Italy’s “Miracles of Mercy”

Places where the physical world manifests the spiritual in miraculous ways

By ITV Staff

The entrance to the Church of San Francesco, which contains the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano.

Italy is famous for many spectacular sights – wonders of art, architecture, music, culture and cuisine – in addition to its wonders of nature – majestic mountain ranges, placid lakes, bucolic countrysides and sunny seashores.

The story goes that a monk who had been plagued by doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was saying Mass there one day.

It was to be a day like no other:

This time, when the monk pronounced the words of consecration, the host was miraculously changed into flesh and the wine into blood. The monk was awestruck. Weeping joyously, he regained his composure. He called the congregation around the altar and said, “O fortunate witnesses, to whom the Blessed God, to confound my unbelief, has wished to reveal Himself visible to our eyes! Come, brethren, and marvel at our God, so close to us. Behold the Flesh and Blood of our Most Beloved Christ.” Those who witnessed the miracle soon spread the news throughout the surrounding area. (Fr. William Saunders, Catholiceducation.org)

The famous relics of the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano dating from the early 700s.

In the 1970s, Pope Paul VI authorized scientific testing to be performed on samples of the flesh and blood in the centuries-old reliquary. The flesh was determined to be human heart muscle; the blood, human type AB. It contained no preservatives, yet after 13 centuries, it was fresh and whole.

That Eucharistic miracle remains visible and unchanged after 1300 years, now housed in a newer church, San Francesco, built over the site of the original Church of St. Longinus — the Saint of the Lance.

Another breathtaking sight, in the tiny Italian town of Manoppello, is the incredible, perhaps supernatural, portrait of a Man — some say He is the Man of Sorrows — which resides there in a small church. His face appears on a “canvas” made of byssus, a silk-like material woven from the beards of sea mussels — and the origin of the image is inexplicable in purely human terms.

There are no traces of paint or any other material on the delicate, centuries-old byssus, yet the image is unmistakable. Some say it must be the face of Christ, imprinted on the sudarium (one of the burial cloths used in ancient Judaism) at the time of his death and resurrection. Others suggest it may be the cloth of Veronica, impressed by the face of Christ when He was carrying His cross to Golgotha.

Even the cloth’s human origins are only known as far back as 1638, when, according to records, a local pharmacist donated it to the Capuchins at the church.

German Catholic journalist Paul Badde added new layers of possibly relevant information in his 2018 book on the veil, titled The Holy Veil of Manoppello: The Human Face of God; British writer Kevin Turley comments:

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of “Veronica's Veil” at the Sanctuary of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy, Sept. 1, 2006.

(CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters)

“The Holy Veil of Manoppello also tells of a Jewish Rabbi’s remarkable vision concerning the Veil; and of the unexpected announcement in 2011 from the Director of the Vatican Museums admitting that an ancient relic pertaining to the Holy Face had disappeared from Rome during the Lutheran sacking of the city in 1527. This disclosure set off a different line of inquiry for Badde regarding the Veil. The book asks if the Veil is the same cloth as that used by Veronica, the woman depicted in the Sixth Station of the Cross wiping the face of Christ. Badde tells of skeptical professors who become enthusiastic campaigners for the Veil’s authenticity, of the links between the Veil and ongoing research into the Shroud. Throughout, Badde conveys the drama and the mystery at the heart of the story he tells.”

On September 1, 2006, Pope Benedict knelt in prayer before the Veil of Manoppello — likely the first time, some say, that a Pope had beheld the Veil since St. Peter.

Six days later, at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict proclaimed, “We can truly say that God was given a human face, that of Jesus, and henceforth, if we really want to know God’s face, we have only to contemplate the face of Jesus!”

On the right, a painting illustrating the Miracle

(Galazka photos)

Join Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages for an unforgettable pilgrimage experience! Go to: InsideTheVaticanPilgrimages.com, email us at Pilgrimage@InsideTheVatican.com, or call us at +1.202.536.4555

Join Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages on its popular “Miracles of Mercy” pilgrimage to Italy April 14- 22, 2023, including these two true “Miracles of Mercy”: the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano and the Holy Face of Manoppello.

Visit the Church of the Three Fountains, built where St. Paul’s head is said to have bounced three times at his execution, causing springs of water to erupt at each of the three spots.

See the Grotto of Our Lady of Revelations, where Our Lady appeared to the bitter anti-Catholic, Bruno Cornacchiola, in 1947. Bruno experienced a reversion, returning to his Catholic faith and beginning a life of evangelization.

And experience Divine Mercy Sunday as you never have before, attending Mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica and then listening to the Pope’s words at his Sunday audience. This beautiful feast, instituted by Pope John Paul II, is another phenomenon of miraculous origin — the 20th-century apparitions of Jesus to the humble Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska.

You’ll also travel to Assisi, the town of St. Francis and St. Clare, where Francis heard the miraculous call of Jesus, “Come, rebuild My Church,” and set out to do just that, founding a new religious order and renewing the spirit of the universal Church along the way. Join this once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to visit Italy’s “Miracles of Mercy”!