Thousands of Catholic faithfuls and onlookers yesterday thronged the St Paul Catholic Church, located along the busy Airport Road in Benin City to view the appearance of a strange image believed to be that of Jesus Christ in a "Monstrance" at the church's sanctuary.
The massive crowd halted vehicular traffic on the road for several hours, causing discomfort for travellers and road users.
When the reporter found his way into the main auditorium of the church, a faint image could still be observed on a gold plated circular object on the alter placed on a table, with two linings of coloured lighting on both sides of the gold plated object.
It was a tough job trying to get information from members of the church as they described the "mysterious appearance" as a spiritual happening. They also helpfully added that it may be difficult for a layman and non-Catholic to decipher.
A worker in the church's sanctuary said the image was an "expression of the blessed sacrament, but when sacrament is exposed, we usually see the white background in the gold plated object placed on the alter.
But since yesterday afternoon, we have been seeing Jesus' form in the background which is supposed to be white and it has been there till now, but it is beginning to go faint now."
The assistant priest of the church, Chima Okosisi refused to make any official pronouncement on the sighting.
"This is a strange development here, unusual here, similar things have happened before in other places, we revered it," he said.
Hour of mercy
A member of the church, Bernedette Idalo said the image appeared at about 3 pm on Wednesday, which she said was the hour of divine mercy; the exact time Jesus was said to have died when he was crucified.
She however, said that it was totally strange to the church as similar images have appeared on the wall and other places before now.
"This apparition can stay for days and weeks, it is meant to strengthen our faith. A woman was in a trance when the thing happened and she said our Lord said we should praise Him more," she said.
As at the time of filing this report, hundreds of persons were still waiting at the church while some were praying to see if a bolder image of Jesus would appear later.
SIC: NEXT