Italy · 12th Century
Ferrara
On Easter Sunday, March 28, 1171, in the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, an extraordinary Eucharistic miracle occurred in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Vado (St. Mary in Vado). This ancient church had been built over a site where, according to tradition, the Apostle Paul had preached. The basilica was served by a community of canons regular who maintained a life of prayer and liturgical worship.
About this miracle
Father Pietro da Verona (Peter of Verona), who served as the prior of the basilica, was celebrating the Easter Sunday Mass. He was assisted by three brother priests: Bono, Leonardo, and Aimone. The church was crowded with faithful who had come to celebrate the Church's most important feast - the Resurrection of Christ. The Mass proceeded normally through the Liturgy of the Word and the preparation of the gifts.
When Father Pietro reached the most sacred moment of the Mass - the consecration - and spoke the words of Christ over the bread, "This is My Body," the Host became truly the Body of Christ as it does at every valid Mass. But then, as Father Pietro reached the moment of breaking the consecrated Host (the fraction rite), something visible and astounding occurred. Blood suddenly gushed forth from the Host with such force that it spurted upward, striking the vaulted ceiling of the small crypt chapel above the altar. Droplets of the Precious Blood spattered across the ceiling and dripped down the walls.
Historical accounts describe the "holy fear of the celebrant and the immense wonder of the people who crowded the tiny church." Father Pietro and his three concelebrating priests stood frozen in awe. The congregation witnessed the miracle with their own eyes - the Host bleeding profusely and the blood visibly striking the ceiling. There was no natural explanation for what they were seeing. The reality of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, which faith teaches is always present though invisible, had been made manifest to their senses.
The miracle was immediately investigated by Church authorities, and the evidence was compelling to those present - the ceiling of the crypt bore the stains of the miraculous blood, and the testimony of Father Pietro and the three other priests, along with the numerous lay witnesses, was consistent and credible. The miracle was officially recognized, and the site became an immediate object of pilgrimage and veneration.