IGNIS
Sign inCreate my account
IgnispediaThe IGNIS encyclopedia

The Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena (1263)

According to tradition, in 1263, a consecrated host bled onto the corporal in the hands of Peter of Prague, a pilgrim priest doubting the Real Presence. The corporal is kept in Orvieto Cathedral. Raphael's fresco (1512–1514) in the Vatican is its most famous image.

Ignispedia

The Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena refers to an event attributed to the summer of 1263[6] in the Basilica of Saint Christina at Bolsena (Latium, central Italy), in which a consecrated host is said to have begun to bleed onto the corporal during Mass, in answer to the doubts of the celebrant — Peter of Prague, a Bohemian priest on pilgrimage to Rome — concerning the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Pope Urban IV, then residing at Orvieto only some twenty kilometres from Bolsena[7], had the stained corporal transferred to Orvieto Cathedral, where it is kept today in the Cappella del Corporale, placed in a portable reliquary in the Gothic tabernacle (1358–1363); the famous Ugolino di Vieri reliquary (1337–1338), which first housed it, is exhibited at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo[8].

The case nevertheless presents a serious historiographical controversy: the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 11, 1911, art. "Orvieto") states that the oldest surviving testimony of the miracle lies in the narrative enamels of the Ugolino di Vieri reliquary (1337–1339), the red marble slab of Saint Christina's being only later than the canonization of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1323), with no fixed date[9] — and that Urban IV's bull Transiturus instituting Corpus Christi (11 August 1264) makes no explicit mention of the miracle[10]. The traditionally established causal link between the miracle and the institution of the feast is therefore probably a later construction: the critical reservation is established by the silence of the bull itself — whose Latin text gives as its motive Eucharistic devotion and the refutation of heretics, without a word about Bolsena[11] — and by that of Urban IV's contemporary biographers[12]. The true origin of Corpus Christi lies in the patient and earlier work of Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon (1192 or 1193 – 1258), who as early as 1246 obtained the diocesan institution at Liège (synod of 1246, first celebration the following year at Saint-Martin's)[13] — a subject treated in the separate article Corpus Christi.

The present article deals with the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena itself: its traditional account, its successive medieval sources, the historiographical controversy, the naturalistic Serratia marcescens hypothesis, the present preservation of the corporal at Orvieto, the major iconography (Raphael's fresco, 1512–1514) and the Catholic reading of the case; for the overview, see The Eucharistic Miracles.

The traditional account of the miracle (1263)

Peter of Prague, the doubting priest

According to the tradition reported from the 14th century onwards and then fixed by 15th-century Dominican preaching, a Bohemian priest — named in the late sources Peter of Prague (Petrus de Praga) — undertook during the summer of 1263 a pilgrimage to Rome to strengthen his faltering faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. His distress was all the more painful in that he was a priest — that is, a man who daily celebrated Mass while proclaiming the words of consecration. According to tradition, he asked God in prayer for a sign that would dispel his unbelief.

According to the most widespread version, on his way back, after praying at the tomb of the Apostles, Peter stopped at Bolsena, a lakeside town in Latium on the shores of Lake Bolsena, in what was then the diocese of Orvieto. He was welcomed at the Basilica of Saint Christina — an 11th-century basilica dedicated to Saint Christina of Bolsena, virgin martyr of the early 4th century according to tradition, whose tomb already attracted pilgrims along the Via Cassia[14] — to celebrate Mass there on the altar above the saint's tomb. One variant of the tradition reverses the direction of the journey: the Opera del Duomo presents the priest as having stopped at Bolsena "in pellegrinaggio verso Roma", on pilgrimage to Rome[15]; Paul VI, in his Orvieto address of 11 August 1964, for his part evokes him as "un Prete tedesco, che chiameremo Pietro da Praga" — a German priest whom we shall call Peter of Prague[16].

The consecration and the blood on the corporal

At the moment when Peter pronounced the words of consecration over the bread — "Hoc est enim corpus meum" — according to tradition, the host began to bleed in his hands. The blood flowed onto the corporal (the white liturgical cloth placed beneath the chalice and paten to catch any consecrated fragments), soaked through the cloth forming a shape suggestive of the profile of a face — a detail noted by the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 11, 1911), according to which the reddish stains, observed closely, "show the profile of a face of the type by which the Saviour is traditionally represented"[17] — then fell in drops onto the marble of the altar and the pavement.

Peter, at once overwhelmed by the confirmation of the Real Presence and fearful of having caused a sacrilege through his doubts, interrupted the Mass. According to the late tradition — he attempted to hide the stained corporal by rolling it up and took refuge in the sacristy; the faithful present, witnesses to his distress, alerted the clerics of the basilica. Antoninus of Florence, who in the 15th century gives one of the oldest narratives (Chronica, III, tit. 19, chap. 13, § 1), reports more soberly for his part that a few drops fallen from the chalice stained the corporal, with no mention of a doubt of the priest concerning the Real Presence[18].

Not daring to continue the celebration, the priest went to Orvieto, some twenty kilometres from Bolsena[19], where the pontifical court of Urban IV was then staying. The distance — a few hours' walk — is covered on foot every year, by night, by the pilgrims of the Marcia della Fede, who set out from Bolsena and reach Orvieto Cathedral before dawn for Mass and the exposition of the corporal[20]. This night march must not be confused with the solemn Corpus Domini procession, which for its part unfolds within the city of Orvieto, from the cathedral towards the historic centre[21].

Pope Urban IV at Orvieto

Pope Urban IV — born Jacques Pantaléon (Jacques Pantaléon de Court-Palais) around 1195 at Troyes (Champagne, France), elected pope on 29 August 1261 — had resided at Orvieto since 1262 because of the political troubles that made Rome difficult of access for pontiffs[22]. A former archdeacon of Liège in the 1240s, a former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (1255–1261), Urban IV was personally marked by Liège Eucharistic devotion, which makes particularly illuminating the convergence — not miraculous but providential — between his biography and the event.

According to tradition, when Peter of Prague set out the facts before him and showed him the stained corporal, the pope charged the Bishop of Orvieto, Giacomo Maltraga[23], with investigating and had the corporal brought in solemn procession. Later tradition adds that Urban IV also consulted Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, then present at Orvieto, and that he publicly authorized the veneration of the relics. This presence is attested for Thomas Aquinas — conventual lector at Orvieto from 1261 to 1265, to whom tradition attributes the composition, at Urban IV's request, of the liturgical office of Corpus Christi (the hymn Pange lingua, the sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorem)[24] — but remains more debated for Bonaventure, of whom no contemporary source mentions an explicit opinion on the miracle.

