Blessed Carlo Acutis had conceived and created a beautiful traveling exhibition on Eucharistic Miracles. This exhibition continues to tour Italy and the world; all the Eucharistic miracles featured in the exhibition have been collected in the book Eucharistic Miracles in the World, from which this text is taken.
The Eucharistic miracle of Augsburg, known locally as “Wunderbarlichen Gutes” (“Miraculous Good”), is described in numerous books and historical documents available for consultation at the Augsburg State and City Library.
A stolen host transformed into bleeding flesh. Over the centuries, several analyses have been carried out on the host, and they have always confirmed that it is human flesh and blood.
Today, the Heilig Kreuz convent, which safeguards the host, is run by Dominican friars.
In 1194, a particularly devout woman from Augsburg, after receiving Communion, secretly placed the host in a handkerchief, took it home, and put it in a wax container inside a cupboard. At that time, it was very difficult to find tabernacles in churches for practicing Eucharistic adoration. This devotion only became widespread in 1264, with the introduction of the feast of Corpus Christi. Five years passed, and on May 11, 1199, tormented by remorse, the woman confessed to Father Berthold, superior of the Heilig Kreuz convent, who had her hand over the host. The priest opened the wax container surrounding the host and saw that it had transformed into bleeding flesh. The host appeared “divided into two parts joined to each other by thin strands of bleeding flesh.” Father Berthold immediately went to the city’s bishop, Udalskalk, who ordered that the miraculous host be “transferred, accompanied by the clergy and the people, to the cathedral and displayed in a crystal monstrance for public adoration.”
The miracle continued: the host began to grow and swell, and this phenomenon lasted from Easter Sunday until the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, before everyone’s eyes. Later, Bishop Udalskalk had the host returned to the Heilig Kreuz convent and decreed that, “in memory of such a memorable and extraordinary event,” a special annual celebration be held in honor of the holy relic. In 1200, Count Rechber donated to the Augustinian fathers a rectangular silver reliquary with an opening at the front, in which the miraculous host was placed. In addition to the Eucharistic prodigy, other extraordinary events occurred, such as the appearance above the host of the infant Jesus dressed in white, with a radiant face and a golden crown around his forehead, the bleeding of the church’s crucifix, and the appearance of Jesus blessing the congregation.
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