The Eucharistic Miracle of Alcalá de Henares

MIRACOLI—panneauxespagne 12/05/06 14 : 11 Page 2 0 In the year 1597, a thief stole consecrated Hosts along with some precious objects from a church not far from Alcalå, Spain. A few days later, the thief returned full of profound remorse and went to confess his sins at the church of the Jesuits, The priest who heard his confession had him return the Hosts; however, for the sake of prudence, the priest asked him to transport the Eucharist in a silver box, without consuming the Sacred Species, After eleven years the Hosts were still perfectly intact and after careful analysis, both medical and theological, the act was declared miraculous. n 1597, a penitent bandit brought himself to confession at the Jesuit church of Alcalå.

He was said to have been part of a band of Moorish gypsies who, after being dispersed from the nearby mountains, had sacked numerous churches and stole monstrances and other sacred objects in different countries, committing many sacrilegious acts. The penitent brought with him some consecrated Hosts that he delivered to the confessor with many tears. The confessor, very moved, went immediately to his superior to inform him.

Initially it was agreed to consume the Hosts during a Mass, but later, fearing that the Hosts could be poisoned as had recently been done to some priests in Murcia and Segovia, it was decided to keep the Hosts in a box made of silver and to allow them to decompose naturally. Eleven years later the twenty-four Hosts were found still intact. The mystic Father Luis de la with some unconsecrated hosts.

A few months later, the unconsecrated hosts had decomposed from the humidity, while the consecrated Hosts remained intact. Six years later Father Palma decided to make public the miracle of the Hosts that were still intact. New academic and medical tests from the doctor of His Maje- sty, Garcia Carrera, as well as numerous illu- strious theologians, all of whom identified this as a true miracle.

IL (60 ecclesiastical authorities offcially authorized the veracity of the Miracle. The Holy Hosts were publicly adored before King Phillip III, who in 1620 presided over a solemn procession in which the whole royal family par- ticipated. When Charles III expelled the Jesuits nist revolutionists burned the church, the priests carefully hid the miraculous Hosts prior to being murdered.

However, still today the hiding place of the Hosts has not been found. There have been many surveys in the church and in the crypt, but to no avail. Nobody until today had published any news of the twenty-four Sacred Hosts. "God has made a new miracle!" exclaimed the wise bio- grapher of the city, Don Anselmo Raymundo Tornero, who has transmitted this story to us meticulously in his work.