The marble altar of the Bolsena basilica — stained by the splashes according to tradition — is still visible today in one of the basilica's chapels. The stained corporal was transferred to Orvieto, where it was kept first in the old Santa Maria cathedral, then in the new cathedral and its Cappella del Corporale built from 1350 onwards.

Saint Christina of Bolsena: the sacred ground of the miracle

The traditional account locates the miracle on the altar placed above the tomb of Saint Christina of Bolsena, a young virgin martyr of the early 4th century according to tradition. Christina, daughter of the Roman governor Urban of Volsinii according to her Passio, is said to have been tortured, thrown into the lake with a millstone round her neck, then pierced with arrows[25].

Her basilica, raised over her tomb in the 11th century on an earlier Early Christian building, had since the early Middle Ages constituted a major sanctuary of the Via Cassia[26] — the ancient Roman road linking Rome to northern Italy: the martyrology of Ado (before 860) places on the shores of the lake the saint's birth, martyrdom and burial, the itinerary of Sigeric (990–994) makes it a stage between Acquapendente and Montefiascone, and a bull of Leo IV (847–853) names the churches dedicated to her. The name of the town and of the lake comes for its part from Volsinii, the ancient name of the city attested as early as the Tabula Peutingeriana (3rd century)[27].

The medieval sources of the miracle

The silence of the contemporary sources (1263–1264)

This tradition — illustrated by Raphael in the early 16th century — nevertheless comes up against serious historical difficulties, formulated as early as the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 11, 1911, art. "Orvieto"):

  1. No contemporary source of the miracle (1263) mentions it explicitly. No notarial act dated 1263, no episcopal chronicle, no bull, no preserved letter.

  2. The bull Transiturus de hoc mundo of 11 August 1264 — yet written at Orvieto, some twenty kilometres from Bolsena[28], in the very year following the event — makes no explicit mention of the miracle[29]. Besides general Eucharistic devotion and the need for a solemn feast distinct from Maundy Thursday, it gives as its express motive the confounding of heretics: "ad confundendum specialiter haereticorum perfidiam et insaniam" — to confound especially the perfidy and madness of heretics[30].

  3. Urban IV's contemporary biographers — the notices collected by Ludovico Antonio Muratori in his Rerum Italicarum Scriptores and the Latin-verse biography by Thierricus Vallicoloris (13th century, contemporary with the pope) — detail the pontifical stay at Orvieto, the pope's devotion in celebrating Mass and the institution of Corpus Christi, but remain silent on the miracle of Bolsena — a silence noted by the Catholic Encyclopedia[31].

  4. The request for the institution of a feast of the Blessed Sacrament is earlier than the miracle — it goes back to the visions of Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon in the years 1208–1230, and had already resulted in the diocesan institution at Liège: synod of 1246 under Robert of Thourotte, who died the same year, then the first celebration the following year at Saint-Martin's; Hugh of Saint-Cher, the Dominican who became papal legate in 1251, then extended the feast to his territory by the decree of 29 December 1252[32].

The first written traces of the miracle

The gradual appearance of the miracle in the written sources follows a chronology worth retracing precisely, because it lies at the heart of the historiographical controversy.

Date / PeriodSource or mediumHistorical status
1263–1322No direct written source preservedDocumentary silence
After 1323 (canonization of Saint Thomas Aquinas)Red marble slab engraved in the Basilica of Saint ChristinaEpigraphic inscription, with no fixed date (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11, 1911)[33]
1337–1339Ugolino di Vieri reliquary — eight narrative enamels of the miracle on the frontOldest surviving testimony according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 11, 1911); first complete visual representation[34][35]
1344Brief Etsi devota of Clement VI (13 February), which evokes only "a certain miracle" concerning the corporal — exact Latin wording not established[36]First explicit pontifical mention (80 years later)
1290–1344Sacra rappresentazione (liturgical theatre) of Bolsena[37]First dramatized narration (dating after the study cited in the note)
1357–1364Frescoes of Ugolino di Prete Ilario in the Cappella del CorporaleMonumental visual account at Orvieto
1377Brief Quamvis Cum of Gregory XI (25 June), brief account of the miracle[38]Brief pontifical account
1405Manuscript compiled in April 1405 by Beltramo de Léonard, disciplinant of the Saint Francis confraternity of Orvieto, copying the sacra rappresentazione[39]First preserved written testimony of the theatrical narration
15th centuryAntoninus of Florence (Chronica, III, tit. 19, chap. 13)Diffusion through Dominican preaching[40]
1512–1514The Mass at Bolsena by RaphaelIconographic fixation at the Vatican
1573Inscriptions relating the miracle at Saint Christina's (now lost)[41]First monumental version of the account

This table invites a nuanced critical reading: the gap of several decades between the reported event and the first preserved testimonies suffices to render the reconstruction of the exact words, gestures and names (notably that of Petrus de Praga) hypothetical. It does not, however, erase the material core of the case: the presence at Orvieto, from the 14th century onwards, of a stained cloth preserved as a relic and venerated in its reliquary[42].

What criticism calls into question — and what it does not

The critical reservation — formulated as early as the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 11, 1911) on the basis of the silence of the bull Transiturus and of Urban IV's contemporary biographers — concerns the direct causal link between the miracle of Bolsena and the bull of 11 August 1264: this link is probably a later construction, whereas the causes of the feast are earlier and more diffuse, notably the work of Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon[43]. The monograph by Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1991), remains the reference on the medieval Eucharistic context of this case[44].

Hence the following distinction:

  • What criticism calls into question: (1) the direct causal link between the 1263 miracle and the institution of the feast in 1264 — Urban IV's bull was probably not "provoked" by the miracle; (2) the reliability of the narrative details (the priest's name, the words spoken, the precise staging) reconstructed by sources several decades later.

  • What criticism does not call into question: (1) the historical presence of Urban IV at Orvieto between 1262 and 1264; (2) the veneration at Orvieto, from the 14th century onwards, of a stained cloth preserved as a relic — narrative enamels of the reliquary (1337–1339), pontifical brief of 1344[45][46]; (3) the construction of Orvieto Cathedral from 1290 under Nicholas IV (foundation stone blessed on 13 November 1290) — with no direct link to the miracle according to John Paul II himself in his Orvieto homily of 17 June 1990, even though the Chapel of the Corporal was later fitted out for the relic[47][48]; (4) the 2015 photographic documentation, which revealed on the cloth "biological deposits consisting of blood" (the restorer's words) under ultraviolet light — with no laboratory analysis that would allow concluding it is human blood[49]; (5) the cult rendered to the corporal, attested at Orvieto from 1337–1338 and continued each year by the Corpus Domini procession[50].

The rest of the article presents the naturalistic objections, the preservation of the relic and the Catholic reading of the case. The strength of the Bolsena case lies less in precise historical chronology than in the persistence of a living tradition, in the accumulation of visual and material testimonies from the 14th century onwards, and in the physical reality of the relic preserved and documented.

