Lourdes : a history of its apparitions and cures

Front matter

RY OF PRip, <u ese ka 1/7 * NOV 5 1908. ay PEAS Chel * é, BE x

<Aogica sewn

*

Preface

_ Few men, witness the history of Philosophy, have the mental power to find Truth by themselves. Fewer still have time and opportunity to do so, and yet men crave for Truth as for the very food of their souls. In the days of our Saviour men looked _ and craved for signs, for visible and tangible proofs of His Divinity, and He gave them what they asked for. He gave them His miracles as an irrefragable proof of His Divine Nature and Mission. “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works.” ‘Throughout the ages He has set the seal of Divine approval on the teaching of the Catholic Church by miracles; and now, in these days, He offers among others the continual miracles at Lourdes. Two thousand years ago, nearly, men of goodwill saw, rejoiced, and believed. Others doubted, disbelieved, and denied, not the facts—no one could deny them—but their Divine origin. Not to God, but to the Devil, these men attributed the miracles they witnessed. In our own times, when Materialism denies the very existence of a Creator and of all supernatural agencies and powers, the miracles at Lourdes are either set aside as a priori impossible, or, if the facts are admitted, they are ascribed to suggestion or to the unknown forces of Nature. A moment’s thought will show that both methods of attack are equally unscientific and futile. To deny the very possibility, and consequently the existence, of miracles is of course the easiest and vl PREFACE the shortest way to dispose of those at Lourdes, and consequently of their testimony to the truth of the Catholic Faith. ‘The principle of criticism,” says Renan, “is that a miracle has no place in the scheme of human affairs.” Having taken for granted that these interventions of God are impossible, the adversaries of the Church palm off their assertion as though it were a self-evident truism needing no proof whatever. A very convenient method of arguing, most assuredly, but one that is utterly unscientific, and to any thinking man, who lives not by faith but by investigation, devoid of all convincing power, for it lacks the very foundation of Science, namely, Experience. For what is Science? “Science is firstly experience,” says Haeckel, “secondly inference.” ‘Our Science is based entirely on experiment,” Professor Tait tells us, “or mathematical deduction from experiment.” “ ‘The man of Science” — (the words are Huxley’s) ‘“‘ has learned to believe in justification, not by faith but by observation.” We may define Science, then, as the body of facts learnt by observation, and the mathematical deductions from them.

It is self-evident, therefore, that to deny a priori that a fact can or can not be is not Scientific. Hence it was admittedly most unscientific on the part of the men of Science of the eighteenth century to deny on a prior: grounds that stones could fall from the blue. Yet they did it, and most persistently, till they were forced to investigate, and admit the fact that bodies do fall from the skies, and aérolites took their place among the data of Science. Then came the next stage, to try to explain that which was proved to exist.

W hat the observers of falling-stars demanded, we

PREFACE Vii demand too. Like them, too, we fail to obtain what we ask for. We ask that the miracles at Lourdes should not be denied without examination, but should be submitted to a careful and searching examination; but Science, as represented by a very considerable number of learned men, declines to investigate at all. ‘This refusal, this easy method of setting aside evidence, is so utterly unscientific as to deserve the strongest reprobation even of men who pretend to nothing beyond that amount of common sense that is supposed to be the very basis of all Science. Such men, be they believers or unbelievers, demand that the same scientific methods of investigation be applied to the miracles at Lourdes as are used in the verification of any other phenomenon, and they also insist in the sacred name of ‘Truth that if the alleged cures prove to be facts, they should be candidly recognised as such.

Other men of Science admit the cures, but ascribe them to natural causes, chiefly to suggestion and the “unknown forces of Nature.” With regard to suggestion, it is surprising to find how very scanty is the knowledge of many who roundly declare that to it are due the miracles at Lourdes. It would be quite useless to say more on this subject, as it is particularly well treated by our Author. More specious, because dealing with the vague unknown, is the explanation given by those who invoke the “unknown forces of Nature.” At first sight it may appear exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to disprove the existence or action of something that no one knows anything about. Be this as it may, it is none the less unscientific to talk about explaining a known fact by an utterly unknown cause. There is no explanation here at all. It is worse than merely vill PREFACE unscientific, it goes in reality against what Science teaches us. If there is one great truth that the patient observations of learned men has made abund- — antly clear, it is that Nature always acts with perfect. uniformity ; that she never contradicts herself.

