CARAVACA DE LA CRUZSPAIN, 1231

The Eucharistic miracle of Caravaca de la Cruz regards the celebration of amiraculous Mass duringwhich Jesus appeared inside a Host together with aCrucifix. Thanks to this apparition, the Muslim kingof Murcia and his family wereconverted to Catholicism. The most authoritative document describing theMiracle is the contemporarytestimony of the FranciscanFather Gilles of Zamora, the historian of King St. Ferdinand.

mongst the many documents that reportthis miracle, the most authoritative is thatsupplied by King Saint Ferdinand’s historian

of the time, Father Gilles de Zamora. We knowwith certainty that a Christian priest, Don GínesPérez Chirinos de Cuenca, traveled amongst theMoors of the Kingdom of Murcia with the purposeof preaching the Gospel. He was captured howeverand brought to the presence of the Moorish KingZeyt-Abu-Zeyt who asked him some questionsabout certain aspects of the Christian faith. Theking particularly wanted to deepen his unders-tanding of the Mass. The priest went into detailexplaining the importance of the Mass and theking, fascinated by the preaching of the priest,ordered him immediately to celebrate one. Sincethe priest did not have the necessary equipmentfor the celebration, the king ordered some of his

men to get them from the nearby country ofCuenca, in Christian territory. But still theCross, which needed to be present on the altarduring a Mass, had been forgotten. The priestbegan to celebrate the Mass but, at a certainpoint, realized the absence of the Cross, becametroubled and stopped.

The king asked him why he was sodisturbed and the priest told him that he needed a Cross. The king however immediatelyresponded, “Wouldn’t that be it?” In fact, atthat moment two angels were placing a Crossupon the altar. The priest was deeply movedand gave thanks to the Lord. He then continuedwith the glorious celebration. The miraclecontinued. At the moment of the consecration,the Muslim king saw a beautiful baby in the

place of the Host who gazed on him endearingly.After having witnessed the miraculous event, theking and his family converted to Christianity andwere baptized. Zeyt-Abu-Zeyt took the name ofVincent and his wife took the name Elena. Fromthat day, the 3rd of March 1231, the country iscalled Caravaca de la Cruz. Recently, in the jubileeyear, the Holy See allowed Caravaca de la Cruz tobe the fifth city in the world, after Santiago deCompostela, Santo Toribio de Liebana, Romeand Jerusalem, to celebrate the Perpetual Jubilee(one holy year every seven in perpetuum) in theSanctuary where the Holy Cross is kept.

A

© 2006, Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire / The Real Presence Association, Inc.

Interior of the Church of Santa Cruz

Fresco of the church

Cross of CaravacaBanner depicting the

Cross of Caravaca

Ancient painting in the interior of the Church depicting the Miracle

Eucharistic Miracle of

Church of Santa Cruz builtwhere the Miracle took place