The naturalistic objections and their limits

The Serratia marcescens hypothesis

The most cited naturalistic explanation of the "blood" appearing on medieval hosts — including at Bolsena — invokes the bacterium Serratia marcescens, identified by the Venetian pharmacist Bartolomeo Bizio in 1819 at Padua, after an episode of red-coloured polenta[51]. This bacterium produces a red-orange pigment called prodigiosin, which develops on starchy foods (bread, hosts) under mild humidity and temperature conditions. In damp, dark medieval churches, unconsumed hosts could become contaminated and show red stains interpreted as miraculous blood.

This hypothesis was applied to Bolsena by the biologist Johanna C. Cullen, of George Mason University (Virginia) — New Scientist, June 1994 — and taken up by the Italian chemist Luigi Garlaschelli (University of Pavia)[52]. Garlaschelli reproduced the experiment in the laboratory and showed that a host inoculated with S. marcescens and kept warm and damp can indeed become covered with red stains within 24 to 48 hours.

The serious limits of the objection

The Serratia marcescens hypothesis is scientifically plausible in general, but it is not an established explanation of the Bolsena case. Five important limits must be stressed:

1. No formal test: no formal analysis of the corporal itself has been published to confirm or refute the bacterial hypothesis[53]. The 2015 UV examination, by contrast, revealed "biological deposits consisting of blood" (the restorer's words), with no laboratory analysis[54].

2. The moment of the bleeding: later tradition places the bleeding at the moment of consecration, which a slow contamination would poorly account for; but the oldest narration, that of Antoninus of Florence, speaks only of a few drops fallen from the chalice, with no mention of a doubt of the priest[55]. The simultaneity argument therefore holds for the late version, not for the oldest account.

3. The quantity: likewise, the oldest narrations (Antoninus, Catholic Encyclopedia) speak of a few drops fallen from the chalice onto the corporal, not of an abundant bleeding soaking through the cloth[56]. The objection from quantity bears only against the late amplified version.

4. The incubation time: in the laboratory, the red stains appear only after 24 to 48 hours of incubation in warmth and damp[57]: the hypothesis therefore supposes a host contaminated in advance, which no source in the case documents.

5. The symmetry of the stains: the restorer describes deposits "reproduced by transmission in a specular and symmetrical manner respecting the original folds"[58] — an observation reported with no laboratory analysis, which allows neither concluding it is human blood nor formally excluding a surface pigment.

The naturalistic hypothesis is therefore neither demonstrated nor absurd. It remains scientifically possible, but it does not exhaust the case and cannot, in the present state of the analyses, be presented as the established explanation. Above all, no formal declaration of supernaturality has been found for Bolsena: neither the assertion of an officially recognized miracle nor reduction to an established natural explanation is warranted in the present state of the case.

The preservation of the corporal at Orvieto

Orvieto Cathedral and the Chapel of the Corporal

Orvieto Cathedral (built from 1290 onwards) houses the Chapel of the Corporal where the relic of the Bolsena miracle has been kept since the 14th century. Wikimedia Commons photograph.

The stained corporal was transferred to Orvieto in 1263, according to tradition, and kept first in the old Santa Maria cathedral. A monumental new cathedral, the present Orvieto Cathedral (Duomo di Orvieto), was commissioned from 1290 onwards under Pope Nicholas IV (foundation stone blessed on 13 November 1290[59]); John Paul II specified in 1990 that its construction is not directly linked to the miracle, even though the Chapel of the Corporal was later fitted out for the relic[60]. Construction extends over three centuries; the Gothic façade is one of the most famous in Italy, adorned from the 1310s onwards with sculptures by Lorenzo Maitani (Annunciation, scenes from Genesis, Last Judgement).

Inside, the Chapel of the Corporal (Cappella del Corporale) — built between 1350 and 1356 as an extension of the left transept of the Duomo, and entirely decorated between 1357 and 1364 — houses the relic. Its decoration makes it one of the most complete Eucharistic iconographic ensembles of the Middle Ages.

The Ugolino di Vieri reliquary (1337–1338)

The corporal was first displayed in a magnificent architectural reliquary of gilt silver and enamel, commissioned in 1337–1338 by Bishop Beltramo Monaldeschi, Archpriest Angelo and the papal chaplain Ligo from the Sienese goldsmith Ugolino di Vieri and his associates (magistrum Ugolinum et socios, Aurifices de Senis)[61]. The work, completed in 1338, measures 139 cm in height; its silhouette reproduces the tripartite façade of the Duomo in miniature. It bears thirty-two scenes in painted enamels recounting the Histories of the Corporal and the Passion of Christ[62]; eight of them, on the shutters of the front, recount the miracle of Bolsena — the oldest surviving narrative testimony of the miracle, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia[63].

This reliquary no longer contains the relic: the corporal is today kept in a more portable reliquary placed in the Gothic tabernacle (1358–1363) of the chapel, while the Ugolino di Vieri reliquary is exhibited at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo[64].

The oldest surviving attestation of a procession of the corporal at Orvieto dates to 1338: that year, the feast gave rise to an extended public holiday and the corporal, already housed in its reliquary, was carried in procession through the city; the Orvieto celebration of the feast is attested from 1337 onwards[65]. It is the corporal itself — in its present portable reliquary — that is carried each year in Orvieto's Corpus Domini procession[66].

The frescoes of Ugolino di Prete Ilario

The chapel walls are covered with frescoes commissioned in 1356 from Giovanni di Buccio di Leonardello and Ugolino di Prete Ilario, executed between 1357 and 1364 (completed programme dated 8 June 1364)[67]: the back wall bears the scenes of the Passion (Crucifixion, Last Supper, Resurrection), the right wall of the altar bay eight frescoes recounting the miracle of Bolsena with views of 14th-century Orvieto, and the entrance bay Eucharistic scenes[68].

The 2015 restoration: photographic documentation

On the occasion of a restoration carried out in 2015 under the direction of the textile restorer Ester Giovacchini, the corporal was documented by photographs in normal light and ultraviolet fluorescence. In the words of the restorer as reported by the local press, each section of the cloth "restituisce depositi biologici costituiti da sangue, scisso in plasma e siero, riprodotti per trasmissione in modo speculare e simmetrico nel rispetto delle pieghe originarie" — shows biological deposits consisting of blood, divided into plasma and serum, reproduced by transmission in a specular and symmetrical manner respecting the original folds[69]. This is a textile conservation observation, with no sampling or laboratory analysis.

