Eucharistic Miracle of Santarém, Portugal, 1266.       Evil things result from evil behavior. But God is Lord of all and well capable of bringing a greater good out of every evil for those who believe and trust (cf., Romans8:28 ). Sometimes God even intervenes publicly and miraculously to wake humanity up.       The events begin with an unfaithful husband who continually violates his marriage vows to his wife. (First evil.) The wife becomes more and more miserable. Instead of turning to God alone, she seeks the help of the devil by going to a sorceress. (Second evil.) The sorceress promises a result if the wife would bring her a consecrated Host from the Catholic Church to concoct a love potion. (Third evil, the sorceress’ intent.) The wife hesitates, but eventually agreed to commit the sacrilege. (Fourth evil, her intent, and subsequent action.)       It is February 16, 1266, Santarém, Portugal. The wife goes to Mass at the Church of St. Stephen and receives communion. Then secretly

 Eucharistic Miracle of Ferrara, Italy, 1171.        It was Easter Sunday, March 28, 1171. A small church called St. Maria del Vado (St. Mary of the Ford), then 500 years old, was the scene. The priest was celebrating Mass with other priests and laity in attendance.       In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, after the priest pronounces the words of Christ over the bread (“This is My Body”) and wine (“This is My Blood”) – so after both have changed entirely to the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ – the priest then breaks the consecrated Host into two parts. As the priest did this breaking, all present were startled to see a stream of Blood spurt out from the Host at that moment. And it was no small stream! The stream was so strong and abundant that it not only fell on to the altar, but the Blood burst out above the altar and sprinkled a semi-circular vault that was above and slightly behind the altar. (From photos, it looks like the ceiling could be 13' to 15' tall.)      

  Eucharist Miracle of  Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy, 1263      This Sunday we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly called Corpus Christi). It was instituted in 1264. The miracle happened the year before.      Bolsena is located in central Italy. Fr. Peter of Prague, a Bohemian priest, was traveling on pilgrimage to Rome and stopped in Bolsena on the way. Purportedly Fr. Peter’s spiritual director had recommended that Fr. Peter make the pilgrimage to Rome as a spiritual aid to his troubled soul about temptations to doubt that Christ was really present in the Eucharist.      The doctrine of transubstantiation had already formally been proclaimed in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council. Transubstantiation means that, pursuant to the command of Jesus to “do this in remembrance of Me,” the priest ordained in Apostolic succession, when calling down the Holy Spirit at Mass and speaking Jesus’ own words of consecration, the Holy Spirit then changes the full subs