Beware of This Fake Eucharistic Miracle

There have been many well-documented Eucharistic miracles in the history of the Church and some are worthy of belief.

Others are questionable, such as an alleged miracle that took place at a Mass in Lourdes, France, in 1999. The event was captured on video camera. (Check the video clip below for images from the Mass.)

Two very large flat hosts are sitting on top of the paten. During the Epiclesis — the part of the Mass where the priest calls down the Holy Spirit and stretches his hands over the hosts — one host suddenly pops up and appears to float slightly above the paten.

If you watch the video (keep in mind this is1990s low-resolution footage), it does appear that the top host moves. So what’s going on?

Our friend Fr. Terry Donahue explained that sometimes, for very large hosts, the bread warps into a bowl shape in one direction or another. If you press them onto the paten, they’ll take its shape.

That’s what happened to the two hosts in the video. They were on top of each other and took the shape of the paten. During the epiclesis, the warp of the bottom one reversed. In other words, it popped up. The top host, curved in the opposite direction, sat on top of the highest point of the bottom host, like a right-side-up bowl stacked on an upside-down bowl.

In the video, you see the top host wobble just the way you would expect if it were supported by a small balance point.

When you observe the footage closely, you notice that nothing miraculous happened. Everything is consistent with the laws of physics.

Miracles are real, but that doesn’t mean we should automatically believe every claim. There’s a reason why the Church spends time investigating each one before deciding its legitimacy.

Fake miracles shouldn’t disturb our faith. Don’t forget, the greatest miracle of all happens at each Mass when the bread and wine change into Christ’s Body and Blood.