This 2015 documentation — less publicized than Linoli's analyses of Lanciano (1970–1971) or the Castañón reports on Buenos Aires (1999) — describes deposits presented as blood, not as a mere surface pigment; but with no laboratory analysis, it is impossible to conclude that it is human blood. No blood typing (ABO group) has been published to date. Unlike Lanciano (AB group published by Prof. Linoli in 1971[70]) or Buenos Aires (AB group reported by Dr Castañón), Bolsena therefore has — to this day — no public blood typing.

The Catholic reading: a sign, not a proof

Saint Thomas Aquinas and the pedagogy of Eucharistic miracles

The Catholic reading of the Bolsena case must be situated within the doctrine that Saint Thomas Aquinas — precisely present at Orvieto at the time of the miracle — developed on the nature of sensible appearances in the Eucharist. In the Summa Theologiae, IIIa pars, q. 76, art. 8, Thomas asks whether the true body of Christ remains in this sacrament when, by miracle, it appears there under the species of a child or of flesh[71]. His answer distinguishes two modalities — a vision produced in the eyes of those present with no change on the side of the sacrament, or a miraculous change bearing on accidents other than dimensions — then concludes:

"It must therefore be said that, the dimensions which previously existed remaining, a miraculous change takes place as regards the other accidents — figure, colour and others of this kind — so that flesh may be seen, or blood, or even a child. And, as was said above, this is no deception, for it takes place as the figure of a truth: to show, by this miraculous appearance, that in this sacrament are truly the body of Christ and the blood. And thus it is manifest that, the dimensions remaining — they which are the foundation of the other accidents, as will be said below —, the true body of Christ remains in this sacrament." (translation of the article after the Leonine text) — Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIIa pars, q. 76, art. 8[72]

This subtle distinction has two direct consequences for Bolsena: (1) the miracle, if it took place, adds nothing to the Real Presence already given in every valid consecration — it is only a pedagogical sign for the senses; (2) the materiality of the blood on the corporal, as it can be analysed today, is not the Body of Christ itself but the sensible appearance by which God, as the case may be, sensibly confirmed the faith of the doubting celebrant.

The ecclesial status of the miracle of Bolsena

No Eucharistic miracle — including Bolsena, Lanciano or Buenos Aires — is the object of a solemn dogmatic definition, and no formal declaration of supernaturality has been found for Bolsena. What the Church has done for this case is, by contrast, documented act by act:

  • 1344: Clement VI, by brief, evokes only "a certain miracle" concerning the corporal — first pontifical mention, eighty years after the facts[73];
  • 1377: Gregory XI, by brief of 25 June, gives a brief account of the miracle[74];
  • 11 August 1964: Paul VI, on Eucharistic pilgrimage at Orvieto for the 7th centenary of Transiturus, himself recounts "il racconto del miracolo di Bolsena" — "c'era una volta un Prete tedesco, che chiameremo Pietro da Praga" — and associates the neighbouring town of Bolsena with the celebrations[75];
  • 17 June 1990: John Paul II, on pastoral visit to Orvieto for the 7th centenary of the cathedral, speaks in his homily of the "miracolo avvenuto a Bolsena" in the year preceding Transiturus, while specifying that the construction of the Duomo is not directly linked to it[76]; at the Angelus of the same day, he evokes Orvieto's Eucharistic procession "dove si porta il corporale miracoloso" — where the miraculous corporal is carried[77];
  • 2013–2014: a jubilee of the 750th anniversary is said to have been celebrated; the rescript of the Apostolic Penitentiary of 13 March 2012 remains to be verified in the primary text[78].

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, for its part, is dogmatic and independent of any visible miracle — defined by the Council of Trent in its decree on the Eucharist (1551):

"Because Christ, our Redeemer, said that what He offered under the species of bread was truly His Body, there has always been in the Church this conviction, which the holy Council declares anew: by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place the change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood; this change the Catholic Church has fittingly and exactly called transubstantiation." — Council of Trent, 13th session (11 October 1551), Decretum de SS. Eucharistia, chap. 4 (DS 1642), cited after the CCC §1376[79]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church takes up this doctrine in §1376 and specifies in §1374: "In the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist are 'contained truly, really and substantially the Body and the Blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, consequently, the whole Christ'"[80]. Eucharistic miracles sensibly manifest a truth that is already dogmatic; they do not found it.

The iconography: Raphael's fresco (1512–1514)

The commission of Julius II

In 1508, Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere, 1443–1513, pontiff 1503–1513) charged the young Raphael Sanzio (1483–1520), then 25 years old, with the decoration of the pontifical apartments of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican (the Stanze). Four rooms were decorated by Raphael and his workshop between 1508 and 1524 (the artist died prematurely in 1520): the Stanza della Segnatura, the Stanza di Eliodoro, the Stanza dell'Incendio del Borgo, and the Sala di Costantino.

The Room of Heliodorus and its theological programme

The Stanza di Eliodoro (Room of Heliodorus, painted between 1511 and 1514) is dedicated to the theme of divine protection of the Church, in response to the political and military threats weighing on the Papal States of Julius II — the Italian wars, the conflict with France, the schism of the Pisan conciliabulum (1511). It houses four major frescoes, organized as a Eucharistic-ecclesial quadriptych:

  • The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1511–1512) — God protects His sanctuary against profanation
  • The Mass at Bolsena (La Messa di Bolsena, 1512–1514) — God sensibly confirms the Real Presence
  • The Liberation of Saint Peter from Prison (1513–1514) — God protects His Church against temporal powers
  • The Meeting of Leo I and Attila (1514) — God protects Rome through pontifical authority

The Mass at Bolsena — a major work

The fresco The Mass at Bolsena (660 cm wide) is one of Raphael's most famous. It represents the central scene of the miracle: the priest Peter of Prague celebrating Mass at the altar; the splashes of blood on the corporal at the moment of consecration; Pope Julius II himself (and not Urban IV — an anachronism: Julius II is the commissioner of the fresco) kneeling in prayer before the altar on the right; the pontifical Swiss Guards present under arms (another anachronism — the Swiss Guard was created in 1506 by Julius II, hence non-existent in 1263); and several della Rovere and Riario cardinals identified by art historians: Leonardo Grosso della Rovere, Raffaello Riario, Tommaso Riario and Agostino Spinola, all relatives of Julius II[81].

Raphael discreetly portrayed himself in the lower right part, as a Swiss Guard with tied hair. Felice della Rovere, daughter of Julius II, is represented in profile in the lower left part, dressed in dark clothing[82].

The work belongs to the iconographic programme glorifying the pope as guarantor of the Catholic faith in the face of heresies. It was painted at the very moment when the Protestant Reformation was beginning to loom in Europe — Luther would post his 95 Theses five years later, in 1517, and the Eucharistic Real Presence would become one of the central points of the rupture with Rome. The fresco is today regarded as a major work of the Italian High Renaissance and a summit of Western religious painting.

