Eucharistic Crusaders: Canada's Eucharistic Miracle

Canada's Eucharistic Miracle

This is a true story that happened in Alberta, Canada, in the 1940's. Father Gino Violini had been appointed to a small mission church in Cowley, Alberta. He went there July 18, 1946 and stood before the little church called, St. Joseph's.

As the priest was standing there, some parishioners came to see him and told him, “We don't need a priest! And if ever we do need a priest, we will inform Bishop Carroll about the fact! And Father, we don't want to see you reading your Breviary! And you can get rid of your cassock!” Poor Fr. Gino, what a horrible way his parishioners were treating him. What a sad situation it really was.

Fr. Gino stayed in spite of what the people had said to him, and he celebrated his first Mass there, the following Sunday. Only nine people showed up at church that Sunday, and the following Sunday it was even worse – only four people came to Mass! If any of you remember reading the story about the Cure of Ars, you will remember that he was faced with the same type of situation.

The next two years were a disaster – still very few people showed up at church and they hardly put any money in the collection plate. The poor priest was starving! He could only afford to get one loaf of bread a week; this he would cut it into seven pieces, and it would last him for the whole week. The only other thing he ate was dandelion leaves and water!

Winter was very cold in Cowley, and the poor priest would find his blankets covered with snow when he awoke in the morning. This is because there were holes between the logs in the house where he lived.

Fr. Gino's first Christmas collection was $1.13. The church was as cold as the house and the water would freeze in the cruet, even though the priest had placed it on the little coal stove.

Enough is enough, and finally one day, Fr. Gino wrote a sixteen page letter to Bishop Carroll. He was fed up, and he thought that the parish of Cowley was a total write-off—a hopeless case! But the Bishop did not agree; he told Fr. Gino to stay put. The Bishop had full confidence in Fr. Gino and he expected him to bring about the full conversion of his parish. The poor priest now realized that he had to stay where he was because it was simply God's Holy Will.

God did not leave Fr. Gino's prayers and sufferings go unanswered, and one day the priest was going to be in for a wonderful surprise.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, Fr. Gino headed towards the church for morning prayers. But as he was walking he noticed that the door of the church was hanging off its hinges. He hurried in and gazed at the terrible scene. The walls were in shambles, the statues destroyed and the tabernacle had been split open. And the consecrated hosts were scattered down the main isle of the church! One by one, Fr. Gino gathered up the hosts – counting each one. They were all there except the large Benediction Host – it was nowhere to be found.

Poor Fr. Gino was worried. What had become of the other Host? By now it was raining and Fr. Gino notified Fr. Harrington, from another parish, about the missing consecrated Host. Fr. Harrington organized a search party of some 2000 people who searched surrounding places and towns for the missing Host.

The RCMP picked up two men at Cowley and questioned them at Blairemore. These two men had stolen a pickup truck and abandoned it down the highway when the police had discovered them.(… continued from page 4)

When Fr. Gino was able to see these men, he recognized them. They had come from Lethbridge, and had been seated next to him at a baseball game a couple of days before. Then he listened to Sergeant Parsons who was questioning the men. “Remember, it may not mean much to you or me, but you fellows stole his Jesus.” Fr. Gino then explained the meaning of the Blessed Sacrament to them. He explained that when the priest says the words of consecration, the host becomes God, even though it only looks like a piece of bread, and that it is very precious to Catholics. He then added, “I will drop all charges if you two men will only tell me where you threw the Host.”

The two robbers were then touched to the heart and they began to show that they were sorry. They then offered to help find the consecrated Host. One of them admitted, “I threw the Host out the truck window just before the police arrested us, because I knew that it would be evidence that would prove that we were guilty of robbing the church.”

The rain stopped. By now the two robbers had been handcuffed and they all piled into the police cruiser – they were off to look for the stolen Host. It was about 6:00 in the evening when they neared the spot where the stolen Host had been thrown. But what a surprise met their eyes when they arrived.

As they rounded the corner east of Bellevue, they all saw the Host floating in midair, beside the highway! Beautiful rays of colored light were coming from it. Even before the car had stopped, Fr. Gino leaped from the car and ran towards the astonishing sight. Sergeant Parsons was right behind him. Fr. Gino was overcome with joy and wonder; he fell on his knees in adoration. Sergeant Parsons did the same and knelt right in a puddle of mud!

Then Fr. Gino stood up and reached for the Host. The rain had not damaged it! It looked as fresh and as white as the day he had consecrated it. As the priest touched the Host, all the people that were there heard these words come from the Host, “Fr. Gino, please take me back to Cowley!” Yes, Jesus actually spoke from the consecrated Host! What a wonderful and glorious miracle!

Here was Jesus asking to be taken back to the desecrated church, to a parish that Fr. Gino had wanted to leave. As they returned to Cowley, although Sergeant Parson was driving, very often he would look at the Host that Fr. Gino was holding in his hands.

Bishop Carroll arrived the next day and told Fr. Gino that he, himself, would be the one to rededicate the church since it had been desecrated. He stayed to pray with the priest and when he had finished praying, he turned to Fr. Gino saying, “Great changes will soon take place in this parish!”

And the Bishop was right. A few days later, Sergeant Parsons came and asked to be instructed in the Catholic Faith. And his wife and children soon joined him, and became Catholics too. Also, two other RCMP from another area asked to become Catholics as well!

As time went on, more and more Catholics began to return to the church. The parish mission became so popular that the beer hall shut down when the mission was in progress. The people who were in the beer hall, many of whom were not Catholic, would carry the bar stools to the church to listen to Fr. Gino's sermons. And even the pot-bellied stove had to be taken out, to make room for everyone who came to hear the sermons at the mission.

So you see, it is most important to persevere in prayer and good works. Sometimes we may wonder: Why do my parents ask me to vacuum the carpets all the time? Why do they always ask me to say the Rosary, even when I am tired? Why do they ask me to look after my little brother or sister, when I want to go out to play? Why this, and why that?

Though we can not see why at the time, God's Holy Will is shown to us through our parents. If we offer these things up to God, with out complaining, we will be able to save many souls. And one day, when we are in Heaven, we will be able to see the souls we helped to save – some may even be our family, or our own friends or enemies!

The End

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