Poland, June 21, 2016

A Catholic bishop in Poland says the Vatican has approved the veneration of a Bleeding Host as “Eucharistic Miracle.”

“I hope that this will serve to deepen the cult of the Eucharist and will have deep impact on the lives of people facing the Host,” Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski of Legnica told reporters on June 19.

On December 25, 2013, a Consecrated Host fell to the ground during a Christmas Day Mass. Bishop Kiernikowski said the parish priest immediately placed the Host in a container of water. Soon after red stains began to appear on the Host, according to catholicsay.com.

Following this Miraculous discovery, the then-Bishop of Legnica, Stefan Cichy, set up a commission to monitor the Host.

Two months after the appearance of the red stains, a Small Piece of the Host was placed on a corporal and was tested by many research institutes.

“In February 2014, a tiny red fragment of the Host was separated and put on a corporal. The Commission ordered to take samples in order to conduct the thorough tests by the relevant research institutes,” said Bishop Kiernikowski

The final medical statement by the Department of Forensic Medicine found that “in the histopathological image, the fragments (of the Host) were found containing the fragmented parts of the cross striated muscle. It is most similar to the heart muscle. Tests also determined the tissue to be of human origin, and found that it bore signs of distress.”

Bishop Kiernikowski said he took this case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as he believed that the Bleeding Host is “A Eucharistic Miracle.”

The Vatican approved the findings and reports of the case in April and recommended the parish priest, Fr. Andrzej Ziombrze, “to prepare a suitable place” for the Host so that the faithful could venerate it.

“We see the Mysterious Sign as an extraordinary act of love and goodness of God, who comes to humans in ultimate humiliation,” Bishop Kiernikowski added.