My son had a wedding at that time and the roses used for the wedding was sent to that particular church in Bulacan. We followed that same afternoon. As soon as I entered the church, my wife and I smelled the roses immediately, but the altar was way far from the entrance and the church was open at that time for construction (wind was blowing the opposite direction). By the way I am from the US and just went for this occasion.

Before the mass I was told that the water is usually fetched from the well under the grotto and placed for distribution to the people after the mass- which turns into oil that smalls like roses.

After the mass several people stood by the grotto for a blessing. Carmelo handed the roses that was from my son’s wedding and picked each petal from the rose and gave each one of us with our hands open. I can clearly see a petal no image! Everyone was told to close their hands and each one was blessed (Carmelo touching each head ). I got a very vivid image of Christ after he was taken down from the cross with the 3 Mary’s. My wife got Blessed Mother’s face, while my biyanan got the last supper.

Now how is that possible when Carmelo picked each petal in front of you, gave it to your hands and see that there is no imprint- then all of a sudden after the blessing different images appeared?

Then he took a picture of the Visitation of the Blessed mother from the Archangel and put it on top of one of the faithful and blessed her. That same pictured appeared on the petal. This other woman had another picture placed on her head and after the blessing the same image was transposed to the rose petal.

The Blessed Mother came to visit me at that time through this man, but at times I try to neglect that she did.

This is a great straightforward answer that I am looking for. And since it is a method of the trade it’s not proper to ask you to reveal how it is done. Thank you.

Brother Carmelo Cortez came to our parish ( diocese of Sacramento ) upon our invitation. My wife and I with about 20 other sponsors of various ethnic backgrounds, all Catholics were with him for three days, to help facilitate as he ministered to two churches. Attendance was large for every service, always preceded by Mass and Holy Eucharist, celebrated by a priest.

The process and details of the Miraculous Petals had been described previously, and was the same with us. My wife and I along with maybe 95% of those who received the petals were blessed with beautiful, detailed images. I received a beautiful image ot the Blessed Mother with her Immaculate Heart on the feastday (June 20). Needless to say, I was overcome by a deep sense of gratitude and humility. This day, no doubt, is the most blessed for me and made my faith even stronger.

But beyond these special gifts we received, is the Message that Brother Carmelo left us : We must continue to pray, to be humble, to love others as the Lord loves us, and to help the poor.

I have no doubt that these petals are authentic messages from God.

In most services there was no collection taken up. In 4 or 5 of these services I was a “catcher” ( a volunteer who stands behind the person as they are prayed over so if they are “slain in the Spirit” they do not hit the floor). I say this because doing this gave me a very good opportunity to observe everything from the outset of these services from close up. Which in part, was why I did this……. especially during the first services I attended I was skeptical and felt there was some sort of trick.

The service starts with some prayers and a talk by Carmelo. After which he opens a new bottle of water. Since I was so close I could hear the seal crack. He always takes a drink and then pours some of the water over the white rose petals removed from the altar just seconds prior to this.

The bowl he uses is always a clear glass bowl. As soon as he does this, the entire church fills with a strong rose fragrance. This rose fragrance occurred at every service I attended. The attendance at these various services ranged from 300 to over 1000.

Every one who wanted a rose petal received one however not every petal had an image on it. As some one who witnessed these services up close there is no way these could have been stamped or printed. There was just no opportunity. As you can imagine, all the petals are of different sizes and the images I have seen always fits the petal size.

My wife had attended several services before she received a petal with an image. When she did receive one with an image, it was on a petal about the size of a dime – very small. When she recovered it from her blouse, it had no image on it and she was disappointed, and while we were both looking at it, as it rested in her palm, an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared before our eyes.

Usually by the time the petal is removed by the person from their shirt the image is already visible. There is never an opportunity to tamper with these rose petals before the service starts since they are in plain view as bouquets in vases and are removed from the stems by volunteers from the church. They are then placed directly into a clear glass dish and given directly to Carmelo.

