The Miracle of Lanciano, Italy
“An extraordinary miracle has lasted for over 1,300 years and is still taking place today, visible before our eyes.”
In the city of Lanciano, Italy, around the year 700 there was a monk who was a scientific scholar. Although he knew so much about worldly sciences, he was “ignorant in those of God,” and was not very strong in his faith. A doubt as to whether the consecrated Host was truly the Body of Christ, and the consecrated wine of truly His Blood, consumed him.
This monk was dedicated more to science than to wisdom, interested more in the material things of the world. In many ways, we can all relate to him; he resembles each of us to an extraordinary degree.
Regardless, he constantly prayed that God would remove this doubt from his heart, and, of course, God did not abandon him.
One morning, as he was celebrating Mass, after he had spoken the words of the consecration (“This is My Body … This is my Blood …”), his doubts weighed down his heart more than ever. And then, he witnessed the Bread changed into Flesh and then the wine into Blood.
Today, thirteen centuries later, these Holy Relics have remained practically in tact. The Host-Flesh, as can be very distinctly observed today, has the same dimensions as the large host used today in the Latin church; it is light brown and appears rose-colored when lighted from the back. The Blood is coagulated and has an earthy color resembling the yellow of ochre.
In 1970-71, and taken up again partly in 1981, a scientific investigation was conducted by Prof. Odoardo Linoli, a famous professor in anatomy and pathological histology and in chemistry and clinical microscopy.
The analyses of the Flesh and Blood were conducted with every amount of scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs.
These analyses came to the following conclusions:
- The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood.
- The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species.
- The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart.
- In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium.
- The Flesh is a “HEART” complete in its essential structure.
- The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin).
- In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.
- In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.
- The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.
Local Church and Vatican officials have authenticated the Holy Relics on many occasions since the middle ages. Bl. Pope John Paul II called attention to the miracle at the beginning of the Year of the Eucharist in 2004.
Sources: [x], a pamphlet printed by Ave Maria Centre of Peace
