Alcalá

In 1597, a penitent bandit who had been part of a band of Moorish gypsies brought stolen consecrated Hosts to confession at the Jesuit church of Alcalá. The confessor, fearing the Hosts might be poisoned (as had recently occurred to priests in Murcia and Segovia), decided not to consume them immediately but to keep the twenty-four Hosts in a silver box to observe whether they would decompose naturally. After eleven years, the Hosts were still perfectly intact. Father Luis de la Palma then placed them in a wine cellar alongside unconsecrated hosts—the unconsecrated hosts decomposed from humidity while the consecrated Hosts remained intact. Six years later, Father Palma made the miracle public, and various academic, medical, and theological authorities confirmed its authenticity.

Scientific analysis

Medical tests were conducted by Garcia Carrera from His Majesty's room. The Hosts were tested by placing them in a humid wine cellar with unconsecrated hosts—the unconsecrated hosts decomposed from humidity while the consecrated Hosts remained perfectly intact after 17 years total.

The Sacred Hosts were moved to the magisterial church when the Jesuits were expelled from Spain under Charles III. In 1936, when communist revolutionaries burned the church, priests carefully hid the miraculous Hosts before they themselves were murdered. The location remains unknown despite many surveys of the church and crypt.

Church recognition

Formal Church documentation has not been located for this event. This means we cannot verify its ecclesial recognition status. The absence of documentation neither confirms nor calls into question the event's authenticity — it simply means the formal record has not been found.

In 1619, ecclesiastical authorities officially authorized the veracity of the miracle. Numerous illustrious theologians came to identify this as a true miracle after academic and medical examination. However, no documentation of this approval appears in the Vatican's official magisterial documents or papal writings.

Recognition status cross-referenced using Magisterium AI, a third-party tool that searches a corpus of Catholic Church documents. This does not constitute official Church verification.

Sources & references

• 1
  Don Anselmo Raymundo Tornero

  city biographer

• 2
  The Real Presence Association, Inc.
• 3
  Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire