Eucharistic Miracle - Poznan, Poland - 1399

Eucharistic Miracle
Poznan, Poland - 1399 

Poznon, Poland lies on the river Warta, about 200 miles west of Warsaw.  The earliest surviving references to the city were found in the chronicles of Thietmar of Merseburg which was written between 1012 and 1018.  

Eucharistic Miracle 

The Church of the Holy Heart of Jesus and Mother of God the Comforter located at Szewski 18 16-760, Poznan  is one of the oldest churches in the city.  It dates back to 1244, when the village of St. Gotthard founded a monastery for the Dominicans.  It is in this church where the Eucharistic Miracle we discuss today originated.  

In 1399 several people who had a great dislike for the Catholic Church offered a young girl money if she would steal Hosts from the Dominican Church for them to desecrate. The girl was enticed by the money and did as requested.  

The people took the Hosts to their home, and in their basement they pierced the Hosts with a pointed instrument. Immediately the Hosts began to bleed.  Frightened, the perpetrators decided to throw the desecrated Hosts into a marsh by the Warta River.

A shepherd tending his flock noticed that Three Hosts were illuminated and suspended over the marsh in the air. It took awhile, but he finally convinced Bishop Wojciech Jastrzebiec to go to the marsh to witness this Miracle.  

The Bishop held a paten out for the Hosts, and the Hosts descended onto the paten.  The bishop placed them in a pyx.   Those that had gathered at the site of the Miracle proceeded in Eucharistic procession behind the Bishop to the church of St. Mary Magdalene.  

St. Mary Magdalene Church is now called St. Stanislaus Church and located at Golebia 1 61-799, Poznan. 

By 1400, a papal bull was issued approving the Miracle. In 1406, King Wladyslaw Jagiello of Poland, who had been making pilgrimages to venerated the Hosts at St. Mary Magdalene Church, granted the foundation of the new church  to be built at the site of the marsh where the Miracle took place.  He asked that it be dedicated to the Body of Christ.

Construction of this church took a long time because of the difficult conditions made by the marsh of the Warta River.  By the 15th century the church had become one of the most important sanctuaries in Poland.    

This church, the Corpus Christi Church is located at Strzelecka 40 61-846, Poznan.  After 1935 the Three Miraculous Hosts were moved to a new monstrance decorated with the Crown of Queen Jadwiga. This new monstrance is now used during the main Corpus Christi procession in Poznan.  

Today, over 600 years later, the Miraculous Hosts may still be venerated in the Corpus Christi Church in Poznan every Thursday when a procession with the Blessed Sacrament takes place. 

We do not have to go all the way to Poland to witness a Eucharistic Miracle.  Our Lord comes to us every time we are blessed to receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity at Mass during the Eucharist.  Happy are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb. 

For devotional items related to the Catholic faith, please visit Lynn's Timeless Treasures.  

Index of Eucharistic Miracles. 

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Picture of the outside of Corpus Domini Church Poznan, Poland - Photo by Aleksandra Warczynska from Provincial Public Library and the Center for Animation of Culture in Poznan

Picture of the Church of the Holy Heart of Jesus and Mother of God the Comforter - Photo by Marcin Radomski from Provincial Public Library and the Center for Animation for Culture in Poznan

Picture of the Church of St. Stanislaus from Poznan tourism site. 

Picture of the outside of Corpus Domini Church Poznan, Poland - Photo by Aleksandra Warczynska from Provincial Public Library and the Center for Animation of Culture in Poznan

Picture of the Monstrance that contains the Three Miraculous Hosts from Catholic Tradition