Fiecht

The little village of
St. Georgenberg-Fiecht, in the
Inn Valley, is very well known,
especially for a Eucharistic
miracle that took place there
in 1310. During the Mass,
the priest was seized with
temptations regarding the
Real Presence of Jesus in the
consecrated elements. Right
after the consecration, the wine
changed into blood and began
to boil and overflow the chalice.
In 1480, after 170 years,
the sacred blood was “still fresh
as if it had come out of a
wound,” wrote the chronicler of
those days. It is preserved intact
to this day and is contained in
the reliquary in the Monastery
of St. Georgenberg.
Near the side altar of the monastery church
there is a documentary tablet that says:
“In the year of grace 1310, under Abbot
Rupert, a priest was celebrating Holy Mass in this
church dedicated to the holy martyr George and
the Holy Apostle James. After consecrating the
wine, he was seized with a doubt as to whether
the Blood of Christ was really present under the
species of wine. Suddenly the wine changed into
red blood that began to boil in the chalice and
overflow it. The abbot and his monks, who
happened to be in the choir, and the numerous
pilgrims who were present at the celebration,
approached the altar and realized what had
happened. The priest, terrified, was unable to
drink all the Holy Blood, and so the abbot placed
the remainder in a vessel in the tabernacle of the
main altar near the cloth with which the chalice
was wiped. As soon as news of this miraculous
event began to spread, more and more pilgrims
began to arrive to adore the sacred Blood. So
great was the number of the devotees of the
Holy Blood that in 1472 Bishop Georg von
Brixen sent the abbot of Wilten, Joahannes Lösch,
and the pastors, Sigmund Thaur and Kaspar of
Absam, to better study the phenomenon.
As a result of this investigation, the adoration of
the Blessed Blood was encouraged and the
miracle was declared authentic.
Among the devotees were important
Church personalities, like John, Bishop of Trieste ;
George, Bishop of Brixen ; Rupert, Archbishop
of Cologne and Duke of Bavaria ; Frederick,
Bishop of Chiemsee.”
A second documentary tablet recounts how the
relic of the Holy Blood helped preserve the
Catholic faith during the Protestant schism:
“When, in 1593, the teachings of Luther were
spreading everywhere in Tyrol, the monks of St.
Georgenberg were asked to preach the faith everywhere.
Abbot Michael Geisser was preaching
with great success before a large crowd in the
parish church of Schwaz and did not
hesitate to recall the Holy Miracle of the Blood as
proof of the existence of the Real Presence of
Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
He was disputing in such a convincing way that
the adversaries were obliged to leave the scene.
This total victory against the false teaching was
regarded by the believers as a special grace the
Lord was granting his faithful, the adorers of the
precious blood.”