LONDON: FEINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STKEET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STHEET
5
CLEBRATED SANCTUARIES
OF
THE MADONNA.
BY
EEV. J.vSPENCEE NOETHCOTE, D.D.
. ' President of St. Mary's College, Oscott.
DIGXARE ME LAUDARE TE, VIRGO SACRATA ;'
UA MIHI \aiiTUTEM CONTRA HOSTES TUOS.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1868.
ADVEETISEMENT.
SOME of the histories in this volume were written whilst
I was yet a layman, and appeared at various intervals
in the ' Rambler ' of 1850-52. For many years past I
have been pressed by some of my brother clergy to re-
publish them as pious reading for the month of May.
I have now selected a few for this purpose, having first
corrected, abridged, or enlarged them ; but the larger
half of the volume is quite new, and has been written
by a friend who has already made many valuable con-
tributions to English Catholic literature.
J. S. N.
ST. MARY'S, OSCOTT :
In Fest. Annunt. B. M. V. 1868.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION . 1
CHAPTER I.
STATES OF THE CHURCH.
1. St. Mary Major's, Rome ........ 7
2. Our Lady of Good Counsel, G-enazzano ..... 15
3. Our Lady of the Oak, Viterbo 24
4. Mother of Mercy, Rimini 34
5. The Holy House of Loreto 65
CHAPTER II.
NAPLES.
1. Madonna del Carmine 107
2. Sta. Maria della Grotta 118
CHAPTER III.
SWITZERLAND.
1. Our Lady of Einsiedlen . .122
CHAPTER IV,
FRANCE.
1. Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons . . . . . . .133
2. Our Lady of Laus 146
3. Our Lady of Puy 160
4. Our Lady of Chartres 160
5. Our Lady of La Salette 178
viii Contents.
CHAPTER V.
ENGLAND.
PAGE
1. Anglo-Saxon Sanctuaries 230
2. Old English Sanctuaries .243
3. Cistercian and other Monastic Sanctuaries ..... 262
4. Sanctuaries of which mention occurs in the Lives of English Saints 279
CONCLUSION . 301
4393
CELEBRATED SANCTUARIES
OF
THE MADONNA.
What is a Sanctuary ?
EAELT in the fifth century probably A.D. 404 the congrega-
tion of the faithful in a town on the coast of Africa were much
disturbed by the rumour of a scandal in the episcopal palace.
The details of the story were imperfectly known, and of course
variously told ; but the distress of the little flock was so great
that at last the Bishop published a Pastoral on the subject. In
this Pastoral he lamented that there should be any necessity
for an episcopal exhortation on occasions like the present ; he
urged that the distinct prophecies of our Blessed Lord ought
to have prepared men's minds for such exhibitions of human
weakness and malice ; nevertheless^ he confessed that they were
trials dangerous to the weak, painful to all, and that therefore
he would gladly have spared his flock the knowledge of what
had happened, if this had been possible. Now, however, that
false reports were afloat, it was better that they should know
the facts, which were briefly these :
A priest of his household, named Boniface, had brought a
grave charge of immorality against another inmate of the
house, who was not yet a priest, but desirous of becoming one.
The charge was denied, and met by a counter-charge ; never-
theless, the Bishop had a strong impression that it was true.
But, being unable to prove it, he determined to take no further
action until something should happen either to justify or to
2 Introduction.
dispel his suspicions. The accused person, however, was not
so patient ; he was very urgent with the Bishop that he should
ordain him, or, if he would not do it himself, that he would at
least give him letters commendatory to some other diocese.
The Bishop would not be persuaded to do either of these
things. ' Then let Boniface be suspended or deposed,' was the
rejoinder ; ' if the suspicion of evil which attaches to me is a
legitimate impediment to my receiving holy orders, it ought
with equal justice to hinder my accuser from exercising the
functions of those orders, seeing that the same charge is pend-
ing over him also.' Boniface was willing to submit even to
this cruel privation rather than disturb the peace of the Church.
But the Bishop would not have it so. 'I chose therefore,' he
says, * a certain middle course ; to wit, that both parties should
bind themselves to go to a sanctuary (ad locum sanctum), where
the terrible operations of God are wont more readily to mani-
fest an unsound and guilty conscience, and to force sinners to
confession, either by some visible judgment or by the appre-
hension of it. I know indeed,' he proceeds, ' that God is
everywhere, and that He who created all things is not con-
tained or confined in any single place ; I know too that He
must be worshipped by those who would worship Him aright,
in spirit and in truth ; that so, hearing in secret, He may also
justify and reward in secret. Nevertheless, it is seen and
known by all men that He does set a difference between one
place and another, though none can penetrate His counsel and
explain why it is that miracles of this kind are wrought in one
place and not in another. The sanctity of the place where the
body of St. Felix of Nola lies buried is abundantly notorious.
To this place, then, I have directed these two persons to go,
and I have made this selection, because I could more easily
and with greater accuracy get letters from thence telling me
anything that may happen to either of them by the Divine
interposition. For I remember, when I was at Milan, there
was a shrine (memoria) of certain saints there, at which demons
were forced to declare themselves in a most wonderful and
terrible way ; and I knew the case of a thief who had gone
there with the intention of clearing himself from a charge by
perjury, but was, on the contrary, compelled to confess his
Introduction. 3
guilt, and make restitution of what he had stolen. Has Africa,
then, no bodies of saints ? And yet we never hear of such
things happening here. For just as, according to the Apostle,*
" not all have the gifts of healing, nor all the discerning of
spirits," so He who divideth to every man severally as He will
has not willed that things of this kind should be done at all the
shrines of the saints.
' Although, therefore, I was unwilling cruelly and uselessly to
distress you by communicating to you what was so grievous a
burden to my own heart, yet Grod has willed it otherwise ; and
perhaps for this reason, that you may labour with me in prayer
that He will vouchsafe to make manifest what is known to
Himself in this matter, but concealed from us.'
Finally, the Bishop adds that, although he had not furnished
"Boniface with letters' commendatory for his journey, this was
only because Boniface in his humility was anxious that, where
they were both unknown along the road, they might be treated
alike. On the other Hand, he says, ' I have not dared to erase
his name from the Clergy List, lest I should seem to offer an
insult to the Divine Power under whose examination the cause is
now pending'
I need hardly say that the writer of this interesting Pastoral
was the great St. Augustine, f and I think there will be found
in it a fitting introduction and a sufficient apology for the fol-
lowing pages. It is quite clear that the Christian religion, as
known and practised by the wisest and best in the beginning
of the fifth century, contained, as an integral portion of itself,
a special devotion towards certain Sanctuaries ; that St. Augus-
tine and his flock believed that it was the will of Grod to honour
His saints by making more frequent or more wonderful mani-
festations of His presence in these places than in others, and
that they did not hesitate to make this belief a practical rule
of conduct in delicate and difficult circumstances. No wonder,
therefore, that the Church of the eighteenth centiiry con-
demned, as rash, mischievous, and contrary to the pious custom
* 1 Cor. xii.
t Epist. Class. II., Ep. 78, ad Cler. et Pop. Hipp. Op. vol. ii. p. 275,
ed. Gaume.
B2
4 Introduction.
of the faithful,* that declaration of the Synod of Pistoia which
condemned all special cultus of one image of a saint in prefer-
ence to another ; and that theologians lay it down,^ as con-
fessed by all doctors and placed beyond dispute, that God sets
this mark of difference upon certain holy places according to
His own hidden counsel, the reasons whereof we cannot under-
stand, whilst yet we daily experience its blessed results.
The narratives which are collected in this volume presup-
pose, and are intended to illustrate and promote, the same
belief. It has been no part, therefore, of its general design,
to enter upon a critical examination of their exact historical
truth. Numerous remarks indeed bearing upon this point,
have been introduced here and there, as opportunity seemed to
offer ; but the historical evidence has not been presented at
any length, nor its accuracy examined in detail, excepting
only in two or three instances. The most important of these
is the Sanctuary of our Lady of La Salette ; and the reason
for this selection is obvious. Its rise and growth belong to
our own times ; there are here no old traditions whose origin
is lost in the darkness of antiquity ; no ravages of fire and
sword have destroyed the records of any intermediate period ;
but the whole history lies open before us from beginning to
end, all contained within the narrow compass of a few years.
The thing has grown up, we might almost say, under our own
eyes ; even the newspapers of the day, both English and
foreign, gave publicity to the main outlines of the history from
the very first, so that we have an opportunity of studying with
the most minute exactness this rare phenomenon, the creation
of a new sanctuary or place of pilgrimage. And this seemed
to be an opportunity too valuable to be lost, since Protestant
controversialists would have us believe that it is a matter
which can be summed up in half a dozen words. Some idle
tale of a dream, or vision, or miraculous cure, is first invented
(they suppose) by a designing priest, or imagined by some
weak -brained enthusiast ; then the ignorant and superstitious
people instantly believe it ; the bishops and clergy move
heaven and earth to encourage their credulity ; and behold,
* See Bull, ' Auctorem Fidei,' prop. 70.
f Canisius de B. M. V., pars iv. sect. 2, c. 24.
Introduction. 5
the whole thing is done. Born in obscurity and nurtured by
priestcraft, the tale is forced into a sickly maturity, and
begets a sanctuary and a pilgrimage, only by means of the
most jealous vigilance and fostering care of its clerical guar-
dians, who tenderly shelter it from every breath of opposition
until the time for inquiry is past ; and if in future ages some
diligent antiquarian, about to write the history of the Church,
should seek to investigate the first origin of the narrative so
intimately connected with its foundation, he will find no
written documents that can assist him in his researches, but
only the uncertain voice of tradition, and he must be con-
tented to say with the old historian of Rome, * Datur hcec
venia antiquitati, ut, miscendo humana divinis, primordia (eccle-
si-arum) augustiora faciat. '
To correct this false and mischievous impression the history
of La Salette has been told at some length ; so also has the
history of the Holy House of Loreto, and the evidence re-
garding the numerous pictures in Borne which attracted so
much attention towards the close of the last century. The
histories of the other Sanctuaries have been written with less
reference to the objections of critics ; and if this variety in the
mode of treatment of different parts of the same volume be felt
as an inconsistency and a defect, yet perhaps it may also be
found to have some compensating advantages. To the great
mass of the Protestant public, I am afraid it matters little in
what style such narratives are written ; their supernatural
character is accepted as conclusive evidence against their
truth. 'We are sure,' such persons say, ' that the story must
needs be false, because we are satisfied on a priori grounds
that it cannot possibly be true.' In whatever style, therefore,
the story is told, their criticism is already prepared. If it is
told in the simple legendary style of earlier ages, the writer is
set down as a mediaeval dreamer, who lives in a charmed
circle, mistakes visions for realities, and treats all the ordinary
occurrences and accidents of life, as surrounded by mystery
and marvel. If, on the other hand, an attempt is made to sift
and arrange the evidence, to weigh arguments and allege
proofs, immediately we are reminded jj^tat modern stories of
miraculous events have not the naive simplicity of the ancient
6 Introduction.
ones. They seem to endeavour to get too many details in
order to prove their truth. ' La Salette, ? it has been said,*
' may in some measure be classed with the tales of Caesarius ;
but the latter tells his stories as if he believes them, and in
that he gives a lesson that may not be disadvantageous at the
present time.'
Of course neither the style nor the matter of the following
pages can find favour with critics of this stamp. I hope, how-
ever, that Catholics may read them with interest and profit.
It is but too natural to the hearts of all of us to set limits on
the modes and times of Grod's interference with the system of
the world we live in, to think that it * belongs only to those
days of wonder when 'heaven and earth are confounded, as
when His feet stood formerly on the Mount of Olives, and
when all nations shall behold Him at the crack of doom.'
Such narratives as are here told may serve at least to startle
us out of this practical unbelief. May they also enkindle in
some hearts a more tender love and devotion towards our
Blessed and Immaculate Mother, a firmer confidence in her
power, and a more lively sense of her ever-present help to
deliver us from all dangers.
* 'Gentleman's Magazine,' January 1854, p. 16.
CHAPTER I.
THE STATES OF THE CHURCH.
1. St. Mary Major, Rome.
ANCIENT WRITERS enumerate no fewer than one hundred
churches in the city of Rome, dedicated, under various titles,
to the honour of the Queen of Heaven. Sixty or seventy of
these yet remain ; and of most of them, were we to unfold
their history, or even merely to explain their titles, the record
would be found full of tales of interest. Some, indeed, are
named merely after this or that particular mystery of her life,
or attribute of her power the Annunciation, for instance, or
the Purification, or Sta. Maria della Consolazione, delle Grazie,
della Sanita, &c. But of others, which owed their origin to
public or private vows, to visions, to miraculous cures, and the
like, the titles are by no means so simple and telling their own
tale ; on the contrary, each would require its own separate
comment, thus : Santa Maria della Pace, della Yittoria, degli
Angeli, &c. Others, again, have the titles of famous sanctuaries
of the Madonna in other cities or countries, some memorial of
which the Romans were anxious to have within their own
city, such as Sta. Maria di Loreto, Monserrato, della Quercia,
&c. Lastly, there are others which take their names only
from their position, as Sta. Maria in Trastevere, commonly
said to be the oldest of all Roman churches. The site on
which it stands was taken possession of by the Christians in
the days of Alexander Severus ; it was an open unoccupied
spot, used by the popinarii, or cooks, and the soldiers were
in the habit of meeting here to eat, drink, and riot. How the
Christians became possessed of it we do not know ; but it is
recorded that the popinarii made a formal complaint to the
Emperor, and attempted to recover it. Their petition was
8 St. Mary Major, Rome.
refused, the Emperor saying it was better that God should be
worshipped there under any form than that the place should
be occupied by such worthless characters.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, however, claims our
first attention ; for its fame extends throughout the whole
Church ; the feast of its dedication being everywhere comme-
morated on the 5th of August, and the miraculous circumstance
attending its foundation indicated to all by the very title of
the Feast, Stce. Marice ad Nives.
About the middle of the fourth century, a wealthy Roman
and his wife, being now of an advanced age, and having no
children, determined to consecrate their wealth to the honour
and glory of God, and specially they desired to dedicate it in
some way to our Blessed Lady, but they found it difficult to
decide on the best mode of carrying their purpose into execu-
tion. They were urgent, therefore, in their prayers to God,
that He would be pleased to vouchsafe them some special
token of His will for their guidance ; and at length their
prayers were answered. In the same night they both dreamed
a dream, in which the Blessed Virgin bade them build a church
to her honour upon that part of the Esquiline Hill which they
should find on the morrow covered with snow. This happened
on the 4th of August, just at that season when the heat of an
Italian summer is reaching its culminating point. The good
Roman, however, nothing doubting of the reality of the vision,
hastened to communicate it to the Pope ; and there, to his
great surprise, he found that he had been anticipated in his
intelligence, for that Pope Liberius had already received the
same revelation in the same way ; just as in the case of St.
Peter and Cornelius, a vision was vouchsafed to each that they
might be assured of God's will in a matter in which they were
required to co-operate. The Pope then, accompanied by several
of his clergy, and by this John and his friends, at whose ex-
pense the church was to be built, proceeded forthwith to the
Esquiline, where everything appeared exactly as had been
foretold to them. Not only was the ground covered with snow,
spite of the heat of the weather, but this strange phenomenon
was confined within certain limits ; it covered a piece of ground
of the form and size necessary for a church, and no more ; just
St. Mary Major, Rome. 9
as in the signs vouchsafed to Gedeon, ' there was dew on the
fleece only, and it was dry on all the ground beside ; ' and
again, ' it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on
all the ground.'
Such is the ancient story of the foundation of this Basilica ;
and although it does not enter into our plan to institute a
minute examination into the evidence upon which the story
rests, nevertheless it may not be amiss to shield ourselves
from all rash criticism by the authority of Benedict XIV.,
who says, in his account of the festival in which it is yearly
commemorated, that ' it must be acknowledged that nothing-
is wanting to enable us to affirm with moral certainty that the
prodigy of the snow is true.' The Romans have a very pretty
mode of perpetuating its memory, which is worth recording :
a shower of blossoms of the jasmine is made to fall from the
roof of the Basilica during the celebration of the First Vespers,
and again during the High Mass, and allowed to remain upon
the pavement until the feast is ended. By such means as these,
pious traditions of this kind live among the Roman poor, and
are 'familiar to them as household words,' instead of being
buried in the lessons of the Breviary, or known only to curious
antiquarians.
However, to return to our history, the foundations of the
new Basilica were immediately laid, and before the end of
that pontificate the whole building was completed, so as to
be known for many years as the Basilica Liberiana, after the
name of its consecrator. In the early part of the following
century was celebrated the General Council of Ephesus, and
Sixtus III. took occasion of that memorable decision of the
Church whereby the Blessed Virgin was declared to be truly
the Mother of God, to rebuild this Basilica to her honour on
a scale of much greater magnificence, whence it was after-
wards called Basilica Sixti. At the same time he enriched it
with numerous silver patens and chalices, lamps, thuribles,
and other articles of church-furniture in the same costly ma-
terial, with houses also and lands of considerable extent. The
tribune, too, of the new Basilica was ornamented with very
large and elaborate mosaics, representing various subjects,
historical and symbolical, all more or less commemorative
10 St. Mary Major, Rome.
of that mystery of the faith which had just been vindicated
from the blasphemous attacks of heresy. In the middle of
the seventh century a famous relic, the manger in which the
infant Jesus had been laid in the stable at Bethlehem, having
been brought here from the East, once more changed the title
of the church, and gave it that of Sta. Maria ad Prcesepe. It
does not concern us to describe the later gifts of pontiffs and
others, whereby the church was more and more embellished,
until it attained its present magnificence ; the first gold from
Peru, wherewith the roof was enriched during the pontificate
of Alexander V., the highly ornamented chapel of the Blessed
Sacrament, which was erected two centuries later by Pope
Sixtus V., the additions of Benedict XIV. in the last century,
&c. &c. That which more immediately concerns our present
subject is the picture, set in a frame of lapis-lazuli and precious
stones, which stands in a niche over the principal altar of
that most magnificent chapel, so well known as the Capella
Borghese. It is one of those portraits of the Madonna which
tradition assigns to St, Luke ; and although Protestants gene-
rally receive all mention of such a tradition with tokens of the
utmost incredulity, it certainly is not overthrown by the argu-
ments usually alleged against it. One writer, indeed, notorious
for his recklessness of assertion, and as ignorant apparently of
the history of art as he is of the doctrines of the Catholic faith,
has ventured to say ' that at the beginning of the art of paint-
ing (!), between the time of Cimabue and Giotto, there lived
an artist whose name was Luke. He was a holy man, ac-
cording to the holiness of his times, and confined himself to
painting pictures of the Virgin Mary. The pictures popularly
attributed to St. Luke are certainly belonging to that age, as
every judge of the art is aware ; and as this Luke was called
the Holy Luke, i.e. St. Luke, he soon became confounded
by the roguish monks and ignorant people with the St. Luke
the Evangelist.' * Even Mrs. Jameson's account of the matter
is not very different, only more moderately expressed, for her
knowledge of art prevented her from falling into the ludi-
crous mis-statement as to the chronology of the paintings in
question. She assigns to them an Oriental, rather than an
* Hobart Seymour's ' Pilgrimage to Home,' p. 567.
St. Mary Major, Rome. 1 1
European origin, and believes that the idea that St. Luke was
a painter came into the West after the first Crusades, * with
many other superstitions and traditions.' ' It may have origi-
nated,' she says, 'in the real existence of a Greek painter
named Luca a saint, too, he may have been, for the Greeks
have a whole calendar of canonized artists, painters, poets,
and musicians and this Greek San Luca may have been a
painter of those Madonnas imported from the ateliers of Mount
Athos into the West by merchants and pilgrims ; and the
West, which knew but of one St. Luke, may have easily con-
founded the painter and the Evangelist.'
Some Catholic writers have at various times adopted this
same theory ; they have even gone so far as to name the
precise date, some period in the eleventh century, when they
assert that a painter, named Luke, really lived, and that
amongst other works he painted the figure of our Blessed
Lady in the Sanctuary deW Impruneta in the diocese of
Florence. But however this may be, Tiraboschi * has shown
very clearly that the tradition which represents St. Luke the
Evangelist as having executed portraits of the Blessed Virgin
is far more ancient than this : it is mentioned by the disciple
and biographer of St. Theodorus Studites, in the ninth cen-
tury^ and in various writings published on occasion of the
Iconoclast heresy at a still earlier date. Other writers there-
fore have accounted for the existence of the tradition in a
different way. ' The delineations in St. Luke's Gospel,' it is
said, * partake of the nature of painting, inasmuch as the
poetry of painting consists in bringing out and grouping and
setting before the eyes, those things which are expressive of
the unseen, of feelings beyond everyday life or common de-
scription ; and thus metaphorically he may be considered as a
painter, as abounding in the graphic scenes of a painter or
a poet;'J and as he is 'the great authority,' adds Mrs.
Jameson, 'for the few Scripture particulars relating to the
character and life of Mary, he may be said, in the figurative
sense, to have painted her portrait.'
* Storia della Letter. Ital. torn. iii. lib. 4, c. 8, 5.
f Sismondi, Op. torn. v. p. 44, ed. Paris.
t Eev. Isaac Williams, ' Thoughts on the Study of the Holy Gospels,' p. 71.
12 St. Mary Major, .Rome.
On the other hand, those who uphold the literal truth of
the tradition, lay stress upon the unquestionable fact of the
Evangelist's superior education, which (says St. Jerome*) was
Grecian rather than Jewish ; and if it be true, as is generally
supposed, that he was born and educated in Antioch, a city
remarkable for the refined habits and cultivated intellect of
its inhabitants, nothing is more probable than that he should
have learned the art of painting as a part of his secular
education. But if so, and if he was only called to a knowledge
of the Gospel by St. Paul, it is objected that he could not
have had much opportunity of conversing with the Mother of
Jesus.
It is not necessary to discuss the details of this question
any farther ; it must always remain uncertain, and of course
the authenticity of this or that painting in particular must be
still more doubtful. The Lessons of the Office approved for
the use of the Chapter of St. Mary Major's, speak of it as a
pious belief, warranted by an old and constant tradition ; and
to contradict a received opinion of this kind without necessity,
betokens conceit rather than true wisdom. Local tradition
says of this particular picture that it was brought from Jeru-
salem to Rome by the Empress St. Helen, and placed in this
church by Pope Liberius himself. Anyhow, it is of very high
antiquity, and has always been reverenced with singular
devotion by the Roman people. It was this picture which
St. Gregory the Great was bearing in solemn procession from
St. Mary Major's to St. Peter's, deprecating God's wrath, and
imploring the interference of His mercy to stay the plague by
which the city was being depopulated, when choirs of angels
were heard around it, singing
' Eegina coeli, Isetare,
Quia Quem meruisti portare
Eesurrcxit sicut dixit,'
to which the holy Pontiff immediately subjoined, Ora pro nobis
Deum ; thus forming the whole of that triumphant antiphon,
wherewith, amid her own exultation at the glad tidings of
Easter, the Church still celebrates the joys of the Mother of
* Comment, in Isai. lib. iii. c. 6.
St. Mary Major, Rome. 13
her risen Lord, and prays her intercession. At the same time
was revealed to the eyes of St. Gregory, over the Mausoleum
of Hadrian (for the procession was just then about to cross
the Tiber), the Archangel Michael sheathing his sword, and
thereby declaring, what the fact afterwards confirmed, that the
plague had ceased ; that God had had pity on the affliction,
and, as in the days of David, had ' said to the angel that slew
the people, It is enough ; now hold thy hand.'
This picture was most carefully preserved and had in
reverence by all succeeding Pontiffs and by the faithful gene-
rally, until at length, in the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury, Paul Y. determined to build a chapel expressly for its
reception. The ceremony of translating it from its old position
in another part of the Basilica to this new and most splendid
chapel was celebrated with extraordinary pomp, and amid an
immense concourse of the people, on the 27th of January, 1613 ;
and in a brief, dated in the autumn of the following year, the
Pope sufficiently indicates the motives by which he had been
influenced, when he says that 'ancient records testify that
this picture has been always distinguished by the devotion of
the faithful, and that many and wonderful miracles have pro-
ceeded from it.'
It would take too long to enumerate instances : these must
be sought in books which treat expressly of the subject. And,
after all, no individual examples that might be alleged could
furnish so satisfactory a proof of the assertion as is to be found
in the persevering devotion of the faithful, more especially of
the sovereign Pontiffs themselves. It was reported, appa-
rently on good authority, in the early years of the present
Pontiff's reign, and whilst he resided at the Quirinal, that he
might be sometimes seen, in the silent hours, of the night,
walking barefooted, and attended by a few faithful companions,
to pour forth his prayers for help amid his already multiplying
troubles in this favoured sanctuary. But whether this be
true or not, the devotion of his immediate predecessor to this
picture is sufficiently notorious. What was done in the days
of the first Gregory was repeated in the days of the last ; and
twice within the space of four or five years the inhabitants of
the Eternal City saw the very same picture carried along their
14 St. Mary Major, Rome.
streets which, their forefathers had seen and reverenced more
than twelve centuries before, and for the very same purpose
to implore the Mother of God to intercede with her divine Son,
and remove from among them the plague of sickness. On the
last occasion the cessation of the cholera in 1837 the Pope
made an offering of two golden crowns, richly ornamented
with precious stones (one for the Mother, the other for the
Son), to replace the crowns of silver which had been offered
by various Popes in former times from Clement VIII. down-
wards, but which had all been lost during some of the numer-
ous political disturbances to which the city has been so often
subjected.
In concluding the account of this first and most famous
sanctuary of the Madonna, deservedly called St. Mary Major
(' quia major dignitate non solum Romanis, sed et totius orbis
Ecdesiis,' as Canisius says), it is worth while, perhaps, to
notice the remark of a Protestant traveller, that ' the people of
Italy are not much influenced by a taste for the arts in their
religion ; that they not unfrequently select the very ugliest
Madonnas and the most hideous crucifixions ' (we are using
his words, not our own) ' as the objects of their worship ;'
and that the spiritual history, so to speak, of any image * has
far more to do with increasing the number of devout pilgrims
and pious worshippers than the most exquisite handling of
the pencil, or the most perfect finishing of the chisel.' The
latter part of this remark is undoubtedly true and who,
indeed, could wish it to be otherwise ? but as to the former
part, whatever may be its general accuracy, at least in the
present instance it is quite inapplicable. All who have had
the privilege of contemplating the picture at St. Mary Major's
at all closely, bear testimony to its extremely pleasing and
devotional character. It is said to be as beautiful as it is
famous.
15
2. OUT Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano.
GENAZZANO is a town of some importance in the diocese of
Palestrina, very prettily situated on the left of the high road
to Naples, at a distance of about thirty miles to the south-east
of Rome. From time immemorial, the feast of St. Mark the
Evangelist was celebrated there as a very special holiday ; in
fact, it was the day of the great fair or market of the year.
Moreover, there was a very old church in the city, dedicated
to the Madonna of Good Counsel, built, as it would appear,
upon a part of the territory that Pope Sixtus III. had con-
veyed as an endowment to St. Mary Major's in Rome, on the
occasion which has been already mentioned of his rebuilding
that Basilica. In the middle of the fifteenth century this
church was in the hands of the Augustinians, to whom it had
been given, in the year 1356, by some member of the Colonna
family, the feudal lords of the place. It was neither large nor
handsome ; and about the time we have named, a devout old
woman, named Petruccia da Jeneo, a native of Genazzano,
and a member of the Third Order of St. Augustine, declared
her determination to rebuild it on a scale of greater magnifi-
cence. Her means were wholly unequal to the task ; never-
theless, such as they were, she devoted them entirely to the
work. She went and sold all that she had, and the under-
taking was begun. Her friends and neighbours laughed her
to scorn, as one who had begun to build without ' having first
sat down and reckoned the charges that were necessary,
whether she had wherewithal to finish it.' Her relations
not without some suspicion of a selfish regard to their own
interests as the motive of their interference rebuked her
sharply for her improvidence, in thus voluntarily depriving
herself of those means of support with which God had blest
her in the time of her greatest necessity ; she was old and
infirm, they said, and who would undertake the burden of her
support, since her impoverishment had been the result of a
1 6 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano.
foolish indulgence of her own fancy ? Her answer to these
objections was always the same : ' The work will be finished,
and that right soon, because it is not my work, but God's ;
the Madonna and St. Augustine will do it before I die ; ' and
she continually repeated, with an air of confidence, what may
have seemed the ravings of madness to those who heard her,
' Oh, what a Gran Signora (what a noble lady) will soon come
and take possession of this place ! '
Meanwhile the work proceeded, and the walls had already
risen high above the ground, close to the old church which
they were intended to enclose ; but by and by the builders
ceased ; and now there arose a far greater obstacle than the
mere insufficiency of means. Petruccia had in fact declared
that she had begun her undertaking, and was encouraged to
persevere with it, mainly in reliance upon some secret inspira-
tion, vision, or revelation (it does not clearly appear which),
that she believed herself to have received from God ; and the
Church, in order to guard against abuses which had some-
times arisen from giving heed to pretended supernatural mes-
sages of this kind, had now issued a law forbidding such
things to be attended to, unless they were corroborated by
some other external and independent testimony; the mere
assertion of a dream, a vision, or a revelation, was on no ac-
count to be obeyed.* Petruccia' s work, therefore, was not
only suspended for want of means, it was also canonically pro-
hibited. Her own substance had been exhausted, and an
appeal to the assistance of others the ecclesiastical authorities
could not permit. Matters were in this state in the spring of
1467. On Saturday, April 25, in that year, the usual fair had
been held ; crowds of people had passed and repassed the
old church, and the imperfect walls of the new ; and we can-
not doubt but that some at least amongst those who saw them
had begun to mock, saying, ' This woman began to build, and
was not able to finish.' Evening was fast approaching, the
gayest, brightest hour of the fair, when, business being ended,
the pleasure of the day began : all were devoting themselves
to amusement, each in his own way, when presently some
* Quse per somnia et inanes revelationes quorumlibet hominum ubi-
cumque constituuntur altaria, omnino reprobentur.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano. 1 7
who stood in the piazza saw something like a thin cloud float-
ing in the air, and then settling on one of the walls of the
unfinished building. Here the cloud seemed to divide and
disappear, and there remained upon the wall a picture of the
Madonna and Child, which had not been there before a
picture which was new to all the bystanders, and which they
could not in any way account for. At the same moment the
bells of the church, and of all the other churches in the town,
began to sound, yet no human hand is seen to touch them.
People ran from their houses to ask the cause of this general
alarm ; and indistinct rumours spread rapidly amongst them
that something wonderful had happened in the Piazza della
Madonna. Those who were nearest to the spot arrived just
in time to see the aged Petruccia come out from the church,
to inquire like the rest what had happened. When she had
seen the picture, she threw herself on her knees and sa-
luted it with outstretched arms ; then she rose, and turning
round to the people, told them with a voice half choked with
tears of joy and gratitude, that this was the Gran Signora
whom she had so long expected, that she was now come to
take possession of the church that ought to have been pre-
pared for her, and that the bells were sounding in this mira-
culous way only to do her honour. At this intelligence the
people fell upon their knees, and began to pour forth their
prayers before this marvellous painting, which they knew
not how otherwise to designate than as the Madonna del
Paradiso.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the adjacent villages, alarmed
by the unusual sound of the bells, accompanied (as is still the
custom in many parts of Italy on all festive occasions) by the
discharge of fire-arms, imagined that some disturbance must
have broken out in the city, and began to feel no little anxiety
for those of their relations and friends who were absent at the
fair. Some, indeed, had already returned, but these were as
much at a loss as the rest ; for when they came away they
had seen no symptoms of a riot, neither had they heard of any
extraordinary cause of rejoicing. Others, again, had left the
city, and were in the act of returning homewards, when their
steps were arrested by these noises ; and of these, some whose
c
18 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano.
prudence was stronger than their curiosity only hurried home
the faster, whilst others turned back to investigate the cause.
These, however, tarried so long to gaze at the wondrous sight,
to hear its history, and to see the marvellous effects that fol-
lowed, that the public anxiety of the neighbourhood was still
unrelieved. At length, at a very late hour of the night, some
few stragglers returned, and told so strange a tale, that long
before daybreak on the following morning multitudes of the
country people might be seen taking advantage of the day of
rest (it was the fourth Sunday after Easter) and hurrying to-
wards the town to see and inquire for themselves. And not
only the strong and the active, but even the aged and infirm,
the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others,
came or were brought to this new pool of Bethsaida ; for it
was part of the intelligence which reached them that many
persons had been miraculously healed of their infirmities in
the presence of this Madonna. So great was the number of
these miraculous cures, that with a methodical caution and
prudence most unusual in a Catholic country and at a time
when Protestantism was unknown, a notary was appointed to
register the principal cases, and to have them attested by the
signatures of competent witnesses, and of the very parties
themselves. This register was begun on the second day -after
the apparition, i.e. on April 27, and continued until August
14. It contains the narration of 171 reputed miracles, which
had taken place during this period of 110 days ; and it was
stopped at last, not because the marvels had ceased, but
because enough had now been done to silence the mouths of
the most obstinate of gainsay ers, and to establish the right of
this picture to be considered an Immagine miracolosa.
But it is time that we should inquire somewhat more parti-
cularly whence this picture had really been brought, and by
what means. The inhabitants of Genazzano would fain believe
that it was the work of angels and had been brought from
heaven, and for this reason they had given it the name of the
Madonna del Paradiso. It was no welcome news to them,
therefore, a few days afterwards, to be told that two strangers
from a foreign land had just arrived from Borne, who pro-
fessed to know the picture, and to be able to tell its history.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano. 1 9
One of these strangers was a Sclavonian, the other an Alba-
nian ; and the story which they told was this.
They had been resident together in Scutari, a city of
Albania, on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, distant about
twenty miles from the sea. On a little hill outside that city
there was a church, in which this Madonna, painted upon the
wall, was well known, and much venerated, as the Madonna
del Buon Officio. It was a picture to which there had always
been a very great devotion ; and latterly, in the disturbed
miserable condition of the country, the inhabitants had been
more than usually frequent in their visits to it, entreating the
Madonna's interference to defend them from their dangerous
enemies, the Turks, who, they had reason to apprehend, were
meditating a fresh invasion, and who, as a matter of fact, did,
not many years afterwards, lay waste the whole country, and
destroy many cities with fire and sword. Numbers of the
citizens had already fled from the impending calamity ; and,
as contemporary historians tell us, took refuge, some in Venice,
others in different cities of Romagna. Amongst the rest, our
two strangers at length determined to expatriate themselves
like their neighbours ; but before doing so, they went out to
bid a last farewell to their favourite shrine, and to pray the
Mother of God that, as she with her Divine Son had been
forced to flee from the face of one of the kings of the earth
who was plotting mischief against them, so she would vouch-
safe to guide and to accompany these her humble clients, in
their no less compulsory flight. Whilst they were yet praying
the picture disappeared from their sight, and in its stead a
white cloud seemed to detach itself from the wall, to float
through the air, and to pass out through the doors of the
church. Attracted by an impulse which they could not resist,
they followed ; presently they found themselves caught up in
some mysterious manner along with it, and carried forwards
in its company. The manner of their transit who shall ex-
plain, save He who alone can tell how the angel of the Lord
set Habacuc in Babylon over the lion's den where Daniel was
imprisoned, ' in the force of his Spirit,'* and how he presently
set him again in his own place in Judea ; or how, when Philip
* Dan. xv. 35.
c2
20 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano.
and the eunuch were come up out of the water, ' the Spirit of
the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more ;
and he went on his way rejoicing, but Philip was found at
Azotus.' * The men themselves could only testify that they
had been transported, they knew not how, from one. place to
another ; that they had been taken across the Adriatic, whose
waves had borne them up, as the Sea of Galilee had borne St.
Peter when Jesus bade him come to Him upon the waters ;
that, as evening drew on, that which had seemed a pillar of a
cloud by day became as it were a pillar of fire ; and that
finally, when they had been brought to the gates of Rome, it
entirely disappeared.
Entered into the Eternal City, the travellers sought dili-
gently for traces of their lost guide; they went from one
church to another, inquiring for the picture which they had
watched so long, and then so suddenly lost sight of; but all
their inquiries were in vain. At length, at the end of two
or three days, they heard of a picture having appeared in a
strange way at Genazzano, and that its appearance was fol-
lowed by many miracles. Immediately they set out to visit
it; recognised and proclaimed its identity. The people of
Genazzano lent no willing ear to this strange history; it
detracted somewhat from the heavenly origin which they
would have assigned to their newly-gotten treasure ; and it
gave them some uneasiness too as to the ultimate security of
their possession of it ; for, should this story be authenticated,
the picture might one day be reclaimed and carried away.
In the course of a few days, however, as the story got noised
abroad, other Albanians, who were scattered abroad in different
parts of Italy, came to see it ; and these too confirmed its
identity. At a later date, this fact was still more clearly
ascertained (as in the somewhat similar case of the House of
Loreto) by the testimony of persons who spoke upon oath, not
only to the exact shape and size, as corresponding to a blank
that was then still to be seen upon the walls of the church at
Scutari, but also to the colouring and style of art, as precisely
the same with that which characterised all the other parts of
the church. For it must be remembered, that this was 110
* Acts viii. 39, 40.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano. "21
painting executed upon board or canvas, and thus capable of
easy removal, and leaving no trace behind it ; it was a mere
fresco upon a very thin coating of plaster, which no human
skill could have detached from the wall in a single piece, still
less have transported from one place to another without
injury.