“The one act of faith,” says Professor Huxley, ‘in the convert to Science, is in the universality of order and in the absolute validity in all times and under all circumstances of the law of causation.” In other words, Nature always follows the same course in the same circumstances. ‘To attribute the miracles at Lourdes to Nature is to deny this law of uniformity. Even at the risk of tiring the reader, we must give an instance of what we mean. A very constant feature of the cures at Lourdes is their instantaneous character. ‘To take the case of Pierre de Rudder. Irrefutable evidence proves that at a certain moment he was suffering from a terrible wound in his left leg, just below the knee. A number of years previous to his cure both tibia and fibula had been fractured, and, instead of reuniting, the broken ends had suppurated. The surgeons removed nearly an inch of the terminal surfaces in the hope of obtaining a union of the fresh faces. Instead, these too decayed. It follows that both bones were considerably shorter than those of the right leg. ‘The next fact we draw attention to is that, before a shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, the bones were instantaneously reunited, and that firmly and without trace even of a callus. The wound was healed, and De Rudder walked. His gait during life, and more especially the post-mortem examination, proved that the bones of both limbs were absolutely equal in length. There had been, then, the instan-

PREFACE 1X taneous formation of about one inch of strong, healthy bone, not to speak of the surrounding tissues. These are assertions that have been investigated, and found to be absolute facts. Are these facts against the known laws of Nature? Without any doubt whatever! It is a law of _ Nature, so Science teaches us, that she follows an orderly course (call it evolution) in the formation of all living tissues, and this course takes time, as all successive biological changes must, and a very considerable time in the case of a broken tibia, let alone two broken and carious bones. Let the reader consider! The repair of a fracture is the result of a biological process similar to that of the first formation of the bone. From each broken surface thousands upon thousands of cells, hardly one thousandth of a millimetre in size, grow by segmentation, following a clearly defined and well-known course of successive stages. Each cell, when sufficiently developed, divides into two, and so on millions of times over. When this work of multiplication of cells is over, the new embryonic tissue undergoes little by little a process of differentiation, and, according to its situation, becomes periosteum, cartilage, and bone. Meanwhile most minute bloodvessels have been formed, and interpenetrate the new tissues to carry nutriment to them; nerve terminations appear to connect them with the great nerve centres. All this succession of biological activities must, by the very nature of successions, take time. Any one can see this; but to make it clearer still to the reader, let him consider the following further facts of Physiology. The new cells, vessels, and nerves are formed and nourished by materials carried to the seat of the fracture by the blood in circulation.

x PREFACE

These materials exist only in minute quantities in the blood. A given quantity of blood contains about th part of what the same amount of new callus requires. Moreover, the rate of circulation in the minute vessels is approximately known, and its slowness necessitates a considerable length of time before it has carried the required amount of salts and other materials, and these, by the tardy process of exosmosis, have passed, in part only, through the walls of the vessels. ‘The above is a brief sketch of the process of repair of a fractured bone. To say that some unknown force of Nature did in an instant what Nature always takes a long time to bring about, is to contradict not only all that experience and investigation have shown to be absolutely necessary, but to contradict Reason as well as Science. No, De Rudder was not cured by the “unknown forces of Nature.” If not in Nature, then we must seek the cause of his cure in a Power above, beyond Nature. This power is God.

The case of De Rudder is far from being the only one we could cite in this connection. Others can be found in the following pages. Their reality is beyond cavil, and Science cannot explain them. Indeed, all that Science can say is that they are beyond the forces, known and unknown, of Nature. If only the honest searcher after Truth will carefully read this History of Lourdes, he will find in it visible and tangible proofs, given by God Himself, of the Divine nature and origin of that Faith whose Founder is Christ, the Son of Mary Immaculate.

