Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,

Reflecting on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, my mind has been drawn to the incredible Eucharistic Miracles documented around the world. I don’t need such miracles to believe Jesus is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharistic. My heart tells me as much each time I say the words of institution (This is my Body….This is my Blood) at Mass. At the same time, these miracles can inspire and even teach us.

One of the most famous is the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, Italy hundreds of years ago. Incredibly, we still have the relics of this miracle preserved in the Church of St. Francis in Lanciano. In these relics, scientific studies have found true flesh and blood.
The story behind these relics goes back to the mid 700s. A priest, who was celebrating Mass, doubted the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

One day he was to experience a profound transformation during the Eucharistic Prayer. When he said the words of Consecration.. This is my Body… This is my Blood the bread changed into flesh and the wine to blood which coagulated into five globules.

At the initiative of the Archbishop of Lanciano and with authorization from Rome, the Franciscans of Lanciano decided, in 1970, to have the relics examined scientifically.
Doctor Odoardo Linoli, head of the laboratory of clinical analysis and pathological anatomy of the hospital of Arezzo, was entrusted with the study. After careful and rigorous examinations, he presented his findings on March 4, 1971.

First of all, (the studies) demonstrated that the flesh is myocardial tissue; it is a fragment of the heart. Second, the blood is True Blood. And third, the flesh and blood are human. Fourth, the blood type he discovered separately in flesh and blood is the AB -blood type, almost the rarest. And then fifth, the presence of the proteins …is similar to that of fresh blood.

Dr. Serafini is a cardiologist who has dedicated his life to examining Eucharistic miracles. ETWN has an interesting article on the doctor. He says that what is true of the Lanciano miracle has also has been true of the other miracles he has studied.

Additionally, he says, we find DNA. Tests confirm the presence of DNA, but this DNA behaves in a very strange way because it is an elusive DNA.” Unlike regular human DNA, that found in Eucharistic miracles is not legible in its entirety. Some sequences are inexplicably missing, making the miraculous DNA impossible to trace or reproduce.

Incredible. Absolutely Incredible.

What I would like for us to focus on is the amazing fact that the tissue examined is that of a heart. The Eucharist is the Heart of Christ. We receive the Heart of Christ in the Eucharist. That is how deeply He loves you.

In the Love of Christ, Fr. Ian