But to adhere more closely to the chronological order of our
facts, it is necessary that we should return to Rome. It was
scarcely possible that so marvellous a story, circulated in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Holy See, should fail to attract
the attention of that ever- watchful, jealous tribunal. The
translation of the picture is said to have taken place late on
the evening of the 25th April ; on the 15th of May, and follow-
ing days, the names of certain Albanians appear in the register
which has been already mentioned, as having received remark-
able grazie at the shrine, and these were they who confirmed
one part of the strangers' tale by identifying the picture ; and
before the middle of July we find Pope Paul II. sending two
bishops to examine upon the very spot into all the circum-
stances of the case. The Bishop of Palestrina, whose duty it
would naturally have been to institute this examination, was
Cardinal Cortin, a Frenchman ; but as he was absent at
Avignon, the Pope appointed in his stead another French
bishop, who happened to be in Home, and must have been well
known to the Cardinal, being Bishop of Gap, in Dauphiny,
Monsignor Gaucer ; and with him was joined Monsignor
ISTiccolo de Crucibus, Bishop of Lesina, one of the islands in
the Adriatic near the coast of Dalmatia, whose familiarity as
well with the language as with the localities could not fail to
be of the utmost service in the investigation of this matter.
The mission of these bishops is not only recorded by contem-
porary writers,* it is also curiously attested by the records of
the Papal Treasury, which are still extant, and where we read,
under the date of the 24th July in this year, an item of twenty-
two florins and sixty bolognini ' paid for the expenses of two
bishops sent to Genazzano.' f
* e.g. M. Canesius, in his Life of Paul II., written in the year H69.
f Cod. dell' Arch. Seg. Vat. delle spese fatte nel 1464, p. 231. See the
testimony of Marini, apud Riccardi, ' Santuari d' Italia,' ii. 543.
22 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano.
It is much to be regretted that the report which these
bishops presented upon their return to Home has nowhere
been preserved to us ; its general character, however, is un-
mistakeable, if we consider the facts which followed. Had
not their report been favourable, the register of miracles
would not have been continued, as we know that it was, until
the middle of the succeeding month, and then its separate
sheets collected together, and the whole copied de novo into a
single volume by another notary, with a title in which the
miraculous appearance of the picture is expressly mentioned.
Again, had not their report been favourable, those two stran-
gers, who would then have been convicted of imposture, could
not have dared to establish themselves, as they undoubtedly
did, in the very town which they had attempted to deceive.
(The family of the Albanian still remains ; the other has been
long extinct.) But above all, had not their report been favour-
able, the work of the new church would not have been re-
sumed ; resumed and completed in less than three years ; and
then bearing among its ornaments inscriptions, paintings, and
sculptures, many of which still remain, and all distinctly com-
memorate the same wonderful story.
The entire history of this sanctuary, and of the miracles
which have been wrought there, of the devotional visits of
Popes, Cardinals, and other princes, and of the offerings which
they have sent or left behind them, is very interesting. The
visit of Pope Urban VIII. is specially worth mentioning,
because that Pope set his face so resolutely against the sanc-
tioning in any way of miraculous stories resting on no sufficient
foundation, yet came to this church in 1630 on purpose that
he might pray before this picture for the averting of the plague,
then raging in other parts of Italy, from his own dominions.
We may add also that in 1777 the Congregation of Rites ap-
proved a proper office, commemorating this history, to be used
by all the Augustinian Order ; and that the devotion towards
the picture is very far from having died away, as sometimes
happens, by the lapse of years. It has always been a favourite
place of pilgrimage for our own ecclesiastical students in the
English College at Rome, and Cardinal Acton had a special
devotion towards it. On occasion of his visit to it in the
OUT Lcidy of Good Counsel, Genazzano. 23
autumn of 1845, lie met with an accident which might well
have proved fatal both to himself and his companions. He
was travelling from Palestrina with his chaplain and servants,
and three students of the English College * (a party of eight
in all), when the carriage was upset in a very dangerous part
of the road. Carriage, horses, and passengers were precipitated
over a bank to the depth of twenty feet ; ' yet,' as one of the
party writes, ' not one of us had so much as a scratch, as far as
I know, and I never heard mention of injury to any, except
that the butler, who was more frightened than hurt, com-
plained of being much shaken. Of course, he and the others
outside were flung some way into the field ; we who were
inside fell on one another, the Cardinal being immediately
below me. The carriage windows were thrown up by the fall,
but were unbroken until men came and broke them to drag
us out. The carriage was not much injured ; some of the iron-
work twisted, and the pole broken, which caused a deep flesh-
wound in one of the horses. We walked on, saying the rosary,
to the neighbouring town, where the Bishop received us, and
sent us on to Grenazzano. On our arrival there, the Rector and
students and the religious community all joined us in the Te
Deum, which was repeated on the following morning, for the
miraculous deliverance which a good Grod had given us.' The
Cardinal had a copy of the painting executed, which he always
retained for his own private devotion, and which is now
in the sacristy of the Church of our Lady of Angels, Stoke-
upon- Trent. Another copy, or rather a very beautiful paint-
ing (by Seitz), suggested by it, and retaining the same general
idea and attitude of the Mother and Child, is in the chapel of
the Convent of St. Catherine, at Clifton. Very many copies
may be seen, not only in the churches of Home and other
states of Italy, but in Spain and Portugal, in Istria and Dal-
matia, and even in Africa and America. As to the title of this
painting, it was for some time a subject of considerable dis-
pute, some wishing to retain that which had been given at first
by the devotion of the peoplQ, the Madonna del Paradiso ;
others, again, advocating the more historical description,
* All still surviving, and priests in the dioceses of Liverpool and
Salford.
24 OUT Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo.
Madonna da Scutari. Since the beginning of the seventeenth
century, however, the revival of the ancient title has univer-
sally prevailed; and those of our readers who are familiar
either with the picture itself or with any of its copies, will
agree with us in considering it a most happy selection. There
is something in the attitude of the Mother and Child that
renders the title peculiarly appropriate and impressive.
3. Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo.
AT a short distance from the walls of Viterbo, on a spot for-
merly known as the Campo Grazzano, stands the celebrated
convent of La Quercia, with its beautiful campanile, rising
above the trees which line the road leading to the Porta Santa
Lucia. The church with its adjacent cloister, designed by
Bramante, is considered a masterpiece of that artist, and its
situation would seem as if chosen in order to command the
most magnificent view. The woody heights of Mount Cimino
rise on the south, on the north appear the town and hills of
Montefiascone ; the Apennines are on the east, whilst in the
opposite direction you look over a richly variegated country
towards the distant Mediterranean. However, the site of the
convent was not fixed on in consequence of its picturesque
beauty ; it was determined by what may be called accidental
circumstances, unless our readers are willing to believe that,
as is affirmed of so many other sanctuaries of Our Lady, she
herself made choice of the spot whence she had determined to
dispense her graces.
It was in the year 14] 7, during the lamentable period known
as the Great Schism, that a certain artist named Baptista
Juzzante fastened a picture of the Madonna painted on a tile
to an oak tree, which then grew on the Campo Grazzano. The
picture represents the half-figure of Our Lady dressed in a
crimson vest, and wearing a blue mantle, supporting her
Divine Son, who appears clothed in a yellowish- coloured tunic,
and holds a little bird in his right hand. Baptista is said to
have placed it in the tree ' by Divine Inspiration,' but in point
of fact there was nothing very extraordinary in this circum-
Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo. 25
stance. Pictures and images of Our Lady were very commonly
thus placed, for the devotion of wayfarers, like the ' Virgin of
the Oak ' at Norwich, and in some cases have been discovered
imbedded in the wood, which, in process of time, has grown
over and concealed them from view. For several years the
picture of which we are speaking did not attract any particular
attention, though the peasants who sometimes paid their devo-
tions before it on their way to and from the city affirmed in
their simplicity that, however often it was blown down by the
wind, it was always replaced uninjured on the oak without
the aid of human hands, and they noticed what they deemed
the marvellous way in which the branches of the tree inter-
laced one another, so as gradually to form a sort of niche,
thoroughly overarching and protecting the Madonna from
wind, snow, and rain. However, it did not long remain un-
disturbed in its oaken tabernacle. Not far from the spot, on
one of the heights of Mount Cimino, known as Mount Saint
Angelo, there lived a hermit named Pier Dominico Alberti.
He was a Siennese by birth, but had abandoned the world, and
taken up his abode in this solitude, whence it was his pious
custom to come almost daily, in order to pay his devotions
before the picture, which was by this time almost hidden by
the luxuriant branches. At last the thought occurred to him
of removing it to the chapel of his own hermitage, which he
accordingly did, but that night, as he slept, he seemed in his
dreams to see the picture hanging, as before, in the tree, and
when he woke he found, to his astonishment, that it was
actually gone from the place where he had carefully fixed it
the night before. Hastening to the Campo Grazzano in some
perplexity, his wonder was yet further increased on finding
the Madonna restored to her former position, and supported
in the tree by the hands of two angels. With many tears
he hastened to implore Our Lady's pardon for his boldness
in having removed her from her chosen home, and without
openly declaring what had happened, he was from that time
observed constantly to allude to some great treasure which
existed between Viterbo and Bagnaia a treasure, he said,
which no one as yet knew or cared for ; and when some of
those to whom he thus spoke proposed to go and dig for it, he
26 Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo.
would shake his head, and tell them their labour would be
useless, for that the treasure was not hidden underground.
Meanwhile, some devout women of Viterbo had also dis-
covered -fce picture, and one of them, named Bartolomea,
conceived such a devout affection for it, that after one day
praying before it for a long time she resolved, as the hermit
had done, to remove it to her own house. But it very speedily
found its way back to the oak, to the surprise of Bartolomea,
who did not however at first perceive anything miraculous in
the circumstance, but imagined that some of her family had
been playing her a trick. She therefore again removed it.
and this time to keep it more securely she locked it up in a
box. But her precautions proved vain, for the first time she
opened the box, she found the picture was no longer there,
and hurrying to the oak-tree, she was stupefied with surprise
and admiration on beholding the Madonna hanging in her
sylvan tabernacle as before. She no longer doubted of the
supernatural character both of this and the former removal,
and, persuaded that the Blessed Virgin had made choice of this
tree for her residence, and that she did not choose her picture
to be venerated on any other spot, she not only left it where it
was but hastened to exhort her neighbours to visit the picture
before which she assured them she had received many graces.
A certain devotion towards the Madonna of the Oak had
thus sprung up among the people of Viterbo, who were
suffering from many calamities as well from the factions and
civil wars with which Italy was at that time distracted, as
from the assaults of pestilence. In the July of the year 1467
the misery of the people seemed at its height, the mortality
was daily increasing, when many of those who had been
attacked by the pestilence were suddenly restored to health
while praying before the Madonna della Quercia. On the
8th of the same month, a citizen of Viterbo flying from the
pursuit of some of the opposite faction who sought his life,
was overtaken by them just as he came up to * Our Lady's
Oak,' and seeing no way of escape he raised his eyes to the
picture and invoking the aid of the Blessed Virgin was not
disappointed in his confidence. His pursuers, who a moment
before believed themselves sure of their prey, suddenly lost
Oar Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo. 27
sight of him, they sought him everywhere around and even in
the tree but in vain, and were forced to retrace their steps
disappointed and somewhat terrified by what seemed his
supernatural disappearance. Meanwhile, the citizen* who had
beheld the discomfiture of his enemies, could only explain it
by supposing, as was indeed the case, that Our Lady had
rendered him invisible to them, and entering Viterbo he
published his miraculous escape to all his neighbours. Th
affair was much talked o r , and the hermit explaining his
former obscure hints, declared that the treasure he had so
often spoken of was no other than Our Lady's picture, and
made known its miraculous removal both from his own
hermitage and the house of Bartolomea. The people of Viterbo
determined in consequence solemnly to invoke Our Lady's
intercession against the pestilence, which before the end of July
entirely ceased. This almost instantaneous answer to their
prayers filled them with devout gratitude, and crowds, amount-
ing to forty thousand persons, poured out of the city to return
thanks to Our Lady before her picture in the oak. On the
first Sunday in August an immense procession, including
fourteen religious communities, visited this new Sanctuary of
the Madonna. The Bishop of Viterbo, at the head of all his
clergy, secular and regular, and all the magistrates of the city,
came hither and celebrated mass on a very simple wooden
altar erected under the tree, and during this and the following
month similar scenes were constantly repeated.
The fame of the Madonna della Quercia soon spread beyond
Viterbo. The hermit Pier Doininico constituted himself the
Apostle of the new devotion, and on occasion of a terrible
series of earthquakes which about the same time threatened
the ruin of the city of Siena, he exhorted the terrified people
to make a vow to the Madonna della Quercia, and recommend
themselves to her protection* The immediate cessation of
this scourge proved the reward of their faith, and, as a token
of gratitude, a deputation of Siennese citizens was dispatched
to Viterbo bringing with them as their votive offering a
silver tablet on which was engraved a representation of the
city.
I shall not pause here to enumerate the miracles wrought
28 Our Lady of La Querria, Viterbo.
before the Holy Image. Their number and variety was ex-
pressed by the votive offerings of all kinds soon suspended
before the oak, among which were to be seen the chains of
more than one captive in Africa and Constantinople who
attributed his deliverance from a Turkish dungeon to the
intercession of Our Lady. But the votaries of the Madonna
often affirmed that the picture itself was in reality the greatest
miracle. Exposed for fifty years to every inclemency of
weather under a tree the branches of which formed its sole
protection, its colours were fresh and uninjured as on the
first day it had been placed there. The majesty of Our Lady's
countenance, and the life-like expression with which the Holy
Child appeared to be looking down on his worshippers, struck
all who gazed on it. Moreover, as they said, it excited
different sentiments in the beholders, according to their
different dispositions ; it struck fear into the hearts of sinners,
kindled compunction in others, inspired the timid with hope,
and the devout with fervour. And its miraculous powers
were believed to extend even to the oil burnt before the
picture, and the wood of the tree on which it hung, several
well-attested examples of cures wrought by their use being on
record.
The throng of pilgrims who constantly visited the Madonna
rendered it necessary to take some steps for providing priests
to minister to their spiritual wants, and in 1467 a small chapel
was erected for the celebration of Mass, the superiors of the
Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, and Servite convents
being each severally requested to send one Father to hear the
confessions of the people. Even this was not found to be
sufficient, and in the October of the 'same year, the Bishop
appointed four parish priests to fulfil the same ministry, other
officers, chosen from the nobles of Yiterbo, being named to
receive the offerings of the pilgrims. At last he determined
to establish some religious community on the spot, and a
colony of the Gesuati, recently founded by St. John Colombini,
were chosen for the purpose. But as they found themselves
unequal to the work, which constantly increased, they resigned
their post, and a council of the city authorities was called to
determine who should be their successors. The Dominican
Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo. 29
Fathers were thought by many the best suited for the charge,
but as they already had one convent in Viterbo. that of Sta.
Maria in Gradi, there appeared an objection to founding two
of the same order in such close vicinity. To settle the point,
it was at last agreed to send the priors, or city magistrates, to
the Porta Santa Lucia, on the road which leads to Florence ;
they were to watch for the first stranger religious coming into
the city by that road, and they determined that the Order to
which he might happen to belong, whatever it were, should
be selected as the guardians of the Madonna. Hardly had
the priors taken their post at the gate, when three friars
appeared in sight coming along the road from the direction of
Florence. They were Father Martial Auribelli, Master- General
of the Dominicans, accompanied by his socii, returning from
the visitation of the northern provinces. When the priors had
accosted the strangers and ascertained their dignity and cha-
racter, they were filled with a certain assurance that this was
indeed the Order chosen by Our Lady, who appeared to have
conducted hither the head of one of the principal Orders
dedicated in the Church to her special honour, that her will in
the matter might be manifested beyond the power of contra-
diction.
The care of the holy image, and the missionary labours
thereby entailed, were accordingly offered by the citizens of
Viterbo to the Master- General of the Friar-Preachers, and by
him willingly accepted ; and a bull confirming this arrange-
ment was obtained from Pope Paul II., wherein faculties were
granted for the erection of a church and convent. The
foundations of the church were laid in the July of 1470, and
such was the ardour of those engaged in the work, and the
zeal with which the people contributed the necessary means,
that the walls were roofed in by the following December ; a
fact considered sufficiently remarkable to be commemorated
on a tablet still..pr.eserved.
To the church was added a spacious cloister and monastery,
a hospital for the reception of pilgrims, and other buildings
for the accommodation of the merchants and others, who
assembled at the annual fairs held here twice a year. Roads
were opened and planted with avenues of trees, and consider-
30 OUT Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo.
able lands enclosed as vineyards and olive-yards. Fountains
and even aqueducts for the service of the friars and the public
were constructed at vast expense, and the spot formerly so wild
and solitary was rapidly changed into a handsome and
flourishing suburb.
The Roman Pontiffs have vied one with another in their
testimonies of devotion towards the Madonna della Quercia,
and the privileges they have granted to this favoured sanc-
tuary. Paul III. was accustomed to visit it every year of his
pontificate, saying Mass at the Altar of Our Lady, and directed
his statue should be placed before the holy picture, where it
may still be seen. He even instituted a new order of knight-
hood under the peculiar protection of Our Lady, called the
Order of the Lily, the members of which wore a golden collar
and medal, on one side of which appeared a representation of
the Madonna della Quercia. St. Pius V., himself a member
of the Dominican order, often visited the convent, and granted
many indulgences to those who should pay their devotions to
the Madonna. When the fleet of the Christian allies was about
to set sail for Lepanto, and extraordinary prayers were being
made to Our Lady for its success, St. Pius despatched very
special orders to the religious of La Quercia not to desist from
their appeals to their holy patroness that she would obtain vic-
tory for the Christian arms. This was so well known at the time
that after the victory of Lepanto an immense number of the
combatants visited La Quercia to hang up votive offerings
of thanksgiving, such as silver galleys and the like ; and a
picture may still be seen, representing the battle, wherein the
Madonna della Quercia, who had been invoked by many of
those engaged, appears protecting her votaries. The escape of
one soldier, named Tomaso Hoberti, had been specially remark-
able. He had already fallen severely wounded, and was being
rapidly covered over with the bodies of the dead, when he
caught the sound of his comrades' voices shouting 'victory,'
and, summoning his remaining strength, he invoked the aid
of the Madonna della Quercia, whereupon he felt his wounds
staunched and anointed as it seemed by some unseen hand,
and in a few moments found himself perfectly restored ; so
that lie was able to rise and free himself from the mass of
Our Lady of La Quercia. Viterbo. 31
corpses under which he lay buried. He made a pilgrimage of
gratitude to La Quercia, where he left a small statue of himself
as a votive offering.
We might give a long list of the sovereign Pontiffs, car-
dinals, and princes, whose names are to be found enrolled
among the pilgrims of La Quercia, and whose votive offerings,
in the shape of silver tablets and statuettes, enriched the
church before it was plundered in the sixteenth century by
the sacrilegious ruffians under the command of the Constable de
Bourbon. Or again we might speak of the great servants of
God who refreshed their devotion before the altar of Mary,
such as the blessed Colomba of Eieti, the blessed Lucy of
Narni, and St. Hyacintha Marescotti, the latter of whom
had a very special love of the Madonna della Quercia, and
being unable, as an enclosed religious woman, to visit her
sanctuary in person, was wont very often to do so by deputy,
and sometimes engaged a number of young children to visit
the church barefoot and communicate there for her intention.
Sometimes she obtained leave for some devout person to be
shut up in the holy chapel three days and three nights, in
order uninterruptedly to implore for her divine grace and the
powerful intercession of the Madonna. The history of the
graces and miracles obtained at this sanctuary fill an entire
volume. The circumstances of many of them are painted on
the walls of the cloisters or represented in tablets, statues, and
other offerings. These graces are of every variety, including
miraculous cures, deliverances from wild beasts, fire, tempests,
and earthquakes, restoration of the deaf and dumb, and escapes
from Turkish slavery. Thus, a certain knight of Yiterbo,
named Papirio Buffi, being taken prisoner by the Moors, and
kept in slavery in Africa, made his vows to Our Lady della
Quercia, and soon after found means of escaping in a little
skiff, which, altogether unsuited as it was for such a voyage,
brought him safely to Civita Vecchia, in a wonderfully short
space of time. To manifest his gratitude for this deliverance,
and his firm faith that he was indebted for it to Our Lady,
Papirio set out at once for La Quercia, wearing the same
clothes in which he had landed, namely, the linen shirt and
trousers of an African slave, and afterwards as his thank-
32 Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo.
offering erected the marble chapel in which we see painted
the appropriate subject of the escape of St. Raymund Penna-
fort.
Another class of miracles includes those who have invoked
Our Lady's intercession when condemned to death, and whose
subsequent release has been attributed to her intercession. I
will give but one example of these, which rests upon the
evidence of a multitude of eye-witnesses. In the year 1503,
a certain citizen of Modena, named Fabrizio Padovani, was
accused of theft, and being put to the torture, confessed the
crime through extremity of pain, although he was in fact
entirely innocent. He was accordingly condemned to death,
but the confessor who assisted him in preparing him before
execution felt satisfied of his innocence, and urged him to
have recourse to Our Lady della Quercia, with full confi-
dence in the power of her intercession. When the last hour
came, Fabrizio addressed the assembled crowd from the
scaffold, and declared his innocence of the crime for which he
was to suffer, and at the same time asked them as a last
charity to join with him in saying a Pater and Ave in honour
of the Madonna della Quercia, that she might at least assist
him in his agony. The spectators knelt down, and all re-
peated the prayer with him aloud; then the executioner
fastened the rope round his neck, and threw him off the
ladder. But at that moment the rope and gallows broke,
bringing to the ground both the executioner and the criminal.
The gallows were set up a second time, and firmly secured,
but the same accident occurred again ; whereupon the people
raised a cry of ' A miracle ! a miracle ! ' 'But this excitement
did not prevent the executioner from taking measures for
hanging his unfortunate prisoner a third time. Whilst he
stood with the broken rope around his neck, some workmen
leisurely set up the gallows, and fastened it with blocks and
iron cramps, and once more Fabrizio was called on to ascend
the ladder. But when the executioner was in the act of
throwing him off, the gallows again gave way. Every one
standing on the scaffold was thrown down, and the machinery
was broken into several pieces. The magistrates who were
present were so impressed by the extraordinary recurrence of
Our Lady of La Quercia, Viterbo. 33
\C? s"
this accident that, yielding to the clamorous cries of the
spectators, they remanded Fabrizio back to prison, fcnd caused
a fresh inquiry to be made into his case, which resulted in
completely proving his innocence. On regaining his freedom
his first act was to present an ex-voto offering to the Madonna
clella Quercia.
In our own days this sanctuary has attracted to itself a new
interest from the fact of its having been chosen to receive the
gallant little band of French religious, whose glorious vocation
it was to restore the .Dominican Order in their native land.
In the convent of La Quercia Pere Lacordaire and his first
companions passed their year of noviciate, and resolved to
choose the Madonna della Quercia as the patroness of their
great undertaking. One of their number, an artist by pro-
fession, but whose name is now better known to the Catholic
world by the sanctity of his life, Pere Hyacinth Besson, made
a copy of the miraculous picture, which was afterwards carried
by the little colony into France, and solemnly placed on the
altar of their convent at Nancy, the first house of the restored
French province. The most illustrious orator of his time, who
had been educated in the sceptical principles of modern France,
did not consider it unworthy of great genius and profound
philosophy to recognise the prodigious influence of the Sanc-
tuaries of the Madonna, I will not say over popular faith, but
over civilisation and moral progress. Pere Lacordaire not
only venerated the Madonna of his convent, and believed in
its miraculous powers, but he loved to dwell on all the ma-
terial good of which it had been made the instrument. ' Look
around you,' he said to a sceptical fellow-countryman, ' ask
who has built this church, with the houses and cloisters that
surround it ; who brought all these fields into cultivation ; who
constructed that magnificent road w^hich conducted you from
Viterbo; who has founded our two great fairs, and drawn
here annually millions of visitors ? And I will answer you ;
that piece of tile has done all this ! May our copy do as much
good as the original ! '
It was before this piece of tile that he and his companions
pronounced their vows, a circumstance which he always re-
ferred to with satisfaction, as calculated to remind the future
D
34 Our Lady of Mercy, Rimini.
French province that the work of its restoration, like that of
the first foundation of the Order, was solemnly consecrated to
Mary.
The present appearance of the picture is altogether un-
changed from that which it presented 300 years ago. It
stands over the high altar of the church, where the visitor
may also see the trunk of the oak .to which it was formerly
attached. Pilgrims flock to it in the nineteenth as in the
fifteenth century, and some time back the devotion of the
Roman people to this sanctuary caused the old church of
San Mccolo, in the Piazza Farnese, in Rome, to be restored
and rededicated to the Madonna della Quercia, a copy of the
original picture being deposited there, fastened upon a silver
oak-branch.
4. OUT Lady of MeTcy, Rimini.
IT has happened more than once during the reign of our pre-
sent Holy Father, Pope Pius IX., that miraculous appear-
ances have been reported with reference to pictures of our
Blessed Lady in different parts of his dominions. In the
year 1850, it was said of a painting of the Mother of Mercy
in the church of St. Clare at Rimini, that the figure of Mary
had been seen to open and close its eyes repeatedly during a
period of several months ; and again, since that time, a similar
statement was made about a picture in the little church of
Vico Varo. There are probably few of our readers who are
not more or less struck at first sight by the apparent strange-
ness of such stories. That a person who had been deaf and
dumb from his birth should suddenly receive the powers of
hearing and of speech, or that one who had been born blind
should suddenly receive his sight, in the presence of some
painting or statue of the Madonna, is of course miraculous,
but it is not, in the sense in which we have here used the word
strange ; on the contrary, it is a fact of very frequent occur-
rence in the history of these sanctuaries, and is sometimes
acknowledged even by Protestants themselves, who conceive
that they find a sufficient explanation of it in the earnest faith
Our Lady of Mercy, llimini. 35
of the persons relieved. Such facts may be improbable, but
they are not self-evideiitly absurd ; neither is there anything
grotesque about them, anything that looks ridiculous, which
there certainly is to a Protestant mind, and indeed (we need
riot hesitate to say) to human reason unenlightened by faith,
in the assertion that a fresco upon a wall, or a painting on
canvas, or a statue of wood or of stone, spoke or moved, or
performed any other function of a living agent. We cannot
wonder then that English journalists should have greeted the
tales to which we have referred, with the utmost ridicule and
scorn ; they treated them much in the same way as we might
treat a man who should pretend to have received a revelation
from Heaven assuring him that the Christian religion was
false and the worship of Jupiter true. The Catholic, on the
other hand, when first he hears of such stories, is struck by
their apparent strangeness, and thinks them, perhaps, ex-
tremely improbable ; still, he knows that they are not abso-
lutely impossible ; and since they are in no way opposed to
the articles of his faith, but rather confirmatory of some of
them, he does not refuse to listen to the evidence that may be
put before him. He may be a man of a very hard, severe, and
critical turn of mind ; yet, even so, he will only require that
the evidence shall be unusually clear, positive and unquestion-
able, because the fact which it is intended to prove is unusual
also ; he will not be satisfied with the testimony of a few
witnesses, perhaps not even of a dozen ; he will sift and re-
sift, question and cross-question, to see whether it might not
be some deceit, some fancy of an over- heated imagination, or
some extraordinary optical illusion ; but in the end, if he
should find that there is no room for any of these conjectures,
if the evidence should prove to be altogether beyond exception,
he will not dream of withholding his assent, and in proportion
to his previous incredulity will be the firmness of his matured
convictions.
But is there, then, for any of these extraordinary stories
evidence of such a character? evidence really conclusive, and
which could not fail to satisfy an impartial jury, even though
the witnesses were subjected to the severest cross-examination
D2
36 OUT Lady of Mercy , Rimini.
at the hands of some clever and obstinate devil's advocate ? *
We do not hesitate to answer this question in the affirmative ;
we assert that there is sufficient evidence positively to com-
mand the assent of any moderately candid person, even of one
possessed by prejudices to the contrary, provided only that he
does not refuse to listen to it, and that he consents to submit
to those laws by which human testimony is ordinarily tried.
In order to establish the truth of this assertion, we propose to
examine not the alleged miracle at Rimini, nor that of Vico
Varo but a large number of miracles of precisely the same
character which happened simultaneously in the city of Rome
towards the end of the last century, a time which, for all
practical purposes, in an enquiry of this kind, may be con-
sidered as identical with our own. We make this choice, not
the least from any doubt as to the truth of what was stated
about the more modern instances, but simply because we have
never had an opportunity of examining the processes by which
the evidence for them was collected and sifted, whereas, as
we shall presently show, we have all that the most captious
critic could desire with reference to those others of which we
propose to speak.
It was in the morning of the 9th of July, 1796, that a
movement of the eyes was first noticed in a picture of the
Mother of Mercy, painted in oil, that hung over an arch in
one of the streets near the Piazza Santi Apostoli. It was a
well-known picture, one of the many in Rome before which
might often be seen some humble client of Mary telling his
beads, and making his silent petitions. In the course of the
same day the same supernatural appearance was observed in
six other pictures, either in the streets or in churches, in
different parts of the city ; in three others it was first noticed
on the llth instant, in two more on the 12th, in another on
the 13th, in three others on the 15th, and so on, until the
number in Rome alone exceeded sixty, not to mention others
in Frascati, Todi, Frosinone, Ceprano, and elsewhere. In
* The popular name for an ecclesiastical officer whose office it is to raise
objections and difficulties in the process of the Canonization of Saints. His
real title is Promoter Fidei.
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 37
these latter places the Bishops instituted a legal examination
of the facts immediately, sometimes on the very day on which
they happened, or at latest within a few days afterwards. In
Rome, however, although witnesses were at once examined,
and depositions taken by the parish priests of the several
parishes in which the miracles were witnessed, yet the subject
was not officially brought before the higher tribunal, the Car-
dinal-Vicar, until the 1st of October. A sufficient reason for
this delay, over and above the proverbially slow pace at which
ecclesiastical matters in Rome are uniformly made to travel,
may be found in the peculiar circumstances of the present case.
The same phenomena repeated over and over again almost
indefinitely, caused it to be no easy task to know where to
make a beginning ; where there were upwards of fifty thousand
witnesses, it required no mean powers of discretion and no
trifling labour to select the most important and convincing.
However, at length the work was begun ; Cardinal della So-
maglia named a very clever ecclesiastic and lawyer as his
deputy, appointed an able notary to assist him in taking down
the evidence, and desired them to proceed with all care and
diligence to a legal examination of the whole matter. The
investigation was continued, with many unavoidable interrup-
tions, until the end of February 1797, the miracle being all
this while still continued in many pictures ; and even then
the inquiries were suspended only because of the public impa-
tience to have some authoritative account and confirmation of
what was in everybody's mouth, and because enough had been
already ascertained to make further investigation only an
unnecessary labour.
The commission of enquiry sat on sixty days, and the exami-
nation of very many of the witnesses lasted so long (from three
to four hours and upwards), that in forty-one sittings they
only examined forty-one persons, in fifteen other sittings thirty
persons, and in five others fifteen, making a total of eighty-
six witnesses in all, selected out of 501, whose depositions
upon oath as to the very same facts had been previously taken
before the inferior local tribunals. The depositions of these
eighty- six concerned twenty- six images or paintings ; and
besides the 415 other witnesses whose evidence had been given
38 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
with reference to these same images, there were 460 others
who swore to the same facts with reference to forty other
images ; so that we have a sum- total of very nearly a thousand
witnesses (961) who actually deposed under the solemn obli-
gation of an oath to those extraordinary phenomena which
Protestants fancy themselves at liberty to reject and ridicule
simply on a priori grounds of inherent improbability. But is
it so, then, that the oaths of a thousand Christians are really
of so little weight ? If so, what is the value of history, which
is written without the obligation of an oath at all ? and what
is the value of decisions in a court of justice, which have
seldom so much as a fiftieth or even a hundredth part of this
amount of evidence to rest upon ?
But it will be said, perhaps, that the examination to which
these witnesses were subjected was slight and unsatisfactory,
not so strict and searching as that by which they would have
been tried in a court of justice. We shall best dispose of
this objection, and at the same time most conveniently bring
to the knowledge of our readers all the main facts of these
most interesting and important miracles, by giving in exteuso
every question that was proposed, together with a general
abstract of the replies that were made, introducing as we go
along a few brief remarks by way of illustrating the evidence
which will be thus laid before us.
First, each witness knelt down, and took an oath upon the
Holy Gospels to tell nothing but the simple truth, and was
solemnly admonished by the judge of the scrupulous exactness
to which he had thus bound himself not to depose to anything
about which he had any the slightest doubt.
1. After this preliminary, they were questioned as to their
name, profession, age, country, and such-like personal matters.
These, of course, varied in every case ; it will be enough to
state generally that among the number of persons examined
were men and women, laymen and ecclesiastics, young and
old, nobles and plebeians, Italians and foreigners ; or, looking
into the list more closely, we may say that there were repre-
sentatives of almost every rank in the hierarchy, from the
Cardinalate downwards ; of every rank of society, from
princes to servants ; of every variety of trade and profession
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 39
lawyers, physicians, surgeons, professors, officers in the
army, artists, mechanics, and shopkeepers ; and lastly, of well-
nigh every country in Europe France, Spain, Italy, England,
and Germany not to mention a few individuals from Syria,
Brazil, and other more distant parts.
2. The witnesses were next asked whether they knew for
what purpose they were summoned before this tribunal, and
whether they had been instructed by anybody as to what
evidence they were to give ; the first of which interrogatories
was of course uniformly answered in the affirmative, the second
in the negative ; all declared that they were induced to give the
testimony they were about to give from no temporal or human
motive, but only for the glory of God, the honour of the
Blessed Virgin, and the love of truth.
3. Do you know whether anything wonderful has lately
happened in any sacred pictures or images in the city of
Rome ? and do you know this of your own certain knowledge,
or only by hearsay from others ?
Not only I, but all Home knows well that most wonderful
prodigies have happened during the last few months in very
many sacred pictures and images throughout the city. I have
witnessed those prodigies myself in one, two, five, ten, or
whatever number of instances it might chance to have been ;
the rest I only know of by general report.
4. Speak only of those pictures or images in which you
have witnessed the prodigy yourself: and describe exactly
the figure or figures which they represent, where they are
situated, what is their size and shape, of what materials they
are made ; if painted, whether on canvas, or on a wooden
tablet, or on a wall; whether in oils, water-colours, or in
fresco ; if in rilievo, in what act, or with what peculiar ex-
pression or meaning, is the figure represented ? More parti-
cularly describe with accuracy in what manner the eyes are
shown, whether open, closed, or half- closed ; whether fixed on
any definite object, whether cast down or looking upwards, or
whether directed generally towards the spectators wherever
they might happen to be standing.
As to the figures represented by the pictures or images in
which the prodigy was observed, I do not know that there
40 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
were any, excepting either our Lord dying or dead upon the
cross, or our Blessed Lady with or without her divine Son,
or the saine being taught by St. Anne. As to their situation,
some were at the corners of the streets, or over doors or
arches in public places ; some were in churches or chapels ;
some in private oratories, or even in shops it being the
custom of the Roman tradesmen, as all who have visited that
city must very well remember, to suspend a sacred picture
with a lamp before it in some conspicuous part of their usual
place of business. There was, of course, every variety of size
and shape ; so also of material, and of the position of the
eyes. Sometimes the face was represented in profile, so that
only one eye was visible ; or if not in mere profile, yet one
eye could be much more easily distinguished than the other :
one was in full light, the other in more or less shade ; some-
times the full front face was exhibited, and both eyes could
be seen alike. Sometimes the eyes were half closed, as
though in silent meditation and prayer, or modestly bent
towards the ground, as of the Virgo fidelis or Mater purissima ;
sometimes they were tearful, and seeking consolation from
Heaven, as of the Mater dolorosa-, sometimes contemplating
the Divine Infant, as the Mater Christi-, sometimes looking
out upon the people, and as it were encouraging them to draw
near and ask for help, as of the Mater misericordice or Mater
amabilis', in a word, there was every conceivable variety
both of form and expression, according to the attribute in-
tended to be represented, and according to the ability or
caprice of the artist.
5. When, where, and how did you see the prodigy ? Were
you the first to see it, or from whom did you hear of it ? At
what distance did you examine it ? Were you in front of
the picture, or on one side ? Did you see it by day or by
night ? Was there much light or little ? The light of the
sun ? or of lamps and candles ? or of both together ? Is
your sight perfect or defective ? Did you examine it with
your naked eye, or had you spectacles ? or did you use any
kind of telescope, or other artificial glass ? Was the pic-
ture itself framed and covered with glass, or was it without
glass ?
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 41
These questions are obviously among the most important
in the series; and we must therefore enter somewhat more
minutely into an examination of the answers to them. Of
course, some of the witnesses examined were the first who
had observed the prodigy in that particular picture or image
concerning which they gave their evidence, whereas others
had come to look at the invitation of a friend, or in consequence
of the general report.
