Faverney's hosts miraculously saved from fire

When a fire broke out in the choir of the Benedictine abbey at Faverney, a monstrance containing two consecrated hosts remained suspended in the air for 33 hours. The miracle, which had no scientific explanation and was witnessed by many, was quickly recognized by the Church. The occurrence illustrates and confirms the Catholic dogma of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist. This miracle has inspired uninterrupted popular devotion since the 17th century.

Reasons to believe:

The full and detailed story of the miracle is perfectly well known, since they were written down immediately afterwards by eyewitnesses, and hundreds of books and articles have been published on the subject by recognized historians and theologians.
The number of eyewitnesses (over a thousand) and their social, religious and cultural diversity definitively excludes the idea of a collective hallucination.
The public investigation led by the Archbishop of Besançon immediately after the event heard 54 witnesses under oath.
The fact that the tabernacle, the two hosts, the papal brief and the episcopal letter were completely resistant to the flames cannot be scientifically explained, since all the surrounding furniture were consumed.
It is scientifically impossible for an object weighing several kilograms (a metal monstrance) to levitate into the air without any human or technical assistance, let alone remain suspended for 33 hours.
Traditionally, Benedictines observe great prudence with regard to all allegedly miraculous phenomena. And the Faverney Benedictines were not the only ones involved in the investigation, as they were soon joined by local Jesuits, Minims and Capuchins.

Summary:

On Saturday May 24, 1608, the eve of Pentecost, the Benedictine monks of Faverney Abbey (Haute-Saône, France) were preparing for mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the following day. An "altar of repose" (a portable wooden stand on which to place the monstrance) was set up in front of the choir screen.

During vespers, the prior placed a monstrance on it, which also doubled as a reliquary, containing St. Agatha's finger inside a metal tube, and two hosts consecrated during morning mass in a silver moon above. Two small votive candles, two pewter candlesticks and, on the front, a brief from Pope Clement VIII granting indulgences to pilgrims praying to Notre-Dame Blanche (a statue dating back to the Middle Ages), as well as a letter from Archbishop Ferdinand de Rye (1550-1636) of Besançon, Faverney's episcopal see at the time.

The following day, the feast of Pentecost, Eucharistic adoration took place as usual. After the vesper service, the church doors were locked for the night. Around 3 a.m., Dom Jean Garnier, sacristan, went to the church to ring the matins service. He was shocked to see thick smoke spread across the nave. He managed to get closer to the choir and discovered the wooden repository, two-thirds burnt out, and realized that the candles had been left burning by mistake, and, after melting completely, had set fire to the altar of repose.

He alerted the community. The monks arrived in a hurry and tried to salvage some of the ravaged furniture from the still-hot ashes. The fire had destroyed the liturgical linens and half-melted one of the pewter candlesticks. A brother then made a discovery: among the ashes, the pontifical writ and the archbishop's letter had strangely remained in a state of perfect preservation. This was inexplicable.

moment later, 15-year-old novice Antoine Hudelot looked up to where the reliquary had been placed the previous day, above the small altar. His eyes stayed glued to the monstrance "suspended five feet in the air", or over 1.50 meters high, near the choir screen, exactly where the priest had displayed it the previous day during adoration. Anticipating the possible end of the miracle, the prior had a corporal (liturgical linen) installed on what remained of the altar of repose, which he wedged as best he could with pieces of wood beneath the miraculous monstrance.

The Capuchins of Vesoul were immediately alerted. They arrived in Faverney around 5pm the same day and witnessed the ongoing miracle. In the meantime, the faithful, priests and curious onlookers flocked to the abbey church to observe the levitation of the monstrance, to the point that people were pressing dangerously close to the crumbling grate damaged by the fire. The monstrance, very close to the grate, could be damaged if the grate gave way under the pressure of people. A long beam was brought in to reinforce the base of the grate, but it struck heavily against the iron bars, causing the whole structure to wobble and move aside. Yet the monstrance remained completely immobile.

By the morning of May 27, the Capuchins had already drawn up an initial report. Diocesan priests were invited to see the phenomenon for themselves and to celebrate masses. At around 10 a.m., it was the turn of Father Nicolas Aubry, parish priest of the nearby village of Menoux, when suddenly, the "sound of a vibrating silver plate" was heard. Then the monstrance began to "gently sink" to the ground, as if carried by an invisible hand, and landed delicately on the corporal provided for the purpose. Both hosts were intact.

That day, over 1,000 people (the capacity of the monastery church) came to witness the miracle. That same evening, the Archbishop of Besançon, Ferdinand de Rye, was notified. From May 26 to June 4, 1608, less than a week after the event, three ecclesial judges arrived in Faverney, who interviewed 54 witnesses, including 7 monks. On July 10, Bishop de Rye recognized the miracle in a public ceremony, surrounded by the superiors of the Jesuits, Benedictines, Capuchins and Minims of his diocese. On September 13, 1608, Mgr Guido Bentivoglio of Ferrara, nuncio in Brussels, sent the news of "the very great miracle of the Blessed Sacrament" to Pope Paul V.

The seriousness of the investigation, trustworthiness of the participants, countless spiritual and human fruits, all point to the veracity of the miracle. At the beginning of the 17th century, Catholics were fighting with Protestants, who were strongly opposed to the dogma of the Real Presence. The political and military context in which the miracle took place was therefore very particular.

The first accounts of the events were written immediately after the miracle, and were printed as early as 1608, then distributed in Paris, Lyon, Rouen and Cologne. A pilgrimage began: every year, the host kept in Faverney (the other was transferred to the Sainte-Chapelle of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame de Dole) was carried in procession through the town. The host preserved Dole is also the object of an important veneration. Today, Faverney remains a place of pilgrimage.

The miracle was officially recognized by the Holy See on May 16, 1864, by decision of Pope Pius IX. On September 3, 1878, Faverney hosted a "pilgrimage-congress": 3,000 people took part in the Eucharistic procession. In 1958, 20,000 faithful, including a dozen bishops, came to Faverney for an international Eucharistic Congress.

In the 19th century, French physician and politician Émile Littré, a consummate positivist, wrote: "Miracles never take place where they can be observed at leisure." He was probably unaware of the Faverney miracle!

Patrick Sbalchiero

Beyond reasons to believe:

Alongside the spiritual significance of the miracle, the physical levitation of an object is a puzzling phenomenon that science cannot dismiss on the basis of ideological assumptions.