PONFERRADASPAIN, 1533

In the Miracle of Ponferrada,Juan De Benavente decided to steal the tabernacle containing a precious silverciborium with numerousconsecrated Hosts inside from his very own parish.With only the passing of timeand miraculous circumstancesthe recovery of the stolenHosts, which remained perfectly intact, was madepossible.

uan De Benavente lived in Ponferrada withhis wife. It was apparent that he was verydevout and religious. In fact every evening

he stopped in church to pray. One day, during hisprayer time, he succumbed to greed and seizedthe tabernacle, a simple wooden container, inwhich there was a precious silver ciboriumcontaining some consecrated Hosts. He fled fromthe church and headed towards the Sil River inorder to pitch the cheap wooden tabernacle, butwhen he tried to launch it into the water he couldnot because of its sudden immense weight. So hereturned home where he hid everything and saidnothing to his wife. During the night continuousflashes of light came from the tabernacle arousingthe suspicion of his wife. So Juan decided to goout and dispose of his sacrilegious stolen goods.He reached a place the townspeople called the

Arenal Field and threw the tabernacle andconsecrated Hosts into the middle of the black-berry patch. The discovery of the crime broughtdismay among all of the population and Juanbecame increasingly nervous and anxious, alsobecause he did not know how to sell the silverciborium without getting caught.

Near the Arenal Field,the owner of the land, Diego Nuñez de Losada,set up a target practice for entertainment duringthe feast days. During the time frame in whichthe sacred Hosts were still in the blackberrypatch, eyewitness reported seeing flashes oflight at night and strange doves hovering duringthe day. The crossbowmen tried in vain to hitthe doves. The miller Nogaledo decided then tocapture the doves with his hands and ventured

into the blackberry patch discovering the taber-nacle and the sacred Hosts from where theintense flashes of light originated. Shook up, hewent straight towards the church where the bellswere ringing in the distance. The return of thesacred Hosts was organized via a solemn procession.Juan was overcome with remorse and decided toplead guilty. In the place of the recovery of themiraculous Hosts a chapel was immediatelyconstructed. In 1570 the parish priest plannedthe expansion of the building and instituted asolemn annual procession on the eighth day ofthe Feast of Corpus Christi in memory of themiracle.

© 2006, Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire / The Real Presence Association, Inc.

JAncient church of St. Peter,demolished in the 20th century,where the painting of the miraclewas previously housed, Ponferrada

Exact sight where the Hostswhere found

Street named in honor of the recovery of the miracle

Painting that depicts the miracle, currently housed in the new church of St. Peter

Eucharistic Miracle of

Sil River, near the Arenal Field, where Juan de Benavente wanted to throw the tabernacle containing the Hosts

New Church of St. Peter,Ponferrada

The Virgin of the Evergreen Oak Church of St. Mary where the miracle took place, Ponferrada