The Eucharist, Sacrament of Sacraments: Eucharistic Miracles
Let us imagine a survey among Catholic Christians to determine which sacrament inspires the greatest fervor, admiration, and adoration. Without exception, all would naturally point to the Eucharist, the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Indeed, the Eucharist is the soul and beating heart of the Catholic Church, like the breath that animates and sustains life. It is the mystery that gathers the people of God and their shepherds daily in the presence of God. It is the unique treasure sought by all the faithful of Christ through the Mass, the source and life of the Church.
This sacrament of the Church has always raised many questions, both among believers themselves and among non-believers. While non-believers may not care about it, Christians from other denominations reject it, and even some Catholics — including certain priests — sometimes experience doubts concerning it: are the consecrated bread and wine truly the Body and Blood of Jesus?
Yet, in His merciful goodness, Jesus Himself has never abandoned humanity in its misunderstanding and ignorance of so great a treasure.
The celebration of Corpus Christi during this month of June invites us to rediscover this unique Treasure of the Catholic Church.
Eucharistic Miracles
Eucharistic miracles are events that cannot be explained by human reason. They challenge human intelligence and reasoning, which become overwhelmed and admit defeat before their supernatural character. This simply means recognizing our human limitations, for we cannot venture into the realm of the supernatural.
For us believers, Eucharistic miracles are a grace granted by God through these concrete events to reassure us on the path of faith. In doing so, God also confirms His Church — our Catholic Church — which alone possesses the Treasure of the Eucharist as a perpetual renewal of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross that continues to save the world even today.In other words, Eucharistic miracles attest that after the words of consecration pronounced by the priest, the body, soul, spirit, and divinity of Jesus become truly present in the small host and in the tiny amount of wine contained in the chalice upon the altar. The Church expresses this mystery by speaking of the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharistic species.
Eucharistic miracles have marked the history of the Church up to the present day. They have occurred in every century since the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Moreover, they can be found in different countries and in every corner of the earth and of the universal Church, as if to affirm the real presence of Jesus within His Church.
Saint Carlos Acutis accomplished remarkable work on this subject. Indeed, he catalogued Eucharistic miracles throughout the universal Church and across history. He identified 132 miracles spread throughout the world and across different periods of the Church’s life, from antiquity to our postmodern age. This shows that the Lord Jesus is always present in His Church. He is alive in the sacrament of His Body and Blood.
Some Accounts of Eucharistic Miracles
Among the vast harvest of Eucharistic miracles, we can only select a very small number from different places and times in the life of the Church.
The Oldest Eucharistic Miracle: Lanciano (Italy, around 750 AD)
This miracle took place in Lanciano in the Church of Saint Francis. A monk-priest doubted the presence of Jesus’ Body in the consecrated host. One day, while celebrating Mass and after pronouncing the words of consecration, he saw the host transformed into flesh and the wine into blood. All those present witnessed the event. The two Eucharistic species of the consecrated bread and wine have remained preserved to this day and may still be seen. The flesh remains intact, and the coagulated blood divided into five unequal parts, each having the same weight individually as all together combined. The flesh and blood of Lanciano have been preserved as though they had been taken that very day from a living person.
In the scientific summary published by the medical commission of the WHO and the UN in December 1976 in New York and Geneva, it was declared that science, conscious of its own limits, stops before the impossibility of providing an explanation.
Eucharistic Miracle of Scete in Egypt (3rd Century)
An elderly monk was troubled by serious doubts concerning the real presence of Jesus in the consecrated bread and wine. One day during Mass, after the consecration, the Child Jesus appeared in place of the bread. When the priest broke the bread, an angel descended from heaven and cut the Child into small pieces. When the monk approached to receive Communion, he received bleeding flesh. Terrified by this sight, he cried out: “Lord, I believe that Your bread is Your Body and that the chalice is Your Blood.” Immediately, the flesh in his hand took on the appearance of bread again, according to the mystery, and he received Communion while giving thanks to God.
Marthe Robin (1902–1981): The Eucharist as Her Only Food for 53 Years
Born into a peasant family in France, Marthe Robin, founder of the Foyers of Charity, spent her entire life in her family home where she died on February 6, 1981. Her whole existence was centered on Jesus in the Eucharist, whom she called “the One who heals, consoles, sustains, blesses — my Everything.” Beginning in 1928, after suffering from a severe neurological illness, she was almost completely unable to move, especially to swallow, because the muscles involved in swallowing were paralyzed. From then on, the only nourishment she received was the consecrated host, Holy Communion, until her death. Furthermore, because of an eye disease, she was forced to live in complete darkness. When she received the stigmata in October 1930, Marthe had already been living the Passion since 1925, when she offered herself as a victim of love.
Eucharistic Miracle of Sokółka (Poland, October 12, 2008)
During the distribution of Communion at Mass, a priest accidentally dropped the host on the floor. Thinking it had become contaminated and unsuitable for consumption, he placed it in a silver vessel containing water so that it would dissolve.
One week later, the host had almost completely dissolved, but strange blood-like clots appeared in its center. After being kept for several weeks in the tabernacle, the partially dissolved host with the blood clots was transferred onto a corporal. Two separate scientific studies were later conducted on samples of the clot. The results stated that: “the examined sample was neither a clot nor blood… it was living human heart muscle tissue. And even more incredible, it was heart muscle displaying the characteristics typical of the final moments immediately preceding death.”
Real Presence and the Living Reality of Jesus Today
The few accounts of Eucharistic miracles presented above are marvelous. Beyond their wondrous nature, they reassure us of the effective presence of Jesus in His Church through the species of bread and wine consecrated by a validly ordained priest in communion with the bishop, who himself is in communion with the Pope. This means that the extraordinary act performed by Jesus on the eve of His death, together with His words, “Do this in memory of me,” is a true transmission of the power and grace to renew Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross for the salvation of the world. The Mass is therefore the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of the Cross. This grace has been entrusted to the Church, which must perpetuate it until the end of time through the exercise of the priestly ministry.
Indeed, the priest is the minister of the Eucharist. Every priest in the Catholic Church receives this grace and ministry from a bishop, successor of the Apostles. This means that apostolic succession ensures the continuation of the priestly authority conferred upon priests through priestly ordination.
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