STANISLAUS ST. JOHN, S.J.

114 Mount St., March 8, 1908.

In obedience to the Decree of Pope Urban VIII. I declare that I have no intention of attributing any other than a purely human authority to the miracles, revelations, favours, and particular cases recorded in this book; and the same as regards the titles of Saints and Blessed applied to servants of God not yet canonised; except in those cases which have been confirmed by the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman See, of which I declare myself to be an obedient son; and therefore I submit myself and all which I have written to her judgment.

G. BERTRIN.

Translator’s Note-—It has not been found possible to translate the whole of the notes appended to the original of this work, but, when necessary, notes referring to the French edition have been placed at the foot of the page.

Contents

PAGE PREFACE. : | : 4 ; ; Vv PART I.—THE APPARITIONS CHAP.

I. History oF THE APPARITIONS ‘ : ' : ; 3 The Source . A ; f Dare ke “TI am the Immaculate Chneeeiny raivilbce’ ‘ naee Ii. Reaviry oF THE APPARITIONS ; ; Pinnes The Sincerity of Bernadette . : via. The Visions of Bernadette and Pditubinneone Pith ate

The Temperament and the Piety of Bernadette were not conducive to Hallucinations. Bl avieres Before the Vision . ; : ; ‘ aia: td During the Vision . ; : ; é : «hae After the Vision . ' ; “ i » 45 Necessary Conclusions . ‘ : ANNs Ill. Tue AppaRITIONS AND THE CHURCH . : Crea Mgr. Laurence and the Episcopal Commission eRe The Sovereign Pontiffs . : ; 65 Lourdes, and the Contemporary Reliziow® Moventent 67 The World’s Pilgrimage ‘ ‘ Kren gg Pilgrimages and the Human Heart ata a a | A School of Religion, Charity, and Faith STO

Part Ii.—the Cures

I. Tue Facts . : : é : . ited The Verification of F uy : : ‘ : . 84 Number and Variety of Cures } ‘ : eee OO A few Examples . : ‘ : : . ve Interpretation of the Facts. } h . 114

Quality of and contact with Water ; SEN)

xiii

X1V CONTENTS

OHAP.

I. Tue Facts (continued)— Insufficiency of Suggestion Disputed Facts : Suggestion and Nervous Diseases Suggestion and Organic Diseases Two Methods of Cure No Suggestion at Lourdes Unknown Forces Miracles and Medical Men II. Some Typricat Cases 1. Prerre pe RuppER 2. A Novetist on MIRACLES Clémentine Trouvé Madame Gordet Marie Lemarchand Marie Lebranchu 3. MapamMeE RovucHEL . 4. GABRIEL GARGAM .

CoNCLUSION .

I. A CaLumny . ‘ ;

II. BerNapEeTTE AND Doctor VoIsin . III. Docrors at LourpEs IV. Statistics oF CurEs

PAGE

121 _ 129

:° 233

245 263 284

289 290 292 293

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Tue STATUE AT THE GROTTO Map BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS

Pierre DE RuppER AFTER His CuRE

Tue Bones or P. pe R.’s Lees arrer AUTOPSY .

GaBRIEL GARGAM

XV

F rontisptece

To face page 4

34 172 184 201 232 246 260 278 t joe Nd wd Ba THE APPARITIONS

Chapter I

Own February the 11th, 1858, took place the first of these famous apparitions which were to astonish the world.

On that winter’s day three little girls of Lourdes, Bernadette Soubirous, her sister Mary, and Jeanne Abadie had gone to gather dry twigs alongside the river Gave in the vicinity of the town. It was very cold, and there was no more wood in the povertystricken cottage of the Soubirous. Bernadette was fourteen years old, but she looked scarcely more than eleven or twelve.

Having wandered as far as the Massabieille rocks in front of a Grotto in the mountain side, the three children found themselves entrapped between the Gave and a canal which fed a mill near by, and lost itself in the torrent just by the Grotto.

