Miracle of Lanciano

The miracle of Lanciano is officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a eucharistic miracle.

In the city of Lanciano, Italy, around 700, a Basilian monk and priest were assigned to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the small Church of St. Legontian. Celebrating in the Greek Rite and using leavened bread, that monk had doubts about the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist^{[citation needed]}.

During the Divine Liturgy, when he said the Words of Consecration (This is my body. This is my blood), with doubt in his soul, the priest saw the bread change into living flesh and the wine change into live blood, which coagulated into five globules, irregular and differing in shape and size (this number supposedly corresponds to the number of wounds Christ suffered on the cross: one in each hand and foot from the nails, and the wound from the centurion's spear).

Since 1574, various investigations of varying degrees of detail have been conducted upon the miracle.

• February 17, 1574 by Bishop Antonio Gaspar Rodríguez
• 1636 by Father Serafino from Scanno
• October 23, 1777 by Bishop Gervasone
• October 26, 1886 by Bishop Petrarca
• 1971, by Professor Odoardo Linoli^{[citation needed]}
• 1973, by a World Health Organization commission^{[citation needed]}

The first appears to consist of a weighing, in which each different globule though varying in size, all each weigh the same and always produced the same weight no matter what the amount of these globules was.^{[citation needed]} Thus all of them put together was the equivalent to any one of them or any three or any four all equaled the same weight no matter what combination.^{[citation needed]} Also an examination in 1971 conducted by Professor Doctor Odoardo Linoli which were confirmed by Dr. Bertelli.^{[citation needed]} The flesh was found to be human striated muscular tissue of the myocardium (the heart wall), type AB, and to be absolutely free of any agents used for preserving flesh.^{[citation needed]} The blood at Lanciano has divided into five irregularly shaped pellets. At scientific examinations conducted in 1971 these pellets were found to be human blood, type AB ("the universal receiver"), with proteins normally fractionated and present in the same percentage ratio as those in normal fresh blood.^{[citation needed]}

The examination^[1] in 1971 was performed by Professor Odoardo Linoli, Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy^{[citation needed]}, and Professor Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena. The report was published in Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori in 1973^[2][3].

The following conclusions were drawn by Odoardo Linoli:

• The flesh is real flesh and the blood is real blood
• The flesh and the blood belong to the human species^[4]
• The flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart
• In the flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium. The flesh is a heart complete in its essential structure.^[5]
• The flesh and the blood have the same blood type, AB
• In the blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of fresh normal blood^[6]
• In the blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium

In 1973, the Higher Council of the World Health Organization (WHO) appointed a scientific commission to verify his conclusions.(citation needed) This work was carried out over 15 months with a total of 500 examinations. The conclusions confirmed what had been stated and published in Italy.

The Basilian monks kept custody of the miraculous Flesh and Blood, until their departure in 1175. They were succeeded by Benedictine monks in 1176. The items were placed in different locations within the Church of St. Francis at Lanciano. They were kept in the Valsecca Chapel from 1636 until 1902 when they were relocated to a new altar.

The flesh and blood of the miracle can still be seen today. The flesh, which is the same size as the large Host used today in the Latin Church, is fibrous and light brown in color, and becomes rose-colored when lighted from the back. The blood consists of five coagulated globules and has an earthly color resembling the yellow of ochre.

Pictures and documents

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  Live photo

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  Rear-lighted panel (side)

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  Rear-lighted panel (front)

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  Scientific recognition (18 November 1970)

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  Scientific recognition (4 March 1971)

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  Document by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli

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  Related article in L'Osservatore Romano

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  Places with similar miracles

Notes

1. ^ "fullreport". http://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3a//www.negrisud.it/en/abruzzo/miracolo_eucaristico/tableofcontents.html. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
2. ^ "Physician Tells of Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano". http://www.zenit.org/article-12933?l=english. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
3. ^ Histological, immunological and biochemiccal studies on the flesh and blood of the eucharistic miracle of Lanciano (8th century)
4. ^ "research1". http://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3a//www.negrisud.it/en/abruzzo/miracolo_eucaristico/voiceofscience4.html#RTFToC19. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
5. ^ "research2". http://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3a//www.negrisud.it/en/abruzzo/miracolo_eucaristico/voiceofscience3.html. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
6. ^ "research3". http://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3a//www.negrisud.it/en/abruzzo/miracolo_eucaristico/voiceofscience4.html#RTFToC22. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 

Coordinates: 42°13′48″N 14°23′24″E / 42.23°N 14.39°E / 42.23; 14.39