The Basilica of Saint Christina of Bolsena today

The Basilica of Saint Christina of Bolsena, site of the Eucharistic miracle of 1263. Wikimedia Commons photograph.

The Basilica of Saint Christina of Bolsena, built in the 11th century on the site of the tomb of Saint Christina of Bolsena (virgin martyr of the early 4th century according to tradition)[83], is today a place of pilgrimage in central Italy. The Chapel of the Miracle (Cappella del Miracolo), of Baroque arrangement, still houses the stained marble slabs (Sacre Pietre) by the blood of the host according to tradition — four slabs kept in the chapel since 1704, a fifth given in 1574 to Porchiano del Monte[84]. Above the altar, a large painting by Francesco Trevisani represents the miracle.

Inscriptions relating the miracle, affixed at Saint Christina's in 1573 and now lost, fixed its monumental version[85]. The Early Christian remains — the catacomb of Saint Christina and the baptistery grotto — can also be visited[86].

Three distinct realities coexist each year at the feast of Corpus Domini: the Marcia della Fede, the night march of pilgrims linking Bolsena to Orvieto before dawn for Mass and the exposition of the corporal[87]; the solemn procession within the city of Orvieto, where the corporal is carried from the cathedral towards the historic centre[88]; and the medieval Corteo Storico — over 400 participants in period costumes representing the noble families and municipal courts — which accompanies the reliquary through streets decorated with flower carpets[89].

Going further

Related Ignispedia articles

  • The Eucharistic Miracles — historical and scientific overview — parent hub article
  • Corpus Christi — liturgical institution wrongly associated with this miracle
  • The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano (c. 750) — another major historical case
  • The Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires (1996) — modern scientific analysis
  • The Eucharist — the Central Sacrament of the Catholic Faith
  • The Council of Trent — dogmatic definition of transubstantiation

Principal sources

  • Urban IV, bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, 11 August 1264 — official Latin text on vatican.va (express anti-heretical motive, no mention of Bolsena)
  • Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), article "Orvieto" (newadvent.org/cathen/11331c.htm) — reference historical case file: 1337–1339 enamels as oldest testimony, slab later than 1323, silence of the bull and of the biographers, briefs of 1344 and 1377, face profile on the corporal
  • Sant'Antonino da Firenze (1389–1459), Chronica, III, tit. 19, chap. 13 — one of the oldest narrations
  • Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1991 — reference monograph on the medieval Eucharistic context
  • Paul VI, Orvieto address, 11 August 1964 (vatican.va) — account of the miracle, 7th centenary of Transiturus
  • John Paul II, Orvieto homily and Angelus, 17 June 1990 (vatican.va)
  • Key to Umbria, Sacro Corporale, Cappella del Corporale entries — iconography, tabernacle, procession
  • Sanctuary of Saint Christina of Bolsena, basilicasantacristina.it — origins of the monumental complex
  • Antonio Colasanto, "Il restauro del Sacro Corporale del Miracolo di Bolsena", ilTamTam.it, 27 April 2015 — restoration and UV photographic documentation
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1373–1377 on the Real Presence
  • Council of Trent, 13th session (11 October 1551), Decretum de SS. Eucharistia, chap. 4 (DS 1642), canon 2 (DS 1652)

Notes and References

  1. The season and year come from the tradition taken up by "Miracolo eucaristico di Bolsena", Italian Wikipedia, consulted on 4 October 2026: "Nell'estate del 1263, un sacerdote boemo, di nome Pietro da Praga…". None of the sources consulted (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11, 1911; Key to Umbria; French/English/Italian Wikipedia) gives either month or day: hence the note "exact day not preserved".

    1 6

  2. orvietoduomo.it site, Corporale page: "Secondo la tradizione, nel 1263 un sacerdote boemo, identificato dalla tradizione con Pietro da Praga, si fermò a Bolsena durante un pellegrinaggio verso Roma" — FAQ of the same site: "La tradizione lo identifica con Pietro da Praga, un sacerdote boemo in pellegrinaggio verso Roma."

    2 15

  3. Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), article "Orvieto" (newadvent.org/cathen/11331c.htm): "The latter is related in the inscription on a slab of red marble in the church of St. Christina, and is of later date than the canonization of St. Thomas Aquinas (1328)" — the miracle is related by the inscription of a red marble slab in Saint Christina's church, later than the canonization of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The parenthesis "(1328)" is that of the 1911 article; the canonization by John XXII in reality dates to 18 July 1323, retained here as terminus post quem. Above all, the same article designates the enamels of the reliquary as the oldest surviving testimony: "The oldest historical record of the miracle is contained in the enamel "histories" that adorn the front of the reliquary (1337-39)". The text of the slab's inscription has not been recovered: neither its content nor the internal index of its dating is established at first hand.

    3 9 33 34 45 63

  4. Present locations. Key to Umbria, Sacro Corporale (Orvieto) entry: "The relic is now housed in a more portable reliquary in this tabernacle, while the original reliquary is displayed to the left of the entrance to the chapel" — the relic is now in a more portable reliquary placed in the tabernacle, the original reliquary being exhibited separately; "The tabernacle still houses the Sacro Corporale, although now in the more portable reliquary that is still used in the annual procession" (Cappella del Corporale entry). The orvietoduomo.it site (Corporale page) specifies: "Il tabernacolo gotico oltre l'altare conserva il Sacro Lino; il reliquiario realizzato nel 1338 da Ugolino di Vieri è oggi visibile negli spazi del Museo dell'Opera del Duomo."

    4 8 42 64 66

  5. Restoration of the Orvieto corporal, 2015, under the direction of Ester Giovacchini (textile restorer). Press account of the public presentation, verified word for word on 4 October 2026 at its exact URL (this is not the restoration report itself, which has not been recovered): Antonio Colasanto, "Il restauro del Sacro Corporale del Miracolo di Bolsena", ilTamTam.it, 27 April 2015 (iltamtam.it/2015/04/27/il-restauro-del-sacro-corporale-del-miracolo-di-bolsena) — results presented at the Orvieto bishopric in the presence of Msgr Benedetto Tuzia, Bishop of Orvieto-Todi. Examination on 5 February 2015, works from 23 February to 27 March 2015, photographic documentation in normal light and UV fluorescence by Massimo Roncella. Giovacchini: "Ogni sezione restituisce depositi biologici costituiti da sangue, scisso in plasma e siero, riprodotti per trasmissione in modo speculare e simmetrico nel rispetto delle pieghe originarie" — each section shows biological deposits consisting of blood, divided into plasma and serum, reproduced by transmission in a specular and symmetrical manner respecting the original folds (linen cloth 48.5 × 51.5 cm, 20 fold sectors). No invasive sampling or blood typing in this account: it cannot be concluded that it is human blood.