A priest was saying office, on Monday July 11, in a private
chapel belonging to the church of the Natimta di nostro
Signore (or degli Agonizzanti, as it is more commonly called),
and was kneeling opposite an altar where there was a valuable
picture of the Madonna and Child. He had heard of the six
or seven pictures in which a miraculous movement of the eyes
had been observed on Saturday, and in which it was still
continuing, and he was extremely anxious to witness the
extraordinary phenomenon himself; he had gone for this pur-
pose, more than once, to visit some of those pictures, but in
consequence of the immense crowd he had been unable to get
near enough to see anything ; and he was not without a secret
hope that God would perhaps vouchsafe to grant him the desire
of his heart in this picture, which hung in a chapel attached to
his own church. He looked in vain, however ; and he was
thinking, with some humiliation, that doubtless his own sins
and unworthiness were the cause of his disappointment, when
his eyes fell casually upon another much older and less valued
painting of the Madonna, hanging at the side of the chapel,
over some stalls or benches of the confraternity who used to
assemble there ; and he saw, or fancied that he saw, the eyes
of this painting distinctly moving.
Should any reader be here disposed to object that men easily
believe what they anxiously desire, we would answer in the
words of a Protestant author, writing in defence of Christianity,
that the very contrary of this seems to be nearer to the truth.
' Anxiety of desire, earnestness of expectation, the vastness (or
strangeness) of an event, rather causes men to disbelieve, to
doubt, to dread a fallacy, to distrust, and to examine. When
our Lord's resurrection was first reported to the Apostles, they
did not believe, we are told, for joy. This was natural, and is
42 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
agreeable to experience.' * And so it was in the instance before
us. The painting was of a half-figure, rather more than three
feet square ; it hung only nine or ten feet from the ground, in
a chapel thoroughly lighted by two windows having a southern
aspect and opening on the public piazza, and the hour was ten
o'clock in the morning of a bright summer day ; nevertheless,
the priest feared to trust the evidence of his own senses ; he
would not go and tell others, until he had first turned his eyes
away to some other object, and then brought them back again
to a fresh examination of the picture. Again he saw the left
eye (which was in full light, the right being in deep shadow)
slowly moving upwards, until the ball had entirely disappeared,
or a single line only remained visible, and then as slowly
return to its ordinary position. Still he hesitated ; he began
to recite the litany and other prayers in honour of Our Lady,
the movement still continuing ; then at last he called some of
the clerics attached to the church, and they too declared that
they saw the same extraordinary phenomenon. Members of
the confraternity, and others living in the neighbourhood, were
soon drawn to the church, and all acknowledged the miracle.
The Superior of the church, a priest of mature age, just fifty,
caused some steps to be brought, that the dust might be wiped
off the picture, for it was very old, and had no glass before it ;
indeed, it had long been retained rather as some sort of orna-
ment to the bare walls than as an object of devotion. This
priest mounted the steps himself, and so did others after him,
and examined the picture most closely, with the help of a
lighted candle, and all remained perfectly satisfied of the
reality of the movement. Before noon it was necessary to call
in the soldiers of the piazza, or, as we should call them, the
police, to keep order in the going out and coming in of the
crowds of persons who wished to see it ; and the ecclesiastical
authorities directed it to be carried into the adjoining church.
This was immediately done ; it was removed from the heavy
cornice that had surrounded it, and the mere piece of canvas,
with the frame on which it was stretched, was carried into the
church, and benediction given with it to the assembled multi-
tudes. Both whilst it was being transferred from the one
* Paley's 'Evidences,' part i. prop. 2, c. 1, vi.
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 43
place to the other, and whilst benediction was being given
with it, the motion of both the eyes was distinctly seen ; and
it had not ceased when the witnesses gave the evidence from
which we have been quoting in October, nor even when another
witness was being examined in the month of December.
The next specimen of the evidence which we shall give shall
be one in which the witness was not the first to observe the
miracle, but only came in consequence of the reports of others.
Signer Domenico Ambrosini, a layman, aged thirty-seven, and
master of one of the choirs in Rome, was passing near the
Piazza Santi Apostoli about eight o'clock in the morning of
Saturday, the 9th of July, when he heard some one telling*
another that the picture of our Blessed Lady dell' Archetto
(the picture that has been already spoken of as that in which
first of all the miracle was seen in Rome) was opening and
closing its eyes. Being in the immediate vicinity, curiosity
induced him to step out of his way to look at it ; he found
only seven or eight persons as yet assembled, amongst whom
he recognised one of the religious of a neighbouring convent,
and a silversmith with whom he was acquainted. The spec-
tators being few in number, they had every opportunity of
looking at it quite closely and at their leisure ; and after
waiting two or three minutes they saw both the eyes of the
Madonna gradually close, This witness, just like the former,
at first misdoubted his own eyes ; he tells us that he rubbed
them, closed them, and then again looked steadily at the
picture ; but its eyes were still closed, and then, almost imme-
diately, the upper eyelids returned to their places. ' I was so
overcome at the sight that I could not contain myself, but
burst forth into tears and some exclamation ; the exact words
I cannot now remember, but I know that at the very same
instant those about me burst forth into similar exclamations,
so that I was satisfied that they too had witnessed the same
prodigy as myself.'
After he had recovered he considered the effect of the one
single lamp that was burning there, but it hung so low that
no reflection of its rays could reach the face of the figure ; he
considered also the rays of the sun, but the little vicolo was so
narrow that these had not yet penetrated so far ; in fine, he
44 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
considered every cause that could have had any influence on
the appearance of the picture ; but the more he considered, the
more he was convinced of the reality of what he had seen, and
of its supernatural character. He soon went away in conse-
quence of the increasing crowd ; and in the course of a few
hours it was necessary to station the police at different points
of the adjacent streets to regulate the movements of the people.
Numerous offerings of lamps and candles were brought and
lighted before the picture, yet the appearance was in no way
dispelled by this increase of light, but rather made the more
evident; sometimes the eyebrows became more arched, the
upper eyelids were raised, and the eyes were seen to move to
and fro as if looking upon the assembly before them ; some-
times the eyes were almost or quite closed, and sometimes the
ball of the eye disappeared, or very nearly so, under the upper
eyelid.
It was this last phenomenon which was actually tested by a
physical examination in the following manner. A Piedmontese
priest, aged forty-six, who had been a missionary in Greece
and Egypt, and had returned about two years before to a
convent of his order in Rome, first heard of the miracle from
one of the lay brothers in his house on Saturday morning,
soon after it had been first observed. He did not believe it ;
he thought it was probably a mistake into which the devout
enthusiasm of the people had betrayed them in consequence of
what they had lately heard from Arezzo, Ancona, and Torri-
cella, where similar manifestations had taken place at earlier
periods of the same year, and after judicial examination were
admitted and approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. In
vain the lay brother urged the number and respectability of
the persons who had seen it ; his superior obstinately adhered
to his own idea. At last curiosity induced him to go and see ;
by the way he met some of his brethren, the parish priest, the
curate, and others ; all repeated the same story, and that they
had seen it for themselves ; still our friend would not be per-
suaded. He went on, however, and by and by had so far
penetrated through the crowd that he found himself within
six or seven feet of the picture ; having knelt down and said
a few prayers, he rose and took up his position somewhat to
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 45
the left, but in a place where he could command a most distinct
view of the face of the Madonna. Here he remained for
upwards of an hour without once being able to detect any
motion whatever in the eyes, although the prayers of the
people were often interrupted by shouts of ' Evviva Maria !
now the eyes are moving,' &c. All this confirmed him more
and more in his belief that the whole thing was a delusion of
an overheated imagination ; and he determined, with that
firmness which was so marked a feature of his character, to
remain there for three or four hours longer, that he might be
able, as he says, ' most authoritatively to contradict the popular
report.' Presently, however, whilst he was standing in this
way with his eyes fixed on those of Our Blessed Lady, he saw
their balls gradually rising and disappearing under the upper
eyelids until only the white remained, and then as gradually
returning to their former position, and this perpendicular
motion repeated three or four times consecutively. Now at
length he was constrained to acknowledge the facts, and he
burst into a flood of tears, whilst at the very same instant the
people cried out, as they had done before at times when he had
seen nothing, ' Evviva Maria ! ecco il miracolo, miracolo ! ' But
though the theory of an optical illusion and the mere dream
of an overheated imagination was thus effectually destroyed,
yet this witness did not instantly acknowledge that what he
had seen was miraculous ; the idea of trick and imposture
next suggested itself to his mind, and he determined to put
, this also to the test before he fully abandoned his doubts. For
this purpose he advanced still closer to the wall, laid hold of
the ladder which stood there for those who wished to add
more candles, or flowers, or any other ornament to the picture,
and got up to a level with the face of the Madonna, and quite
close to it. He pretended to be arranging a candle that had
fallen out of the perpendicular and was melting its wax over
the others, but in fact he examined most minutely the surface
of the picture, more especially about the eyes. Having
thoroughly satisfied himself that they were in every way the
same as in an ordinary painting, and that there was no possi-
bility of a fraud, he descended and went away, praising and glo-
rifying God and our Blessed Lady, and declaring his readiness
46 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
even to lay down his life in attestation of the authenticity of
a miracle which but two hours before he had laughed at as
an idle tale. He did not return again any more on that day,
but on Monday he determined to try the daring experiment to
which we have alluded, and which still remains to be told.
He went there about six o'clock in the evening (the reader
must not forget that we are speaking of the middle of an
Italian summer) ; and as by this time the miracle had been
multiplied in many other pictures in other parts of the city,
the crowd was not so great ; still there were a good many
people present. He took what he considered to be the best
place for observing the picture, and, kneeling down, recited
the litanies and other prayers for about a quarter of an hour,
with his eyes steadfastly fixed on Our Lady. During this time
he saw no sign of motion in the eyes, nor did any one else, for
'the silence of their prayers was not broken by a single excla-
mation. At last, however, he clearly distinguished the same
movement in them that he had before seen on the Saturday,
and at the very same moment the people saw it too, and
shouted in their usual manner. Immediately he sprang up
from his knees and began to ascend the steps, which he had
previously placed in the proper position for his purpose, turned
round to the people to explain to them that he had no evil
intentions, but was only going to make the reality of the miracle
still more unquestionable, and then proceeded to measure the
eyes with a pair of compasses, which he had all this time held
ready in his hands. Whilst he was mounting these few steps
(the picture being about nine feet from the ground), and
making the necessary explanation of his conduct to the people,
the eyes of the picture had returned to their usual position ;
but they immediately moved upwards again, and when the
ball had almost disappeared under the upper lid, he applied
the two points of the compass, one to the lower eyelid, the
other to the mere outer rim of the ball, which could just be
seen, and then removed them : the distance was about five
mathematical lines, he says; the eye then returned again
to its place, until the ball actually touched the lower lid, and
there was not even a thread of white visible below it.
We doubt whether we could have made this experiment
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 47
ourselves. We might Lave been glad to avail ourselves of a
ladder or any other means for getting as close a view as pos-
sible of the miraculous movement, as, in fact, a very con-
siderable number of persons did, not only at this picture, but
at many others also ; but when the motion of the eyes began,
we should have been much more likely to experience the feel-
ings which most of those persons acknowledged that they
experienced, of sudden faintness and a difficulty to keep our
footing, than able to touch the picture, and measure it with a
pair of compasses. However, the experiment having been
made, we are thankful that it has also been recorded, and re-
corded upon oath by the man himself who made it.
Nor must we omit to mention another experiment of the
same kind which was made elsewhere. Seven persons (three
ecclesiastics and four laymen) obtained permission to spend
the night between the 9th and 10th December, 1850, in the
church before the Madonna at Rimini. By means of two
needles fastened between the canvas of the picture and its
frame, they stretched a thread horizontally across the paint-
ing, below the eyes of the Blessed Virgin. The line of this
thread left no vacant space below the pupils. whilst they were
at rest ; and the two spaces on either side became as it were
two rudely-shaped triangles. Thus, it so accurately defined
the relations of the several parts of the eye to one another,
that the least movement could not fail to be readily and cer-
tainly detected. All these witnesses deposed upon oath, that
whilst they were reciting together the prayers of a Novena,
consisting chiefly of a paraphrase of the Salve Regina, as they
uttered the words Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte
(Turn thine eyes of mercy towards us), they saw a quick and
repeated movement of the eyes, which caused them instantly
to stop their prayers and to go up nearer to the altar. Some
of them knelt on the altar itself ; and one and all of them saw,
amongst other movements, the pupils rise so far as almost to
disappear under the upper eyelid, and again return to their
original position.
The following observations, taken from an author who has
been already quoted, may help our readers to form a just ap-
preciation of the importance of these facts. ' It is not neces-
48 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
sary,' says Dr. Paley, ' to admit as a miracle what can be
resolved into a false perception . . . The cases, however, in
which the possibility of this delusion exists are divided from
the cases in which it does not exist by many, and those not
obscure, marks. They are for the most part cases of visions
or voices ; the object is hardly ever touched, the vision submits
not to be handled, one sense does not confirm another. They
are likewise almost always cases of a solitary witness. It is
in the highest degree improbable, and I know not, indeed,
whether it hath ever been the fact, that the same derangement
of the mental (or visual) organs should seize different persons
at the same time a derangement, I mean, so much the same
as to represent to their imagination the same objects.' * Apply
these remarks to the history we are examining, and how strik-
ingly they confirm and illustrate its truth. The motion of
the eyes in these material representations of our Blessed Lady
were witnessed, not by one person but by many, by several
hundreds and even thousands, by a whole city ; they saw it
not only separately, but together ; not only by the light of
lamps and of candles, but by the broad light of day ; not only
at a distance, but near ; not once only, but several times ; they
not only saw it, but even, as we may most truly say, touched
and handled it.
Besides the instance that has been already given, there
was a picture of the Crucifixion, about four feet square, which
was removed from the wall where it usually hung and where
the movement of its eyes was first noticed, and placed in the
middle of the room leaning against a table, and resting on a
stool or low bench not eighteen inches from the ground. It
was in a private oratory, but hundreds and hundreds of per-
sons came and saw it. All those who from age or infirmity
were unable to make their way through a crowd, or whose
sight was somewhat defective, or who were distrustful of their
senses amid the glare of lights and the excitement of a large
congregation, or who from any other cause were not suffi-
ciently satisfied with what they had seen in public to be ready
to take an oath upon it all came to see this picture of the
Crucifixion. They arranged the lights as they pleased, took
* Evidences, vol. i. p. 333, ed. 1811.
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 49
the picture in their hands (it had neither glass nor frame),
brought it to the window, turned it round and round, placed
it wherever they thought proper ; and all were thoroughly
convinced of the supernatural character of the phenomena.
One person deposed that he had been eye-witness of the mi-
racle in this picture hundreds of times ; another, Don Stefano
Felici, Rector of the English College, who had seen the miracle
in other pictures, yet would not give his evidence upon oath
until he had witnessed this, deposed that after the most mi-
nute examination of the painting itself he had seen the eyes
swell and become full, and move to and fro, and up and down,
as though they were living eyes ; so did Signor Giuseppe Va-
ladier, an architect, and very many others.
We will only add, that of the pictures in churches and
other public places, most, if not all, either never had any glass
before them at all, or else the glass was removed as soon as
the prodigy was observed as was done at Rimini also on the
second day of the appearances ; that some of the witnesses
deposed to having used telescopes ; others said that they had
confined their scrutiny to one eye only, fearing to weaken the
intensity of their attention by looking at both ; and, in a word,
that every conceivable precaution which the most jealous sus-
picion, and sometimes even the most resolute incredulity,
could dictate, was actually taken by some or other of the nu-
merous witnesses that were examined.
6. The sixth question which was put was this : Was the
movement of both eyes simultaneous, and according to the
ordinary movement of the human eye ; or was it extraordinary,
and of one eye only ? Did other persons see it at the same
time with yourself? Was the movement slow and percep-
tible, or sudden and instantaneous ? Did it seem to disfigure
the countenance, or otherwise ?
If this last item of enquiry should strike any one as un-
meaning or irrelevant, we wish that he would try to realise to
himself what would be the ordinary effect upon his own mind
of seeing a sign of life in this one feature, the eye, of some
'inanimate figure, say a corpse, a statue, or a painting. Our
own impression is, that it would be something very frightful :
we fancy that the incongruity between a living and a dead
E
50 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
part of one and the same thing, life and motion in one place
and the still rigidity of death in another, would strike us as
a deformity and very offensive. Yet the uniform testimony
of all the witnesses, excepting one only, who happened to
have himself painted about thirteen years before the picture
with reference to which he gave his evidence, was directly
contrary ; one and all declared that even when the movements
of the eyes were most unnatural, when the pupils were en-
tirely hid under the upper eyelid, or when one eye moved
and the other was motionless, still even then the aspect of the
whole countenance was such as inspired them with the deepest
respect, awe, and veneration ; it seemed to be the counte-
nance of one making a solemn appeal to their consciences ; it
spoke to their hearts, and moved them to tears ; never, ex-
cepting in that one only instance which we have named it
never struck them as unsightly and repulsive. Some, indeed,
gave distinct evidence that a change of colour and expression
was manifested in the whole face ; others said their attention
had been so fixed upon the eyes that they had not accurately
observed any other part ; but all agreed in describing the
general effect as that of a living, speaking countenance, such
as they were satisfied no human art, even under the most
favourable circumstances, could have succeeded in producing.
With regard to the degree of rapidity with which the eyes
were moved, the story we have already told about the com-
passes will enable us to form some sort of idea ; many wit-
nesses answer this part of the enquiry by borrowing an illus-
tration from the minute-hand of a watch, which, they said,
though you may not be able to swear at any moment, ' I see
it moving,' yet after an infinitely short space of time you can
swear that it has moved. There seems, in truth, to have been
the same variety in the degree of rapidity which was observed
in different pictures as there was in the direction of the move-
ment, sometimes perpendicular, sometimes horizontal, &c. ;
the same variety, in fact, that there naturally is in different
eyes, or in the same eyes at different times.
7. Did you see this prodigy more than once ? How often ?
Were you always equally positive about it, or did you some-
times doubt of its truth ? At the times when you were quite
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 51
I
positive about it, were other persons present, and were they
equally satisfied ? Did they at the very same moment express
their conviction in any way ? and in what way ? Give solid
reasons to show that this conviction was not the result of any
optical illusion, resulting from the reflection of the lights, the
glittering or undulating surface of the glass or canvas, or any
artifice practised upon the picture itself.
Some persons will probably be of opinion that enough has
been said already to dissipate in all reasonable minds every
suspicion either of error or of fraud ; nevertheless, at the risk
of wearying perhaps a portion of our readers, we will venture
to add one or two corroboratory circumstances that have not
yet been mentioned, but which will tend to show more and
more plainly how far some at least of the witnesses were from
being carried away by mere excitement and enthusiasm, and
how little room there was for the practice of imposture.
In fact, as to mere excitement and enthusiasm, we do not
believe (as we have already said) that they are ever likely on
any large scale to produce the effects ascribed to them. We
can conceive a not very strong-minded individual being mo-
mentarily carried away, so as to imagine that he saw what he
did not see ; but we cannot conceive, we think it simply im-
possible, that hundreds and thousands of persons should have
been so deceived, and deceived repeatedly and permanently,
as to be ready (as many of these witnesses professed them-
selves to be) to lay down their lives in defence of their opinion.
We are confident that the very number of the witnesses, the
frequent repetition of the miracle, and, in a word, every cir-
cumstance of ihis most remarkable history, would have served
to put men on their guard against yielding too ready an assent,
would have led them ' to disbelieve, to doubt, to dread a
fallacy, to distrust, and to examine.' We once heard of a girl
in a con vent- school who fancied that the image of the Madonna
in their private oratory was shedding tears ; and she went and
told the sisters so. But did they believe it ? was their first
impulse to believe it, or was it not rather to think that the
girl had been mistaken ? Th ey felt, as everybody must natu-
rally feel prior to examination, that it was more likely that
the girl should be deceived than that the miracle should be
E 2
52 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
true ; they proceeded to make the examination, and were
satisfied that they had judged correctly. But precisely this
same antecedent improbability must have been felt by hundreds
of persons in Rome when first they heard a similar announce-
ment, and is felt by us also when we read of it ; only it was
surmounted in them by the evidence of their own senses, and in
us it is surmounted by the strength and complication of their
testimony.
These remarks might be illustrated by many curious and
interesting examples, but want of space compels us to be brief.
In the case of the Madonna in the church degli Agonizzanti, or
rather in the chapel attached to that church, when a report
was circulated that the miracle was being wrought there,
those who first came to see it naturally turned their eyes to
the larger and better painting which hung over the altar ; they
looked for the miracle there, yet not one was found to imagine
for a moment that he really saw it : when the priest returned,
and directed their attention to the older and less noticed
painting suspended above the stalls at the side, all saw it and
were satisfied. Again, it sometimes happened that whilst the
people were assembled in prayer before one of these pictures,
some solitary individual, or some two or three perhaps kneel-
ing together, would cry out that the miracle was happening
when it really was not, and here and there a few simple pious
souls scattered through the crowd might be betrayed by over-
eagerness and haste into giving a response to the cry; but
there it ended: whereas, at other times, when the miracle
really did happen, there would be one simultaneous shout
bursting forth from the whole congregation, so that those who
heard it could only compare it to a clap of thunder or the dis-
charge of artillery. Very often, too, this shout consisted not
merely of vague general expressions, such as ' Look, look !
now the eyes are moving ; Jesus, Mary,' &c., but it accu-
rately defined the precise nature of the change that was taking
place ; e. g. * Look how she is raising her eyes to heaven ! or
how she is closing them, or turning them to those on the
right, or on the left ; ' and the unanimity of the shout attested
its correctness. Yet once more, had the phenomena in ques-
tion been the mere false perception of a heated fancy, we
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 53
should naturally have looked for them most in those pictures
or images to which there was the greatest popular devotion ;
had they been manifested only in pictures or images that had
fallen into neglect, we should have heard a plausible tale from
the author of some new ' Pilgrimage to Borne,' that they were
well-managed miracles, got up for the sake of recovering for
those sanctuaries some portion of their lost popularity. But
they first began in a picture which was neither forgotten nor
extravagantly frequented ; they were repeated in so many,
that none was thereby brought forward into singular notice,
so as to become the special favourite of the people ; and lastly,
in some to which there had always been great devotion, and
to which this devotion still continues, they were never ex-
hibited at all.
Then as to the theory of all these appearances having been
the result of fraud and imposture> this is, if possible, still
more inconceivable, more inconsistent with reason and with
the facts of the case than the former supposition, which denied
their reality altogether. In fact, contemporary writers tell us
that nobody ever pretended that imposition was in this case
possible. A whole city imposed upon by some clever con-
trivance, not exhibited once for all and in a single picture, in
some obscure isolated corner, where none could come near to
examine, but repeated day after day, and night after night,
during a period of several months, in seventy or eighty pictures
at once, and in the most conspicuous situations ; in pictures
that could be taken down, and handled, and subjected to the
most minute examination, and which actually were so treated ;
what human head could devise, what human hand direct,
such a machinery of fraud as this, so patent in its effects, yet
itself so imperceptible, so multiplied, yet everywhere un-
detected ? Surely everybody must acknowledge that such an
imposition as this if it be an imposition at all far exceeds
the powers of man ; that if it was not a miracle, wrought by
God, it can only have been a lying wonder wrought by the
devil : and if any should hesitate as to which of these alter-
natives he must accept, what follows may perhaps be of some
service in guiding him to a right decision.
8. The next question proposed to all the witnesses in this
54 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
judicial examination was this : What feelings and affections
did the sight of this prodigy excite in your mind, and what do
you gather to have been the impression produced upon others ?
What is your reason for thinking so ?
Besides what has been already said on this subject, it may
here be added, that on the day after the miracles began, the
afternoon of Sunday the 10th of July, the Pope ordered public
missions to be preached in six of the principal piazze of Rome,
that they continued for sixteen days, until the 26th instant,
and that they were so numerously and devoutly attended that
not even the spiritual exercises given before the Jubilee were
at all to be compared to them. The fruits of penance which
they produced are described as something quite incredible. It
is said that persons who had left Rome for a few days, and
then returned to it, would have found nothing but the material
buildings unaltered; in all the details of life, conversation
and manners, nobody could recognise Rome's former self;
Jesus and Mary were on every lip and in every heart, tears of
penitence and love were bedewing every cheek, and nothing
was thought or spoken of but the important concerns of
eternity.
And here, perhaps, is the most fitting opportunity to say a
few words upon a question which is sure, sooner or later, to
suggest itself to the minds of our readers viz. the purpose of
God in all these extraordinary miracles which we have been
considering. We know, indeed, that his judgments are in-
comprehensible and his ways unsearchable ; ' Who among men
is he that can know the counsel of God, or who can think
what the will of God is ? ' * At the same time, ' the mercies
of the Lord and his wonderful works to the children of men '
are to ' give Him glory ; ' f and without presuming to search
into what is hidden from us, we may attentively examine (and
should be wanting, perhaps, in our duty if we did not examine)
all the circumstances of these miracles, so as to see how far it
is possible from this consideration to ascertain the beneficent
purpose for which they were wrought. In the present case,
a hasty glance at the political history of the period seems suf-
ficient to furnish us with a clue (if one may say so) to the
* Wisdom ix. 13. f Psalm cvi. 8.
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 55
Divine intentions. It was in this very year, 1796, that the
French army, with Buonaparte as its commander- in- chief,
overran the north of Italy ; and on the 4th of February, 1797,
they took possession of Ancona. We need not follow the army
through all the stages of its progress until it occupied the
Eternal City itself, and the Supreme Pontiff was a prisoner in
their hands, because our readers will be already familiar with
the main outlines of the history, and will at once have recog-
nised from this brief allusion to it the merciful purpose which
miracles wrought at such a moment may have been intended
to serve. A similar miracle which is recorded of a painting
in Brescia in 1524 * was in like manner contemporary with
terrible wars and rumours of wars throughout the whole of
Italy, that did not cease until after the sacking of Borne by
the Constable Bourbon in 1527. The miracle in the painting
of Santa Maria presso S. Celso at Milan happened in the midsl
of a time of pestilence, which, as readers of history too well
know, is always a time of a great increase of sin and wicked-
ness in some, as of goodness in others. There are many
other instances also besides that of Rimini, which need not
however be enumerated ; for surely these are sufficient to
justify us in drawing a probable conclusion, that in miracles
of this kind it may have been the merciful purpose of God to
strengthen and encourage the faith and hope of Christians at
a moment when they were about to be subjected to a very
severe trial.
Our Lord bade his disciples, when they should hear of wars
and seditions, not to be terrified, but lift up their heads, because
their redemption was at hand ; nevertheless He has also told
us, among the signs of 'the end,' that men's hearts shall fail
and wither away for fear and for expectation of what shall come
upon the whole world ; and experience has shown that in times
of great public calamity (which, after all, are only faint shadows,
as it were, of ' the distress of nations ' that shall be when the
end comes) men's hearts often do fail, and the faith of brethren
who are weak gives way to despair, and their love waxes cold
and is extinguished. This is what happens naturally : Almighty
Grod, therefore, as a most merciful and compassionate Father,
* Astolfi, ' Storia Univ. delle Imag. Mirac.,' p. 40, ed. Venice, 1624.
56 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
does not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able;
with extraordinary trials He also sends extraordinary assist-
ance, that so we may be able to bear them. Who can doubt
but that many a wavering heart was comforted, many a feeble
spirit strengthened, during the terrible events of the close of
the last century, by a recollection of those signs and wonders
that had been so abundantly vouchsafed in the metropolis of
the Christian world ? In like manner, who shall know until
the day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be
revealed, in how many souls the spark of Christian faith and
hope has been just now rekindled by the similar prodigies
which it has pleased God to manifest in Rimini, Frosinone,
and other towns of Italy ?
9. We come now to the last question that was asked. Do
you know, or have you heard, of anybody who was present at
these prodigies, and saw them, yet does not account them
miraculous ? Who is he, and what are the grounds of his
opinion ?
This was uniformly answered in the negative. There were
some who had never seen the prodigies at all, who had never
succeeded in getting sufficiently near to any of the paintings
to satisfy themselves that there was a real movement of the
eyes ; or who, if they succeeded in gaining an advantageous
position, had not the patience to retain it very long ; but these
acknowledged that during the time they occupied this position
neither did the people profess to see any movement ; they con-
tinued their prayers without interruption. There are a few, a
very few, exceptions to be made to this statement, of persons
who believed themselves to be sufficiently near at a time when
the people did profess to see the miracle, and yet did not them-
selves see it, just as happened at first to the priest who was so
hard to be persuaded ; but even these confessed that they were
perfectly satisfied both of the reality of the phenomenon and
of its supernatural character by the concurrent testimony
of hundreds of others whom they could trust as competent
witnesses.
If any of our readers should be disposed to trust the bodily
senses of these individuals, but to mistrust their judgment ;
to think them foolish for being persuaded by others against.
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 57
or at least without, the evidence of their own senses, but to
insist upon the fact that they were present on certain occasions
when others professed to see the miracle, yet themselves did
not see it, although (humanly speaking) they had the same
opportunities of seeing as their neighbours had ; if any, I say,
should be tempted to lay great stress upon this negative argu-
ment, they should bear in mind a very obvious consideration,
namely (to use the language of Sir Philip Sydney), that 'a
wonder is no wonder in a wonderful subject ; ' we mean, that
the whole history which we have been engaged in describing
is not natural, but supernatural ; and that as it pleased God to
supersede or reverse the ordinary laws of nature in one part of
it, so it may have pleased Him to reverse or supersede them
also in another part. There is no inconsistency in supposing
that God may have wrought a public miracle, yet for his own
wise and inscrutable purposes vouchsafed a clear and intimate
sight of it to some persons, while He withheld it from others,
as in the Resurrection, for example ; or, still more appositely,
the conversion of Saul. Anyhow, whatever may be the true
explanation of the circumstance that these few (for they were
rery few) did not see the miracle, it cannot by any fair and
candid mind be considered as an equivalent set-off against the
evidence of the hundreds of persons who did see it. Had the
phenomenon in question been seen only once, and in a single
picture, and fifty persons that were present had sworn that
they saw it, and five others that they did not see it, would
the evidence of these last have disproved the evidence of the
first ? How much less, then, when the witnesses on the one
side so infinitely outnumber those on the other, without in any
way differing from them either in age, rank, ability, judgment,
or any other quality which would have entitled their testi-
mony to a superior degree of consideration ! Surely both
justice and charity require that as we do not misdoubt the
veracity of the one class, so neither should we misdoubt that
of the other.
We have now fulfilled our engagement of giving a copy of
the questions that were proposed, together with a general
abstract of the replies that were made in the judicial examina-
tion of these most interesting miracles, which was instituted
58 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
in Rome by order of the Cardinal- Yicar, on the 1st of October,
1796 ; and we feel confident that our readers will at onco
recognise the justice of the sentence, which was formally pro-
nounced on the 28th of February, 1797, after a most careful
examination by his Eminence himself of the whole body of the
evidence viz. that their truth was most abundantly estab-
lished (satis superabundeque comprolatam fuisse veritatem ante-
dicti mirabilis prodigiosique ev&titus). It only remains to bo
mentioned that the Cardinal ordered a succinct account of the
facts to be at once drawn up for publication ; that he took the
trouble of examining this also from beginning to end ; and
that he signed with his own hand every copy that was printed,
that so everybody might be well assured of the authenticity of
the narrative. It is from one of these copies that our state-
ment has been abridged ; and should it fall into the hands of
any who are strangers to the Catholic Church, we would only
ask them whether it has not been supported by such a body of
evidence as they would themselves on any other subject admit
to be irresistible ; and if, as indeed they must, they should
answer this question in the affirmative, yet should still refuse
to believe the statement, because it is inconsistent with the
doctrines of their religion, because it seems to sanction the
due honour and veneration of images, which, they refuse, and
the cultus of the Blessed Virgin, whose intercession they will
not acknowledge we would go on to ask them another ques-
tion, proposed more than twenty years ago, and not yet
answered by many whom it most deeply concerns : ' Which
alternative shall the Protestant accept ? Shall he retreat, or
shall he advance ? Shall he relapse into scepticism upon all
subjects, or sacrifice his deep-rooted prejudices ? Shall he
give up his knowledge of times past altogether, or endure to
gain a knowledge which he thinks he fully has already, the
knowledge of Divine truth ? '
Whilst this sheet is going through the press, I have been
reminded that an account of the miraculous appearances we
have described was published in England at the very time of
their occurrence ; and the life-like freshness which characterises
all contemporary evidence induces me to add some of the most
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 59
striking passages from this account. The title of the book is
'Miraculous Events Established by Authentic Letters from
Italy,' and it was printed in London by J. P. Coghlan, No. 37,
Duke Street, Grosvenor Square, in the year 1796, i.e. some
few months before the publication of the report by the Cardinal-
Vicar, which we have been examining.
The compiler, or publisher, whoever he was, says that he
has been induced to publish * in consequence of the absurd mis-
representations so freely scattered in our papers on the subject
in question ; ' and observes that ' it is not a solitary fact that
has happened in the presence of a few, or of persons predis-
posed to believe it. It has past in many places, before many
thousand spectators, and many of them the most likely of all
men to doubt it, to deny it, and to ridicule it. The writers of
the letters which relate it are known to be persons of honour,
virtue, and integrity. They assert themselves to be eye-
witnesses of the facts, and call on the universal testimony of
the cities and towns where they reside to depose to the truth
of their narrative.'
The first letter from which we will quote was written from
Ancona on the 9th and 10th of July, 1796, and has reference
to an instance of the miraculous movement of the eyes of an
image of our Blessed Lady in that town, which has been only
alluded to, not related, in the foregoing pages. The writer
was Monseigneur Deschamps de la Magdelaine, formerly Vicar-
General and Canon of Lyons. He says, ' the people of Ancona
were fearing an invasion from the French ; no preparations of
defence had been made by Government ; and the people, with-
out any fixed system to guide them, were the dupes of the pro-
fligate and the needy, who had formed the project of a general
massacre, which was to begin at midnight on Saturday between
the 25th and 26th of June. A great number of sailors had
entered into this conspiracy ; and the better to secure their
share of the plunder, which would undoubtedly have taken
place on the occasion, they had some days before embarked their
effects, and given orders to their wives to hold themselves in
readiness to obey the signal for going aboard their boats, in
order, as they pretended, to escape from the French.' . . . Some
rumours of this plot having got abroad, there was ' general
60 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
alarm and expectation.' . . . 'This class of females (the wives of
the sailors, &c.) were always particularly devout to a miracul-
ous image of the Blessed Virgin placed in the cathedral,' and
they crowded thither in their present distress ; they also ran
to his Eminence (the Bishop of Ancona), to demand the open-
ing of the coffin which contains the uncorrupted body of a
holy bishop of this see in the fifteenth century, whose beatifi-
cation we celebrated last May. Their petition is granted, and
they run in crowds to the cathedral to invoke his protection,
till it was time to sing the litanies, which is done every Satur-
day at the altar of the Blessed Virgin. As they continued to
implore the intercession of Mary, a little child, who, contrary
to custom, appeared to be very devout and recollected, cried
out to his mother, ' The Holy Virgin moves her eyes.' The
mother looks and beholds the prodigy. Others less liable to
be deceived do the same. ... In an instant the miraculous fact
is spread over the whole town. It was received by some as a
fable, others laughed heartily at the credulity of the spectators,
while the coffee-houses rang with the pleasantry and the in-
decent mirth of the thoughtless and the idle. However, many
undertook to clear up the mystery * and judge for themselves.
On their return, they own their conviction of the truth of what
they had heard, and now seen. The scoffer and the libertine
now hold a different language, and are not ashamed publicly
to ask pardon for the profane and ludicrous animadversions
they had made on this miraculous fact. The streets are soon
thronged. . . . The ringleaders of the conspiracy, astonished at
the prodigy, throw themselves at the feet of their confessors,
lay down their arms on the altars, and implore the forgiveness
of those whom they had marked out as the first victims of
their fury. The church door could not be shut, but remained
open till yesterday evening, the thirteenth day. On the next
day, Sunday, June 26, the public voice demanded that the
image should be carried in solemn procession through the
town. There was no time to give public notice ; but in an
instant ecclesiastical chapters, religious communities, corpora-
tions, confraternities, the nobility, the magistrates, composing
a body of 1,000 persons, form the most orderly and the most
edifying procession I have ever beheld. . . . Since this general
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 61
procession, which was performed barefooted, there have been
many others. Illuminations ; . . . voluntary offerings, many
presenting jewels, gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, watches, gold
chains, &c., money, poniards, stilettos, and pistols.
Our Cardinal-Bishop very prudently ordered the church door
to be shut for the first time yesterday at ten o'clock at night,
after giving benediction, reading aloud the beads, and singing
the litanies. He ordered the Blessed Sacrament to be exposed
till next Sunday, &c. As to myself, from Saturday the 25th
till the 28th at midnight, I believed the miracle, but only on
the testimony of others. . . . Since that time I have seen 'the
eyes of the Blessed Virgin, painted on the canvas, (1) move
horizontally, as if they had been animated, (2) open wider than
usual, of which I was able to judge from having often said
Mass at that altar, and (3) shut quite close, so that the hair of
the upper eyelid hung down over the under one. . . .
