A technical exposé of Eucharistic miracles, by a YC alum
saintbeluga.orgThe timing of this post appropriately coincides with the opening of World Youth Day in Portugal. One of their patrons is Blessed Carlo Acutis, an English-Italian youth who enjoyed working on computers and was utterly devoted to the Holy Eucharist.
http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html
Blessed Carlo created an astonishing exhibit of Eucharistic miracles. I've seen it in person. Perhaps I only saw a part of it, because there are dozens and dozens. Many are well-documented, and many are obscure. Blessed Carlo put them all together on his computer. He passed away from leukemia in 2006. Thanks to the author of this article; Carlo's life and legacy endures through the Holy Spirit, and our own devotion.
I wrote up a meta-analysis of 5 forensic investigations of Eucharistic miracles, a rare phenomenon that’s been very fascinating to me. The miracles involve consecrated bread turning into human cardiac flesh and/or blood (sounds absolutely insane, I know). They've occurred hundreds of times over the centuries at Catholic parishes around the world, and 5 of them have been finally investigated in the last ~50 years thanks to advances in forensics science and medical tech.
I spent over a year working on this article, doing research and writing on evenings after putting the kids to bed.
Some background:
I participated in one of the earliest YC batches along with another cofounder and since then have held various FAANG and fintech jobs. I’ve been mostly a lurker on HN but have posted occasionally from another account. Starting out as an atheist, I embraced Protestant Christianity and later Catholicism after extensive research into the theology, lives of the canonized saints, and phenomena such as these miracles.
Full disclosure: this article is part of a tiny Catholic apologetics site, and most of you on HN probably don’t share my religious views let alone the conclusions of the article. But regardless of whether you’re a staunch atheist or a devout believer of whatever faith, I think it’s valuable for us on HN to be able to talk freely on the intersection of science & faith, a topic that’s very rarely discussed in tech circles. Many of my friends and family are atheists, so I really treasure this kind of civil open dialogue.
Enjoy and happy reading!
Reading your analysis and story reminds me how fascinating I find the transitions to and from atheism and Catholicism!
My maternal grandmother was raised an only child of atheists... and became a hardcore Catholic in the '50s and raised 9 kids.
My parents raised me hardcore Catholic... and I became an atheist while studying philosophy at Franciscan (after economics at Ave Maria).
I have way too much esoteric Catholic knowledge in my head I no longer have use for, besides the occasional "fun fact" moment.
There are some photos of my aunt in this article :)
Did any of the samples had enough material to make a DNA analysis?
Great question. I believe the DNA was too degraded, so no.