Poland · 21th Century
Legnica
On December 25, 2013 (Christmas Day), during Holy Mass at St. Hyacinth's Church (Kościół św. Jacka) in Legnica, Poland, a vicar accidentally dropped a consecrated Host while distributing Communion to an altar server. Following Church rubrics, it was placed in a water-filled container (vasculum) and stored in the tabernacle to dissolve.
About this miracle
About two weeks later, priests at the parish noticed the Host had not dissolved and a red stain measuring roughly 1.5 × 0.5 cm had appeared on its surface. Parish priest Father Andrzej Ziombra reported the finding to Bishop Stefan Cichy, who appointed an ecclesiastical commission on January 16, 2014 and commissioned scientific analysis on January 21.
The Department of Forensic Medicine at Wrocław Medical University, led by Prof. Tadeusz Dobosz, excluded bacterial contamination, fungal growth, and chemical causes — including Serratia marcescens, a bacterium that produces red pigment and has historically accounted for 'bleeding host' reports. The results were suggestive but inconclusive, finding structures most similar to heart tissue. A second opinion was sought from the Department of Forensic Medicine at Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, led by Prof. Mirosław Parafiniuk. The Szczecin analysis concluded that the sample contained cross-striated muscle fragments most similar to human heart muscle, with alterations that often appear during agony. Mitochondrial DNA sequencing indicated human origin. Prof. Parafiniuk noted the material was degraded and of microscopic size.
Dr. Barbara Engel, a cardiologist who served on the diocesan commission, stated at a press conference that UV microscopy with an orange filter identified the tissue as human myocardium, while noting that the blood on the Host itself had not been tested.
In January 2016, Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski (Cichy's successor) presented the findings to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. Acting on the Congregation's recommendations, the bishop issued a communiqué on April 10, 2016 (read in all diocesan churches on April 17) stating the Host 'bears the signs of a Eucharistic miracle' and instructing that a suitable place be prepared for veneration of the relic.