In 1533, with northern Italy convulsed by the wars between the Empire and France, the small church of San Secondo at Asti in Piedmont was abandoned, the clergy fled, and a consecrated host was left forgotten in a small silver pyx in the tabernacle. Two years later, in July 1535, after the brief return of peace, the parish priest Don Domenico Occelli reopened the church and the tabernacle.
Inside he found the pyx with the host intact — flesh-coloured, slightly larger than the original, emitting a radiance visible in the dim church. The bishop, Lorenzo Fieschi, took depositions, formed a commission, and after thorough investigation approved the public cult. The host has been preserved and venerated since at the Collegiate Church of San Secondo, the principal church of Asti, where it is exposed each year for the feast of San Secondo and at Corpus Christi.