Fiecht
The village of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht sits in a mountainous area of the Tyrol region in western Austria. During the year 1310, a priest was celebrating Mass in a monastery there. The abbot, Abbot Rupert, the monks in service there and numerous pilgrims were present for the Mass. The priest who was celebrating the Mass, however, had serious doubts as to whether the consecrated wine was truly the blood of Christ.
It is reported that the appearance of wine was replaced by an appearance of blood, which then began to bubble and boil, and then began to overflow the chalice.
The abbot and those present came to the altar, to see for themselves what had taken place.
The priest was unable to consume all of the Holy Blood. The abbot decided to place the remainder in a vessel in the tabernacle on the main altar.
News of the event spread and many more pilgrims came to the monastery, to revere the relics of this extraordinary event.
Today, in the side altar of the church that serves this monastery, there is a plaque that provides a record of the above. It also attests that,“in 1472 Bishop Georg von Brixen sent the abbot of Wilten, Joahannes Lösch, and the pastors, Sigmund Thaur and Kaspar of Absam, to better study the phenomenon. As a result of this investigation, the adoration of the Blessed Blood was encouraged and the miracle was declared authentic.
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/Fiecht.pdf
St. Theresa of Avila
One time, when St. Theresa of Avila was at Mass, she lay on the ground and had some of the other nuns hold her down there. The reason for this was that there were certain ladies attending the Mass that day that she did not want to alarm. St. Theresa did not want to be lifted off the ground, an experience that had occurred to her before.
She describes what it was like one time. She says that, “it seemed that I was being lifted up by a force beneath my feet so powerful that I know nothing to which I can compare it, for it came with a much greater vehemence than any other spiritual experience.”
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.288-89.
Braine, France
In 1153, the Archbishop of Soissons, Anculphe de Pierrefonds, directed that a solemn High Mass be celebrated in the city of Braine, in honor of the Feast of the Holy Spirit. In connection with it, a procession around the entire city was also conducted.
Although many people lived in the city who did not regard themselves as Catholic, practically everyone came to observe the activity and even attend the Mass. The Archbishop himself was the celebrant for the Mass. At the point in the Mass when the Host was elevated for adoration, those gathered did not see the Host. Instead, they saw a small child.
Afterwards, many of those who were not Catholic clamored to be baptized.
Following this spectacle, a monastery was built at which the miraculous Host was kept, and annual processions and ceremonies were held in honor of it.
This story, however, concerns not just one miraculous event, but two. For over 550 years, at least until the year 1718, the Host remained intact. It had not succumbed to decay or the normal processes of decomposition that would occur to any organic matter.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p.19-21.
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in the Bay of Biscay, on the west coast of France. In the year 1461, Mrs. Jehan Leclerc came to the Church of St. Bartholomew, with her son Bertrand, for Easter Sunday Mass. Bertrand was 12 years old. At the age of 7, he suffered a terrible fall which left him not only paralyzed but mute as well.
When it came time for Holy Communion, Bertrand indicated to his mother that he also wanted to receive the Blessed Sacrament. The priest was reluctant to grant this request. Bertrand did not have the capacity of speech and consequently had not been able to make his first confession. Bertrand, however, continued to plead his case and, eventually, the priest relented.
From the instant he received the host, he felt shaken by a curious force. He became able to speak and to move, for the first time in years.
An account written immediately after the extraordinary event recorded Bertrand’s first words, which were, “Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini (Our help is in the name of the Lord!).”
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/Larochelle-Neuvy.pdf.
Rebecca
Rebecca lived in Lancaster, N.Y. While in her teens, she started going back to church, but had a question that lingered in the back of her mind – “is there really a God?”
At one point, she agreed to attend an overnight retreat in Olean, about two hours from her home. She had never been to an Adoration event before, but when the priest conducted the Benediction, and brought the Host out before those gathered in a school gymnasium, she says that she, “felt a chill through me, and I just got this overwhelming feeling, unlike anything I have ever felt before.”
She talks about how all her doubt was removed at that moment, and that she felt sad as she left Adoration, because she, “had never been happier.”
Source: “Adoration Changed My Life,” The Spirit of Adoration, ed. June Klins, Issue No.1, Erie, PA, July, 2008, http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/files/AdorationIssue1.pdf.
