Saint Ambrose himself describes this extraordinary Eucharistic event, in which his own brother Satyrus was the central figure, in his funeral treatise *De excessu fratris Satyri*. Saint Satyrus was miraculously saved from shipwreck through the power of the Holy Eucharist. Saint Ambrose writes concerning his brother Satyrus: “What shall I say of his reverence toward God? A single fact will suffice. Long before he was fully initiated into the sublime mysteries through Baptism, he suffered shipwreck. The vessel on which he was sailing struck hidden reefs and the surging waters engulfed the ship.
He was not afraid of dying, but feared departing this life without having been nourished by the Sacred Mysteries. He therefore requested the Divine Sacrament from those passengers whom he knew to be baptized; not out of mere curious inspection, but to obtain the invincible shield of faith. He wrapped the Sacred Host reverently in a linen cloth and bound it securely around his neck. He leaped into the raging sea, and grasping a plank from the shattered vessel, swam safely to shore, armed solely with the shield of faith and desiring nothing else, convinced that the Eucharist alone was more than sufficient to preserve and defend him.
Let us contemplate his great courage of soul. When the ship was broken to pieces, he did not first search frantically for a plank like an ordinary castaway, but drew his strength from his interior trust. His hope did not abandon him, nor did his deep conviction deceive him. The moment he escaped the raging waves and reached dry land, he acknowledged the divine Head to whom he had entrusted his life. Having saved both himself and his servants, without uttering a single complaint over the loss of his worldly goods, he hastened straight to the church of God to give thanks for his deliverance and for being granted knowledge of the Eternal Mysteries.
He declared that no human duty is greater than that of gratitude... For he who had experienced such immense protection from the Heavenly Mysteries wrapped merely in a linen cloth, deemed it an infinitely greater treasure to receive them into his mouth and welcome them into the deepest recesses of his heart!”
Text and photographs: international exhibition «The Eucharistic Miracles of the World», by Saint Carlo Acutis. Original panel at miracolieucaristici.org.