www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Living off the Eucharist Alone

Hello all,
For a text I am writing, I need examples of Saints who lived exclusively off the Eucharist. I know that there cases, but I cannot remember any names.
Any help would be appreciated.
God bless!
Filipe

Especially at certain times of the year (such as the first week of Great Lent) Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco came quite close to that particular ideal.

Incognitus

In the West, I think St. Catherine of Sienna did so...

...before dying at a young age, 33 or something like that, probably of malnutrition and dehydration.

Dave

Actually Dave,
During the 12th and 13th Century 33 was probably considered a ripe old age.
Not abnormal for anyone to die.
Stephanos I

For examples of non-canonized - Marthe Robin, Therese Neumann, in the 20th century. There are others but I will look it up later. Is it necessary that they be canonized or just documented examples of this phenomenon?
CS

St. Mary of Egypt

St. Melk and St. Vladmyr King of Ruthenia both did.

I don't know if St. Mary of Egypt could count. According to the story, she received Communion, took a few loaves of bread, and then lived in the desert. She didn't receive Communion again until Zosimos brought it to her.

Why exactly would someone decide to subsist only on Communion? Simply out of reverence for the Eucharist?

Dave

I cannot find the material I was looking for. However from what I recall I don't think these people decided to do this. They actually were unable to eat food, only the Eucharist.

There was an elderly priest here in Birmingham that had some form of Scoliosis. As he aged, he began to just eat a bowl of soup everyday, and of course he had the Eucharist everyday. It was amazing he really couldn't remember much, but he said the Mass so beautifully and of course privately everyday - never missed a word. I was blessed to be there several times. Anyway, eventualy they could not get him to eat anything, maybe once a week they could get him to sip some soup or tea. Otherwise, only the Eucharist for several years.

I know he isn't a cannonized saint, but Fr. Pat was truly a blessed man of God.

From a resource that I got:

St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) who was observed to live on the Holy Eucharist alone for weeks and months at a time. In fact she would actually get ill when forced to eat food, but remained healthy and feeling well when left to receiving the Holy Eucharist alone.

Bl. Angela of Foligno (d. 1309) remained 12 years without taking any nourishment.

Bl. Catherine of Racconigi (d. 1547), also a stigmatist, lived on the Holy Eucharist alone for 10 years.

Bl. Elizabeth the Good (d. 1420) was known not to have eaten for nearly three years with exception of Holy Communion.

St. Catherine of Genoa (d. 1510) was also recorded to go on extremely long fasts from food, usually 30 or 40 days at a time, while remaining in perfect health.

St. Peter of Alcantara was known to sleep but an hour and a half each night for 40 years.

Bl. Mary Anne De Paredes (d. 1645) was known to have scarcely taken an ounce of bread every 8 or 10 days. Her only food intake was Holy Communion each morning.

St. Gemma Galgani (d. 1903) also a stigmatist, ate no food except for the Blessed Sacrament from June 1902 until her death on April 11, 1903.

Many other Saints experienced the same miraculous phenomena including St. Catherine Fieschi of Genoa, St. Ida, St. Nicholas of Flue, Switzerland, St. Lidwina of Holland, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Rose of Lima and many others.

http://www.overcomeproblems.com/miracles.htm

Thank you,
I have always been fascinated by these cases. To reach the point of sanctity where the blessed eucharist is your only sustenance, both spiritually and physically, must be wonderful!
Thank you for your suggestions and lists, indeed not all the cases need be of canonized men or women, although in my mind there is little doubt that all are saints, whether they have been oficially recognized as such or not.
Filipe

The problem with Therese Neumann is that at the diocesean tribunal her father admissted to feeding her. Also, whenever a doctor wanted to examine her he was told by her attendants that she was having a bowel movement. So how could anyone who hasn't eaten during a long period of time have a bowel movement???????

Dear Dave you said:


"In the West, I think St. Catherine of Sienna did so...

...before dying at a young age, 33 or something like that, probably of malnutrition and dehydration."

I say:

Actually God sustains them. I recall hearing that it was physically impossible for Mother Theresa to do all the work she was doing with her heart operations.

Also Saint Seraphim of Sarov would walk to the monastery once a week and go back to his hermitage with a small amount of bread in his pocket. With that bread he managed to feed so many animals. Amazingly, the animals were well fed. The bread never diminished.

I wonder if he ate?

Zenovia

Turns out the solution was closer to home!
Blessed Alexandrina, fromthe North of Portugal, lived for 13 years on the Eucharist alone. This is documented by the hospital in Oporto, she was examined, isolated etc several times and doctors agreed that it was impossible that she was being fed from outside.
There is some information about her in English on the Net. Her full name was Alexandra da Costa.