Hundreds of people gathered in Kilcommon, a small north Tipperary village, to listen yesterday to a man who died and reportedly came to life after an encounter with Jesus.
Mr Stanley Villavacencio, from the Philippines, who claims he met Jesus after being declared clinically dead by doctors, told over 500 people at an open-air Mass in Kilcommon that on a previous visit to Ireland Jesus appeared to him and asked him to return. "Now Ireland is losing faith. That is why he is asking me to come back", he said yesterday.
The local parish priest, Father Dan Woods, invited Mr Villavacencio to Kilcommon to recount his experience. In 1993, he was rushed to hospital with blood "dribbling" from his mouth and was pronounced dead. While doctors were seeking permission to turn off his life-support machine, Mr Villavacencio, who was unconscious, claims he met Jesus.
"I saw a light, a really bright light. Like a fog, it slowly evaporated, and there was someone standing in front of me. I recognised him as Jesus. He showed me the whole of my life from my childhood up to the present."
Mr Villavacencio claims Jesus tapped him on the shoulder and said: "You go back now, you have so many things to do. You still have something to finish."
After this Mr Villavacencio woke up and pulled an oxygen mask from his face. He then removed intravenous needles from his arms and a tube from his stomach.
Doctors tested Mr Villavacencio afterwards and found him to be in perfect health.
Father Woods said that Mr Villavacencio had been commissioned by his bishop in the Philippines to tell his story to the world.
Mr Villavacencio, who is calling on people to show devotion to the "Divine Mercy", has previously spoken of his near-death experience in the United States, Canada and Mexico.