Saint Clare Driving Away the Saracens, Isidoro Arredondo, ca. 1693
Recently, someone asked me when I had first learned about Eucharistic miracles. I must admit, I cannot name a specific time or place, but I certainly heard stories about these miraculous events growing up, especially in my own Sacramental preparation. The person who asked this question is older, wiser, and has been a Catholic for far longer than I, and yet had only recently learned about Eucharistic miracles. “Why don’t they teach this in school?” was his question. I responded that they do, or, at least, I think they do. Do teachers teach about Eucharistic miracles? They should.
WHAT IS A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE?
The term “Eucharistic miracle” refers to extraordinary signs of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. Reading some of the stories, they truly are miraculous- from bleeding hosts and wine that turns to blood to processions with the Blessed Sacrament that stop tsunamis and fires, not to mention apparitions of the Child Jesus in place of the Blessed Sacrament, the stories are extraordinary, wonderful, incredible, and real. The Church recognizes over 100 verified Eucharistic miracles, some of which you may be familiar with. Throughout history, these miraculous events have brought before our human eyes the Church doctrine of Transubstantiation, the teaching that, at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, bread and wine become the actual body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
“By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).” – CCC 1413
Faithful Catholics who are in a state of grace, that is, those who are free from mortal sin (CCC 1857) by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, are invited to receive the Holy Eucharist each time we attend Mass. (CCC 1415)
THE MIRACLE OF THE MASS
At every Mass, people around the world are invited to partake in a Eucharistic miracle, the bread and wine becoming the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, which we then consume. When many of Christ’s followers rejected this teaching, Jesus did not offer another explanation. The Gospel of John tells us:
“As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
– John 6:66
As Jesus himself instructed, at every Catholic Mass, the priest raises the host and says, “Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is my body, which will be given up for you.” Then he lifts the cup and says, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.” Sharing the stories of Eucharistic miracles can strengthen our faith and help us be more present to the Eucharistic miracle that occurs at every Mass.
BELIEF IN TRANSUBSTANTIATION TODAY
In a now famous 2019 PEW study, it was found that just one-third of U.S. Catholics believe the Church’s teaching on Transubstantiation, with the other two-thirds, 69% to be exact, stating they believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” (PEW Research)
More recently, the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame partnered with CARA at Georgetown University to engage in a more comprehensive survey related to, “the belief of adult U.S. Catholics around the doctrines of Eucharistic presence”. (The Theological Foundations of Eucharistic Beliefs: A New National Survey of Adult Catholics) This survey found that forty-nine percent of adult Catholics correctly believe that the Church teaches, “Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine”, while fifty-one percent incorrectly believe the Church teaches, “Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper, meaning that Jesus is only symbolically present in the consecrated bread and wine.”
The results of these and similar surveys prompted the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to launch a Eucharistic Revival, which began on Corpus Christi Sunday in 2022, “with the goal of rekindling a living faith in the hearts of Catholics across America”. (USCCB website)
As teachers, we partner with parents to kindle this living faith in the hearts of our students. Sharing the stories of and teaching about Eucharistic miracles can help deepen our student’s love and admiration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, thus deepening their devotion during Mass and inspiring them to seek a more personal relationship with God, present in the Eucharist.
TEACHING ABOUT EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES
One of my favorite projects to assign my fifth graders was to have them choose a Eucaristic miracle to read about and present on. At the time, we used a website that was created to document Eucharistic miracles by a boy in Italy named Carlo Acutis. He was not a Saint, Blessed, or even Venerable at the time, although that would all come. I remember well my students asking me if the stories were true, and I think some of them were genuinely shocked at my response- yes, of course!
With my first and second graders, we enjoyed sharing stories about Eucharistic miracles on the feast days of particular saints or on the anniversary of the miracle itself. Having my students listen to and retell these beautiful stories of faith helped make the teaching of Transubstantiation come alive. Oftentimes, I would ask my students to share the story with their family for homework or send home discussion questions to invite families to discuss the miraculous stories together. I also enjoyed pondering with my students the impact these stories have had on my life, in particular how they have deepened my own faith when receiving Holy Communion. Saint Carlo Acutis said,
“La mia autostrada verso il Cielo”
“The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven.”
Sharing Eucharistic Miracles with our students is another way we can remind each other that every time we receive Holy Communion we come closer to the goal of sanctity.
IN CONCLUSION
In The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools, Archbishop J. Michael Miller distills the Church’s teachings on Catholic education, where he lists and explains the 5 essential marks of all good Catholic schools. The first mark is that Catholic schools must be, “Inspired by a Supernatural Vision”. Catholic education is a process that forms the whole child for Heaven, fixing their eyes, hearts, and minds on, “…what is above, not of what is on earth.” as St. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians (Col. 3:2). This is our calling as teachers, but it is not an easy one.
C.S. Lewis gives light to the temptations and struggles of humanity in his novel The Screwtape Letters, in which a senior demon named Screwtape corresponds with his nephew, Wormwood, regarding how best to be a successful demon and lead humanity away from God. In chapter 1, Screwtape writes to his nephew, instructing him:
“By the very act of arguing, you (Wormwood) awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favour, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let him ask what he means by “real”.”
“Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let him ask what he means by “real”.” Gravity, atoms, the very air we breathe; some of the greatest realities of this world are those that cannot be seen. Does that make them any less real? How even more true this is for our faith. Sharing the stories of Eucharistic miracles can help open our minds and hearts to the invisible reality around us; universal issues, as C.S. Lewis said, like truth, virtue, and eternal life, all of which, even though unseen, are very much a part of reality. Let us not be like doubting St. Thomas, who had to see to believe.
Whether you decide to have your students study Eucharistic miracles or read about them together as a class, sharing these true stories with our students can help us all come to better believe in and love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, setting our minds and hearts on what is above and our feet on the path to sanctity. We are blessed to accompany these young minds on their journey, to run the great race alongside them. May God bless you in your desire to bring the truth of these miracles to your students.
RESOURCES ON EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES
On Sunday, September 7, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square, Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager known as “God’s influencer,” was canonized as the first millennial saint in the Catholic Church by Pope Leo XIV. Saint Carlo Acutis is known for his devotion to the Eucharist and for creating a website to document Eucharistic miracles. This is a free, fantastic resource in sharing the stories of verified Eucharistic miracles. Books about Eucharistic miracles are listed below.
BOOKS ABOUT EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES FOR STUDENTS
- Eucharistic Saints: Twenty Stories of Devotion to Jesus by Meredith Hinds
- Heavenly Hosts: Eucharistic Miracles for Kids by Kathryn Griffin
- The Treasure of Saint Tarcisius: Hero of the Eucharist by Caroline McDonald
- Stories of the Blessed Sacrament by Francine Bay
- Stories of the Eucharist: A Family Treasury of Saints and Seekers by Heidi Hess Saxton
BOOKS ABOUT EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES FOR ADULTS
- A Cardiologist Examines Jesus: The Stunning Science Behind Eucharistic Miracles by Franco Serafini
- Eucharistic Miracles: And Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints by Joan Carroll Cruz
- The Eucharistic Miracles of the World: Catalogue of the Vatican International Exhibition by Raffaello Martinelli
St. Carlo Acutis, pray for us!