The Eucharist, Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The Eucharist or “Holy Communion”, is a Sacrament that is a vital part of HolyMass, celebrated by Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, the Coptic's, Armenians, Syrians and Chaldean Christians. These Christian Churches believe that during “Holy Mass” (Sacrifice of Praise), bread and wine are placed on the altar. A Priest then recites an Offertory, offering God the Creator the same bread and wine, made with humans hands from gifts given to man by God the Creator. The Priest then recites the “Consecration”: the words and acts of Jesus Christ on the evening of “The Last Supper” at the Jewish Feast of the Passover.
After the “Consecration”, it is believed that through the invocation of the Holy Spirit; the bread and wine are transformed into the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. Not visibly seen, but disguised as bread and wine. The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is then offered to God His Father for the sins of men. Then, under the direction of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels, the Body and Blood hidden and disguised as bread and wine, is consumed.
It is the words of Jesus Christ taken literally that has become the whole basis of the Eucharist.
“Take this and eat, this is my body, which will be given up for you,” then he took the cup: “This cup is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting Covenant, which will be shed so that sins will be forgiven. Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22).
To non-believers and even many Christians of various faiths, the possibility of bread and wine being transformed into the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ, is deemed impossible, ridiculous and not true. The atheists simply laugh or gives such a notion no thought, whereas skeptical Christians believe Jesus Christ did not mean that the bread and wine were his “Body” and “Blood” in a literal sense.
How to interpret the words of Jesus is up to the individual. But, it is wise to at least examine all of the words recorded in Scripture, before any judgment of interpretation should be made. Interpretation by examination is wiser than interpretation in ignorance.
As well as the words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper, which is where it is understood that the Eucharist was instituted; before this time Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
'When the people found Jesus on the otherside of the lake, they said to him, "Teacher when did you get here?" Jesus answered "I tell you the truth; you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. Do not work for the food that goes bad; instead work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food that the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has put his mark of approval on him". So they asked him: "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?" (...) They replied, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see too and believe you? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as Scripture says he gave them bread from heaven to eat". "I am telling you the truth" Jesus said "it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven (some manuscripts have: what Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven). For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives his life to the world." "Sir" they asked him, "give us this bread always." " I am the bread of life" Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty"(....) . The people started grumbling about him, because he said “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (..) “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live” . This started an angry argument among them. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked. Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth; if you do not eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is real food; my blood is real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I in them (..)” Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of his followers heard this and said “this teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?” Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them “does this make you want to give up? Suppose, then that you should see the son of man go back up to the place where he was before? What gives life is God’s Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life - giving Spirit yet some of you do not believe (...)” Because of this, many of Jesus’ followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples “And you, would you also like to leave?”....’ (Jn 6: 25 - 67).
Many of the followers of Jesus Christ left. They were angry because they could not imagine possible the words spoken to them. They perceived that Jesus literally meant that mankind had to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They were to practice cannibalism. Jesus knew their thoughts and he made no attempt to tell them that they were wrong. It is significant that Jesus did not attempt to call them back. He did not say: “Come back. You have misunderstood me. I did not mean the words literally” Jesus had nothing to retract. It seems by his actions and response to the grumbling of those who heard him, that he went further to confirm his teaching by saying: “Does this make you want to give up?”
Twelve times Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. Four times he said they would have “ to eat my flesh and drink my blood”. The common argument against a literal interpretation, rather than a spiritual one, is that Jesus Christ often-used metaphor - “I am the door” or “I am the true vine”. The problem with this argument is that when his followers reacted against his words, Jesus spoke against a purely symbolic meaning when he reaffirmed his statement by saying “My flesh is truly food and my blood is truly drink” (Jn 6. 55). This emphasis takes the previous text far beyond practical symbolism. It is also interesting that the Greek word used for “eats” is “trogen”: which means “chew” or “gnaw”. This does not seem to be the language of metaphor.
Once when speaking to a Protestant about the Eucharist, I was told that it is impossible for the bread and wine consecrated on altars every day, through out so many Churches across the globe, to become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. “There would not be enough flesh of a man to match the amount of bread and wine on so many altars” he said. This is a perfectly true statement. It would take more than one man’s flesh to fill so many altars each day. So how could it be possible? The Gospels do provide an answer by telling us of a miracle performed by Jesus Christ that provides the answer to how such a multiplication can take place.
‘Another of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people”. “Make them sit down” Jesus told them (There was a lot of grass there). So all the people sat down; there was about five thousand men. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. When they were all full, he said to his disciples “gather the pieces left over: let us not waste any“. So they gathered them all up and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the barley loaves which the people had eaten. (Jn 6: 9- 13)’.
There are two points in the Gospel that testifies that this miracle was performed to serve a purpose, to teach a lesson of doctrine. Notice that it is the bread that is gathered and is deemed important, there is no mention of fish. The first point is that this miracle occurred just before Jesus gave his words in regards to him being the bread of life and the command to eat his body and drink his blood. The second point can be shown in another part of the Gospels. ‘The disciples had forgotten to bring enough bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. “Take care” Jesus warned them, “and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod”. They started discussing among themselves “He says this because we haven’t any bread”. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, “Why are you discussing about not having any bread? Don’t you know or understand yet? Are your minds so dull? You have eyes can’t you see? you have ears - can’t you hear? Don’t you remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people? How many baskets full of left over pieces did you take up?” “Twelve” they answered. And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand people” asked Jesus “how many baskets full of left over pieces did you take up?” “Seven” they answered. And you still don’t understand?” he asked.’ (Mark 8: 14-21)
In this passage of Scripture Jesus was speaking about the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. What has yeast to do with barley loaves. Jesus Christ shows clearly that the miracle of the loaves had a meaning. He was telling us something. Yeast spreads through dough and makes it rise, it makes it bigger, so that there is more bread. And in the case of the Pharisees, there is a metaphor that yeast is the wrong doing of the Pharisees and of Herod. So as yeast can spread through dough and make bread rise, Jesus Christ in the miracle manifested more bread. More was collected than the disciples originally had. So in this way it can be shown how flesh and blood can be manifested to feed so many at one time, each day on the altars through out the whole world. The numbers are also significant. It is the bread in the miracle of the loaves that is a message, a teaching of doctrine. It was the pieces of bread that was collected into baskets. Jesus Christ did not ask that any pieces of fish were collected.
