YOUTH MATTERS: To Christ through the Snow

By Sam Clear, Director of the Office of Youth Evangelisation

There are many Eucharistic miracles, some with incredible independent scientific analysis that caused quite a stir among the doctors and scientists inspecting the possible miracles, but my favourite miracle isn’t one of academia; it’s one of the heart.

For those who have walked the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, you will be well aware of the highest point along the way, the old Spanish mountain-top village of O’Cebreiro. Pilgrims remember it for the difficult climb to reach the village, and the satisfying vistas from the top.

There is a hidden gem in that mountain village, though; the home to a Eucharistic miracle from around the year 1300.

The simple stone church of the village Santa Maria la Real is suspected to date back to the middle of the ninth century, providing both Mass and bedding for pilgrims walking to the tomb of St James, still another one hundred and fifty kilometres further on. The church was under the care of Benedictine monks, and sitting at some 1,293 metres above sea level, the winter storms could be severe.

One evening as a monk prepared to celebrate Mass, a snow storm raged outside. His expectation was that he would be celebrating Mass alone, as the conditions were too dangerous for the locals to be outside. To the monk’s surprise and confusion, the church door did open, but it wasn’t an O’Cebreiro local, rather, a farmer who had had walked from some distance, a few hours through the snow storm, to be there for Mass. The monk was dismissive of the farmer’s desire for Mass, even mocking him for such a stupid action – putting his life on the line ‘just to attend Mass’.

The farmer, soaked through and cold, offered no response to the belittling comment. The monk commenced the Mass for the two of them and it was during the prayers of consecration that the host visibly changed into flesh and the wine into blood.

As Benedictine monk, Fray Antonio de Yepes, wrote many years later, “[God] opened the eyes of that miserable minister who had doubted and rewarded such great devotion as that good man had shown in coming to hear Mass with so many discomforts”. The presiding monk, terrified and remorseful, fell to his knees at the altar, exclaiming, “My Lord, and my God!”

The remains of the monk and the peasant, Juan Santin, are now buried within the church, side by side. If you haven’t already, please consider walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. And whatever difficulties arise this day, please consider seeking Our Lord in the blessed Eucharist. Jesus awaits.