The Eucharistic Miracle of Betania

On December 8 of 1991, Father Otty Ossa Aristizåbal was celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Shrine of Betania in Cåa and during the consecration, saw the Host bleeding. The mi- raculous Host is preserved in the city of Los Teques, at the con- vent of the Augustinian Recol- lects Nuns of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where It is permanently exposed for the adoration of the faithful and It is visited every year by numerous pilgrims coming also from abroad. Many prodigious events have taken place, connected to the Host of the Miracle, among the one which stands out that occurred to a young American who filmed the miraculous Host pul- sating like a heart, while It was exposed to the faithful.

his Eucharistic Miracle occurred during the midnight Mass of Decem- ber 8, 1991, at the Marian Shrine of Finca Betania in Cåa, Venezuela. Father Otty, Chaplain of the Shrine, thus descri- bes the event: "After having consumed one of the pieces of the large Host which I had divided into 4 parts, I returned them to the paten. A little later I looked down towards the paten and I could not believe what I saw: one of the pieces of the Host that I divided was showing a red spot and from It a red substance began to emanate, similar to the manner in which blood escapes from a wound.

After Mass, I took the Host and preserved It safely in the sacristy of the Shrine. The next day, at 6 in the morning, I went to see the Host and verified that some blood continued to flow that a little later began to dry. However, still today, the blood appears as fresh.

The strange thing is that the blood flowed only from one side of the Parti- cle, nevertheless, without staining the remainder new Tabernacle located of the Eucharistic species". During the Mass there were numerous pilgrims who immediately verified that the priest did not have wounds from which the blood present in the Host could have flowed. Besides, from the analyses, the result con- cluded that the blood of the priest did not match the one of the Particle.

The Host of the Miracle was subjected to some special studies, requested by the then Bishop of Los T eques, H. E. Most Reverend Pio Bello Ricardo, and the results con- firmed that the blood was human blood of type AB positive which matches the one found in the cloth of the Shroud of Turin and in the Host of the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, that occur- red in Italy in 750 AD and was analyzed by 500 commissions of the World Health Organization.

Since then the Host has been an object of venera- tion and of devotion on the part of thousands of pilgrims coming not only from Venezuela but from the whole world. It is possible to go to the convent of the Augustinian Recollects Nuns of Sanford, having gone on a pilgrimage to the Convent of the Augustinians to see the bleeding Host, was able to film another miraculous episo- de. Here is the story: "On the 12th of November of 1998 1 went on pilgrimage to Betania with a prayer group and they took us to see the miracu- Ious Host of Betania in the Chapel of the Augu- stinian Sisters of Los T eques.

Our spiritual direc- tor, Father Mazzarella, celebrated the Mass. After the celebration ended he opened the door of the Tabernacle which contained the Host of the Mi- racle. With great astonishment I saw that the Host was as if in flames, and there was a Pulsa- ting Heart that was bleeding in Its center.

I saw this for about 30 seconds or so, then the Host re- turned to normal. I was able to film a part of this miracle with my video camera...".