As measures are taking to give to the public an authentic
statement of this miraculous fact, yesterday and the day before
three painters were called in men eminent in their profession,
and of acknowledged probity. Myself know them to be so.
The Vicar- General, attended by the episcopal notary and proper
officers, desired them to take down the picture, and to examine
it in every part. They took out the glass, put their hands on
the face, and particularly on the eyes, to see if there was any
hollow.
Nothing was found but the canvas perfectly sound in all its
parts, without the least appearance or even possibility of
deceit. . . . Nq sooner was the hand removed from the eyes
than they opened widely. The painters stood petrified at the
sight, and were so strongly affected that they could take no
nourishment all that day. I have just seen one of the painters,
Joseph Pallavicini, aged fifty-five years, who has not yet re-
covered from his astonishment, and who assured me that he
felt the eyes move under his fingers, as if they belonged to a
living body. ... A celebrated artist in painting on wood was
present, and was so impressed with awe and veneration, that
taking from his finger a diamond ring, valued at 2,000 French
livres, he placed it himself on the crown of the Blessed Virgin.
He then hastens to the sacristy, and enters into a bond to con-
62 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
tribute 2,500 livres towards any decoration that might be
judged proper for this picture. A Turk was curious to see the
prodigy, and seeing it, he said in Italian, * Woman, thou movest
thine eyes,' and putting his hand to his scimetar, which was
richly ornamented, said to his attendant, ' Give her this.'
From the letters written from Rome our extracts shall be
shorter, as we have already given so complete an analysis of
the evidence taken in that city before the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission. They have a special interest of their own, as having
been written by our own countrymen, who must have been
known to the men of the past generation, and addressed too
to persons whose names are familiar to us all. Thus one is
addressed to the celebrated Dr. Milner, at that time stationed
as the missionary priest at Winchester. His correspondent
was a Mr. Stephen Green, a gentleman whom, as we learn from
his own letter, Mr. Milner had converted from Protestantism,
and who had lately received subdeacon's orders in the English
College in Rome. Another of Mr. Green's letters is addressed to
the Rev. Mr. Griffiths, in St. George's Fields. Another letter
is from Dr. John Charles Bonomi, formerly Professor of Theo-
logy in the College of Propaganda, who writes to his brother,
No. 76, Great Titchfield Street, London, on July 16, 1796.
This gentleman's evidence is specially valuable, as Jie had
written a critical work on the subject of miracles, and was
therefore quite familiar with the accredited tests of their
authenticity, &c. To quote these letters at length would be
only to repeat what our readers are already acquainted with
from other sources. A few extracts, however, may add some
new details of interest (as, for instance, that some persons at
this time suffered imprisonment in Rome for inventing reports
of false miracles), or they give valuable confirmation of some-
thing that has been too briefly stated before. Thus Dr.
Bonomi testifies not only to his own conviction of the reality
of the miraculous appearances, but also of many others,
' neither women, nor clergymen, but people of the world, who
at first for some days denied it,' but are now convinced. He
adds that ' the prodigy has not been seen in any of those
pictures that are the most respected, exclusive of that of the
Madonna dell' Archetto, in which it was seen for the first
Miraculous Pictures in Rome. 63
time on Saturday at ten o'clock. ... It is incredible,' he con-
tinues, ' that the people, who were only taken up with thoughts
of the French, should not have immediately concluded it to be
a sign of their being to be liberated from them ; but no : the
effects were a sincere repentance, reconciliations of enemies,
bad habits shaken off, immediate restitutions, without mention-
ing confessions and public signs of penance. The next day, at
the request of the people, the missions began in public places.
The crowd is incredible. . . . Those who edified the most were
the most dissolute among workmen, butchers, carters, porters,
&c. They were in earnest, and the first thing they did was to
hang by those pictures their forbidden weapons, or they re-
signed them to their confessors. Artizans now say or sing
hymns to our Blessed Lady at their work.'
The missions began in six different piazze or squares of the
city on the 10th inst., and a gentleman writing on the same
day as Dr. Bonomi, says, ' The streets are become as sacred as
the cloisters. Many blind, dumb, and lame have been miracul-
ously cured. We have no example of such a multiplicity of
prodigies ; their frequency is such that they have almost ceased
to create any extraordinary sensation in the beholders. But
admirable are the fruits which they produce. ... At the
general communion in Ancona 14,000 persons communicated.
The assassin, the revolutionist, and the atheist all crowd to
the confessional, and it is no uncommon thing to hear penitents
making public confessions in the squares and in the churches.'
' We attend the service in the square nearest to our residence.
It is large and always full : no church could contain such num-
bers ; but such is the silent attention to the sermon that the
preacher is distinctly heard from one extremity to the other.
The sermon finished, an awful pause ensues, and, falling into
groups, the people retire, singing aloud the beads and other
prayers. The same scene takes place in the other squares,
notwithstanding the excessive heats which now prevail. Yes-
terday, to-day, and to-morrow were the days appointed for
penitential processions, in order to atone for former scandals.
On each of these days two processions set out from two of the
squares where the mission is held, each paying a visit to one
of the principal churches of Rome. As these churches could
64 Miraculous Pictures in Rome.
not contain the number [one letter says 40,000], a reposoir is
erected at the principal door, and when the whole procession
is arrived, the Blessed Sacrament is placed on it. We yester-
day beheld from our windows that which set out from the
square which we attend. The Vicar- General who is charged
with the government of the diocese of Rome was at the head
of it, carrying the cross, and accompanied by several prelates.
No one appeared in the sacred vestments, but the clergy and
the religious men walked with those of every profession with-
out distinction, and the women followed. At the head of these
was the Princess Barberini, carrying a copy of the picture of
our Blessed Lady at Ancona, where these prodigies first ap-
peared. The throng was so great that it was impossible to
form them into regular ranks. They marched in groups, form-
ing a front of fifteen or twenty persons abreast, preceded by
some ecclesiastics of the secular or regular clergy, who sung
some spiritual canticles, and were answered by the rest. Some
interval was left between the different groups. This confusion
of ranks princes, nobles, labourers, priests all assuming the
garb and attitude of sinners, had something in it extremely
striking. There were more men than women. Many walked
barefoot. All seemed perfectly recollected and penetrated with
the deepest compunction. It was a full hour before all had
passed our house. . . .
' We joined in the rear, and went to the door of St. Mary
Major's to offer our prayers and receive benediction. Every-
thing was conducted with the greatest order and decorum.
The procession might now be said to be at an end, and the
people at liberty to return to their respective homes. How-
ever their return resembled a fervent procession, the same
prayers, the same music, and the same recollection.'
Lastly, I will only add that the letter to Mr. Milner states
that the reality of the miracles is attested by professed atheists,
and that seven Jews and an English Protestant gentleman
have been converted by it.
65
5. The Holy House of Loreto.
' ON a hill- side on the east coast of Italy, at a distance of
about three miles from the sea, and eighteen miles south of
Ancona, stands the city of Loreto. On the summit of the hill,
towering far above the surrounding buildings, rises the mag-
nificent cathedral church, with its great dome and campanile.
Unlike any other church, it seems to have something of the
nature of a castle, owing to the fortifications with which it is
provided, in order to repel the attacks of pirates who might
seek to plunder the sanctuary which the church contains.
From its great height and from its position, it may be seen
and the music of its bells is often heard, at a considerable dis-
tance out at sea.
' On entering the church there is seen, beneath the dome, a
singular rectangular edifice, of no great height, constructed
apparently of white marble, and richly adorned with statues
and sculpture. On entering this building, the contrast
between the poverty of the interior at least so far as the
walls are concerned and the richness of the marble exterior
is astonishing. The walls, as seen from the interior, are the
plain rough walls of a cottage, and evidently of great an-
tiquity. ' * This is the famous Holy House of Loreto, concern-
ing which the following words appear in the Roman Martyr-
ology, and in the calendars prefixed to many Catholic books of
devotion, under the date of the 10th of December, In Piceno
Translatio sacrce domus Dei Genitricis Marice, in qua Verbum
Caro factual est ; and in the Missal and Breviary, a proper
mass and office for the commemoration of the miraculous
event which these words record.
* Now the Church,' says St. Augustin,f * makes an annual
commemoration of those things which took place on certain
days, and of which, by reason of their remarkable excellence,
* Loreto and Nazareth, by W. A. Hutchison, Priest of the Oratory.
t c. Faustum, lib. xxxii. c. 12.
F
66 The Holy House of Loreio.
she deems it useful and necessary that the recollection should
be preserved by a festal celebration ; ' and again, the same
learned doctor says in another place,* ' that we set apart and
consecrate certain days to the commemoration of God's benefits,
in order that they may not, by the lapse of time, be lost sight
of and forgotten.' If then the Bishop of Hippo may be taken
as a true exponent of the mind and motives of the Church in
the institution of her festivals, the translation of the Holy
House of Loreto is an act of the loving-kindness of God, of a
very remarkable character, which it is both right and proper
in itself, and also good for our souls' health, that we should
not forget.
* The ridicule of one half the world, and the devotion of the
other half, has made every one acquainted with the .strange
history of this translation, which is written in all the languages
of Europe round the walls of the sanctuary ; ' how the House
in which our Blessed Lady was living in Nazareth when the
angel Gabriel was sent to her from God, or rather the parti-
cular chamber of that House in which she then was, and in
which the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation was accom-
plished ; in which also Jesus was brought up and was subject
to his parents ; from which He went forth to the Jordan to
be baptized by John before He began his public ministry;
that this house, or chamber, was miraculously transported by
the hands of angels, first from Galilee to Dalmatia, and after-
wards from Dalmatia to Italy, towards the end of the thirteenth
century, where it has ever since remained, an object of the
deepest veneration to all the faithful.
Such is the event of which the Church of God solemnly
preserves the memory by an annual commemoration, and
which we must therefore conclude that she considers to be a
benefit which demands our gratitude, and which is worthy of
being held in our everlasting remembrance. Let us consider
the matter for a moment from this point of view before we
proceed to examine it at all in the light of history.
The whole history of this famous sanctuary may be said to
be contained in a summary, or as in a promise or prophecy, in
those words which the Church annually repeats in her cele-
* De Civ. Dei, x. 3.
The Holy House of Loreto. 67
bration of the feast, ' I will glorify the house of my majesty
and the place of my feet.' * For certainly never was there
a house so glorified, its name so made to resound from one
end of the world to the other, as this humble chamber. ' It
is undoubtedly the most frequented sanctuary in Christendom,'
says an impartial eye- witness, f ' The devotion of pilgrims
even on ordinary week-days exceeds anything that can be
witnessed at the holy places in Palestine, if we except the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Easter. Every morning
while it is yet dark, the doors of the church are opened. A
few lights round the sacred spot break the gloom, and dis-
close the kneeling Capuchins who have been there through the
night. Two soldiers, sword in hand, take their place by the
entrance of the House, to guard it from injury. One of
the hundred priests who are in daily attendance commences at
the high altar the first of the hundred and twenty masses that
are daily repeated. The Santa Casa itself is then lighted, the
pilgrims crowd in, and from that hour till sunset come and go
in a. perpetual stream. The " House " is crowded with kneeling
or prostrate figures, the pavement round it is deeply worn with
the passage of devotees, who, from the humblest peasant of
the Abruzzi up to the King of Naples, crawl round it on their
knees, while the nave is filled with bands of worshippers, who,
having visited the sacred spot, are retiring from it backwards,
as from some royal presence.'
And whence comes all this what is its cause ? Precisely
that spoken of by the prophet, because this Santa Casa is
believed to be ' the house of God's majesty and the place of
his feet.' Mount Sinai has ever been accounted a sacred spot,
because the Lord once came down upon it with fire and in
the darkness of a cloud, and gave to Moses there, the two
tables of testimony, written with his own finger ; but in the
place of which we are now speaking, the Son of God ' came
down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the
Virgin Mary, and was made man ; ' ' the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us.' The temple of Solomon was won-
derful and glorious and very holy, because of ' the glory of the
* In one of the Antiphons at Vespers. See Isaias Ix. 13 ; Ps. cxxxi. 7.
f Dr. Stanley.
F2
68 The Holy House of Loreto.
Lord which filled it ; ' but ' great is the glory of this last house
more than of the first,'* by reason of the continued corporal
and visible presence therein of Him who was ' the brightness
of his Father's glory, and the very figure of his substance. 't
The city of Bethlehem in Juda became the subject of inspired
praise and prophecy, because it was chosen to be the birth-
place of the Son of God ; but it was from Nazareth, and not
from Bethlehem, that He received his name, and ' that was
fulfilled which was said by the prophets, He shall be called a
Nazarite.' J Or again, Mount Thabor witnessed the trans-
figuration of our Lord, Mount Calvary his crucifixion, and
Mount Olivet his ascension ; but with what place was He
ever so intimately and so permanently connected as with this
humble cottage, where He ' came in and went out ' among the
children of men for so many years, before He was baptized by
John in the Jordan ?
' The angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee,
called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name
was Joseph, and the virgin's name was Mary.' This was. the
beginning and the foundation of the ' glory ' of this house, the
Annunciation of our Blessed Lady therein, and the consequent
Conception within her sacred womb of the Eternal Son of God.
Presently she ' rose up and went into the hill country^ and
was absent about three months, after which ' she returned to
her own house ; ' || thereby again * glorifying ' this humble
cottage by the presence of Almighty God, since, where Mary
was, there was God Incarnate. By and by, when the days
were well-nigh accomplished that she should be delivered, she
went up * to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem ; '
and there Jesus is born into the world ; there also He receives
the adoration of the shepherds and of the wise men who had
come from the East. Then they carried Him to Jerusalem
for the Presentation in the temple, and ' as soon as they had
performed all things according to the law,' they returned to
4 their city Nazareth.' Next follows the flight into Egypt ;
after which, 'being warned in sleep, they retire into the
* Agg. ii. 10. t Heb. i. 3.
J St. Matt. ii. 6, 23. St. Luke i. 27.
|1 Ibid. v. 56.
The Holy House of Loreto. 69
quarters of Galilee,' and once more return to their ancient
home : neither is there any reason to suppose that their re-
sidence there was any more interrupted, save only by the
annual visits to Jerusalem, until the time when Jesus began
his public ministry.
Thus we see that the house of our Blessed Lady in Nazareth
was ' the house of God's majesty and the place of his feet '
for well-nigh thirty years. As long as Jesus had any place
' where to lay his head,' that place was the house of his
mother in the city of Nazareth ; it was there that ' He was
brought up.' * His neighbours and acquaintances spoke of
Him as 'the son of Joseph of Nazareth,' or, more simply, as
' Jesus of Nazareth ; ' in his triumphant entry into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday, the people cried out, saying, * This is Jesus
the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee ; ' it was part of the
title set upon his cross, ' Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews ; ' his apostles also, after his ascension into heaven, and
on the most solemn occasions, use the same language : ' In the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk ; ' so too
the angel, sitting in the Holy Sepulchre, said to the woman,
' You seek Jesus of Nazareth, he is risen, he is not here ;' the
very devils addressed Him by that name, * What have we to
do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth ? ' nay, even our Lord Him-
self, from his throne of glory on the right hand of God, makes
Himself known to Saul as ' Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest.' In a word then, Nazareth was pre-eminently
'the city of Jesus,' and the house of the Blessed Virgin in
that city was his home, the earthly home of God Incarnate.
And when once we have realized this simple, yet stupendous,
fact, no exercise of Almighty power, however marvellous,
whereby He may have been pleased in after ages to glorify it,
ought to seem strange or improbable in our eyes.
It is a feeling natural to the human breast, that men should
set a value on their paternal homes, and take pleasure in pre-
serving them ; whole societies have before now been formed,
and still exist, with the avowed object of watching over the
continual preservation of the house of some famous patriot or
philosopher, some immortal bard or triumphant warrior, and
* St. Luke iv. 16.
70 The Holy House of Loreto.
the destruction of these memorials would have been resented
as indicating a want of respect for the memory of the departed.
Why then should it be counted a strange thing that the home
of One who was perfect man as well as Grod, should have been
preserved by the Almighty hand of Him who occupied it,
through a series of more than eighteen hundred years, so as
still to remain amongst us even at the present day ? Surely
such a preservation would have been naturally attempted and
there is nothing impossible in supposing that it might even
have been effected, nad such been the good pleasure of God
by merely human means, the devout care and watchfulness of
the Christian flock. And to the Catholic mind, accustomed
to realize the intimate communion which exists between the
visible and the invisible world, the fact that this preservation
has not really been accomplished without a miraculous inter-
position of Divine power, does not present even a momentary
difficulty. A Catholic, ' believing rightly the Incarnation of
our Lord Jesus Christ,' would think it naturally probable, or
certainly not improbable, that the sacred spot in which that
stupendous mystery was wrought should have been preserved
to the devotion of the faithful throughout all ages. Whether
the means by which it was so preserved were natural or super-
natural, or partly one and partly the other, would be merely a
question of history, in the solution of which he would be guided
only by the evidence that might be alleged.
What then is the evidence upon which a Catholic believes
in the story of the translation of the Holy House ? I suppose
that the great majority of Catholics, if they were questioned
upon this subject, would immediately reply that though they
have never looked into the matter for themselves, yet they
believe it to be true, because they have always been told so,
and because they know that their holy Mother the Church is
far too wise and prudent to lend the sanction of her name to
tales of miraculous events without careful examination, and
without (at least) probable grounds for the truth of her
decision. And who shall say that this answer would not be
most just and reasonable ? For life is not long enough for
sifting and inquiring into everything, and there are a great
many things which we must needs take, and which may safely
The Holy House of Loreto. 71
be taken, upon the credit of others. Moreover, the Church is
cautious in her decisions on matters of this kind, so cautious,
that we need not fear to trust her when she breaks her usual
silence, and commends any particular miracle to the admiration
of her children by so solemn an act as the institution of a
yearly festival for its commemoration. There are others, how-
ever, in the Catholic world, and those not a few, though more
perhaps in foreign countries than in our own,* who would give
a different answer ; who would say, ' 1 believed this story at
first upon tradition, or upon authority ; that is, because others
told me so, or because it came to me recommended by the
Church's sanction ; but I have also carefully examined all the
evidence that can be alleged for it, so that I am now satisfied
of its truth upon other grounds, quite independent of the
opinion either of my neighbours or of the Church namely,
upon the same grounds on which I believe any other fact in
history about which there is a question ; the arguments in
favour of its truth seem to me infinitely stronger than any that
can be urged against it, or (to state the same conclusion under
another form) the difficulties in the way of believing it to be
false seem to me infinitely stronger than the difficulties in the
way of believing it to be true.'
In the following pages then it is proposed to lay before the
reader such an account of the evidence as we think abundantly
warrants the conclusion which we have stated, with the earnest
hope that some at least of our Protestant fellow-countrymen
may be induced to study it with the same diligence and im-
partiality with which we have endeavoured to write it. We
know indeed that there are but too many amongst them, who,
unwilling to allow to Almighty God the power of doing any-
thing whose reasonableness and utility cannot be established
satisfactorily to their own understandings, consider themselves
privileged to reject the whole history at once and without any
examination whatever, as manifestly absurd and false ; men
* I know of no critical work on the subject in our language, excepting
that by Dr. Kenrick, who is an American, and of which I have only seen
an Italian translation; and the late Father Hutchison's two invaluable
Lectures, which we nmst all most sincerely regret that the gifted author
did not live to complete, according to his original design.
72 The Holy House of Loreto.
who do not scruple to trust to this prejudgment of theirs as
though it were necessarily infallible, and more than sufficient
to counterbalance the opposite belief of millions of Catholics of
every nation under heaven, including hundreds and thousands
of men of learning and ability who have believed, not on tradi-
tion, but on their own personal conviction. For such as these
it is useless to write ; for, even though it were possible to
make the proof of the history as clear and cogent as that of a
mathematical demonstration, yet they would still continue to
speak of it as though it were an exploded fable, a matter on
which there could not possibly be any difference of opinion,
and which deserves to be remembered only that it may be
quoted in controversy, as a striking specimen of the infamous
impositions of priestcraft, and the ignorant superstition of
Catholics generally. It is to be hoped, however, that there
are other more sober-minded individuals, who do not dare to
make their own minds the measure of Omnipotence, and who
may be inclined to suspect that so extraordinary a tale would
never have obtained such universal credence, if there had been
absolutely nothing to be urged in its behalf ; who might perhaps
on this account alone be disposed to acknowledge that, even ' if
there were no documentary evidence at all to be alleged, or if
that which is alleged were shown to be hopelessly confused
and uncertain, it would still remain the most rational hypo-
thesis that, all things duly considered, could be formed con-
cerning the Holy House, that it is in reality the Nazarethan
home of the Sacred Infancy.'
When we come to examine in detail the evidence that can
be alleged for the translation of the Holy House, there seem
to be three points to which our attention should be especially
called, or rather three principal epochs into which our inquiry
will naturally divide itself. First, the evidence there is for
supposing that the house of the Blessed Virgin, which it is
certain from Holy Scripture was once in Nazareth, remained
there undestroyed during more than 1200 years ; secondly,
the evidence for the fact of its translation from Nazareth into
Dalmatia; and thirdly, the evidence for its translation from
Dalmatia into Italy. We propose to arrange our remarks, as
The Holy House of Loreto. 73
far as may be, according to this triple division, as being the
most simple and convenient.
To begin, then, with the important question of the preserva-
tion of our Blessed Lady's house in Nazareth during the first
twelve centuries of the Christian era.
It is an old tradition,* and conformable to every thing we
know of the habits of the early Christians, that this building,
which had been consecrated by the continual presence of the
incarnate Son of God during a space of nearly thirty years,
had been set aside even by the Apostles themselves to sacred
uses : but be this as it may, ancient authorities tell us, that
when the Empress St. Helen visited the Holy Land, she raised
churches and oratories in all the spots which had witnessed
the principal events of our Lord's life in Palestine,f and we
cannot suppose that she overlooked this one spot in particular,
where the first foundations, as it were, of our salvation had
been laid. Eusebius indeed dwells especially upon the magni-
ficence of the churches she built at Bethlehem and Mount
Olivet, as the scenes of the Nativity and Ascension ; but
Nicephorus Callisfcus gives us particulars about many other
churches also, and especially says that she 'went down to
Nazareth, and having found there the House of the Angelic
salutation, J built a very pretty church to the Mother of
God.' Doubtless testimony of this author is not so satisfac-
tory as that of Eusebius would have been ; nevertheless ' a
tradition is not upset,' says Benedict XIV., ' by the circum-
stance that there are no cotemporary monuments of the fact
handed down, when other later monuments of great weight
are not wanting.' Indeed, it has been well said that the
opposite assumption, viz., that no tradition is ancient or trust-
worthy, whose continuous existence is not vouched by con-
temporary documents, expunges half the history of the world
at a blow.
* Adrichomius, ' Theatrum Terrse Sanctse/ in Zabulon, n. 23, p. 41, ed.
1588.
f Paulinus, Ep. xi. ad Severum (ed. Antwerp. 1622): ' 2Edificatis Basi-
licis contexit omnes et excoluit locos, in quibus salutaria nobis mysteria
pietatis suse Incarnationis et Passionis et Resurrectionis atque Ascensionis
Sacramentis Dominus Redemtor impleverat.'
$ Niceph. H. E. yiii. 30.
74 The Holy House of Loreto.
In the seventh century we have the evidence of Adamnan,*
which is repeated also by our own Venerable Bede,f that
there were two churches in Nazareth ; one erected where
formerly had stood the house in which our Lord was brought
up as a child ; the other where the house had been in which,
the Angel Gabriel came to the Blessed Mary. And some
writers, who deny the truth of the alleged miraculous trans-
lation of the house from Nazareth to Loreto in the thirteenth
century, ground their denial in great measure upon the lan-
guage of these writers : they acknowledge that it was in
existence in the days of St. Helen in the fourth century,
but they say that she destroyed it,*and built a church in its
stead. We may accept the former part of their statement, but
reject the latter ; for although it is true that St. Helen built
a church there, it by no means follows that she should there-
fore have destroyed the house.
St. Cecilia's house in Rome was given to the Christians and
converted into a church ; but the bath-room, the special scene
of the virgin martyr's sufferings and triumph, remained un-
altered, and may be seen to this day. In like manner, the
place of infamy in which St. Agnes was exposed became a
church ; but the sacred interest which attached to those par-
ticular chambers caused them to be retained as they still are.
The Mamertine prisons in the same city, in which St. Peter
was detained ; the cave of St. Benedict at Subiaco ; the little
church of St. Francis at Assisi ; and a hundred other places
that might be named, are all instances of the same principle.
In all these places the piety of Christians has caused churches
to be built with a greater or less degree of magnificence, but
always without destroying those particular spots which were
in a more special manner the object of their devotion ; and
why should not St. Helen have done the same here also ?
Even if history were altogether silent upon" the subject, there
would still have been a strong a priori probability in favour of
those who should have maintained that while the first Christian
empress raised a temple (as it was only natural that she should)
in this most holy place, she yet was careful not to destroy
* De Locis Sanctis ii. 6.
f De Loc. Sanct. c. 16, Op. t. iv. p. 435, ed. Giles.
The Holy House of Loreto. 75
that part of it which may justly be called the holy of holies,
that chamber in which the Word was made flesh. But the
truth is, that we are not altogether left to our own conjectures
in this matter. John Phocas, a Greek priest, who visited the
Holy Land in the year 1185 that is to say, a whole cen-
tury before the alleged translation and wrote an account of his
'travels, expressly mentions, in his description of this church,
the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, that on the left-
hand side, near the high altar, there is ' an opening, through
which you descend by a few steps into the ancient house of
Joseph, in which the archangel made the joyful annunciation
to the Blessed Virgin on her return from the fountain.' *
We need not allow ourselves to be perplexed, because this
author happens to have called it the house of Joseph instead
of the house of Mary, for of course it might truly be called the
house of either indifferently ; neither again are we at present
concerned with the Oriental tradition to which he alludes as
to the occupation of our Blessed Lady at the precise moment
of the angel's visit ; his testimony is quoted in this place, only
for the sake of the information which he gives as to the posi-
tion of the spot which was the scene of the Annunciation with
reference to the general plan of the whole church ; and upon
this point his testimony is most important. Our Blessed Lady's
chamber, the sanctum sanctorum of this church, was somewhat
below the level of the rest of the building ; it was necessary
to go down to it by a few steps, it was also on one side of the
main building. The reader will see at once that this circum-
stance (which in a town like Nazareth, built on the brow of a
hill,t was a very natural one) lends the strongest confirmation
to what we have said as to the possibility of St. Helen's
church having included within itself, and not destroyed, the
particular spot to which she desired to do honour ; in fact, it
is not too much to say that it distinctly proves it. Of course,
this is not the only writer from whom we derive our know-
ledge of the interior of Our Lady's church at Nazareth ; on the
contrary, we might quote a similar description from the pens of
innumerable other travellers ; such as Zuallard the Belgian, who
* Apud Aeta SS. Bolland. Mail 2, torn. li. p. 3.
t St. Luke iv. 29.
76 The Holy House of Loreto.
accompanied tlie Baron de Merode in his visit to those parts
in the year 1586, and who says that to go to the place where
the Annunciation was made, which is below the level of the church,
you descend twelve steps. . . . There are the foundations of
the house of Joseph, in which it is said that our Lord was
brought up when He was a child ; but the remainder of the
house has been miraculously transported by angels into Chris-
tendom, and is at present in Italy, in a city called St. Mary
of Loreto.' * Or we might quote the Spanish Franciscan, Di
Calaorra,"j" who says that the house of our Blessed Lady was
under the nave on the north side of the church, and that
there was a flight of six steps to go down to it ; or again, in
our own day, the Trappist Pere Geramb, who tells us that
* you descend out of the church into the place where Mary
lived, by a broad and handsome staircase of white marble, and
that on a marble slab underneath the altar there are engraven
these words : Verbum caro hicfactum est.'
We have chosen the testimony of the Greek, however, be-
cause it is the only one that belongs to a date anterior to that
of the supposed removal of the house, so that any coincidence
which may be discovered between it and the miraculous tale
that is to follow is especially valuable. On the whole there-
fore it is perfectly certain that there is not the slightest
inconsistency in supposing St. Helen to have built a church
in honour of the Annunciation, and in the place where it
happened, and yet to have left the chamber itself undis-
turbed ; and for many reasons which the reader will pre-
sently recognise, it is important that this point should be
clearly established.
Before resuming the thread of our history, it will be well to
make yet another remark upon the evidence of St. Adamnan
and St. Bede; They speak, as we have seen, of two churches
in Nazareth, one built where the angel appeared to Mary,
the other where the house had been in which our Lord was
brought up as a child ; and as both these high preroga-
tives are usually claimed for the House of Loreto, it is neces-
* II devotissimo Viaggio di Gerus, lib. iv. p. 281. Bomse, 1587.
f Historia Cronologica della Prov. di Syria e Terra Santa, B. 2, c. 27
Italian Translation. Venice, 1694.
The Holy House of Loreto. 77
sary that we should observe that the second church appears
to have been built on the place where St. Joseph carried
on his business as a carpenter, and in which therefore our
Lord maybe said to have been brought up quite as truly as in
his Mother's dwelling-house. The Pere Geramb tells us that
it is at the distance of 130 or 140 paces from the first church,
and that it still retains the name of St. Joseph's shop. I only
mention this for the sake of removing a difficulty which might
otherwise perplex those who have an opportunity of consult-
ing the original authorities to which we refer.
About a hundred years later than St. Bede, the church is
again spoken of by the biographer of St. Willobald, the first
Bishop of Reichstadt, who lived A.D. 775 ; or rather by the
author of his * Itinerary,' by some supposed to be his sister.
' Having performed their devotions,' it says,* 'they went on to
Galilee, to the place where Gabriel first came to the Holy
Mary. Here there is now a church, in the village of Naza-
reth. And this church Christians have often paid money for
to the heathens, to prevent them from executing their purpose
of destroying it.' William Archbishop of Tyre tells us that it
was visited in the twelfth century by Tancred, and endowed
by him with such magnificence, that it became the metropolitan
church of all Galilee. A hundred years later still, it was watered
by the tears of St. Francis of Assisi ; and in the same century
by those of St. Louis of France. The biographer of this royal
saint has recorded that, as soon as he came in sight of Naza-
reth, he dismounted from his horse and kissed the ground ;
that he then went on to ' the place of the Incarnation,' heard
Mass and received the holy Eucharist there, ' in the very
chamber where the Virgin Mary our Lady was saluted by the
angel, and was declared the mother of God ; ' after which he
heard another Mass said * at the high altar of the Church ' by
Odo the Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati and Legate of the Apo-
stolic See.f
Nothing can be more precise and distinct than this testi-
mony, which belongs to the autumn of 1253, six months before
* Apud Canis. Thesaur. ii. p. 110. See also Acta SS. Ord. Bened. iv.
374.
f Storia di S. Luigi IX. del Pietro Mattel, p. 171, lib. iii. Venice, 1628.
78 The Holy House of Loreto.
St. Louis left the Holy Land to return to his own kingdom,
and forty years before the alleged translation of the chamber
from Galilee to Dalmatia. It happens, however, that it is just
during this very interval of forty years that some critics think
they can find the surest proof of the destruction of the sacred
building, and therefore of the nonentity of its subsequent
translation. In the year 1263, that is, ten years after this
visit of St. Louis, Pope Urban IY. wrote him a letter, in
which he complains that the enemy have 'not only seized
upon that venerable church in Nazarath, beneath whose roof
the Virgin of virgins received the salutation of the angel and
conceived of the Holy Ghost, but have even destroyed it : their
wicked and sacrilegious ministers have in their fury levelled
it to the very ground and altogether destroyed it.' This lan-
guage is certainly very strong and plain ; yet even though
every word of it were strictly and literally true, it would still
be possible that the chamber itself, the ipsissimus locus Incar-
nationis, had survived the wreck, because, as we have already
seen, it was upon a lower level, and on one side of the main
building; just as, in the case. we have before alluded to, it
might have been truly said under similar circumstances that
the church of St. Agnes in the Piazza Navona at Rome had
been levelled to the ground and utterly destroyed, and yet it
might have been equally true that those chambers which con-
stitute the chief interest of the building had remained un-
injured ; or as if any one had said of the Church of Sta. Maria
degli Angeli at Assisi, that it was destroyed by the earthquake
of 1832 (as it was), and yet the chapels, which are the principal
objects of devotion there, escaped unhurt. However, there is
good reason to suppose that Pope Urban had received a some-
what exaggerated account of the mischief that had been done.
This may very well have happened ; for the Infidels were rapidly
regaining the ground they had lost, and it was only natural,
therefore, that those Christians who still remained in the Holy
Laud should send to Europe, and especially to Rome, as sad a
tale as they could, that so the flame of Christian zeal might
be once more enkindled, and the chivalry of France and
England once more persuaded to come forth and do battle
against the Paynims, to rescue the holy places from their
The Holy House of Loreto. 79
hands. And there is some evidence that it really Was so js-far ''
lirst, there is an ancient tradition,* that when the main Lodv
of the crusaders had abandoned the Holy Land, the Arch-
bishop of Nazareth, together with the larger portion of his
flock, made their peace with the Turks at the price of apo-
stasy, and that it was on this occasion that the Church of the
Annunciation was pulled down ; only the northern part of it
was preserved, because to that side was attached the Episcopal
residence, the same which was afterwards occupied as a Fran-
ciscan monastery. Now since, as we have seen, it was precisely
under this part that the Santa Casa lay, it is only reasonable
to conclude that this also need not have been destroyed. But
secondly, William de Bandensel,f a German nobleman, and a
knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who travelled in
those parts with a private chaplain and a numerous retinue
about the year 1336, in speaking of this place, says only that
there had been here a large and beautiful church, but that it
was now almost destroyed. If, after more than seventy years
of unavoidable neglect on the one hand, and of exposure to
the wanton injuries of mancious enemies on the other, a tra-
veller could use such moderate language as this, we may be
sure that the words of Pope TJrban's letter do not really denote
quite as much as at first sight they might seem to imply. It
is not necessary that we should suppose the Pope to have been
personally guilty of wilful exaggeration, scarcely even his in-
formant ; for, as the Italian proverb says,
' Tempo di guerra,
Menzogne quanto la terra.'
Bat certainly we need not waste much time in proving that a
church which was only ' almost destroyed' in 1336 cannot have
been 'altogether destroyed ' in 1263 ; and that it is quite possible,
therefore, that a particular portion of that church which we
know to have been in existence in 1253, may also have been in
existence in 1291, which is the date of the alleged translation.
We need not hesitate, therefore, to pass on to an examina-
* P. F. Quaresmio di Lodi, Historica, Theologica et Moralis Terrse Sanctae
Elucidatio, torn. ii. lib. vii. c. 3, 3.
f Canisii ' Thesaurus Monum.' torn. iv. p. 333, ed. 1725.
80 The Holy House of Loreto.
tion of the second subject of our inquiry, the evidence for its
translation from Galilee into Dalmatia; but first we would
just notice by the way how exactly the date of this event
tallies with the known history of the times. I mean, that
supposing it to have been God's will that the house should be
preserved from destruction, we cannot conceive a more fitting
time, or even, if we may use such an expression, a more ne-
cessary time, for His immediate interference in order to effect
this purpose, than that which tradition has assigned. It is
said to have taken place on May 10, 1291, just when the
Christian rule in Palestine had received its death-blow by the
fall of Acre, its last bulwark, on April 18 in that very year.
Henceforward the Christian sanctuaries were exposed to all
the injuries which the most inveterate malice could devise,
and the most unlimited license execute ; and as to the nature
and extent of those injuries, one may form a tolerably correct
idea from the letter of Pope Urban IV., which has been
already quoted. If, then, it was in the counsels of the Divine
Wisdom, that the chamber in which the Second Person of the
most Holy Trinity took upon Him* the nature of man in the
womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary should be preserved to all
succeeding ages as a monument to confirm their faith, and
excite their devotion towards that most adorable mystery, the
interposition of a supernatural power seems now to have been
imperatively called for. It may be said indeed that, had God
so willed it, the same result might have been obtained in a
far more natural way by bringing the Crusades themselves to
a different termination, by causing them to be as glorious and
triumphant in their issue as they were in fact disastrous, in
which case there would have been no necessity for any visible
interference with the natural order of events. But such an
observation is best answered by repeating the words of St.
Augustin : * ' Let us allow that it is possible for God to do
some things, the reason of which we cannot investigate : in
such matters the reason of the thing is to be sought for only
in the power and in the will of Him who does them.'
It is said, then and be it remembered that it is so far said
by the Catholic Church as that she permitted an addition to
* Ep. 3. ad Volusianum, aliter Ep. 137, class 2.
