Eucharistic Miracle of Sokółka, Poland, of 2008.       Sokółka is a small town in NE Poland, near the border with Belarus. It was October 12, 2008, at an ordinary Sunday Mass. Accidently a consecrated Host was dropped during distribution of Holy Communion. Normally the priest might pick up and consume the Host, but it had picked up some dirt. So, as with our stories of the last few weeks, the Host was put into a container of water, expecting it to dissolve, and removed to a safe place. One week later, on the 19th, expecting the host to now be completely dissolved, instead part of the white Host remained, and it was partially covered by a solid red protruding stain, resembling a 1x1.5 cm. blood clot. Yet the water was clear. It was photographed, the diocese was informed and did a preliminary investigation. The bishop then ordered it be preserved, not in water, but that what appeared to be a blood clot to be removed from the remaining white Host and placed on a corporal (th...

Eucharistic Miracle of Tixtla, Mexico, of 2006.       In this account, you will recognize similarities to the last two articles on Eucharistic miracles from Buenos Aires. The same investigator from Buenos Aires, who had associates and funding from Australia, again provided the means for extensive investigation of the Tixtla miracle.       Tixtla is in southwestern Mexico, about 100 kilometers inland from Acapulco. It happened on Sunday, October 22, 2006, at the concluding Mass of a spiritual retreat of about 600 persons. An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a religious sister, noticed that in the ciborium of consecrated Hosts she was holding as she gave out Communion, one of the Hosts appeared to be stained with Blood. She brought it up to the priest. The diocese was informed. Testimonies of those directly involved, plus 17 persons who were also present, were taken, all in agreement.       The bishop was not inclin...

Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires of 1996.   The same church in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had a series of Eucharistic Miracles in 1992, 1994, and 1996. It was a regular Sunday Mass, August 18, 1996. A woman noticed a Host that had somehow been partially hidden at the base of a candlestick standing before a crucifix at the side of the church. It appeared to have been put there by someone intending to desecrate it. The Host was dirty and dusty so it was submerged in water for dissolution (as described in last week’s article). However, eight days later, the Host in the water was seen to be transforming into something red in color. Over the next weeks, the Host became less and less distinguishable and the water more turbid by a red cloud-like substance and darker jelly-like clumps resembling clotted blood. After a month, the remaining material was transferred to a closed bottle of distilled water, where it remained for three years.  In 1999, Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergogl...

Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires of 1992.       On Friday, May 1, 1992, a lay Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion noticed two crescent-shaped Host fragments lying on the corporal – the cloth where the Eucharistic Host is placed. The minister brought them to the priest’s attention, who then did the proper procedure for consecrated Hosts that are no longer edible: he immersed the fragments in water. The Church’s understanding is that when the appearance of bread is gone from a consecrated Host (as with dissolution in water), that the Presence of Jesus Christ is also gone, and then the water can be returned directly to the earth on the consecrated ground of the church. Until dissolution happens, the Hosts in water were locked in the Tabernacle, kept with other reserved consecrated Hosts.       On May 8, the priest checked on the Hosts and found three blood clots in the water, along with blood streaks on the walls of the ciborium (the containe...

  The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, Italy.       It was somewhere between AD 700 and 750. A monk of the Order of St. Basil, who was also a priest, was not very steadfast in his faith and had been doubting the Real Presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. But he did pray to God constantly for resolution of His doubt. One morning at Mass, as he prayed the Eucharistic Prayer and spoke the words of consecration, to his great amazement, after he, as a priest with the ordination of Apostolic Succession, doing the same acts and words as Jesus and the Apostles did, behold! The bread in his hands physically became Flesh. He could see and feel it – Flesh, no longer bread. The wine in the chalice, again, after the words and actions of the Eucharistic Prayer, he could see had now become physical Blood. The appearance of both had physically changed into the reality that duly consecrated bread and wine always become, even if retaining the appearance of bread and wi...

Eucharistic Miracles -- What Are They?        First, what does “Eucharist” mean?       “Jesus took bread, and BLESSED, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My Body.’ And He took a chalice and when He had given THANKS he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it all of you, for this is My Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-29.)       The Greek work for “thanks” or “thanksgiving,” which is also implied in saying a blessing, is “eucharist.” Because Jesus’ prayer over the bread and wine includes thanksgiving, the word “Eucharist” is commonly used to refer to the consecrated elements, now transformed from mere bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood, His human soul and His Divinity.       Do we have to take this on faith? Yes, of course. All the mysteries of Christ are appropriated by faith. Is there any...

God’s Little One: St. Margaret of Castello.       One of the most amazing demonstrations of God’s mercy was with “Little Margaret” – St. Margaret of Castello (1287-1320). She was born unusually small – a midget – and hunched-backed, facially deformed and ugly, her right leg shorter than the left causing a dramatic limp, and she was also blind. Unfortunately, her parents treated her very badly, shunned her, and kept her hidden. When she was six, she was locked in a small cell next to a chapel in the forest on her father’s estate. She could never leave, but she could attend Mass and receive the Sacraments. Fortunately, the chaplain on the estate was a kindly priest and regularly visited Margaret.       God gave Margaret many graces of virtue. When she was locked in her cell, she told the priest how unworthy yet blessed she felt to be sharing in the Lord’s Cross in this way. Margaret had extraordinary faith in God and felt all was a gift and a blessi...