Eucharistic Miracle ofLA ROCHELLEFRANCE, 1461

The Eucharistic miracle of La Rochelle concerns the instantaneous cure of a boy,paralyzed and mute since theage of seven, when he receivedHoly Communion at Mass onEaster Sunday in 1461. Hewas completely healed of hisparalysis and was once againable to speak. The mostauthoritative document thatvisually describes this miracleis the painted-manuscript preserved still today in theCathedral of La Rochelle.

NEUVY SAINT SÉPULCREFRANCE, 1257

The Most Precious Blood of Jesus

There are two drops of Blood from our Lord, Jesus Christ, collected onCalvary during the Passion,preserved in the church of Neuvy-Saint-Sépulcre inIndre. They were brought toFrance in 1257 by CardinalEudes returning from theHoly Land.

uring Easter of 1461, Mrs. JehanLeclerc brought her twelve year old son, Bertrand, to the Church of St.

Bartholomew. Bertrand had been paralyzed andmute since the age of seven due to a terrible fall.When the time for Holy Communion arrived, heindicated to his mother that he also wanted toreceive Jesus in the Eucharist. Initially the priestdid not want to give the young manCommunion, because the boy was not able to goto Confession given his muteness. The youngman, however, continued to beseech the priest forCommunion and, in the end, the priest did permit him to receive the Blessed Sacrament.From the first moment that Bertrand received theHost, he began to feel shaken by a mysteriousforce. He was able to move and to speak. He wascured. According to the hand-written document,immediately after the miraculous eventBertrand’s first words were, “Adjutorium nostrumin nomine Domini!” (“Our help is in the nameof the Lord!”) The most authoritative documentthat visually describes this miracle is the paintedmanuscript preserved to this day in the Cathedralof La Rochelle.

his relic of the coagulated Blood isknown to be pure, because the PreciousBlood was not mixed with water or

earth. From the year 1257, the relic had beenkept in this church which was built in the firsthalf of the year 1000 and modeled on the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In order tohonor the holy relic of the Most Precious Bloodof Jesus, numerous indulgences have been granted. The Archbishop of Bruges, AndréFrémiot, founded the Confraternity of the MostPrecious Blood in the year 1621. Two years later,Pope Gregory XV granted new indulgences to thefaithful devoted to the Sacred Blood. EachMonday of Easter and every first day of July, a Solemn Mass is celebrated and there are processions to adore and honor the Sacred Relic.There have been many graces attributed to invok-ing the Sacred Blood of Neuvy-Saint-Sépulcre.

DLa Rochelle

Black and white copy of one ofthe pages of the manuscript thattells the story of the miracle

The exterior of the church wherethe miraculous cure occurred

Reliquary of the Precious Blood

Interior of the Basilica

Interior of the Basilica of St. Stephen,Neuvy Saint-Sepulchre, built in1049 where the reliquary of theSacred Blood of Christ is kept

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

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