Anonymous: The Miracle of Amsterdam (1720-1740)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

According to tradition, on 15 March 1345, a man lay seriously ill in his house on the Kalverstraat. Thinking he was about to die he called for a priest to administer the last rites, including the Blessed Sacrament and also received the host. Later that night the man vomited and a maid threw everything in the fire. The next morning the maid discovered that the host was undamaged in the ashes. A priest of the parish church (the present-day Oude Kerk) took the host an brought it in secret to his church but on two occasions the host miraculously made its way back to the house on the Kalverstraat. The third time the host was taken to the church in the open and with a large procession and now the host remained in the church. This was the beginning of the tradition known in Amsterdam as the Micracle Procession, since people had taken it as a sign that they should spread word of what had happened. Print from 1720-1740.