Seefeld Church of St. Oswald - (Seefeld, Austria) Eucharistic Miracle
geobeats On the night of Holy Thursday 1384, a knight named Oswald Milser attended Mass at the parish church in Seefeld. Guardian of a nearby castle, he was a man of great arrogance and pride.
During Mass, the knight approached the high altar with his sword drawn and a band of intimidating armed men, demanding the large host for himself - the small host normally given to the congregation was too ordinary for him.
The frightened priest handed him the host, and Milser remained standing as he took it. But as soon as he had the host in his mouth, the knight sank into the ground up to his knees. Pale with terror, he grasped the altar with both hands, leaving imprints that can still be seen.
The knight begged the priest to remove the host from his mouth. As soon as it was done, the ground became firm beneath him again. The humiliated knight rushed to the monastery of Stams, confessing and repenting his sin of arrogance. The velvet mantle he had worn that night was made into a chasuble and given to the Stams monastery.
In the remaining two years before his death, the knight continued to perform penance for his sacrilege. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried near the entrance of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
Shortly after the miracle, a knight (perhaps Milser himself) donated a silver monstrance in which to enshrine the miraculous host. The site soon drew so many pilgrims that a hostel had to be built to accommodate them.
The small church was soon bursting at the seams as well, and in 1423 Duke Freidrich commissioned a larger church. In 1516, Emperor Maximilian I erected an adjoining abbey, which housed Augustinian monks until 1807, and Archdurke Ferdinand II of Tyrol later added the Chapel of the Holy Blood within the church.
In 1984, the parish church celebrated the 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic Miracle of Seefeld. Today, the parish church continues to be one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations related to a eucharistic miracle. Here, the faithful can renew and express their faith in Christ and his true presence in the Eucharist. Oswald of Worcester (died 29 February 992) was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury, Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle, who died before Oswald returned. With his uncle's death, Oswald needed a patron and turned to another kinsman, Oskytel, who had recently become Archbishop of York. His activity for Oskytel attracted the notice of Archbishop Dunstan who had Oswald consecrated as Bishop of Worcester in 961. In 972 Oswald was promoted to the see of York, although he continued to hold Worcester also.
As bishop and archbishop, Oswald was a supporter and one of the leading promoters (together with Æthelwold) of Dunstan's reforms of the church, including monastic reforms.[1] Oswald founded a number of monasteries, including Ramsey Abbey, and reformed other seven, including Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and Pershore and Evesham in Worcestershire. Oswald also switched the cathedral chapter of Worcester from secular clergy to monks. While archbishop, he brought the scholar Abbo of Fleury to teach, and he spent two years in England, mostly at Ramsey. Oswald died in 992, while washing the feet of the poor. A hagiographical life was written shortly after his death, and he was quickly hailed as a saint.
Seefeld Church of St. Oswald - (Seefeld, Austria) Eucharistic Miracle