History of the Basilica of Corpus Domini & the Eucharistic Miracle:
In 1453, after a battle, the French victorious soldiers looted the main church in the nearby town of Exilles, some 80 miles west of Turin on the border with France, and one of them stole the monstrance with the consecrated Host and put it in a bag. On June 6 (the Feast of Corpus Christi), he put the consecrated hosts on the back of a mule as the soldiers headed to Turin to sell the spoils of their battle.
The mule stumbled as they approached Turin and the monstrance with the consecrated Host rose over the surrounding houses and illuminated the square from the air.
One of the witnesses ran with this news to the Bishop, Ludovic of the Romagnano’s Marquises.The Bishop went to the plaza, prostrated himself in adoration and prayed with the words of the Emmaus disciples, “Stay with us, Lord”. However, there was more to come: the consecrated Host was shining over the square as a second sun. The Bishop who was holding a chalice in his hands, lifted it up high, and the consecrated Host slowly started coming down and landing in the chalice.
The devotion for the miracle of 1453 was at once adopted by the town that first promoted the building of an aedicule on the
place of the Miracle, and then soon substituted by the church dedicated to the Corpus Domini.
In 1598, during the epidemic of the plague, the municipality decided to build a Basilica in gratitude for prayers answered.
Inside the Corpus Domini Basilica in Turin, there is a marble slab over the spot where the miracle took place that reads:
“Here the she-mule, that was carrying the Divine Body, fell prostrate – here the Sacred Host, having freed Itself from the bag that was imprisoning It, rose by Itself high – here clement came down among the suppliant hands of the Torineses – here then the placemade holy by the miracle -remembering it, praying on your knees let it move you tovenerate or to be in fear
(June 6, 1453)”.
Finding the Basilica of Corpus Domini:
Address: Piazza Corpus Domini
Tel: +39- 011-4366025
Click here for the official website of the Basilica of Corpus Domini in Turin.
