NAPERVILLE—The Great Hall of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Naperville was filled Jan. 13 with posters propped up on easels likening an art exhibit. The silence, which typically permeates an art museum, filled the air in the room with approximately 5,600 square feet.

Interested onlookers read about the 120 eucharistic miracles described on 160 panels of the Vatican International Exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World. The accounts ranged from well-known visions such as Our Lady of Guadalupe to lesser-known ones such as the eucharistic miracle that occurred in 1412 in Herentals, Belgium. A variety of miracles, including healings and visions, have been attributed to eucharistic adoration.

“It’s one of those things where all this information … seeing all these miracles presented to me right here … it really hit me as I walked into the room. I had heard of a couple, I just didn’t realize there were all these,” commented Alex Gervacio, a parishioner of St. Mary Parish in West Chicago.

Sue Gorski, a parishioner of SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Naperville, acknowledged that she has been fascinated with eucharistic miracles for years, yet this display enlightened her on some that she had never known about. She added, “This is overwhelming evidence of eucharistic miracles … how anybody can not believe in it, I don’t know.”

More than 1,000 people visited the exhibit while it was on display Jan. 13-14, according to Margaret Gilmore. The member of St. Elizabeth Seton’s eucharistic adoration chapel core team of coordinators explained that they requested the exhibit to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the parish’s eucharistic adoration chapel. Through e-mail correspondence after the event, she commented, “Each and every (guest) came away with a new appreciation for the gift of the real presence of the Eucharist.”

The visitors from across the Midwest were engaged in the stories that were shared in the traveling exhibition. The Real Presence Association, Inc., presented the exhibit. The Chicago-based organization is dedicated to spreading eucharistic adoration around the globe, explained Michael Mortimer, board member of The Real Presence, during a telephone conversation with the Catholic Explorer.

The Real Presence received exclusive permission from the Vatican to exhibit the display in the United States. The Real Presence has made three duplicate exhibits of 140 Vatican-approved eucharistic miracles available for exhibition—one on the East Coast, one in the Midwest and one on the West Coast. The Real Presence is also working on publishing a book about the miracles.

The Naperville display was one of the first for the exhibit in the United States; previous showings occurred in Kankakee and Chicago. According to Mortimer, the organization recently started to accept scheduling events from throughout the country through contacting Carol J. Seydel at 815-609-7331 or e-mail at trp@svs.com. More information about the exhibit is available at www.therealpresence.org.