Dan Green, a parishioner at Columbus St. Catharine of Siena Church, has recently written and
published a book on the science, history and theology of Eucharistic miracles.
Flesh, Blood and Wonder: Discovering the Heart of Jesus in Eucharistic Miracles was inspired
by the newly canonized St. Carlo Acutis and his zeal for spreading awareness of Eucharistic
miracles. Green wanted to use his own career experience as an emergency data analyst to educate readers on these supernatural phenomena.
“My goal wasn’t just to compile stories,” Green said, “but to explore how these miracles reveal God’s personality and intention and how he meets us physically with love, even today.”
Green, a husband and father of five, is donating all proceeds from the book to the Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibition started by St. Carlo Acutis.
The exhibit consists of enlarged photographs, documents and artwork pertaining to more than
140 Eucharistic miracles.
The large panels were designed to travel and be set up in various venues such as schools or churches to be perused and studied by viewers. The saint also developed a website, miracolieucaristici.org, to complement the exhibit and make all the information accessible virtually.
“My hope … is that the book may be a companion to the exhibit and encourage the world
to spend more time with the accounts of these miracles,” Green said. “In doing so, I hope that
the world could be reminded of the immense gift we have in the Eucharist and that the wonder
readers may have while contemplating (the miracles) would increase devotion to Jesus during
this Eucharistic revival.”
Green said through process of writing the book he has formed a friendship with St. Carlo Acutis, who would have been around the same age as him now. “(We) had similar interests, and seeing pictures of him, even wore some of the same clothes,” Green said.
After months of researching for the book, the saint’s relics were brought to a church near Green’s home. Shortly thereafter, his canonization was announced.
“It was special to see him elevated,” Green said. “It felt a little like seeing a friend honored.”
Flesh, Blood, and Wonder consist not only of multiple narrations of Eucharistic miracles but
in-depth analyses of the times, places, witnesses and circumstances surrounding the events.
Green includes graphs throughout the book to show the amount and frequency of various details,
such as types of individuals involved (priests, desecrators or
others).
“Each account is so deliberate and precise,” Green said. “Studying the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘when,’
‘where’ and ‘how’ (helps) to understand ‘why’ God acted in these ways. Like a detective, by
studying the circumstances surrounding an event, we can better understand the motives of a
person.”
For example, Green recounts in the book a miracle that took place in 1231 in Spain where not
only angels but also the Christ Child appeared during a Mass being said outside a church in
a royal court. As a result, many unbelieving witnesses, including the king and his family, converted to the faith. “The king’s conversion reminds us that the Lord, in his mercy, seeks even the distant and skeptical,” Green wrote.
In providing so many details about each miracle, Green’s intent is to show the deliberateness of God and refute any belief that these events are random or happenstance.
“My hope is to further convict the world about how purposeful God seeks us,” he said. “Christ
acts in the fullness of time in the exact circumstance that is necessary to reach (a) person and …
anyone else who studies the account of the miracle.”
Through his research, Green has realized the biological consistencies throughout the miracles, such as the blood type identified from bleeding Hosts.
“Considering the scientific testing, not only can we conclude that it has been and continues to be the same person throughout history,” Green said, “but also that he lives and the bread that he gives for the life of the world is his heart.
A heart that loves us through pursuit and … at Calvary was pierced and has flowed with so many miracles and graces through time since.”