Again, another passage in Sacred Scripture gives more than a hint that Jesus reflected wine as his blood. Think carefully about the words of Jesus in this passage: ‘Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine had given out Jesus’ mother said to him: “They have no wine left” “What would thou have me do woman? My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2: 1-5)’.
What exactly did Jesus Christ mean when he said “My hour has not yet come?” Many say Jesus meant that his time for ministry had not yet come. But this does not make any sense when Jesus’ ministry began when he first called his disciples. Did he not produce a miracle that had the Apostle Simon Peter follow him! (Luke chapter five). Every other mention of “my time” is in plain reference to the time he would pour out his Blood on Calvary. (Jn 7: 6).
Another time that wine is mentioned as more than just wine, but in connection with the Blood of Christ is at the time of the Last Supper. One sentence that is separate to the words of consecration: “But I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you in the Kingdom of my Father” (Mt 26: 29).
Jesus many times referred to fruit as conversions, souls, believers. People had to bear fruit. Jesus also in parables referred to himself as “the vine”. So this sentence referring to “fruit of the vine” was the conversion of unbelievers, saved by his Blood. During his Passion, Jesus was given wine to drink, once mixed with “gall”, so his meaning could not be that he would not drink wine again. It is yet another Eucharistic statement.
But why bread and wine? As there are many references to the Messiah in the Old Testament in events that parallel the life of Jesus Christ and his mission, so it seems, there are also events in the Old Testament that parallel the significance of bread and wine.
‘And the King of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodorlahomer, and of the Kings that were with him in the vale of Save. But Melchisedech the King of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the Most High God, blessed him and said “Blessed be Abram by the most high God who created heaven and earth (..)” (Genesis 14: 17-20).
Now there is no doubt that Melchisedech parallels the Messiah. In a prophecy about the Messiah, King David wrote: “You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchisdech” (Psalm 110). In a letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul writes: “For this Melchisedech priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings; blessed him; to whom Abraham divided the tithes of all. First, as his name shows, he is King of Justice, and then also he is king of Salem, that is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but likened to the Son of God, he continues a priest forever” (Heb 7: 1-3). St Paul also outlines in this letter other similarities between Melchisedech and Jesus Christ. Both kings, both priests, both have their appointment of priesthood directly from God and not through Aaron, since neither belong to the tribe of Levi. But the most important similarity between them in reference to an act, is that both offered God bread and wine. If in every way the ancient king was to parallel the Messiah, then there has to be a great significance to the act of Melchisdech offering God bread and wine. On the altars of many Churches across the globe, Jesus Christ is offered to God in the form of bread and wine.
Again, as the Blood of the Messiah paralleled the sacrifice of the lamb in the time of Moses, so the feast of the Passover parallels a significance of bread relating to this sacrifice. As previously mentioned, Moses was the instrument used by God to free Israel from the bondage of slavery, Jesus Christ was the instrument used by God to free men from the bondage of sin. In the remembrance of the exodus, it is bread that holds the highest place in the Passover ceremony.
‘And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place; that you eat no unleavened bread. This day you go forth in the month of the new corn. And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of Chanaanite, and the Hethote, and the Amorrhite, and the Hevite and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers that he would give thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, thou shalt celebrate this manner of sacred rites in this month. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day shall be the solemnity of the Lord. Unleavened bread shall you eat seven days; there shall not be seen any thing leavened with thee, nor in all thy coasts. And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying; ‘this is what the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thy eyes (...)”’. (Exodus 13: 3-10).
Another parallel between an event written in the Old Testament, referred to in the Gospel of John in the New Testament, both resembling the Eucharist, can be shown in the account of ‘the manna and the quails’
‘The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and on the fifteenth day of the second month, they had left Egypt, they came from the desert of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron and said to them “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into the desert to starve us all to death”. The Lord said to Moses: “Now I am going to make food rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions” (..) “On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it” So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. In the morning you will see the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence. He has heard your complaints against him - yes against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions”.
Then Moses said: “It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain about us you are really complaining against the Lord”. Moses said to Aaron “Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints”. As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned towards the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud. The Lord said to Moses “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I the Lord am their God”. In the evening a large flock of quails flew in, enough to cover the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around the camp.
When the dew evaporated there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert. It was as delicate as frost. When the Israelites first saw it, they did not know what it was and asked each other “what is it?” Moses said to them: “This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs, two litres for each member of his household.” The Israelites did this, some gathering more, others less. When they measured it, those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered less did not have too little. Each had gathered just what he needed. Moses said to them: “No one is to keep any of it for tomorrow”. But some of them did not listen to Moses and saved part of it. The next morning it was full of worms and smelt rotten, and Moses was very angry with them. Every morning each one gathered as much as he needed; and when the sun grew hot, what was left on the ground melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four litres for each person. All the leaders of the community came and told Moses about it and he said to them “The Lord has commanded that tomorrow is a holy day of rest, dedicated to him. Bake today what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Whatever is left should be put aside for tomorrow (...). On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they did not find any. Then the Lord said to Moses “How much longer will you people refuse to obey my commands?” (...) The people of Israel called the food Manna. It was like a small white seed and tasted like biscuits made with honey. Moses said “The Lord has commanded us to save some Manna to be kept for our descendants, so that they can see the food which he gave us to eat in the desert when he brought us out of Egypt”. Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, put two litres of Manna in it, and place it in the Lord’s presence to be kept for our descendants (...)”.’ (Ex 16, 1-36).
