Transcription
Okay, I'm exploring every scientifically verified Eucharistic miracle, and later I'll show how one detail found in every single study even connects to the Shroud of Turin.
The first Eucharistic miracle ever recorded happened in Lanciano, Italy, in the early 700s. At a monastery in the town, there was a priest who doubted that the bread and wine could actually become Jesus's body and blood. One day, he was celebrating mass, and at the moment of consecration, as the priest said, "This is my body. This is my blood," the host in his fingers visibly turned into living flesh, and the wine into fresh blood.
Now, granted, that's an old story, a really old story, and it could easily be dismissed as a myth with no evidence, except that the circular piece of flesh and the blood, which had formed into five distinct cloths, was preserved in a monstrance for over a thousand years. And in 1970, this guy took it out and studied it. Dr. Eduardo Lenoli, a pathologist and chemist, conducted a full clinical study under laboratory conditions, assisted by Dr. Rugggero Bertelli of the University of Sienna. Their findings were staggering.
The flesh was human cardiac muscle from the myocardium, the left ventricle of the heart, and the blood type was AB positive. Remember that detail because it's important for seeing how the evidence from all of these Eucharistic miracles comes together. What's even crazier is that the proteins, minerals, and ratios in the blood were consistent with fresh human blood, despite being kept in an unsealed container for 1,200 years. The samples also contained no preservatives and showed no sign of corruption. Furthermore, Lenoli concluded that only a skilled anatomist could extract such a perfect circular cut from a human heart, a feat inconceivable in the 8th century. Today, the relics are preserved in that same monstrance above the high altar of the Church of St. Francis, where the flesh still retains a natural rosy hue when illuminated by light.
Now, while this study was conducted under strict scientific criteria, I guess a skeptic could accuse the scientists of lying. I mean, after all, Lenoli knew he was studying a supposed miracle, and he himself was Catholic. That obviously doesn't disprove this miracle. But if you are skeptical, wait until you see this next Eucharistic miracle. This one didn't happen in the distant past. It happened just 30 years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the early 1990s, several mysterious events involving the Eucharist were reported at St. Mary's Parish in Buenos Aires. After mass one evening, a dirty, discarded host was found in the back of the church. Following church protocol, the local pastor placed it in water and locked it in the tabernacle to dissolve. Here's what a Eucharistic host that's been sitting in water for 2 days looks like. Uh, an unconsecrated host, just to be clear. But when Father Alejandro, the pastor at St. Mary's, went to check on the host just a few days later, this is what he found. It had transformed into what appeared to be bloody flesh. He immediately alerted the Archbishop, who ordered this photograph to be taken. And by the way, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires at the time was His Excellence Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis.
Years later, he commissioned neuroscientist Dr. Ricardo Castanon Gomez, a staunch atheist, to lead a rigorous scientific investigation. Samples were sent anonymously to laboratories around the world. One expert, Dr. Frederick Sugbe, a pathologist and cardiologist from Columbia University, reported that the samples he received were human cardiac tissue from the left ventricle. And not just human heart tissue, but living human heart tissue. "Those are the nuclei, and they're definitely in a good state of preservation from an individual under extreme stress, as if he had been beaten or was suffocating."
Now, that might seem really strange at first, but it actually makes perfect sense with what we as Catholics understand to be true about the Eucharist. More on that before the end of the video. Again, the blood type was identified as AB positive. Now, not only is AB positive blood one of the rarest blood types in the world (less than 4% of people have it), but every single Eucharistic miracle ever studied has contained AB positive blood. And not only that, but a 2024 study of the Shroud of Turin, which for many faithful basically confirmed it as Jesus's actual burial cloth, showed that it had been stained with AB positive blood.
Now, remember, Dr. Zugbe didn't know anything about this sample when he received it. He conducted his studies completely anonymously. And when he found out that it had been taken from a consecrated Eucharistic host, he fell silent and then simply stated, "This heart was alive at the moment the sample was taken." "You know, I've written over 100 papers on cardiology. The heart is one area that I know. It is in my business." If you're skeptical, remember this study was conducted completely anonymously and was led by a staunch atheist. But his investigations into Eucharistic miracles don't end there, and it would eventually change his life. But to see that, we have to fast forward a little bit.
Just 10 years later, at a parish retreat in Tlaxcala, Mexico, two priests and a nun were distributing Holy Communion when something extraordinary happened. The nun, serving as an extraordinary minister, turned toward the priest beside her, tears in her eyes. A consecrated host in the ciborium she was holding had begun to ooze a deep red liquid. The local bishop, Alejo Zavala Castro, immediately came to see it himself. He secured the host and convened a theological commission to study the event. In 2009, he invited Dr. Gomez to lead a full scientific analysis. Over 3 years of research, forensic experts carried out multiple independent studies. The reddish substance was confirmed to be human blood type AB positive, containing hemoglobin and human DNA. But mysteriously, they were unable to sequence it. And this is an important detail because later I'm going to show how this aligns with something very specific the Catholic Church has always taught about Jesus.
