The pastor serving the town of Stich was sick. He couldn’t offer Mass for the people, so a visiting Swiss priest assisted him and offered Mass at 8 PM on Tuesday, June 9, 1970.
But something unusual happened after the Consecration. The priest noticed a red spot on the corporal next to the chalice, a spot that grew to the size of a coin.
At the elevation of the chalice, another spot appeared in the place where the chalice had stood. The priest ensured that the chalice was not leaking, and after Mass, he examined the corporal and the cloths underneath it. No cause could be found for the appearance of the spots.
The stained cloths were sent to the Polyclinical Institute of the University of Zurich for analysis. The examiners, who had been told nothing of the origin of the stains, concluded that the stains were caused by human blood, and according to the letter written to the priests informing them of the results:
…the director of the clinical laboratory said that in his considered judgment the blood was most certainly that of a man in agony.
Five weeks later, at 8 o’clock in the evening on Tuesday, July 14th, the Swiss priest was scheduled to celebrate another Mass in Stich. He carefully examined the altar stone, the altar cloths, the corporal and the chalice prior to Mass and made sure they were completely clean and undamaged. Shortly after the Consecration, the red spots appeared again on the corporal. The priest invited the congregation to inspect the stains after Mass, and they later testified to what they saw. The cloths were again sent for analysis, this time to the District Hospital of Cercee, and again, the scientists concluded that they were caused by human blood.
The 60s and 70s were a time of tremendous upheaval in the world, and in Germany, the Iron Curtain had divided the country in two since the end of World War II. At such times it is easy for us to sideline our faith and allow the events of the world to take priority in our minds. But on two nights, in an insignificant town in a place far from the newspaper headlines, Our Lord sent a miraculous reminder that—no matter how tumultuous the world becomes—He is the center of everything and His Presence is real.
Read more about the events of Stich and other awe-inspiring Eucharistic miracles in Joan Carroll Cruz’s Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints. You’ll hear wondrous stories of Hosts that bled, flood waters that parted to preserve the Blessed Sacrament, a Host suspended shining in the air after being stolen by thieves. Through these testimonies you will be reminded that Our Lord is with us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, just as He said. Your own faith in this precious Sacrament will be deepened, renewed, and strengthened. Pick up your copy here.
