New season of Explore with the Miracle Hunter
In this year's episodes of Explore, we've encountered a myriad of captivating experiences. We've built churches, brought them down, revived people from the dead, filmed with animals, and in the last two episodes, captured the apparition of Mary.
A substantial part of the episodes this time was set in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where a significant portion was devoted to Saint Patrick. Despite the fickle spring weather with rain, the climate has mostly been favorable to us. We've used numerous locations ranging from the seaside in Croatia to the most eastern part of Slovenia in Prlekija region, where we shot one of the final scenes where Mary appeared to the founder of the Carmelite community.
Construction and demolition of churches appeared four times in this year's episodes, necessitating the search for ruins that we could enhance with props to convey the sense of construction.
Working with actors can be demanding at times, but when you also have an animal on set – in our case, a raven – it adds an extra layer of complexity. With the raven, we had to film the scene where it takes poisoned bread from Saint Benedict and flies away with it. Needless to say, it didn't go smoothly on the first try, but in the end, we prevailed.
One of the saints featured in an episode is Saint Thomas Becket. His well-known tragic end, beheaded in a church during prayer, prompted deep contemplation from both a production standpoint and a perspective of faith. How strong must one's faith be to be willing to die for it, here and now?
One of the more intricate feats we had to capture was the cloak of Saint Bridget, which, with the aid of visual effects, could stretch across an entire field.
Returning to Saint Patrick, several stunning Slovenian natural locations accompanied his story. The Sabotin mountain range, natural springs with an adjacent waterfall used for baptisms, and a grand bonfire built by our team radiating warmth and light into the late-night shoot when Patrick converted the king and his subjects.
As we approached the end, we encountered miracles of a different nature, aligned with hospitals and medical offices from 2010s through the intercession of Thérèse of Lisieux. So many beautiful stories of healings. And lots of roses on the set!
These projects have provided us with invaluable experiences, knowledge, and connected us in new ways. Simultaneously, they've reminded us of the depth of gratitude we should feel for our lives and the privilege of spreading the Gospel through film.
