Stories
St. Gertrude’s Fellow Traveler
by Ray at THCAt the time of her death, St. Gertrude was the abbess of a monastery of Benedictine nuns. Twelve days after her death, another nun in the same monastery also died. She was young and innocent, and her death stuck the convent rather hard. Another member of that community, probably the nun who helped to write The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great, prayed for her soul at a Mass following her death.
At the elevation of the Host, this sister made a prayerful offering of the His Real Presence for her young colleague. Then this sister saw the deceased young nun, elevated to a high degree of glory. Her clothes shone brilliantly and she was being honored by blessed spirits.
Afterwards, whenever this sister made this same prayer, she also experienced the same amazing sight.
Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 52.
St. Gertrude and Her Humble Fall
by Ray at THCSt. Gertrude was at Mass. She was about to go forward and receive Holy Communion. She thought of Christ’s Passion and His descent into hell after His death. She tried to comprehend the expanse and depth of the humility that He had. She thought of, the Divine Himself, going down into sin, darkness, and death. She thought of what it must have been like for Him.
Suddenly, she found herself falling to the very lowermost parts of Purgatory. Still, she humbled herself even further. Then, she heard Jesus say to her, “I will draw you to Me in the Sacrament of the Altar in such a manner that you will draw after you all those who perceive the odor of your desire.”
She had united herself with the very Real Presence in the Eucharist once again.
Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 170.
St. Gertrude and Her Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory
by Ray at THCOnce, just after St. Gertrude had received Communion, she made an offering of the Blessed Sacrament that had just been given her. She prayed that it be of aid to the souls in Purgatory. She then was allowed to see great benefits falling to these souls.
St. Gertrude was amazed and inquired how this could be as she was so unworthy a recipient. The Lord communicated to her that when he visits someone, in the Eucharist, who is free of mortal sin, great benefits are accorded to all in Heaven, on earth or in Purgatory.
Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 270.
St. Gertrude and the Discreet Walk
by Ray at THCOnce, St. Gertrude was about to receive Communion and received the sense that Jesus was there, inviting her to a banquet in heaven. She was even to sit near the Holy Father and eat at His table. Embarrassed at the state of her dress, and deeming herself too ill-prepared for such an honor, she tried to leave. She was intercepted by Jesus Himself, however, who took her to a separate place where He could prepare her. He washed her hands and offered His Passion for her, cleansing her of all her sins. Then, He gave her a necklace, bracelet and rings. Once again, He beckoned that she go to the feast table, walking discreetly this time, without pride at her highly adorned appearance or stature.
She then had an understanding of the meaning of all this. There are those who receive forgiveness and acceptance by the Lord, but yet do not live under the grace of it. They continue to treat others with antagonism, trusting in their own judgments and ways of thinking, and not fully relying on Christ to lead them. That is something available to those who understand what they have been given and may yet receive.
Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 169 – 170.
St. Gertrude and the Frost
by Ray at THCAs people walked into church, they had a fear. Their plantings were being threatened by a severe frost and the ice that had accompanied it. To make matters worse, while in church, a hail fell. As they left the church, the ice had thawed and the hail had stopped. People marveled at the sudden reversal. They did not know what had taken place inside.
During the Mass, Gertrude had prayed for relief. As she was about to step forward to receive Communion, the Lord assured her that her request had been granted. Emboldened, she also asked for the hail to immediately cease. It did, but she was so absorbed in her prayer that she did not realize it. Only as she left the church did she remember her request and the kindness that had been received.
Many then feared that the change was only temporary and that the cold would return. But it did not. The crops were spared and famine was averted.
Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 243.
Nora’s Story
by Ray at THCThe Apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration is an organization of laypeople organized in 1985, located in Ireland. They maintain a website that contained the following story:
“This is Nora’s story (not her real name) I have been praying during my weekly hour of Adoration, over many years, for my husband to return to Mass and the Sacraments as he has been away from them for 26 years. He didn’t even enter the church when our children were making their first Holy Communions and Confirmations. On a wet and very cold winter’s day he dropped me down to the Adoration Chapel for my holy hour and asked me to hurry out after the hour as he wanted to go to an important meeting. After the hour he came to collect me and waited outside in the car. After waiting for an extra twenty minutes, he lost patience and ran into the Adoration Chapel to hurry me out. I pretended not to see him and he sat down very impatiently for some minutes. Finally I got up and left and he came speedily after me. I was expecting a lot of anger and complaints because I stayed longer than the hour and kept him waiting. Having got into the car he turned to me, and said, calmly and quietly, ‘I am not going to that meeting I mentioned but instead I am going the priest in the Parochial house and going to ask him to hear my confession. Something came over me as I entered that Adoration Chapel, and I feel God calling me back again’. He got confession that day and became a daily mass goer and a weekly Adorer for the very first time. I put this down to the power of prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”
Source: http://eucharisticadoration.ie/testimonies/
Sokolka, Poland
by Ray at THCOn October 12, 2008, at the church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Sokółka, the Holy Mass of 8:30 AM is celebrated by a young vicar, Filip Zdrodowski. During Communion, unknowingly, a Host falls from the hands of one of the priests. The priest picked it up and placed it in a vessel filled with water, in the tabernacle. After Mass, the vessel containing the host was placed in a safe present in the sacristy.
On October 19, 2008, after opening the safe one could clearly see a red stain on the Host that had fallen, which with the naked eye immediately gave the impression of being a bloodstain.
