The Host Desecration Project 4: The Rest of the Story

He who considers this will, astonished, praise divine mercy, and the other things of the Lord (he was allowed to return from death and not immediately to die) and speak as it were of the resurrection. Indeed, that sacrosanct Host, after being stabbed, pierced, scourged, burnt by the flames, torn, lanced and thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, unblemished and whole, lay with honor in the Church of Saint John in Gravia, covered by a small piece of the Lord's clothing, and to the greater glory of the Lord, adorned with a small piece of the Cross. The faithful can look at with their own eyes the aforementioned breadknife and the blood that miraculously flowed forth from the wound and the container of ashes in which it arrived, in the church of the Brothers of Blessed Mary of Charity, in the same neighborhood.

These deeds came from the house to the notice of the people thus. When, at the hour of the High Mass, the signal was given by the bell in the Crusader church, that the gathering people might adore the sacrosanct body of Christ, the son of the Jew, going outside, asked those passing by where they were running. They declared that they were going to the venerable mystery of the sacrosant body of Christ. The boy told the Christians that they would seek their god in that church in vain, and how his father had beaten it, scourged it, afflicted it with injury and treated it with evil. A certain woman, hearing this and eager to find out, charged into the house of the Jew, full of horror, armed with the sign of the Cross saw again the martyrdom of the flesh of the Lord. Immediately the sacrosanct host, consecrated and unharmed, ensiled itself in a wooden container used for carrying ashes, which the woman reached for to carry. She bestowed it for safekeeping on the priesthood of Saint John in Gravia, and they concealed it with great reverence under the interior. That woman, moreover, although she attempted to leave the church, could not as though she were bound in chains, until she told the priests how she got the Host she had bestowed, witnessed by many who had now gathered and made reports.

The woman related the deed and the things she saw. Whereupon the priest undertook to tell the bishop of Paris. The whole of the city rushed to the spectacle; the Jew was joined with his wife and children in chains. Brought to the presence of the bishop and men distinguished in ecclesiastical dignity, the Jew confessed to the crime; he was warned that he should repent, for it is written, I desire not the death of the wicked, but it is better to turn from this way, and live, he hoped for pardon when he prayed a long time ago before they crucified him. The woman and children were converted to the Christian faith, although the obstinate Jew had been condemned to be cremated by fire, and was led to the place of punishment. When the executioner wanted to place him on the fire he exclaimed, "Woe is me, who was so unexpectedly caught, I was not able to take arms!" Asked what were these aforementioned arms, the Jew responded, "I have a book in my home, which, were I to have it with me, God would make it so that you could not immolate me."

At the command of the prior the book was brought by the ushers, bound to the Jew, and placed under the flame both were reduced to ashes as easily as it was difficult for the Jew to be converted from his infidelity. Then with the crowd of people standing around, the Bishop of Paris reviewed the place where the miracle occurred, as was told. He marked with holy anointing of chrism the wife of the Jew, his son and his daughter, who were cleansed by baptism. Many other Jews, too, so moved by the evident miracle, converted to the faith, securing the sacrament of baptism.

Moreover, in that spot where so great a crime was savagely perpetrated, Raynerius Flamingus, a citizen of Paris, undertook the building of a chapel where the miracle was expressed, at his own expense in the year 1294. Then, with Guido of Joinville managing, he bestowed it upon the brothers of Blessed Mary of Charity of the diocese of Catalina. Also Philip, king of the Franks, called the Fair, enlarged the home near the aforementioned chapel in the Year of our Lord 1299. Indeed the aforementioned brothers of the order established a commemoration of so great a miracle to be celebrated solemnly each year on Whitsunday.