Marie and Jeanne were barefooted in their sabots. Jeanne threw her sabots on to the farther bank; Marie carried hers in her hand, and, holding up their frocks, they crossed the bed of the canal, which was fairly dry at this time. Thus they were able to leave the island. But Bernadette was wearing stockings, for she suffered from asthma and her

A | LOURDES mother feared the cold for her. Wishing to avoid coming into contact with the bitterly cold water of the stream, she begged Jeanne, who was the. stronger, to carry her pick-a-back to the other bank. “Oh! my goodness, no,’ replied the little monkey; “youre a nuisance and a mollycoddle. Stay where you are if you don’t want to cross.” And, without troubling herself any further about — her companion, she picked up the faggots she had gathered and went farther down the Gave with Marie. Left alone, Bernadette tried to make a dry passage for herself by throwing large stones into the - water, but all her efforts were in vain, and she, too, had to paddle through the cold water. It was now about half-past twelve. | Hardly had the child begun to take off her stockings before she heard a loud noise like the advent of a storm. She looked all around, but not . a branch moved on the poplars near the river. Thinking, therefore, that she was deceived, she quietly went on taking off her stockings. But almost directly she heard the same noise again. Frightened and apprehensive, she hurriedly rose, and searched with her eyes to the right and left. Everything was quiet by the Gave, but on the other side of the canal, some feet from the bank where she stood, a wild briar bush, which grew on the outer side to the right of the Grotto, was being blown about as if by a strong wind. At the same moment that the child noticed this phenomenon, a golden cloud arose from the opening in the rock which the briar was beating with its branches, and a woman appeared above the bush in the cleft which formed a kind of natural niche.

SOUTH

TSH M mens ( ! \\ Nf rere co Hane wii vii a ili: Hi oma aS SFU 5 i\) TH, ii lt Hi M WA ay Wy CAN I HANAN i H)

are

Korré i

AN (! ysis al

‘sake ues

Alito des Espelug

Fo |

WWD Au er hi a ye jl ae wy,

“Eu ius d 4 J oy- ace xnay 4 n p ats ane Fo yi TAS i 5 Di mi W MK. be S GI TW SS

Rc BAN a

LSVa

NORTH

MAP OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE MASSABIEILLE ROCKS AT THE TIME

THE APPARITIONS

OF

“ She was young and beautiful,” said Bernadette ; “more beautiful than any one I had ever seen. She _looked and smiled at me, and made me a sign to come forward without fear. And indeed I was no longer afraid, but I did not seem to know any more where I was.”

Instinctively the child took her rosary and knelt down.

“The Lady let me pray all alone,” she said, “while she herself let her beads pass through her fingers without speaking—only at the end of each decade she said with me: ‘ Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritul Sancto.’”

As a matter of fact, although the child was too simple to realise it, this was the only part of the rosary which the “ Lady” could rightly say; for the requests made in the Pater are only for those who do not possess the fulness of grace; and as for the Ave Maria, the apparition simply could not say it. One cannot pray to one’s self. On the other hand, there was nothing to prevent her mingling her heavenly voice with an earthly one, to sing the praises of the Blessed Trinity, in the very canticle of Heaven:

“ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.”

** When the rosary was at an end,” adds Bernadette, “the Lady retired within the rock, and the golden cloud disappeared with her.”

Thus the heavenly brightness had preceded her when she was about to appear, and followed her when she disappeared, as the light of the sun precedes that celestial body when it rises, and follows it when it sets.

There was nothing vague or shadowy in the divinely beautiful being which had manifested itself to the ravished eyes of Bernadette. The latter has described it many times with perfect clearness. — |

‘The Lady looks like a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen,” she would say. ‘She wears a white dress; round her waist is a blue ribbon which falls the length of the dress almost to the ground. On her head her hair can hardly be seen for a white veil which falls behind, over her shoulders and below the waist. |

“On her naked feet, which are almost hidden by the folds of the dress, are golden-coloured | rosettes.

