"Because of You, I Am in Hell" 🔥
In the Provincial House of the Priests of the Mission, at Via dei Vergini 51 in Naples, there is a striking relic: a paper image of Christ Crucified, mounted on canvas and framed in wood. What makes it extraordinary are the imprints of two hands, burned into its lower part as though seared by fire. Where did these fiery marks come from?
In Florence, a young man entered into a sinful relationship with a married woman. His father, a devout Catholic, was deeply grieved. He reproached his son many times and even begged the Lazarist Fathers of Florence to guide the boy back to his duties as a Christian, but without success. Soon after, the woman was struck with a sudden illness and, within a few days, she was dead and buried. The young man, shaken by grief and despair, nearly lost his mind. His father urged him to attend a retreat at the House of the Missionaries in San Jacopo Sopr’Arno, hoping he might surrender his sorrow to God. The young man agreed, and the priests welcomed him warmly.
On the evening of the first day of exercises, while the other participants went to supper, the young man was nowhere to be found. Thinking he had perhaps fallen asleep, the director went to his room and knocked, once, twice, but received no answer. Opening the door, he was struck by a cloud of smoke. Alarmed, he cried for help. Other priests rushed in and found the young man unconscious on the floor. They carried him to the bed and managed to revive him. Searching for the cause of the smoke, the director discovered that the kneeler was scorched where the knees and elbows had rested, and that the Crucifix image now bore the imprint of burning hands, as if pressed into it by red-hot iron.
Only later did the full horror come to light. After regaining his senses, the young man recounted what had happened: before supper, the woman, his deceased mistress, appeared to him, engulfed in flames and filled with rage. With a terrible voice she cried out: “And because of you, I am in hell! Be warned. God permits me to appear so that you may repent. And to remove any doubt of my presence, I leave you this mark.” Then, kneeling at the prie-dieu and placing her fiery hands upon the Crucifix, she left the imprints that remain to this day.
Shaken to the depths, the young man repented and was converted. Out of respect for the family’s honor, both were well known in Florence, the Superior sought to keep the matter quiet. Father Scaramelli, then Superior of the House, preserved the Crucifix and the kneeler.
The story is recorded in the Petit Pré spirituel de la Congrégation de la Mission (Paris, 1880) and also, in shorter form, by Tannoia in his Life of St. Alphonsus Liguori. The Crucifix remains in Naples, though the kneeler has since disappeared. In 1962, Father Mario Sorrentino published a critical study in the Annali della Missione, concluding: “We believe we can affirm the truth of the fact as it is commonly narrated.”