Miracle Chapati
{{Short description|Religious apparition in Bangalore, India}}
The Miracle Chapati or Chapati Jesus is a chapati, or flat unleavened bread, roughly eight centimeters in diameter with, what believers claim, is an image of Christ miraculously burnt on it. The chapati was baked by Sheela Antony of Bangalore, India in early September 2002, enshrined in Bangalore, and visited by thousands of believers and curious onlookers.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2484195.stm BBC NEWS | South Asia | India marvels at 'miracle chapati']
Origin
The baker of the Miracle Chapati, Sheela Antony, a devout Catholic, baked dozens of chapatis daily. One day in September 2002, she had given her children some to eat. Her daughter refused to eat one, remarking that it was burnt. Anthony was on the verge of discarding it,[http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1283232002 Edinburgh Evening News] but on inspection noticed that the burn mark resembled Christ, an opinion confirmed by her daughter and many of her neighbours. She handed it over to her parish priest, George Jacob, who agreed and promptly pronounced it a miracle. It was then put it in a glass case for exhibition.{{Cite web |url=http://www.alfredplacechurch.org.uk/sermons/mark8.htm |title=The Lord Christ'S First Miracle Of Healing |access-date=2006-09-04 |archive-date=2008-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081110134653/http://www.alfredplacechurch.org.uk/sermons/mark8.htm |url-status=dead }}
Publicity
Over the next few days, nearly 20,000 Christians traveling from as far as Mysore and Chennai went to the central shrine of the Retreat Centre, where the chapati was on display, to pay homage and offer prayers to this piece of bread. Apart from Christians, a number of Hindus and Muslims also visited the Centre to view the chapati. Information on the chapati was broadcast on Indian national television and reported by The Times of India, The Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation.{{Cite web |url=http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v07/rnd0747.shtml |title=UFO ROUNDUP Volume 7 Number 47 |access-date=2006-09-04 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182035/http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v07/rnd0747.shtml |url-status=dead }}
Believers and skeptics
One Indian journalist, initially skeptical, claimed to have "different feelings" on witnessing the bread in person.
Skeptics{{who|date=June 2014}} assert that the mind often sees what it wishes to, and that the chapati does not actually resemble Jesus any more than it could resemble South America, albeit from a different angle.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kuznetsov.uklinux.net/holy.php |title=Kuznetsov - Holy |access-date=2006-09-04 |archive-date=2006-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904081414/http://www.kuznetsov.uklinux.net/holy.php |url-status=dead }} Furthermore, as there are no contemporary descriptions or likenesses of Jesus known, it is impossible to know what Jesus looks like.
See also
References
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2484195.stm BBC World news article from 2002 reporting on the chapati with a decent picture of it. Accessed on Sept. 4 2006]
- [http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v07/rnd0747.shtml Towards the end of this page is an article borrowing from a 2002 Times of India feature on the chapati. Accessed on Sept. 4 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182035/http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v07/rnd0747.shtml |date=2016-03-03 }}
{{Superstitions}}
Category:Superstitions of India
Category:Mass excitability in South Asian culture
Category:Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena