Category: Poland

At the beginning of January of 2009 the Curia of Białystok asked two eminent specialists in pathologoical anatomy of the Medical University of Białystok – Professor Maria Elzbieta Sobaniec-Łotowska and Professor Stanisław Sulkowski, to analyze the samples of the bloodstained Host. On Janaury 7 – Professor Sobaniec-Łotowska went to Sokółka and took from the corporal a minuscule sample of the mysterious substance present in the Host.

In 1290, due to the invasion of the Lithuanians, a priest from the village of Glotowo, buried in a field a silver ciborium plated in gold with a consecrated Host still in it which he missed by mistake. The Lithuanian’s troops destroyed the village and the church. None of the survivors knew about the hidden Host. Only a number of years later, while plowing the field in the spring, a farmer found it by chance, thanks to the strange behavior of his oxen. They had bowed to the ground in adoration of the Host which was emanating a very bright light.

In the city of Poznan, in 1399, three consecrated Hosts were robbed by some desecrators who struck them with some hole-punchers in order to deface it. The Hosts began to drip blood and every attempt to destroy them proved futile. At that point, the malefactors, in order not to be discovered, decided to cast them into a marsh. But the particles were suspended in the air and began to radiate strong flashes of light.
Only after fervent prayers did the bishop succeed in recovering the particles, which can be venerated today at the Church of Corpus Christi in Poznan.

In St. Hyacinth’s church in Legnica, during Holy Mass, on December 25, 2013, a Host accidentally fell on the ground, during the distribution of Communion. It was immediately placed in a container with water and closed in the tabernacle as required by code of Canon Law. A few days later, a red spot appeared on Its surface. The Bishop of Legnica at the time, Stefan Cichy, decided to establish a commission for a scientific analysis. The results were surprising, and confirmed that It had similarities to “human heart muscle with alterations that often appear during the agony”.

On October 12, 2008, at the church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Sokółka, the Holy Mass of 8:30 AM is celebrated by a young vicar, Filip Zdrodowski. During Communion, unknowingly the Host falls from the
ands of one of the priests. A woman kneeling, ready to receive the Eucharist, makes him notice it. The priest remains paralyzed from fright and believing it was dirty, places it in the vasculum, a small silver vessel which contains the water utilized by priests to wash their fingers after distributing Communion. At the end of the Holy Mass, the sacristan, Sister Julia Dubowska, takes the vasculum with the Host and for increased safety pours it into another vessel which she then locks in the safe where the chalices were kept.

The fact that the Legnica miracle happened in a church dedicated to St. Hyacinth (1185-1257) is significant. St Hyacinth was a Dominican saint who was devoted to the Eucharist and who also experienced a Eucharist Miracle. When the fierce Mongolian troops had reached the outskirts of Kiev, St. Hyacinth took the ciborium containing the consecrated Hosts and was taking them to safety. He arrived at the back of the church and heard a voice coming from the Madonna statue near the altar calling him, “Hyacinth, Hyacinth. I see you’re rescuing my Son, but you will not want to leave His mother in the hands of the desecrating barbarians?” He apologised saying it was impossible for him to lift such a heavy weight, but Our Lady replied: “If you had a little more faith and love for me, it would be easy for you to carry this burden.” “I do not want anything but to love you and trust in you,” said St. Hyacinth. Immediately the statue became as light as a feather and St. Hyacinth, accompanied by his fellow friars, miraculously crossed the wide river Dnieper and went unnoticed amid the Mongolian troops.

“At first I was convinced that it was a blood clot” – said Professor Sobaniec-Łotowska. But the truth was much more surprising! The two scientists of Białystok, who for their own independent investigations, made use of the most modern optical microscopes and the transmission electronic microscope, have reached the same conclusion (Professor Sulkowski, did not know that the sample which he was examining came from a Host): the sample examined was neither a clot, nor blood … it was a human cardiac muscle tissue still alive. And, something even more incredible, it was a cardiac muscle with typical indications of the final phase that precedes death.