In addition, he always wears a short-sleeve shirt. There has been at least one service where the Pastor has had the roses under lock and key before the service, so that they could not be tampered with by any one. At that same church, the Pastor did not allow Carmelo to touch the petals. Carmelo did pour the water over them and said a prayer over them as he usually does. Someone else, a volunteer from the parish, took them out of the bowl and placed them in people’s shirts while Carmelo prayed over that person.

The images still appeared. I have personally seen 50 or more rose petals with unique images all quite detailed. If this is not a miracle I would like someone to explain how this is done. It has to be more than he has some little stamping operation in the back room. There is more to this than just stamped rose petals. Any one can think of that. There is just no time nor opportunity for the stamping. If that was the case, how can that explain the Sacred Heart of Jesus appearing before our eyes?

I can also personally say that there is nothing on these petals while they are in the bowl as he moves from person to person. I could plainly see in the bowl and was only a foot or so away. He passed in front of me hundreds of times over the course of these 4 or 5 services where I was a catcher. I was certainly looking for any petals with any markings on them while in the bowl.

The not so amazing Randi said to me in an email that it is easy – he has stamps and acted like any one who believed it was a miracle was a fool since it would be easy to do this.

While I would be willing to bet he could not do it under the same circumstances as Carmelo does it, just stamping a dime size petal would be tedious. In addition, just how long would it take to stamp 500 or so petals in just one night? When he is the area he goes from Church to Church several nights in a row. He would need a little factory stamping these petals.

It also seems to me that the stamping process would leave cuts or holes. None that I have seen have cuts or holes. That would be especially difficult since when he comes to the area he stays with friends I know from church, and they take him from Church to Church. These people have absolutely no reason to perpetrate a fraud on their neighbors and friends. Pax et bonum.

In most services there was no collection taken up. In 4 or 5 of these services I was a “catcher” ( a volunteer who stands behind the person as they are prayed over so if they are “slain in the Spirit” they do not hit the floor). I say this because doing this gave me a very good opportunity to observe everything from the outset of these services from close up. Which in part, was why I did this especially at the first few of these services I attended I was skepitical and felt there was some sort of trick.

The service starts with some prayers and a talk by Carmelo. After which he opens a new bottle of water. Since I was so close I could hear the seal crack. He always takes a drink and then pours some of the water over the white rose petals removed from the altar just seconds prior to this.

The bowl he uses is always a clear glass bowl. As soon as he does this, the entire church fills with a strong rose fragrance. This rose fragrance occurred at every service I attended. The attendance at these various services ranged from 300 to over 1000.

Ever one who wanted a rose petal receive one however not ever one had an image on it. As some one who witnessed these services up close there is no way these could have been stamped or printed. There was just no opportunity. As you can imagine all the petals are of different sizes and the images I have seen always fits the petal size.

My wife had attended several services before she received a petal with an image. When she did receive one with an image, it was on a petal about the size of a dime – very small. When she recovered it from her blouse, it had no image on it and she was disappointed, and while we were both looking at it, as it rested in her palm, an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared before our eyes.

Usually by the time the petal is removed by the person from their shirt the image is already visible. There is never an opportunity to tamper with these rose petals before the service starts since they are in plan view as bouquets in vases and are removed from the stems by volunteers from the church and placed directly into a clear glass dish and given directly to Carmelo.

In addition, he always wears a short-sleeve shirt. There has been at least one service where the Pastor has had the roses under lock and key before the service, so that they could not be tampered with by any one. At that same church, the Pastor did not allow Carmelo to touch the petals. Carmelo did pour the water over them and said a prayer over them as he usually does. Someone else, a volunteer from the parish, took them out of the bowl and placed them in people’s shirts while Carmelo prayed over that person.

The images still appeared. I have personally seen 50 or more rose petals with unique images all quite detailed. If this is not a miracle I would like someone to explain how this is done. It has to be more than he has some little stamping operation in the back room. This is more to this just stamped rose petals any one can think of that. There is just no time nor opportunity for the stamping. If that was the case how can that explain the Sacred Heart of Jesus appearing before our eyes?