Furthermore, two separate analyses using different methods confirmed that the blood had emerged from inside of the host, ruling out the possibility of external tampering. Under the microscope, researchers found intact white and red blood cells and macrophages, indicating living tissue. The sample was identified as myocardium, cardiac muscle, the tissue of the human heart. After extensive review, Bishop Zavala Castro officially declared the event a Eucharistic miracle in 2013.
So, after conducting not one, but two rigorous scientific investigations into Eucharistic miracles, both yielding the same results: type AB positive blood, living human cardiac tissue, and an unsequencable genome. Dr. Dr. Ricardo Castanon Gomez was so utterly moved by the evidence that he gave up his atheism and converted to Catholicism.
Now, I want to tell you about this weird thing with the DNA they found and how they couldn't extract it or sequence it. But first, we have to look at one more Eucharistic miracle. And this one's even more recent.
On Christmas Day 2013, in a small parish in Łagiewniki, Poland, a consecrated host accidentally fell to the floor during communion. Following church protocol, it was placed in water and stored to dissolve. But over the next few days, it began to change color, forming deep red streaks. Samples were sent for forensic testing, and the results were identical to every other verified case we've seen. The red substance was identified as human heart tissue, specifically myocardium from the left ventricle of the human heart, which is a very specific detail we've seen in every case so far, but I'll explain that a little bit more in a minute. Further analyses showed clear signs of tissue damage, lesions consistent with extreme stress and suffering. The DNA was human, and despite multiple attempts, no genetic profile could be extracted.
So, what's going on here? Now, this is one microliter of human blood. This is the amount of fresh blood a forensic lab needs to fully sequence an ordinary person's genome. And in every Eucharistic miracle we've talked about so far, there were several hundred times this much fresh blood available. But in every case, the scientists were mysteriously unable to sequence it, which might seem strange, except that Jesus is not an ordinary person. Unlike every other human being who inherits DNA equally from both a human father and mother, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man.
Now, the DNA that was found was human. But the inability of the scientists to sequence it, even though they had more than enough blood available to do so, is a sign of something unique about Jesus. Maybe the fact that he only had one human parent. Today, the relic is displayed for veneration in the parish of St. Faustina for thousands of pilgrims to travel to see it for themselves.
Now, at this point, we've looked at the blood type and its connection to the Shroud of Turin, as well as the theological significance of the DNA that they found in these miracles. But what about the tissue itself? Why is it always human heart tissue, specifically from the left ventricle? Well, the left ventricle is the strongest chamber of the heart, and it's responsible for pumping oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood out to the whole body, keeping it alive.
Now, I was confused by this at first, and it turns out that this actually connects the dots between two critical theological truths. First, as Catholics, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, literally the life source of the Church. And the Church, we believe, is the mystical body of Christ. We also believe that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the source and sustenance of the Church's divine life. So, it actually makes perfect sense that when Jesus miraculously reveals himself in the Eucharist, the appearance of bread doesn't transform into just any part of his body, but specifically his Sacred Heart. And that part of his heart responsible for pumping his precious, life-sustaining blood into the body of the Church.
Now, what about the fact that in every case, the blood seems to be fresh and the heart tissue alive? And in many cases, it shows signs of extreme stress or suffering. I'll get to that in a minute, but first, we have to look at one last miracle.
This last one happened in October of 2008, during Sunday mass at St. Anthony's Church in Sokółka, Poland. During communion, a consecrated host accidentally fell to the floor. A woman receiving the Eucharist immediately alerted the priest, who carefully placed the host into a small silver vessel of holy water and locked it inside the parish safe with the chalices. A week later, on October 19, the sacristan, Sister Julia Dubowska, opened the safe, and what she saw left her trembling. The host had not dissolved. In its center were deep red clots, as if blood had soaked through the white surface. She called the pastor, who, after examining it with two other priests, immediately contacted the Archbishop. By his order, the host was removed from the water and placed on a white corporal.
In 2009, samples were sent to two histopathologists at the Medical University of Białystok. Under microscopic and electron analysis, they found that the red substance was heart tissue from a living person in the state of agony. So, what's the significance of this? Well, the Eucharist isn't just the body and blood of Jesus. It's a representation of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, transcending time and space. So, when we receive him in the Eucharist, we're encountering him in his one sacrifice on the cross for the salvation of the world. So, it's not only consistent, it's to be expected that when the veil is pulled back in Eucharistic miracles, we encounter Christ's Sacred Heart, bruised, beaten, even suffocating, because the Eucharist makes his sacrifice on the cross present to us today.
So, now you've seen how science has repeatedly verified the authenticity of Eucharistic miracles. This shows that science isn't an enemy of faith. Instead, both reason and faith work together to help us understand the truth. And when you think about it, every single mass is a Eucharistic miracle because the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the body and blood of Jesus every time. God sometimes gives us extraordinarily visible and tangible signs of his presence in the Eucharist. But why? To strengthen our faith. Our faith that at every single mass, he is truly present. At the moment of consecration, the bread and wine really do become his body and blood, even if it still just looks and tastes like bread and wine. So next time you're at mass, remember these miracles proven by science. And if you're struggling with doubt, pray this prayer from the Gospels: "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."