The Holy House of Loreto. 81
that effect to be inserted in the Roman Martyrology under
date of December 10,* and a lesson embodying the whole
history to be added to the office provided for that day in the
Roman Breviary f that the house of our Blessed Lady in
Nazareth was miraculously translated by the ministry of
angels from Galilee to Dalmatia in the month of May 1291,
and that it was again removed and transported into Italy on
December 10, 1294. Now the first idea that strikes one in
considering the authenticity of this history is this : supposing
it not to be true, how exceedingly improbable it is that it
should ever have been invented ! Let us concede for a moment
that it was possible, when first the house appeared at Loreto,
to invent some story of its having been brought there by a
miracle ; yet what could have induced the inventors to pretend
that it was brought from a place in Dalmatia rather than im-
mediately from Galilee itself ? This was not only to throw
an apparent doubt upon its genuineness, upon its being really
what they asserted it to be, the house in which our Lord had
been conceived in Nazareth, but also to afford additional
facility for detecting the imposture ; since it was far easier to
go or to send to Dalmatia and ascertain the truth of the report,
than to run the risk of being murdered or imprisoned by the
Turks in the course of a dangerous pilgrimage to Palestine.
Bat in the next place, even though we should allow that for
some inconceivable reason the inventors of the story were stupid
enough to clog it with this most clumsy and untoward circum-
stance, yet how did they persuade the people of Dalmatia
to lend themselves to the imposition ? The people of Loreto,
we will imagine, were so proud of the high honour which
would attach to them as being supposed to be the chosen
guardians of a very sacred treasure, that they were not likely
to inquire too minutely into the history upon which such a
supposition was based ; all inconvenient criticism would be
prevented by a very natural and pardonable vanity. But
how came the natives of Dalmatia to exercise the same for-
bearance without the same motive, or rather in spite of every
motive naturally urging them to the most severe and rigid
* By a decree of the Congregation of Eites, August 31, 1669.
t By a similar decree, September 16, 1699.
G
82 The Holy House of Loreto.
scrutiny ? The sacred house had been transported from the
Holy Land (so said the story), because that land had fallen
into the hands of enemies to the Christian faith, who would
insult and perhaps destroy it ; it had been brought into a
Christian land, to an eminence between the towns of Tersatto
and Fiume (about sixty miles south of Trieste, on the eastern
side of the Adriatic Gulf), and it remained there for the space
of three years and a half, when it was again removed and
carried into Italy. Did not this second removal seem to
speak the same language as the first ? to cast an imputation
upon the character of those from whom the house was taken ?
to imply that they were not worthy of it any more than the
Turks had been ? We are not presuming ourselves to pry
into the hidden counsels of God, and to assign this as the real
motive of the second translation ; but we say that this is what
would naturally occur to any man as soon as he heard of it ;
nay more, that this is what the earliest historians of the
sanctuary actually said ; and we ask whether the Dalmatians
were likely, without good reason, to acknowledge a fact which
seemed so manifestly to redound to their discredit, silently to
acquiesce in a tradition which could not fail to be so interpreted
by the great majority of those to whose knowledge it might be
brought ? Surely it does not require any intimate knowledge
of human nature to feel confident that such a- tradition could
never have taken deep root among a people unless it had been
founded on fact. And yet not only is the tradition recorded
by some of their own authors ; not only was its memory pre-
served by a church, in imitation of the original house, built
upon the spot from which it had been removed, with an in-
scription engraven upon its walls, declaring that ' this is the
place where was formerly the most holy house of our Blessed
Lady, which is now at Recanati ; ' * not only has it been
perpetuated by the establishment, by Gregory XIII., in Loreto
itself of a college, which still remains, for students from
the Illyrian nation ; not only, I say, is the existence of
such a tradition attested in these and other ways, but also
still more unequivocally (because more popularly) by the
fact of innumerable pilgrims having always come year after
* Rainaldi, 'Annales' ad A.D. 1294.
The Holy House of Loreto. 83
year, century after century, from that part of Dalmatia to
the sanctuary of Loreto, there to lament over their heavy
loss, and to entreat our Blessed Lady to return to them.
' I was sitting in the church at Loreto, hearing confessions,'
writes Father Biera in the year 1559, 'when I heard a
most unusual disturbance and the sound of much crying
and groaning ; I came out of the confessional to inquire into
its cause, and there at the threshhold of the church I saw
kneeling from four to five hundred Dalmatians, men, women,
and children, divided into different companies, each company
under the direction of a priest, and all crying out with sighs
and tears, " Return, return to us, Mary! most holy Mary,
return to Fiume." Touched with compassion for their dis-
tress, I drew near to a venerable priest who was amongst
them, and asked the cause of their sorrow ; with a deep sigh
he answered, "Ah! they have only too much cause;" and
again he repeated with still greater energy, " Return, return
to us, Mary." When they advanced within the church,
and arrived where they could see the entrance to the holy
house, their cries and their sobs grew yet louder. I tried as
well as I could to assuage their grief, and to direct them to
look for consolation from heaven ; but the old man interrupted
me and said, " Suffer them to weep, father ; their lamentations
are only too reasonable ; that which you now possess was once
ours." At last I was obliged to exert my authority to restore
order and enforce silence ; and, indeed, their prayers were so
earnest, that I could not but fear that Grod would listen to
their request.' He tells us that this was only in an extraor-
dinary degree a specimen of what he had witnessed every
year that he was at Loreto, and had happened (so he was
told) every year from time immemorial ; persons from Fiume
and its neighbourhood, only not usually in such great num-
bers, coming over the sea to visit the house of Loreto, and to
entreat the Blessed Virgin to restore it to them. The testi-
mony of Father Torsellino forty years later, that is, 300 years
after the supposed loss, is equally distinct ; he says that ' these
pilgrims came every year in shoals (catervatim quotannis),
and quite as much to lament over their own loss as to do
honour to the house of Mary.' Father Renzoli repeats the
G2
84 The Holy House of Loreto.
same at the end of the next century ; and we learn from the
Archdeacon Graudeiiti that it still continued in the year 1784.
Now, although of course the impositions of priestcraft are
quite as possible on one side of the Adriatic as on the other,
still it is worth while to enquire what kind of motives it can
have appealed to, what passions of the human heart it can
have enlisted on its side, when first it devised this deceit, and
attempted to impose it upon the people. For let priestcraft be
as clever and as potent as the most ignorant or the most zealous
Protestant can imagine, still as long as it is only natural, not
miraculous, as long as it is something short of magic, it can
only influence others by means of the ordinary motives and
principles of human action, roused into activity by false ap-
pearances perhaps, and aiming at wrong ends, but still the
same motives. But which of these motives can be imagined
in the present instance powerful enough to have produced the
result that has been described ? Not vain-glory, for, as has
been already said, the story was manifestly to the general
discredit of the inhabitants of that country, whether clergy
or laity ; not sordid interest, for how could it profit the priests
of Fiume and Tersatto that their flock should go on pilgrim-
ages and make offerings to the distant shrine of Loreto ? not
a mere love of the marvellous, for this might have been quite
as effectually gratified by applying the same story to the shrine
which they still had at home ; not even a desire to gain spirit-
ual privileges and indulgences, for these had been bestowed
with a most liberal hand upon their own sanctuary by many
successive popes, from Urban Y. in the fourteenth century
down to Clement XI. at the beginning of the eighteenth. In
a word, it is difficult to conceive what could have persuaded
the Dalmatians to depreciate a church of their own country,
singularly enriched both temporally and spiritually, to 'confess
that it was a mere memorial and imitation of a marvellous
original which they had once had and now had lost, and to
put themselves to great inconvenience to go and visit that lost
original elsewhere, excepting only a deep and settled convic-
tion that the history of the two churches was precisely such
as it is commonly supposed to be ; and is it possible that such
a conviction should have been created, so as to become a living
The Holy House of Loreto. 85
and powerful source of action in the mind of a 'whole people,
by anything short of the truth ? At any rate, it is im-
possible to deny but that the Dalmatian tradition furnishes
reasonable evidence of as much as this, that a building which
was believed to be the house in which the Word was made
flesh in Nazareth was once in their country, and is now in
Italy ; or rather (that we may not overstate the case, even in
the minutest particular) that it is no longer where it was, and
that what is shown at Loreto is so extremely like it, that they
have been deceived by it, and cannot detect the difference.
And this is all that in this place we care to establish.
The tradition next goes on to say that at the end of about
three years and a half after its original appearance in Dal-
matia, that is, on December 10, 1294, the Holy House was
miraculously transported across the sea, and set down in a
wood about a mile from the shore, on the opposite coast of
Italy (this wood belonging to one whose name was Laureta,
whence Loreto);* that it was visited there by innumerable
persons, but that wicked men took advantage of the vicinity
of the wood to conceal themselves in it and to commit acts
of violence upon the pilgrims, so that it was very soon
* Such is the almost unanimous testimony of ancient writers on this
subject : otherwise the etymology given by Scotti at p. 209 of his 'Itinerario
d' Italia,' Eoma, 1650, seems preferable viz., that the wood itself was
called Lauretum. Father Koestius, S. J., seems to consider it an open
question : ' Apologia pro Dom. Laur.' part i. c. xxi. 15. The name Loreta
appears as the Christian name of ladies in that neighbourhood in wills and
other legal documents of the years 1400, 1418, &c.; but I do not know
that it has ever been found in any more ancient documents ; and if this be
so, it would seem more probable that the name came to be used in honour
of the sanctuary of our Lady of Loreto, than that the sanctuary came to be
so called in consequence of its temporary sojourn on the property of a lady
happening to bear that name. Names taken from the principal mysteries
and festivals of our Blessed Lady have always been very common in Italy,
e. g. Annunziata, Concetta, &c. See Martorelli, ii. p. 406. The Litany of
Loreto, as it is commonly called, is much more ancient than its name,
having been extant at least as early as the beginning of the fifth century.
Perhaps it acquired its present name from the fact that on Saturdays it
is sung with great solemnity in the Holy House of Loreto, and perhaps in
former days pilgrims hearing it there for the first time, spoke of it as the
Litany of Loreto. See Hutchison, p. 44.
86 The Holy House of Loreto,.
removed to an eminence at some little distance ; here also
it attracted the public devotion so powerfully, that the two
brothers to whom the hill belonged soon began to quarrel as
to the proper way of disposing of the numerous offerings which
were made ; and finally, after another short interval, it was
again removed, without human help, to a spot on the highway
of Recanati, where it has ever since remained. We have to
inquire whether this story is a true narration of facts, or
merely a fabulous invention.
Here, again, the first reflection which occurs to a thoughtful
and candid mind is this : if the story be false, why did the
inventor make it so extremely clumsy ? We presume that he
washed it to be believed, and did his best therefore to secure
its being believed ; why, then, did he multiply the chances of
detection by pretending three translations instead of one ? and
how had he not the wit to see that three translations within
the distance of a few miles ,and in the space of a single year,
wrought by superhuman agency, would be looked upon with
most keen suspicion by everybody jealous for the honour and
glory of God ? Would it not seem, if we may be allowed to
use such language with reverence, as if Almighty God had not
from the first thoroughly known his own mind, what He pro-
posed to do with the house, or as if He had not foreseen, or had
been unable to provide against, the inconveniences and dangers
to which it proved to be exposed in each of its successive
resting-places ? Surely everybody must allow that the whole
story is as far from being probable in the sense of being like
some truth (verisimile), as far from being likely to deceive
people and to win their uninquiring assent by its plausibility,
by the mere force of its apparent truthfulness, as any thing that
can possibly be imagined : and yet the people were deceived ;
the story lias gained universal credence ; and the spots which
were consecrated by the merely temporary presence of the
sacred building have always been known and pointed out.
Of course, if the story is true, all these difficulties instantly
disappear ; magna est veritas et prcevalebit ; facts are stubborn
things, and when they are proved, supersede the necessity of
arguments : and so, if the triple translation was a fact, it is
not strange that it should have been believed ; but if, on the
The Holy House of Loreto. 87
other hand, it was a human invention, we can neither compre-
hend the stupidity of him who devised it, nor the simplicity of
those who received it.
We may also still further observe that, supposing the triple
translation to be true, we can see at once what a powerful
effect it must have had on the minds of all who were witnesses
of it in the way of predisposing them to believe the extraordi-
nary story which they were presently to hear as to what this
house or chamber really was, and whence it originally came.
We are told that it made its appearance on the shores of Italy
towards the very end of the year 1294, and that it was not till
some time in 1296 that it was known to be the house of our
Blessed Lady from Nazareth. From the first it was recognised
as a sacred building, belonging in an especial manner to the
Holy Virgin, because it contained an image of her, carved in
cedar- wood, and an altar, and because of the many favours
which were received there by those who called upon her name ;
but more than a twelvemonth was permitted to elapse before
it was made known to them (by means of a vision granted to
some pious soul) that it was the very chamber of the Incarna-
tion, which had been once in Nazarethj afterwards transported
to Dalmatia, and now brought to Italy. This was a most
marvellous history ; yet who could say that it was too mar-
vellous to be true, when they had themselves been witnesses of
its repeated removal, even within the limits of their own terri-
tory, and knew therefore that it was certainly something very
sacred, and in a special manner the object of Divine care ?
Moreover, these repeated translations, if they be true, had the
effect of multiplying witnesses of the miracle, or at least
evidence of its truth, to an almost indefinite extent. On
the whole, therefore, turn the legend which way we will, its
texture is such, that what appear at first sight to be its ex-
travagancies and extreme improbabilities prove, on a more
minute investigation, to be real arguments in its favour ; on
the theory of its falsehood, they are inexplicable ; on the
theory of its truth, they receive a rational solution.
But let us not dwell any longer on these preliminary con-
siderations ; perhaps some of our readers may complain that
we have already dwelt upon them too long ; nevertheless, if
88 The Holy House of Loreto.
we desired to do justice to our subject, they were far too im-
portant to be omitted ; indeed, it would hardly be too much
to say that they form the principal part of our subject, for I
suppose it is undeniable that the reasons for which the whole
story is so laughed to scorn by the Protestant world consist
entirely in its antecedent improbabilities and apparent strange-
ness. They will not pretend to say that they reject it only
because they do not think it supported by sufficient historical
evidence, any more than ordinary Catholics receive it because
they are satisfied with that evidence. On the contrary, when-
ever a Protestant writer has condescended to enter on any
critical examination of the evidence, he has always found it
necessary first, to apologise to his readers for the insult he
may seem to be offering to their understanding by treating
the subject with any seriousness at all, as though the idea of
a house being carried through the air for any religious purpose
were not a self-evident absurdity. And yet it is hard to see
why it should be so thought by any who profess to believe in
Him who once said, ' If you have faith as a grain of mustard
seed, and shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence
thither, it shall remove.' *
At length, however, we will proceed to enumerate the prin-
cipal authors to whom we are indebted for the preservation of
the legend of the Holy House, as we at present have it.
The earliest authentic account, of which we have a suffi-
ciently distinct notice to make it worth while to mention it in
this place, was drawn up by the Bishop of Recanati, though
at the time he wrote he was only the rector or president
of the Sanctuary. Peter George Tolomei had come from
Teramo in the Abruzzi to serve in this church of Sta. Maria
di Loreto as early as the year 1430, and was promoted to
the highest rank in it twenty years afterwards. He com-
piled a short history for the use of the innumerable pil-
grims who came there ; and he executed his task so well, that
Pope Gregory XIII. selected this account a hundred years
afterwards to be translated into the Arabian, Greek, Illyrian,
German, French, Spanish, and Latin languages, for the same
purpose. He seems to have taken great pains in collecting
* St. Matt. xvii. 19.
The Holy House of Loreto. 89
the testimony of the inhabitants. Of course it was impossible
that any of that generation should have been himself an eye-
witness of the miracle ; they could only say what they had
been told by others before them. He found two persons in
particular (whom he names, and who could be identified
therefore and examined by any who had chosen to do so
at the time he wrote) whom he examined upon oath ; the
first swore he had often heard his grandfather say that Ms
grandfather had seen with his own eyes the house of Loreto
coming over the sea like a ship, and that he saw it land in
the midst of the wood, which ran along the coast ; the second
swore that he had often heard his grandfather say that he
himself had frequently visited the shrine whilst yet it remained
in that wood, and that during his time the angels removed it
and carried it to the hill belonging to the two brothers. It
might seem at first sight as if there were a discrepancy between
these two testimonies, inasmuch as there is an apparent differ-
ence of two generations in the persons who saw the first arrival
of the shrine and its removal from the wood to the hill, events
which are said to have taken place within a few months of one
another ; but our author expressly tells us that the grandfather
of the second witness lived to the extraordinary age of 120
years, so that in fact the witnesses were contemporaneous,
though of most unequal ages.
Six years after the death of Teramano, as this author, from
the place of his nativity, is generally called (that is, in the
year 1479), there came to Loreto a very learned and distin-
guished ecclesiastic from another part of Italy, the provincial,
of the Carmelite order, from Mantua, and he too wrote a his-
tory, which he dedicated to the Cardinal della Rovere, at that
time Bishop of Hecanati, in which he professes to follow the
authentic narration of Teramano ; only he quotes an additional
authority for it which Teramano too had very probably
seen and made use of, though he does not mention it a very
old tablet hung up in the chapel itself. He describes this
tablet as almost rotten and consumed by age ; so that it may
have been written not very long after the first arrival of the
house.
About forty or fifty years later, the history was re- written
90 The Holy House of Loreto.
with still greater care and minuteness by Grirolamo Angelita,
a great antiquary, and enjoying by reason of his official situa-
tion which had been also held by his father and grandfather
before him, and seems to have been almost hereditary in his
family, the chancellorship of the city of Recanati many sin-
gular advantages for the thorough execution of his task. He
tells us that he had sifted with the most faithful and diligent
accuracy all the ancient annals of the Republic, of whose
archives he was the appointed guardian ; he had examined the
records also which had been received during his own lifetime
from Fiume and Tersatto, and been sent to Leo X. at Rome ;
and he dedicated the result of his researches to the reigning
Pontiff, Clement VII. Copies of this work are still extant ;
and the only important circumstance which it contains that is
wanting in earlier histories is the exact date of the two transla-
tions, which are precisely the facts that his situation and the
documents that had been sent from Balmatia might have
enabled him with the greater certainty to establish.
As a matter of evidence, we need hardly examine in detail
the writers of later date, because of course they differ in
nothing essential from those who have gone before them ; one
only deserves special mention perhaps, as being generally
called the Father of the History of Loreto, not for his an-
tiquity but for his painstaking accuracy and completeness,
especially with reference to miraculous cures and other favours
that had been received in this sanctuary ; I mean Father
Horace Tursellino, the Jesuit, whose work, embodying all that
had been collected by his predecessor Father Riera, as well as
all that he had succeeded in discovering himself, was published
in Rome in five books in 1597, and was afterwards translated
into Italian, with the addition of a sixth book, by Father
Zucchi. The whole of these three works, together with the
earlier ones that have been mentioned, and very copious ex-
tracts from innumerable others, were republished by Monsignor
Martorelli in the middle of the last century, in a work in two
volumes folio, intituled ' Teatro Istorico della Santa Casa
Nazarena,' a work which may truly be said to exhaust the
subject, and to which we must therefore refer all persons who
desire to investigate the evidence with still greater minuteness
The Holy House of Loreto. 91
than is done in the present chapter. As a matter of authority,
however, we may be allowed to enumerate a few of the most
distinguished names that appear among the list of writers who
have defended the authenticity of the miraculous translation,
such as Baronius, Rainaldi, Canisius, Suarez, Cornelius a
Lapide, Natalis Alexander, the Bollandists, and Benedict
XIV. ; and since, as Melchior Can us says, ' whatever his-
torian the Church has given credit to we need not fear to
trust,' it may be worth while to add that the whole history
of the quadruple translation, together with the causes of
each, is incorporated in a brief of Pope Julius II., bearing
date of the 1st November, 1502. It is related also, as we
have already said, but in a more compendious form, in the
Roman Breviary ; and although, as everyone knows, ' the
contents of that book are not proposed to the Church as de-
fined, or as obliging the faithful, and the historical facts which
it contains may be subjected to a fresh examination, and may
even be criticised by private scholars, provided it is done with
moderation and respectfulness, and not without grave reason '
(especially, as Benedict XIV. says, when more ancient monu-'
ments are opposed to them), still it may safely be asserted
that such facts receive no slight degree of authority from
being thus mentioned by the Church ; for even looking upon
her merely as possessed of the human gifts of learning,
memory, and talent, she is an authority that cannot be lightly
despised by any who value historical truth.
Should it be objected, however, that after all there is but a
slender amount of really historical evidence to support so ex-
traordinary a tale, that a chain cannot be stronger than its
weakest link, and since none of the evidence is strictly contem-
porary with the event, no amount of subsequent repetitions can
remedy this radical defect, we need not hesitate to allow that
it is not evidence such as could bear the strict anatomy of
obstinate incredulity ; still no one can pretend that it is abso-
lutely without weight, and it is certainly sufficient to involve
in considerable perplexity any who should undertake to defend
the opposite theory, and to demonstrate that the tale is false.
And this is all that is necessary to justify the Catholic belief
upon the subject ; for the story of the translation of the Holy
92 The Holy House of Loreto.
House has come down to us from very ancient times by tra-
dition ; it is not that the Catholics of this, or of any preceding,
generation have dug it out of some ancient legendary, or
chronicle of wonders, and then proposed it to the belief of
their brethren as a new fact in history which they had recently
discovered, but which could certainly be proved by the allega-
tions of trustworthy authors. We believe it, and our fathers
before us for many generations have always believed it, on
tradition. * By tradition,' says one whose words will be
familiar to most of my readers,* ' by tradition is meant what
has ever been said, as far as we know, though we do not
know how it came to be said, and for that very reason think
it true, because else it would not be said ; ' and again, ' tra-
dition therefore being information, not authenticated, but
immemorial, is a prima facie evidence of the facts which it
witnesses. It is sufficient to make us take a thing for granted,
in default of real proof; it is sufficient for our having an
opinion about it ; but being an anonymous informant, it is
of force only under the proviso that it cannot be plausibly dis-
puted.' The onus probandi lies with those who would destroy
the existing belief. We may use the same argument here, then,
as has before now been used for the defence of Christianity
itself; we may say, in the very words of the author to whom
we allude : ' the existence of this testimony is a phenomenon ;
the truth of the fact solves the phenomenon. If we reject
this solution, we ought to have some other to rest in ; and
none, even by our adversaries, can be admitted which is not
consistent with the principles that regulate human affairs and
human conduct at present, or which makes men then to have
been a different kind of beings from what they are now.' j
Let the scoffers, then, at the miraculous translation of the
house of Loreto come forward and explain to us the origin
and history of the evidence that has been adduced ; let them
tell us how it arose, how it came to be credited ; or, if they
cannot show by positive accounts how it did, yet let them
allege some probable hypothesis how it might have arisen. For
myself, I cannot conceive, and I do not remember ever to
* Newman's ' Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics,' p. 45.
t Paley's ' Evidences,' Preparatory Considerations.
The Holy House of Lor do. 3
have heard of, any other answer to this challenge than one of
these two : either the building must have been raised in some
extraordinary manner in a single night, or if in longer time,
at least in the deepest secresy, without a single human wit-
ness that was not a participator in the imposture, and with
such consummate skill that when the story was circulated, it
looked not like a thing of yesterday, but like a building nearly
1300 years old ; or, the building must have been old, well
known to all the neighbourhood and always held in veneration,
yet its real history lost, and then this lying fable substituted
in its stead.
The first of these hypotheses is so preposterously absurd,
that it is difficult to believe that it can ever have been seriously
entertained by any reasonable being ; and, indeed, when first
I met with it in the pages of an English Annual, I imagined
that the writer had himself invented it for the purpose of
enlivening his pages and making his readers laugh ; subse-
quently, however, I found the same story in the letters of a
foreign Protestant, whose travels enjoyed a certain degree of
reputation towards the end of the seventeenth century, and
were evidently the source whence our English friend had bor-
rowed the happy idea. ' It was under the Pontificate of
Boniface VIII. that this pretended miracle happened ; and if
you make any reflection on the life of that famous fox, who is
represented in all histories as the most cunning, the most am-
bitious, and most covetous of all the men in the world ; and if
you add to these considerations that of his power and autho-
rity, you will grant without difficulty that he was a man fit to
undertake such a cheat as this.' So writes M. Misson ; *
credat Judceus Apella, Non ego. However, even M. Misson
does not seem to be altogether satisfied with this a priori
proof; so he goes on to allege one or two circumstances in
support of his conjecture ; and these we will lay before our
readers in the language of his English copyist. He says that
' it very well might so happen, for that the Jesuits (wonderful
Jesuits, to have had a hand in this business too, only two or
three centuries before they were in existence!) 'have been
accused before now of building an entire mill in one night near
* A New Voyage to Italy, vol. i. p. 334, ed. 1714.
94 The Holy House of Loreto.
Granada in Spain, in comparison with which the holy cottage is
but a trifle ; ' and (by way of farther corroboration) ' the walls
of the holy cottage are built much as other walls, but the
bricks are ill joined and clumsily put together, which plainly
evinces that the structure has been raised with greater expe-
dition than skill.' The writer of these silly lines probably
thought that this fungus-like origin of a famous Catholic
sanctuary was a capital joke. We certainly need not be
at the pains of refuting it ; a single observation will suffice,
viz. that the house does not happen to be built of bricks at
all, as most of the buildings in tnat neighbourhood are, but of
a fine-grained limestone, the like of which is not to be found
within thirty or forty miles of the place.
The second hypothesis is this : that the building had been
always a sacred one, perhaps even originally built in imitation
of the house at Nazareth, in consequence, says Dean Stanley,
' of some peasant's dream, or the return of some Croatian chief
from the last Crusade, or the story of some Eastern voyager
landing on the coast,' but that its history was subsequently
lost, or at least so far corrupted, as that the building came to
be accounted the original of that of which it was in truth only
a copy. This hypothesis is, as far as I know, the only one
which has ever been adopted by any Catholic writer who has
refused to believe the miraculous translation ; certainly it is
the only one which bears even a semblance of probability ;
but when it is looked into more carefully, even this semblance
disappears.
In the first place, how does this supposition account for the
several successive translations from Dalniatia to Italy, and
from one place to another, more than once, even in Italy
itself? 'Very probably,' it has been said,* * all these various
* Calmet, 'Dizion. della Bibbia,' in art. Nazareth, torn. ii. p. 48, ed. Lucca.
It should be mentioned that Calmet himself subsequently retracted this
rash conjecture, and authorised his Italian translator, Manzi, to correct it.
This permission however did not arrive in time to allow of the correction
being made in its proper place in the text of the work which had been
already printed, but only in the translator's preface. Hence arises the
confusion which may be observed in authors who have written on this
subject; -some quoting Calmet's authority in support of the miraculous
legend, others against it.
The Holy House of Loreto. 95
translations were only different chapels built after the form
and fashion of the house at Nazareth, just as we see in many
places sepulchres built in imitation of the holy sepulchre at
Jerusalem.' But wherefore should there have been three such
within the space of a single mile, and yet so rarely met with
elsewhere that not even Calmet himself mentions another in-
stance ? Above all, how does this supposition account for the
keen sense of loss, the memory of which still lives among the
Dalmatians ? If they had once had a similar copy and it had
been destroyed, yet why should they grudge to the Italians a
memorial which, if they pleased, they might so easily renew
for themselves ? nay which, in point of fact, if this theory
were true, they had already renewed ; for from an early
period in the fourteenth century they had had a church built
more or less according to the model of that at Loreto.
But secondly, if we look at the building itself, we shall
easily see that it can only be either the original, or designed
to be mistaken for such : there is no middle term ; either it is
truth or it is a gross imposition ; there is no room for a mistake.
For first, the house (or chamber, as it might more properly be
called) has no foundations. One bent upon practising a de-
ceit might have done this ; or if the translation of the house
were miraculous, it might have been so brought ; but surely
such a thing could never have happened to a shrine built ex-
pressly as a memorial, and intended to endure as such to
succeeding ages. The fact that the house of Loreto really is
without foundations cannot be doubted ; it is mentioned by all
the earliest historians of the sanctuary ; it was formally ex-
amined by several persons prior to the raising of the new
fabric in the reign of Clement VII., amongst the rest by An-
gelita himself, who has left an account of it ; and again in the
reign of Benedict XIV., in the last century, when the pave-
ment of the house was taken up and renewed. On this last
occasion five bishops were present, three architects, and three
master-masons, besides others ; and all fully satisfied them-
selves of the truth of the popular belief on this matter. One
of the masons was not contented until he had dug out a
sufficient quantity of earth from beneath the wall to allow of
his introducing his body under it in a stooping attitude and
96 The Holy House of Loreto.
examining it in all directions ; and after the examination a
statement of the facts was drawn up, sworn to, and properly
signed by these persons, in the presence of witnesses, and with
all the formalities of a legal document.
Moreover, Teramano, Angelita, and the rest tell us that the
people of Recanati sought to provide against the evil con-
sequences which might naturally be apprehended from this
essential defect by building a wall round the house, which,
however, could never be brought to attach itself to the original
wall of the house itself : and this fact too is attested by the
same clear evidence as the want of foundations ; for it rests on
the testimony of Nerucci, the architect employed by Clement
VII., and of many others, amongst whom, may be specially
mentioned John Eck,* Vice-chancellor of the University of
Ingoldstadt, and the well-known opponent of Luther, who at
that time examined the building and ascertained that the space
between the two walls was such as to admit of a boy walking all
round the house between them. Angelita was there when the
boy did it; and sixty years afterwards, A.D. 1580, when Riera
was compiling his history, many persons were still living who
had known the boy and had heard him say that he had done it : f
and when, under Pope Leo X., the old outer wall which was of
bricks, was removed, and they proceeded to build a stronger
one to be encrusted with marble in its stead, we are expressly
told that the architect, Rainerius Nerucci, who had beheld the
prodigy with his own eyes, left the same interval in order that
the memory of so signal a wonder might not perish (quod
veteris miraculi monumentum foret) .J
Another circumstance may very properly be insisted upon
in this place, although it has been already mentioned in a cur-
sory manner elsewhere, viz. that the materials of which the
building is composed are not to be found within thirty or forty
miles of Loreto, whereas one of the three prelates whom Cle-
ment VII. sent to Dalmatia and to Palestine for the express
purpose of testing the truth of the tradition, as far as might be,
by an examination of the various localities, brought away with
him two stones of the kind generally used in the buildings of
* Apud Martorelli, i. p. 557. t Torsellino, Storia, &c., p. 40.
J Ibid. p. 100.
The Holy House of Loreto. 97
Nazareth, and they were found exactly to correspond with the
stones of the holy house. Dean Stanley, indeed, has ventured
to assert that the walls of the house at Loreto ' appear to. be
of a dark red polished stone, wholly unlike anything in Pales-
tine.' But everybody who has ever visited Loreto knows how
extremely difficult it is for any ordinary persons to make a
satisfactory examination of the real nature of the stone of
which the walls are composed. ' They are so discoloured by
age, and so covered over with a sort of varnish caused by the
smoke of the lamps perpetually burning there, and the kisses
and the rubbing of devout pilgrims, that they have become, at
least to a certain height, quite polished.' Moreover, ' at the
time of Clement VII., when several alterations were made in
the Holy House, it was thought well to point the walls with
mortar, so as to close up the interstices between the stones, so
that they might not be easily pulled out and carried away by
the indiscreet piety of the faithful. This mortar was, of course,
made of the materials on the spot that is, of the red volcanic
stone of the neighbourhood which, when pounded up, makes
an excellent cement. It is, in the main, to this mortar that
the red tint seen at Loreto is due ; and as in some places it was
applied in large pieces, it might often be easily taken, on a
cursory inspection, for the stone itself.' Some persons have
even thought that the walls were built of bricks ; but this may
easily be seen to be false, because, though generally brick-like
in form, the stones are of diiferent sizes and thicknesses.
Even the Protestant M. Misson, whom we have quoted, seems
to have been more successful in his study of the materials than
some more recent travellers. He speaks of the ' studied affec-
tation ' of the builders in using ' bricks of unequal sizes and of
different kinds, mixed with some flat and grayish or reddish
stones.'' However, the whole question as to the nature of the
materials of the building has lately been cleared up in the most
satisfactory manner.
A short time after the publication of Dean Stanley's work,
his Eminence Cardinal "Wiseman, knowing that Monsignor
Bartolini was about to make a pilgrimage to Nazareth, sent
him the passages from the book which related to Nazareth and
Loreto, and begged him to make special examination on the
H
98 The Holy House of Loreto.
points referred to in those passages. As he was a person of
consideration in Home, he was enabled to obtain from the Holy
Father permission to remove some small portions of stone from
the walls of the Holy House, and to have them analysed. Such
a permission was probably never before granted, and the prelate
availed himself of it to good purpose. He enclosed in separate
papers some specimens of stone which he had brought from
Nazareth ; also two stones from the Holy House at Loreto
which were in the possession of the Cardinal- Vicar of Rome,
and some others which he himself removed from the same
walls. He then sent all these to the Professor of Chemistry at
the Sapienza in Rome, in order that he might analyse them.
The Professor was not told where the respective parcels came
from. He submitted them to analysis, and reported that all
were limestone the stone of Nazareth, not the volcanic stone
of Loreto and that there was no material difference between
them.*
These facts then being so, we have a right to reject the
explanation suggested by Calmet as insufficient and false.
This Holy House of Loreto was certainly not an ordinary
building, whose real history being lost, an attempt was made
in later ages to connect it by a marvellous tale with the scene
of the Incarnation. Such an explanation, while getting rid of
one miracle, substitutes a dozen others in its stead ; it leaves,
that is, a dozen facts utterly inexplicable on any ordinary
principles of human reasoning. In a word, may we not confi-
dently say that all the facts and circumstances which we have
enumerated are utterly incompatible with any theory what-
ever, save that only one which history Las recorded and monu-
ments attest, which Popes have sanctioned and the faithful
universally received, and to which God himself would seem to
have set his seal by the innumerable wonders that He has
wrought there ?
History and monuments in other words, the evidence of
authors and of facts have already been sufficiently examined ;
and the general belief of the faithful is too notorious to stand
in need of any proof ; in fact, it is the very thing with which
our adversaries upbraid us. A few words, however, will not
* Abridged from the second of Father Hutchison's lectures, pp. 77-82.
The Holy House of Loreto. 9 9
be out of place upon the other two points that have been here
alluded to : the sanction of the Church through the declara-
tion of Popes, and the sanction of Almighty God through the
instrumentality of miracles or other special outpourings of his
grace.
Of the sixty- five Popes who have filled the chair of Peter
since the miraculous translation took place, forty-four have in
one way or other given their sanction to the story ; some by
the grant of indulgences or other privileges, some by the intro-
duction or confirmation of new lessons in the Breviary, some
by making pilgrimages there themselves, some even by writing
in its defence ; whilst of the twenty-one who do not happen to
have spoken upon the subject, seven lived before the return of
the Popes from Avignon (where, of course, it was impossible
that they should have had so accurate a knowledge of what
was going on in Italy), and seven others reigned for a very few
weeks or months, so that they left scarcely any memorial be-
hind them at all. Our space will not allow us to do more than
briefly allude to a few who have spoken more fully or more
distinctly than the rest. Pope Paul II., in 1471, speaks of the
house and image (for within the house there was brought, and
has always remained, a very ancient image of our Lady, carved
in cedar- wood*) of the glorious and Blessed Virgin having
been, according to the assertion of persons who may be depended
on, translated by a company of the angelic host, and by the
wonderful goodness of God set down at Loreto, without the
walls of Recanaii ; and that great and stupendous and innu-
merable miracles had been wrought there by means of the
same most merciful Virgin, as we in our own person have expe-
* On February 16, 1797, the Commissaries of the French Directory,
having already seized upon the sanctuary and carried off all its treasures,
had this venerable image transported to Paris, where it was treated as a
profane curiosity. In a French catalogue of the time, it was described as a
statue of some Eastern wood, and as belonging to the Egyptian-Jewish
school. After having been venerated for awhile in the church of Notre
Dame at Paris, it was restored by Buonaparte to Pope Pius VII. at his
pressing request. When it arrived in Home the Pope had it placed at first
in his own chapel of the Quirinal, then exposed for three days in a church
in the city, and finally restored to Loreto in December 1802. F. Hutchi-
son, p. 43.
H2
100 The Holy House of Loreto.
rienced. He was cured of the plague there, and also our
Blessed Lady appeared and announced to him that he would
be chosen Pope. Marcellus II. had a similar revelation whilst
saying mass in the Holy House. Clement VII. says that in
his time many and great miracles are worked daily in this
place. Leo X. and Paul III. say it is proved to be the very
house in which the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us
' by the testimony of persons worthy of belief ; ' Innocent XII.,
that it is proved by the declarations of Popes, by the venera-
tion of the whole world, by the continual operation of miracles
and the outpouring of heavenly favours. Pius V. had the
Agnus Dei, which he consecrated, stamped with a representa-
tion of the Holy House, with the inscription, ' Vere domus
florida, quce fuit in Nazareth' Benedict XIV. enumerates, as
the proofs of its authenticity, ancient monuments, unbroken
tradition, the declarations of Popes, the common belief of the
faithful, and continual miracles ; finally, Pope Pius IX., writing
within a few weeks after his accession to the throne, and send-
ing as an offering to the shrine of Loreto the pectoral cross and
the ring which he had worn as Bishop, says that, being anxious
to give some public token of the zeal and devotion which he
had always felt towards the Blessed Virgin even from his
earliest years, he wished that this testimony should be offered
in that most august and sacred building, which, by an unheard-
of prodigy, had been brought over immense tracts of sea and
land from Galilee to Italy, and by God's great goodness been
placed many ages ago within the States of the Church ; which
had been rendered famous by so many miracles, and by an
immense concourse of the faithful ; in which, as trustworthy
monuments attest (veluti gravissitna monumenta testantur), the
Blessed Virgin had been saluted by the angel, and through
the operation of the Holy Ghost been made the Mother of
God.
