The event of Ludbreg, i.e. the miraculous transformation of wine into the Blood of Jesus is known only as passed on via oral tradition. There are no written documents about the place, time or person who could be associated with the event. The legend has it that to one priest while celebrating the Holly Mass and doubting the truth of the words about transformation of wine into Blood, there boiled true blood in chalice. Frightened, he hurriedly ended the Holy Mass and built the chalice with liquid into a chapel wall. However, when he lay dying, he entrusted the long kept secret and the chalice with liquid to the Church of Holy Trinity for safekeeping. As soon as the rumour about the miraculous event has spread, the believers started to flow in making vows. Thus, a unique parish fete site was created to the honour and glory of Jesus Christ, and his spilt Blood began to be taken as a symbol of human salvation since in its presence numerous inexplicable healings had happened and - as some report, are still happening. It is reliably known that first pilgrimages began most probably in the early 15th century by visits to the parish Holy Trinity Church of Ludbreg in which the chalice with miraculous Blood was treasured. Though in historic sources there is no mention about the miracle itself and the place where it had happened, written documents dating from the 15th and 16th century clearly refer to the importance of the above mentioned event. From that earliest history of the sanctuary of Ludbreg there are six known documents among which the most important is precisely the sixth one. It is the Bull of Pope Leo X from 19 March1513 by which the supreme church authorities recognised and officially proclaimed Ludberg as the parish fete site. By this act the veneration of the relic was publicly approved with the goal to strengthen the believer’s faith in Jesus’ Eucharistic presence and pass it to all future generations. According to the Bull of Pope Leo X the relic was treasured in the parish church and exposed for adoration to believers. Since from the middle of the 16th century Turkish attacks were more getting frequent, it is stated in parish documents that the showcase with the relic was transferred for safeguarding to the town of Gotalovec near Zajezda wherefrom it was returned after the Battle of Kanisza in 1587 and after the danger from Turkish plundering decreased. This is also confirmed by Benedikt Vinković in his Canonical Visitation in 1615 when - as it is believed - out of security reasons the relic was restored to the chapel of the town castle. From the chapel, every year, on Thursday before the parish fete celebration it was carried in procession into the parish church. The need and wish to erect the votive chapel to the honour of the Blood of Jesus, after the model of the Chapel of Jesus’ Tomb in Jerusalem was realised only in 1993 when its foundations were laid. Since this year the 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic miracle is celebrated, on this occasion two important symposia about the miracle of Ludbreg have been organised. The first was the theological symposium organised in autumn 2010 in Varaždin, where the leading Croatian liturgians, Biblicists, dogmatic and fundamental theologians discussed the theology of the veneration of the Blood of Jesus, the symbolic of Blood and folk’s religiosity. The second event was a historic symposium held in March 2011 in Ludbreg, on which occasion the historians scientifically discussed the veneration of the Precious Blood of Jesus in Ludbreg. Besides, in the year of celebrating the anniversary of the miracle the pilgrimages to the perish fete site have been intensified and also special catecheses about the Eucharist prepared. The celebration of the anniversary of the miracle of Ludbreg is an exceptionally important event for the Church, but also for whole Croatia since in the far year 1739 also Croatian Parliament took his standpoint about it. It is expected from the Church authorities and Croatian Bishop’s Conference in the year of this great anniversary and on the occasion of holding the Eucharistic Congress in autumn 2011 to proclaim this parish fete site as the national parish fete site. (Texts used are partly taken from the unpublished brochure The Gifts of Precious Blood by Stjepko Stjepić; fragments of texts used are by the venerable Josip Đurkan.)
