NBI finds statue’s ‘tears’ to be human blood, priest says

BAGUIO CITY — Her tears were of human blood.

"It’s human blood and it’s type A," said Fr. Vicente Castro of the tears shed by the statue of St. Therese at the Baguio Cathedral, quoting the finding of the Cordillera office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Castro, the cathedral’s 77-year-old parish priest, said the NBI regional office informed him of its laboratory finding in a phone call last Friday.

He said he submitted samples of the blood which dripped from the eyes of the statue. The NBI itself collected samples, he said.

"There is a thing to consider now: did the blood come from the statue or did somebody inject it?" he said. "As a statue, it should not shed tears."

Devotees have flocked to the cathedral since a certain Christopher Fergis said he saw the statue shedding tears of what appeared to be blood when he was praying in front of it two weeks ago.

In a newspaper article, the 26-year-old Fergis urged the public to pray the rosary and live a life according to God’s will.

Castro said St. Therese, a Carmelite nun who had lived in a monastery, professed a life of simplicity.