    5 49 54 58 69

  6. Present road distance between the centres of Bolsena and Orvieto: ≈ 22 km (OpenStreetMap itinerary measured via OSRM: 22,262 m centre to centre) — hence the formula "some twenty kilometres", i.e. a few hours' walk.

    7 19 28

  7. The silence of the bull is established at primary level by the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), art. "Orvieto" (newadvent.org/cathen/11331c.htm): "Urban IV makes no mention of it in the Bull by which he established the feast of Corpus Christi, although the miracle is said to have taken place in his day and to have determined him in his purpose of establishing the feast". On the effective institution of the feast from the earlier work of Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon, see the dedicated article Corpus Christi.

    10 29

  8. Urban IV, bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, 11 August 1264, official Latin text on vatican.va (page "Bulla Transiturus de mundo (11 Aug. 1264)", text established after Acta Urbani IV, 1953, vol. V-1, pp. 43–47 — page consulted on 4 October 2026: no occurrence of "Bolsena" or "miracul*" in the text): "Licet igitur hoc memoriale Sacramentum in quotidianis Missarum sollemniis frequentetur, conveniens tamen arbitramur et dignum, ut de ipso semel saltem in anno, ad confundendum specialiter haereticorum perfidiam et insaniam, memoria celebrior et sollemnior habeatur." The text mentions no particular miracle, and Bolsena appears nowhere in it.

    11 30

  9. Silence of the contemporary biographers, after the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), art. "Orvieto" (newadvent.org/cathen/11331c.htm): "the two biographers of Pope Urban impugn the truth of this tradition by their silence, i.e., Muratori, "Rerum Italicarum scriptores", III, pt. l, 400 sq.; and especially Thierricus Vallicoloris, who, in his life of the pope in Latin verse, describes in detail all the acts of the pontiff during the latter's stay at Orvieto […] without at any time making allusion to the miracle at Bolsena". No mention, in this source, of negotiations with Manfred of Sicily.

    12 31

  10. Robert of Thourotte, Bishop of Liège, decided the diocesan institution at the synod of 1246 and died the same year; the first celebration took place the following year at Saint-Martin's of Liège, at the request of Saint Juliana of Mont-Cornillon (1192 or 1193 – 1258), who had received from 1208 onwards a vision of an eclipsed moon signifying the absence of a feast dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. After the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (1908), art. "Feast of Corpus Christi": Robert "called a synod in 1246 and ordered the celebration to be held in the following year", and the feast was celebrated for the first time by the canons of Saint-Martin's of Liège. The decree of Hugh of Saint-Cher of 29 December 1252, extending the feast to his legation territory, is dated after C. Lambot, L'office de la Fête-Dieu (1942), p. 41, via the separate article Corpus Christi — edition not directly consulted here.

    13 32 43

  11. Official sanctuary, "Le origini del complesso monumentale", basilicasantacristina.it (basilicasantacristina.it/le-origini-del-complesso-monumentale): the martyrology of Ado (before 860) places on the lakeshore Christina's birth, martyrdom and burial; Sigeric's itinerary (990–994) "pone Santa Cristina come tappa sulla via Cassia, tra le stazioni di Acquapendente e Montefiascone"; a bull of Leo IV (847–853) to Virobono of Tuscania names the churches dedicated to the saint; the Tabula Peutingeriana (3rd century) calls the city Volsinii, the Ravenna itinerary (7th century) Bulzini. The Romanesque dating of the upper basilica to the 11th century follows the categories of "Basilica of Santa Cristina, Bolsena" (English Wikipedia: 11th-century Romanesque churches of Latium).

    14 26 27 86

  12. Paul VI, "Pellegrinaggio Eucaristico in Orvieto nel VII centenario della Bolla "Transiturus" (11 agosto 1964)" (vatican.va, page consulted on 4 October 2026: quotation found word for word) — address to the authorities and people of Orvieto, on Eucharistic pilgrimage for the 7th centenary of the bull Transiturus: "Dovremmo riascoltare […] il racconto del miracolo di Bolsena: c'era una volta un Prete tedesco, che chiameremo Pietro da Praga, venuto pellegrino in questa terra umbra, tormentato dal dubbio…"

    16 75

  13. Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), article "Orvieto" (newadvent.org/cathen/11331c.htm): "The reddish spots on the corporal of Bolsena, upon close observation, show the profile of a face of the type by which the Saviour is traditionally represented".

    17

  14. Sant'Antonino da Firenze (1389–1459), Dominican Archbishop of Florence, Chronica, III, tit. 19, chap. 13 — "Una delle più antiche narrazioni è contenuta nella Chronica (III, tit. 19, cap. 13) di sant'Antonino da Firenze" ("Miracolo eucaristico di Bolsena", Italian Wikipedia). The comparison with Giovanni Villani's Nuova Chronica, on the same page, concerns the Eucharistic miracle of Paris (1290) — "Quest'ultimo è simile al racconto della Nuova Chronica di Giovanni Villani" — and not Bolsena: Villani, a layman who died in 1348, is therefore cited neither as a source nor as a relay of the Bolsena case. Critical clarification, after the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), art. "Orvieto": "St. Antoninus of Florence ("Chronica", III, 19, xiii, 1) […] does not say (as the local legend recites) that the priest doubted the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, but, merely that a few drops from the chalice fell upon the corporal" — Antoninus speaks of drops fallen from the chalice, not of a doubt concerning the Real Presence nor of an abundant bleeding of the host.

    18 40 55 56

  15. destinationes.com pilgrimage guide, Orvieto page: "Before dawn, pilgrims who have walked through the night from Bolsena on the Marcia della Fede (Faith March) arrive at the cathedral for Mass and the extraordinary ostension of the Sacred Corporal. Later that morning, the medieval Corteo Storico — over 400 participants in period costume […] — accompanies the reliquary through streets decorated with elaborate flower carpets."

    20 87 89

  16. Key to Umbria, Sacro Corporale (Orvieto) entry (keytoumbria.com/Orvieto/Sacro_Corporale.html), consulted in October 2026: "the earliest surviving reference to this celebration in Orvieto dates to 1338, when it involved an extended public holiday. At this point, the Sacro Corporale, which was housed in a magnificent reliquary, was taken in procession around the city"; and "The earliest recorded celebration of it at Orvieto after 1264 was 1337 […] The procession still takes place each year" — oldest surviving attestation, not "first procession".

    21 50 65 88

  17. Jacques Pantaléon de Court-Palais (c. 1195–1264), Archdeacon of Liège, Bishop of Verdun (1253), Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (1255), elected pope under the name Urban IV on 29 August 1261. He settled at Orvieto in 1262 and remained there until his death at Perugia on 2 October 1264 (no precise month retained for the installation, for lack of a second source). Cf. "Urbain IV", French Wikipedia.