‘In her right hand she holds a rosary with white beads, and a golden chain which glitters like the rosettes on her feet.”

Bernadette was still on her knees, engrossed inthe ravishing sight which she had just beheld, when - Jeanne and Marie returned to the Grotto. Seeing her praying at such a time and in such a place, they made fun of her, and told her somewhat sharply to make haste and return with them. They all three made faggots of the wood they had gathered, and turned their steps towards the town. As they went Bernadette asked her little companions if they had noticed nothing extraordinary in the Massabieille Grotto.

‘No, nothing,” they replied. “But why do you ask ¢”

“ Oh, nothing!”

At first she wished to keep her secret; but when she was alone with Marie she could not resist telling her about all that filled her mind; she related her vision, and begged her sister to tell no one. The whole day long the image of the ideal being whom she had seen was present in her mind. When the evening came, and with it family prayers, the re- - membrance became still more acute and still more vivid, and, overcome by emotion, she began to cry.

“ What is the matter, Bernadette?” asked her - mother.

Marie did not give her time to reply, but related all that had happened at the Massabieille rocks.

“These things are illusions, my child,” said Mme. Soubirous seriously. “You must not allow such ideas in your mind; send them away, and above all do not return to Massabieille.”

“We went to bed,” says Bernadette, “but I could not sleep. The kind and gracious face of the Lady kept coming back to my mind, and it was useless to remember what my mother had told me; I could not believe that I had been mistaken.”

Such was the first apparition.

This scene was enacted eighteen times. On Friday, February 12th, and Saturday the 13th, Bernadette, who could think of nothing but what she had seen, longed to return to the Grotto, but she was withheld by obedience. At length on Sunday the 14th, her sister Marie and Jeanne Abadie asked for her the permission which she so ardently longed for. Mme. Soubirous refused at first, but on being eagerly pressed she thought that a return to Massabieille, where she would assuredly see nothing, would be the very best means of curing Bernadette of the foolish notions which haunted her, and, giving way at last, she said to the two young sisters :

“Go along, then, and don’t worry me any more!

But be back in time for Vespers, or you know what is in store for you!”

As soon as Marie had told five or six of her little companions, they set out, but not without first providing themselves with a bottle of holy water. Mme. Soubirous had spoken of the devil, who sometimes makes a plaything of man, and, although Bernadette was absolutely sure in her own mind that what she had seen was not the devil, she followed the advice of her little friends, and took every precaution.

They quickly arrived at Massabieille. Berna- | dette knelt down in front of the briar bush. For a few moments she prayed in silence, then, suddenly, as if delirious with joy, she was heard to say:

‘sShe is there! i... ‘She as therel”

One of her companions, Marie Hillot, at once said to her:

“ Quick, throw holy water at her,” and she passed the bottle.

Bernadette threw the holy water towards the bush, then she said to her companions :

“She is not angry; on the Coe she nods approvingly and is smiling.”

All the little girls had formed a semicircle around her, and were on their knees. Bernadette’s face became strangely pale, then calm and bright ; she seemed transformed. At this sight her companions were frightened; most of them burst into tears, and one cried out:

“Oh, if Bernadette were to die!”

They went closer to her, and called her affectionately by name. But she did not seem to hear them ; her eyes were fixed on the niche behind the briar, and she seemed lost in the contemplation of a heavenly spectacle visible to her alone. At this ~ moment, the mother and sister of the miller Nicolau arrived on the scene from the mill, which was close at hand. Seeing Bernadette in ecstasy, they spoke to her gently, but she did not hear. Full of faith and respect, Mme. Nicolau ran to find her son.

This son, who was twenty-eight years of age, came with an ironical smile on his lips, but, directly he saw Bernadette, he drew back in surprise, and, . folding his arms, looked at her for an instant.

“Never had I seen a more striking spectacle,” he said afterwards. ‘It was in vain I reasoned with myself; it seemed to me that I was not worthy to touch the child.”

However, as his mother insisted, he took Bernadette by the arm, and led her gently to his mill, where the ecstasy at length ended.

