The Guardian Angel: The Eucharistic miracle of Augsburg 1194
The Eucharistic miracle of Augsburg, is known locally as Wunderbarlichen Gutes – “The Miraculous Good”. It is described in numerous books and historical documents that can be consulted in the civic state library of Augsburg.
A stolen Host was transformed into bleeding Flesh. In the course of the centuries, several analyses were completed of the Holy Particle that have always confirmed that human Flesh and Blood are present. Today the Convent of the Heileg Kreuz (Holy Cross) is taken care of by the Dominican Fathers.
In 1194, a woman from Augsburg who was particularly devoted to the Most Holy Sacrament, received Holy communion. After communion, without being noticed, she put the Host in a handkerchief, took the Blessed Sacrament home and placed the Eucharistic Species in a container of wax inside a cupboard.
In those days it was very difficult to find tabernacles in the church so as to be able to practice Eucharistic worship. Only in 1264, with the introduction of the Feast of Corpus Domini (Corpus Christi) did such devotion become commonplace.
Five years passed and on the 11th of May 1199, the woman, tormented by remorse, confessed to the superior of the convent of the Heilig Kreuz, Father Berthold, who had her bring the Host back. The priest opened up the wax covering that enclosed the Host and saw that the Holy Eucharist had been transformed into bleeding Flesh.
The Host appeared “divided into two Parts connected together by the thin threads of the bleeding Flesh.” Father Berthold went immediately to the bishop of the city of Udalskalk who ordered that the Miraculous Host be “transferred, accompanied by the clergy and by the people into the cathedral and exhibited in an ostensorium of crystal for public worship.”
The miracle continued: the Host began to grow and to swell up and this phenomenon lasted before the eyes of all from Easter Sunday until the Feast of St. John the Baptist. Following this, Bishop Udalskalk had the Host brought back near the convent of the Heilig Kreuz and proclamed that “in memory of such a memorable and extraordinary event,” there should be a special commemoration each year in honor of the holy relic.
In 1200, Count Rechber donated to the Augustinian Fathers a rectangular chest of silver with an opening in the front for the placement of the Host of the miracle. Besides the Eucharistic miracle, other extraordinary incidences took place, such as the apparition of the Host with Baby Jesus dressed in white with radiant face and His forehead encircled with a crown of gold, or in another case the bleeding of the crucifix of the church, or the apparition of Jesus blessing the assembly of worshippers.
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths."
(2 Tim 4:1-4)
ST. LEO I, THE GREAT (Alt)
"When the Lord says: 'Unless you shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and shall have drunk His blood, you shall not have life in you,' you ought to so communicate at the Sacred Table that you have no doubt whatever of the truth of the Body and the Blood of Christ. For that which is taken in the mouth is what is believed in faith; and in do those respond, 'Amen,' who argue against that which is received."
