Eucharistic Miracle of Offida

The Story

Offida, a walled town in Italy's Marche region, preserves in the church of Sant'Agostino the relics of a Eucharistic miracle that tradition dates to 1273 — an event that began in Lanciano, some distance to the south, but has been venerated at Offida for more than seven centuries. According to the traditional account, a young wife of Lanciano named Ricciarella Stasio, distressed by her troubled marriage, followed the advice of a sorceress: she received Holy Communion but kept the Host, intending to reduce it over a fire and use it as a charm. Instead of burning, the account relates, the Host took on the appearance of living flesh and blood flowed from it, terrifying the woman, who wrapped it up and hid it away. Years later, burdened by remorse, Ricciarella confessed what she had done to an Augustinian prior who was a native of Offida. Tradition holds that the Host, the tile on which it had lain and the bloodstained cloth were found preserved, and the friar brought them to his home town, where they were received with great devotion. A precious cross-shaped reliquary was made to contain the miraculous Host, and the relics — the reliquary cross, the tile and the stained linen — are venerated in the church of Sant'Agostino to this day. Each year on May 3 the people of Offida celebrate the anniversary of the miracle. The Offida tradition, with its stark account of the Eucharist profaned and then vindicated, has long served as a call to reverence: the Blessed Sacrament is not a thing to be used, but the living presence of Christ to be adored, received worthily and loved.

Church Recognition

A recognized devotion; the relic is venerated in Offida.

Catholic Teaching

A sign confirming the Real Presence and reverence due to the Eucharist.

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Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

The Church of Sant'Agostino in Offida houses the relic.

Go Deeper

See the Offida panel in St. Carlo Acutis's International Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles (miracolieucaristici.org), the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1373–1381 on the Real Presence, and visitor resources for the church of Sant'Agostino in Offida, where the relics are venerated.