I can also personally say that there is nothing on these petals while they are in the bowl as he moves from person to person. I could plainly seen in the bowl and was only a foot or so away as he passed in front of me hundreds of time over the course of these 4 or 5 services where I was a catcher and I was looking for any petals with any markings on them while in the bowl.

The not so amazing Randi said to me in an email that it is easy – he has stamps and acted like any one who believed it was a miracle was a fool since it would be easy to do this.

While I would be willing to bet he could not do it under the same circumstances as Carmelo does it, just stamping a dime size petal would be tedious. In addition, just how long would it take to stamp 500 or so petals just one nights worth. When he is the area he goes from Church to Church several nights in a row. He would need a little factory stamping these things.

It also seems to me that the stamping process would leave cuts or holes. None that I have seen have cuts or holes. That would be especially difficult since when he comes to the area he stays with friends I know from church, and they take him from Church to Church. These people have absolutely no reason to perpetrate a fraud on their neighbors and friends. Pax et bonum.

My boyfriend’s mother though is religious and asked me to attend a service with her. I did go and I got to meet Bro. Carmelo. He is a very humble person and asks for no donations. He would prefer you donate to your local chuch.

He does do as people say, though. I was very skeptical and was in shock when the images appeared on the petals. I recieved one with an image of the mother mary and child and the detail in the image is amazing!

Wether you are a believer or not, if you get the opportunity to attend a gathering please do so. It will leave you with a feeling not of disbelief but of curiosity and shock. I could not in anyway disprove his ability and i don’t believe I am the one to ever try. You have to see for yourself.

Thank you for your sincerity. I’m happy for you. Your belief is strong. Not many people are similarly endowed with faith as strong as yours. You should be happy, and not sound upset.

Just to make myself clear—again. I never said that Bro. Carmelo produced his rose petal images using magic tricks.

What I have been saying so far is that, “I don’t know.” I have not seen the actual performances of these miracles. I, therefore, don’t have enough evidence to form an intelligent opinion or material on which to base a conclusion.

Stay magical,

Leodini

During the service, Brother Cortez dispelled any doubts by having volunteer attendees prepare the mineral water and rose petals into a bowl. During the healing a different volunteer is holding the bowl while he moved from one person to another. There are 5 of us in my family. All of us received different images – 2 different images of Mother Thereas, 2 different images of the Divine Mercy, and the fifth is San Rafael the angel.

For me that wasnt the miracle. The true miracle is that I was able to finish the half-marathon pain free. As a background, I could not even train for the race because I think my right leg has a stress fracture. I have a doctor’s appt this Friday to have it x-rayed. During the race the leg was pain free. Below are the links to the race and the miracle petals.

Half-marathon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607772616072/

Petals
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607748466761/

In closing Leodini, I really want to prove the petals are fake. I just could not find anything wrong with them. The petals were blank in the beginning, Brother Cortez’ had nothing in his hands or fingers during the service, and he has the backing of the Archbishop in the Philippines, Parish Priest in Salinas, and the Archbishop on Monterey County.

I will not be surprised if years from now, Brother Cortez’ could lose his healing gift. God could take it away. Then at that time, he could be boneheaded and try to do magical tricks to make it look real just to continue the service. Because people do donate generously in the service and the sin of greed could take over. At that point, any miracle that he may have done in the past even if they are true miracles would be considered fake. As far as my limited scientific, technical engineering mind is, the petals he gave us on October 4 are true miracles.

This is not the first miracle I have seen so it would not break my faith if it was fake. I have seen the incorruptible dead bodies of saints inside the Vatican. The Buddhists claim that they also have the same phenomenon. But if you looked closely the Buddhist incorruptibles have signs of decay similar to those preserved in ice. The Catholic incorruptibles are preserved as if they just died today.

Stay magical,

Leodini