Forty ‘miraculously’ preserved, consecrated hosts have been discovered in a church that was destroyed by a large earthquake in central Italy in 2016.
The hosts, recovered from a tabernacle recently retrieved from the ruins of the parish church of Arquata del Tronto, have no bacteria or mold, as usually happens to hosts after a few weeks, according to the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/hosts-miraculously-preserved-14-months-after-devastating-earthquake

The local bishop, Mons. Giovanni D'Ercole of Ascoli Piceno, was cautious, saying “faith requires prudence,” but added that such a discovery needs “no words.”
“It is a sign of hope for everyone,” he added. “Confronted with a fact like this, one has to surely remain silent. It simply touches and strengthens faith in Jesus who remains alive to console the earthquake-stricken population of Arquata.”

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/hosts-miraculously-preserved-14-months-after-devastating-earthquake

“Yes, for me it is a miracle,” he told the Italian daily Il Resto del Carlino. “Obviously, those who have no faith aren’t able to believe in anything, but never has there been any tampering. The Lord has done this all by Himself.”  
Don Ciancotti, who has close family ties to Arquata, knew every missing person in the rubble and all the streets in the region. So together with some residents he sought to recover all the artifacts that could be saved.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/hosts-miraculously-preserved-14-months-after-devastating-earthquake

He said the wafers had been prepared by nuns at the convent of Sant'Onofrio. “I immediately asked them if they used preservatives and they told me: ‘No, just flour and water.’"
Don Ciancotti was the first to be sceptical. “I’m a cousin of [doubting] St. Thomas,” he joked, “and so I had several others witness to it.”


http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/hosts-miraculously-preserved-14-months-after-devastating-earthquake

The second Eucharistic miracle of Siena has roots in the 13th century when special services and festivities were introduced in honor of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These observances became traditional and were still conducted at the time of the miracle. So it was that on August 14, 1730, during devotions for the vigil of the feast, while most of the Sienese population and the clergy of the city were attending these services, thieves entered the deserted Church of St. Francis. Taking advantage of the friars' absence, they made for the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, picked the lock to the tabernacle and carried away the golden ciborium containing consecrated Hosts.
The theft went undiscovered until the next morning, when the priest opened the tabernacle at the Communion of the Mass. Then later, when a parishioner found the lid of the ciborium lying in the street, the suspicion of sacrilege was confirmed. The anguish of the parishioners forced the cancellation of the traditional festivities for the feast of Our Lady's Assumption. The Archbishop ordered public prayers of reparation, while the civil authorities began a search for the consecrated Hosts and for the scoundrel who had taken them.

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html

Since the offering box was opened but once a year, the Hosts were covered with the dust and debris that had collected there. After being carefully cleaned by the priests, they were enclosed in a ciborium and placed inside the tabernacle of the main altar of the Church of St. Mary. The following day, in the company of a great gathering of townspeople, Archbishop Alessandro Zondadari carried the Sacred Hosts in solemn procession back to the Church of St. Francis.
During the two centuries that followed it has sometimes been wondered why the Hosts were not consumed by a priest during Mass, which would have been the ordinary procedure in such a case. While there is no definite answer, there are two theories. One explanation is that crowds of people from both Siena and neighboring cities gathered in the church to offer prayers of reparation before the sacred particles, forcing the priests to conserve them for a time. The other reason the priests did not consume them might well have been because of their soiled condition. While the Hosts were superficially cleaned after their discovery, they still retained a great deal of dirt. In such cases it is not necessary to consume consecrated Hosts, but it is permitted to allow them to deteriorate naturally, at which time Christ would no longer be present.

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html

A more detailed investigation took place in 1789 by Archbishop Tiberio Borghese of Siena with a number of theologians and other dignitaries. After examining the Hosts under a microscope, the commission declared that they were perfectly intact and showed no sign of deterioration. The three Franciscans who had been present at the previous investigation, that of 1780, were questioned under oath by the Archbishop. It was then reaffirmed that the Hosts under examination were the same ones stolen in 1730.
As a test to further confirm the authenticity of the miracle, the Archbishop, during this 1789 examination, ordered several unconsecrated hosts to be placed in a sealed box and kept under lock in the chancery office. Ten years later these were examined and found to be not only disfigured, but also withered. In 1850, 61 years after they were placed in a sealed box, these unconsecrated hosts were found reduced to particles of a dark yellow color, while the consecrated Hosts retained their original freshness.

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html

Professor Siro Grimaldi, professor of chemistry at the University of Siena and director of the Municipal Chemical Laboratory, as well as the holder of several other distinguished positions in the field of chemistry, was the chief chemical examiner of the holy particles in 1914. Afterward, he gave elaborate statements concerning the miraculous nature of the Hosts, and wrote a book about the miracle entitled Uno Scienziato Adora (A Scientific Adorer). In 1914 he declared:

The holy Particles of unleavened bread represent an example of perfect preservation … a singular phenomenon that inverts the natural law of the conservation of organic material. It is a fact unique in the annals of science.

In 1922 another investigation was conducted -- this one in the presence of Cardinal Giovanni Tacci, who was accompanied by the Archbishop of Siena and the Bishops of Montepulciano, Foligno and Grosseto. Again the results were the same: the Hosts tasted like unleavened bread, were starchy in composition and were completely preserved.

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html