Holy Blood of Christ. French Pyrenees) at Oostakker, Belgium. claimed that he had performed the The shrine’s most celebrated miracle is twisting movement on De Rudder’s leg, the healing of a laborer named Pierre De when in fact the physician’s recollection Joe Nickell, CSI’s senior research fellow, is Rudder, whose lower left leg was broken was a false memory. A letter he had writ- author of many books, including Looking by a felled tree in 1867. Reportedly, De ten on May 12, 1875 (which had be- for a Miracle and Relics of the Christ. Rudder refused amputation and for eight come lost by the time of a canonical His Web site is at www.joenickell.com. years suffered constant pain from his inquiry in 1893 but was rediscovered by

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1957) revealed that he had not per- with a scar that, reported by Dr. Van physicians who consider the De Rudder formed the twist, nor even seen it, but Hoestenberghe, was “such as one finds a case miraculous almost unanimously do had only heard persons talk about it. long time after a healing” (qtd. in so on the basis that the cure was instanta- Moreover, the twist was apparently Delcour 1987). neous, and that, as we have seen, is depen- not demonstrated at the point of the Other medical evidence likewise sup- dent on dubious testimony. Indeed, there fracture by showing the naked leg. ports the view that De Rudder’s healing is evidence to the contrary. Instead, it was done with the leg clothed, was less than miraculous. A broken leg The De Rudder case gives one pause so the observers could not know where such as he suffered could—with immo- regarding other claims of miraculous the twist actually occurred. This is a cru- bility and good hygiene—have healed healing at Oostakker, Lourdes, and else- cial point because certain supple persons without amputation. Besides, the bones where. Such certifications are often vague can turn their feet almost completely (see figure 1) grew together obliquely in and unscientific. Miracle is not a scientific around, like De Rudder, without concept, and miracle claims are benefit of any abnormal mobility.1 typically only those found to be Although some claimed the leg was “medically inexplicable.” Thus, uncovered when they saw De claimants are engaging in a logical Rudder twist it, two men who were fallacy called “arguing from igno- present for his demonstrations “well rance”—that is, drawing a conclu- over a hundred times” stated the leg sion based on a lack of knowledge was never naked on those occasions (Nickell 2007, 202–205). The De (Delcour 1987). De Rudder’s Rudder case is even worse, since eagerness to demonstrate the effect there is evidence that an injury, at every opportunity suggests not a healed long before, was passed suffering man happy to suffer more off as instantaneous—a miracle but someone performing a stunt that wasn’t. with a purpose—one that will soon become clear. Miracle Statue As to the supposed instanta- Belgium’s most frequented pil- neous nature of the healing, that grimage site is Scherpenheuvel claim depends on the dubious testi- (Dutch for “sharp hill”) in the mony of just three persons: an illit- north-central part of the country. erate woman who was apparently There, in the Middle Ages, stood represented by hearsay and a father a great, solitary oak that was visi- and son who seemed eager to help ble from all around. The spot certify a miracle. (Their story even was a center of superstitious improved over the years.) practices and pagan worship In contrast is the evidence that until, in the fourteenth century, a De Rudder had actually undergone small wooden figure of the “a certain improvement” about Virgin Mary was affixed to the fourteen months after the accident. tree, and the makeshift shrine Photo by Joe Nickell We know that the Viscount who Figure 2. This little statue of the Virgin at Belgium’s most- began to gain fame. In time, mir- employed De Rudder at the time of frequented pilgrimage site is said to be miraculous despite acles began to be attributed to the accident gave the invalid being a replacement. the little statue (see figure 2). worker a pension, characterized as a “nice The first reputed miracle salary.” It was rumored about the village a fashion a surgeon would not have been occurred in 1514 when, according to a that De Rudder was malingering in order proud of. Also, that which would have pious little legend, a shepherd or shep- to effect a life of ease. indeed been beyond nature—the recon- herd boy discovered the figurine lying After the Viscount died on July 26, stitution of De Rudder’s dead tendon— on the ground and intended to take it 1874, his heir stopped the pension, did not occur (De Meester 1957, 106). home. However, the Virgin Mary mirac- whereupon De Rudder’s wife and daugh- One touted proof that the cure was ulously transfixed him—froze him in ter had to begin working. Some eight instantaneous comes from the absence of place—preventing the statue’s removal. months later, De Rudder may have hit thickening of the bone callus at the Subsequently, the shrine became more on a clever plan that would allow him to mending site, but this thickening could widely known. abruptly end his pretended disability so have been reabsorbed by the body in sev- In 1602, a little wooden chapel was he could, necessarily, return to work: he eral months or a few years (Encyclopedia built at the site, and the following year a went to Oostakker and claimed a mirac- Britannica 2009, s.v. “callus”). Adrien new miracle was reported: the statue ulous cure. However, he returned home Delcour (1987) concludes that the wept bloody tears, reportedly in protest

