Dead boy has "miraculous powers"

• Parents say oil weeps from son's bedroom
• "Has healing powers"
• "He's worthy of sainthood"

A SYDNEY couple believes their son - "hand-picked by God" - could be Australia's first male saint.

Mike Tannous died three years ago but a mysterious oil that weeps from the walls of his bedroom has been hailed by his parents, George and Lina, as having helped heal dozens of people, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The oil started to appear in the Guildford home just weeks after the 17-year-old died in a car accident in September 2006.

"Mike is a messenger between us and God. He has healed so many people," Mrs Tannous said.

Extensive scientific testing of the oil has failed to identify exactly what it is but that has not stopped hundreds praying at the home.

The Tannous' push for sainthood for their son emerged as Mary MacKillop fever swept the nation.

Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell suggested yesterday crusader for convicts Caroline Chisholm and Sydney's first Archbishop John Bede Polding to be considered as "would-be saints" after Mother MacKillop's canonisation.

But Mr Tannous said the next saint would be his son, and the family was documenting his healing powers.

"Our boy is a saint. This is him talking to us, talking to other people," he said.

Last year a woman who lived near the Tannous' house was told by doctors she could not have the third child she desperately wanted.

"She came here and prayed . . . one month later she came with a box of chocolates and said 'Guess what, I am pregnant'," Mike's aunt Susan Sawan said.

Since Pope Benedict XVI confirmed Mother MacKillop's second miracle, scores of people have flocked to the Tannous' house. 

Read more at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/dead-boy-powers.html