Turning Wine into Blood: A Mechanistic Study of the Transubstantiation Reaction

Abstract: Transubstantiation is the process by which the bread and wine of the eucharist is said to become the body and blood of Christ. The mechanism of this transformation is, shall we say, vexed, and has been for some time. The theology of this miraculous reaction is beyond the scope of this paper and the understanding of its authors. This study seeks instead to examine the chemistry behind it.