“The Bread of Life”: 21st Century Eucharistic Miracles

 

Above is the consecrated bread of the Catholic Mass — the Eucharist. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have not life in you” (John 6:53).

What if the Eucharist is God’s rescue plan for humanity from before the beginning of time?

What if the purpose of the Catholic Mass is to worship the living Resurrected and Ascended Jesus Christ, who comes down from heaven and appears as the Eucharist?

It is a wonderful time to be alive, because we have four 21st century Eucharistic miracles that have been studied by modern science. Science relies on observation. And scientists can’t observe the supernatural cause of a miracle — which is God. However modern science can study the result of a potentially supernatural event, and determine if instead there is a natural cause or explanation.

In the four 21st century Eucharistic miracles, the simple consecrated bread of Holy Mass became living heart tissue, living white blood cells (“WBCs”), and living type AB red blood cells (“RBCs”). The fact that these human cells are alive outside of a body can’t be explained by modern medical science. 

This pamphlet is the fourth in a series of pamphlets that explore the scientific evidence with respect to truth claims of the Catholic Church.

 

“The Bread of Life” in the Bible

Jesus Christ said, “I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51).

The Jews are incredulous and say “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52).

Jesus persisted, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (John 6:54-55).

The Jews then say: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). Jesus continued to affirm this teaching and, “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66).

The ancient Romans made the same error in assuming that if the Eucharist was the flesh and blood of Jesus, then it must be about consuming the flesh of a corpse. This misunderstanding was then used as a justification for the persecution of the early Christians. 

 

The Institution of the Eucharist in the Bible

Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, as we read in Matthew 26:17-28, Mark 14:12-26, & Luke 22:7-26.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks [Eucharistia in Greek] he broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the chalice after supper saying, “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)

 

Who is the Eucharist?

For 2000 years, the Church that Jesus founded — the Catholic Church — has taught that Jesus is the Eucharist. From the beginning, this same Catholic Church has proclaimed that bread consecrated by a priest during Holy Mass becomes the Eucharist (The Thanksgiving), the flesh of the living God-Man, Jesus Christ. This transformation of the substance of bread into the substance of Jesus’ body, is called “transubstantiation” by the Church that Jesus founded. 

The Church also refers to this mystery as “the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.” This term means that the Eucharist makes present to us truly (in reality) Jesus’ fully human and fully divine natures in one divine person. Obviously, how it is that two natures can exist in one person is a mystery, but if God is truly the creator of the material world and life, anything is possible. The unique incarnation of God in the flesh, through Mary, is what sets apart Christianity from all other religions. The Bible affirms, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father” (John 1:14).

 

What is a 21st Century Eucharistic Miracle?

21st century Eucharistic miracles give credible scientific support to the Church’s answer to the question, “Who is the Eucharist?” 

God in his infinite grace and mercy has given us these miracles to help us “see” that through modern credible scientific investigation we now have evidence that Jesus Christ is truly the Eucharist.

In 21st century Eucharistic miracles, the consecrated bread visibly became living heart muscle with living blood, including living WBCs. As Jesus said in the Bible, “this is my body … this is my blood” (Matthew 26:17-28, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-26).

This has happened 4 times now in the early 21st century. In 3 out of the 4 occurrences, a consecrated host (living divine Jesus Christ) falls to the ground and appears dirty or contaminated. The priest reverently puts the Eucharist in a vessel of usually sterile water and then locks it in the tabernacle. In the Old Testament the presence of God was in the tabernacle, and now in the New Covenant Jesus is present in the tabernacle. Normally, due to osmotic pressure, the bread disintegrates within one to two weeks in the water. Incredibly, in all 4 of these instances, the bread developed a red spot, and on extensive investigation months and sometimes years later, scientists discovered living type AB blood, as well as living WBCs, and living heart muscle in a state of suffering. 

Many nonbelieving scientists are utilized in these investigations so as not to introduce scientific bias in the evaluation of these Eucharistic phenomena. To date, no scientist or physician has been able to come up with a natural explanation. White blood cells only live outside a living body for less than an hour, and in these cases, they — together with the living suffering heart tissue — have survived for months and even years in sterile water.

In addition, type AB blood is the universal recipient and rarest blood type in humans, but it is found in approximately 8% of modern Israelites. This is significant because the incarnate Jesus and his mother Mary are Jews. Also, the same profoundly rare type AB blood is also found in every Eucharistic miracle with blood that occurred prior to the 21st century. In addition, the Shroud of Turin, and “the Face Cloth of Oviedo” also have type AB blood, and there is credible scientific evidence these are both relics of Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection. (See our “The Shroud of Turin” pamphlet).

 

Specific Eucharistic Miracles

In 750 AD, a priest in Lanciano, Italy was struggling with belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Right after the consecration of the host, in front of everyone attending Mass, the consecrated host turned into tissue and the consecrated wine turned into blood. 

The first modern scientific investigation of this tissue was performed by Professor Linoli in 1971 and 1981. The studies he conducted revealed that the “tissue” was in fact human heart tissue without any detectable preservatives, yet still intact 1250 years after it appeared. 

There are modern parallels to the Lanciano Eucharistic miracles. The first instance is the Eucharistic miracle that occurred in August of 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at St. Mary’s Church. 

A consecrated host was found hidden and was deemed to be too dirty to be consumed, so the host was placed in a special vessel of water. 

