Eucharistic Miracles Exhibited at Madison Church in Ohio

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

Eucharistic miracles through the ages exhibited in Madison church - The News-Herald Life : Breaking news coverage for Northern Ohio

By Janet Podolak

Those who visit Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Madison Thursday through June 9 will be able to see purported evidence of miracles from around the world that took place in conjunction with the Eucharist.

"The Eucharistic Miracles of the World" international exhibit, which has been approved by the Vatican and has visited many countries, has 140 panels that show miracles through the centuries.

All will be on display at the church, 2846 Hubbard Road, and available for viewing from 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 8 p.m. on the weekend.

The belief that the bread and wine taken at communion is the actual body and blood of Christ is central to being a Roman Catholic. Called transubstantiation by Catholics, it's the transformation that takes place on the altar when the priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to make the change.

In both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox church, communion is called the Eucharist and, once consecrated by a priest, the bread tangibly becomes the Host.

Protestant and other churches practicing communion tend to believe that the bread and wine are a spiritual symbolism of Christ's body and blood.

The Rev. John Hardon, a religious scholar who was raised in Cleveland, devoted much of his life to researching the Real Presence of the Lord in the sacrament.

"Scripture tells us that the night before Jesus died he gave his apostles the power to do what he did at the Last Supper — change bread and wine into himself," he wrote. "This is the Catholic faith: it is what Reality means."

Many of Hardon's findings and conclusions are found on the website reached after Googling "The Eucharistic Miracles of the World."

The Last Supper account in Matthew 26: 26-28 is what usually is cited: "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said ‘Take, eat: this is my body.' and he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

The Rev. Sean Donnelly, pastor at Immaculate Conception Catholic, recently has returned from a trip to shrines in Italy, including the Shroud of Turin, believed by many to have held the body of Jesus after he was crucified.

His group of 27 included seven members of his church — all Catholic except for two Anglicans. The group visited many other shrines in Italy, including the one in Sienna where the Eucharistic Miracle depicted in the exhibit took place.

As visitors to the exhibit walk among the placards explaining and illustrating the various miracles, each person will likely have a favorite. A map shows where each miracle took place, so those whose families originate in other countries can easily find miracles that may also be embodied in that country's lore.

Here are a few of them:

Amsterdam, Holland, 1345

In March 1345 in Amsterdam, a devoutly Catholic man who was very ill told his family he would like to receive Holy Viaticum. The priest administering the sacrament told the family that if the ill man threw up they were to empty the contents in the fire. The man threw up and his family did as they'd been told. The next morning as a woman raked the fire she noticed the Host in the middle of the grate. When she put her hand in to get it she found that the host was cold.

A neighbor took a clean cloth and placed the host on it, locked it in a box, and summoned a priest. The priest could not lift the host but took the cloth away to wash it. When he returned to put it back in the box the host was gone. The next day it was back again inside the locked box.

A procession was organized to carry the host to the church and the home of the sick man soon became a chapel. By 1360 pilgrims were traveling there. In a 1452 fire which burned most of the city, the Miraculous Host was spared. In 1456 a new church was built surrounding the Holy Room where the host was kept.

By the second half of the 16th century the city had fallen to Protestant rule. The chapel was torn down, and the Host was lost. To this day devotion to the Eucharistic Miracle takes place on March 12 at a church near the original site.

Sienna, Italy, in the 1700s

In the eighth century in the Church of St. Legontian, near Siena, Italy, the host was changed into live flesh and the wine into live blood, which coagulated into five globules. The host flesh is light brown and appears rose colored when lighted from the back. The blood has an earthy color resembling ochre. Various ecclesiastical investigations were conducted beginning in 1574. In 1971 a series of microscopic photographs documented that the flesh was muscular tissue of the human heart and the blood had proteins in he same proportion as fresh human blood. The flesh and blood had the same blood type: AB. That's the same blood type that was found in the Shroud of Turin.

Austria 1310

In 1310 in the Austrian village of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht during the consecration the wine turned into blood and began to boil and overflow the chalice. In 1480, the chronicler of that day wrote that after 170 years "the Sacred Blood was still fresh as though coming out of a wound." Today the blood is contained in the reliquary of the Monastery of St. Georgenberg.

Martinique, French West Indies 1902

On the Caribbean island of Martinique on May 8, 1902, the volcano Mount Pelee began to erupt lava and ashes, threatening the town of Morne-Rouge. The people rushed to the church and prayed for deliverance. The priest distributed Holy Communion and then exposed the Blessed Sacrament for public adoration. The people witnessed an apparition of Jesus in the host, and some said they saw the blood of Jesus dripping from his sacred heart. The vision lasted several hours and the village was spared. But the population had a chance to reconcile themselves with God so when the volcano erupted again on Aug. 30 and destroyed the town, they were able to die in a state of grace.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
2846 Hubbard Road
Madison, Ohio

Eucharistic Miracles of the World International

Exhibit: June 2 through June 9, 2010

Hours: 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays; 1 to 8 p.m. weekend

Information: 440-298-1219; 440 428-5164

Faith Healing Priest Draws Thousands

The following photograph and excerpt from Catholic Online is about Father Richard McAlear.  Fr. McAlear is gifted by God in helping those in need of healing.

The Finger of God for Healing: Faith Healing Priest Draws Thousands - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online

By Sonja Corbitt

One is inexorably drawn to the mysterious intensity of God's compassion and love in Fr. McAlear as his lips move in silent groanings and he cradles the stricken faces of those for whom he prays.  Shunning sensationalism or hysteria, he facilitates healing with a whisper, using very few, if any, words. "Once you really understand the pain in the people's hearts and the power of Christ to heal, there is nothing to say," says McAlear.

NASHVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - "The Spirit of God is on me. He anointed me to bring Good News to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted and to free the oppressed" (Is. 61:1).

Although he is often referred to affectionately as "the healing priest," it is a title that Father Richard McAlear shuns. A priest of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate Order, he is one of the few priests in the Catholic Church who call themselves faith healers.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal began in 1967 after a retreat held at Duquense University in Pittsburgh. The movement grew and gained recognition in the Church among the leadership and laity.

Fr. McAlear received permission from the Oblates, in accordance to Church guidelines, to enter full time charismatic ministry in 1975 after doing retreats and prayer services and witnessing the healing power of God through his prayers in the previous three years.

It began for Fr. McAlear in 1972 at a prayer meeting with a woman in attendance who was in severe back pain. An elderly Pentecostal revert to Catholicism approached Fr. McAlear and told him he needed to pray over the woman. The young priest had no idea what she meant. His only experience with "praying over people," was a Pentecostal televangelist he had once seen on TV whose healing theatrics included jumping up and down and ecstatic speaking.

Finally, after an awkward, pregnant silence, Fr. McAlear blessed her. And she was healed. Visibly. Publicly. Word spread quickly and, inundated with requests from the gravely ill, he made "healing ministry" his life's work, traveling the globe, celebrating Masses, and speaking at retreats and conferences.

Contemporary faith healing often provokes images of "Pentecostal faith healing" and other "charismatic" mumbo-jumbo, in which healing is said to be a visible sign and product of one's faith, and some evangelists in tent revivals or on TV sometimes defraud the desperately ill with staged "healings" in order to draw donations.

Rather than faith in what is NOT seen (2 Cor. 5:7) miraculous, visible healing can actually impede growing in faith when it is pursued in the wrong way, for its own sake or out of sensationalism: "Jesus therefore said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe'" (Jn. 4:48).

Despite that real danger, healing is a pillar of Christian dogma and has always been a part of the lived experience of the Church. Although corrupted by some who would attempt to make a dollar through what the Scriptures call "Balaam's error" (Jude 1:11), true faith healing, like exorcism, is sanctioned by the Church. It is to be done in the proper forum and in fidelity to the Church. The USCCB issued a statement in 1969 stating that the charismatic movement "has legitimate reasons of existence. It has a strong Biblical basis."

In the Scriptures, Jesus Christ is said to have cured the sick, sometimes with the laying on of hands. The gospels encourage priests to go out and anoint the sick with oil. St. Paul lists healing as a spiritual gift. Faith healing has been practiced quietly and faithfully by Catholic priests throughout her history. In fact, every Sacramental Annointing of the Sick is a Prayer for Healing, including the possibility of physical healing.

The Vatican has not only endorsed faith healing, but Pope Benedict actually called on those who have the gift of healing to share it in the Instruction on Prayers for Healing released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he offered guidance on administering the gift: "Anything resembling hysteria, artificiality, theatricality or sensationalism, above all on the part of those who are in charge of such gatherings, must not take place (Instruction on Prayers for Healing).

The Catechism speaks of healing: "In the sacraments Christ continues to 'touch' us in order to heal us" (CCC, 1504). "The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord" (CCC 1508).

In adherence and faithfulness to Catholic Tradition, Fr. McAlear is not the kind of healer for whom people jump from their wheelchairs and throw away their medicines or crutches, although there have been more than a few physical healings through the years. Rather than faith in his own faith, Fr. McAlear surrenders to God.

Shunning sensationalism or hysteria, he facilitates healing with a whisper, using very few, if any, words. "Once you really understand the pain in the people's hearts and the power of Christ to heal, there is nothing to say," says McAlear.

"The Catholic tradition tends to be more sacramental, very earthly and human, gentle, quiet.

We pray for healing in a quiet way. This is mostly inner healing for emotional burdens. And when people are healed of those, often physical stuff can go away, too.

"There is a fervor to this, a zeal that can be expressed in a different way. We have to separate style from substance," he told the New Orleans Clarion Herald in March of this year. It is this philosophy and the guidance of the Church that informs his healing Masses.

By all accounts, they are quiet and reverent, focused on the spiritual interior with a specific emphasis on reconciliation and forgiveness, and Eucharist-centered. They include Adoration and a blessing by Fr. McAlear, who speaks of healing as rooted in the spirit.

"It's what is going on inside - the inner pain, depression, sadness, grief, loss, loneliness," he explains. "A lot of times it's manifested in physical illness. The need is there to touch the heart and the inner spirit. That's where the healing Masses make their contribution," he says. "The spiritual need can only be touched spiritually. Then everything else follows. The hope is restored, the darkness is lifted."

Fr. McAlear does not support exclusive reliance on faith healing, however. He encourages the use of effective natural means for preserving and restoring health as well, saying "Do both," and quoting Sirach 38:

"The doctor eases pain and the druggist prepares his medicines; Thus God's creative work continues without cease in its efficacy on the surface of the earth. My son, when you are ill, delay not, but pray to God, who will heal you.Then give the doctor his place lest he leave; for you need him too" (1-15).

Fr. McAlear receives no fee for his visits and depends entirely on offerings for his travel expenses. Perhaps it is such demonstrations of love, more than any other evidence, that help prove he is a true finger of God in healing His broken, suffering humanity.