Blessed Carlo Acutis 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.
In the Basilica of Corpus Domini in Turin, there is an iron railing enclosing the site where the first Eucharistic miracle occurred in 1453.
An inscription on the floor inside the railing describes the prodigy: “Here the animal carrying the divine Body fell prostrate - here the sacred host freed itself from the sack imprisoning it and rose into the air by itself - here, mercifully, it descended into the supplicant hands of the people of Turin - here, therefore, is the place made holy by the prodigy - remembering it, pray kneeling, may it be for you an object of veneration or inspire you with awe (June 6, 1453).”
In the Upper Susa Valley, near Exilles (TO), the troops of René of Anjou clashed with the forces of Duke Lodovico of Savoy. The soldiers then abandoned themselves to looting the town, and some entered a church. One of them forced open the tabernacle door and stole the monstrance with the consecrated host. He wrapped all the loot in a sack and, riding a mule, headed toward the city of Turin.
Depictions of the miracle.
In the main square, near the church of San Silvestro, now the Church of the Holy Spirit, at the site where the Church of Corpus Domini was later erected, the animal stumbled and fell. The sack then opened, and the monstrance with the consecrated host rose above the surrounding houses, to the astonishment of the people. Among those present was Don Bartolomeo Coccolo, who ran to inform the bishop, Lodovico of the Marquises of Romagnano. The bishop, accompanied by a procession of townspeople and clergy, went to the square, prostrated himself in adoration, and prayed with the words of the disciples of Emmaus: “Stay with us, Lord.”
Meanwhile, another prodigy had occurred: the monstrance had fallen to the ground, leaving the consecrated host free and shining like a second sun. The Bishop, who was holding a chalice, raised it upward, and slowly the consecrated host began to descend again, settling inside the chalice.
Devotion to the Eucharistic miracle of 1453 was immediately embraced by the city, which first promoted the construction of a shrine at the site of the prodigy, soon replaced by the church dedicated to Corpus Domini.
But the most significant expression is found in the celebrations organized on the occasion of the centennials and fiftieth anniversaries (in 1653, 1703, 1753, 1853 and - in part - 1803). Many documents describe the miracle: the oldest are the three Chapter Acts from 1454, 1455 and 1456, along with several contemporary writings from the Municipality of Turin. In 1853, Blessed Pope Pius IX solemnly celebrated the fourth centenary of the miracle; Saint John Bosco and Don Rua also took part in the ceremony. On this occasion, Pius IX also approved the proper Office and Mass for the miracle for the Archdiocese of Turin.
In 1928, Pius XI elevated the church of Corpus Domini to the rank of minor basilica. The host from the miracle was preserved until the 16th century, until the Holy See ordered that it be consumed “so as not to oblige God to perform an eternal miracle by keeping those same Eucharistic species perpetually incorrupt, as they had remained.”
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