FLORENCEITALY, 1230-1595

The reliquaries of twoEucharistic miracles whichtook place in 1230 and 1595are held in Florence’s Churchof Saint Ambrose. In the miracleof 1230, a distracted priest leftseveral drops of consecratedwine in the chalice after Mass.The next day, returning tocelebrate Mass in the samechurch, he found in the chalice drops of living Bloodcoagulated and incarnated.The Blood was immediatelyplaced in a crystal cruet. The other Eucharistic miracletook place on Good Friday in1595, when several fragmentsof the Host were miraculouslyunharmed in a church fire.

Reliquary of the Hosts thatsurvived the fire

Interior of the Basilica of Saint Ambrose

Reliquary of the drops of wine transformed into living Blood

Fresco in the basilica depictingthe first miracle that took placein 1230, showing the priestUguccione carrying the Blood in procession

Basilica of Saint Ambrose, Florence

© 2006, Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire / Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association

Details of the tabernacle wherethe reliquaries of the twoEucharistic miracles are stored

Precious tabernacle, done byMino da Fiesole, where the reliquaries of the two miraclesare kept

Eucharistic Miracle of

he first miracle took place on December 30,1230. A priest named Uguccione, havingfinished celebrating Mass, did not realize

that several drops of consecrated wine remainedin the chalice and had turned into blood. The historian, Giovanni Villani, gives a precisedescription: “A day later, taking up the chalice, hefound living blood coagulated […] and this wasshown to all the women of the monastery and toall the locals who were present, to the bishop, andto all the clergy. And then the Precious Blood wasrevealed to all the Florentines, who gathered withgreat devotion to see. He took the Precious Bloodfrom the chalice and put the Sacred Species in acrystal cruet and again showed the people, withgreat reverence.” Bishop Ardingo of Pavia orderedthat the reliquary be brought to him. He kept thePrecious Blood for several weeks before returning

the miraculous Blood to the sisters of themonastery for safe-keeping near the Church ofSaint Ambrose. Pope Boniface IX, in 1399,granted the same indulgence as the Portiunculato those faithful who visited the Church ofSaint Ambrose, and contributed to adorningthe reliquary of the miracle. The 750th anniver-sary of the miracle was celebrated in 1980. Therelic of the coagulated Blood (several drops ofBlood that measure about a square centimeter)is conserved in a reliquary which has been placed inside a white marble tabernacleconstructed by Mimo da Fiesole.

On Good Friday in 1595,a lit candle on the altar of a side chapel calledthe Sepulchre, fell to the ground and started afire. The people immediately rushed to put out

the fire and succeeded in saving the BlessedSacrament and chalice. In the great commotion,six fragments of consecrated Hosts fell from thepyx onto the smoldering carpet, but despite thefire these were found intact and joined together.In 1628, Archbishop Marzio Medici of Florenceexamined the fragments of the Hosts, which hefound to be incorrupt. He had the Sacred Speciesplaced in a precious reliquary. Every May duringthe Forty Hours devotion, the two reliquaries areexposed together in a reliquary that also containsa consecrated Host for public adoration.

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