Scientific and Medical Studies on the Apparitions at Medjugorje

Fülszöveg

The alleged apparitions of Our Lady in the Yugoslav village of IVIedjugorje have become the focus of worldwide attention. They have even been the subject of a major documentary film in the BBC Everyman series. But what of the five young visionaries themselves? Apart from the obvious question of the authenticity of the apparitions what exactly do they experience? This study by world renowned mariologist, Fr René Laurentin, and scientist, Professor Henri Joyeux of the University of IVIontpellier, sets out to answer this question.
Never before in the history of the Church has the phenomenon of ecstasy been subjected to modern scientific tests. The visionaries have willingly undergone electro-encephalographs, electro-ocuiographs, eye reflex tests and a study of evoked auditory responses. An analysis of something quite astonishing has been achieved, namely the extinction of the visionaries' voices while they are in conversation with Our Lady. These are the 'firsts' offered by the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The alleged apparitions of Our Lady in the Yugoslav village of IVIedjugorje have become the focus of worldwide attention. They have even been the subject of a major documentary film in the BBC Everyman series. But what of the five young visionaries themselves? Apart from the obvious question of the authenticity of the apparitions what exactly do they experience? This study by world renowned mariologist, Fr René Laurentin, and scientist, Professor Henri Joyeux of the University of IVIontpellier, sets out to answer this question.
Never before in the history of the Church has the phenomenon of ecstasy been subjected to modern scientific tests. The visionaries have willingly undergone electro-encephalographs, electro-ocuiographs, eye reflex tests and a study of evoked auditory responses. An analysis of something quite astonishing has been achieved, namely the extinction of the visionaries' voices while they are in conversation with Our Lady. These are the 'firsts' offered by the book: the tests and their implications.
The conclusions reached are of the utmost importance in the debate surrounding the apparitions. The world press declared them to be 'collective hallucination', but this is not, in fact, the case. While in ecstasy the five adolescents are not dreaming or sleeping, nor are they in a state of hysteria or catalepsy. This has been scientifically excluded. There is nothing pathological about the five young visionaries either when they are in their ordinary state or during ecstasy.
The urgent message of Medjugorje has caused hundreds of thousands of Christians to fast on bread and water once or twice a week, after the example of the visionaries. Fr Laurentin looks at the significance of fasting in the Bible and in the Christian tradition. Why did it die out? Why was it revived? In what way is it of benefit to body and soul?
Fr Laurentin and Professor Joyeux pay particular attention to the cures at IVIedjugorje, giving case histories, and to the luminous phenomena which have puzzled thousands of visitors to IVIedjugorje. René Laurentin's questions are answered by the extraordinary results of the scientific tests which are interpreted scientifically and theologically. Vissza