Meanwhile the little girls had returned to the town, and had quickly spread the news. Mme. Soubirous hastened to the mill, much annoyed by what she had heard. She entered birch in hand, and went straight up to her daughter, saying angrily :

“ How now, little hussy, do you wish to make us the laughing-stock of all who know us! I will give it you—with your sanctimonious airs and your tales about ladies.”

And she was on the point of striking her daughter when Mme. Nicolau interposed and prevented the blow, crying: “ What are you doing! What has your daughter done that you should treat her so? Just now I saw her on her knees, and never shall I forget the sight; it was like that of an angel— a real angel from heaven.”

After this Mme. Soubirous kept her daughter away from the Grotto for three or four days. On February 18th, persuaded by some ladies of the town, however, she allowed her to return with them to the Grotto, very early in the morning. After a few moments, Bernadette called out:

“She is coming ... There she is!”

The child was trembling with happiness, praying and smiling in turn, but without giving any exterior signs of ecstasy. She rose, neared the briar bush, and, as she was asked to do, naively held out a piece of paper to the “ Lady,” begging her to write | down her wishes.

Whereat the apparition replied :

“It is not necessary for me to write what I have to say to you.” ‘Then she asked Bernadette to return for a fortnight, and said to her: “I promise to make you epDys not in this world, but in the next.”

After this, however worried they might feel, the parents of the child-visionary no longer dared forbid her go to Massabieille. Her mother herself accompanied her with one of her aunts early on the morrow (19th). A few neighbours, guessing their secret, followed them. Bernadette passed quickly into ecstasy. “Her face was covered with ineffable smiles, and what appeared like waves of heavenly joy; she seemed to belong to this world no more.

“Q God,” cried her mother, trembling with emotion, “do not take my child from me.”

At the same time a voice from among those present was heard to say, “Oh, how beautiful she is!”

The fifth apparition took place on the morning

of the 20th February, about half-past six o’clock.

Madame Soubirous, near her child, whose face was

lit in ecstasy, cried out: “I do not know where

I am—lI seem to be dreaming—I do not recognise my daughter.”

The people round about were equally amazed and bewildered.

There were hundreds of people present on this day, for the whole town was talking of the strange events. Some declared that they were miraculous ; others, and especially the better educated, smiled contemptuously, saying it was merely a nervous phenomenon well known to science.

One of the latter, however, and not the least among them, Dr. Dozous, was not content, like the majority, with judging superficially. He took the trouble to go and investigate matters for himself. Thus it happened that he came across a most extraordinary pathological case, for his religious incredulity did not allow of his calling it by any other name. On the morrow, Sunday, February 21st, he was waiting at the foot of the Massabieille rock, and he was present at the sixth apparition, of which he has published an account. This account is interesting as being that, not only of an unbeliever, but of a doctor who had come to investigate scientifically the morbid condition of a patient.

“As soon as Bernadette was before the Grotto,” writes Dr. Dozous, “she knelt down, took her rosary out of pocket, and began to tell her beads. Soon her face altered; a fact which was remarked by all those near her, and which indicated that she was seeing the apparition. Whilst with the left hand she told her beads, in the right she held a burning candle, which was frequently blown out by ~ a strong breeze coming up from the Gave. Each time this happened she passed the candle to some one close at hand to re-light.

“I followed Bernadette’s movements very attentively, so as to be able to study her completely, from several points of view, and at this precise moment I wanted to know the state of her circulation and respiration. I took hold of her arm, and placed my fingers on the radial artery. The pulse was quiet | and regular, the breathing easy. There was nothing to indicate that nervous’ over-excitement might be reacting on the organism in a special way. As soon as I let go her arm, Bernadette moved higher up towards the Grotto. I noticed that her face, which until then had looked perfectly happy, began to wear an expression of sadness. ‘I'wo great tears fell from her eyes and coursed down her cheeks. ‘This change surprised me, and, when she had finished her prayers and the mysterious being had disappeared, I asked her what had been taking place all this long time, and she replied :