After a youth spent in studying and then in scientific research, Nicholas Steno at age 28 converted to the Catholic Church while watching the Corpus Christi procession, thus realizing the greatness and magnificence of the Eucharist; the Real Presence of Jesus in the Host. He then decided to become a priest and missionary in his own country.
Nicholas Steno was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on January 10, 1638. Since his youth, he was greatly involved in natural science studies – to the point of being considered among the founding fathers of geology, paleontology and crystallography. His prolific scientific activity carried him all over all over Europe.
On June 24, 1666, in Livorno, Italy, Nicholas Steno received the grace of conversion to the Catholic faith. His biographers wrote: "He observed with utmost perplexity the procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi and the fervor around it. The large Piazza d'Armi was bursting with color and sound.
A loud, prolonged ringing of bells could be heard. The young man was recalling another procession he watched three years before in Louvain, Belgium, where many students were lined up and dozens of black-robed professors were walking. He could perceive something different here.
Maybe it was a sense of joy, a new warmth feeling, or maybe his eyes had changed. Long lines of men in white tunics were processing and singing. Gonfalons and banners were swinging in the gentle breeze coming from the sea.
Friars and priests were processing too, dressed in their white surplices adorned with laces and fringes. Even more priests were part of the procession, wearing their copes shining in the sun, and children holding incense burners.
Finally, a big golden canopy passed by, and under it a minister of the Church, solemnly dressed, absorbed in his thoughts, carrying close to his chest the precious monstrance with the Sacred Host…
"People knelt" as the Blessed Sacrament passed by and eyes were sparkling with love as they gazed upon the Host, all heads bowed down in adoration. Petals and flowers were showering from all corners.
St. Nicholas of Flue, better known as "Brother Klaus," was declared patron saint of Switzerland by Pope Pius XII in 1947.
He was born of a farmer's family in 1417 in Flüe, Switzerland and lived a normal family life with his wife Dorothy and their other children; to never fail the temptation of avarice or sensuality, he left everything and went into the mountains.
He thereafter asked for three graces: to obtain the consent of his wife Dorothy and their older children; to never lack the necessities of life; and to live a life of perfect fasting. All his requests were granted.
He lived for seventy years in the forest as a hermit with no food except for the Eucharist, as many witnesses testified.
In Belgium, at Bois-d'Haine, the Servant of God Anne-Louise Latteau lived for twelve years without eating or drinking, and without sleeping, starting on March 26, 1871. On January 11, 1868, she received stigmata at her feet, hands, head, the left side of her chest and her back.
These stigmata remained visible on her body until the end of her life. On April 23, 1873, Pope Leo XIII made the following declarations regarding Anne-Louise's case, "The Bois-d'Haine event is an extraordinary one. You can affirm on my behalf that physical science will never be able to explain such a fact."
The young Nicholas Steno spent the whole day with a deep uneasiness in his heart. He remembered the Jesuit priest in Paris with whom he had discussed the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated bread. The Jesuit priest had emphasized the value of Jesus' words at the Last Supper, "This is my Body," and then St.
Paul's First letter to the Corinthians. That day Nicholas Steno decided to convert to Catholicism. He immediately entered the seminary, and after nine years of study he was ordained a priest.
He described his conversion: "As soon as I attentively pondered God's favors to me, these appeared to be so many that I couldn't help but offer to Him the best of myself and in the best way, from the bottom of my heart…
"Therefore, having come to know the great dignity of a priesthood… I asked and obtained that I may offer the Immaculate Host to the Eternal Father for my good and the good of others."