Blessed Carlo Acutis had devised 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 parish of Saint Mary of Buenos Aires was the site of three Eucharistic miracles, which occurred in 1992, 1994, and 1996. Professor Ricardo Castañon Gomez was called by the then archbishop of Buenos Aires, none other than the current Pope Francis, to analyze the miracle that occurred on August 15, 1996.
In 1992, after the Friday, May 1 Mass, while preparing the Eucharistic reserve, the minister of the Eucharist found pieces of a consecrated host on the corporal. Following what the Church prescribes in these situations, the priest had them placed in a container of water, which was then put in the tabernacle until they dissolved. In the following days, some priests went to check and realized that nothing had changed. Seven days later, on Friday, May 8, they opened the tabernacle and saw that the host fragments had turned a reddish color that looked like blood. The following Sunday, May 10, during the two evening Masses, small drops of blood were noticed on the patens with which the priests distributed Communion. On Sunday, July 24, 1994, during the children's Mass, while the minister of the Eucharist was taking the ciborium from the tabernacle, he saw a drop of blood running down its wall. On August 15, 1996, during the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, a consecrated host that had fallen to the ground during the distribution of Communion once again had to be placed in a container of water so that it would dissolve. A few days later, on August 26, a minister of the Eucharist opened the tabernacle and saw that the host had transformed into blood.
«On August 26, the tabernacle was reopened to retrieve the vessel containing the fallen host, and it was found that the host had not dissolved and showed some reddish spots that were growing larger every day. The parish priests immediately went to the Archbishop of Buenos Aires to report what had happened. It was decided to wait before proceeding with the investigations, and in 1999, after the Archbishop learned that I carried out these scientific investigations free of charge, he commissioned me to handle the case. On October 6, 1999, I went to Buenos Aires and interviewed the five priests who had witnessed the event. They told me that another consecrated host had bled in May 1992. They had placed it in distilled water, which is the worst way to preserve anything, and for this reason I became very concerned. Everyone knows that when blood is drawn, it is possible to obtain a leukocyte formula (white blood cells). Blood contains a variety of white blood cells with specific characteristics. In the first miracle, the priests had a parishioner who was a chemist, and they asked her to analyze the bleeding host. She discovered that it was human blood and that it contained the complete leukocyte formula. She was very surprised to find that the white blood cells were active. However, the doctor could not perform genetic testing because at that time it was not easy to carry out. I took a sample from the two hosts that had bled in the presence of the archiepiscopal notary, who certified the legality of that action, as requested by the Church authorities in Argentina. I would like to clarify that before inviting me, the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires had already contacted the Holy See to request references about me. These were provided by His Excellency Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, who was then undersecretary at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a close collaborator of Cardinal Ratzinger. On October 21, I went to the Forence Analytical genetics laboratory in San Francisco, which was supposed to perform the analyses of the samples I had brought. On January 28, 2000, they found fragments of human DNA in the samples; it was human blood containing human genetic code. In March 2000, I was informed that the famous Dr. Robert Lawrence, a forensic histopathologist and one of the leading experts on tissue, would also participate in this analysis. I was alarmed by Dr. Robert Lawrence’s participation because it would entail significant costs that I would have to bear, but I was told that they wanted his collaboration because they had found substances in the samples that resembled human tissue. Dr. Lawrence studied the samples and found human skin and white blood cells in them. In December 2000, Dr. Lawrence told me that he might be able to obtain additional DNA samples».
“In September 2003, I went again to Professor Robert Lawrence, who confirmed that, in light of the new investigations, it could be concluded that the sample might correspond to the tissue of an inflamed heart. The studies had therefore shown that these tissues were from an inflamed heart: this meant that the person they belonged to must have suffered greatly. To clarify our doubts, on March 2, 2004, we went to the leading expert in cardiac pathology and forensic cardiology, Professor Frederick Zugibe of New York’s Columbia University. However, the professor did not know that the sample I had brought him came from a consecrated host. ‘The sample you brought me,’ Professor Zugibe told me, ‘is heart muscle, myocardium; more precisely, it is the left ventricle,’ and he confirmed that my patient had suffered greatly. So I asked him: ‘Doctor, why did my patient suffer so much?’ He replied: ‘Because your patient has blood clots; at certain moments he could not breathe, he was not receiving oxygen, he struggled, and he suffered greatly because every breath was painful. He was probably struck in the chest. Furthermore, the heart showed dynamic (living) activity at the moment you brought me the sample.’ ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because we found intact white blood cells, and white blood cells are transported only by the blood. Therefore, if there are white blood cells here, it is because, when you brought me the sample, it was pulsating.’ The professor then asked whom the sample belonged to, and when we told him that it came from a consecrated host, he exclaimed: ‘I don’t believe it.’”
He was extremely impressed. The same professor showed us in a book the case of one of his patients who had the same lesions, similar to those in the sample we had brought him. The myocardium is the muscle that gives life to the entire heart and to our body. Quite rightly, a theologian pointed out to me that the fact that it was specifically the myocardium was not accidental, but concealed a symbolism. Through this miracle, the Lord wanted to show us his myocardium, the muscle that gives life to the entire heart, just as the Eucharist does for the Church. And why the left ventricle? Because purified blood flows from it, and Jesus is the one who purifies his Church from its sins. “Doctor,” Professor Zugibe continued, “when you brought me this sample, this heart was alive!” His report was sent on March 26, 2005, five and a half years after the studies began, and its conclusions were: “This is heart tissue; it is undergoing degenerative changes in the myocardium, and these changes are due to the fact that the cells are inflamed. It is the left ventricle of the heart.” On March 17, 2006, I presented the results to Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.”
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