How One Eucharistic Miracle Sparked Feast of Corpus Christi

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A good story doesn’t need to be tidy to be true, and the road to the Feast of Corpus Christi is anything but tidy. We follow a centuries-old chain of causes and consequences that runs through medieval Catholic history: corruption and confusion in the Church, arguments over the Real Presence, and a quiet spiritual longing that refuses to die. At the center is Blessed Juliana of Liege, haunted by a vision of a moon marked with a dark band, and convinced the liturgical calendar is missing a feast that honors Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Then the narrative tightens around a single traveler. Peter of Prague, a priest with real doubts about transubstantiation, stops in Bolsena on pilgrimage and celebrates Mass at the altar of Saint Christina. At the consecration, the host becomes flesh and bleeds onto the corporal and the marble floor. The shock is immediate, but what follows is just as gripping: Pope Urban IV, nearby in Orvieto, investigates, receives the corporal, and publicly proclaims the miracle as a sign that pushes back against the heresies spreading through Europe.

From there, we connect the dots to the papal bull Transiturus, the institution of Corpus Christi, and Saint Thomas Aquinas’ role in shaping Eucharistic theology and Eucharistic hymns that Catholics still sing today. We also explore the relics at Bolsena, the building of Orvieto’s cathedral, and why sacred art functioned as education when most people could not read. If you care about Catholic faith, Eucharistic devotion, or the real human experience of doubt, press play, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more listeners can find the story.

Open by Steve Bailey

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