Glotowo
In 1290, a group of Lithuanians was invading the village of Glotowo in Poland. To prevent some theft or some other unfortunate occurrence, a priest there decided to bury a gold-plated ciborium. He overlooked, however, the consecrated Host that remained inside. The village was destroyed and, for years afterward, the location of the ciborium was unknown.
One day, a farmer was plowing his field. It was near sunset and long shadows could be seen in the fading light. Suddenly, the oxen which were pulling the plow stopped. The farmer was somewhat upset with the animals until he noticed that it had gotten brighter all at once, as if it were about midday. There was a light coming from the ground near the oxen.
The farmer started digging in the vicinity of the light and discovered the ciborium. In it he found a Host that was as white as snow.
People learned of the find and, in a grand procession, the Host was brought to the church of Dobre Miasto. A little church was built on the site where the Host was found. That church was replaced by a larger one in the eighteenth century.
At the shrine of Glotowo, the Host can be seen to this day, still intact.
Source: “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” a Vatican international exhibition, as reported by The Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration and Association, http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Glotowo.pdf.
The Old Man in the Fields
In the sixteenth century, an old shepherd worked in the fields around a small town that lay between Castille and Aragon in Spain. The man testified that he had seen, on more than one occasion, angels flying in the fields. They flew from the chapel in town to a spot in the fields.
Each time, the spot to which they flew was where a young man named Paschal Baylon was working as a fellow shepherd. The young man would spend as much time as he could before the tabernacle or at Mass, adoring, thanking and spending time with the Eucharistic Presence.
As his family needed him to work, however, there were times when he had to tend the livestock and could not get to Mass. He would, however, kneel, out there in the fields, staring at the chapel where he knew the Mass was taking place.
It was at some of those times that the Eucharist was brought to him, suspended in the air, above a chalice, enabling Paschal to stare at Him more directly.
Paschal Baylon later became part of the community of St. Peter of Alcantara, and later became St. Paschal Baylon. He was also accorded a special role, Patron to Eucharistic Congresses and Confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament.
Source: Lord, Bob and Penny, This is My Body, This is My Blood, Miracles of the Eucharist, Book II (Publisher: Journeys of Faith, 1994) p. 236-38.
Alcala de Henares
Alcala de Henares is a city about 35 kilometers northeast of Madrid. In 1597, a man came to the Jesuit church there. He explained that he was part of a Muslim group that had made raids and stolen sacred belongings from other Catholic churches in the area. He then turned over 24 Hosts that he had in his possession. They were wrapped in a piece of paper.
The priest who had received the Hosts, Padre Juan Juarez. He took them to Padre Gabriel Vasquez. As priests in the area had recently been poisoned, they did not want to use them in an upcoming Mass. As they did not know whether they had perhaps been consecrated, they did not want to casually dispose of them. They decided to place them in the church’s pantry, with written instructions detailing how they should be handled. The instructions were to wait a sufficient time until the Hosts had become spoiled and then destroy them by fire or water, the prescribed method for the destruction of Hosts which had been consecrated but, for one reason or another, could not be used.
It was eleven years later when the Hosts were looked at again. They had remained intact, even though they should have deteriorated in several months.
In order to remove any doubt and conduct a test of sorts, the Hosts were placed in an underground vault, where the humidity was high. A number of unconsecrated Hosts were placed in the same vault. The two sets were properly labeled and placed next to each other. After several months, the two sets were reexamined. The unconsecrated hosts had spoiled. The other Hosts were still in pristine form.
Several months after that, Don Pedro Garcia Carrero, a medical doctor and university professor, was allowed to conduct a public examination. Five of the Hosts were broken. They were still crisp.
Later, a special ostensorium was donated by Cardinal Spinola, Archbishop of Seville and Segovia. The ostensorium was a four-sided glass case, almost three feet in height, and in the shape of a lantern. Around a central pillar inside, the 24 Hosts were arranged in groups of three. This ostensorium, with the Hosts, hung in the Jesuit church until 1777, when they were moved to the Holy Magistral Church, also in Alcala de Henares.
They remained there until 1936, when the Spanish Civil War forced the hiding of the Hosts. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed by bombing and fire during the war. The Hosts had been rescued but their whereabouts have remained unknown to this time.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.170-73.
(Note: this is being posted from Medjugorje where, earlier today, an annual Marian apparition has taken place).
The Two Women
One day, two women were driving down a road. They got a certain feeling as they came upon a driveway. As they passed the driveway, it left them. They decided to drive back and see if this feeling would return. It did. It was the “funniest thing,” they later said. They kept driving back and forth, and the feeling kept coming upon them and then leaving, as they got to and then passed by the driveway. They did this for an hour. The pattern repeated each time they arrived at and then drove away from the driveway.
Finally, their curiosity compelled them to inquire. They drove down the driveway, entered the establishment located there and asked, “what kind of place is this.”
They were informed that it was a monastery, the home of the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration and the studios of EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. The nuns have a chapel on the site, in which the Eucharist exposed for continual adoration.
The two visitors were shown into the chapel were told that Jesus was there. They asked, where?” They were directed to the monstrance. The two women knelt down, explaining that, “we feel the same Presence.”
Source: Lord, Bob and Penny, This is My Body, This is My Blood, Miracles of the Eucharist, Book II (Publisher: Journeys of Faith, 1994) p. 227-228.
Ursula Benincasa
Pope Gregory XIII heard of extraordinary occurrences involving Venerable Ursula Benincasa. To determine whether they were true, he directed St. Philip Neri to lead an investigation.
