Holy Ghost Recon: The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano

Bruh, send up the IR "Buzzsaw" and bring in the team... we got some action here.

A Doubt-Filled Priest

As men and women of faith, we all encounter doubt in different ways and at different times. Each day, I find myself wrestling with something—whether it’s a complex dogma of the Catholic Church or as simple and profound a truth as believing that God is love.

Imagine yourself as a Catholic priest, doubting whether what you believe is real. That was the situation of a Basilian monk in the year 750 in the monastery of Lanciano, Italy. While celebrating Mass, he was grappling with doubt over whether Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Whether it is truly his flesh, as he had been taught, and professes to his congregation. Whether Transubstantiation was true, or a myth. Thought he doubted, he continued in his duties as a priest and a monk for his congregation.

One day, as he was celebrating mass in his usual way, readings, chants, prayers, something happened that left he and his congregation stunned. At the moment of consecration — the words “This is my Body… This is my Blood” — the host (the consecrated bread) visibly changed into real flesh. Laying it down hardly believing his eyes, he looked into the chalice, and saw that the wine had become real blood, congealed into 5 drops.

Soon after, the Archbishop conducted an investigation, and concluded that it was a miracle, going beyond all logical explanation. Incredibly, the body and blood are still preserved today, allowing for modern science to take a crack at disproving this miracle later down the road.

The bread (above) and wine (below) after it had turned into real, tangible Flesh and Blood, still preserved today.

Evidence Collected: Flesh and Blood

in 1971, a professor of anatomy conducted a scientific analysis of the miracle. he found the flesh and blood was of human origin. The flesh was unequivocally striated tissue from the heart, specifically the left ventricle, and the blood was fresh, and was type AB (Same type as other Eucharistic Miracles, and the Shroud of Turin). The blood also contained no preservatives, yet it hasn't decomposed since they 8th century; over 1200 years prior.

What Jesus Says, Is.

We shouldn't be surprised that God sends us miracles like the one we saw in Lanciano. We are a tough crowd, and are easily swayed away from the teachings of our Lord. He literally told us two things in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6 22-59; This is really my flesh and blood, and some people will not be able to handle it.

In verse 35, Jesus sets the stage by telling his disciples "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."

... Ok, he says he is the "bread of life", I'm tracking... let's continue.

In verse 51, Jesus hits them with the truth bomb:  ^"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

.... Ok, so I think he just said that we need to eat the bread of life, which is His flesh. But he cant mean that we really need to eat his flesh right?

Yeah, he doubles down in verse 52, saying "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

... Wow, ok, he actually may literally mean his flesh and blood... literally. No, that can't be, its gotta be another metaphor!

Nope, he Triples Down in verse 53! Jesus says "For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”

... Ok, so at that point, we see that "many of his disciples" say "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" and they popped smoke and stopped following Jesus, so at THIS point, he has to say "ok team, let's all relax, its just a figure of speech.

WRONG! He turned to his people and asked “Will you also go away?” and Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

At times, being a faithful Catholic can feel incredibly difficult. Even in Scripture, we see people who witnessed Jesus’ miracles with their own eyes struggle to believe when He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. In our modern, largely secular world, where the very ideas of sacrifice and true worship feel foreign, such teachings can be unsettling. These lessons are hard because we are a doubting species, torn between the reality of an all-loving God and the fear that we are little more than matter hurtling toward darkness with each passing breath.

That is precisely why God continues to give us signs—like the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, Italy—to strengthen our faith and draw us deeper into belief. Consider this extraordinary “reconnaissance report” from history: in the year 750, before the eyes of a doubting priest, the bread on the altar became real flesh, and the wine became real blood. What was God saying to His Church then? And what is He still saying to us now?

-MRF