Bleeding Bread of Bolsena
: is
a medieval mystery which science has recently revisited. According
to legend, during a 13th century mass at Bolsena in Italy, some bright red
blood is said to have manifested on the sacramental wafer. This
event later went on to inspire Pope Urban IV to inaugurate the Annual
Feast of Corpus Christi. However this 'miracle' has recently been
recreated in a petri dish in 1994. Dr. Johanna Cullen from George
Mason University in Virginia, found that by incubating the Serratia
marcescens bacteria, a similar effect produced by the Bolsena bread
could be achieved. The bacteria thrive on starch and within three
days of her experiment several blood red spots appeared on a wafer.
It could be that a simple case of contamination may be one explanation for
this miracle.
Source: Information for this article, Dr.
Karl P. N. Schuker, The Unexplained, Carlton Books Limited (1997)
ISBN: 1-85868-384