She was known to have an intolerance for food, although she was able to receive the Blessed Sacrament without issue.
As a test, St. Philip Neri ordered that she not be allowed reception of the Eucharist. For months, she obeyed. Finally, however, her physician declared that she was becoming too weak to survive.
St. Philip again permitted her to take Communion. As soon as the priest arrived with the Host, her strength began to return, and after receiving the Eucharist, she was completely restored to health.
St. Philip was thus convinced of her sanctity.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.239.
Jack Traynor
Jack Traynor was a World War I veteran from Liverpool, England. He suffered injuries during the war that left his legs partially paralyzed and his right arm fully paralyzed. As a result of their disuse, the muscles in that arm atrophied and the arm itself had a skeleton-like appearance. In addition, he had taken shrapnel in his head, the surgery to remove which had left an inch-wide hole in his skill. The pulsations of his brain could be seen from such hole. It was covered with a silver plate. Lastly, he also suffered from epileptic fits, sometimes three such fits on a single day.
After living with such difficulties for almost 10 years, Traynor decided to take a trip to Lourdes in July of 1923. Although the barncardiers initially resisted, fearing he was not strong enough to survive that small activity, he was taken to the baths. It was there that he experienced some agitation in his legs. Then he attended the Blessing of the Sick, a procession with the Blessed Sacrament among the sick who had come to Lourdes. It was then that he felt the same agitation in his arms and attempted to rise from his stretcher. For fear that he might create a scene, his attendants injected him with a sedative.
Awake the next morning, he pushed past two barncardiers and ran out in an ecstatic state over his cure.
Back in Liverpool, doctors concluded that new nerves and muscles must somehow have formed in his arm to account for its functionality and changed appearance. The right forearm was slightly smaller in size than his left, but other than this minor difference, it bore no resemblance to its former condition. His legs had been healed, his epileptic fits ceased and the hole in his skull had actually closed itself.
Traynor went to work in the coal and hauling business, which included lifting 200-lb. sacks of coal.
Source: Hebert, Fr. Albert J., S.M., Saints Who Raised the Dead (Charlotte, N.C., Tan Books, 2012) p. 224-225.
Ludbreg
(posted from Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, adjacent to Croatia)
Ludbreg is a little town in Croatia. In 1411, a priest was celebrating Mass there, in a chapel in County Batthyany’s castle. The priest, however, had doubts about the Transubstantiation. During the consecration, the wine in the chalice changed into the physical composition of blood. The priest decided to hide this relic in the wall behind the main altar. He engaged workmen to help with the task, and swore them to silence.
The priest kept his secret until the time of his death, and then he did reveal it. News of this spread and pilgrims began making trips to Ludbreg. The Vatican had the relic brought to Rome, and in the early 1500s, sent a commission to Ludbreg to investigate the apparent miracle. Many people testified to having received miraculous cures while praying before the relic. In 1513, Pope Leo X issued a decree authorizing veneration of the relic.
The relic was later returned to Croatia. In 1721, Countess Eleanora Battyhany-Strattman had a monstrance made specifically for the purpose of housing the relic.
It is in that monstrance to this day.
To this day, the blood remains perfectly intact, even though human blood normally deteriorates after only 8-10 days. In this case, it has taken over 600 years to date.
Source: Source: “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” a Vatican international exhibition, as reported by The Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration and Association, http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Ludbreg1.pdf and http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Ludbreg2.pdf.
St. Waltheof
St. Waltheof, who died in 1159, was a member of the Cistercian Order and abbot of the Melrose Abbey in Scotland. One particular Christmas Day, he was celebrating Mass. Immediately after the Consecration, in the place of the Host in his hands, he saw the Baby Jesus, in radiant form. After some period of adoration, he placed the Host upon the altar and the image vanished.
St. Waltheof related this event to Everard, the same person to whom he confessed his sins, the most unlikely of persons to whom he would conceivably tell something untrue. A monk from Furness, Jordan, who wrote a biography of St. Waltheof, heard of this incident from Everard and several other Cistercian monks.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.275.
A Strong Prompting
June Klins stopped in at neighboring church where she knew they practiced Eucharistic Adoration that particular day. As she went in, she observed that no one was there. It is unknown through what inadvertence or error this may have occurred, but leaving Christ exhibited for adoration but alone is something to always be avoided, as it is a sign of grave disrespect.
Ms. Klins had only intended to stop in for a visit. She had another commitment to which she had to go and could not stay past a certain time. Yet, no one showed up. She prayed earnestly for someone to come.
Finally, as she was running out of time, she quickly went to her car, retrieved her cell phone and called a friend. That friend did come and relieve her.
Later, that friend told her that, just a few minutes after Ms.Klins left, another person arrived. She stated that she was not intending to come that day, but while at home, felt a very strong prompting to come.
Source: “Guardians of the Eucharist,” The Spirit of Adoration, ed. June Klins, Issue No.2, Erie, PA, , http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/files/AdorationIssue2.pdf.
St. Peter of Alcantara After Mass
While still a young man, St. Peter of Alcantara used to remain after Mass for an inordinately long time. One day, it was past noon when his mother sent a servant to look for him. The servant found him, in the choir of the church, kneeling behind the organ. There was a light surrounding his face.
Similarly, other saints have at times been observed, in the presence of the Eucharist in the Tabernacle or at Mass, with a glow or light emanating from them.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.286.