The relevance of this passage of Scripture is that it shows again that there is an importance in bread. The Lord God gave quails and bread to the Israelites to eat and yet it is the bread that holds the most significance. It is the bread that was to be stored for the generations to see.
Miracles surrounded the bread, not quails. The Bible tells us that no matter how much was collected by the people, each had the same amount. It became moldy and worms came out of it when people in disobedience saved some of it for the next day yet it remained fresh when it was saved for the Sabbath day. Also the bread placed in a jar and brought before the presence of the Lord, to be kept for all descendants to see, must have remained fresh, incorrupt, or by the time the following generations would look at the bread in the jar, all they would see is mold. The relevance of miracles being associated with bread will be explained later on.
The fact is God deigned bread to be a testimony not quails. In a Eucharistic sense it could also be said that there is a tie between the quails as flesh and the bread, a memorial representation of flesh. Quails came in the evening, as the Passover meal is eaten in the evening. During the Passover, the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, nothing leavened was kept by Israelites according to the law. So it was: Jesus instituted the Eucharist using unleavened bread. It can hardly be ignored that it was during the time of the Passover Jesus was chosen to suffer the Cross. To Christians, the Passover has a whole new meaning. A remembrance of the sacrifice for the sins of men. Thus what was a remembrance of the freedom of bondage through slavery, became through Jesus Christ, a remembrance of being freed from the slavery of sin. “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22, 19
These are the passages of Scripture that have been interpreted as either directly or in- directly showing that on the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus Christ instituted a Sacrament. A miracle. A manifestation, changing bread into his Flesh and wine into his Blood. The Sacrament of the Eucharist. Whether this interpretation today is true, is an on going argument among Christians. One of the surest ways of determining the true meaning of the passages of Scripture behind the belief of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, is by examining how the first Christians interpreted the words of Jesus at the Last Supper; as said in the Gospel of John and in their understanding of parallel events recorded in the Old Testament. Did the Apostles, and those first Christians that succeeded them, believe that by imitating the words and actions of Jesus Christ during that Passover meal, unleavened bread and wine became for them, the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ?
The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians wrote this about the Eucharist: “Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourself what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? (...) You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” (1Cor 10: 14-22).
And again:
“For I received from the Lord the teaching that I passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it and said ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in memory of me (...)’ This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. It follows that anyone eats the Lord’s bread or drinks from his cup in away that dishonors him, he or she is guilty of sin against the Lord’s body and blood (...) For if people do not recognize the meaning of the Lord’s body when they eat the bread and drink from the cup, they bring judgment on themselves as they eat and drink. This is why many of you are weak and ill, and several have died.” (1 Cor 11: 23-30). AD 49.
Let the reader determine the meaning. What we are looking at, is how the earliest Christians interpreted the words. They being closest to Christ, the first disciples would surely have corrected the earliest Christians if they had misinterpreted the meaning of the teaching.
The first records that have been discovered are in fragments of a writing called the‘Didache’ or ‘The teaching of the Twelve Apostles’. This document was used by followers of the early disciples and then as a book of religious instruction passed onto disciples in the early second century AD. In the instructions given about the Eucharist, this is written.
“Let no one eat and drink of your Eucharist but those baptised in the name of the Lord; to this, too, the saying of the Lord is applicable ‘Do not give to dogs what is sacred”.
In another fragment of the same document:
“On the Lord’s own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure.”
Following the death of Simon Peter, who was head of the Church of Rome, leadership was given to St. Peter’s student, for want of a better word, ‘Evodius. After a time Evodius gave this leadership over to Ignatius, he became the second successor to St. Peter. He was writing letters to the Churches from AD 80 and was killed in the arena about AD 110. In one letter to the Romans he wrote:
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David: and for drink I desire his Blood which is love incorruptible”.
In another letter to the Philadelphians Ignatius wrote: “Take care then to use the Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for their is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of his blood (..)”.
In a letter to the Smyrnaeans:
“From Eucharist and prayer they hold aloof, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ (..)”
Another Apostle from the sub - apostolic age is Justin the Martyr. He was born a pagan. He converted to Christianity in AD 150 and was beheaded for it in AD 163. He wrote about the Eucharist between these two dates:
“We call this food the Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration, and is there by living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor as common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and hath both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our flesh and blood is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus”.
A student and companion of the Apostle John, named Polycarp, befriended a man named Irenaeus. Following the death of John, and then the martyrdom of Polycarp, Irenaeus became the third leader of the Church of Lyons. The third Bishop. In AD 165, referring to the Eucharist, he wrote:
“Then again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body and with the blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of life? Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the Flesh and Spirit. For as bread which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of resurrection to eternity (..) Even as the blessed Paul declares in his epistle to the Ephesians that ‘We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones’: he does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh; but he (Paul) refers to that dispensation by which the Lord became an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones, - that flesh which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from bread which is his body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling on the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of the Christ (..)”.
In AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote:
“The Blood of the Lord, indeed, is two fold. There is the corporeal Blood by which we are redeemed from corruption; and His Spiritual Blood, that with which we are anointed. That is to say, to drink the Blood of Jesus is to share in His immortality (..)”.