To these testimonies of the Popes, must be added those of
the Saints, very many of whom have been filled with a most
tender and loving devotion to the Holy House, and experienced
wonderful proofs of God's special blessing on that sacred spot.
Thus, St. Francis Xavier, when saying mass there, receives an
inspiration tc devote himself to the conversion of the East.
The Holy House of Loreto. 101
St. Francis Borgia is suffering from fever, when he sets out on
a pilgrimage to Loreto. As he approaches the House, the
fever diminishes and altogether disappears at the moment he
reaches it. St. James della Marca, at the age of thirty- three,
is here delivered once for all from grievous temptations of the
flesh by which he had always before been sorely tried. St.
Gaetano da Tiene came here twice, for the express purpose of
placing his new order under the protection of our Holy Mother.
St. Francis Caracciolo spent two nights in this sanctuary, and
received the assurance both of his companion's glory and of
his own approaching death. St. Peter of Alcantara could
never even speak of the Holy House without experiencing
transports of unutterable sweetness. St. Joseph of Cupertino
saw in a vision angels ascending and descending over it, with
their hands loaded with gifts. B. Alessandro Sauli, the apostle
of Corsica, St. Camillus of Lellis, St. Joseph Calasanctius, all
testify to gifts and graces received from this heavenly fountain.
It was a favourite devotion of St. Charles Borromeo frequently
to visit it. St. Stanislaus Kostka visited it on his flight from
Poland to Rome, and when praying there, first began to expe-
rience those heavenly flames with which his heart was after-
wards consumed. St. Aloysius was bound by his mother's
vow before he was born to visit this sanctuary, and when he
discharged it, he spent well nigh a whole day upon his knees
in the Santa Casa, receiving such ineffable consolations from
God and Our Lady, that he used to melt into tears at the
very recollection of them. M. Olier, the founder of the semi-
nary of St. Sulpice, was finally converted to God in this
sanctuary. St. Francis of Sales went on foot from Rome to
Loreto, and no sooner had he entered the Holy House, than
his biographer tells us, he was surprised by a flood of devout
affections, and frequently kissed the walls which had been
consecrated by the presence of Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. He
confessed and communicated there, and then, dissolving in
loving sighs, he began to cry out, ' These, then, are thy taber-
nacles, beautiful spouse of the eternal King ! Here then,
Divine Lover, Thou wert accustomed to remain " looking
through the lattices." Here Thou didst feed amidst lilies.
Here Thou didst become my Brother.' He then renewed
1 02 The Holy House of Loreto.
the vow of virginity which he had previously made in
Paris.
But perhaps the greatest love and devotion to the sanc-
tuary of Loreto was paid by the Blessed Benedict Joseph
Labre. Indeed, his journeys to the Holy House were so fre-
quent, and his behaviour there was so edifying, that he was
called the Saint of Loreto. We are told that from the first
time of visiting it, he was so affected that he could not satiate
himself with seeing it, venerating it, melting into tears, and
with loving affection kissing again and again those holy walls,
and inflaming his heart more strongly with love for the Holy
Mother of God.*
Although therefore it is quite true that a belief in the iden-
tity of the Holy House of Loreto with that in which the In-
carnation was accomplished, and in its miraculous translation
from Galilee to Italy, is no article of the faith, and a man may
deny it, if he will, without thereby becoming a heretic, never-
theless it would be well for anyone who is tempted to do so
to realise what he is doing. ' He is assuming that he is more
intelligent than the great body of the faithful, who for cen-
turies have venerated this sanctuary and have regarded its
history as true. He is assuming that he is more sagacious
than the saints, wiser than the supreme pontiffs, who have
rendered such magnificent testimonies to the truth of its
history, and more prudent than the Sacred Congregation of
Bites, who have approved the Office of the translation.' Per-
haps also it would be well for them to weigh the full signifi-
cance of the following remarks, written by a very bitter enemy
when examining this very subject : ' There are individuals in
the Roman Church who look upon certain parts of their system
as matters in which they are free to please themselves ; but,
whether in consequence or not, they are certainly none of the
holiest. . . . We have discovered that belief and disbelief in
the story of the Holy House amongst Roman Catholics go
hand in hand respectively with ardent piety and indiffe-
rentism.' f In other words, a man cannot throw off the spirit
of dutifulness and submission to authority from a profound
* F. Hutchison, pp. 51-55.
f Christian Remembrancer, No. Ixxxiv. N. S.
The Holy House of Loreto. 103
conviction of his own superior knowledge, without suffering
spiritual loss a phenomenon which is hardly so strange as to
have called for the elaborate investigation into its causes,
which the writer referred to has attempted. And yet once
more, it may be truly said that the man who rejects the
Church's tradition, and resolves within himself that the
Holy House is nothing more than any other house, turns a
deaf ear to the voice of God Himself, who has spoken
here by means of signs and wonders during more than five
hundred years. The miracles which He has wrought at this
place, says Canisius,* are so many, that they cannot possibly
be numbered ; so open and notorious, that none but the most
shameless can dare to deny them; of so extraordinary an^.
stupendous a character, that not even the most practised
orator could adequately describe and illustrate them. From
far and near men crowd to this sanctuary, men of all ranks
and conditions of life, making or paying their vows to the
Blessed Virgin, each according to his several necessities : all
are animated by the same motive, and aim at one only end, to
show forth their devotion or their gratitude to the Mother of
God. Some come to give her thanks because they feel that to
her, after God, they owe their deliverance from grievous dis-
eases, or from dreadful perils by land, by fire, or by water ;
that from her, under God, they have received unlooked-for
relief in the depths of their distress, when their affairs seemed
altogether desperate ; by her they are conscious that they
have been tenderly watched and guarded both at home and
abroad, amongst friends and amongst enemies, from dangers
which they had foreseen, as well as from others which they
knew not of. Others again come, because they have very
near at heart the success of some favourite plan, or because
they propose to change their state of life, or because they are
weighed down by some heavy affliction, or because they ap-
prehend some evil ; and the innumerable offerings that are
made, the votive tablets that are suspended, sufficiently attest
the fact that their prayers are heard. We have already seen
Pope Paul II. publicly acknowledging the favour which he
* De M. V. lib. v. c. 25.
104 The Holy House of Loreto.
had himself received here whilst yet he was a Cardinal, in-
stantaneous deliverance from a fever under which he was suf-
fering and of which Pope Pius II. had just now died ; Inno-
cent XII. and Benedict XIV., in like manner, appealing to
continual miracles as one of the most convincing evidences of
the special sacredness of the place ; and elsewhere * the latter
of these pontiffs expressly declares that the miracles wrought
here were so frequent and notorious, that it would be super-
fluous to speak of them.
Our limits will not allow us to specify instances of mira-
culous cures, deliverance from demoniacal possession, and the
like, with which the histories of Loreto abound ; but we can-
not conclude without briefly noticing miracles of another kind,
yet more wonderful and equally numerous. Everybody who
has had the happiness of visiting Loreto bears testimony to
the devotional effect of the sanctuary. Moreover it was ob-
served by its old historians and the observation has been
commonly repeated by modern writers, as being still con-
formable with the truth that there are few persons so utterly
hardened in sin but that on entering this holy place they are
conscious to themselves of a certain supernatural power
touching and softening their hearts and moving them to re-
pentance. Nothing is more common, says Canisius, than for
strangers who come to this sanctuary with their souls dead in
sin, stained with the blackest crimes perhaps during a period
of many years, to awake to a consciousness of their guilt, to
go and show themselves to the priest, to lay bare their mise-
rable leprous condition to those experienced spiritual phy-
sicians whom the charity of the Church has provided here in
such abundance for those who need them, and to receive at
their hands the healing balm of penance. Nothing is more
common than to see here persons who but a short time ago
were far removed from every thing that is good, suddenly
transformed into children of Grod ; so that from heretics they
become Christians ; from criminals, honest men ; from wolves,
sheep. Those who but lately were living in open enmity with
God and with their neighbour, come here and bury every
* In Fest. Translat. Dom. Lauret.
The Holy House of Loreto. 105
feeling of envy, hatred, anger, and all uncharitableness ; they
. are reconciled to their brethren, not unfrequently doing even
public penance for their sins ; they discharge their debts,
forgive those who are in debt to them, restore any thing they
may have unjustly acquired, and in a word fulfil the whole
law of charity : and he concludes by observing, that there is
not a church in all France, Germany, or Poland, in which
there is such frequent administration of the sacraments of
Penance and of the Holy Eucharist as there is in this sanc-
tuary.
The reader should bear in mind that this is the testimony
of one who by his missionary labours in those parts of Europe
was singularly qualified to speak with accuracy. It is to be
regretted that he should not have recorded the exact number
during some one year ; but the only detail of information
upon this point that is within my reach is later than the
days of Canisius, viz. that 73,000 approached the sacraments
there in the month of September 1780. This, however, would
give less than a million for the whole year ; whereas the
number of communions made at the shrine of St. John Nepo-
much in Prague, in the years 1723 and 1724, exceeded two
millions in each year ; and on an average of those and the
three following years, it amounted to about a million and a half
yearly.* I only mention this in the absence of more direct
information, by way of helping the reader to form some more
definite idea upon the subject than he might otherwise be
able to do ; helping him to translate Canisius' words into
figures, that so he may be the better able to appreciate their
significance.
Surely, then, we need not hesitate to conclude with the same
distinguished writer, that if truth and holiness and religion
are dear to us, we cannot but recognise and be thankful for
the presence of the finger of God, yea rather of the strength
of his right hand, in thus honouring, to the consolation of the
whole Church, the cultus of Mary in this Sanctuary of Loreto.
Heretics may mock and laugh it to scorn ; but a tree which
has borne so many and such excellent fruits of Christian piety
* Vita di S. Giov. Nepom. Graluzzi, p. 90.
106 The Holy House of Loreto.
can only itself be good : a tree which has taken such deep
root, which has thrown out such high and spreading branches, .
which has stood through so many generations, can only have
been planted by God.*
* Those who desire to know more of the early history of this Sanctuary,
or have been perplexed by Dean Stanley's objections against it, should
study Father Hutchison's Lectures (London, Dillon), illustrated by very
important maps and plans. Every one of the Dean's arguments is there met
and refuted. On the disingenuous way in which the Dean has alluded to
this refutation in a later edition of his own work, see a very fair and
moderate criticism in the Month of February 1867, pp. 178-183. We have
not entered upon this branch of the subject ourselves, because, never
having visited the Holy Land, we could only have reproduced the learned
Oratorian's plans, measurements, and arguments, which are easily within
everybody's reach.
I will here add, however, an important testimony which should have
found its place in p. 73-77- The Count de Vogue, whose work on les Eglises
de la Terre Sainte (Paris, 1860), is spoken of by Comm. G. B. De Eossi as
' a perfect model of sound criticism, exquisite learning, and sagacious
archaeological restoration of monuments,' says of Nazareth (p. 348), ' The
principal church here is that of the Annunciation, built on the traditional
site of the B. Virgin's house. . . . The house has disappeared, the cave at
the back of it remains. After peace was given to the Church, it was trans-
formed into a church ; . . . . the antique character of these constructions
cannot be doubted ; it most unquestionably carries back to the fourth century
the tradition which assigns this as the place of the Annunciation.' He then,
according to his usual practice, quotes in succession the ancient witnesses to
the tradition, the earliest of whom, Antonius of Piacenza, wrote in the sixth
century, before the Persian invasion of the Holy Land. Antonius speaks of
the admirandam basilicam magnam in this place. Count de Vogue adds
that this church seems to have escaped destruction during the wars of the
first Crusade ; for immediately after the capture of Jerusalem, although the
village of Nazareth was entirely overthrown (bouleverse), the church of the
Annunciation still excited the admiration of Ssewolf (A.D. 1102).
107
CHAPTER II.
NAPLES.
1. Madonna del Ca r rmine.
IT would be unpardonable in any one who had undertaken to
give an account, however brief, of the Italian sanctuaries of
the Madonna, not to make special mention of the people of the
kingdom of Naples. Even though none of their sanctuaries,
when taken alone, were of sufficient celebrity to demand dis-
tinct notice in a calendar so short as ours, still there is some-
thing so striking, not only in the degree, but yet more in the
character, of their devotion towards our Blessed Lady, that it
ought not on any account to be omitted. ' Bring back with
you some of the Neapolitan faith,' said the late Pope, on taking
leave of an ecclesiastic in Rome, who was going to pay a visit
to this kingdom. And certainly it is or at least it ivas, some
twenty years ago quite impossible to reside there for any
length of time, and to study the character of the people at all
carefully, without acknowledging the justice of the comparison
which such a speech implied. What the Apostle testified con-
cerning the Romans, might then be applied literally to the
Neapolitans also, that ' their faith is spoken of in the whole
world.'
It is not only that a few outward circumstances of devotion,
common in the early Church, but now generally abandoned,
still linger among the faithful in these parts, though even
these cannot fail to arrest the attention of the student of
Christian antiquity ; but much more, the remarkable manner
in which this faith seems present to their minds at all times,
and even in the most trifling matters, as an inseparable part of
themselves. Thus, you cannot visit any of the churches fre-
quented by the poor of Naples, without witnessing again and
108 Madonna del Carmine.
again the hands outstretched in the form of a cross, according
to the ancient attitude of Christian prayer, as they kneel in
silent adoration before the Blessed Sacrament ; and still more
commonly, the people bowing their heads to the ground and
kissing the pavement of the church as they enter it, or touch-
ing the pavement with their hands and then kissing them,
exactly according to the double method described by St. Chry-
sostom as being in common use amongst the Christians of his
own days.* But outward details like these, interesting as
they are in themselves, sink into insignificance when compared
with such tokens of lively faith as are exhibited in the follow-
ing anecdotes, whose accuracy may be relied upon. A French
priest, after regaling himself with fresh figs in the garden of
some Neapolitan peasant, asked for a drop of water and a
towel to wash his hands; but when he proceeded for this
purpose to make use of the first cloth he could meet with, the
good woman of the house prevented him, saying that it was
not worthy of hands which handled day after day the
sacred Body and Blood of Christ, and insisted upon bringing
him the finest linen which her stores could supply. A Maltese
priest of our acquaintance, having some disagreement with a
vetturino whom he had been employing as to the value of his
services, the vetturino grew angry, and at length seemed dis-
posed to strike him. Upon this the porter of the hotel called
out to him to take care 'what he was about, for that the gentle-
man was a priest (our friend was travelling in a secular dress).
Immediately the poor man was upon his knees, begging
pardon for all he had said, and refusing to receive even what
had been previously offered him.
But to come closer to our immediate subject, devotion to
the Madonna ; here, too, we will not dwell upon merely out-
ward circumstances, such as abstaining from wine on all
Saturdays in her honour an act of devotion which we read of
as long ago as in the beginning of the eleventh century, and
which was publicly confirmed by a law in one of the numerous
Councils held in Rome during the pontificate of St. Gregory
VII. ; or again, the practice so common in Neapolitan families
of the middle or even the lower class, of adopting a foundling
* Horn. xxx. iu Ep. 2 ad Cor.
Madonna del Carmine. 109
in the place of any child of their own who may have died, who
is henceforth treated in all respects as one of the family, and is
called figlio della Madonna. We pass over these and other
similar features of Neapolitan devotion, sufficiently curious
and attractive to the eye of a stranger, that we may speak of
their habitual feelings and tone of thought with reference to
the Blessed Virgin, as exhibited in their mode of addressing
her. These we can only liken to the feelings of children
towards the most affectionate and indulgent of mothers ; any
other comparison would be infinitely too feeble to express the
simplicity, the freedom, the familiarity, and the confidence,
which characterise their whole language towards her ; and
even this falls short of the reality, as much as the power and
the love of an earthly parent must needs be inferior to that of
this heavenly one.
They come and pour forth their whole souls before some
picture or image of the Madonna, entering into all their hopes
and fears, doubts and anxieties, every detail of their domestic
circumstances, quite as naturally as a child confides its little
troubles or desires to one of whose sympathy and assistance it
has reason to be assured. At one time you may see a poor
woman who is going on a journey, or removing from her usual
place of residence, come to take leave of her favourite Ma-
donna, and talk to her, and lament over the separation, and in
every respect converse with her as though she were her
nearest and dearest friend from whom she was about to part :
or you may see another rush hastily into a church, evidently
under the pressure of some sudden trial, throw herself at the
feet of the Madonna, and cover them with kisses ; then, amid
the most convulsive sobs, and with any thing but the silent
prayer of Anna, in which ' only her lips moved, but her voice
was not heard at all,' tell her the whole history of what has
happened, and implore her interference ; gradually her agita-
tion subsides ; she has communicated her troubles to one who
will be sure to help her, and, strengthened by this consola-
tion, she rises from her knees with a calm and cheerful coun-
tenance, to go forth and bear them patiently. Yet she can
scarcely make up her mind to leave the sanctuary of her
peace. As she withdraws with slow and unwilling steps, ever
1 1 Madonna del Cai^mine.
and anon she turns her head to waft another kiss to the
Madonna ; and you may hear such parting exclamations as
these bursting from her lips : ' Addio, mamma mia ; I have
told you everything ; I am going away now, and I reckon
upon your help : you. understand me : I know you'll not
disappoint me ; addio, mamma mia, addio.'
And lest any of my readers should think that this childlike
simplicity is confined to the lower and more uneducated
classes, I cannot resist the temptation of presenting them with
one or two extracts from a little book of devotions, published
about thirty years ago by a distinguished advocate, at that
time one of the judges in Naples. This is a specimen of the
kind of address which he uses towards the Madonna. ' Listen
to me, my mother ; you must grant me what I have asked ;
for if you refuse, what will people say of you ? either that
you could not, or that you would not, help me. That you
could not, nobody will believe, for they know you too well for
that ; and then, that you would not I protest I would rather
be told that you had not the power than that you had not the
will ; for what ! shall it be said that my own mother, the
mother of mercy, grace, and kindness, had not the will to
relieve the necessity of one of her children ? Oh, what then
will become of her reputation ? Think of this, my mother,
and extricate yourself from the dilemma if you can.' And
again : ' You think, perhaps, my mother, that you have given
me a great deal already. I do not deny it ; but you owe me
still more than you have given me. Every one knows that
your riches are inexhaustible ; that you are the Queen of
heaven and earth, the dispenser of grace and the gifts of
God. But then consider, I pray of you, that those riches
were given you, not for yourself alone, but for your children ;
for me, the last and most unworthy of them all ! Was it not
to redeem us that the Son of God became man, and chose you
for his Mother ? Behold, then, all that you have is ours ; it
was given you for us ; it belongs to us. Now you cannot
deny that all that you have yet given me is as nothing com-
pared with what you possess. You are therefore my debtor,
and you owe me much. Is it not so ? What answer have
you to make to this ? '
Madonna del Carmine. \ \ 1
- Such being the character of the Neapolitan devotion to
the Queen of Heaven, it is not to be wondered at that her
shrines and sanctuaries should be specially abundant through-
out the whole kingdom ; still this does not render our task
the easier, when we are called upon to select the history of
one or two in particular, as most worthy of publication. It
is not merely, or even principally, the embarras de ricliesses
which constitutes our difficulty, but much more the general
want of that critical accuracy, which is so desirable a feature
in histories of this kind intended for the perusal of English-
men, and so entirely foreign from most Neapolitan authors.
This defect may perhaps in some measure be owing to that
insigne ac perenne miraculum, as Baronius speaks, whereof
their city has been for so many centuries the privileged
witness, and which still continues for every one who wills to
* come and see,' the periodical liquefaction of the blood of
St. Januarius. The fact, that in this particular instance the
facility of ocular demonstration may be supposed to supersede,
in some sort, the necessity of such critical exactness in
narration, may have given them a general carelessness in
this matter ; or it may be that they write only for their own
countrymen, with whose disposition they are acquainted,
and have no desire to accommodate themselves to, or really
have no idea of the existence of, the cold and cautious
temper which characterises the inhabitants of more northern
climes. However, be the cause what it may, the fact, I think,
cannot be doubted, that very few histories of the kind we
are at present concerned with, written by Neapolitan authors,
would bear translation and publication in our own language.
I am not saying that they have mistaken for miracles events
which might easily be accounted for by the ordinary laws
of nature (though this, again, is a danger to which they may
be exposed, and from the same causes), but I am speaking
only of the way in which they have recorded histories, whose
supernatural character there is not the slightest reason to
call in question: they have not been careful to collect and
arrange the evidence, or they have neglected to quote the
authorities for what they say, or they have not distinguished
between what is certain and what is doubtful: they have
112 Madonna del Camnine.
confounded history with tradition, and tradition with conjec-
ture, and so on.
I have selected, however, the histories of two sanctuaries,
which, upon examination, appear to sin least in these particu-
lars, or which have other more certain authority to rest upon,
and which have a special claim upon the interest either of the
writer or his readers.
The first place in order of importance, if not of antiquity
also, must be given to the Madonna del Carmine, or, as it is
more commonly called by the Neapolitans, in allusion to its
dark colour, Santa Maria delta Bruna. This picture, whose
darkness, though it may have been increased by age, was pro-
bably not undesigned by the artist himself, was brought to
Naples somewhere about the middle of the twelfth century
by some of the religious from Mount Carmel, whose order
began about that time gradually to forsake the East, prepara-
tory to its complete migration and settlement in Europe, which
took place about a hundred years later. It is this picture
which has furnished the original for all those likenesses of the
Madonna which are impressed upon the medals, scapulars,
and other religious objects belonging to the Carmelite Order.
I do not, of course, mean that they have retained a faithful
copy of all the features of the original, but this is their proper
standard, their prototype : the relative position of the Mother
and Child is the same in all the same idea pervades them
they are all intended to be copies of this Santa Maria delta
Bruna. The Carmelites then, about the middle of the twelfth
century, had a small church and convent assigned to them
without the walls of Naples, and over their high altar they
placed this picture of the Madonna, where it seems from the
very first to have attracted, in a singular degree, the devotion
of the people, especially during the three weeks which inter-
vene between the Feasts of the Assumption and of the Nativity
of our Blessed Lady. In the year 1269 the people of Naples
witnessed the tragical execution of their young king Conradin,
and the bitter grief and disappointment of his mother, the
Empress Margaret, who arrived in the harbour just too late
to save his life, by paying the ransom which had been already j
Madonna del Carmine. 113
agreed upon with Charles of Anjon. The disconsolate mother,
thus frustrated in the purpose for which she had designed the
large treasures which she brought wion her, was still anxious
to spend them in some way or other upon her son. She
obtained leave to remove his body from the place in which it
had been interred (a small chapel raised on the spot where he
had been beheaded), and to place it in this church of the
Carmelites, which she determined to rebuild on a scale of
magnificence worthy of a royal mausoleum. When this had
been done, the picture of the Madonna, which had hitherto
adorned the high altar, was considered to be too small for so
prominent a position, and was made to give way, therefore, to
a much larger picture of the Assumption, being itself removed
to one of the side chapels belonging to a Neapolitan family of
the name of Grignetti. Here it fell into comparative neglect,
the more modern picture having succeeded to its place, not
only in the church, but also, in some sort, in the affections of
the people. Still some lingering devotion must have been
entertained towards it, or it would scarcely have been asked
for on the occasion which we have now to relate, and which
soon restored it to more than its pristine celebrity.
In the year of jubilee, A.D. 1500 (that is, in the eighth
jubilee, reckoning from that of Boniface VIII. in 1300, from
which period alone their history is accurately known), many
devout Neapolitans determined to make the pilgrimage to
Rome, that they too might share in all the spiritual treasures
which are at such seasons so liberally dispensed in the Holy
City. A confraternity of tanners attached to the church of
St. Catherine seem to have been those who took the lead in
this good work ; nevertheless, any others who chose were at
liberty to avail themselves of the opportunity, and to accom-
pany them. A large crucifix fit to be borne at the head of
such a procession, was obtained from their own church ; but
they were anxious to put themselves also under the special
guardianship of our Blessed Lady, and for this purpose they
sought some image or picture of her which they might carry
with them. At length they succeeded in persuading the
Carmelite fathers to lend them this picture of Santa Maria
della Bruna 5 and thus provided, the pilgrims set forth on their
i
1 14 Madonna del Carmine.
journey early on the morning of the 5th of April, chanting the
litanies and psalms, and other devout hymns and prayers
appropriate to the occasion. At a short distance from the
church from which they started, there lay by the roadside a
poor cripple, by name Thomas Saccone, whose whole body was
deformed and his legs perfectly useless, just such a one as we
may imagine him to have been who sat begging alms at the
Beautiful Gate of the Temple, when Peter and John went up
at the ninth hour of prayer ; like him, too, he was known to
all the people ; so that the miracle which was presently
wrought in him was ' manifest, and could not be denied.'
This man, as he saw the procession advancing, was seized with
an earnest desire to accompany it, and the burden of his in-
firmities seemed more sad and oppressive to him than ever it
had done before, because he was thereby rendered incapable
of fulfilling his desire. As his thoughts dwelt upon the
subject, the intensity of his desire increased, and presently
there mingled with it a ray of hope, suggesting the possibility
that he might obtain from the Queen of Heaven the grace of
deliverance from all his evils, if he would promise to consecrate
the first use of his recovered limbs to undertaking this pil-
grimage to Rome. The picture of the Madonna was already
passing him, when the poor beggar poured forth one earnest
cry for help, and vowed to join the procession if only he were
healed. Immediately he felt a sudden glow of heat penetra-
ting his whole frame ; new vigour seemed to infuse itself into
all his limbs ; ' forthwith his feet and soles received strength,
and leaping up, he stood and walked, and went with them.'
The fame of so signal a miracle, happening too under cir-
cumstances of such extreme publicity, could not fail to spread
far and wide ; so that as the procession advanced from one
village to another on its journey to the Eternal City, they
found the inhabitants already apprised of what had taken
place, and ' bringing forth the sick into the streets, and laying
them on beds and couches,' that when this picture of the most
powerful and at the same time the most compassionate of
mothers should come, ' her shadow at the least might over-
shadow any of them, and they might be delivered from their
infirmities.' This importunity of the people necessarily
Madonna del Carmine. 115
impeded their progress, so that they did not arrive in Rome
until the ninth day, that is, the 13th instant. Here, too, the
fame of the miraculous cure of the cripple in Naples, and of
many others which had happened subsequently upon the road,
had preceded the arrival of the pilgrims ; the report had even
reached the ears of the Pope, so that he ordered inquiries to
be made as to its trustworthiness and authenticity. The result
was such as to induce him to go himself on the following day,
accompanied by all the Cardinals, to pay his devotions to the
picture in the basilica of St. Peter's : there, having knelt and
prayed before it, and incensed it, he gave benediction with it
to the crowds of people, who, like himself, had come together
to visit it. At the same time also, he granted certain indul-
gences to those who should recite their prayers before it. The
picture was then borne about by the pilgrims to all the other
basilicas and holy places which they visited ; and it was every-
where received with the warmest devotion. After five days,
on the morning of the 18th instant, they set out to return to
their home. The same crowds came forth everywhere to greet
them ; and here and there the same wonderful blessings were
dispensed ; but the greatest wonder of all, and that to which
I do not remember anywhere to have met with an exact
parallel, awaited their return to Naples itself.
The Carmelites and others went out to Aversa, a distance
of eight or nine miles, to meet and welcome home this pre-
cious treasure, of whose value they had been so little conscious
before they parted with it ; and its entrance into the city was
celebrated by the people with every demonstration of public
rejoicing, like that of a king returning in triumph after some
famous victory. The picture was restored to its original posi-
tion over the high altar, and the people nocked thither in
multitudes to seek for help under all their various trials and
necessities. Frederic II., however, of Arragon, at that time
king of Naples, not content with these evidences of the public
faith and devotion towards this Madonna, conceived an idea
so bold as almost to savour of presumption, had not the result
seemed to prove that it sprang out of a simple undoubting
faith, certainly that it was accepted and rewarded by God.
He ordered that all the sick and infirm, the blind and the
i2
116 Madonna del Carmine.
deaf, the lame and the withered, everybody, in a word,
throughout the whole of his kingdom, who was labouring
under any bodily infirmity, yet was not incapable of removal,
should be brought together to the metropolis, and there placed
in a hospital which he had prepared for the purpose near to
this church. Each person was to bring with him a properly
attested certificate of his name and age, the place of his birth
and residence, the exact nature of his malady, the length of
time during which he had been afflicted by it, and every other
detail which could be required for settling beyond dispute the
authenticity of each particular case. When all these persons
had been collected (and a most sad spectacle of suffering
humanity they must have formed), he caused them to be
arranged on an appointed day on benches in that part of the
area of the church which was nearest to the altar ; to the rest
of the church the public were freely admitted, excepting only
certain reserved seats or galleries, where the king himself and
all the royal family, together with the principal grandees of
the kingdom, were assembled to be witnesses of what might
happen. One of the royal secretaries first read aloud the
names of all the infirm who were present, and a brief state-
ment of their infirmities. When this was over, High Mass
was begun, the choir of the royal chapel assisting ; and during
the celebration of Mass (probably, if we may judge from the
modern practice in these matters, just at the ' Gloria in ex-
celsis') the picture was unveiled. Those who have been in
the habit of frequenting any church in Naples or its neigh-
bourhood, where some statue or picture, the object of special
devotion, is thus uncovered only during some portion of a
Mass can easily imagine what fervent cries of supplication
burst forth from the lips of these unhappy sufferers just at
the moment when the curtain was withdrawn ; but who can
paint the extravagance of their shouts and gestures, their
wild exclamations of joy and thankfulness, when at the same
moment a ray of light was seen to descend from heaven, to
shino brightly upon the face of the Madonna, and thence to
reflect its brilliance upon the assembled people, who were all
immediately healed ?
The sacred historian, when he records the healing of the
Madonna del Carmine. 1 1 7
sick and the casting out of evil spirits by handkerchiefs and
aprons brought from the body of St. Paul, prefaces the nar-
ration with these words, ' Grod wrought by the hand of Paul
more than common miracles.' And certainly the present
miracle deserves to be classed among those which are ' more
than common,' its peculiarity consisting, of course, in the ex-
traordinary number of persons who were made the subjects
of it. We have already said that it is no part of our purpose
to anticipate and to answer all the objections which may be
raised against any of these narratives ; nevertheless, it may
be worth while to observe, with reference to this particular
circumstance, that in more than one Scripture narrative there
is the same indefinite statement of the numbers, who, having
manifested their faith by some outward act of their own, or
done for them by their friends, were similarly rewarded by
the instantaneous cure of their evils. When our Lord was in
the country of Genesar, and ' the men of that place had
knowledge of him, they sent into all that country, and brought
to him all that were diseased, and then besought him that
they might touch but the hem of his garment. And as many
as touched were made whole. 1 And again, when St. Peter was
in Jerusalem, after the miraculous healing of the lame man
which has been already spoken of, 'there came together a
multitude out of the neighbouring cities, bringing sick persons
and such as were troubled with unclean spirits, who were all
healed. ' *
* St. Matt. xiv. 36; Acts v. 16.
118 Santa Maria delta Grotta,
2. Santa Maria della Grotta, in the Diocese of
La Cava.
I PASS by Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, di Piedegrotta, della
Sanita, della Vita, and others within the city of Naples, each
of which has its own history, worthy of being known, that I
may find room to speak of a sanctuary more modern than any
of these, the Madonna della Grotta, as it is called in its own
immediate neighbourhood, or Santa Maria Avvocata de* Pecca-
tori, as it is more fully described by those who have written
of it in books.
Catholic travellers, who, after visiting the shrine of St.
Alphonso at Pagani, and the ancient Baptistery of St. Mary
Major's at Nocera, go on to the shrines of St. Matthew and
St. Gregory VII. at Salerno, not unfrequently make a little
detour from the high road, as soon as they have passed Lu
Cava, that they may visit the famous Benedictine monastery
of La Trinita. The road by which the ascent to this mon-
astery is generally made passes a little to the right of the
sanctuary of which we are speaking, and hides from the un-
conscious traveller the very beautiful scenery which is so near
him ; but if he turned aside to the left, soon after having
passed the village of San Cesareo, two minutes' walk would
suffice to bring him to the edge of a long, deep, narrow, and
precipitous ravine, clothed with wood down to the brink of
the stream which rushes along the bottom, and crowned on
either side with a chapel of the Madonna. At present there
is a very safe and commodious path, leading to the mill which
is a little farther up the valley, and a bridge whereby we may
cross from one side to the other. But 200 years ago, at
which time our history begins, this path was neither safe nor
convenient; it had a very bad name, and was said to be
infested by evil spirits. One day, in the year 1654, as a
certain Don Federigo, a priest of La Cava, was going along
by this way to San Pietro a Dragonea, one of the hamlets
in the Diocese of La Cava. 119
belonging to the parish of San Cesareo, he had (or imagined
he had, for it makes no difference to our story) an encounter
with some of these spirits, just at the mouth of one of those
grottoes, or natural caverns in the rock, which are so frequent
in that neighbourhood, and from whence La Cava itself is
supposed to have derived its name. On his return home, this
good priest determined to place so dangerous a cavern under
the immediate protection of the Madonna ; but not having
sufficient means to procure a statue or painting for this pur-
pose, he was obliged to content himself with fastening to the
rock a little print, which he happened to have, representing
the Blessed Virgin, with the Dove and the Cherubim over her
head, holding the child Jesus in her arms, and having St.
Paul, the first hermit, on her right hand, and St. Onofrius
on her left. The title of this picture was the Advocate of
Sinners ; and as the print remained there, uninjured by time
and by the damp, during a period of forty-eight years, the
cave gradually lost its old name of the Grottci degli Sportiglioni
(or, of the bats), and received in its stead thab of the Avvo-
catella.
Doubtless it had been saluted with many an Ave by the
devotion of the passers-by during this half century ; and at
length, in the year 1702, Fra Angiolo Maria di Majuri, a lay
brother of one of the Franciscan convents in La Cava, remark-
able for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, caused a copy of
the engraving to be executed in fresco, in a little niche which
he had prepared for it in the rock. At the same time he
exhorted the neighbours to burn a lamp before it, and fre-
quently repeated, in the presence of the parish priests and
others, that that grotto, which had once been the haunt of
infernal spirits, would ere long become the house of God, and
that the Mother of God would dispense from thence the trea-
sures of her power and goodness with a most liberal hand.
Of course the first part of this prophecy (so to call it) had a
natural tendency to bring about its own fulfilment. One of
the priests, who had often listened to Fra Angiolo's confident
assurances on this subject, caused an altar to be raised before
the painting, a lamp to be kept burning, and the litanies and
other devotional exercises to be frequently repeated there.
120 Santa Maria della Grotta,
It happened on Saturday, the 19th of May, in the following
year, that as a poor man, named Antonio Casaburi, accom-
panied by his son, a boy of six years old, was driving along
this path a donkey laden with corn, the animal went too near
the edge of the precipice and rolled over, carrying the boy
along with him. The depth of the rock in this place was
about 120 feet, so that the poor father expected nothing else
than to see his son dashed to pieces at the bottom ; neverthe-
less, with the natural instinct of a Catholic, he called loudly
upon Santa Maria dell' Avvocata whose shrine was at his side,
to assist him in this hour of danger ; and when, in company
with two or three others who had been witnesses of the acci-
dent, or whom he had called from the mill to assist him, he
arrived at the spot, he found the animal quietly grazing, the
boy busily collecting the scattered grain, and both perfectly
uninjured.
The fame of this miracle, which was attested by three com-
petent witnesses, besides the father and the child themselves,
drew such multitudes of persons to the grotto, that the crowd
passing to and fro in so narrow a place became quite dan-
gerous, and leave was obtained from the proper ecclesiastical
authorities to erect a spacious chapel there. The building
was carried on briskly, through the liberal almsgiving of those
who came to ask for grazie here, and but few of whom were
' sent empty away ; ' but in the meanwhile a new bishop had
been appointed to the see of La Cava, who determined to take
all the precautions enjoined by the Council of Trent, and to
inform himself, by means of a congregation of theologians, and
by the juridical examination of witnesses, of the exact truth
of the marvellous reports which were in circulation. The
painting was boarded up, and all access to it forbidden, whilst
this examination was pending ; but it soon appeared that the
proofs were too distinct and too numerous to admit of doubt ;
and after fifteen days the people were once more gladdened
with the sight of their Avvocata, and the episcopal sanction
was formally renewed to the undertaking in hand. On the
7th September, 1704, the first mass was celebrated in the
new church by one of the parish priests, a man whose span
of life had already exceeded ' the threescore years and ten,'
in the Diocese of La Cava. 121
and who, having himself received a signal grazia at the hands
of this Advocate, consecrated the last years of his life to cele-
brating her glories, and, by order of the bishop, published an
account of them.
