Eucharistic miracle: The miraculous hosts of Siena

In the Basilica of San Francesco in Siena, Italy, 223 consecrated hosts have remained miraculously fresh and intact for nearly 300 years.

The miracle happened on Aug. 14, 1730. Thieves infiltrated the basilica and stole the tabernacle containing 351 consecrated hosts. Three days later, all 351 hosts appeared in the alms box of the sanctuary of St. Mary of Provenzano, where they had been taken. The holy hosts were carried back in procession to the Basilica of San Francisco. They were then dusted and venerated in reparation.

Over the years, the hosts showed no sign of corruption or decay. On Apr. 14, 1780, the Superior General of the Franciscan Order, Father Carlo Vipera, consumed one of the hosts and found that it was fresh and uncorrupted. As some of them had been distributed in previous years, the Superior ordered the remaining 230 to be saved, enshrined, and never distributed.

Hoping to further test the inexplicable phenomenon, in 1789 the Archbishop of Siena, D. Tibério Borghese, kept some unconsecrated hosts in a box under similar conditions of the consecrated hosts. After ten years, a committee of scientists specially chosen to study the case opened the box and found only worms and rotted fragments. Meanwhile, the consecrated hosts have maintained their integrity, against all physical and biological laws.

Perhaps the most impressive verification took place in 1914, when Pope St. Pius X authorized a test that involved experts in food science, hygiene, chemistry, and pharmaceuticals. The scientists concluded that the hosts were not prepared in any special way and had been stored in common conditions of humidity and light, which should have caused them to deteriorate naturally. However, they were in good condition and quite consumable, 184 years after their recovery. In 1922, 1950, and 1951, new analyses were undertaken, all with the same result. During a pastoral visit to the city of Siena on Sept. 14, 1980, Pope St. John Paul II said of the sacred hosts: “It’s the Presence.”

Citizens of Siena continue to perform numerous acts in honor of the Holy Communion hosts. Among them, the homage of the Contradas, and the gifts offered by children making their First Communion, the solemn procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi, and Eucharistic adoration on the 17th of each month, in memory of the recovery that took place on Aug. 17, 1730.

Editor’s note: This month we begin to observe the three-year observation of Eucharistic Revival by featuring stories of confirmed Eucharistic miracles around the world.