| Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano | |
|---|---|
 Reliquary displaying the relics of the Eucharistic miracle ofLanciano | |
| Information | |
| Type | Eucharistic miracle |
| Date | 8th century |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Location | |
| Country | Italy |
| City | Lanciano |
| Preserved in | Church of St. Francis in Lanciano |
TheMiracle of Lanciano is aEucharistic miracle said to have occurred in the eighth century in the city ofLanciano,Italy. According totradition, aBasilianmonk who had doubts about thereal presence of Christ in the Eucharist found, when he said the words of consecration at Mass, that the bread and wine changed into flesh and blood. TheCatholic Church officially recognizes this miracle as authentic.[1] Numerous analyses have been performed on the relic and the historical tradition.
The incident is similar to the tradition known as theMass of Saint Gregory, first recorded in the 8th century byPaul the Deacon. The Miracle of Lanciano, together with theEucharistic miracle of Santarém, inPortugal, is considered among the most important of these miracles.[2] TheNational Catholic Register called it "perhaps the most famous and well-known" of the Eucharistic miracles.[3]
There have been numerous analyses of the miracle claim. Scientific analysis has confirmed the relics kept in Lanciano are heart tissue,[4] though skeptics criticize the historic reliability of the tradition.[5]
The first known reports of the event date to 1574 and do not specify the exact year in which it would have occurred, but some believe that certain historical circumstances allow it to be placed chronologically eight centuries earlier, between 730 and 750. The Byzantine emperorLeo III the Isaurian, who reigned from 717 to 741, implemented a strict policy against religious images by promulgating an edict in 730 ordering their destruction. Mosaics and frescoes were destroyed with hammers, icons were thrown into the fire and several Greek monks were killed. As a consequence, many religious people, including numerous Basilian monks, took refuge in Italy.[6][7]
The miracle is described as follows: In the city ofLanciano,Italy, then known as Anxanum, some time in the 700s, a Basilianhieromonk was assigned to celebrate Mass at the monastery ofSt. Longinus. Celebrating in theRoman Rite and using unleavened bread, the monk had doubts about the Catholic doctrine of the real presence. During the Mass, when he said theWords of Consecration ("This is my body. This is my blood"), the priest saw the bread change into living flesh and the wine change into blood, which coagulated into fiveglobules, of different shapes and sizes.[8]
Since there are no contemporary sources, the details and not even the name of the protagonist of the events are known; however, some sources give the idea that he must have been a priest of theByzantine rite and aBasilian monk.[9]
The Basilian monks purportedly kept custody of theEucharistic elements until their departure in 1175. They were succeeded by Benedictine monks in 1176.[10] The items were placed in different locations within theChurch of St. Francis in Lanciano. They were kept in the Valsecca Chapel from 1636 until 1902 when they were relocated to a new altar.[11][12]
As of 2012, therelics of this miracle are kept in theChurch of St. Francis in Lanciano. In 2004,Pope John Paul II recalled visiting the relics there while a cardinal.[13] They are displayed in a silver and glass reliquary made in Naples in 1713.
Thehost matter consists of a rounded membrane, yellow-brown in colour, with a shading of greater intensity, and contains a large central hole; it is identified with the flesh. Thewine matter comes in the form of five earthy brown lumps of different shapes and sizes, claimed to be the coagulated blood. Over the centuries the relics were examined several times. During the first reconnaissance, carried out in 1574 by Archbishop Gaspare Rodriguez, it was said that the weight of each blood clot was equal to the total weight of the five clots. This supernatural claim had a theological meaning: Each drop of the consecrated wine contained in its entirety the complete and indivisible substance of the blood of Jesus.[14]
Archbishop Gaspare Rodriguez investigated the relics in 1574, weighing the blood clots.[14]
In November 1970, at the request of the Archbishop of Lanciano, Pacifico Maria Luigi Perantoni, and the Provincial Superior of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual of the Abruzzo region, Bruno Luciani, theFranciscan friars of Lanciano, who guarded the relics, decided, with the authorization of theVatican, to have them subjected to medical-scientific analysis. The task was performed by Odoardo Linoli, head of the laboratory of clinical analysis and pathological anatomy of the hospital ofArezzo—full professor of anatomy,histology, chemistry, andclinical microscopy—and Ruggero Bertelli, professor of anatomy at theUniversity of Siena. The histological and microchemical studies revealed that the relics were humanheart muscle tissue.[15][4][16]
In the 2000s, some sources reported that in 1973 theWorld Health Organization (WHO) had appointed a scientific commission to study the Lanciano relic,[17] and in 1976 they published a report confirming the scientific inexplicability of the relic.[18] Cardiologist Franco Serafini investigated this supposed report, finding a copy possessed by clerics in Lanciano. He found it to be a fraud that combined some relevant details about the Lanciano miracle with unrelated material about Egyptian mummies.[19]
Silvano Fuso, a member of theItalian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences, criticized the authenticity of the miracle claim by emphasizing there are no sources older than 1574 for an event of the eighth century.[5]
In 1973, the Higher Council of the World Health Organization (WHO) appointed a scientific commission to verify the Italian doctor's conclusions...The extract of the scientific research of WHO's medical commission was published in New York and Geneva in 1976, confirming science's inability to explain the phenomenon.
Media related toEucharistic miracle of Lanciano at Wikimedia Commons42°13′48″N14°23′24″E / 42.23000°N 14.39000°E /42.23000; 14.39000
