EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES. — The Eucharist, while involving Transubstantiation, the presence *per modum substantiae* of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and the continued existence of the accidents (v.) without a subject of inherence, is not a miracle in the strict sense, since everything in it takes place beyond sensible experience; the Eucharist is therefore a mystery, not a miracle. At times, however, sensible and extraordinary events have occurred in or in relation to the consecrated Species, for example, the change of the Host into living flesh or of the wine into blood, the preservation of the Species for a long time, or the instantaneous healing of some sick person. These events are properly the Eucharistic miracles, of which the history of Christian piety is full.
From the patristic era onwards, extraordinary events connected with the Eucharist have been reported by eminent men: miracles of various kinds (St. Cyprian, *De Lapsis*, 25-26; PL 4, 499-501), healings (St. Gregory Nazianzen, *Adv. Iulianum*, 2, 1; PG 35, 666; St. Augustine, *Ep.*, 98, 4; PL 33, 361), divine protection (St. Ambrose, *De excessu fratris Satyri*, 1, 46; PL 16, 132; St. Gregory the Great, *Dialog.*, 3, 36; PL 77, 304), punishment of sacrilegious acts (Optatus of Milevis, *De schismate Donatistarum*, 2, 19; PL 11, 972), defense of Catholic doctrine and condemnation of heresy (John Moschus, *Leimonarion*, 29, 79, in P. Pourrat, *La spiritualité chrétienne*, I, Paris 1931, p. 445). At Paray-le-Monial there exists a large geographical map indicating 132 places where Eucharistic miracles have occurred, and the list would grow considerably if all similar events recorded in religious chronicles were to be included.
St. Thomas himself addressed the question: “Whether, when flesh or a child miraculously appears in this Sacrament, Christ’s Body is truly present there” (*Summa Theologiae*, III, q. 76, a. 8). It is well known that his finely nuanced solution concerns the manner, not the fact, since the Eucharistic miracle, as regards its possibility and probative value, falls within the general economy of those extraordinary events that undergird Christian faith.
The Eucharistic miracle, particularly intended to confirm faith in the mystery of the real presence, is therefore beyond dispute as regards its possibility and probative efficacy, but it is subject to all the cautions that sound historical criticism imposes.
Eucharistic miracles, according to their various phenomena, are classified as follows: a) bleeding Hosts: Lanciano (8th century), Ferrara (1171), Alatri (1228), Florence (1230), Bolsena (1263), Offida (1273), Berlin (1510), etc.; b) Hosts miraculously preserved: Morrovalle (1562), Faversham (1618), Siena (1730), etc.; c) luminous appearances of consecrated Hosts: Turin (1453), Paterno near Naples (1772), etc.; d) appearances of Jesus in the Host: Braine (1133), Ulmes in the diocese of Angers (1668), etc.; e) punishment of those who profane the Eucharist: Louvain-Brussels (1369), Volterra (1471), Boston (1834), etc.; f) healings: Paris (1725), Lourdes, Loreto, Fatima. Among these Eucharistic miracles, those at Turin, Siena, and Faversham are particularly well documented, as are those at Lourdes. For the celebrated miracle of Bolsena (the Corporal of Orvieto), see the study by A. Lazzarini (
V. ORVIETO)
See pl. LXX.In particular: J. Corblet, *Histoire du Sacrement de l’Eucharistie*, II, Paris 1886, pp. 559-58 (lists numerous Latin, Italian, French, English, and German works on various Eucharistic miracles, but these can serve only as a starting point); anon., *Monografia storica dell’Ostia incarnata, ovvero il miracolo eucaristico avvenuto in Altari*, Alatri 1896; B. Altaner, *Venturino von Bergamo*, Brevalia 1911 (discusses the miracle of Bl. Imelda); A. Ruelli, *De sacris particulis ab anno 1730 in Senensi basilica S. Francisci incorrupte servatis*, Siena 1917 (a well-executed study); A. Morini, *La religiosa del «Corpus Christi» di Cascia*, Florence 1930; E. Allodoli, *Il miracolo eucaristico del 1230 a Firenze*, in *Mistero di Fede* (special issue of the 2nd Eucharistic Congress of Florence), 1937, pp. 31-33; P. Browe, *Die eucharistischen Wunder des Mittelalters*, Breslau 1938 (the best work on the subject, though it does not treat the Bolsena miracle *ex professo*); E. Piroff, *L’Hostie sauvée des flammes*, Paris 1950 (a reliable monograph on the Faversham miracle); A. Lazzarini, *Documenti dei secoli XIII e XIV sul Miracolo di Bolsena*, Rome 1951. Antonio Piolanti