Fr. Scott A. Haynes
Near Betania, Venezuela, is an Augustinian monastery. In this church is preserved one of the world’s most wondrous miracles of the Eucharist. Catholics strongly believe that when a priest offers Mass, the bread and wine actually become Christ's own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. While this happens every time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered, Jesus usually veils the Eucharistic reality under the appearance of bread and wine.
But on December 8, 1991 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception), in Betania, Venezuela, a priest was offering the Holy Mass at midnight in the grotto there, when he noticed blood on the host that he had just consecrated. Then, he placed the Sacred Host in a chalice overnight and kept it in the Tabernacle. The next morning he was full of wonder as he beheld the Sacred Host still bleeding.
He showed the bleeding Host to the people who arrived for Mass that morning. He presented the Sacred Host to his Bishop, the Most Reverend Pio Bella Ricardo, and asked for guidance. His Excellency had the Sacred Host tested at a hospital in Caracas, and it was determined to be human blood.
The Bishop approved the authenticity of this miracle and rejoiced in the wonders Christ worked on the Altar that day. The Sacred Host is reverently kept reserved in the Chapel of the Augustinian Recollects, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in nearby Los Teques. Pilgrims come there to pray and ask for God's graces.
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