The Eucharistic Miracle
Of Favernay
The Host in the Flames
Faverney is a small village in the Haute-Saône region of France. Visitors to the village cannot fail to notice the huge building of the former Benedictine abbey, now the philosophy department of the Besançon major seminary. Not far from the seminary is the Basilique de Faverney... the famous church of Notre-Dame-la-Blanche, famous also for a great miracle performed by Jesus to show his presence in the Host.
Let's go back more than three hundred years. On this May 24, 1608, we find the monks very busy. They come and go under the cloisters, carrying flowers, hangings and candles. It was the eve of Pentecost, and on this feast, by papal permission, the religious of Faverney were allowed to expose the Sacred Host to the veneration of the faithful for three days.At the entrance to the sanctuary, the brother sacristan is busy setting up the repository that will serve as Jesus' throne, while the other monks hang garlands from the church's hangings and pillars. On the day of Pentecost, the worshippers follow one another into the sunset. Then everyone goes home, and even the Benedictines think about resting.
They weren't very fervent, however, for instead of taking turns to stand guard before Jesus, they all returned to their cells, having left only a few lit candles at the repository.
On Monday May 26th, at three o'clock in the morning, the sacristan opened the church doors and rang the service bell. An acrid smell of smoke seized him by the throat; he rushed into the darkened nave, not daring to believe the horrible truth. And yet, yes, that's what it is: all that's left of the beautiful repository is a small pile of shapeless, burnt-out things. Panic-stricken, he runs outside, calling for help, only able to repeat in inarticulate words, cut short by sobs: "My repository, my chapel!" The monks and townspeople came running. We must face the facts: the misfortune is all too real. A few charred pieces are pulled from the still-red embers. This is all that's left of the altar table. Here's a candlestick, twisted by the violence of the flames. Here's the marble slab that supported the repository, lying shattered in three pieces. Dismayed, the monks clawed away at the debris, stirring up the coals, trying to find something of the monstrance which, along with its precious deposit, must have fallen prey to the flames. Suddenly, as dawning daylight illuminates the church, the voice of the youngest calls out:
"Here it is! Wonderful! The monstrance remains where it was.
The repository has collapsed, but the sacred vase containing the Body of Christ has not moved: there it is, in the same place, some 2.50 m above the ground, a little tilted to the side and to the front... intact; it remains suspended in the air, without support, without thread, sustained by the invisible force of God truly present in the Host.
With the joy of feeling his anguish over and seeing the misfortune averted, one of the monks reaches for the monstrance to take it and put it in a safe place. He was stopped: it was a prodigy, a miracle: it had to be published, the crowds had to be called. People still didn't dare believe it. The negligence of the religious was an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate his power through a marvelous miracle. The people of Faverney file past the still-motionless monstrance.
Memories of the Century
Favernay area
The news spread, and people flocked from Vesoul and the Protestant town of Montbéliard, certain to discover the deception.
But the fact is there, and it's indisputable. One of these Protestants, who like so many others was converted, tells us how, unable to believe in the reality of this prodigy that so upset his convictions, he went in and out thirty times before giving in to the evidence and adoring the Jesus of the Host fully and without return.
Throughout the day on Monday, crowds from the surrounding area flocked to the church in Faverney.
The monstrance remained immobile; underneath, the monks had laid out a tablecloth and an unfolded corporal: everything was ready to receive the monstrance when Jesus deemed it appropriate to bring the miracle to an end. The night passed, as Tuesday morning approached and the crowds continued to gather. At the altar, priests surrounded by their parishioners celebrated mass.
At the high altar, a priest from a neighboring village, Monsieur le Curé de Monoux, in turn offered the Holy Sacrifice. It was almost Consecration time when one of the candles placed in front of the monstrance went out. We light it again... it goes out once more. The eyes of all present are fixed on the altar. There, the bell announces the elevation of the Host. The monstrance moves, straightens and, just as the priest places the Host on the altar, slowly descends, without falling onto the table prepared for the purpose. The entire crowd that had seen it could not contain its emotion. The miracle is over; it lasted thirty hours.
This is not an invented story; among Eucharistic miracles, if there is one that has been seen and witnessed, and not just by one or two people for a few minutes, but by hundreds of people for a day and a half, it's this one.
It received the approval of the Bishop of Besançon and of Our Holy Father after a thorough process, in which the reports of fifty-three of the most important witnesses, including several Protestant converts, were recorded in writing. In the Franche-Comté region, it had a great impact and helped many Catholics, strongly tempted by Protestantism, to remain faithful to their faith in the Eucharist.
The monstrance contained two Hosts, one of which was donated to the town of Dôle. It was desecrated and destroyed there during the Revolution, on the orders of the representative Lejeune. The other is kept in Faverney, in the miracle monstrance, and every year the memory of this great event is celebrated there with festivities during which it is exposed to the veneration of the faithful.
Henri Amien
