Saints Who Raised the Dead

True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles

Rev. Fr. Albert J. Hebert, S.M.

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 1986
• ISBN:
  9781505103380
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Stories from the lives of St. Francis Xavier, St. Patrick, St. John Bosco, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Rose of Lima, Bl. Margaret of Castello, etc. Includes the raising of persons who had died, descriptions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by temporarily dead persons and an analysis of contemporary "after death" experiences. Many pictures of the saints and their miracles. Fascinating. Formerly published by TAN under the title "Raised from the Dead".

— PART ONE —

RESURRECTION MIRACLES IN BIBLICAL DAYS

"And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

— The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed 381 A.D.

—1—

THE OLD TESTAMENT

Elias and Eliseus Raise the Dead

" . . . and behold the child lay dead on his bed . . . . And going in he [Eliseus] . . . prayed to the Lord . . . . and the child's flesh grew warm . . . . and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes."

—4 Kings 4:32-35

There may have been others, but the first recorded instances of the dead being brought back to life occur in the third and fourth books of Kings. It was the pleadings of their mothers that brought about the miraculous resurrections of these two boys.

Elias the Thesbite, who rated later on to stand beside Jesus along with Moses on the Mount of the Transfiguration, lived in the ninth century B.C. In the time of Achab, that evil king of Israel, Achab, whose pagan wife was the wicked Jezabel of Tyre, Elias predicted a three-year drought: God had, for a time, put the control of rain into the prophet's hands.

Elias first lived by the torrent Carith, but when it dried up the Lord sent him to a widow of Sarephta of Sidon with the promise that the widow would look after his needs. The widow, in the midst of famine, had only enough oil and bread to prepare a last meal for her son and herself, "that we may eat it, and die." (3 Kings 17:12). But Elias tried her faith by ordering her first to cook for himself. When she obeyed she found that fresh oil and flour kept appearing, and she and her son—and Elias—were able to eat from it for a year. "The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias." (3 Kgs. 17:16).

That in itself, most would agree, was an impressive miracle—one that was granted in response to trust and obedience. There are some, of course, who will accept certain miracles but balk at what they deem "super-actions," as if God were limited by human conceptions and abilities. But it costs God no more effort to provide life to the dead than it did to provide life in the form of oil and bread for the living. And that is just what God did, through Elias, for the widow's son. Later, after the miracle during the famine, the widow's son fell sick, his illness grew more severe, and finally he stopped breathing.

"What have I to do with thee, thou man of God?" she cried.

"Give me thy son," Elias said, and he took him from her lap, carried him to his own upper room and laid him on the bed, praying, "O Lord, my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?" Elias stretched himself out three times on the child and pleaded with the Lord: "O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body." The Lord heard his prayer; He returned the soul to the child's body. The prophet brought him downstairs and gave him to his mother with the words, "Behold, thy son liveth."

That was the first bringing back from the dead. Read more details in Chapter 17 of the third book of Kings.

Eliseus was a great prophet, too, and like Elias, another wonder-worker. One can find various miracles of both in the books of Kings. It was upon Eliseus' shoulders that Elias' mantle fell as Elias went up to Heaven in the fiery chariot.

Eliseus raised a boy from the dead in a case somewhat similar to that of Elias. By his prayers, Eliseus obtained the son for the woman in the first place, a son that he later brought back to life. It came about this way.

Eliseus once came to Sunam, where a good woman of position and influence urged him to dine with her. As Eliseus had a habit of passing by that way, he also got into the habit of dining there. The woman suggested to her husband that they should do something for this holy man of God who visited them so often.

"Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him and a table and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us he may abide there." (4 Kgs. 4:10).

The husband agreed, so Eliseus had a comfortable stopover place. On one overnight visit Eliseus said to his servant Giezi, "Call this Sunamitess." Eliseus expressed his thanks to her: "Behold, thou hast diligently served us in all things; what wilt thou have me to do for thee? Hast thou any business, and wilt thou that I speak to the king, or to the general of the army?"

"I dwell in the midst of my own people," she replied, which seems to indicate that she was sufficiently taken care of.

Later Eliseus asked his servant, "What will she then that I do for her?"

Giezi answered, "Do not ask, for she has no son, and her husband is old." Eliseus bade the servant call the woman. When she stood at the door, Eliseus promised, "At this time [next year] and this same hour, if life accompany, thou shalt have a son in thy womb."