Athanasius of Nicaea; AD 295 - written for the newly baptised:
“You shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the body, and the wine the blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
The list goes on. More than this, it is likely that more letters have been lost from the period of the earliest Christians, than have been found. There are certainly many more such writings that have not been included here. One thing is certain, any notion that the Eucharist is a Roman Catholic invention has been laid to rest. These men, the earliest of Christians, were killed by Romans for their belief. These writings of a sub-biblical era, show with all certainty, that while groups were in disagreement, the tradition of the early Christians was to announce that consecrated bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Their writings make it clear that they understand this from Scripture, and from the first Apostles.
But just because Scripture says it is so, it does not prove that it is true. Not to an atheist and not to a skeptical Christian who refuses to believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, despite being shown that Scripture states it. Even among the Churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, who proclaim the Eucharist as the “Body and Blood of Christ”, there is a crisis of faith. A survey of American Catholics conducted by the New York Times and CBS News in April 1994, showed that only 29% of Catholics aged between 18 and 29 believe in the True Presence as opposed to 51% of those aged 65 and over.
In light of all this disarray it is good to follow the advice Jesus Christ gave us:
“And if you are not willing to believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10: 38). In other words, if we do not believe the words of Jesus Christ, then believe in the works, the miracles. Jesus Christ is telling us that if we cannot believe Him, then by examining the miracles He performs, we can find proof that what He tells us is true and therefore mend our unbelief.
Here is the remedy to answer whether or not bread and wine, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, through the words of consecration, become the “Body and Blood” of Jesus Christ. The remedy for unbelief is in the words of Jesus Christ Himself. In the Gospel of John, chapter six, Jesus says we must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. On the night before He was betrayed Jesus declared bread and wine as His Body and Blood. How we are to eat His Flesh has been shown to us during the Last Supper. Jesus’ own reference to “His Works” refers to His miracles, healings, raising the dead. All these works were to give us proof that He is the Son of God. That what He has told us is true. So in order for us to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ hidden in the Eucharistic bread and wine, we need to see “works” miracles, healings, like the ones Jesus is recorded to have performed two thousand years ago, but this time, through the Eucharist.
The earliest record of a miracle involving the Eucharist was recorded in the year 258 AD, in a letter to the Ephesians, written by a Priest called Cyprian. This is what he wrote.
“There was a woman with impure hands who tried to open a locket in which she was keeping the Lord’s Holy Body, but fire flared up from it and she was too terrified to touch it. And a man who in spite of his sin also presumed secretly to join the rest in receiving the sacrifice offered up by the bishop, he was unable to eat or even handle Our Lord’s Sacred Body, when he opened his hands , he found he was holding nothing but ashes.(...)”
This is an eye witness testimony to two events associated with the Eucharist. There is no other written reports to clarify what this one man wrote. That is not to say his witness is not true. A man who dedicated his whole life - serving God, is hardly likely to tell an untruth, unless his service bore him material rewards, which at that time, it did not. In 258 AD, Bishops, Priests and laymen and women were tortured and killed for their belief.
However, there are other miracles that have left their mark. Miracles that are preserved and remains for all of us to see. Miracles that has been tested by leading scientists and has passed the test. Miracles that are ongoing.
In the City of Lanciano, Italy, in the year 750 AD, a Basilican monk was celebrating Mass in the monastery of St. Legontian (now renamed St. Francis). The monk, so it is written, was going through a crisis of faith. He was plagued by a doubt as to whether the consecrated Host was truly the Body of Christ and the consecrated wine, truly His Blood. However keeping his doubts, which was consuming him with guilt, to himself, he prayed that God would take this wound from his heart. As his conscience raged, he consecrated the unleavened bread and the wine. Before his eyes, and those of the whole parish, the bread changed into Flesh and the wine into Blood. The monk was so dumbfounded by what he saw that momentarily the Mass came to a halt. The monk then began to cry, and with tears pouring down his face he confessed his struggle of unbelief. He cried out:
“O fortunate friends to whom the Blessed Lord has deigned to reveal Himself in this most blessed Sacrament and to make Himself visible before your eyes and to dispel my own unbelief. Come brothers and gaze at our God drawn near us. Behold the Flesh and Blood of our most beloved Christ”.
The monk reported the event to his Bishop and sought his advise. The Bishomet with other Bishops. They recorded the event and decided to take delicate care of the chalice containing the Flesh and Blood. Eventually everything was placed at the center of the altar, so that all would be perpetually preserved as extraordinary relics.
The Basilain monks remained in custody of the miraculous Flesh and Blood, until their departure in 1175. They were succeeded by Benedictine monks. In 1176 a papal decree entrusted the Benedictine monks with the care of the relics.
In 1566, while the Turks were raging on the Adriatic seashores, Father Antonio da Mastro Renzo, fearing attack and a possible desecration of the relics, placed them in a safer place. On August 1st he fled away together with some local people and the miraculous cargo. But after a twenty-four hour journey, he found himself in front of the very door where he had departed from the morning before. With confusion he addressed his companions:
“Dear friends, do not attribute this coincidence to evil luck, but instead, do impute everything to Divine Providence for its secrets are impenetrable and unfathomable. Therefore we must dwell here and if necessary, we must be ready to shed our blood and sacrifice our lives, just like a true soldier of Christ ready to offer our life for the same Christ”.
The relics were placed back where they had been taken from. On February 17, 1574, a ‘bishop Rodriguez’ carried out a careful examination of the of the Flesh and Blood. Eight hundred years had passed and yet the both were well preserved, despite the fact that no preservative formulas had been used. The Blood was not dried but had transformed into five small pieces of clotted Blood. Each piece was weighed and then all five were weighed together. Each clotted piece weighed the same. What was extraordinary, is that when all five clots were weighed together they weighed the same as one single piece of clotted Blood.
