Silla

On March 25, 1907—the Feast of the Annunciation and Holy Monday of Holy Week—Father Fernando Gómez, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Silla, a town near Valencia, Spain, prepared to celebrate Mass. As he approached the tabernacle to retrieve the consecrated Hosts for distribution of Holy Communion, he discovered the tabernacle door already open and the precious silver ciborium containing the Sacred Hosts missing. The theft shocked the parish community, and an extensive search was launched throughout the town.

About this miracle

Two days later, on Holy Wednesday (March 27, 1907), workers discovered the stolen Hosts hidden under a stone in a small garden located in an orange grove outside the city limits. The Hosts were found "in perfect state of conservation," remarkably undamaged despite their exposure to the elements. Father Gómez organized a solemn procession to return the recovered Hosts to the church, where they were placed in a special reliquary for veneration.

The truly miraculous aspect of this event emerged over the subsequent decades: the Hosts remained perfectly preserved without any signs of natural deterioration. By 1930, twenty-three years after the theft, the Hosts still appeared unchanged. During the violent Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), when widespread anticlerical persecution swept through the Valencia region, the miraculous Hosts were hidden "in a street door hole" to protect them from desecration. Despite these three years of concealment in less-than-ideal conditions, the Hosts continued to show no signs of corruption.

After the war ended, Church authorities reinvestigated the case. In 1930, an initial diocesan investigation had already recognized the "incorruptibility" of the Hosts. Then, on the basis of expert, documentary, and testimonial evidence, Archbishop Miguel Roca Cabanellas of Valencia signed a decree in 1983 declaring the sacred Hosts authentic and in good condition, officially authorizing their liturgical veneration according to Canon 898.

Today, the miraculous Hosts are preserved and displayed in the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Silla in a special monstrance called "el taroncheret" (the little orange tree), crafted from jewels and precious materials donated by local families. The monstrance's design—shaped like an orange tree—pays homage to the orange grove where the Hosts were miraculously discovered.