Nicholas of Flue
St. Nicholas of Flue, Switzerland died in the year 1487. As a young man of 25, he had married. He and his wife had 10 children. Then, at the age of 50, he asked his wife if he might leave her, to live as a contemplative. She consented.
To sever himself from the world and worldly desires, he began a fast. After the first 11 days, he spoke with Oswald Isner, parish priest at the nearby village of Kerns. Isner knew him well, and in this period of his life, was more familiar with him than any other person. After the death of Nicholas, Isner wrote that Nicholas took no food or drink for a period of twenty and one half years. Nicholas told him that, “he received the Sacrament once a month and felt that the Body and Blood of Christ communicated vital forces which served him for meat and drink.”
Nicholas was well-known in his homeland before his life as a recluse. He had earned honors in military campaigns and served as a judge for nine years. News of his allegedly extraordinary life without food did spread. The Bishop of Ascalon came to reside with him and see for himself. After several days, he ordered Nicholas to eat a little bread and drink a little wine. Nicholas had such a violent reaction to them, however, that the Bishop withdrew his directive.
The Archduke Sigismond of Austria was also dubious. He sent his royal physician, Burcard von Horneck to investigate. Emperor Frederick III also sent emissaries to look into the case. All the reports confirmed the earlier indications.
If this seems too incredible, note the more recent case of Alexandrina Maria da Costa, who died in 1955. As reported previously on this website, she similarly lived under a total fast, save for the Eucharist alone, for over 13 years. In her case, a strict medical examination confirmed what was “scientifically inexplicable.”
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 236-237.
The Heretic
In the third and fourth centuries a certain Christian presbyter named Arius (250-336) lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was the founder of a heretical sect, which believed that Jesus was not part of the Trinity as that is understood today. Instead, the adherents of this group maintained that, as the Son of God, He was separate and distinct from God.
A few generations after Arius lived, his beliefs were still current with some in the eastern Mediterranean. A woman who was married to a disciple of St. John Chrysostom (349-407), Archbishop of Constantinople, was one of these. One day, she went with her husband to St. John Chrysostom’s church. She received a consecrated Host in her hand, but kept it until she arrived home.
There she attempted to eat it, without reverence, as simply a bit of food. She found, however, that it the short interval of time since she had taken possession of it, it had become petrified, as hard as stone.
She then took it to the Saint and implored forgiveness.
Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 203-04.
Graduation Day
It was graduation day for Larissa. She had finished her years in grammar school. In her home, she was upstairs getting ready for the ceremonies; her mother was downstairs ironing her dress. They were preparing to go to their parish church, where there would be Mass and then the graduation formalities.
Suddenly, Larissa heard her mother scream. She raced downstairs to find her mother holding an ice pack on her arm. There was a huge burn mark that extended from her wrist to her elbow. Many people would have, with disappointment, nonetheless gone to the hospital at that time. Not Larissa’s mother. She simply instructed here daughter to get ready, because “Jesus is waiting.”
Larissa’s mother had not grown up Catholic, but had converted some years earlier. Clearly, she had a deep and sincere faith about His Presence in the Eucharist.
During the Mass, Larissa prayed very hard for her mother. After the graduation, Larissa and her best friend posed beside the Tabernacle for Larissa’s mom to take their picture. It was then that Larissa noticed her mother’s arm. The large burn mark was gone. There was not even a blister.
From that day on, Larissa not only had a much stronger understanding of His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament but also that He is a “real, live, breathing, loving Lord” who is “still showering us with miracles of love.”
Source: “The Lesson I Learned at Eighth Grade Graduation,” McMaster, Larissa, The Spirit of Adoration, ed. June Klins, Issue No.3, Erie, PA, http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/files/AdorationIssue3.pdf.
An Animal Sense
In 1995, Saint John Paul II was making a trip to the United States. He was going to stop in at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. Among the things he wanted to do was offer some time before the Blessed Sacrament in the seminary chapel.