It is hard to find a reason for such a finding. It defies the laws of nature. ’A miracle within a miracle’. A message perhaps? Each small particle was the same as the whole. The Blood of Christ can not be separated.
In 1636, to coincide with the transfer of the relics into the Valsecca Chapel, the Guardian of Saint Francis cloister. A Father Serafino from Scanno, carried out a second examination before a large crowd. His findings were the same as the first. A marble epigraph certified this finding in 1626.
In 1713, the Host, changed into Flesh was placed into a silver monstrance, and the wine changed into Blood was placed in a crystal chalice, where they still remain to this day.
A third examination took place on October 23, 1777. Another examination of the relics was conducted under the direction of ’Bishop Petrarca, the Archbishop of Lanciano. The seals were unwelded and the little silk strings fastening hermetically the chalice containing the Blood, whereas the seal of the flesh remained untouched. From that time, the relics were kept in the Valsecca Chapel until 1902. The relics now remain where the miracle took place - in the present day Church of St. Francis..
It was not until 1971 and again in 1981, due to progress in science, that the relics were studied with any great intensity. The examinations were carried out by the scientist Professor Odoardo Linoli, Professor of Anatomy and Histo-pathology, Chief Physician of the United Hospitals of Arezzo in Italy. He was assisted by Professor Ruggeroa Bertelli, a Professor of Anatomy of the University of Siena. With the permission of Archbishop, Monsignor Pacifico Perantoni, they examined two tiny fragments from the edge of the flesh, and two tiny fragments of the clotted Blood. The analyses were performed with scientific precision and were documented by a series of microscopic photographs.
The examination showed that the Flesh is human flesh and the Blood, human blood. The Flesh consists of muscular tissue of a human heart. The blood type of both the Flesh and the Blood is AB, the same blood group as found on the Shroud of Turin. AB proteins and antigens in both the ancient Flesh and Blood in Lancianno, after twelve hundred years, is in agreement with the discovery of proteins in Egyptian mummies dated to be 4000 -5000 years old. As Professor
Ruggero Bertelli stated in his report:
“We must recognize that the situation is very different in a body mummified with well defined process and shielded from external contacts, as compared to the condition of a myocardial tissue sample or blood clot left for many centuries without any preserving treatment and exposed to environmental and microbial parasitic contamination.”
Both Professors reports also ruled out an ancient historical diagnoses of myocardial tissue founded on real objective elements. The removal of a piece of a dead persons heart from ancient times. The report reads:
“Supposing the heart was taken from a dead body, we have to consider that only a trained hand in anatomic dissection could have obtained with no difficulty, from a cave organ, an even and continuous slice; considering that the first dissections on a human body did not take place until after the fourteenth century.”
The age of the samples date six centuries earlier. also the report goes onto say:
“Considering the nail holes in many points of the frame, we must conclude that the Heart fragment consisted of living material therefore tending, due to subsequent ‘rigor mortise', to concentrical retraction; the Basilican monks tried to prevent it, by nailing the heart fragment on a wood piece, and this already small, retracted again, finally tearing up. The wide empty space observed inside the heart fragment represents the cardiac cavity, with the retraction of the tissue towards the external space”.
Photographic slides showing the lobule of adipose tissue in the interstitial space of muscle. Blood vessels (arteries and veins) can be seen . There are blood vessels within the myocardinal tissue.
Myocardinal tissue with blood vessels. Uhlenhuth’s zone precipitation reaction : Two from left samples of blood: two from right samples of flesh.
Test on blood group shown as AB the same blood type as the samples taken from the Shroud of Turin. Electro- phonetic pattern of blood as if taken from a fresh sample. Despite the sample being 13 hundred years old.
From AD 750, right up to this present day, the ongoing miracle of Lanciano, has changed the lives of people, both Christians and atheists. The evidence is available for all to examine. The miracle, available for all to see. No preservatives that could explain the fact that the Blood by nature should be dried or dissolved. The Flesh, by the law of nature should be a moldy waste. It is an on going miracle that deepens the faith of Christians. A miracle that over many centuries, has become a source of conversion for many atheists.
Father Gabriel, the current Priest at St Francis, sees this miracle every day.
“It is a sign from the Lord to bring us closer to this Sacrament” he said. “A Consecrated Host which is changed to a piece of human heart. We even say that the Eucharist is the heart of the Church”.
The Host transformed into human Flesh in Lanciano. The wine transformed into Blood forming five clots, in Lanciano.
In a place called Trani, in the year AD 1000, there was a Jewish woman who held a grudge against the parish Church of St. Anna. The Catholic Church was once a Jewish Synagogue. Many Jews became Christians. The woman wanted revenge.
It was Holy Thursday, where in remembrance of the night Jesus suffered in the garden of Olives, a Consecrated Host stood on the altar through the night. Mass was celebrated in a special way. The Jewish woman persuaded another to attend and bring her a consecrated Host. Instead of consuming the Host, the friend placed it in a pocket and brought it to the embittered woman, who paid a sum of money for her trouble.
She went to her kitchen stove and filled a pot with oil. When the oil was boiling, she threw the Host into a pan. To her horror, the Host immediately transformed into flesh. Blood poured into the pan. It bled profusely. The Jewish woman was terrified as the blood began to pour out from the pan. Neighbors hearing the woman scream, rushed into her house to see what had happened. Several of them ran for the Pastor. He came and saw the transformed Host which was pouring out blood as if it had a deep wound. He took the Flesh out of the pot and brought it to the Cathedral of Trani. In the hands of the Priest, the bleeding reduced dramatically. The transformed Host was placed in a silver monstrance.