Eight years later, on April 20, 2004, slides containing a sample of the Buenos Aires consecrated host were sent for definitive study to well-known heart expert, Dr. Frederick Zugibe. 

Without knowing the source of the sample, Dr. Zugibe observed: “This cardiac muscle is inflamed; it has lost its striations and is infiltrated by leukocytes [WBCs].” Dr. Zugibe then noted that, “This person’s heart has been wounded and has suffered a trauma.” Prof. Zugibe also made the incredible statement: “This was a live sample at the time it was taken.” When asked how long these leukocytes (WBCs) would normally survive in water, Prof. Zugibe stated, “They would dissolve in a few minutes and no longer exist.” Dr. Zugibe was not told that the study sample was from simple unleavened bread kept in distilled water for three years. When this fact — being in water for three years — was revealed to Prof. Zugibe, he exclaimed “Absolutely incredible! Inexplicable by science!” 

This is the kind of thing we find for each of the subsequent 21st century Eucharistic miracles: living heart muscle cells, living WBCs, and human type-AB blood — despite being studied months and sometimes years after they appeared.

The next Eucharistic miracle occurred on October 22, 2006, in Tixtla, Mexico, 10 days after St. Carlo Acutis (who catalogued the ancient Eucharistic miracles) died. 

Sister Arely had paused her distribution of the Eucharist and had returned to the altar with tears in her eyes, because the Eucharistic host in the pyx (for distribution to the sick) appeared to be stained with blood. Doctor Ricardo Castanon Gomez initiated an extensive investigation, with six “blind” major studies by leading scientists, many of whom were nonbelievers. At the end of these studies, it was determined that the host with blood:

  1. Has human blood type-AB.
  2. Has living WBCs.
  3. Has living cardiac tissue, with signs of extreme trauma.
  4. Has interior-to-exterior flow of blood, indicating that living cardiac tissue is integrated with the substance of the consecrated host.

The third 21st century Eucharistic miracle occurred in Sokolka, Poland, on October 12, 2008, the same day that St. Carlo Acutis died, but two years later. 

A parishioner kneeling at the altar rail to receive Holy Communion noticed a consecrated host on the ground — again, too dirty to consume. Father Jacek Ingielewicz put the host, as prescribed by the Catholic Church, into the “vasculum,” a silver container used for the cleansing of the hands. The vessel of water containing the Eucharist was then locked in the tabernacle. On October 19, sister Julia, who was put in charge of the host, noted that the host had not yet completely dissolved and was partially covered by a solid red protruding stain, yet the water in the container remained clear. 

Professors Stanislaw Sulkowski and Maria Elzbieta Sobaniec-Lotowska, both anatomical pathologists, were asked to do extensive analysis on January 7th, 2009.

Their findings were again strikingly similar to the Buenos Aires and Tixtla cases, and included; 

  1. Sampled material was myocardial (cardiac) tissue. Remnants of intercalated discs and delicate myofibrils could be recognized under the electron microscope. 
  2. Pathological signs such as segmentation and fragmentation were present in the muscle fibers. These are signs of suffering heart muscle tissue. “Segmentation” is the detachment of myofibrils from the intercalated discs to which they are normally bound. It is due to the rapid repeated spasms of heart muscle cells in the context of imminent death. This is not a degenerative stage after death, rather, it can only occur in a living heart muscle cell in agony.
  3. Under electron microscopy, myocardial fibers and the consecrated bread were making contact with one another in a way unknown to science. This type of unexplainable contact is not possible with current scientific methods. Thus, there was no possibility of a man-made artifact. 
  4. The persistence of myocardial tissue along with the consecrated bread is inexplicable. It is both intact and without signs of decay or degradation in the absence of any preservative. This lack of normal decay is especially inexplicable after all the time first spent in water, and then in air — then for months, and now for years. 

The most recent 21st century Eucharistic miracle took place in Legnica, in southwestern Poland, on December 25, 2013. At the first Mass of Christmas Day at St. Hyacinth Church. A consecrated host accidently fell on the carpet within the sacred space of the sanctuary. It was a host that had just been dipped in the consecrated wine in a practice known as “intinction.” On January 5, 2014, a priest in the community checked the sacred vessel and noticed that a crescent-shaped portion of the host, about .5 by 1.5 cm, had detached from the rest, and was turning red. On January 26, 2014, some microsamples of the material were taken and analyzed at the nearby University of Wroclaw and then sent for further testing at the University of Szczecin. The Department of Forensic Medicine stated, “Histopathological images showed tissue fragments containing fragmented portions of striated muscle.” And “The image to which the examined tissue was overall most similar to … was that of cardiac muscle … displaying changes that often accompany a state of agony.” DNA tests confirmed that the tissue is of human origin.

 

Why are there Eucharistic Miracles?

Perhaps the answer is simple: Jesus promised “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Confirming his Word, there is credible scientific evidence that the Eucharist is the living ascended Divine Person Jesus Christ that comes down to every Catholic Church across the globe throughout time in the celebration of the Catholic Mass. 

Resources

Christ, Science, and Reason. Father Robert Spitzer 2024

A Cardiologist Examines Jesus. Dr. Franco Serafini. 2021

Who do you say I am? Dr. Scott French-to be published in 2027

Catholic Tracts