Every year, as the principal festa, which is in the month of
May, comes round, numbers crowd to visit the sanctuary, not
only from Noeera and Salerno, btft also from Castellamare,
Sorrento, and even Naples itself ; and at all times of the year,
simple peasants from the adjoining villages, groups of women,
members of the same family, or neighbours in the same village,
suffering under some common affliction, may be seen wending
their way through the chestnut-groves of La Cava, with bare
feet and dishevelled hair, alternately telling their beads and
reciting their litanies until they reach this Church of the
Grotta ; here they kneel for awhile to repeat their devotions
in the presence of the picture itself, and to make some little
offering of flowers, or oil, or candles, after which they return
to their homes, bearing with them some portion of the oil
from the lamp that has been burning before the shrine, nothing
doubting that, if it be God's will, the sick will receive the
same benefits from the application of this oil as, we know from
the testimony of St. Chrysostom,* the Christians of his days
often experienced from the same remedy. It is in memory of
such a humble pilgrimage, undertaken by kind-hearted vil-
lagers for the sick child of strangers making their summer
residence amongst them in 1849, that this brief notice of their
favourite shrine is here inserted.
* Horn. 32 (al. 33) in St. Matt.
122
CHAPTER III.
SWITZERLAND.
Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
THIS celebrated sanctuary stands among rocky mountains
the canton of Schwitz, in the midst of what, in the nini
century of the Christian era, was a savage wilderness. Hei
about the year 840, a Benedictine monk named Meinrad, w^
had formerly filled the office of scholasticus in one of tl
abbeys dependent on that of Reichenau, took refuge from
applause of his own scholars, and the veneration of those wl
regarded him as a saint. His first retreat had been a little
hut erected on Mt. Etzel near Altendorf, on a spot still marked
by a chapel where the pilgrims to Einsiedlen are accustomed to
make the first station. But the world found him out here,
and men of all countries resorted in such crowds to the cell of
the poor anchorite, that to escape their importunities he one
day took his image of the Blessed Virgin, his Missal, the rule
of St. Benedict, and the works of Cassian, and with these for
his sole companions he plunged into the dense Helvetian
forest to find out some place where he might more effectually
conceal himself from the world.
He found it at Einsiedlen where he built himself a cell and
in an adjoining chapel* he deposited the image before which
he had received many miraculous favours. In this retreat he
.sustained many of those assaults with which the enemy of
souls so often persecuted the ancient solitaries. Frightful
tempests raged in the desolate wilderness, and the pines of
the old forest were torn up by the mountain winds, and some-
times assumed gigantic proportions, and seemed as if endowed
* This chapel was built for him by Hildegard, daughter of the emperor
Louis, and abbess of a convent of nuns at Zurich.
Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits. 123
with life. Sometimes the whole forest seemed in flames around
his cell ; but in the midst of these and yet more horrible trials
Meinrad remained unmoved, and overcame every attack with
the unfailing weapon of prayer. One of his brother monks of
Reichenau who had discovered his retreat, and who was occa-
sionally permitted to visit him, drew near his cell one night
and perceived a brilliant light proceeding from the little
chapel. Looking in he saw Meinrad kneeling on the altar
step reciting the night office, whilst a young child surrounded
by brilliant rays supported his book, and recited with him the
alternate verses. The monk dared not intrude, but returning
to his monastery made known to the brethren that Meinrad' s
solitary cell was visited by angels.
Twenty- six years were thus spent by the holy hermit in
the mingled exercise of contemplation and apostolic labour.
The rustics of the neighbourhood sought him out and profited
by his instructions, and even the wild creatures of the sur-
rounding forest forgot their savage nature and resorted to his
cell. Two crows in particular came to him every day to be
fed from his hand, and returned his kindness to them by a
fidelity which history has not failed to commemorate.
At last, however, the idea suggested itself to two miscreants
named Richard and Peter, that hidden treasures were con-
cealed in Meinrad's poor hermitage, and they accordingly con-
ceived the plan of assassinating him. They made their way to
his cell, and as they passed through the forest, the birds raised
a frightful clamour as though to warn their benefactor of the
approach of danger. But Meinrad had already received warn-
ing of his approaching fate from a higher source, and address-
ing his murderers, he said to them, ' I well know wherefore
you are come hither, but you shall not slay me till you have
received my blessing and pardon. When I am dead light
these two candles and place one at the head and the other
at the foot of my couch, and then fly quickly lest you be dis-
covered by those who come hither to visit me.' TJnsoftened
by these words the ruffians fell on him and dashed out his
brains, and as he breathed his last an odour of inexpressible
fragrance diffused itself through the cell. Having searched
everywhere, and found no treasure, they were about in their
124 Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
haste to leave the spot without obeying the saint's last injunc-
tion, when, says the legend, they beheld the candles lit of
themselves. Filled with terror at this rnarvel they took to
flight, but as they hastened through the forest, their hands
and clothes dyed with the blood of their victim, the two crows
pursued them, pecking at them, and flapping them with their
wings. The body was discovered in the course of the day, by
a poor carpenter, who had been in the habit of often visiting
Meinrad in his cell, and the news soon spread that the saint
had been murdered, and that two men supposed to be the
assassins had been seen hurrying on the road to Zurich. The
crowd which the news had assembled together, set out in that
direction, and arriving at Zurich, were directed to the house
where the murderers had taken refuge^ by beholding the two
crows furiously pecking at the windows of an inn, where they
obstinately remained in spite of every effort of the servant -
girl to drive them away. The carpenter recognised the birds,
and the murderers being seized confessed their crime and were
broken on the wheel. At the moment of execution, it is said
that the crows appeared hovering over the scaffold, and the
memory of these events is still preserved in Zurich, where one
of the inns bears the sign of the Two Faithful Crows.*
The death of Meinrad took place in the year 863. His body
was at first taken to Reichenau, where it remained until the
year 1039, but in the meantime his little hermitage, the
chapel in which he had been used to pray, and the holy image
of Our Lady deposited there by his handSj were devoutly
visited by vast numbers of pilgrims, and became the scenes of
stupendous prodigies. Forty years passed without anything
being done to preserve the hermitage itself from falling into
ruins ; but in 903, Benno, a canon of Strasburg, having made
a pilgrimage thither, was so touched by devotion that he
* There seems no reason for doubting the truth of this legend about the
crows, which need not necessarily be regarded as in any way miraculous.
The story has been reproduced in sculpture and illuminations in a great
number of churches; the Abbey of Einsiedlen still bears two crows on its
armorial shield, and to this day the custom prevails among the servants of
the abbey, of every year catching a crow, which is taken great care of during
the winter, and set at liberty again at the approach of spring.
Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits. 125
resolved to bid the world farewell, and to found a community \^*Q
of hermits on the spot already consecrated by the life and- ,
death of a saint. x /.>.
The cells of the new hermits, built only of wood and moss,
were accordingly constructed round Meinrad's chapel, which
from this time received the name of Einsiedlen. In 927 Benno
was forced to accept the bishopric of Metz, where his coura-
geous efforts to reform the vices of his people raised a tumult
against him, in the course of which his enemies dragged him
from his palace to the public square, where they inhumanly
tore out his eyes, and then banished him from his see. The
crime was punished as it deserved by the Emperor Henry I.,
but Benno gladly took the occasion of resigning his dignity
and once more retiring to his beloved solitude, where thirteen
years later, his body was laid to rest, at the foot of Our Lady's
altar.
Among those whom he had trained in the path of perfection
was Eberhard a Swabian noble, who conceived the design of
converting the hermitage into an abbey, of which in 940 he
became the first abbot. A magnificent church rose over the
chapel of Our Lady, the rule of St. Benedict was introduced,
and thus began the rich and famous abbey afterwards governed
by a long line of princes of the Holy Roman Empire.*
It would take us far beyond our limits to follow the history
of the abbey through succeeding centuries ; but the legendary
history of the consecration of its church is too famous to be
passed over in silence. The ceremony was to have been per-
formed by Conrad, Bishop of Constance, who arrived at Ein-
siedlen for that purpose on September 14, 948, accompanied by
St. Ulric of Augsburg, .and a crowd of nobles and ecclesiastics.
The eve of the day fixed for the dedication was spent by the
bishop and the other clergy in watching and prayer. Sud-
* The first abbot who enjoyed the rank of Prince of the Empire, con-
ferred on him by the Emperor Otho the Great, was an Englishman by birth.
Gregory, the third abbot in succession from St. Eberhard, is said to have
been a son of King Edward the Elder; he was certainly of the Anglo-
Saxon blood-royal, for the Empress Editha, first wife to Otho, was daughter
to King Edward, and in the chronicle of Einsiedlen Gregory is spoken of as
her relative.
126 Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
clenly as they prayed, they beheld the church illuminated with
marvellous splendour, and filled with a heavenly throng, in
the midst of which Our Lord Himself appeared standing at
the altar, celebrating the sacred rite. Conrad who himself
relates the story in his book entitled J)e Secretis Secretorum,
informs us that the text of the Sanctus as chanted by the
angels ran as follows : Sanctus Deus in aula gloriosce Virginis,
miserere nobis. Benedictm Marios Filius, in ceternum regnaturns
qui venit, &c.
When day broke the multitude assembled and waited long
and impatiently for the Bishop to commence the ceremony.
When at last he appeared he declared to them what he had
witnessed during the night; nevertheless, at length he yielded
to their persuasion that it was but a dream, and entering the
church he prepared to begin the ceremony, when an unknown
voice was heard repeating the words, ' Cessa, cessa, frater ! ca-
pelhis divinitus consecratus est ! '
We will only add that sixteen years later, Conrad and Ulric
being at Rome, solemnly deposed to the truth of this narrative,
which was published to the world in a bull of Pope Leo VIII.
In this bull it was forbidden ever to reconsecrate the church,
and large indulgences were granted to those who should
devoutly and with contrite hearts perform the pilgrimage to
so holy a spot.
In 1039 the Prince- Abbot Embricius succeeded in obtaining'
the translation of the relics of St. Meinrad from the Abbey of
Reichenau, and the pilgrimage, which was already a very
famous one, especially in Germany and Switzerland, thence-
forward attracted yet larger numbers, and became so popular
that not even the disastrous Revolution of the sixteenth cen-
tury had power to interrupt it. Even the heretics themselves
never entirely lost their veneration for Our Lady of Einsiedlen,
and Scotti, at that time Apostolic Nuncio in Switzerland,
affirms it as a well-known fact, that hundreds of those who
professed the new opinions every year visited this sanctuary,
irresistibly drawn thither by the sanctity of the place, and the
force of long-established habits. The chief concourse takes
place on the anniversary of the miraculous consecration of the
church, namely the 14th of September, and during the ensuing
Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits. 127
fortnight, when as many as 100,000 pilgrims have been known
to assemble. The rocky mountain-road leading to the abbey
is often dyed with the blood of those who piously ascend it
barefoot ; and on first coming in sight of the towers of this
venerable abbey it is impossible not to be conscious of that
peculiar devotion, or as one writer expresses it, ' of that sacred
dread,' which is inspired on the near approach of holy ground.
Standing nearly 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
forming the central point where two valleys meet, the situation
of Einsiedlen is picturesque in the extreme. A village con-
taining more than 2,000 inhabitants has sprung up around the
great abbey, which, in its present form, is not of very ancient-
date, 'for it has been repeatedly burnt down and rebuilt, and
the greater part of the present edifice was constructed in 1704.
It is remarkable, however, that in each of the five fires* which
reduced the rest of the buildings to ashes, the holy chapel
which is enclosed within the great church escaped injury. On
entering the church it immediately strikes your eye, standing
in the very midst of the larger building, and contrasting by
its sombre appearance with the magnificence that appears
around it on every side. So greatly was this chapel revered
that it was jealously preserved in its original form up to the
year 1467, when, in consequence of its narrow escape a third
time from being consumed, Burchard, Bishop of Constance,
ordered that it should be vaulted with stone, and protected
outside with stone columns and pilasters. In 1617 it was
entirely cased in marble, by order of Marcus Sitticus, the
celebrated Archbishop of Saltzburg, and succeeding prelates
have yet further adorned it with statues and bas-reliefs. The
interior of the chapel once blazed with riches. Precious
marbles still cover the walls of the further extremity where
the miraculous image, the rude and Gothic appearance of which
attests its antiquity, is still preserved, having escaped de-
struction amid all the convulsions of the revolutionary period.
The face of the altar on which it stands was once adorned
with a silver bas-relief representing the miraculous dedication
and sixteen large waxen tapers were kept constantly burning
before it at the expense of the sixteen Catholic cantons of
* Those in 1028, 1214, 1465, 1509, and 1577.
128 Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
Switzerland. Both altar frontal and candles have disappeared,
but on the altar appears an exceedingly rich tabernacle
enclosing the head of St. Meinrad, the only portion of his
relics which has been preserved from the profanation of the
revolutionary hordes. Five lamps presented by various
European sovereigns, used also to burn continually before the
image, but these too have been removed since the late troubles.
Mass is said in the chapel continuously from four in the morn-
ing until ten, when the high Mass is celebrated in the choir ;
then follows another low Mass within the Holy Chapel, and
from that time, writes a modern pilgrim, 'you hear nothing but
the voice of the pilgrims incessantly repeating the rosary, as
band by band successively enters the chapel.' This lasts 'until
vespers, after which the monks every day visit the holy image
singing the Salve Regina in procession. As soon as they have
left the chapel it is once more besieged by pious crowds who
may be seen praying there until nine o'clock, when the church
is closed. Nothing can exceed the devotion exhibited by these
pilgrims ; you may see them in every attitude of prayer, some
prostrate, others kneeling with their arms extended in the
form of a cross ; they are of all ranks and all nations, but
perhaps the larger proportion are from the truly Catholic soil
of the Tyrol.
We shall not attempt to trace the history of the pilgrimage,
or to count up the illustrious names that appear on the list of
those who have offered their devotion at this celebrated shrine.
To do so would be to enumerate half the crowned heads, the
canonised saints, and the Catholic men of learning of nine
centuries. Among modern pilgrims one appears to have made
no fewer than four pilgrimages to Einsiedlen ; it was Queen
Hortense Eugenie, mother to the present Emperor of France,
who on three of these occasions accompanied his mother, being
then a child. Among the votive offerings left by the Queen
was a small Hortensia in diamonds. It will be more interesting
to the reader if we say something of the manner in which the
miraculous statue was preserved during the revolutionary
crisis of 1798.
On the 30th of April in that year the French troops entered
the canton of Schwitz, and without waiting for their nearer
^ or Our Lady of the Hermits. 129
approach the monks hastened to remove the image, which
they succeeded in transporting to the neighbouring valley of
Alp Thai on the very day that the French entered Einsiedlen.
The cure of this place was required to give up the statue on
pain of having a detachment of troops quartered in his village,
but the brave cure, while negotiating with the commandant,
caused the image to be secretly carried away to a chalet among
the mountains, whence it was a little later transferred to a
convent of nuns at Bludenz near Vorarlberg. Placidus Keller,
an old servant of the convent, was trusted with the honourable
but dangerous task of conveying it thither. Furnishing himself
with a pedlar's pack, he covered the image with handkerchiefs
and other small wares, and with this strapped on his back he
boldly made his way through the very lines of his enemies, to
whom he more than once had to display his merchandise, on
which occasions, with the utmost nonchalance, he appeared
absorbed only with anxiety to strike a profitable bargain.
Once safe at Bludenz all necessity of secrecy was considered
afc an end, and the image being exposed in the public square
before the convent, an immense demonstration of popular
devotion took place, and whole villages came even from the
Tyrol during a four days' solemnity that was celebrated by way
of thanksgiving. In the October following it was judged pru-
dent to remove the image into the Tyrol, and to prevent the
possible danger of the inhabitants laying claim to the treasure
on the ground of long possession, it was never allowed to
remain for any length of time in one place, but was taken first
to Imst, then to Hale, from thence to Drieste, and was finally
brought back to Bludenz. During these journeys one of the
monks <3f Einsiedlen, named Conrad Tanner, always accom-
panied it as its guardian.
In 1803, the terrible crisis having happily passed over, it
was resolved to restore the holy image to its own sanctuary.
It was secretly brought down the Rhine, conveyed through
Switzerland, and deposited in the chapel of St. Meinrad on Mont
Etzel. From thence it was conducted to Einsiedlen in a sort
of triumphal procession, and replaced on the altar where it had
reposed for so many centuries.
The five years that had intervened, if they had witnessed
130 Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
the spoliation of its material treasures, had in no degree
diminished the devotion with which the sanctuary of Einsiedlen
was regarded by Catholic Switzerland. Not to speak of more
than seventy parishes which annually send their processions
thither, no fewer than 2,164,000 pilgrims are known to have
visited this church between the years 1820 and 1834, and in
1836 alone their numbers amounted to 180,00.0. One pilgrim,
who visited the Holy Chapel in 1840 in fulfilment of a vow,
has described the throng assembled there on the great annual
festival in September. The fifty-five inns, which offer accom-
modation to visitors, did not suffice to contain one half of
those who required a night's lodging. ' Looking at the crowds
continually moving between the church and the mountain,
everywhere scattered about on the roads and in the streets,
the whole plain,' he says, ' seemed as it were covered by a
thousand tribes and nations.' There was every imaginable
diversity of dress, language, and national physiognomy ; Ger-
man phlegm contrasting with Italian vivacity, each canton
betraying its features of original character. One old couple
had come from Alsace, the husband having led his blind wife
hither in hopes that she might obtain the restoration of her
sight. During the vespers that preceded the feast the church
was so densely packed that it was impossible to make your
way through the mass of human beings, but nevertheless
not the slightest disorder prevailed. After vespers the priests
entered the confessionals, and for the remainder of the day
and through the long hours of night not a sound was to be
heard but the continued murmur of prayers from the many
pilgrims who kept devout vigil in different parts of the spacious
edifice. At four in the morning the chapel of the Blessed
Virgin was brilliantly illuminated, and masses began to be
celebrated at the different altars, the high mass being sung at
ten by the Apostolic Nuncio ; but by far the most imposing
scene was that presented by the grand procession by torch-
light which took place in the evening, when the Blessed Sacra-
ment was carried from the church to a temporary altar erected
on the opposite side of the immense piazza, every portion of
the surrounding buildings being lighted up, and made as
visible as though it had been broad day. It was truly a mar-
Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hei*mits. 131
vellous sight to see the immense crowd bowed in adoration,
and this in an age when on every side we are told that faith
is dead or dying, that the populace have no longer any con-
fidence in the power of prayer or the virtue of holy relics, and
in fine, to use the common phrase, that ' the age of miracles is
past.' Those who think so, we would beg to examine the list
of miraculous graces obtained before the statue of Our Lady
of Einsiedlen where they will find the narratives of as many
attested miracles belonging to the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, as are recorded to have taken place in the tenth.
Of these, remarkable as they are, we shall not say more at
present ; but miraculous favours are not the only, or the chief,
results which flow from these pilgrimages. Regarded in their
most striking aspect tney are great instruments for reviving
and reinvigorating the springs of popular devotion, retreats,
as it were, organised on a gigantic scale. The average number
of confessions made here in the year is estimated at 120,000 ;
on the eve of ordinary Sundays and feasts they vary from
1,000 to 1,500, the number being very much larger on occa-
.don of the great annual festivals. At these times the con-
fessors find it no easy task to satisfy the demands of the vast
throng that invade their confessionals, and the law has been
established that those who come from the greatest distance
should be heard first. Just after the Revolution of July this
' excellent regulation gave rise to a ludicrous scene in the
church. A crowd of German penitents had been waiting with
passive perseverance near one of the confessionals, when the
priest perceived some new-comers of another nation, and
addressing his countrymen, 'My children,' he said, 'you
must retire, here are some Frenchmen coming.' ' Blessed
Virgin ! ' exclaimed one of the women, with a lamentable cry,
' the French are coming ! it is all over with us.' And the
good father had some difficulty in restoring tranquillity, and
assuring her that the Frenchmen in question had come, not to
burn Our Lady, but to confess their sins.
The apostolic labours of the good monks are not, however,
confined to ministering to the wants of the pilgrims. The
circle of Einsiedlen reckons altogether about 7,000 inhabitants
whose dwellings are scattered about in remote mountain
K2
132 Einsiedlen, or Our Lady of the Hermits.
districts, far apart and difficult of access. Six monks are con-
stantly employed in giving missions among these villages and
outlying districts. During the summer they go about on
horseback, and during the winter, which lasts for eight months,
they cross the snow on sledges visiting hamlet after hamlet,
chiefly for the purpose of giving catechisms, or simple in-
structions in Christian doctrine, to the children and villagers.
The administration of the parish of Einsiedlen itself is com-
mitted to twelve other Benedictines, all these ministerial
duties being discharged by the religious community without
any kind of remuneration.
133
CHAPTER IV.
FRANCE.
1. Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons.
THE traveller who has been induced either by curiosity or
devotion to ascend the steep hill which rises in the midst of
the city of Lyons will hardly fail to carry away with him im-
pressions not easily effaced. Standing on the terrace which over-
looks the vast amphitheatre below, he will perhaps recall with
emotion the day when Pius VII. from the same spot gave his
Apostolic benediction to the city which but a while before had
publicly celebrated its apostasy from Christianity by the most
horrible acts of sacrilege, but whose inhabitants, on the 18th
of April, 1805, were assembled in one kneeling mass at the
foot of that hill to receive the blessing of the Vicar of Christ.
Or he will remind himself of the tradition which associates
the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury with that of Fourviere,
and if he be of English blood will feel a pleasure in the
thought that Notre-Dame- Saint-Thomas de Fourviere, as it was
called, was the first sanctuary raised to the honour of our great
English martyr. Or it may be that glancing back yet further
into the annals of the past, he will picture to his mind's eye
the capital of Celtic Gaul as it stood in the days of its imperial
splendour ; when that same hill was covered with the vast
forum of Trajan, with the palace of the Caesars, and the temple
of Venus, the tutelary deity of ancient Lugdunum ; and when
St. Pothinus, the first apostle of Lyons, there made his glorious
confession of the faith, and the old man of ninety was kicked
and trampled to death by an infuriated multitude shouting
vengeance on the blasphemer of their gods.
But whatever may be the interest attaching to the Christian
history of Lyons, it is not one of those spots which we visit
134 Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons.
only for the sake of its associations with the past. It is a
sanctuary where the faith may be seen surviving in all its
active, living energy ; where pilgrims still congregate, and
miraculous graces are still received, and where the mother of
God is still venerated in the heart of a great commercial city
with all the ardour and simplicity of ancient times.
Lyons was always distinguished for its devotion to the
Blessed Virgin, and a tradition, too well supported to admit
of reasonable doubt, points to the crypt under the Church of
St. Nazaire as the site of that subterranean oratory where St.
Pothinus deposited the holy image of Our Lady which he had
brought with him into Gaul. This crypt was the cradle of
the Church of Lyons, a Church which, next to that of Rome,
may perhaps be said with most justice to have been cemented
with the blood of martyrs. The Forum, whence so many
thousands were despatched to torture, or the Amphitheatre,
did not however long survive its bloody triumphs over Chris-
tianity. Septimius Severus reduced it to a heap of ashes, as
a punishment for the adherence of the citizens to the cause of
his rival Albums, and removed the seat of government to
Treves. The hill covered with its marble ruins became known
as the Forum Vetus, a title for which the Lyonnese Christians
often substituted that of the Holy Mountain, or the Hill of
Blood, but which appears to have been the derivation of the
modern name of Fourviere. And in the ninth century a
modest chapel, which was known as that of Oar Lady of Good
Counsel, was constructed out of the debris of the Roman
buildings, forming that quadrangular portion of the church
which stands beneath the tower, and in the foundations of
which may still be detected several fragments of ancient
marble. It did not at first attract any very large share of
popular notice. The devotion of the Lyonnese naturally enough
clung rather to the crypt and the image of St. Pothinus ; and
in 1030 another sanctuary of Our Lady was erected by Abbot
Hogier in the Ile-Barbe, which bore the title of Notre Dame-
de Graces. This was regarded by the boatmen of the Saone
as so holy a place that when they descended the river every
crew kept silence, and every oar was raised ; not a word was
uttered as they floated down the current, save only that as
Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons 135
they passed the towers of the church the captain of each
vessel mounted on its poop, and saluted the Holy Isle with
the Celtic ejaculation of ' Ben-hoia ! ' *
The sanctuary of Notre Dame de Fourviere, erected on a
soil which had been purpled with the blood of martyrs, was
destined to owe her celebrity in the first instance to the
honour with which she surrounded the memory of another
more recent martyr. The little chapel of Our Lady of Good
Counsel had been made over by the Emperor Lothaire to the
canons of the cathedral church of St. John, one of whom,
named Oliver de Chavannes, commenced the construction of
a long nave, which was added to the original building in
1168. Guichard, the Archbishop of Lyons, had been Abbot
of Pontigny, four years before, when St. Thomas a Becket
took refuge there from the persecution of Henry II. From
his hands the English primate had received the Cistercian
cowl, which to the day of his death he never laid aside ;
and when Guichard was enthroned in his archiepiscopal city,
St. Thomas, who regarded him as a personal friend, visited
him there, a fact which is stated again and again in the
ancient cathedral archives, though it has been overlooked
by all English historians. One day, it is said, Archbishop
Guichard was walking on the Place St.- Jean, in company with
St. Thomas and the canon, Oliver de Chavannes. The con-
versation turned on the buildings just commenced on the hill
above them, and St. Thomas, turning his eyes in that direction,
inquired to whom the new sanctuary would be dedicated?
' To the first martyr who will shed his blood for the Church,'
replied the Archbishop. ' Who knows if it may not be your-
self, if your enemies procure you such an honour ? ' The
words were said perhaps between jest and earnest ; but, how-
ever that may have been, the metropolitan church of Lyons
gave earnest tokens of her respect for the exiled English pri-
mate. She assigned him a house within the cloister, and the
manor of Quincieu outside the city ; and gloried in enrolling
his name among her canons. The prebend held by him was
enjoyed by his successors until the wars of the fourteenth
* Literally, 'Hail, wild duck!' from the supposed resemblance of the
island, in form and position, to that bird.
136 Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons.
century ; and English monks resided np to that time at the
manor-house of Quincieu. Two years from the time when
this conversation is supposed to have taken place St. Thomas
won his glorious crown of martyrdom, and the nave of Four-
viere, on its completion, was dedicated by Guichard and Oliver
to the memory of their illustrious friend, whose canonisation
took place in 1173, only three years after his assassination.
It was natural enough that the memory of St. Thomas should
be regarded with peculiar veneration in France, whose king
and people had warmly espoused his cause during his lifetime,
and given him generous hospitality for several years. A
special grace received by Louis VII., as it was believed at the
intercession of the martyr, widely extended this devotion.
His eldest son, afterwards Philip Augustus, being attacked
with fever, and at the point of death, St. Thomas appeared to
the king three times in a dream, promising him the cure of
the young prince on condition that he himself should visit his
shrine at Canterbury. In consequence of this, King Louis
crossed over to England, and was escorted from Dover to
Canterbury with great pomp by Henry II. himself. After
spending two days there watching and praying before the
tomb, Louis made his offering of a splendid gold chalice, a
magnificent diamond, which was afterwards worn on the finger
of the sacrilegious plunderer, Henry VIII., and the annual
grant of a hundred measures of wine. He then returned to
France, where, to his unspeakable joy, he was met by his son,
restored to perfect health. His gratitude for this favour knew
no bounds, and in testimony of it he despatched additional
offerings to the new sanctuary erected at Lyons in honour of
the saint, and, according to some writers, came to visit it in
person.
For many years after this event, St. Thomas of Canterbury
was regarded as more immediately the patron of the church
of Fourviere than our Blessed Lady ; and it was on his feast,
the 29th of December, that the chapter of the cathedral paid
their annual visit as feudal lords to their vassal church, on which
occasion they celebrated mass at the altar of the saint, and not
on that of Our Lady. The canons of Fourviere, now erected into
a collegiate church, in their turn paid their homage to the cathe-
Our Lady of Fouwiere, Lyons. 137
dral on certain great festivals, and offered candles at the altars
of St. John and St. Stephen, for in those times the feudal rights
of superior churches were exacted with as rigorous a law as
those of suzerain lords. At Easter a striking and picturesque
custom preserved the memory of the tie which bound the two
churches together. The count-canons of the cathedral, as
they were honourably designated, mounted the towers of their
church, and the collegiate chapter of Fortrviere assembled on
the terrace overlooking the city ; then the bells of both
churches rang out, and the two choirs sang in alternate verses,
the Alleluia, and the Paschal hymn filii et filice. As time
went on the church of Fourviere became regarded more
and more as a sanctuary of Our Lady, and here, in 1466,
Louis XI. came in pilgrimage praying before the altar of Our
Lady of Good Counsel, where he left orders that a Salve
Regina should thenceforth be sung daily after a low Mass,
which he endowed in perpetuity. In the act drawn up by
this king, granting certain privileges to the canons of Notre-
Dame- Saint-Thomas de Fourviere, the name of 'Monseigneur
Saint Thomas ' holds the secondary place, and it is evident
that the primary devotion was beginning to be paid to the
more ancient chapel of Our Lady.
The change is partly to be attributed to the fact that the
other sanctuaries of Our Lady in Lyons had lost somewhat of
their former popularity. It is with devotion as with certain
delicate plants which grow freely in solitary and unfrequented
places, but disappear before the footsteps of men. The crypt
of St. Nazaire, owing to the increase of the city, was now in
the heart of a busy thoroughfare, and no longer enjoyed any-
thing of that retirement which seems required for a place of
pilgrimage. The Holy Island of Ile-Barbe had formerly been
revered by the Lyonnese from the fact that it presented them
with all the charms of religious solitude within reach of their
city walls. But time, alas ! has little respect for such retreats,
and, as years sped on, the Ile-St.-Barbe was resorted to as a
place of public amusement ; and in fine weather, says one
writer, ' you might see all the citizens of Lyons flock there on
holidays, with their wives and families, bringing with them
tambourine-players and other musicians ; and the city trades
138 Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons.
would come here to exercise with their drums and banners ;
the villagers from, all the neighbourhood round came hither,
moreover, dancing and singing ; and when one of the abbots
tried to close the meadows to the public, so as to put a stop to
these revellings, the people rose en masse, and pulled down his
walls.'
It was therefore no wonder that when so great a change
had befallen the old sanctuaries of the Lyonnese, their devotion
should turn into other channels ; and the Holy Mountain of
Fourviere, raised as it is above the noise and tumult of the
city, seemed to attract them thither by a natural instinct.
We find therefore that during the terrible famines of 1504,
1534, and 1556, when, according to the old chronicler Paradin,
' the earth seemed of fire, and the heavens of brass, when the
flocks on the mountains all perished, and those on the plains
were driven many leagues to drink at the waters of the Rhone
and the Saone, all smaller rivulets being dried up,' the White
Procession, as they were called, organised from .all the country
round to implore the mercy of God and the intercession of Our
Lady in this great distress, generally directed their steps up
the barren slopes of the Holy Hill of Fourviere. They came
along, dressed in white sackcloth, bands of little children going
first, barefoot and bareheaded, singing and crying, with accents
of genuine and heart-touching distress, ' Sire Dieu ! Mercy !
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. Water I water I
water ! '
What a cry was that ! It drew tears, says Paradin, from
the eyes of all who heard it, and it touched the heart of the
Mother invoked with such childlike simplicity. The rain came
at last, and that in such abundance that the vines were restored
as if by miracle. That year, continues the same writer, we ate
ripe grapes on the feast of St. John Baptist ; the other fruit-
trees flowered in September, as if it had been spring, and in
many places bore fruit also a second time. Apples were seen
as big as tennis-balls ; prunes and nuts also, but these last did
not reach maturity. This good, and, -as it was believed, miracul-
ous, season was granted to Lyons in 1556 ; the years that fol-
lowed were years of sacrilege and profanation for Fourviere,
which fell into the hands of a Calvinist mob, and was pillaged
Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons. 139
both of its riches, and, what was worse, of the Tabernacle and
its sacred contents. Lyons became one of the great strong-
holds of the heretics, and most of its Catholic inhabitants
found themselves forced to abandon the place. The pen refuses
to chronicle the horrible deeds perpetrated by those who now
found themselves masters of the city, and who celebrated their
triumph by the destruction and desecration of her churches.
The four walls alone were left of the nave of St. Thomas and
the Chapel of Our Lady of Fourviere ; and when at last better
days dawned over France, and the ecclesiastics were able to
re-enter the city of Lyons, the canons of Fourviere passed
from the Place de la Providence up to the door of their colle-
giate church, over heaps of blackened ruins. Owing to the
poverty to which the canons were reduced by the late events,
the restoration of the church was not completed before the
year 1586, and during that time a new scourge, or rather a
series of scourges, devastated Lyons, and made manifest to the
world that, whatever else the Calvinists had laid in ruins, they
had not succeeded in overthrowing the devotion of the people
towards the Mother of God. Year after year the plague swept
away its thousands of victims, one hundred thousand citizens
in all having been said to have perished of this pestilence be-
tween the years 1564 and 1642. Deputations were sent by the
magistrates with offerings to the shrines of Our Lady at Puy
and Loreto, and on one of these occasions the plague stopped
suddenly in the . city, on the very day when the deputies
entered the territory of Loreto. But it disappeared only to
return again after a brief interval, until at last, in 1643, the
magistrates solemnly determined to dedicate the city by vow
to Our Lady de Fourviere. Ever since the restoration of that
sanctuary its celebrity had been constantly on the increase,
and the throng of worshippers and pilgrims became so great
that five-and-twenty masses were daily celebrated in the
church, and two ecclesiastics were constantly engaged in re-
ceiving the offerings of the pilgrims. The veneration formerly
paid there to St. Thomas had become almost forgotten, eclipsed
by the fame of the graces dispensed by the Blessed Virgin
from the sanctuary of her choice. The vow of the Lyons
magistrates expressed therefore the unanimous devotion of
140 Our Lady of Fourvifrre, Lyons.
their fellow-citizens, and from the moment that it was regis-
tered, the plague not only disappeared to return no more, but
from that time neither the cholera nor any other contagious
malady has ever held its ground in Lyons, In gratitude for
this prompt answer to their prayers the city authorities bound
themselves to visit Fourviere on the 8th of September every
year, and to erect two images of the Blessed Virgin, one at
the corner of the Place du Change, the other under a little
dome in the middle of the Pont de Pierre, with an inscription
recording the history of their vow. These two images re-
mained as monuments of the devotion of the Lyonnese to their
great patroness until the disastrous days of 1789, and the
dome on the Pont de Pierre was still standing in 1820. But
yet more unmistakeable evidence was given of their fervent
gratitude to her whom they regarded as their deliverer, by the
immense affluence of pilgrims who from this time nocked to
pour out their vows before the holy sanctuaries. Even in
1630 these had been so numerous that the canons had to open
a new door and erect another altar in their church, and three
years later were forced to have recourse to the cathedral clergy
to assist them in satisfying the devotion of the people. But
from the hour that Lyons solemnly dedicated herself to the
Blessed Virgin by the voice of her magistrates, the enthusiasm
of the citizens too new life, and it must be added that their
childlike confidence has from that time been rewarded by a
continued stream of graces. Our limits will allow of our doing
no more than refer to these, for there yet remains to tell of
another hour of desolation for the sanctuary of Fourviere,
followed however, as before, by another resurrection. No-
where did the storm of the great revolution fall with greater
violence than on the city of Lyons. On the 30th of August,
1792, the last Catholic Mass was celebrated at Fourviere,
which was then abandoned for a time to some schismatic
priests, and finally closed altogether. Meanwhile terrible
scenes of sacrilege were enacted in the city. Paris had set up
the Goddess of Reason, but it remained for Lyons to witness
her three revolutionary proconsuls, Collet d'Herbois, Fouche,
and Laporte, offering divine honours to the ashes of one of
their colleagues, the ferocious Chalier, who had fallen
Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons. 141
the assassin's knife at the moment when he was about to
deluge Lyons with the blood of her citizens. It was on the
10th of November, 1793, the very day when Paris consum-
mated her great act of sacrilege in the cathedral of Notre
Dame, that the decree was published closing all the churches
in Lyons. The reign of atheism was inaugurated by a hideous
ceremony. The urn containing the ashes of Chalier was placed
on an altar of turf erected in the Place des Terreaux. The
three proconsuls, surrounded by a crowd of ruffians and profli-
gate women, who made the air ring with their cries of * Vive
la guillotine ! ' approached, and one by one bent their knee in
adoration of the martyr of liberty. Then followed an exhi-
bition, the details of which would make the most indifferent
shudder. An ass, decorated with the priestly insignia, was
made to trample on the crucifix and the Book of the Gospels,
and to drink out of a sacred chalice ; and even yet more
horrible profanities were in preparation, when they were put
a stop to by what the miscreants themselves seem to have felt
a preternatural sign of the Divine displeasure ; the sky sud-
denly darkened, and such a terrific storm burst over the heads
of the infamous assembly that with one accord they dispersed
and fled from the spot in terror.
During the miserable years that followed, Our Lady of
Fourviere was still invoked by those who remained faithful to
the religion of their fathers, many of whom were accustomed
to climb the holy hill by night and pray before the closed
doors of the now desolate sanctuary for the return of better
days. During the siege of Lyons by the revolutionary army,
numbers performed this pilgrimage at the peril of their lives,
and several extraordinary deliverances were accepted as
tokens that Our Lady still retained her watchful guard over
the city. When at last the Reign of Terror ended, and a
certain sort of religious toleration was permitted, two brothers,
both of them ecclesiastics, opened a little school not far from
the church of Fourviere, and in their house the faithful
secretly assembled for worship.
