Category: Saints, Mystics and the Eucharist

Alexandrina remained paralyzed at age 21 from a dramatic incident in which she fled from the threat of violence. She did not permit herself to be overcome by sadness and by loneliness, but thought: “Jesus, You are a prisoner in the tabernacle as I am here on my bed, so that we can keep company”. Following the physical sufferings from the paralysis, mystical sufferings were added: for four years, every Friday she saw the sorrows of the Passion, and after this period, for
another 13 years until her death she was nourished only by the Eucharist. Her life became a continuous prayer for the conversion of sinners.

The conversion of the atheist writer Andre Frossard, in the presence of the Holy Eucharist, has had great repercussions in the world. He himself recounted how his conversion came about in his book, God Exists. I Have Met Him (1969). Up to his final years, up to his final days, he would only say: “Since the time when I encountered God, I have never succeeded in growing tired of the mystery of God. Every day is something new for me. And if God exists, I should speak of it; if Christ is the Son of God, I should proclaim it loudly; if there is Life Eternal, I should preach it.”

Anne Catherine Emmerich was forced to abandon the monastery in which she lived because it was being appropriated by the government. In that period, her health declined and the mystical experiences increased: she received the stigmata and had numerous visions. One of these allowed the finding of the house
of Our Lady in Ephesus. In fact, according to antique traditions, it seems that Mary settled, together with John the Apostle, in this city. The miraculous aspect of the life of Anne Catherine is that for years she fed only on the Eucharist.

Saint Francis nurtured a particular affection for lambs, to whom Jesus Christ is often paralleled in Sacred Scripture, most especially for His gentle nature.