Roman Catholics in Poland gathered Sunday for a special Mass celebrating what they see as a miracle: the appearance on a communion wafer of a dark spot that they are convinced is part of the heart of Jesus.

The communion wafer in question developed a brown spot in 2008 after falling on the floor during a Mass in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Two medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue, church officials have said.

Bialystok Archbishop Edward Ozorowski said during the Mass that in history, the "substance of Christ's body or blood has become available to the human senses, and this also happened in Sokolka. For God, nothing is impossible," Ozorowski said.

The dark-spotted wafer was carried aloft in a reliquary by a golden-robed priest in a procession and was put on display in the town's church of St. Anthony as about 1,000 faithful looked on, according to a report and footage carried by the TV station TVN.

The wafer was dropped by a priest celebrating communion in 2008. In accordance with church practice, the priest placed the wafer in water to dissolve it. Several days later a nun found that the wafer had not dissolved completely, and found a red mark on it. The nun's discovery sparked huge interest among the faithful in this deeply Roman Catholic country, sparking large numbers to flock to Sokolka. Though some believers consider the object miraculous, the Vatican is still examining the matter and has not yet officially decided whether to declare it a miracle, church spokesman Andrzej Debski said.
 

The year 2011 will go down as a record-setting year when it comes to federal disaster declarations, industry analysts say.
With another three months left in 2011, and hurricane season continues until November 30, the number of federal disaster declarations already exceeds 2010's record, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

"The federal government issued 86 disaster declarations as of September 30, breaking the previous annual U.S. record total of 81, which was set just last year," said Dr. Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the I.I.I. "The number of U.S. disaster declarations has been trending sharply upward, particularly over the past 15 years," he said. The average number of disaster declarations between 1953 and 2010 was 34 per year.

"We're likely to see nearly three times that many by year-end 2011," Hartwig said, noting that the increase in recent years was due both to growth in the actual number of catastrophes, as well as to an apparent increase in the propensity to issue federal disaster declarations.

The NCDC list, in chronological order, included:

* The Groundhog Day Blizzard (Jan. 29 - Feb. 3): This large winter storm impacted numerous central, eastern and northeastern states, and brought Chicago to a virtual standstill.

* Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes (April 4 - 5): Forty-six tornadoes swept a total of 10 central and southern states.

* Southeast/Midwest Tornadoes (April 8 - 11): Fifty-nine tornadoes are believed to have formed within this timeframe, hitting nine central and southern states.

* Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes (April 14 - 16): About 160 tornadoes are estimated to have hit 10 states in the central and southeastern portions of the U.S.

* Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest Tornadoes (April 25 - 30): More than 300 tornadoes caused 327 deaths in the U.S. in late April, with 240 of the fatalities occurring in Alabama. Twelve other central and southern states were also impacted adversely by a series of tornadoes that caused nearly $7 billion in insured losses.

* Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes (May 22 - 27): The EF-5 tornado which struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22 is the single deadliest tornado to strike the U.S. since "modern tornado record keeping began in 1950," the NCDC observed. Fourteen other central and southern states were hit by this tornado outbreak in late May.

* Southern Plains/Southwest Drought, Heat Wave and Wildfires (Spring-Summer): Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Kansas, western Arkansas and Louisiana were the regions of the U.S. hardest hit by these conditions.

* Mississippi River Flooding (Spring-Summer): Unusually heavy rains, combined with a melting snowpack, caused severe flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

* Upper Midwest Flooding (Spring-Summer): These floods prompted the evacuation of nearly 11,000 people in Minot, North Dakota, as the Souris River overflowed. Numerous levees were breached along the Missouri River, flooding thousands of acres of farmland, as well.

* Hurricane Irene (Aug. 20 - 29): Irene made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, and moved northward up the Atlantic seaboard, causing major flooding in New Jersey, upstate New York, and Vermont. The insurance claims payouts resulting from Irene's journey up the East Coast are estimated at up to $6 billion, according to risk modelers.

A prayer service in the middle of day brought hundreds to a Stark County Church Thursday to see a holy icon. They came looking for healing and hoping for a miracle.

Our Lady of Iveron icon was brought to the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church. Believers say the image of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child is responsible for numerous physical and spiritual healings.

The icon was found on a book shelf in a chapel in Hawaii -- with Myrrh, a fragrant oil -- streaming from her face. It was officially recognized as miraculous in 2008 by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Father Dragan Filipovic, of St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, says the icon serves as an intercessor. "The blessed mother hopefully will take those prayers to her son and him respond to those prayers," Fr. Filipovic said.

Our Lady of Iveron icon has traveled to more than 250 Orthodox churches throughout the U.S. and Canada. It has been venerated by about 250,000 people of various faiths. The message the icon leaves, wherever the image of the Virgin Mary goes, is that the greatest miracle is the change in one's heart.