Eucharistic miracle of Legnica

The Eucharistic miracle of Legnica is an Eucharistic miracle that took place on December 25th, 2013. A red substance appeared on a consecrated Host that was in a dish with water.

Event

In 2013, on Christmas day, around 8:45AM, a vicar administering communion to an altar server accidentally dropped a consecrated Host on the floor. The Host, was quickly picked up from the floor and was placed in a dish with hot tap water. After two weeks, priest Tadeusz Kisiński noticed that the Host partially dissolved and a red discoloration sized roughly 1.5x0.5cm appeared on it.^[1][2] Parish priest Andrzej Ziombra informed Stefan Cichy of the event. On 16th January, 2014, a committee was appointed to study the event. 2 days later, the committee arrived in Sokółka, where a similar miracle phenomenon took place.^[1] On 21st January, the Diocese of Legnica commissioned a scientific investigation of the material, where the results of the study supposedly ruled out bacterial and mycological contamination.^[1] In the same year, a piece of the miraculous Host was subjected to scientific analysis. The report of the analysis concluded that the analysed substance is cardiac muscle tissue and that the DNA found on the Host is human.^[3][4][5]

Further studies were commissioned on 25th of June, 2015, where the presence of human tissue was said to be confirmed on 9th of December, 2015.^[1]

Scientific analysis

Initially, the Host underwent analysis in Wrocław where the results revealed that they had doubts about what could have conclusively determined the red colour, and their analysis was inconclusive. Consequently, the matter was then performed by the Forensic Medicine Establishment in Szczecin (pl. Zakład Medycyny Sądowej w Szczecinie) where it was reported the "fibers were very similar to heart muscle, but also that what surrounded them was connective tissue". The situation bore striking resemblance to the previous incident in October 2008 that occurred at St. Anthony's Church in Sokółka.^[6]

It was revealed that the images were hard to identify and the material was very difficult to study, but the histological images taken from Wrocław showed fibrous structures that resembled cardiac muscles according to Dr. Barbara Engel, and further tests were necessary. Moreover at Wrocław, no DNA was found on the host and they also identified mycelium and fungal growth. The later Szczecin confirmed in their observations of the same slides that the red substance is heart muscle tissue. One of the methods used to determine that the substance is heart muscle tissue was observation under a UV microscope with an orange filter.^[7] According to Bóg przemówił w Legnicy a Catholic devotional publication, Mitochondrial sequencing revealed that the DNA found is human.^[1]

In the opinion of the Forensic Medicine Establishment in Szczecin:

The histopathological image revealed tissue fragments containing fragmented parts of striated muscle. [...] The overall image [...] is most similar to cardiac muscle [...] with changes that "often accompany agony." Genetic testing indicates that the tissue is of human origin.^[8]

Skeptical scientists have argued that the red substance may not be human tissue, but Serratia marcescens. It is a species of very common bacteria that has the ability to grow on bread and produce a red pigment. Microbiological testing was claimed to have only found the presence of normal environmental bacteria.^[1] However, the bacterium is also indicated as the most probable explanation for the miracles in Sokółka and Legnica according to Martyna Franczuk, a biotechnologist from the Medical University of Gdańsk:

The blood bacillus is ubiquitous, occurring in human environments. It often thrives on starchy foods, such as those made from flour. It prefers moist and cool places,^[6]

The hosts used in liturgy are made of flour and water. If they fall to the ground, and are placed in a container of water, these are ideal conditions for the growth of bacteria, producing a red pigment that closely resembles blood. She also noted that it is possible Serratia marcescens cannot produce red pigment in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, making them invisible.^[6] Franczuk had additionally said:

I find it hard to believe that an experienced histopathologist could confuse Serratia marcescens bacteria cells with very distinctive human cells, which are also much larger.^[6]

She had asked the Legnica Curia for detailed information about the research carried out, but was still waiting for a response.^[9] In 2016, there was an interview featuring Tadeusz Dobosz (biolog) who was involved in the original Wrocław assessment. He claimed to have personally performed the genetic testing himself that found no human DNA, and Dobosz reiterated that they observed fungal hyphae and mycelium alongside unidentifiable autolyzed fibers.^[10]

Impact

Fr. Andrzej Ziombra, parish priest of Church of Saint Hyacinth in Legnica, said that the miraculous event led to many conversions. He said that people from all over the world now make pilgrimages to Legnica because of the miracle. He also said that a man from his community, who he said was hostile to the Church for his whole life, and even fought against it, was converted in an unexplained extraordinary way, radically changed his attitude towards the Church and God and went to his first Holy Confession and Holy Communion after 50 years.^[11]

Anna Królikowska a sociologist, included the events of Sokółka and Legnica as examples of institutionalized "miracular sensitivity" in contemporary Poland. Królikowska argues the Catholic Church uses these narratives of supernatural signs and intervention to reinforce its media and cultural presence, in an increasingly secularized society.^[12]