Signs of God's love

Miracles

A miracle is an event that cannot be explained by natural causes and is seen as a sign of God at work. Jesus' miracles showed his compassion and that he is the Son of God. Christians believe miracles still happen today.

Miracles of JesusMiracles of the ApostlesEucharistic miraclesMiracles of saintsHow the Church checks a miracle

All the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels

The Gospels record about 35–37 individual miracles (depending on how they are counted), as well as saying Jesus healed “many” more (Mark 1:34). John's Gospel ends: “There are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books” (John 21:25).

#MiracleTypeWhereBible reference

Also: the Transfiguration on a high mountain (Matthew 17:1–8), and the greatest miracle of all, the Resurrection (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20) and the Ascension (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9).

Miracles of the Apostles (Acts of the Apostles)

Jesus told his disciples they would do great works in his name (John 14:12). The Book of Acts records:

ApostleMiracleWhereReference
Peter & JohnA man lame from birth walksBeautiful Gate, Temple, JerusalemActs 3:1–10
PeterThe sick are healed even by his shadowJerusalemActs 5:15–16
The ApostlesFreed from prison by an angelJerusalemActs 5:17–20
Philip the deaconHealings and exorcismsSamariaActs 8:6–7
PeterHeals Aeneas, paralysed for 8 yearsLyddaActs 9:32–35
PeterRaises Tabitha (Dorcas) from the deadJoppa (Jaffa)Acts 9:36–42
PeterChains fall off; freed from prison by an angelJerusalemActs 12:6–11
PaulHeals a man crippled from birthLystra (Turkey)Acts 14:8–10
PaulFrees a slave girl from an evil spiritPhilippi (Greece)Acts 16:16–18
Paul & SilasEarthquake opens the prison doorsPhilippiActs 16:25–26
PaulHandkerchiefs he touched heal the sickEphesusActs 19:11–12
PaulRaises Eutychus, who fell from a windowTroasActs 20:9–12
PaulUnharmed by a viper's bite; heals the father of Publius and many islandersMaltaActs 28:3–9

Eucharistic miracles

Catholics believe that at Mass the bread and wine become the real Body and Blood of Christ (while still looking like bread and wine). In a few rare events, the host has been reported to change visibly. Here are some of the best known, recognised by the local Church:

Lanciano, Italy · c. 750

A monk who doubted saw the host turn into flesh and the wine into blood during Mass. The relics are still kept there.

Studied in 1970–71 by Prof. Odoardo Linoli, who reported the flesh to be human heart muscle and the blood type AB.

Bolsena–Orvieto, Italy · 1263

A German priest, Peter of Prague, who doubted the Real Presence saw blood flow from the host onto the altar cloth.

Pope Urban IV, then at Orvieto, extended the feast of Corpus Christi to the whole Church in 1264. The stained cloth is kept in Orvieto Cathedral.

Siena, Italy · 1730

Hundreds of consecrated hosts, stolen and later found, have remained fresh and uncorrupted for nearly 300 years.

Santarém, Portugal · 13th century

A woman stole a host for a sorceress; it began to bleed. It is kept in the Church of the Holy Miracle.

Sokółka, Poland · 2008

A dropped host placed in water developed a red spot. Two pathologists reported tissue resembling heart muscle; the Archdiocese of Białystok called it a sign (2009).

Legnica, Poland · 2013

A host that fell on Christmas Day developed red spots; in 2016 Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski declared it bore the signs of a Eucharistic miracle.

St Carlo Acutis built a famous online exhibition of over 130 Eucharistic miracles, now shown in parishes worldwide.

Famous miracles of saints and holy places

WhenSaint / placeMiracle
3 times a year since 1389St Januarius (San Gennaro), NaplesHis dried blood, kept in a glass vial, turns liquid on his feast days.
Since 1087St Nicholas, BariA clear liquid (“manna”) collects in his tomb and is drawn out every year on 9 May.
Many centuries“Incorruptible” saintsBodies that have not decayed naturally, e.g. St Bernadette (Nevers), St Catherine Labouré (Paris), St John Vianney (Ars), St Francis Xavier (Goa).
1224St Francis of AssisiFirst recorded stigmata — wounds of Christ in hands, feet and side.
1918–1968St Padre PioStigmata for 50 years; many healings and reported bilocations.
1531, 1858, 1917Guadalupe, Lourdes, FátimaThe tilma image, 72 recognised cures, the Miracle of the Sun — see Mother Mary.
1998 & 2008St Teresa of CalcuttaHealing of Monica Besra (India) and Marcílio Andrino (Brazil), approved for her beatification and canonisation.
2005 & 2011St John Paul IIHealing of Sr Marie Simon-Pierre (Parkinson's, France) and Floribeth Mora Díaz (brain aneurysm, Costa Rica).
2013 & 2022St Carlo AcutisHealing of a Brazilian boy with a pancreas defect (2013) and of Valeria Valverde, a student from Costa Rica injured in a bicycle accident in Florence (2022).

How does the Church check a miracle?

The Church is cautious. A healing is only called a miracle after doctors and theologians examine it for years. The standard rules go back to Pope Benedict XIV (1734). The illness must be:

  1. serious and properly diagnosed;
  2. not already getting better on its own;
  3. healed suddenly or very quickly,
  4. completely, and
  5. permanently,
  6. without any medical treatment that could explain it.

At Lourdes, cures are examined first by the Lourdes Medical Bureau (founded 1883), which any doctor may join, then by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, and finally by the bishop of the healed person's diocese, who alone can declare a miracle. For saints, the Vatican's medical board (Consulta Medica) of specialists votes on whether a healing is scientifically inexplicable; then theologians judge whether it came through the prayers of that holy person.

Sources & further reading