Today, the bleeding Host can be seen, in a crystal lunette. In it are two large particles of the fried Flesh. The color of the larger portion of the Host is dark brown. In the other particle, it can be plainly seen that the Host is soaked in blood. This miracle was recorded immediately. It has been contained inside the Cathedral for one thousand years, and yet it is incorrupt. Even today, normal elements surround it, yet it has not decayed. Over the centuries the Host has been probed and analyses. The fact that it had remained unaffected by natural elements was considered to be a sure sign that a miracle had taken place, and was still taking place. This was enough for the Roman Catholic Church to authenticate the miracle as “worthy of belief” in 1384.
It was Easter Sunday, 1175. In the little Church of St. Mary in Ferrara, Italy, Mass was being celebrated.
The Church was so full of parishioners that some had to stand. The Parish Priest recited the words of consecration, breaking the Host in two as is the custom. At the moment the Host was broken, blood spurted from it, forming a stream that it was impossible for every one present to not witness it. In front of the eyes of all the parishioners, Priest and altar servers, as blood poured from the Host, the Host itself transformed into flesh.
The local Bishop was sent for. He witnessed blood pouring from the Host which was now, flesh. He recorded accounts from all those present. Seeing, and listening to the Priest and witnesses, he emotionally declared that this was “truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ”. So much blood has poured from the Host that it had flooded a semi - circular vault that was situated behind and above the altar.
Augsburg. 1194, a woman wanted to keep a Consecrated Host in her home. One morning she received the Eucharist but did not consume it. She took it home and sealed the Host in wax. She kept the Host in her home for five years but guilt consumed her as it is considered to be a violation of the Sacred Body of Jesus Christ, a grave sin, to keep the Eucharist in this manner. She told her Parish Priest what she had done.
Father Berthold went with the women to her home in order to retrieve the Host. He opened the wax reliquary and was the first to notice that the Host had changed into what appeared to be flesh with red streaks. On examination of the Eucharist, after discussion, it was decided that the character of the specimen could be better identified if it were divided into two parts. But this was impossible. The Host could not be separated as it was held together with thread like veins. It was at this point that it was decided that the Host was in fact flesh ‘The Flesh of Jesus Christ’.
A Bishop Udalskolk carefully examined the transformed Host and then ordered it to be returned to its original wax reliquary and then transported back to the Cathedral. There, the Host and pieces of wax were placed in a crystal container, where they have been kept in perfect condition for eight hundred years. Like others, the Host, changed to Flesh is incorruptible despite being exposed to elements that should have caused decay.
In Alatri, in the year 1228, a young woman who was attracted to a man was persuaded to bring a consecrated Host so that a love potion could be made from it. She received the Eucharist and not consuming it, she hid the Host until she returned home. Afraid that she would be found out, she hid the Eucharist in a corner of the house. Both guilt and fear consumed her. After two days, she went to the Host, only to find that it had changed in appearance, looking like flesh in color and structure. She took the Host back to Church, confessing her crime. The Parish Priest collected the Host and took it to the Bishop.
The Bishop wrote to Pope Gregory 1X. It is in this letter and the letter of reply that the miracle is recorded:
“We should express our most heart felt thanks to Him who, while always operating in wonderful ways in all His deeds, on some occasions works miracles and performs ever new wonders in order to recall sinners to penance, convert the wicked, (...).
“Therefore, dear brother, by this Apostolic letter, we provide that you inflict a lighter penance on the girl who, in our opinion, in committing such a serious sin, was driven more by weakness than wickedness, especially in consideration of the fact that she certainly repented sincerely when confessing her sin. However, against the instigator who, with her perversity, prompted the girl to commit the sacrilege, take those disciplinary measures that you think more suitable; also order her to pay a visit to all the neighboring Bishops, to confess her sin to them and implore their forgiveness with devout submissiveness. (...)”. In 1960 the Host was examined. It was found to be Flesh. Not decayed, only slightly brown in color. The Flesh is housed in Alatri to this very day.
Spain, 1229. Six Spanish commanders attended Confession and then Mass, as was their custom before going into battle. It was a time of war, between the Spanish and Saracens. On the outskirts of the town of Daroca, they were caught off guard by a surprise attack. The Priest wrapped the six consecrated Hosts in a corporal and hid them while the Spanish fought back. The Spaniards won the battle.
The circle human bloodstains in Daroca, where the consecrated Hosts disappeared. Note the shape is the same as Hosts.
After the conflict, the Priest went to the site and found the Hosts had disappeared. leaving six blood stains. Each commander wanted the corporal venerated in his own town. Sticks were drawn and Daroca was the place chosen to house the Hosts that had changed to Blood. The Blood in the corporal has been analyzed and is human.
Another miracle in Spain occurred during the time of the Reformation. A Protestant attended a Catholic Mass in a Church in El Escorial. Pretending to be a Catholic, he took a consecrated Host, along with all the parishioners. But instead of consuming it, he threw it on the floor, and to the horror of the congregation, he stamped on it. To his surprise the Host began to spurt out blood.
The incorrupt miracle Host of El Escorial containing human blood. This Host is more than seven hundred years old. It is not sealed and contains no preservatives.
In Santarem, a woman whose husband was unfaithful sought advise from a sorceress. She promised that if the woman brought her a consecrated Host, her husband would change his ways. The sorceress told her to pretend to be ill, so that she could receive Holy Communion during the week and bring the Host to her.
Despite knowing that what the woman intended to do was a grave sin, she received Holy Communion and instead of consuming it, hid it in her clothing. On the way to the sorceress, the Host began to bleed. Several people exclaimed to the woman that she was bleeding. Shocked, she hurried home and did not take the Host to the sorceress.
