Betania

During midnight Mass on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1991, at the Marian Shrine of Finca Betania near Cúa, Venezuela, Father Otty Ossa Aristizábal was celebrating the Eucharist. After dividing a large Host into four pieces and consuming some, he returned the remaining pieces to the paten. Upon looking down, he observed that one piece had developed a red spot from which a red substance began to emanate.

About this miracle

The blood flowed from one side of the Host particle without staining the remaining Eucharistic species on the paten. Multiple pilgrims present at the Mass witnessed the phenomenon and confirmed the priest had no visible wounds. Father Otty's own blood was later tested and did not match the blood on the Host.

Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo of Los Teques convened a special commission to investigate and ordered scientific testing. Laboratory analysis in Caracas confirmed the substance was human blood of type AB positive—matching the blood type reported for the Shroud of Turin and the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano.

The Eucharistic miracle occurred at Betania, a site already recognized by the Church for Marian apparitions. María Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini (1928-2004) had reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary there beginning in 1976, and Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo issued a decree in 1987 recognizing them as authentic—one of the few Marian apparitions to receive formal Church approval. The Eucharistic miracle deepened the site's significance as a center of both Marian and Eucharistic devotion.

The miraculous Host is permanently preserved and exposed for veneration at the convent of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Los Teques, Venezuela.

Scientific analysis

A Host was subjected to special studies requested by Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo. The results identified the substance as human blood of type AB positive. This blood type has also been reported for the Shroud of Turin and the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano (Italy, circa 750).

Church recognition

This miracle has local Church veneration, pilgrimage sites, or chapels, but no formal diocesan investigation or decree has been documented.

Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo of Los Teques, Venezuela, conducted an official Church investigation and in 1987 issued a decree approving the Marian apparitions at Betania as authentic and of supernatural origin. However, the Holy See has not issued any magisterial decree, Nihil obstat, or other formal recognition specifically of the Eucharistic miracle aspect. No papal or dicasterial pronouncement declaring the Eucharistic phenomenon to be of supernatural origin appears in available Vatican documents.

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
  Carlo Acutis Exhibition - Betania, Venezuela

  Official Carlo Acutis exhibition page

• 2
  Real Presence Association - Eucharistic Miracle of Betania, Venezuela

  PDF documentation with scientific analysis details

• 3
  St. Patrick Church - Betania, Venezuela Eucharistic Miracle

  Comprehensive account with scientific testing information

• 4
  The Catholic Travel Guide - Los Teques, Venezuela: Eucharistic Miracle

  Current location and pilgrimage information

• 5
  Aleteia - This Eucharistic host was filmed bleeding and pulsating like a heart on fire

  Video documentation and scientific analysis, AB+ blood type matching Shroud of Turin