In preparation for his visit, security personnel were tasked with conducting a sweep of the building to search for anyone with unkind intent. To aid in this search, highly trained dogs were brought in. They went through the classrooms, offices, hallways and other areas. Then they were brought into the chapel. They went up and down the aisles and then into a side chapel. They reached a certain spot and began to sniff, point and whine. They remained there, eyes fixed on one spot. Finally, their handlers commanded them to leave and they obeyed.
The one spot that had so drawn their attention – the Tabernacle.
Source: “Animals Know He Is There,” The Spirit of Adoration, ed. June Klins, Issue No.1, July 2008, Erie, PA, http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/files/AdorationIssue1.pdf.
St. Clare
There is a famous miracle that occurred in the year 1240. It involved St. Clare of Assisi and the Eucharist.
St. Clare left life in a relatively wealthy family to become a follower of St. Francis of Assisi. She founded an order of nuns dedicated to his principle of humble poverty, an order she called the Poor Ladies. Today, it is frequently known as the Poor Clares.
In the year 1240, the convent of this order was located in San Damiano, the simple church located outside the walls of Assisi in which Francis had heard his so well-renowned directive to “rebuild My church.” At that time, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, monarch over a kingdom that stretched from Germany and parts of France in the north and west to the island of Sicily in the South, was engaged in war with the Papal States, headed by Pope Gregory IX.
Troops belonging to Frederick were invading Assisi and were threatening to overrun the convent. The safety and chastity of the nuns were sorely threatened.
Tommaso de Celano was a friar, poet and author who lived at that time. He wrote History of Saint Clare, Virgin. In it, he describes what happened on the day Saracen soldiers of Frederick II came calling.
“The women swooned in terror, their voices trembling with fear as they cried to their Mother, Saint Clare. Saint Clare, with a fearless heart, commanded them to lead her, sick as she was, to the enemy, preceded by a silver and ivory case in which the Body of the Saint of saints was kept with great devotion.
“And prostrating herself before the Lord, she spoke tearfully to her Christ: ‘Behold, my Lord, is it possible You want to deliver into the hands of pagans Your defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught out of love for You? I pray You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot now save by myself.’
“Suddenly a voice like that of a child resounded in her ears from the tabernacle:
‘I will always protect you!’
“‘My Lord,’ she added, ‘if it is Your wish, protect also this city which is sustained by Your love.’
“Christ replied, ‘It will have to undergo trials, but it will be defended by My protection.’ Then the virgin, raising a face bathed in tears, comforted the sisters: ‘I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no evil; only have faith in Christ.’
“Upon seeing the courage of the sisters, the Saracens took flight and fled back over the walls they had scaled, unnerved by the strength of she who prayed.
“And Clare immediately admonished those who heard the voice I spoke of above, telling them severely: ‘Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters.’”
The notable part of this story, the part depicted in paintings down through the years, is the specter of marauding warriors turning away from the conquest of a city, when faced with the Blessed Sacrament being held aloft. Others could of course submit that it was not any power within the Eucharist that caused the change of heart, that it was compassion for nuns in devout prayer. To that, reasonable questions need to be asked. Is that likely? Was that type of respect something encountered elsewhere, something that could be expected of Saracen soldiers at the time, or now? Were not Saracen (Muslim) soldiers known for their contempt of all Christians? Did they not consider prayer to the Blessed Sacrament as paganism? Did not soldiers such as these look forward to and relish the all the spoils of a conquest such as this? Were they not there, under orders of the Emperor, to take the city? The suggestion is easy, today, from a comfortable distance, to say that respect for pious nuns produced an act of compassion, on the part of many all at the same time. How would it have seemed, however, to have been there at the time?
Still, putting all that aside, there is another aspect of the story that is not as often considered. It is revealed in an almost parenthetical comment made by de Celano, “those who heard the voice.” Evidently, other women at the time disclosed that they too had heard an unearthly voice. This puts this episode into an entirely different realm. If this part of the story it true, there is no issue as to its miraculous character.
An objection could of course be raised here too though. The sisters lied. Women willing to devote their entire lives to the pursuit of holiness lied. It is certainly true that members of religious orders are capable of such things. Yet, it is always the case, is it not, that to disbelieve stories such as these, we have to believe the worst in people? Perhaps, if only at a few times, people do act from motives which are not base.
Source: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Assisi.pdf