The Semantics of Eucharistic Miracles

Abstract

The term “Eucharistic miracles” refers to some seemingly inexplicable phenomena which have been observed at many times in Catholic churches in various countries. (“Eucharist” is the central element of Christian worship in general and Catholic worship in particular). According to Wikipedia, “reported Eucharistic miracles usually consist of unexplainable phenomena such as consecrated hosts visibly transforming into myocardium [heart] tissue”. From a believer’s point of view, a “Eucharistic miracle” can be read as a message – a message which doesn’t force belief but which does “want to be believed”; and which, first of all, “wants to be understood”. As such, these phenomena present a task for a semanticist: what meaning can be plausibly attributed to them by people open to faith and how can this message be best articulated? In this paper, the author, a semanticist with a special interest in the semantics of religion (Wierzbicka, 2001, 2019) takes a look at “Eucharistic miracles” from a semantic point of view. Her goal is to explore these phenomena through Minimal English anchored in universal human concepts (Wierzbicka, 1996, 2014; Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2014; Goddard, 2018, 2021).