She wrapped the bleeding Host in a handkerchief and placed it inside a trunk. During the night, she and her husband were woken up by a bright light coming from the trunk. The light illuminated the room. The trunk was open. The woman told her husband what she had done, and that the trunk contained a consecrated Host. Both spent the rest of the night in prayer, the husband fully converted by the miracle he was seeing.
A Priest was called and the bleeding Host was taken back to the Church. It was sealed in melted bees wax for a period of nineteen years. After this time the Priest opened the tabernacle and found that the wax container was broken and the Host was sealed in a crystal pyx.
Bleeding Host of Santarem.
In the year 1263, Father Peter of Prague was on a pilgrimage to Rome. The Reformation which was at that time raging through Europe, due to a herasy in the Church which denied the Real Presence, a movement called Berengarianism, brought about much confusion in regard to the truth of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Father Peter, although regarded as a very pious Priest, became caught up in the confusion and he secretly began to doubt that the Eucharist was the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. His disbelief consumed him with guilt and so he prayed that God would help him, during this pilgrimage.
He stopped at the Church of St. Christina, in the town of Bolsena, north of Rome. As is still the custom, a visiting Priest is often welcomed by being asked to perform Mass by the Parish Priest. Father Peter had barely begun the consecration when, just as he said: This is My Body”, the Host poured out a huge quantity of blood. The blood poured over his hands and onto the altar, falling onto the marble floor. There was no mistake that the blood was pouring out from the Host, as if the Host had a large open wound.
At first, Father Peter tried to hide the blood, but this was impossible, there was too much of it. Mass came to a halt. Father Peter wrapped the Host and placed it in the corporal. He asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, where Pope Urban 1V was staying.
The Pope listened to the Priest’s account of what happened and then absolved him for his doubt. The Pope then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. Father Peter was shown to have no cuts or wounds on his body. When all the facts were ascertained, and witness accounts recorded, the Pope ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring the Host to Orvieto. Both the Host and the blood stained linen, it was wrapped in was examined. The relics were placed in the Cathedral. A miracle had been declared. There was too much evidence, too many witnesses for there to be any doubt of what had taken place.
The linen corporal bearing the blood is still enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto. The blood stained marble floor can still be seen in the little Church of St. Christina in Bolsena.
Pope Urban 1V created a new feast day, ‘the Feast of Corpus Christi’ (the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ). This feast is still celebrated each year, being inspired and created by the event in Bolsena in 1263.
Monsignor Rosatelli of Orvieto tells of the affect the event has on him today.
“The miracle of Bolsenai which lives on, because of the real presence of the sacred corporal, moves me every morning when I say Holy Mass before the sacred relic. I relive the moment when that Priest ran away, when the miracle occurred, praising God for His mercy.
“These sentiments are not just experienced by myself, but also by thousands of Priests all over the world, who come to celebrate Mass. Not just Priests, but thousands more, who are pilgrims.”
Bawol, Poland, 1264. It was a very turbulent and trying time in Polish history, with many people falling victim to the dreaded black plague that stalked Europe. The population had depleted and the religious standards changed after the loss of older churchmen. People were devastated by the loss of family and friends. The overall outlook was hopeless.
It was in these trying times that a strange phenomenon arose from the marshy swamps near the village of Bawol. Nobody knew what to make of an arresting array of bright lights than ran across the sky. After the strange lights were first seen, people began visiting the spot. The phenomenon had lasted a few days. People tried to fathom what was causing the array of lights that lit up the sky.
During this occurrence, news reached Bawol that someone had broken into a Church in Krakow and stolen the pyx containing a consecrated Host. The Bishop had entreated the people of the Parish to pray and fast, and beg God for the safe return of the ‘Sacred Host’, but the Bishop was already fearful that the thief had desecrated the ‘Real Presence of Jesus Christ’. It was at this time that the mysterious lights appeared in Bawol.
Hearing of this, the Bishop led a procession to the site. The lights were emanating from the swamp. The people began to hunt and dig in the area where the lights fell. There they found the pyx that contained the ‘Blessed Sacrament’. The Host was immediately returned to Krackow. The mysterious lights disappeared.
Inspired by this event, King Casmir the Great had the swamp drained and had a magnificent Church erected, which he dedicated to the ‘Body of Christ’ in the ‘Blessed Eucharist’.
In Aninon, Spain: in the year 1300, the local Church was obliterated by fire and upon first inspection, it appeared that everything was destroyed - even the tabernacle and main altar. But the pall and corporal that covered the consecrated Hosts in the tabernacle was only burned in a few places. Five of the Hosts were bleeding and one of the Hosts was fixed to the pall.
The people of the Parish built a new Church in honor of the miraculous Hosts. They flocked to the new Church to give thanks for the “Miracle of the Eucharist”. Following this fresh blood soaked the corporal, which also emitted a pleasant fragrance. Both the pall and the corporal have remained intact with no sign of decay.
Incorrupt, bleeding Hosts in Spain.
High on a mountaintop in northern Italy lies the town of Cascia. Many saints have come from this region. Among them St. Francis of Assisi, St Benedict and St Rita. It is the Church of St Rita, adjacent to the Augustine Monastery that houses the remains of another Saint. The Church also contains a tabernacle that houses a Eucharistic miracle. It is a bloodstained page of a Priest’s prayer book. The Priest, so it is written, ‘had begun to take the Eucharist and his vocation for granted’.
