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.
In both Eucharistic miracles of Asti, living blood spurted from the consecrated host. Numerous documents confirm the two prodigies.
In the first miracle, the Bishop of Asti, Monsignor Scipione Roero, immediately had a notarial act drawn up, and Pope Paul III, in an apostolic brief dated November 6, 1535, granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visited the Church of San Secondo on the anniversary of the prodigy.
1535
On July 25, 1535, while the pious priest Domenico Occelli was celebrating Holy Mass at around 7:00 a.m. at the high altar of the Collegiate Church of San Secondo, when he reached the fraction of the host, he saw it turn bright red with living blood along the entire length of the fracture. Three drops fell into the chalice, and a fourth remained at the edge of the host. Initially, Father Domenico continued celebrating Mass. When he detached the portion of the host that he was to place in the chalice, he saw more blood come out of it. Astonished, he turned to those present and invited them to approach the altar to see the prodigy. When the priest took the host to consume it, the blood disappeared and it immediately regained its natural whiteness. This was the sequence of events according to the translation of the official report sent by the Bishop of Asti, Monsignor Scipione Roero, to the Holy See and reproduced in the apostolic brief dated November 6, 1535, by which Pope Paul III granted a plenary indulgence to all who «on the anniversary of the miracle visit the church of the Saint and recite three Our Fathers and Hail Marys according to the intention of the Pontiff».
According to another document, reproduced in a marble inscription, on that occasion, at the sight of the miracle, some heretical soldiers converted. At that time, Asti was under the rule of Emperor Charles V, and many of his troops were stationed in the city. This account, in addition to appearing in the Vatican archives, from which a copy was extracted in 1884 at the request of Canon Longo, is also recorded in the book of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, established as early as 1519 in the collegiate church of San Secondo. Other testimonies to the prodigy include the painting in the Chapel of the Crucifix, which depicts the miracle and dates back to the 16th century, and the marble inscription bearing the words: «Here, where Christ, from the sacred bread, Having shed blood, forcibly drew outsiders to the faith and strengthened that of the people of Asti»
1718
On the morning of May 10, 1718, the priest Francesco Scotto went to the Opera Milliavacca to celebrate Holy Mass. It was around 8:00 a.m. The institute’s church was divided into two parts: the front, where outsiders could attend, and the rear, behind the altar, reserved for the female residents. In the front part, that is, in front of the altar, there was only the notary Scipione Alessandro Ambrogio, the bishop’s chancellor and the institute’s treasurer. The female residents were in the rear part of the church. When the priest reached the elevation of the host, Dr. Ambrogio noticed that the host was broken into two pieces. As soon as the priest elevated the chalice, the man, convinced that a broken host was not valid matter, approached the altar to warn the priest and immediately ran to fetch another host from the sacristy. Meanwhile, the celebrant lifted the host with his fingers and found that it was indeed divided in half; to his infinite astonishment, he saw the longitudinal edge of both parts completely red with blood, while the base and cup of the chalice were stained with blood, along with a few small bloody splashes on the corporal itself. Ambrogio had meanwhile arrived with the new host and noticed that the other one was bleeding. He immediately began to weep. The notary immediately ran to call Canon Argenta, the institute’s confessor, the theologian Vaglio, and the penitentiary Ferrero, who were also direct witnesses to the prodigy.
At the same time, the other priests and three city doctors, Drs. Argenta, Volpini, and Vercellone, also arrived. They swore that those red spots were real blood. One of those present wondered whether the blood might have come from the priest’s nose or mouth, but several surgeons present, after careful examination, ruled out any doubt on that point. When the deputy vicar, the curia secretary, and the vicar of the Inquisition, R. Bordino, arrived, they jointly drew up an official report of the miracle. Another important proof of the miracle’s authenticity is provided by a document stating that in 1841, Monsignor Filippo Artico, Bishop of Asti, had the chalice and the host from the miracle examined by several medical experts, who confirmed the blood origin of the red spots. The Opera Pia Milliavacca has carefully preserved the testimony of the prodigy: the chalice with bloodstains, the host from the celebration, unfortunately corrupted and reduced to a thin veil, the paten, the corporal, and the gilded silver cup.
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