Blessed Carlo Acutis had conceived and created a beautiful traveling exhibition on Eucharistic Miracles. This exhibition continues to travel throughout Italy and the world; all the Eucharistic miracles featured in the exhibition have been compiled in the book Eucharistic Miracles in the World, from which this text is taken.
Among the most authoritative documents describing the Eucharistic miracle that occurred in Gruaro (VE) in 1294 is the work of the local historian Antonio Nicoletti (1765).
A woman was washing one of the altar cloths from the church of San Giusto at the washhouse built along the Versiola canal.
Suddenly, she saw the linen tablecloth becoming stained with blood.
Looking more closely, he noticed that blood was coming from a consecrated host that had remained among the folds of the tablecloth.
The relic of this miracle is kept at the Church of the Most Holy Body of Christ in Valvasone (PN), but the marvel occurred in Gruaro. In 1294, a young housekeeper went to the washhouse of the Versiola canal to wash the altar cloth from the Church of San Giusto in Gruaro. Suddenly, the woman noticed that a consecrated host had accidentally remained among the folds of the cloth and that blood was flowing from it. Frightened by this inexplicable event, she immediately ran to inform the parish priest, who in turn informed the Bishop of Concordia (VE), Giacomo d’Ottonello da Cividale. After verifying the facts, the bishop asked to keep the miraculous cloth in his cathedral in Concordia. However, the parish priest of Gruaro and the family of the Counts of Valvasone, patrons of the churches of Gruaro and Valvasone, also wanted to keep the cloth. No agreement could be reached, so it was decided to appeal to the Holy See, which ultimately authorized the counts to preserve the relic of the miracle in Valvasone, on the condition that they build a church dedicated to the Most Holy Body of Christ. Construction of the church was completed in 1483.
Reliquary made by a goldsmith from Venice in 1755.
Reliquary.
The most authoritative and oldest document describing the miracle is a 1454 rescript by Pope Nicholas V. It was then that, by order of Pope Nicholas V, the title of the parish church of Valvasone, previously Santa Maria and Saint John the Evangelist, was changed to Church of the Most Holy Body of Christ (March 28, 1454). Today, the cloth is preserved in a crystal cylinder supported by a fine silver reliquary made by master goldsmith Antonio Calligari. The Feast of the Sacred Cloth is celebrated on the fifth Thursday of Lent, at the conclusion of the days of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with the participation of the priests and communities of the Valvasone deanery. During the Feast of Corpus Christi, the relic is carried in procession with the Blessed Sacrament.
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