





Eucharistic Miracle of Mogoro, Italy, 1604
In Mogoro, on the Italian island of Sardinia, on the Monday after Easter 1604, Father Salvatore Spiga, pastor of the church of Saint Bernard, was celebrating Mass and after the consecration began distributing Communion to the faithful. At a certain point, he saw in the Communion line two men who were well-known for the dissolute lives they led. The pastor gave them Communion and as soon as they had taken the Host in their mouth, they spit them out on the stone floor below the altar rail. The two men justified themselves by saying that the Hosts had become as hot as burning embers, and that they were burning their tongues. Then, taken by remorse at not first having gone to Confession, they ran away. Father Salvatore went to gather the Sacred Hosts that had fallen and saw that their imprints remained in the stone as if they had been sculpted there. He ordered the stone to be thoroughly washed in the hope that the imprints would be erased. But every attempt failed miserably. Many historians, including Father Pietro Cossu and Father Casu, described the findings made by the bishop at that time, Antonio Surredo, and by his successors. Among the most important documents that confirm the miracle is a public act written by the notary Pedro Antonio Escano on 25 May 1686, in which the rector of Mogoro stipulates a contract for the construction of a wooden tabernacle over the main altar. At the base of the tabernacle, there was to be an opening for the “stone of the miracle,” which was to be enclosed in a decorative case and placed in such a way that the faithful could see it. The stone bears the imprint of the Hosts to this day. And to commemorate this event and in reparation for the sacrilege, there is a solemn Eucharist procession every year in Mogoro on the Sunday after Easter.