In 1330, a priest near Siena brought a consecrated Host to a sick person. He had placed it between the pages of his breviary. On opening the book, he found blood and the Host adhering to it. The frightened priest sought out the Augustinian Simon Fidati, who took charge of the leaves. The order's tradition and Simon's historical biography trace their journey to Perugia and Cascia. The relic is still preserved and venerated at Saint Rita's shrine.
The account preserved by the order's sources attests to bloodstains left in a breviary by a Host carried for Communion of the sick. Simon Fidati took charge of the affected leaves; their transfer to Umbria is connected with him.
Further original photographs from the publisher
The Priest Opens His Breviary
The Augustinian tradition, reproduced by Romolo Trinchieri with bibliographic references, leads to Siena in 1330. A priest set out to visit a sick person and placed the consecrated Host between the pages of his breviary. When he opened the book, he saw blood and the Host adhering to it. He turned to Simon of Cascia, who was then preaching in Siena. Simon received the priest and took charge of the affected leaves. Careless handling of the sacrament thus became an occasion for serious reflection and spiritual conversion.[3]
Simon Fidati: Preacher and Spiritual Adviser
Simon Fidati was an Augustinian and the author of De gestis Domini Salvatoris. Enrico Menestò's scholarly biography places his birth around the end of the thirteenth century and gives 1348 as the year of his death. It cannot be established with certainty whether he died in Rome or Florence. As a historically documented preacher and religious, Simon connects the incident with the relics' later custody. Saint Rita is the patron of the present shrine, not an eyewitness to the event of 1330.[2]
From Siena to Perugia and Cascia
Menestò's scholarly biography also records the relics' journey from Siena through Perugia to Cascia in 1330. The miracle's name thus primarily refers to the place of later veneration. It began in Siena; in Umbria, the leaves were received as testimony to the Eucharistic event. This distinction makes the geography of the story clear and connects it with Simon's documented work.[2]
History of the Order, Biography, and Shrine
The sources complement one another: the shrine explains the relic and its ecclesiastical veneration; Menestò places Simon and the relics' journey within a scholarly biography; Trinchieri's history of the order refers to earlier literature, including A. Morini's La reliquia del Corpus Christi. The account therefore draws on several identifiable approaches. The texts consulted here are later accounts of the story, not records of examinations taken directly in 1330. The earliest textual witnesses and records of possession remain important for a further edition.[1][2][3]
Christ Comes to the Sick
The priest's original task was to bring Communion to a sick person. The Host was being carried for someone who was to receive Christ's closeness in distress. The miracle therefore recalls both the dignity of the Blessed Sacrament and the importance of this ministry. Eucharistic reverence and love for the sick belong together. The relic leads back to the attitude with which the Church brings the Lord to the weak and dying: the greatest care for the sacrament and loving concern for the person.[1]
Simon's Response: Confession and Renewed Reverence
The priest does not remain alone with his alarm. He seeks a spiritual adviser; Simon takes up the matter and preserves its visible testimony. The response to the miracle is thus connected with pastoral care and the proclamation of Christ's real presence. The actions handed down already carry this meaning within them. The priest's name and his inner thoughts are not documented in detail; invented dramatic details are not substituted for them in order to understand the event.[1]
Witnesses & Investigators
The unnamed priest
Observer of the event according to the order's account
Discovered the bloodstain when opening the breviary and sought out Simon Fidati.[3]
Blessed Simon Fidati
Spiritual adviser and custodian of the relics
Received the priest's account and took charge of the leaves; their journey to Umbria is associated with him.[3]
The unfolding story
- Simon's Birth
Born in Cascia; the exact year is uncertain.[2]
- Event in Siena
After the discovery in the breviary, the priest seeks out Simon Fidati.[3]
- Journey to Umbria
Menestò's biography names Perugia and Cascia as stages in the relics' journey.[2]
- Simon's Death
The Augustinian dies; his place of death remains disputed.[2]
Ecclesiastical assessment
Saint Rita's shrine preserves the relic and presents the event as a Eucharistic miracle. Its historical context is connected with the Augustinian Simon Fidati and the relic's journey from 1330 onward.
Objections & Answers
Does an ordinary stain explain the relic?
Natural discoloration must in principle be considered when examining an old textile or book leaf. The account of Cascia, however, concerns a specific sequence: the Host carried between the pages, the discovery when the book was opened, and the handover to Simon Fidati. An alternative must account for this context as well as the material trace. Without a modern laboratory report, the substance cannot now be identified from a photograph. The historical testimony consists of the named sources of the order and the relics' journey; a merely imagined cause of the stain does not refute it.[1]
What value does the case have without an original record from 1330 available here?
Historical events are often reconstructed through later textual witnesses and records of custody. What matters is their proximity to the subject, their provenance, and their context. Cascia offers a historically documented religious, a scholarly treatment of his biography, and a specified route taken by the relics. These points justify studying the case. An edition of the earliest records would deepen the examination; their unavailability here justifies neither inventing additional witnesses nor dismissing the existing testimony wholesale.[2][3]
Meaning for faith
Cascia preserves a Eucharistic miracle whose historical journey leads to Umbria through Blessed Simon Fidati. The bloodstained breviary pages recall the dignity of Communion for the sick and the call to conversion. Their focus remains Christ, whom the priest was to bring reverently to the sick person.[1][2][3]
How Eucharistic Miracles Are Examined
Securing the account of events, identifying the material, and reading the Church's judgment precisely.
Methods of examination and ecclesiastical procedure →Sources & Evidence
Information on accessibility and scope helps you assess the evidence for yourself.
- [1] Il Beato Simone Fidati e il Miracolo eucaristico
Primary source for present-day interpretation and veneration; the medieval event is narrated retrospectively. No modern material analysis.
Open source · santaritadacascia.org ↗ - [2] FIDATI, Simone
Scholarly historical secondary source with a bibliography of sources. Explicitly records the relics' journey; distinguishes established biographical dates from uncertainties.
Open source · treccani.it ↗ - [3] L’Ordine di Sant’Agostino nell’Abruzzo aquilano
Historical study of the order with its own references to literature on the miracle tradition, including A. Morini. The version revised in 2007 was consulted; not a contemporary record from 1330.
Open source · historiaaugustiniana.net ↗
