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 the Church of Sant’Ambrogio in Florence, the relics of two Eucharistic miracles that occurred in 1230 and 1595 are preserved.
In the miracle of 1230, a priest left some drops of consecrated wine in the chalice.
The following day, when he returned to celebrate Mass in the same church, he found drops of living, clotted and flesh-like blood inside the chalice. The blood was immediately collected in a crystal ampoule.
The other Eucharistic miracle occurred on Good Friday in 1595, when, after a furious fire broke out in the church, some consecrated hosts remained miraculously intact.
1230
The first miracle occurred on December 30, 1230. A priest named Uguccione, having finished Mass, did not notice that some drops of consecrated wine had remained in the chalice and had turned into blood. The historian Giovanni Villani gives an accurate description of the miracle: «The following day, taking the said chalice again, he found inside it living, clotted blood […] and this was witnessed by all the women of that monastery and by all the neighbors who were present, as well as by the Bishop and all the clergy; it was then made known to all the Florentines, who, with great devotion, gathered around it to see it, took the blood from the chalice, and placed it in a crystal ampoule, which is still shown to the people with great reverence.» Bishop Ardingo of Pavia ordered that the relic be taken to the bishopric, and after a few weeks returned it to the nuns of the monastery, who kept it in the Church of Sant’Ambrogio. In 1399, Pope Boniface IX granted the same indulgence as that of the Porziuncola to the faithful who visited the Church of Sant’Ambrogio and contributed to adorning the relic of the miracle. In 1980, the 750th anniversary of the prodigy was celebrated. The relic of the miracle (a few drops of blood measuring approximately one square centimeter) is preserved in a precious monstrance, placed inside a white marble tabernacle built by Mino da Fiesole.
1595
On Good Friday in 1595, a candle lit on the altar of the side chapel, known as the Sepulchre, fell to the ground and set it on fire. People immediately rushed to put out the flames, and the Blessed Sacrament and the chalice were saved. Amid the general commotion, six particles fell from the ciborium containing several consecrated hosts onto the glowing carpet. Despite the fire, they were found intact and joined together. In 1628, the archbishop of Florence, Marzio Medici, examined them, found them incorrupt, and had them placed in a precious reliquary.
Every year, during the Forty Hours’ Devotion held in May, the two relics are displayed together in a reliquary that also contains a consecrated host for public adoration.
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