The Body and Blood of the Lord.
The miracle is visible to pilgrims in Santarem, Portugal, and looks the same as it did in 1247.
Catholics believe that the bread and wine at Mass are trans-formed into Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity. It is a mystery known as "transubstantiation," which means that while the appearances of bread and wine remain, the under-lying substance is changed (through the power of God) completely to the body and blood of Christ. It is a teaching based on scripture and tradition and has remained unchanged in its essence since apostolic times.
However, the Church recognizes that on rare occasions both the substance and the appearance is changed into Jesus’ body and blood. These are identified as "Eucharistic miracles," and testify to the words Jesus gave to his disciples at the Last Supper ("This is my body").
One such miracle occurred in Santarem, Portugal, in 1247, when a young woman, jealous of her husband, went to a sorceress in hopes of making a love potion. The sorceress instructed the young woman to obtain a consecrated host from a Catholic Church. The young woman followed the instructions and hid the host in a linen cloth.
Shortly after she enclosed the host in the cloth, it began to bleed. She was frightened by what she saw and quickly shut the host in a drawer in her bedroom. At night, brilliant rays of light came from the drawer and she was forced to tell her husband everything.
The next day she brought the miraculous host to the parish priest, who enshrined the bleeding host in a reliquary.
It has remained there in Santarem ever since, and canonical investigations were undertaken in 1340 and 1612. On both occasions the miracle was found to be authentic.
Over the centuries the host will appear like fresh bloody tissue, or dry up and harden. According to those who have seen it, the host remains irregularly shaped and has veins that run from top to bottom. The fact that the host has remained intact all of these years is a "second miracle," and continues to baffle skeptics.
It is a sign for all of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharistic host and has reinvigorated the faith of many Catholics around the world
Philip Kosloski , Aleteia, Jun 20, 2019
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"One Holy Communion is enough to make you a saint if you receive it with all the love of which you are capable" St Alphonsus Ligouri (1696-1787)
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