The Catholic Defender: The Angel of Portugal Eucharistic Miracle

In the spring of 1916, Lucia and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, were tending their sheepand had just finished their shortened version of the Rosary.

A figure approached them through the sky coming from the east — a trans­parent, luminous figure of a youth of perhaps fourteen or fifteen years.

The children were amazed and overwhelmed by what Lucia would describe as the “supernatural atmosphere” that penetrated and surrounded them. As she recounts in her memoir, the angel spoke to them words of reassurance and authority:

“Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.”

In Autumn 1916, The Angel of Portugal appeared to the seers for the third time while they tended their sheep. He was holding a chalice in his left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which drops of Blood fell from the host into the Chalice.

Leaving the Chalice and the Host suspended in the air, he prostrated himself down on the ground beside the children and made them repeat three times this prayer:

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences with which He, Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg you for the conversion of poor sinners.”

Then, rising, the Angel took the Chalice and Host, and he gave Lucia the Eucharistic Host in communion. Then he gave the Precious Blood from the Chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, and he said: "Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."

Once again, prostrating himself on the ground he repeated with the children three times the same prayer:

Most Holy Trinity… and disappeared. The Angel shows us that the simplest yet most impactful thing we can do for the conversion of others is to go and offer the Mass for them. Let us seek to go often, and to offer our intentions with the offering of Christ.

The miracle reminds us that God cannot be limited in his generosity and how he can be present in our midst, even in the most difficult circumstances. Similar to how the resurrected Jesus appeared to his apostles when they locked themselves in a room, Jesus came to these children even though they did not have access to the sacraments.