The parish of St Joseph’s in Malvern, in association with St Wulstan’s in Little Malvern, recently hosted the exhibition designed by Blessed Carlo Acutis on the Eucharistic miracles of the world.

Over the weekend of 25 – 27 June more than 200 people visited from all over the region from Worcester, Evesham, Bristol, Cheltenham and Birmingham. Donations of nearly £170 will be sent to the orphanage in Egypt being supported by the Acutis family.

Anna Johnstone (pictured), the governess to the Acutis family, was on hand all weekend giving tours and talks, and saw quite a few people on a one-to-one basis or in small family groups.

People left with tears in their eyes. The feedback and comments were extremely positive. One person said: “It was like having a little mini pilgrimage very close to home”. And another: “Having a person like Anna talking to people gives an unusual insight into the life of Blessed Carlo”. All the feedback was filled with thankfulness and emotion.

The exhibition was designed, researched and devised by the young Italian Carlo Acutis. He learned about the known sites of the Eucharistic miracles around the world and to help others learn and grow in devotion to the Eucharist. He used his digital media skills to develop a website to catalogue each of these miracles before he suddenly died of leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15.

A seven-year-old Brazilian boy was healed from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with a piece of one of Carlo’s T-shirts. Following this, Carlo was beatified on 10 October 2020 at the basilica in Assisi.

The popular exhibition never fails to surprise, even to astound the onlookers: not only are there over 160 such miracles documented and approved by the Church over the past centuries, but also those that have happened over the last recent decades have been critically and thoroughly investigated using the most extensive scientific testing, and all the results converge.

The blood is always type AB positive, as in the Shroud of Turin; the tissue is always from the myocardium; there are living white blood cells within the tissue, which reveal that the tissue is taken from a living man who is undergoing extremely painful agony.

Even the WHO (for the case of the Lanciano miracle which occurred in 750 AD and scientifically studied in 1971), insisting that a further 500 tests be done under their supervision, had to agree, in 1976, with the initial conclusions. These are not hoaxes, and they confirm what Catholics have always taught, that Jesus Christ himself becomes physically present under the appearances of bread and wine, after these have been consecrated by the ordained priest at Mass.

If you missed the exhibition there is a collection of useful links on the St Joseph’s website

The exhibition has been displayed in several languages throughout the world, and is available to any school, parish or other organisation that wishes to feature it in their area. Visit website for more information