A churchgoer ripped out his own eyes during a service in northern Italy, it has been reported.
Doctors operated on Aldo Bianchini, 46, after he collapsed following the self harming incident.
Almost 300 onlookers watched as blood poured from Mr Bianchini's eyes as the priest gave his sermon in Viareggio, near Pisa.
Dr Gino Barbacci, one of the emergency doctors said: “In all my 26 years of service I have never seen anything like this before.
"He was in a great deal of agony and he was covered in blood. He said that he had used his bare hands to gouge out his eye balls after hearing voices telling him to do so.
"We tried to operate and save his sight by reinserting the eye balls in both sockets but there was nothing we could do and he will now remain blind."
Father Lorenzo Tanganelli tried to continue the service but many of the congregation had become distressed and left the church.
He said: "I called for assistance and the paramedics were quickly at the scene and he was taken away and then I carried on celebrating Mass but a lot of people had left because they were so shocked by what they had seen. I have never seen as much blood as I saw today."