Ortho-Tolodine Test
The most interesting test carried out on the sample is not directly mentioned by Tesoriero anywhere I could find. The information I have on it is limited to two sentences in the Forensic Analytical laboratory report:
“The chemical ortho-tolidine test was carried out on the brownish particles, with negative results.”
“No blood was detected in item #1-2.”
Unseen, Annexure A
This is interesting because the ortho-tolidine test is not specific to blood. It causes false positives with numerous common substances, many of which are red, because it reacts with iron. But most significantly in this case, it cannot distinguish between hemoglobin and myoglobin, and gives positive results for the presence of either. Therefore, a negative result indicates that there was also no myoglobin present.
Myoglobin is the protein gives heart and skeletal tissue it’s reddish-brown colour. So basically, this is a direct test for whether the substance is heart tissue, and it came back negative!
Could it be heart tissue without myoglobin? I cannot come up with a natural or even fraud-based scenario outlandish enough to give these results. As far as miracles go, in theory, I suppose cardiomyocytes could exist without myoglobin, if they didn’t express the genes that make myoglobin or had it miraculously removed. The cells would appear the same under the microscope, because the red colour on the slides comes from the staining, not from myoglobin. But then they would appear transparent, not red, to the naked eye. And the only reason this wafer was examined in the first place was because it was reddish brown in colour! So, if that was the case, what is causing the red colour? It would have to be a very strange miracle indeed which caused myoglobin-free cardiomyocytes to appear on the wafer and then independently caused a red appearance using a chemical that doesn’t give a false positive with ortho-tolidine. While it’s hard to rule out anything when miracles are involved, it certainly seems difficult to marry this conclusion with the narrative of God turning the wafer into the heart of Jesus to prove the real presence in the Eucharist.
As I said above, Tesoriero doesn’t even mention this test anywhere I’ve found (other than publishing the lab report in the appendix to his book), so he does not provide any explanation for the result. I am not sure if he is avoiding mention of a problematic result, or if he simply fails to recognize its significance.