“It’s a miracle.” A common phrase used repeatedly to highlight lucky wins on the lottery, match winning goals and the birth of unexpected babies.

  Of course to most parents the birth of a child is for them a miracle and rightly so, but looking at it in strictly biological terms it is just an act of nature. Nevertheless, can a miracle cure be explained? Well, doctors and scientists say it is something that is “certain, definitive and medically inexplicable”.

  Certain criteria have to be fulfilled before a “miracle cure” can be accepted. Of prime importance is that the illness was clearly established and correctly diagnosed. Secondly, that the prognosis was permanent or terminal in the short term. Thirdly, that the cure is immediate, without convalescence, and complete and lasting and lastly that the prescribed treatment could not be attributed to the cure or be an aid to it.

  Doctors and scientists carry out exhaustive tests on anybody who claims to have received a miracle cure. The person is tested then tested each year until there can be no doubt that the cure is permanent. Then the case is referred to the relevant church for them to continue the procedure before the cure is declared a miracle years go by before the process is completed.

  Around the world there are place where pilgrims go in search of miracles. Many are seeking a cure for a family member or friend, some just looking for a way to improve their lot. Portugal, Spain, France, Poland and England all have sites where miracles have apparently occurred and been documented. One place is Lourdes in France. Five million people visit Lourdes each year in the seven-month period between April and October to see the Grotto of Massabielle, Where peasant girl Bernadette soubirous saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary 18 times between February and July 1858.

 During this period, Bernadette passed on messages from the apparition telling the people to build a church. Shortly after the last visitation, Bernadette was sent to a convent in Nevers where she became a nun. In April 1879 she died and was canonized in December 1933, her mummified body is now a shrine.

   After the apparitions in Lourdes, people began to make pilgrimages there and 66-miracle cure have been registered to date. The most recent concerns Frenchman Jean-pierre Bely. Born in 1936 and married with two children, Mr. Bely developed multiple sclerosis in 1972. Over the next 14 years, his neurological system wasted away to the point where he was left bedridden. By 1987, he was in receipt of a 100 per cent invalidity pension with an allowance for a permanent carer

 In October 1987, during a trip to the sanctuary of Lourdes Mr. Bely completely regained his normal functions in a manner that was sudden, unexpected, and unforeseen. He explained that the experienced an overwhelming felling of cold then warmth during a mass. Some 12hours later he was able to walk again unhindered and without help.

  Spain has also had its fair share of miracles. Ten people are known to have been cured in a way that science or medicine cannot explain. Carmen Arguelles suffered severe brain damage in an accident 1982. She was left in a coma and her parents were told she would die. Her mother placed a religious relic of Sister Rafaela Arnaiz under her daughter’s pillow. Within a few days she was fully recovered and showed no sign of ever being ill

   Alfonsa Garcia was taken ill with septicemia in 1976; she was 22years old and all her vital organs had collapsed. Her parents were told to prepare for her death, but one of them prayed to the virgin. An hour later Alfonsa was sitting up in bed and doctors could find nothing wrong with her. Today aged 48 she refuses to talk about what happened.

 Another case that of Jose Luis Gijon, is just amazing. He was left with two hours to live after a car crash in 1972. His parents prayed to a beatified nun called Maria Josefa del Corazon be Jesus Sancho Guerra and was cure. Now 30years later, Sr Gijon can only wonder at why he was given another chance.

  Jesuit pries Jose Luis Gomez Muntan was diagnosed with cancer of the lungs in 1987. His condition was inoperable-he had six months to live

  His family and friends in Madrid prayed to padre Rubio, known as the apostle of Madrid and Jose Luis was cured. To this day, he has shown no sign of regression.

   All of the above case histories are true. The people are real and the events surrounding their miracle cures are well documented. If medicine and science is unable to explain, what happened to them then we must look elsewhere. Christians will say that it is divine intervention and short of any other explanations, to the contrary they do have a fair case. Skeptics of course will claim that there is a perfectly logical explanation, that Mother Nature was at work, proving that with mind, and motivation the body can heal itself as many eastern tests predict.

  Meanwhile we can only wonder at the random nature of these events. If God saving people from the jaws of death, why only a few out of the millions that visited Lourdes over the years? Only  66 cures have been officially recognized, does that mean that there are other being processed or have they failed the strict tests set by the church?