The Tablet Staff

MANHATTAN — Following an explosion caused by a gas leak in the Archdiocese of Madrid, a consecrated host was found fully intact amid the rubble in the tabernacle at the Church of Our Lady of La Paloma.

On Jan. 20 a building next door to the parish grounds combusted, the impact of which also destroyed four floors of a building housing parish priests, a nursing home run by the parish and a nearby school, reported Catholic News Agency.

A young priest ordained only six months ago, Fr. Rubén Pérez Ayala, died as a result of the explosion.  According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Father Perez’s death brought the death toll from the explosion to four.

A spokesman for the Virgen de la Paloma parish told the Spanish episcopate’s radio station COPE that “the tabernacle is in the chapel on the sixth floor, adjacent to the parish priest’s house,” and while the tabernacle itself was also broken as a result of the explosion, the Eucharist was found intact. 

The Archdiocese of Madrid reported that “the broken tabernacle has been taken to the chancery for repairs, while the consecrated host has been placed in the tabernacle at the Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.”