On October 29, 2008, the vessel containing the Host was transferred to the tabernacle of the chapel of the rectory. The next day the Host was removed from the water contained in the vessel and placed on a corporal inside the tabernacle.
In January of 2009 the Curia of Białystok asked two eminent specialists in pathologoical anatomy of the Medical University of Białystok, Professor Maria Elżbieta Sobaniec-Łotowska and Professor Stanisław Sulkowski, to analyze the samples of the bloodstained Host.
The two scientists of conducted their own independent investigations. Professor Sulkowski, did not even know that the sample which he was examining came from a Host. For her part, Professor Sobaniec-Łotowska, was initially convinced that she was examining a blood clot. In the report that they ultimately issued, however, they stated that, “the material analyzed is composed in all respects of cardiac muscular tissue”.
They also found the phenomenon of segmentation, namely damage to the fibers of the tissue of the cardiac muscle in the section where communicating junctions [structures characteristic of the cardiac muscle] are found, and the phenomenon of fragmentation. Such damages are visible in the form of numerous small lesions. These alterations can be observed only in fibers that were not necrotic, that is alive, and show signs of the fast spasms of the cardiac muscle typical of the extreme phase preceding death.
The professors discovered also other unexplainable elements. “The Host remained in water for a long time and it remained in the corporal for an even longer period of time. The tissue that appeared on the Host would therefore have had to undergo the process of autolysis, namely the process of self-destruction by the action of the intracellular enzymes; in the material analyzed there were not however observed traces of these alterations!”
Moreover, the cardiac tissue was found joined to remnants of the consecrated Host in an inseparable manner. The fragments which composed the Host were tightly interconnected to the fibers of the human tissue; they penetrated each other, as if a fragment of “bread” had suddenly transformed itself in “body”. It is not possible to manipulate an event of this type. No one, absolutely no one, would have been able to do it. To Professor Sobaniec-Łotowska, this fact was of especially notable importance.
A consecrated Host had changed to heart tissue, showing signs of stress just prior to death. But it had changed only in part. It was part Host, part heart tissue. And it had not deteriorated as it should have. This particular Eucharistic miracle contained not simply one extraordinary feature, but four.
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/Sokolka1.pdf;
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Sokolka2.pdf; http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/english_pdf/Sokolka3.pdf.
Veroli, Italy
by Ray at THCIt was Easter in the year 1570. In Veroli, Italy, at the Church of St. Erasmus, the Blessed Sacrament was presented for Forty Hours of adoration. Various civil confraternities were to be present for an hour each. During one such hour, the Confraternity of Mercy, vested in their black robes, were kneeling in prayer.
According to a documents from the time, still preserved in the Church of St. Erasmus, a spectacle was witnessed by many there. A detailed deposition was given by a Giacomo Meloni, who was among the first witnesses. His testimony is as follows: “Raising my eyes towards the chalice, I saw a most brilliant star at the base of the chalice’s cup, and above the star, the Blessed Sacrament in the size of the Host used by the priest at Mass. The star was attached to the Blessed Sacrament (…). The vision ended when small children in adoration, similar to small angels, were seen around the Sacred Host…”.
The consecrated Host from this miraculous event did not decompose at it should have, but remained intact for 112 years. At that time, a decision was made for the Host to be consumed.
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/Veroli.pdf.
Scala, Italy
by Ray at THCScala is a town on the Amalfi Coast, in southwestern Italy. Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa and St. Alphonsus Liguori founded the Monastery of the Most Holy Redeemer there. In 1732, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed every Thursday for Adoration.
For three consecutive months, starting on 11, 1732, the signs of the Passion appeared on the Host situated in the monstrance.
All this can be confirmed not only by the nuns and the people but also by Bishop Santoro of Scala and by the Bishop of Castellamare. The apparition occurred also in the presence of St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori.
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/Damian-Scala.pdf.
Legnica, 2013
by Ray at THCLegnica is a city of about 100,000 people in the southwestern part of Poland. On Christmas, 2013, at St. Hyacinth’s Church, a Host fell to the ground during the distribution of Holy Communion. The Host was immediately immersed in water and placed into the tabernacle. This in accordance with Church requirements for the disposition of a Host that had been soiled.
On January 4th, Fr. Andrzej Ziombra checked on the Host, assuming that it would have dissolved after two weeks.
He explains what happened next:
“Immediately we noticed that the Host had not dissolved, and that a red spot covering a fifth of Its surface appeared. We decided to inform the Bishop, who established a special theological scientific commission to analyze the event. We noticed that over time the stain on the Host changed color from deep red to red brown.”
The sample was taken directly to scientists on 26 January 2014. The Wrocław Forensic Medicine Institute immediately excluded the presence of bacteria or fungi as a cause for the Host turning red. A second histopathological analysis pointed out that some fragments seemed to belong to myocardial tissue.
An additional opinion was sought using the same samples at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Szczecin without specifying where the samples came from. The Institute used a different analysis method. After the analysis, The Pomeranian Medical University’s Department of Histopathology in Szczecin announced that “tissue fragments containing fragmented parts of cross-striated muscle” was found in the histopathological image. This is similar to “human heart muscle with alterations that often appear during the agony. We have not tested the blood found on the Host, we only know that human DNA was found.”
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/Legnica1.pdf.