"Do not, I beseech thee, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie to thy handmaiden," she pleaded. But Eliseus did not take back his words. The same time the following year, the woman had a son.

Thus there came to pass another impressive miracle—a woman who had never conceived brought forth a child, and the sex was correctly forecast. This came about because of the prophet's prayer to Yahweh in gratitude to the couple for their kindness, services and hospitality, as well as for their respect and reverence.

But "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." The day came when the son of the Sunamitess was old enough to go out with his father among the reapers. While with them one day he complained to his father that his head hurt.

"Carry him to his mother," the father said to a servant, who did so, and then stayed with the anxious mother. At noon the boy died in her lap. The brokenhearted mother took him upstairs and laid the body on the bed of the prophet. She closed the door and then acted with that single-mindedness that has for centuries marked the manner of mothers in similar circumstances. Her actions expressed an utter confidence in the intercessory powers of those special souls of God such as the prophets or the saints. The Sunamitess called out to her husband, "Send with me, I beseech thee, one of thy servants, and an ass that I may run to the man of God, and I come again."

"Why dost thou go to him?" he asked, "today is neither new moon nor sabbath."

But his wife bade him goodbye, and when the donkey was saddled she ordered the servant, "Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going."

From his place on Mount Carmel, Eliseus spied her coming: "Behold, that Sunamitess. Go therefore to meet her . . ."

She greeted Giezi, but hurried on to the man of God on the mountain, where she clasped his feet. Giezi came near to push her away, but Eliseus told him:

"Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me."

"Did I ask a son of my lord?" she cried out. "Did I not say to thee: Do not deceive me?"

"Gird up thy loins," Eliseus said to Giezi. He then told him to take his (the prophet's) staff, to return with the Sunamitess, not to pause on the way, and to lay the staff upon the boy's face.

"As the Lord liveth," the mother cried out, "and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." So Eliseus started back with her.

In the meantime Giezi had gone ahead and had laid the staff on the boy with no results—no sound, no sign of life. When Eliseus reached the house he found the boy lying dead. Eliseus prayed and stretched himself upon the boy as Elias had done, and the body began to grow warm. He repeated his action, and the boy gaped seven times and opened his eyes.

"Call the Sunamitess," Eliseus told his servant. "Take up thy son," he said to the mother, who fell in gratitude at his feet, and then took her son.

It is important to note here that it is only to the Lord that these great servants of God attribute their miracles. Elias and Eliseus prayed, God answered. And there was also the persevering, even vehement, faith of the mothers.

That the power of raising the dead is only from God is easily seen in the third restoration account in the Old Testament.

Eliseus came to the end of his days, died, and was buried. It happened in those days that bands of wandering Moabites used to raid the land each year. One day a local funeral procession was passing by the tomb of Eliseus when suddenly a band of marauders came into view. Fearing more danger to themselves than to the dead man, the frightened bier-bearers cast the corpse of the dead man into the grave of Eliseus and fled. "And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his feet."(4 Kgs. 13:21). (It is not stated whether it was then the marauders' turn to flee!)

Centuries later, in a similar manner, the woman with the issue of blood would be cured merely by touching Our Lord's garment. And after Pentecost, the sick would wait by the roadside for even the shadow of St. Peter to fall upon them; many would thus be cured. Similarly, in the centuries after the Apostles, innumerable people would be cured or even restored to life merely by touching the relics of the saints.

— 2 —

THE GOSPELS

Jesus Raises the Widow's Son, The Daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus

"And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands . . . Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go."

—John 11:44

Like the first miracle of the dead being raised to life in the Old Testament, the first instance in the New Testament concerns a widow's son. But this time it was a grown man, apparently the only support of his mother.

After Our Lord had cured the Roman centurion's servant and praised the faith of that military captain, He went away from Capharnaum, over the high hills of His native Nazareth, to a town called Naim. There He met a funeral procession coming from the gate of the town. On the litter was the body of a man; as St. Luke sympathetically notes, "He was the only son of a mother, and she was a widow." The case must have touched the hearts of many, for Luke observes that a goodly number of townsfolk accompanied the sorrowing mother.