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over the religious schism then plaguing quistadors in Mexico erected a shrine to herd’s grasp was unable to stave off the Low Countries. the Virgin Mary on a hill where the marauding anti-idolaters, suggesting at Still another miracle was said to have Aztecs had a temple to their virgin god- best its powers were limited. occurred in 1604 when troops of the dess Tonantzin [Mullen 1998, 6; Smith Thus the bloody tears were produced Archduke Albert (the Spanish-appointed 1983, 20; Nickell 1993, 29–34; Nickell by a replacement statue, and in any case, governor of the Low Countries) routed 2004, 51–55].) In short, one may ask, the phenomenon—judging from numer- the Protestants and retook Ostend. Albert are the alleged miracles of Scherpen- ous modern examples—was likely a and his wife, the Archduchess Isabella, heuvel attributable to the statue of the pious fraud. In 1985, for instance, a determined to thank God by commis- Virgin and the power of the Virgin her- statue of the virgin that wept and bled in sioning the erection of a monumental self or to pagan deities? Or might there the home of a Quebec railroad worker baroque basilica at the site, inaugurated in have been no miracles at all? proved on examination to have an 1627. Albert died in the meantime, but The story of the transfixed shepherd applied mixture of blood and animal fat. Photo Willem by Nienhuys Jan Figure 3. Joe Nickell appears to be venerating the Holy Blood at Bruges but is really only getting a good look at it!

Isabella walked to the inauguration, giv- boy is one of those vague, pious folktales When the room warmed from the body ing rise to pilgrimages that have contin- lacking any evidence to support it. If we heat of the pilgrims, the substance lique- ued ever since, supplicants seeking their are prepared to believe a shepherd boy fied and trickled realistically. In another own miracles in the form of healings and considered taking the statue, we can also case in Sardinia, Italy, in 1995, DNA other blessings (Scherpenheuvel n.d.; believe it was only an attack of con- tests on the blood revealed that it Scherpenheuvel-Zichem n.d.; “Scherpen- science that stayed his hand, and the rest belonged to the statue’s owner (Nickell heuvel-Zichem” 2009). of the tale is attributable to exaggeration. 2007b, 227–228). (Her attorney ex- What are we to make of the alleged As to the statue’s bloody tears, that plained, “Well, the Virgin Mary had to miracles of Scherpenheuvel? First, we figurine was not the same one that had get that blood from somewhere.”) should remember that the site was con- transfixed the shepherd boy. The origi- The 1604 military victory at Ostend sidered magical before it was taken over nal had been stolen in 1580 when the does not seem so miraculous if one adopts by Catholic Christians, part of a com- region was pillaged by Dutch Protestant the perspective of the Protestants or if one mon process known as syncretism in iconoclasts (those hostile to the worship wonders why we should think statues which one religion is grafted onto of images). In other words, the statue miraculous when desirable things happen another. (For example, Catholic con- that legendarily saved itself from a shep- (a statue’s theft is prevented, a battle

