- Joined
- Jul 1, 2004
- Messages
- 508
This site - http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html - has a number of odd stories about "Eucharistic Miracles" - that is, miracles in which consecrated wine and bread manifested the properties of actual flesh and blood. I'm curious to see what people here think of this stuff.
One in particular (http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html) caught my attention. According to this site, some consecrated bread became the flesh of a human heart - and has remained so, perfectly preserved, for centuries. The article claims that in this case, as in "all other" such cases, the blood is type AB. (My initial thought was that Jesus ought to be a universal donor, type O.)
Anyway, despite the photos of specimen slides and all that, which seems scientifically convincing on the surface, the fact is the consecration and miracle supposedly took place in the 8th century, and has been studied officially by the Church since 1574 (why the huge gap?). In other words, we may be able to study what's there now, but we have to trust the reports of its origins - that it started out as ordinary bread.
Some of these stories may have come up on other threads here, but my search didn't turn up a thread devoted specifically to this type of miracle. In some ways, it seems related to the topic of "incorruptibles," saints whose bodies fail to decompose, a topic which has been covered by FT and in these threads.
Any thoughts one way or the other? Hopefully this thread will draw more than just mockery... although I should show my hand and admit that I'm very doubtful about all this stuff, though I am a Christian (Episcopalian) with a high view of the Sacraments, but I don't believe in transubstantiation. If I turn up any other sources of info about any of these reputed miracles, I'll post more links.
[edited to fix a slight code problem]
One in particular (http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html) caught my attention. According to this site, some consecrated bread became the flesh of a human heart - and has remained so, perfectly preserved, for centuries. The article claims that in this case, as in "all other" such cases, the blood is type AB. (My initial thought was that Jesus ought to be a universal donor, type O.)
Anyway, despite the photos of specimen slides and all that, which seems scientifically convincing on the surface, the fact is the consecration and miracle supposedly took place in the 8th century, and has been studied officially by the Church since 1574 (why the huge gap?). In other words, we may be able to study what's there now, but we have to trust the reports of its origins - that it started out as ordinary bread.
Some of these stories may have come up on other threads here, but my search didn't turn up a thread devoted specifically to this type of miracle. In some ways, it seems related to the topic of "incorruptibles," saints whose bodies fail to decompose, a topic which has been covered by FT and in these threads.
Any thoughts one way or the other? Hopefully this thread will draw more than just mockery... although I should show my hand and admit that I'm very doubtful about all this stuff, though I am a Christian (Episcopalian) with a high view of the Sacraments, but I don't believe in transubstantiation. If I turn up any other sources of info about any of these reputed miracles, I'll post more links.
[edited to fix a slight code problem]