Eucharistic Miracles: Lanciano and Other Cases

From the Middle Ages and the early modern period these are the most famous:

• Lanciano, Italy (8th century): host and wine become flesh and blood.
• Bolsena, Italy (1263): blood drips from a host onto the altar cloth. The cloth is kept in Orvieto Cathedral; a year later Pope Urban IV institutes the feast of Corpus Christi.
• Santarém, Portugal (13th century): a bleeding host, still venerated in the church of Santo Estêvão.
• Siena, Italy (1730): stolen hosts are recovered and remain incorrupt to this day.

There are also recent reports that have been investigated:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina (1996): a reddish substance on a host in the parish of Santa María.
• Tixtla, Mexico (2006): a host with a reddish liquid; recognised by the local bishop in 2013.
• Sokółka, Poland (2008): pathologists from Białystok described tissue resembling heart muscle.
• Legnica, Poland (2013): approved for veneration by the bishop in 2016.

The local bishop is responsible. He has the case investigated and may permit veneration. Eucharistic miracles belong to private revelation: Catholics may believe in them but are not obliged to. Faith in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist does not depend on them.

Lanciano is the earliest recorded event of its kind, and the relics survive and are accessible. With the study of 1970–71 there is also an analysis published in a professional journal. In recent years Eucharistic miracles became widely known through the online exhibition of Carlo Acutis, canonised in 2025.