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won) but not unmiraculous when bad vial (made of rock crystal rather than glass) Note things occur (a statue is stolen, maraud- has been determined to be an eleventh-or 1. States Adrien Delcour (1987): “At the price ers overrun the land). twelfth-century Byzantine perfume bottle. of slight hip dislocation certain rather supple per- sons (the author of the present lines, for example) Given the image of the Virgin Mary as In 1310 Pope Clement V issued a can manage without effort to turn their foot healer and protectress (Mullen 1998, 10), papal bull granting indulgences to pil- around, with the great toe almost to the back by it is not surprising that desperate people grims who visited the chapel at Bruges rotation [of] the ankle. This exercise should have been easier for De Rudder because he had lost the still seek miracles at Scherpenheuvel, and venerated the blood. At that time, extender tendon of the big toe.” where I have witnessed the votive candles, believers claimed the blood miracu- the fervent prayers, the posted notes lously returned to its original liquid state References beseeching “Moeder Maria” for supernat- every Friday at noon. This not only Aspeslag, Pierre. 1988. Chapel of the Holy Blood, ural assistance. Such help may seem to sounds like a magic trick, but it evokes the Bruges. Ostend, Belgium: s.v. Van Mieghem A. Bruges Tourist Guide. 1998. Brussels, Belgium: come to those who count only the good similar “miracle” of the blood of St. Editions THILL S.A. luck; otherwise they discount the bad or Januarius at Naples—a phenomenon that Calvin, John. 1543. Treatise on Relics, trans. Count even—sad to say—blame themselves for forensic analyst John F. Fischer and I Valerian Krasinski 1854; 2nd ed. Edinburgh: John Stone, Hunter, and Col., 1870, 217–218. not praying hard enough. replicated, utilizing a mixture of olive oil, (Reprinted without translator’s notes but with melted beeswax, and red pigment. In an introduction by Joe Nickell, Amherst, NY: The Holy Blood addition to St. Januarius, some twenty Prometheus Books, 2009.) Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913. New York: Encyclo- John Calvin (1543, 226) critically ob- other saints have reportedly yielded magi- pedia Press. served that alleged blood of Jesus “is cally liquefying blood. My Italian col- Coupe, Alison, ed. 2009. Michelin Belgium exhibited in more than a hundred places,” league, chemist Luigi Garlaschelli, exter- Luxembourg (travel guide). Watford, Herts, England: Michelin Apa Publications. one of the most celebrated being the nally examined one of these in its sealed Delcour, Adrien. 1987. A great ‘Lourdes miracle’: Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges. I vial and discovered that the “blood” sim- the cure of Pierre de Rudder or, what is the twice visited the site, and on the second ply liquefied whenever the temperature value of testimony? A paper by Delcour of occasion (October 25, 2006) I was able to Brussels, Belgium, translated by Jan Willem rose (Nickell 2007c, 44–49, 169–170). Nienhaus. hold in my hands the reliquary suppos- Unfortunately, the Holy Blood at De Meester, Canon A. 1957. Report of the Holy edly containing the very blood of Christ Bruges soon stopped liquefying, suppos- See of Bruges; cited in Delcour 1987. (figure 3). It has been called “Europe’s Kirk, Paul L. 1974. Crime Investigation, 2nd ed. edly as the result of some blasphemy New York: John Wiley and Sons. holiest relic” (Coupe 2009, 132). that occurred later in 1310. The miracle McDonald, George. 2009. Frommer’s Belgium, According to legend, the Bruges relic recurred only one more time, in 1388 Holland & Luxembourg, 11th ed. Hoboken, was obtained in Palestine in the mid- NJ: Wiley. (Aspeslag 1988, 11). Mullen, Peter. 1998. Shrines of Our Lady. New twelfth century, during the Second Naturally, I wanted to get a good York: St. Martin’s Press. Nieman, Carol. 1995. Miracles: The Extraordinary, Crusade, by Thierry of Alsace. He al- look at the “blood,” so I twice stood in legedly received it from his relative the Impossible and the Divine. New York: the pilgrims’ line, supposedly to pray Viking Studio Books. Baldwin II, then King of Jerusalem, as a over the reliquary (again, see figure 3). Nickell, Joe. 1993. Looking for a Miracle. Amherst, reward for meritorious service. How- NY: Prometheus Books. In fact, although I bowed respectfully, I ever, chronicles of the crusades fail to ———. 2004. The Mystery Chronicles: More Real- used the two brief occasions to scruti- Life X-Files. Lexington, KY: University Press of mention the relic being present in nize the substance. I observed that it had Kentucky. Jerusalem (Aspeslag 1988, 10). Sources ———. 2007a. The Netherlands: Visions and re- a waxen look and was bespeckled with claim that Thierry, Count of Flanders, visions. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 31:6(Nov./Dec.), “coagulated drops” that have suspi- 16–19. brought the relic to Bruges in 1150, while ———. 2007b. Adventures in Paranormal another source reports it arrived in 1204. ciously remained red (Bruges 1998, 28) Investigation. Lexington, KY: University Press In any event, the earliest document that unlike real blood, which blackens with of Kentucky. age (Kirk 1974, 194–195). ———. 2007c. Relics of the Christ. Lexington, KY: refers to it dates from 1270 (Catholic University Press of Kentucky. Encyclopedia 1913, s.v. “Bruges”; Aspeslag In brief, the Holy Blood of Bruges Notre Dame de Lourdes a Oostakker. 1975. Souvenir 1988, 9–11). lacks a credible provenance, since it has booklet in French (“Imprimature Gradae, no record for a dozen centuries after the 7–4–1975, O. Schelfhout, vic. Gen.”), distrib- The reliquary, housed in the twelfth- uted at the shrine. century Basilica of the Holy Blood, is now death of Jesus and is contained in a Scherpenheuvel: Famous Shrine of Our Lady. N.d. brought out daily for veneration by the medieval bottle. It appeared with a pro- Pilgrimage information sheet in English, pro- fusion of other dubious blood relics, vided at the basilica. faithful. Although mistakenly character- Scherpenheuvel-Zichem. N.d. Large color folder ized by at least one source as “a fragment including several with which it had in with text in four languages. Brabant, Belgium: of cloth stained with what is said to be the common the property of liquefying and Hageland. Scherpenheuvel-Zichem. 2009. Available online at blood of Christ” (McDonald 2009, 145), resolidifying, suggestive of a magic trick. http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Scherpenheuvel- it in fact consists of “clotted blood” con- Both that behavior and its current Zichem (accessed August 4, 2009). tained in a vial set in a glass-fronted cylin- appearance are incompatible with gen- Smith, Jody Brant. 1983. The Image of Guadalupe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. der, each end of which is covered with uine old blood and are instead indicative World Desk Reference, 3rd ed. 2000. New York: gold coronets decorated with angels. The of a pious fraud. ! Dorling Kindersley Publishing.

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