Red marks on a communion wafer were thought by parishioners in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Morris, Indiana, to be a miraculous sign of divine presence. The blood of Christ turned out, however, to be bacteria.
The discovery at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Morris was unusual enough for a formal inspection, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said. But a biochemical analysis revealed only "fungus and three different species of bacteria, all of which are commonly found on human hands," the archdiocese said Monday, adding that no blood was found. The Catholic faith teaches that wine and a bread wafer signify the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Typically, they're consecrated by a priest at Mass.
It seems criminal that the AP doesn't have photos of the stigmatic cracker in its story.
Update: Local news has the goods! Steven Harmeyer reported on the hoped-for Eucharistic miracle that turned out to be rapidly-multiplying prodigiosin.
Only 30 bleeding host miracles have been confirmed throughout recorded history, with one of the first occurring in Ferrara, Italy in 1171. On April 27, Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized as a saint by Pope Francis. He spent much of his life documenting and cataloging Eucharistic miracles around the world, before passing away from Leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006.