    22

  18. Giacomo (Jacobus) Maltraga, attested Bishop of Orvieto from 1258 to 1269 — hence in office at the time of the miracle (1263). Episcopate corroborated by two lists: "Roman Catholic Diocese of Orvieto-Todi", English Wikipedia, and the cronotassi of "Diocesi di Orvieto-Todi", Italian Wikipedia — "Giacomo Maltraga † (prima del 26 gennaio 1258 – 1269 deceduto)" — which further notes, under his episcopate, a pastoral visit to Capodimonte on Lake Bolsena (confirmation and tithes). By contrast, the pontifical mandate of inquiry into the corporal remains classed as later tradition: no preserved act attests it.

    23

  19. Saint Thomas Aquinas stayed at Orvieto as conventual lector between 1261 and 1265, and tradition attributes to him the composition, at Urban IV's request, of the office of Corpus Christi (Officium de festo Corporis Christi, 1264: hymn Pange lingua, sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorem). Cf. Jean-Pierre Torrell o.p., Initiation à saint Thomas d'Aquin. Sa personne et son œuvre, Cerf, Paris, 1993, chap. 7 ("The stay at Orvieto, 1261–1265") — English ed. Saint Thomas Aquinas, vol. 1: The Person and His Work, CUA Press, chap. "The Stay in Orvieto (1261–1265)", section "Conventual Lector in Orvieto" (he returned to Paris as regent master only in 1268).

    24

  20. Saint Christina of Bolsena (Roman martyrology on 24 July), virgin martyr of the early 4th century according to tradition, daughter of the Roman governor Urban of Volsinii according to her Passio — legendary in detail — which reports that she was tortured, thrown into the lake with a millstone round her neck, then pierced with arrows. The official sanctuary of Bolsena attests the antiquity of the cult: martyrology of Ado (before 860), itinerary of Sigeric (990–994), bull of Leo IV (847–853), Early Christian cemetery active from the 4th–5th centuries onwards.

    25 83

  21. Key to Umbria, Cappella del Corporale entry (keytoumbria.com/Orvieto/Duomo_Cappella_del_Corporale.html), consulted in October 2026: the reliquary's inscription states that Bishop Beltramo Monaldeschi, Archpriest Angelo, the papal chaplain Ligo and canons of the Duomo commissioned it from "magistrum Ugolinum et socios, Aurifices de Senis" (Ugolino di Vieri and associates, goldsmiths of Siena). Dating 1337–1338: "Miracle eucharistique de Bolsena", French Wikipedia. Height 139 cm: "Reliquary of the Santo Corporale", English Wikipedia (infobox, verified on 4 October 2026). Enamel detail, verified word for word on 4 October 2026 on the Key to Umbria entry: "The eight enamels in the upper and middle registers of the shutters on the front constitute the earliest surviving narrative depiction of the Miracle of Bolsena"; "The other four enamels on the front and the twelve enamels on the back depict scenes from the Passion, and those around the base depict scenes from the early life of Christ"; documented payments 1337–1339, commission placed in 1338. The total of 32 scenes ("Thirty-two scenes in painted enamels represent the Stories of the Corporal and the Passion of Christ", "Reliquary of the Santo Corporale", English Wikipedia) reconciles the two figures: 8 = the Bolsena narrative cycle (front), 32 = all the painted scenes.

    35 61 62

  22. "Miracle eucharistique de Bolsena", French Wikipedia (fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_eucharistique_de_Bolsena): brief of Clement VI of 13 February 1344; brief of Gregory XI of 25 June 1377, which briefly recounts the miracle (host changed into flesh and blood); Chapel of the Corporal built 1350–1356, frescoes 1357–1364; four slabs at the Chapel of the Miracle since 1704, one given in 1574 to Porchiano del Monte. Exact Latin wording of the 1344 brief not established at first hand: French Wikipedia (after Tamburini (ed.), Bolsena: il Miracolo Eucaristico, Proceedings of the 2004 conference, p. 27) reports "propter quoddam miraculum", while the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), art. "Orvieto", gives "propter miraculum aliquod" (after Pennazzi, p. 367) — hence the paraphrase "a certain miracle". The Catholic Encyclopedia writes by misprint "25 June 1337" for Gregory XI's brief: 1337 is impossible (Gregory XI, pontiff 1370–1378), read 1377.

    36 38 46 73 74 84

  23. Dating of the sacra rappresentazione "between 1290 and 1344" and manuscript compiled in April 1405 by Beltramo de Léonard, disciplinant of the Saint Francis confraternity of Orvieto (37 representations), after "Miracle eucharistique de Bolsena", French Wikipedia, which cites: for the dating, Ian Levy, Gary Macy and Kristen Van Ausdall, A Companion to the Eucharist in the Middle Ages, Brill, 2011, pp. 584–586; for the manuscript and its description, Pietro Tamburini (ed.), Bolsena: il Miracolo Eucaristico, Proceedings of the Bolsena conference of 4 June 2004, Sistema Museale del lago di Bolsena, 2005. Neither the Brill study nor the Proceedings have been consulted de visu: second-hand references. The archive shelfmark of the manuscript is not established here.

    37 39

  24. Key to Umbria, Sacro Corporale (Orvieto) entry (keytoumbria.com/Orvieto/Sacro_Corporale.html): the account of the miracle served as the basis for inscriptions at Saint Christina of Bolsena (1573, now lost) then for four inscriptions (1601) in Orvieto's Cappella del Corporale.

    41 85

  25. Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991, xv + 432 p. Reference monograph on late medieval Eucharistic worship, cited here for the general historiographical context. The precise findings of the present article (silence of the bull, silence of the contemporary biographers, dating of the first testimonies) are established after the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1911), art. "Orvieto", and the official Latin text of Transiturus. Rubin's pp. 181–182, invoked by "Feast of Corpus Christi" (English Wikipedia), concern the slow diffusion of the feast and its entry into the Clementines (1317), not the account of the institution itself.

    44

  26. Pope Nicholas IV (Girolamo Masci, 1227–1292, pontiff 1288–1292), the first Franciscan pope, under whom the building site of Orvieto Duomo opened from 1290 onwards; construction would extend over three centuries. The foundation stone laid by Nicholas IV on 13 November 1290 is reported by the local chronicles, after David M. Gillerman, "The Evolution of the Design of Orvieto Cathedral, ca. 1290-1310", Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 53, no. 3 (September 1994), p. 301 ("Local chronicles recount the laying of the foundation stone by Nicholas IV on 13 November 1290") — degree: chronicler tradition, not a preserved act. The motive ("per custodire il corporale") is the local tradition taken up by "Miracolo eucaristico di Bolsena", Italian Wikipedia; neither Gillerman nor Key to Umbria (which dates the building site to 1290 and Nicholas IV's arbitration to 1289, without mentioning the relic) confirms it.

