Eucharistic Miracle of Seefeld

The Story

The Eucharistic Miracle of Seefeld is a Catholic tradition connected with the parish and pilgrimage church of St. Oswald in Seefeld, a town in the Tyrolean Alps of Austria. The event is dated to March 25, 1384, a year in which Holy Thursday coincided with the Feast of the Annunciation. According to the traditional account, the knight Oswald Milser, a powerful local lord known for his pride, attended Mass at St. Oswald's and demanded to receive the large Host reserved to the priest, considering the ordinary Host beneath his rank. Tradition holds that as he received it, the ground gave way beneath him and he sank to his knees in the stone floor; grasping the altar for support, he left the imprint of his hands in it, and when the priest removed the Host from his mouth, it reportedly appeared stained red as with blood. Humbled by the event, Milser is said to have withdrawn to the Cistercian abbey of Stams, where he did penance until his death. Word of the reported miracle spread quickly, and Seefeld became one of the most frequented pilgrimage destinations in the Tyrol. The church proved too small for the crowds, and in 1423 Duke Frederick IV of Austria commissioned the larger late-Gothic church that stands today. Emperor Maximilian I later attached a monastery to the shrine, and the Blutskapelle, or Chapel of the Holy Blood, was added to preserve the venerated Host. The spiritual lesson long drawn from the Seefeld tradition is a warning against pride and presumption in approaching Holy Communion, and a call to receive the Eucharist with humility and reverence. The church of St. Oswald, counted among the most beautiful Gothic churches in the Tyrol, remains a place of prayer and pilgrimage where the memory of the event of 1384 is still honored.

Church Recognition

A recognized devotion sustained by centuries of Church-sanctioned pilgrimage; the venerated Host has long been preserved in the Blood Chapel of the parish church of St. Oswald in Seefeld.

Catholic Teaching

The tradition speaks to the reverence owed to Christ truly present in the Eucharist and the disposition of humility required to receive Holy Communion worthily (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1385–1387; 1373–1381).

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Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

The parish church of Seefeld preserves the memory and relic of the event.

Go Deeper

The Seefeld tradition is documented in the 'Eucharistic Miracles of the World' exhibition compiled by Blessed Carlo Acutis (miracolieucaristici.org), and the parish of St. Oswald in Seefeld preserves the shrine's history. For the Church's teaching on worthy reception of Communion, see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1385–1390.