The Eucharistic miracle of St. Gregory the Great

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘚𝘵. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩.

The Catholic Church teaches that after the consecration takes place at Mass, the Eucharistic host substantially changes into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. This means that while the appearances of bread and wine remain, the substance is changed (through the power of God) completely to the body and blood of Christ.

It is a great mystery of the Church, but on occasion, God lifts the veil and allows even the external appearances to change!

Such was the case in a story the Golden Legend told of St. Gregory the Great.

According to the story, St. Gregory was about to give communion to a woman who baked the bread used at Mass. The woman surprisingly started to laugh, because she thought it was ridiculous to think that the bread she made was the body of Jesus.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 [𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵] 𝘵𝘰 [𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦] 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 … 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 [𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰] 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, [𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥] 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 … 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥: 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵.

𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩.

This story is similar to many other Eucharistic miracles, where the faith of a person, or even a priest, was failing, and they were given a sign of the Real Presence of Jesus in the host.

God allows miracle such as this to enliven the faith of all and to reinforce the reality that he truly is present in the host at Mass, body, blood, soul and divnity.

Source: Fear Not