    47 59

  27. John Paul II, Orvieto homily, 17 June 1990, 7th centenary of the cathedral (vatican.va): "il Papa Niccolò IV, benedisse la prima pietra, il 13 novembre 1290. Anche se la sua costruzione non è collegata direttamente alla solennità del "Corpus Domini", istituita dal Papa Urbano IV con la bolla Transiturus, nel 1264, né al miracolo avvenuto a Bolsena l'anno precedente, è però indubbio che il mistero eucaristico è qui potentemente evocato dal corporale di Bolsena, per il quale venne appositamente fabbricata la cappella, che ora lo custodisce gelosamente."

    48 60 76

  28. Bartolomeo Bizio (1791–1862), Venetian pharmacist and naturalist, identified in 1819 at Padua the bacterium responsible for an episode of red-coloured polenta. In 1823 he named it Serratia marcescens in homage to the physicist Serafino Serrati and with the Latin epithet marcescens ("which withers") to describe the rapid degradation of the pigment. Cf. Bartolomeo Bizio, "Lettera al chiarissimo canonico Angelo Bellani sopra il fenomeno della polenta porporina", Biblioteca italiana, o sia Giornale di letteratura, scienze ed arti, vol. 30, 1823, pp. 275–295.

    51

  29. Johanna C. Cullen — Alexandra Witze, "Science: The miraculous microbes of Bolsena", New Scientist, 4 June 1994; Cullen's publication: American Society of Microbiology News, vol. 60, no. 4 (1994), p. 187 — reproduced in the laboratory blood-red stains on unleavened bread inoculated with S. marcescens (the affiliation — George Mason or Georgetown according to the relays — has not been settled here). Luigi Garlaschelli (University of Pavia) repeated the experiment on inoculated hosts (red stains within 24–48 h in warmth and damp): "Chemie der Wunder", Chemie in unserer Zeit, 1999 (DOI 10.1002/ciuz.19990330304); the Italian version "Amido ed emoglobina: il miracolo di Bolsena", La Chimica e l'Industria, vol. 80, 1998, was not directly consulted. The paper L. Garlaschelli, F. Ramaccini, S. Della Sala, "Working bloody miracles", Nature, vol. 353, 10 October 1991, p. 507, concerns the blood of Saint Januarius (thixotropic gel), not Serratia nor Bolsena.

    52 57

  30. "Serratia marcescens", English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens): "no formal testing of the corporal itself exists to confirm or deny" the bacterial hypothesis.

    53

  31. Key to Umbria, Duomo: Cappella del Corporale (1350-6) entry (keytoumbria.com/Orvieto/Duomo_Cappella_del_Corporale.html). The chapel was built between 1350 and 1356 as an extension of the left transept of the Duomo. The frescoes were commissioned in 1356 from Giovanni di Buccio di Leonardello and Ugolino di Prete Ilario, painted between 1357 and 1364 (completed programme dated 8 June 1364): back wall, scenes of the Passion (Crucifixion, Last Supper, Resurrection); right wall of the altar bay, eight frescoes of the Bolsena miracle with views of 14th-century Orvieto; entrance bay, Eucharistic scenes. The tabernacle (1358–1363, design attributed to Andrea Orcagna, ironwork of 1363, keys and staircase of 1366) still houses the corporal, in the portable reliquary used for the annual procession.

    67 68

  32. E. Linoli, analysis report published in 1971 in the Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratorio (human myocardial tissue, AB-group blood, with no preservative); second series of observations attributed to 1981, not confirmed by a primary publication. Cf. article The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano. For Buenos Aires, the AB group is reported by Dr R. Castañón Gómez (inquiry mandated in 1999 by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis), with no equivalent scientific publication.

    70

  33. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, IIIa pars, q. 76, art. 8: "Utrum verum corpus Christi remaneat in hoc sacramento quando miraculose apparet sub specie pueri vel carnis" — whether the true body of Christ remains in this sacrament when, by miracle, it appears there under the species of a child or of flesh. Conclusion of the respondeo, translated in the body of the article (Leonine text): "Et ideo dicendum quod, manentibus dimensionibus quae prius fuerunt, fit miraculose quaedam immutatio circa alia accidentia, puta figuram et colorem et alia huiusmodi, ut videatur caro vel sanguis, aut etiam puer. Et, sicut prius dictum est, hoc non est deceptio, quia fit in figuram cuiusdam veritatis, scilicet ad ostendendum per hanc miraculosam apparitionem quod in hoc sacramento est vere corpus Christi et sanguis. Et sic patet quod, remanentibus dimensionibus, quae sunt fundamenta aliorum accidentium, ut infra dicetur, remanet vere corpus Christi in hoc sacramento."

    71 72

  34. John Paul II, Orvieto Angelus, solemnity of Corpus Domini, 17 June 1990 (vatican.va): "Mi ricordo 43 anni fa […] ho potuto ammirare questa basilica e prendere parte alla processione eucaristica, dove si porta il corporale miracoloso." The same Angelus names "il famoso santuario eucaristico di Bolsena".

    77

  35. Jubilee of the 750th anniversary (2013–2014) and rescript of the Apostolic Penitentiary of 13 March 2012: references not verified in the primary text during this revision.

    78

  36. Council of Trent, 13th session of 11 October 1551, Decretum de Sanctissima Eucharistia, chap. 4 (DS 1642); canon 2 (DS 1652). Quotation in the body of the article: chap. 4, reproduced by the CCC in §1376 (Mame-Plon ed., 1997; text verified on vatican.va). Critical reference edition: Les Conciles œcuméniques, II/2: Les Décrets de Trente à Vatican II, Cerf, 1994.

    79

  37. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1374 (official French text, vatican.va): "In the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist are "contained truly, really and substantially the Body and the Blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, consequently, the whole Christ"" (citing Trent, canon 1: DS 1651).

    80

  38. "The Mass at Bolsena", English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mass_at_Bolsena): infobox "Artist Raphael — Year 1512-1514 — Type Fresco — Dimensions 660 cm (260 in) wide — Location Apostolic Palace, Vatican Museums" (dating corroborated by Bridgeman Images, "The Mass at Bolsena, Stanza di Eliodoro, 1512-14"). Identification of the figures: Julius II kneeling on the right, Felice della Rovere in profile at lower left, Raphael's self-portrait as a Swiss Guard with tied hair at lower right, and the cardinals Leonardo Grosso della Rovere, Raffaello Riario, Tommaso Riario and Agostino Spinola.

    81 82