Father Glusstino of Cascia explains what took place in the year 1300:
“The Eucharistic miracle happened because of a lack of faith and love of a Priest, who had been asked to take Holy Communion to a sick farmer. He took the consecrated Host, but did not place it in a small pyx, but between the pages of his breviary. He went to the sick farmer with the breviary under his arm. When he opened the breviary after hearing the sick man’s confession, he discovered that the Host had turned to blood. Being very confused and repentant, the Priest went to confess what had happened. There was a great theologian in Siena at that time. The Priest went to him to confess and tell him what had happened. Father Simone gave the Priest absolution. He asked for the blooded pages and returned with them to Perugia. The pages have been here for over five hundred and fifty years, stained by the Host that had been turned into blood.”
One of the pages is now kept in the Church of Pergugia and the other page is in Cascia. There are many reports by those who travel to look upon the blood stained page, that they see clearly “the image of Jesus Christ”.
Miracle of bleeding The miracle of Cascia, Italy. Hosts in Portugal.
In 1317 in Belgium, a Priest was visiting a man who was ill. He took a consecrated Host in a ciborium and placed the ciborium on a table while he went to another room to speak to the sick man and his family. A man in a spiritual state of mortal sin removed the cover of the ciborium and picked the Host up. Immediately the Host began to bleed. The Priest entered the room and was astonished to see the bleeding Host.
The Priest took the Host to his Pastor who told him to carry the Host to the Church of the Cistercian nuns at Herkenrode, a thirty-mile journey. The Priest approached the altar at the convent and placed the bleeding Host on it. Many Priests gathered to see it. As soon as it was placed on the altar, all present witnessed an apparition of Jesus Christ adorned with thorns. This caused much excitement and wonder among the religious in Herkenrode.
In 1804, the Host was taken to the Church on San Quentin in Hasselt, where the Host remains in perfect condition to this day.
Blanot is a small village situated in a long narrow valley in France. Easter Sunday, March 31, 1331, the first Mass of the day was being conducted by Hugues de la Baume, the vicar of Blanot. Two men of the Parish, Thomas Caillot and Guyot Besson were also serving in addition to the altar boys.
When the time came for the distribution of Holy Communion, the people approached the altar railing which separated the body of the Church from the Sanctuary. Taking their places along the length of the railing, two altar boys approached the railing, one on each end. They reached down for a long linen cloth that hung over the top of the railing on the side facing the Sanctuary. Each boy took his end of the cloth and flipped it over the top. The people waiting to receive Holy Communion then placed their hands beneath the cloth. Hugues de la Baume, holding the ciborium containing the consecrated Hosts, moved along the length of the railing and distributed the Hosts to the people lined up side by side.
One of the last to receive Holy Communion was a woman named Jacquette. She was a widow of Regnaut d’Effour. The Priest placed the Host on her tongue, he turned and started walking towards the altar. It was then that both Thomas Caillot and Guyot Besson, along with a few other people lined up along the railing, saw the Host fall from the woman’s mouth and land upon the cloth that covered her hands. As the Priest was then placing the ciborium inside the tabernacle, Thomas approached the altar and informed Hughues de la Baume, of the accident. This Priest immediately left the altar and approached the railing, but instead of finding the Host, he saw a spot of blood the same size as a Host. It appeared that the Host had dissolved into blood.
After the Mass, the Priest took the cloth into the sacristy and placed the stained area in a basin full of clear water. He washed the circle of blood, scrubbing it with his with his fingers as hard as he was able. But the more he scrubbed the blood stained linen, the stain became larger and not smaller, more intense, not less. The water became bloody. The Priest called for assistance, but no matter how hard they all worked to clean the cloth, the water turned red, but the blood on the cloth became more. The Priest and his assistance became frightened by what was taking place. It defied all laws of nature. The Priest then declared: “This is the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” He then took a knife, washed it and cut from the cloth the piece bearing the bloody imprint of the Host. The square piece of cloth was placed in the tabernacle.
An official of the Archdiocese of Autun, Jean Jarossier, traveled to Banot to conduct an investigation. With him was the Cure’ de Lucenay, a Monsignor of Autun. All witnesses were interrogated in the presence of Pierre Osnonout, the Cure’ of Blanot. The findings of the investigation was sent in a report to PopeJohn XX11, who pronounced a favorable verdict on the event being a miracle.
There were many witnesses to what took place, and the cloth stood as evidence of what the witnesses described, despite being interrogated individually, the description of what took place was the same. Documents of the report are still kept in the City Hall of Blanot.
The consecrated Hosts that were not consumed after the distribution on that Easter Sunday in 1331, were never used. Instead they were carefully placed in the tabernacle. In 1705 these Hosts were taken in a five hour procession around the Parish of Banot. After three hundred and seventy-five years, these Hosts were as fresh as they were On March 31, 1331.
For many years there were commemorative processions, but these were discontinued at the start of the French Revolution. On December 27, 1793, a group of revolutionaries entered the Church and opened the tabernacle. The blood stained cloth, which was encased in a crystal tube was handled by one of them, but it was disregarded as nothing of value. After this, the relic was entrusted to Dominique Cortet, a Parishoner of Banot. In his care the tube was cracked on both the top and the bottom, while it was hidden in a draw.
After the Revolution the relic was returned to the Church and placed in a box covered with velvet, which was placed once again within the tabernacle. Sometime later a new crystal tube was designed for the relic. The relic is currently exposed in the Church of Blanot.
The linen cloth of blood in a crystal tube inside an ostensorium.
(Close up of cloth in tube).
Extract from "God Exists. The Evidence"
copyright@Sue Burton
Continued, The Eucharist Page 2
"Typed by:
Sue Burton, Sacred Heart Publications UK.
@Copy right Sue Burton & Marianne Eichhorn.
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