Did Our Lord then picture a mournful procession in Jerusalem wending its way toward Calvary not long hence? And a shorter one carrying His own Body from the cross to His borrowed tomb? Did He see His own Mother standing there—Stabat Mater!—the chief mourner?

St. Luke tells us that "being moved with mercy toward her, he said to her, 'Weep not.' " Then Jesus stepped forward and touched the stretcher; at this the bearers stood still.

Jesus said, "Young man, I say to thee, arise." "And he that was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother." (Luke 7:11-15).

One can imagine the happiness of that widowed mother, and the surprise and joy of her son! Picture the astonishment of the crowd at seeing this unexpected reunion, this return from the grave! But they were also full of fear, for the Gospel says, "and there came a fear on them all." But it was a healthy fear, for they began to praise and glorify God. And they understood, saying, "A great prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited his people." That was a good description of the reality of miracles; the same thought would often be expressed years later concerning the saints. Through miracles God does visit His people, so that His people will listen to His word.

St. Luke, the physician evangelist, is the only Gospel writer to record the miracle of the widow's son. Sympathy for women is consistent throughout his Gospel, as is the inclusion of other incidents regarding women in the life of Our Lord. But Matthew and Mark also relate the next raising of the dead.

The daughter of Jairus was a young girl 12 years of age. She is the first known female to be brought back to life—but she is not necessarily the first female to be raised, because some time before this incident Jesus had told disciples of John the Baptist to report to John that "the dead rise," along with many other miracles. One could infer that other dead besides the widow's son had already been raised.

Be that as it may, to return to the young girl, her father, Jairus, was a man of prominence in Capharnaum. He is called a ruler of the synagogue, an official. After Jesus had called the tax collector Levi to become the Apostle Matthew, when Jesus was near Capharnaum, Jairus came up to Him and did Him reverence, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death; come, lay thy hand upon her, that she may be safe, and may live." (Mark 5:23).

Jesus and Jairus went off together, a large crowd following and pushing about Jesus. Undoubtedly there were many whose sympathy was aroused as they accompanied this pleading father who expressed such confidence in the Master. And the father was apparently a good man.

On the way, a woman troubled with a hemorrhage for a dozen years, having exhausted her doctors and her money, was convinced that she would be cured if she could but touch Jesus' cloak. In the pressing crowd she came from behind and touched a tassel on His cloak. She was instantly healed. Jesus had scarcely finished praising her faith when a messenger from Jairus' house arrived with news of the daughter's death. "Thy daughter is dead: why dost thou trouble the master any further?" But Jesus said to Jairus, "Fear not, only believe."

Jesus went on to Jairus' house, taking only Peter, James and John. They found the flute players and the crowd making a din, and the people wailing and lamenting. Jesus ordered the crowd to depart: "Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth." At this they "laughed him to scorn." But Jesus had said this to reassure them as He went in.

He entered with the child's parents and Peter, James and John. Inside the room where the little girl lay, Jesus took her hand and said, "Talitha, cumi," which means, "Damsel (I say to thee) arise!" "Talitha" immediately got up and began to walk around. Jesus, being very practical-minded, told her parents to give their child something to eat. It was as if He said, "Do not stand there in astonishment. What you have witnessed was real. Now make the girl feel at home." That, perhaps, was why He excluded the crowd. Two or three witnesses were sufficient to testify to what had happened. And the poor child, on coming back to life, might have been frightened to find a crowd pressing about her.

Reflecting on these two episodes, one sees that the people involved believed that Jesus could both cure illness and prevent death. But since the householders of the synagogue leader gave up when the girl died, it seems they did not believe Jesus could actually raise someone from the dead.

To men, the one restoration—from death—seems a much more difficult accomplishment than restoration from sickness. But to God's power there is no difference. And if the touch of the hem of Christ's garment could cure, what then could the touch of His hand do? And what of His will? The simple truth is that it costs God...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• Foreword
• Introduction: Have the Dead Really Been Raised to Life?
• — PART ONE — RESURRECTION MIRACLES IN BIBLICAL DAYS
• — PART TWO — RESURRECTION MIRACLES IN THE CHRISTIAN ERA
• — PART THREE — OTHER WONDERS: FURTHER SIGNS OF IMMORTALITY
• — PART FOUR — CONCLUSIONS
• Appendix: Less Well-Authenticated Resurrection Miracles
• Selected Bibliography