What happened
On Easter morning in 1171, as a priest broke the consecrated host at the altar of Santa Maria in Vado, blood is said to have spurted from it with such force that it struck the small vault behind and above the altar.
The blood-marked vault was enclosed and preserved, and Ferrara has venerated it for more than eight centuries.
Where it stands
Indulgences granted by a bull of Pope Eugene IV (1442); the blood relic enshrined and venerated for centuries.
Church recognition is a judgment about devotion — not a claim of scientific proof. We keep the two distinct.
Visit it
Basilica of Santa Maria in Vado, Ferrara, Italy
View on Google Maps →“This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”
Luke 22:19
Sources
- International Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles (St. Carlo Acutis) Devotional source
The bigger picture
This case is one witness in a much longer story — the Catholic teaching that Christ is truly, substantially present in the Eucharist.