Eucharistic Miracle of Sokółka

On October 12, 2008, during Mass at the Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Sokółka — a small town in the Podlaskie region of northeastern Poland — a consecrated host fell from a priest's hands during the distribution of Communion. Following standard liturgical protocol, the priest placed the host in a small container of water in the sacristy to allow it to dissolve before respectful disposal.

On October 19, one week later, Sister Julia Dubowska, the parish sacristan, opened the container at the pastor's request and discovered a bright red stain on the still-intact host. The surrounding water remained completely clear. Fr. Stanisław Gniedziejko immediately notified other clergy and contacted Metropolitan Archbishop Edward Ozorowski of Białystok, who visited the parish with the chancellor of the Curia and other diocesan officials.

On October 29–30, the stained host was removed from the water and placed on a small corporal in the tabernacle. By January 2009, the host had partially dried naturally. The altered fragment has remained stable since.

In January 2009, the Archdiocese of Białystok commissioned two independent histopathologists from the Medical University of Białystok — Prof. Maria Sobaniec-Łotowska and Prof. Stanisław Sulkowski — to analyze samples from the host. The two scientists worked independently and were not told the origin of the material. Using both light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, they concluded that the transformed fragment consisted of human myocardial tissue — specifically heart muscle consistent with that of a person in agony, showing the cellular patterns characteristic of a dying heart.

A notable detail from their analysis: the heart muscle fibers were found to be deeply interwoven with the wheat fibers of the bread in a way the professors described as impossible to achieve artificially. The tissue showed the centrally arranged cell nuclei characteristic of cardiac muscle, distinguishing it from skeletal muscle.

The blood type of the material was identified as AB — the same type found in the Lanciano and Buenos Aires analyses.

On October 14, 2009, the Metropolitan Curia of Białystok issued a formal communiqué affirming that the findings were consistent with Catholic teaching on the Eucharist. On October 2, 2011, the host was solemnly transferred and placed on public veneration at the parish church.

The same 2024 forensic science critique by Kearse and Ligaj that examined Lanciano and Buenos Aires also reviewed Sokółka, raising concerns about lack of specificity controls, limited microbiological investigation of bacterial involvement, and incomplete documentation of testing protocols. The Catholic Church has not issued a Vatican dicastery decree — the approval authority is the local archbishop.