A technical exposé of Eucharistic miracles, by a YC alum

The timing of this post appropriately coincides with the opening of World Youth Day in Portugal. One of their patrons is Blessed Carlo Acutis, an English-Italian youth who enjoyed working on computers and was utterly devoted to the Holy Eucharist.

http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html

Blessed Carlo created an astonishing exhibit of Eucharistic miracles. I've seen it in person. Perhaps I only saw a part of it, because there are dozens and dozens. Many are well-documented, and many are obscure. Blessed Carlo put them all together on his computer. He passed away from leukemia in 2006. Thanks to the author of this article; Carlo's life and legacy endures through the Holy Spirit, and our own devotion.

I wrote up a meta-analysis of 5 forensic investigations of Eucharistic miracles, a rare phenomenon that’s been very fascinating to me. The miracles involve consecrated bread turning into human cardiac flesh and/or blood (sounds absolutely insane, I know). They've occurred hundreds of times over the centuries at Catholic parishes around the world, and 5 of them have been finally investigated in the last ~50 years thanks to advances in forensics science and medical tech.

I spent over a year working on this article, doing research and writing on evenings after putting the kids to bed.

Some background:

I participated in one of the earliest YC batches along with another cofounder and since then have held various FAANG and fintech jobs. I’ve been mostly a lurker on HN but have posted occasionally from another account. Starting out as an atheist, I embraced Protestant Christianity and later Catholicism after extensive research into the theology, lives of the canonized saints, and phenomena such as these miracles.

Full disclosure: this article is part of a tiny Catholic apologetics site, and most of you on HN probably don’t share my religious views let alone the conclusions of the article. But regardless of whether you’re a staunch atheist or a devout believer of whatever faith, I think it’s valuable for us on HN to be able to talk freely on the intersection of science & faith, a topic that’s very rarely discussed in tech circles. Many of my friends and family are atheists, so I really treasure this kind of civil open dialogue.

Enjoy and happy reading!

Did any of the samples had enough material to make a DNA analysis?