Eucharistic Miracle of Fiecht
Austria (1310)
 The
little village of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht, in the
Inn Valley, is very well known, especially for
a Eucharistic miracle that took place there in
1310. During the Mass, the priest was seized with
temptations regarding the Real Presence of Jesus
in the consecrated elements. Right after the consecration,
the wine changed into blood and began to boil
and overflow the chalice. In 1480, after 170 years,
the sacred blood was "still fresh as if it
had come out of a wound," wrote the chronicler
of those days. It is preserved intact to this
day and is contained in the reliquary in the Monastery
of St. Georgenberg.
Near the side altar of the monastery
church there is a documentary tablet that says:
"In the year of grace 1310, under Abbot Rupert,
a priest was celebrating Holy Mass in this church
dedicated to the holy martyr George and the Holy
Apostle James. After consecrating the wine, he
was seized with a doubt as to whether the Blood
of Christ was really present under the species
of wine. Suddenly the wine changed into red blood
that began to boil in the chalice and overflow
it. The abbot and his monks, who happened to be
in the choir, and the numerous pilgrims who were
present at the celebration, approached the altar
and realized what had happened. The priest, terrified,
was unable to drink all the Holy Blood, and so
the abbot placed the remainder in a vessel in
the tabernacle of the main altar near the cloth
with which the chalice was wiped. As soon as news
of this miraculous event began to spread, more
and more pilgrims began to arrive to adore the
sacred Blood. So great was the number of the devotees
of the Holy Blood that in 1472 Bishop Georg von
Brixen sent the abbot of Wilten, Joahannes Lösch,
and the pastors, Sigmund Thaur and Kaspar of Absam,
to better study the phenomenon.
"As a result of this investigation,
the adoration of the Blessed Blood was encouraged
and the miracle was declared authentic.
"Among the devotees were
important Church personalities, like John, Bishop
of Trieste; George, Bishop of Brixen; Rupert,
Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Bavaria; Frederick,
Bishop of Chiemsee."
A second documentary tablet recounts
how the relic of the Holy Blood helped preserve
the Catholic faith during the Protestant schism:
"When, in 1593, the teachings of Luther were
spreading everywhere in Tyrol, the monks of St.
Georgenberg were asked to preach the faith everywhere.
Abbot Michael Geisser was preaching with great
success before a large crowd in the parish church
of Schwaz and did not hesitate to recall the Holy
Miracle of the Blood as proof of the existence
of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar. He was disputing in such
a convincing way that the adversaries were obliged
to leave the scene. This total victory against
the false teaching was regarded by the believers
as a special grace the Lord was granting his faithful,
the adorers of the precious blood."
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