The accession of Napoleon as First Consul was soon followed
by the public restoration of the Catholic worship, and one of
the first acts of Cardinal Fesch, Archbishop of Lyons, was to
1 42 Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons.
repurchase the sanctuary of Fourviere. And when, in 1805,
Pope Pius VII. was invited into France to preside at the
coronation of the new Emperor, he himself reopened the
church, offered the Holy Sacrifice within its walls, and gave
holy communion to 1,200 persons ; after which, as we have
said, standing on the terrace which overlooks the city, he
gave the Apostolic benediction to the kneeling population.
No wonder that such a spectacle from such a spot drew from
him the repeated exclamation of ' Bello, lello ! ' The scenes
which met his eye during his progress through France must
have seemed to him like a rising from the dead, for as he
himself expressed it when speaking to Fouche, ' He had tra-
velled through a nation on its 'knees.''
One other danger, however, still threatened Notre Dame de
Fourviere. During the hundred days of Napoleon's restora-
tion, after his escape from Elba, it became a matter of im-
portance to him to strengthen the defences of Lyons, and
Marshal Suchet was despatched thither, with orders, as it was
believed, from his imperial master, to cover the holy mountain
with fortifications. Such orders, if executed, would have
implied the destruction of the sanctuary of Fourviere ; but
Suchet was a Lyonnese by birth, and had not entirely forgotten
the religious impressions of his childhood. He inspected the
ground indeed, and made a survey of the city from the top of
the tower, but on descending thence, instead of announcing to
the chaplains who awaited him in the sacristy his intention of
levelling the church to the ground, he addressed them in
words which were little expected from the mouth of the soldier
of fortune. ' My mother often brought me here when a child,'
he said, ' to pray before Our Lady's image. It is pleasant to
remember those days. Be so good as to take these napoleons
and say some Masses for my intention.' So saying, he laid
some money on the table where the offerings were received,
and, passing into the church, remained for some time kneeling
before Our Lady's altar.*
* Suchet' s devotion to the Blessed Virgin had been evinced during his
campaign in Spain, -when with equal resolution he refused to obey the orders
of Joseph Buonaparte for the plunder of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the
Pillar. Nor did it pass without reward. He had the happiness of making
Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons. 143s.
Fourviere was therefore spared, and during the last fifty
years the devotion of the Lyonnese to their favourite sanctuary
has increased rather than diminished. During the cholera
years of 1832, 1835, 1849, and 1855, the exemption of the
city from this terrible pestilence has been acknowledged as
a grace due to the intercession of Our Lady. Nor has her
protection been less remarkable during the political troubles
of 1830 and 1848. In the latter year a bloody entente was
actually in preparation, when extraordinary prayers and vows
were offered to Notre Dame de Fourviere ; and the storm blew
over in so singular and inexplicable a manner as to cause
surprise to the revolutionary party themselves, one of whom
was heard to observe, pointing to Our Lady's sanctuary, ' We
shall do nothing here so long as that Montagnarde remains up
there.'
Perhaps, however, the most remarkable scenes were those
witnessed at Notre Dame de Fourviere during the insurrection
which broke out in the city in 1834. The insurgents took
possession of the hill, established their head-quarters within
the church, displayed a black flag from its tower, and from
their strong position exchanged a continuous fire with the
troops. The chaplains of the sanctuary had been obliged to
withdraw before there was time either to remove the Blessed
Sacrament or to conceal the sacred vessels ; but on the third
day, the firing having somewhat subsided, what men had not
the courage to do was effected by the resolution of a nun,
the Superioress of the Sisters of St. Joseph offered to mount
the hill alone, and see what could be done with the armed
mob then in possession of the sanctuary. She presented her-
self before the workmen who were assembled round a huge
fire lighted in the church porch. * My good friends,' she said,
1 1 see you are forced to take shelter in the church ; the pre-
sence of the Blessed Sacrament must embarrass you ; shall I
bring a priest to fetch It away? ' 'Yes, that is a good thought,'
replied the leader ; 'we shall then be more at our ease.' 'You
will also give me leave to enter the sacristy and put things a
a Christian end, and received the consolations of religion before his death
in 1826, a fact unhappily sufficiently rare among the public men of that
time, to be worthy of record.
144 OUT Lady of Fouwiere, Lyons.
little to rights ? ' ' Yes, ma soeur, you may go and do what
you like.'
The brave religious lost no time in descending the hill and
returning with two priests, -and all three were allowed to enter
the church. They found about twenty men and as many
women, all of the lowest order, bivouacked in the nave, eating,
drinking, cooking their meat at a large fire, drying their
powder, and preparing fresh ammunition. But marvellous to
say, the altars had not been touched. A barricade of chain
had even been raised to wall off the sanctuary, and neither
the tabernacle nor the image of Our Lady had received any
profanation. The priests at once removed the Blessed Sacra-
ment, and as they carried It out of the church, the sentinels
gave the usual military salute, and some of them even followed
as an escort, as far as the Providence, where It was deposited
in safety. The good nun remained behind to take charge of
the sacred vessels. She had brought a large sack with her
into which she put every article of value she could carry, and
what she could not carry she concealed in secure places. No
one interfered with her or opposed her proceedings, and she
was permitted to retire with her treasures, receiving every
mark of respect as she passed through the ranks of the insur-
gents.
The next day the combat recommenced, and terminated in
the triumph of the troops ; and when the insurrection was
over, every one had something to say of the graces which had
been obtained during those six terrible days, from Notre Dame
de Fourviere. A number of workmen who took no part in
the insurrection had retired to a large building known as the
Maison Brunet. A shot which killed a lieutenant of the royal
troops was falsely surmised to have been fired from this house,
and without further enquiry a furious discharge of artillery was
opened upon the house. The workmen, unarmed and defence-
less, invoked Our Lady of Fourviere, and the firing stopped ; for
a priest had at that moment forced his way to the terrace then
occupied by the king's troops, and persuaded them to spare the
innocent. Not a man had been injured by the tremendous volley,
and a few days later the victims who had thus so marvellously
escaped destruction went in procession to Our Lady's altar to
Our Lady of Fourviere, Lyons. 145
render thanks to their good Mother, and deposited as their
ex-voto offering a picture representing the Maison Brunet at
the moment of the cannonade.
The fact, however, that a few workmen had been able to
hold the Holy Mountain for several days against a royal army
of 7000 men, sufficiently proved its strength as a military
post, and the old plan of converting it into a fortified citadel
was revived in good earnest. But this time the intentions of
the Government were defeated by the piety of the Lyonnese.
With one voice they protested against such a profanation, and
petitions poured in, entreating that nothing might be done
to destroy 'the church of the Lyonnese people.' They re-
minded the Government of July that 'there was something
even more precious than a fortress,' and that in sacrificing the
sanctuary of Notre Dame de Fourviere, they would be
striking a blow at the hearts of all her votaries. Their
earnestness prevailed, and Fourviere has not only escaped
destruction, but its church has been restored and enlarged
with greater splendour than ever. The Lyonnese have con-
ceived the plan of raising on the Hill of Martyrs a monument
which shall at once commemorate Our Lady's patronage of their
city, and their own devotion. A new tower has already been
completed, surmounted by a colossal image of Our Lady in
gilded bronze, visible from every part of the city, over which
she is represented as extending her hands as if in benediction.
The buildings which a few years since disfigured the side of
the hill are in process of being cleared away, and in place of
the former mean and fatiguing approach, a magnificent
winding road has been cut, planted with trees, so as to form
an easy and agreeable ascent. Sixteen thousand masses are
celebrated on an average during the year, and at least 200,000
communions are annually made within the sanctuary. During
the month of May alone, there have been as many as
27,000 communions, or something like a thousand a day; and
in spite of all the revolutions it has undergone, the walls of
Notre Dame de Fourviere exhibit at this moment more than
4000 ex-voto offerings. Elephant trappings sent from Egypt,
and a Chinese picture from Pekin, appear in the midst of a
forest of crutches, glittering in not a few places with crosses
L
146 Our Lady of Laus.
of the Legion of Honour, and spangled in every direction with
gold and silver hearts. Nor must we in conclusion fail to
notice the last ornament presented to the sanctuary by the
piety of the Lyonnese. In the enclosed space outside the
church, fifteen small columns were raised in 1864, on which
appear representations of the fifteen mysteries of the Holy
Rosary, and the custom has established itself for pilgrims to
prepare themselves for their visit to Our Lady by devoutly
performing what is called ' the stations of the rosary.' On the
feast of OurLady, it is a common thing for surrounding parishes
to come hither in procession with their cures at their head,
and Fourviere still remembers with veneration the pilgrimage
made here by the holy cure of Ars and his people.* Such
facts have their own significance ; they prove that, to use the
words of Pius VII., France still preserves her faith, and that
* the City of Martyrs,' as it has been termed by one of its own
saints, has done well in protesting to an infidel government
that the faith of a generous people is a surer protection against
the assaults of revolution, than the garrison of half a million
of bayonets.
2. Our Lady of Laus.
AT about two leagues distance from the city of Gap, in the
department of the High Alps, lies the little valley of Laus, shut
in by wooded mountains and surrounded by other valleys,
through which the river Vence winds its way. A more
picturesque locality can hardly be imagined. The mountains
of Theus and St. Maurice appear clothed with forests to their
very summits, whilst to the south appear the distant peaks of
the Lower Alps, contrasting in their barren and savage
grandeur with the rich vegetation which adorns the hills in
the immediate vicinity of Laus. As the traveller approaches
this beautiful region from the valley of the Vence, he suddenly
discovers the church of Laus lying as it were at his feet, and
is reminded by a profusion of pious monuments which meet
* ' The pilgrimage to Fourviere,' says M. Monin, in his ' Life of the Cur6
d'Ars,' ' marked the precise epoch of the religious transformation of the
parish' (torn. i. p. 229).
Our Lady of Laus. 147
his eye at every turn that he is approaching a spot specially
consecrated to devotion. Chapels and crosses rise on all sides
to commemorate some event in the life of the poor shepherdess
to whom the place owes all its celebrity, and the marvels of
whose story receive a certain confirmation from what we may
call a greater marvel still. A simple unlettered peasant girl
two centuries ago kept her sheep on these mountains, and
succeeded in transforming a rude and unfrequented wilderness
into a vast focus of religious life ; leaving among her native
hills so vivid a memory of herself, that time and revolution
have not had power to destroy it, and our own unbelieving
century still beholds pilgrims resorting to the spots made
memorable by the apparitions of Our Lady to the shepherdess
Benoite.
We shall relate the story of the servant of God simply as
it has been preserved, without retrenching anything from the
marvellous character which attaches to it. And let it be
remembered that these events did not take place in the dim
religious light of medieval antiquity, nor are they magnified
in our eyes as we behold them through the mist of a long
series of centuries. Scarcely 150 years have elapsed since the
death of the Shepherdess of Laus, and she lived during a
period when the faith of Europe was on the wane, and when
men were disposed to anything rather than an over- credulous
superstition.
Benoite Rencurel was born at St. Etienne on the feast of
St. Michael, 1647. Her parents were humble peasants who
lived by the labour of their hands ; and in her twelfth year,
Benoite was put out to service, to keep the sheep of a neigh-
bouring farmer, taking with her her clothes and her rosary as
her only property. During her childhood she had been dis-
tinguished for her great tenderness to the poor, and had once
earned a sound beating from her mother for giving away food
during a time of famine ; she had also early evinced a remark-
able love of prayer. So much distress prevailed at that time
in the country that her master was unable to charge himself
with her entire maintenance, and to earn a living Benoite
hired herself out during alternate weeks to a poor widow.
The farmer was a brutal character, who up to that time had
L2
148 Our Lady of Laus.
never been able to keep anyone in his service, but the simplicity
and sweetness of Benoite not only protected her from his
cruelty, but had such a softening effect on his hard nature,
that in a short time he became another man. The widow was
almost as destitute as Benoite herself, and the little shepherdess
found ample opportunities for exercising her cherished virtue
of charity, often sharing her scanty provisions among the six
hungry children of the house, and silencing their scruples by
the assurance that she herself would have plenty to eat next
week. It was thus she grew up in the midst of labour and
privation, simple, charitable, and devout, when one day,
chancing to listen to a sermon wherein the village cure spoke
much of the love of the Blessed Virgin for sinners, and the
singular protection which she extended to those who con-
secrated themselves to her service, Benoite conceived an.
ardent desire of being numbered among her special clients,
and at the same time the wish sprang up in her heart that
she might be found worthy to behold the Blessed Mother of
God of whose mercy and tenderness to the unfortunate she
heard so much.
She was accustomed very frequently to lead her sheep to
the mountain of St. Maurice, on the summit of which stood
an old ruined chapel, dedicated to that saint. One day in the
May of the year 1664, Benoite, who was then about sixteen
years of age, sat down near the ruins to say her chaplet ; she
was ignorant what had been the nature of the building, and
also of the fact that close to it was to be found a spring of
water, though this latter circumstance would have been most
welcome news, for during her long days on the barren hill-
side, she often suffered greatly from thirst. As she sat thus
with her flock grazing around, she perceived an old man ap-
proaching her, of venerable aspect, dressed in red and wearing
a beard. He addressed her, asking her ' what she did there ? '
to which she replied, with her usual simplicity, ' that she was
watching her sheep, and praying to the good God, but that
she was very thirsty.' ' Yet there is water close by you,' said
the old man ; and he then pointed out the well, which is still to
be seen, and which to this day produces abundance of ex-
cellent water. Benoite, who had no suspicion of the celestial
Our Lady of Laus. 149
character of her visitor, thanked him heartily, and pressed
him to eat some of her bread, when he made known to her
that he was St. Maurice, the patron of that mountain, and
desired her to lead her flock to a valley near St. Etienne,
where the desire of her heart would be granted to her. The
spot indicated is a sort of ravine which extends from the
village to the borders of the forest which crowns the hill ; on
the eastern side is still pointed out a little cavern where
Benoite was in the habit of retiring to say her rosary before
taking her frugal repast. Hither therefore the little shep-
herdess directed her steps on the following day, and towards
evening she saw standing on a rock, known as Les Fours*
a lady and child both of singnilar beauty. The lady did not
speak to her, and for two months these apparitions were con-
stantly renewed on the same spot, before Benoite summoned
courage to ask her name. Nevertheless, although not a word
had been spoken by her visitor, her presence filled the heart
of Benoite with joy, and a certain spiritual illumination ; but it
does not seem certain that she recognised who it was who
thus appeared to her, and though on returning home she
spoke to all her neighbours of the beautiful lady she had seen
on the rock, she never gave them any reason to suppose that
she had been favoured with a heavenly vision.
During these two months the flocks showed the same mys-
terious attraction to the valley of St. Etienne as their young
mistress, a fact the more remarkable as the ravine was rocky
and barren, and the pasturage extremely scanty. The neigh-
bours were not slow to inform the farmer that if he suffered
his sheep to be driven every day to a spot where there was
nothing for them to eat, he would lose them all, and become
the laughing-stock of the village. As to the farmer's wife,
she also had complaints to make of Benoite, who now never
returned till late in the evening, and who on her appearance
was commonly received with blows. In obedience to her
master's orders therefore, Benoite conducted her flock to
a better pasturage, lying in a different direction from her
favourite ravine, but no sooner had they reached the spot
indicated by the farmer, which afforded an abundance of
* A chapel now stands on the spot, erected in 1835.
150 Our Lady of Laus.
excellent grass, than of their own accord they set off full speed
to the barren valley in spite of every effort made by Benoite
to stop them. When this fact was related to the farmer he
would not believe it, and to insure his orders being carried
out, he next day led his sheep to pasture himself, but had
the mortification of seeing them all trot off in the direction of
the forbidden ravine by a sort of instinct which he found him-
self unable to overcome. He was forced to allow that there
was something in it which he did not understand, and seeing
that the sheep were really in better condition than those of his
neighbours, he thenceforth allowed Benoite to do as she pleased.
After this time the mysterious apparitions were very fre-
quently renewed, and Benoite was allowed not only to see,
but even to converse with her whom she still called by no other
name than that of her Beautiful Lady. The matter was
talked of in the neighbourhood, and one of the magistrates of
the province, named M. Grrimaud, considered it his duty to
interrogate the shepherdess on the subject. Benoite answered
all his questions with the utmost simplicity, but as she de-
clared herself entirely ignorant who the Beautiful Lady was,
the magistrate was at a loss what to think. The advice he
gave her, however, was to make a good confession and com-
munion, and then the next time she saw the Lady to approach
her and respectfully enquire her name. Benoite followed the
wise counsel, and having prepared herself by a worthy re-
ception of the sacraments, she summoned courage to ask the
Lady who she was. ' I am Mary, the Mother of Jesus,' was
the reply, ' and it is the will of my Son that I should be
honoured in this parish, though not on this spot. You will
therefore desire the prior to come hither in procession together
with his parishioners.' Benoite, filled with joy on learning
who her Beautiful Lady was, hastened to communicate her
orders to the prior, who after careful investigation of the
facts decided on giving credit to the heavenly message, and,
on August 29, a solemn procession was made to the valley, at
which all the villagers assisted, headed by their pastor.
After this incident, Benoite was given to understand that
she would not again behold Our Lady in that valley ; and it
was not until a month later that she was favoured with
Out Lady of Laus. 151
another apparition. This time Our Lady appeared on a little
eminence near the road leading from Laus to St. Etienne, now
marked by a small oratory, and made known to Benoite that
if she wished to see her again, she must repair to a little
chapel at Laus, the road to which she pointed out. The next
day Benoite found her way to the chapel in question ; it bore
the title of Notre Dame de Bon- Rencontre, and had been built
in 1640, but since then had fallen into partial ruin. The
sight of its dusty walls and neglected altar filled Benoite with
sorrow when she reflected that this was the chosen sanctuary
of the Mother of God, but Our Lady made known to her that
ere long this poor and squalid building would be replaced by
a large church, richly adorned, and served by many priests,
that many sinners would be converted here, and that the
money required for such a building would be furnished from
the pence of the poor.
From this time Benoite every day visited the chapel, where
she spent long hours in prayer, leaving her flock to the care of
Providence. No accident ever befel them, nor did her master
oppose her doing as she chose. The rumour of what had
passed very soon spread among the villagers, and induced
them also to resort to the little oratory in ever-increasing
numbers. Many of these, touched by grace, devoutly prepared
themselves for the sacraments, and it was found necessary to
engage priests to attend on the spot to hear the confessions of
the pilgrims. The chapel very soon became too small to con-
tain the hundreds who daily presented themselves, and an
altar for the celebration of mass had, to be erected out of
doors, while the priests heard confessions under the rocks and
trees of the valley. Whole parishes came hither in procession
from many miles' distance, thirty-five such processions arriving
on a single day. Some of these had journeyed on foot for
fourteen hours, and this manifestation of popular devotion
took place before any official examination had been made into
the circumstances to which it owed its origin. Many signal
graces, both spiritual and temporal, were granted to the
prayers of the pilgrims ; miraculous cures, and striking con-
versions were of continued recurrence, until at length in
September 1665, the ecclesiastical authorities felt it their
152 Our Lady of Laus.
duty to investigate the whole affair. And M. Lambert, the
Vicar- General of the diocese of Embrun, accompanied by
twenty-two other ecclesiastics of rank and learning, proceeded
to Laus to set on foot a juridical enquiry. Benoite was sub-
jected by them to a severe examination. The Vicar- General
made her understand that they were not come there to au-
thorise her visions and foolish fancies, and that if she was
detected in any imposture, she would be severely punished.
One after another the examiners then attacked her with ques-
tions, arguments, and even with ridicule ; they strove now to
embarrass and now to intimidate her, but the simplicity and
integrity of the poor shepherdess withstood the trial, and
she replied to their questions with a precision and modest
self-possession that filled them with surprise.
Providence had so ordered it, that the Vicar- General and
his companions should themselves be eyewitnesses of a strik-
ing miracle wrought during their visit. Twice they had
made preparations to depart, and each time violent torrents of
rain had obliged them to return to their lodgings. It seemed
as if against their wills they were to be detained at Laus,
in order to be able to bear witness to one of those prodigies
the truth of which they were as yet unwilling to allow. On
the very day they were to leave, a poor crippled woman,
named Catherine Vial, who had for years been entirely de-
prived of the use of her limbs which were withered and bent
under her, was suddenly restored to strength on the ninth
day of a no vena which she had made to Notre Dame de Laus.
Every day during the novena, the Vicar- General had seen her
carried to and from the chapel, and it was while he himself
was saying mass at the altar, that he now beheld her enter,
walking alone and without support, and heard the by-standers
exclaiming, ' a miracle ! a miracle ! Catherine Vial is cured ! '
' I myself was serving his Mass,' writes M. Gaillard, the
Grand- Vicar of Gap, who has preserved all these particulars,
' and I perceived he was so overcome that he could hardly
finish the last gospel, and the cards on the altar were moist-
ened with his tears.' *
* A month later the parish of St. Julien, to which Catherine belonged,
made the pilgrimage to Laus in procession, their banner being carried by
Catherine herself.
OUT Lady of Laus. 153
I c? ^ 'X. if*}
A fresh enquiry was now set on foot into the truth of tin-
fact ; not only the woman herself and her family, but the two
surgeons who had attended her, were rigorously questioned.
The latter were both of them Calvinists, and when they
heard of the proposed novena, had declared themselves willing
to become Catholics if they should see her ever able to walk
again. They had seen her returning from chapel, and not
only attested that her disease had been incurable by human
means, but avowed themselves convinced by what they had
seen, and ready to abjure their heresy. The proces-verbal of
these events was drawn up by the Vicar- General, who desired
that a Te Deum should be chanted in the chapel in thanks-
giving for so signal a grace, and who became from that time
the firm protector and friend of the shepherdess, and of the
work of which she was chosen as the instrument.
And in fact poor Benoite was often subjected to trials,
wherein she stood in need of protection. Many persons of
rank and influence regarded her as an impostor, and attempts
were made not only to bring her into discredit, but even to
have her driven from Laus and consigned to prison. In spite
of this hostility, however, the pilgrimage continued to increase,
and four years after the first apparition of Our Lady in the
chapel of Laus, M. Lambert decided on erecting a church on
the site of the chapel, which was altogether inadequate to the
wants of the pilgrims. M. Gaillard met him at Laus in order
to consult with him on the subject, and has left an account of
what passed on the occasian. The plan of the Vicar- General
was to build a small church, seven or eight fathoms long, con-
taining two or three altars, and on the representation of M.
Gaillard that it ought to be at least fifteen fathoms, he replied v -
that he had never contemplated such an undertaking, that the 4
pilgrimage would probably last at most a dozen years, and would
then die away, and that it would be impossible to find funds
for so large a building. After some demur he at last consented
that the foundations should be dug for twelve fathoms, and
entrusted the direction of the works to M. Gaillard. ' I re-
member very well,' he writes, 'that when we began to dig
the foundations we had no money ; we had some alms-boxes
made, and M. Naz, one of the directors of the works, asked
154 ' Our Lady of Laws.
alms with, one of these ; a poor woman dressed in rags, to
whom one would have felt disposed to give relief if one had
met her on the road, came gently behind him, and slipped in
a lonis d'or ; that was sufficient for the first week, the next
week we had ten crowns, and so it went on, so that we were
never in want either of money, material, or workmen ; it was
* the pence of the poor ' that built the entire church, though
in point of fact it cost more than 15,000 livres.'
The pilgrims aided the rising work with thejr alms and
their labour. It became the custom, whenever a parochial
procession visited Laus, for every member of it, man, woman,
and child to bring a stone. A year was devoted to collecting
the necessary materials, and then the building began in good
earnest. "We have said that M. Gaillard had originally pro-
posed to M. Lambert that the length of the church should be
fifteen fathoms, and singularly enough the additional length
was added by order of the Vicar- General, who on coming to
survey the works found that by some unaccountable omission
no provision had been made in the plans for a sanctuary ; he
therefore ordered one to be added to the erection then in pro-
gress, and in less than four years the church was completed
with the exception of the portico, which, however, was built
at the expense of the Archbishop of Embrun, then ambassador
at Madrid, who having recovered from a dangerous sickness
in consequence of a vow made to Notre Dame de Laus, wished
to make this portico his thank- offering.
Although the erection of this magnificent church on a spot
so humble seemed in itself to confirm the truth of the revelation
made to Benoite, the success of her work only increased the
number and malice of her enemies. After the death of M. Lam-
bert, which took place very soon after the consecration of the
church, certain members of the chapter of Embrun revived all
the old accusations against the shepherdess of Laus. They
caused a paper to be affixed to the church door, threatening
with excommunication any priest who dared to say Mass there,
or any lay person who received the Sacrament within its walls.
It is needless to say that an interdict of such a character, and
from such an authority, was altogether unlawful, neither did
those who published it ever dare to carry its threats into effect.
Our Lady of Laus. 155
A new Vicar- General was soon appointed, who summoned
Benoite to Embrun, and subjected her to a second examination,
which terminated in his declaring that the pilgrimage of Notre
Dame de Laus was the work of God, arid that the innocence
and sanctity of Benoite were above suspicion. The newly
appointed archbishop, Monseigneur de Genlis, even visited
Laus in person, and on beholding the church crowded with its
devout worshippers, exclaimed aloud, * Vere Dominus est in loco
isto." 1 He also questioned Benoite closely, and wrote down her
answers with his own hand, declaring afterwards that he had
never witnessed more simple or more solid piety.
In fact, the reputation for sanctity which the shepherdess
of Laus enjoys does not by any means rest merely on the
apparitions with which she was favoured. Her devotion to
Jesus and his Holy Mother was not alone evinced by prayers
and exstasies, but by the far surer tokens of humility, disin-
terestedness, charity, and forgiveness of injuries. The work
to which she devoted herself was to labour by prayer and
severe austerities for the conversion of sinners. This idea had
never left her soul since she had one day been granted a vision
of her Divine Lord hanging on his cross : this then was what
He had suffered for sinners, and this was the love He bore
them ! Such were the thoughts which the piteous spectacle
engraved on the heart of Benoite, and from that hour her sole
desire was to suffer and to love with Him. She often pro-
longed her fasts for many days, and observed a continual
abstinence, living only on bread and a little fruit. She
watched the greater part of every night, and only slept on the
bare ground. Thrice a week for the space of thirty years she
went barefoot to that spot on the road between Laus and
Avancon, where the vision above spoken of had appeared to
her, and spent many hours there, weeping and praying for the
conversion of sinners, and all the rest of her time she devoted
herself to the service of the pilgrims. Many were the souls who
owed their lasting conversion to her charitable exhortations, and
not a few have borne witness to the marvellous gift which she
possessed of penetrating into the secrets of their consciences.
Of her other mortifications, in the shape of hair- cloths, dis-
ciplines, chains, and endurance of excessive cold, we will only
156 Our Lady of Laws.
add, that she was at last warned by Our Lady to moderate
their excess, and that, by the testimony of all who knew her,
she made her life one long- continued martyrdom.
Far from dying away at the end of a dozen years, as M.
Lambert had expected, the devotion to Notre Dame de Laus
constantly assumed larger proportions. At the suggestion of
Benoite, regular retreats were established eight times a year,
which were conducted according to fixed rules, and were the
means of effecting a great revival of solid piety. And what
is more, this religious movement of which Laus had become
the centre, survived more than one crisis which threatened
the entire destruction of the new sanctuary. In 1692 the
troops of the Duke of Savoy entered Dauphiny, and laid siege
to Embrun. Benoite with many of her fellow- villagers took
refuge at Marseilles, whilst the hostile forces overran the
country, pillaged the church of Laus, and destroyed whatever
they were not able to carry off. When she was at length able
to return to her native valley, the servant of God was pro-
foundly afflicted at beholding the profanation which had been
offered to the sanctuary. The house of the priests had been
burnt, and the marble altars dashed to pieces ; everything
was in ruins and desolation, but Benoite did not lose heart.
' We have more than we had twenty-eight years ago,' she
said, and she at once set about the work of restoration. Once
again this was accomplished with the pence of the poor ; no
rich benefactors came forward ; but one village contributed
wood, another stone, a third wagons and horses ; Benoite her-
self directed and encouraged their labours, and in a few
months' time the church of Laus presented even a better
appearance than it had done before the invasion.
A more serious danger menaced the prosperity of Laus,
when, on the death of the priests who had up to that time
served the sanctuary, others were appointed of Jansenistic
principles, who no sooner found themselves in possession of
the place than they used every effort to put a stop to the
pilgrimage. They caused all the oratories erected in the dif-
ferent localities of Laus to be destroyed, they drove away the
pilgrims, and publicly preached from the pulpit against the
popular devotion exhibited towards Our Lady ; and not only
Our Lady of Laus. 157
did they forbid Benoite to discharge her accustomed offices in
the holy chapel, the altar and linen of which she had hitherto
had charge of, but they refused to admit her to the Sacra-
ments, put her in a sort of confinement, and only allowed her
to hear Mass once a week. This persecution lasted for twenty
years, during all which time Benoite submitted to their inju-
rious treatment with her usual docility and resignation ; the
only order which she refused to obey, was that she should use
her influence with the people to deter them from resorting to
Laus, for this would have been, as she considered, a direct
disobedience to the Divine commands. Her only weapons of
defence were prayer and confidence, and they did not fail to
effect her deliverance. In 1712 the Archbishop of Embrun
removed the priests of Laus, and confided the care of the
sanctuary to a congregation of missionaries, known as that of
Notre Dame de Sainte- Garde, and no sooner was the change
effected than everything returned into its former channel ;
the pilgrimage became more frequented than ever, and the
fruit of souls more marvellous and abundant. Benoite, who
had lived to see this happy fulfilment of her prayers and ardent
desires, understood that her work was ended, and that she had
nothing more to do but to prepare for death. She expired in
fact, on the feast of Holy Innocents, 1718, at the age of seventy-
one years, fifty-six of which had been spent in founding and
supporting the sanctuary which seemed to have been entrusted
to her guardianship by the Mother of God.
Her body lies buried in front of the high altar of Laus, and
is covered with a stone, bearing the following inscription :
Tombeau de la Sceur Benoite,
Morte en odeur de saintet6
Le 28 decembre 1718.
The title of sister is here bestowed on her, in consequence of
her having been associated to the third Order of St. Dominic.
Eighty years later the tomb was opened and the body was
discovered perfectly incorrupt. The voice of the people has
long since expressed their pious conviction of her heroic
sanctity, and it is understood that the necessary informations
are at this time being drawn up by the ecclesiastical authori-
158 Our Lady of Laus,
ties- with the view of introducing the process of her beatifica-
tion at Rome.
The devotion of the people in no degree slackened after the
death of Benoite. The missionaries continued their pious
labours, and pilgrims continued to resort to Laus in great
numbers up to the year 1791, when the revolution came once
more to lay waste the holy sanctuary. The priests were driven
away, all the ornaments of the church seized, the church itself
shut up, and the houses erected for the use of the pilgrims
either burnt or sold. Frightful sacrileges were perpetrated
by the brutal ruffians who carried out the orders of their
masters, and who destroyed and desecrated whatever they
were unable to carry off. They were directed to efface every
memorial of piety in the neighbourhood, to demolish all the
crosses and oratories in the surrounding valleys, and ' to purge
the country of their odious presence,' and these orders they
carried out to the letter. But they were unable to destroy
the devotion which had struck its roots into the hearts of the
people. All through the miserable days of the Reign of Terror
the peasants continued to resort to their 'ruined and desolate
sanctuary, to bring thither their sick, and to invoke the aid of
the Mother of Grod in all their tribulations. On occasion of a
great drought which threatened to destroy all hopes of a har-
vest, the surrounding villages even insisted on making a
solemn public procession to Laus, as in former times, and
their faith was rewarded by a fall of rain, which restored their
lands to fertility. At last, when order was restored, in 1802,
Monsignor Miollis, Bishop of Digne, purchased and restored
the church, and reopened it for public worship. Three of the
surviving missionaries returned to their old post, and at once
the devotion of the people, forcibly restrained for a time,
broke forth with a greater enthusiasm than ever. Ocular
witnesses have described the scenes they themselves witnessed
in 1804, when the entire church was blocked up by the crowds
of penitents, and the priests in attendance were found insuf-
ficient to satisfy the requirements of the pilgrims. In course
of time a new congregation of missionary priests was estab-
lished at Laus, the retreats and other pious exercises were
revived, and new oratories and chapels erected on the site of
Our -Lady of Laus. 159
those destroyed by the Revolutionists. At this moment Notre
Dame de Laus probably attracts a greater number of pilgrims
than even during the days of Benoite, and it is no uncommon
thing on the greater feasts to see altars erected out of doors
for the celebration of Mass, in order to accommodate the vast
crowds that overflow the spacious church. The average num-
ber of those who visit Laus in the course of the year is 80,000,
of which the greater proportion attend at the Feast of Pente-
cost, and during the October retreat. On these occasions as
many as thirty-six or even forty priests are to be seen attend-
ing in the confessionals, where they often have to remain
during the entire night. Many extraordinary graces have
been received at these times, of which testimony is to be found
in the ex-voto offerings which cover the walls.
The visitor to Laus will find the memory of Benoite still
fresh in the breasts of the people, and all the surrounding
valleys filled with pious monuments attesting their faith in
those apparitions which were vouchsafed to her by the Mother
of God. The grotto where the little shepherdess was accus-
tomed to pray, the rock where Our Lady first appeared to her,
the chapel of Notre Dame durable, where, according to her
history, she had to sustain many assaults from the evil one ;
another, called the Chapel of the Angel, where her good angel
is said to have appeared to her in visible form ; the Oratory
of Pindreau, on the spot where the Blessed Virgin first directed
her to go to Laus ; and finally, that of the Cross, on the road
where she beheld the Vision of Jesus crucified : all these and
more are numbered among the holy places of Laus. Swept
away once by war, and again by an anti-religious revolution,
they have each time been restored, and not merely the mate-
rial buildings have reappeared, but with them the faith, the
devotion, the indescribable atmosphere of piety which seems
to hang about this celebrated place of pilgrimage.
At the close of a late retreat, one of those who had assisted
at its- exercises exclaimed with great emotion, ' Why do they
not preach like this in our parish ! ' One of the missionaries
who overheard him, replied, ' In your parish, very probably
they preach not only as well, but a great deal better than they
do here ; only here there is an invisible preacher, who speaks to
160 Our Lady of Puy.
the heart.'' And these few words contain the secret of that
wonderful influence which is felt by those who visit holy sanc-
tuaries in the true spirit of pilgrimage. God makes Himself
felt there as the invisible preacher ; He draws souls to these his
secret places, that He may speak to their hearts, and the long
list of miraculous cures and graces which fill the chronicles of
such sanctuaries are but a feeble exterior token of far more
numerous and prodigious graces granted invisibly to penitent
and believing souls.
3. Our Lady of Puy.
THE legendary history of the venerable church of Puy pre-
sents us with the first instance on record of an apparition of
the Blessed Virgin. Whatever may be the worth of such
legends in the eyes of critics, they incontestably assist us in
tracing back some of the popular devotions of Christendom to
periods of very remote antiquity, and possess a certain weight
and value which no unprejudiced mind can disallow. These
childish legends, as some regard them, enjoy a marvellous
vitality ; they have survived through ages of rationalism and
revolution, and if our own generation has witnessed such a
spectacle as the inauguration of an image of Notre Dame de
France on the Rocher CorneiUe, it must be owned that the
erection of that monument in the year of grace 1860, was but
the offspring of a piety which dates its earliest traditions from
the apostolic age. We shall give these traditions as they
stand therefore, regarding them if not as certainly authentic,
at least as being entitled to respect and veneration, and cer-
tainly as not ranking among the least interesting narratives
of their kind. It was in the year 46 or 47 of the Christian
era, according to the French historians, that the first mis-
sionaries were sent into Gaul by St. Peter, and amongst these
St. George of Yelay, as he is commonly called, became first
bishop of that church. One of the new converts, a certain
devout widow named Villa, having fallen sick of a fever,
invoked the aid of the Holy Virgin, and was consoled by a
vision in which Our Lady desired her to ascend a certain hill
in the neighbourhood, then called Anis, or Anicium, which
OUT Lady of Puy. 161
she had chosen as the site of a future sanctuary to be erected
in her honour, promising her that she should there receive
her cure. Villa obeyed the command, and made her at-
tendant carry her to the spot indicated, where, being laid
to rest on a large stone, she fell asleep, and woke in perfect
health.
The facts being made known to St. George, he proceeded to
the spot in company with his clergy, but when they came in
sight of the Cornelian Rock, they paused in surprise. It was
a hot summer's day, the llth of July, but Mount Corneille was
covered with a sparkling veil of freshly fallen snow. As they
still gazed in wonder at so strange a spectacle, a stag sprang
out of a neighbouring thicket, and with light step bounded
round the rock, and then galloped back again to her woody
covert, leaving on the snow the traces of her feet. St. George
directed the area thus marked out to be enclosed by a hedge,
and St. Martial afterwards chose the place to be occupied by
the altar of the future church, and left as a precious relic, to be
preserved in it for ever, one of the shoes of the Blessed Virgin
which he had brought with him from Rome.
Nevertheless, it was not until the episcopate of St. Vosy,
or Evodius, that the church was actually commenced. An-
other miraculous cure wrought on the person of a paralytic
woman when laid upon the same stone, determined him in
220, according to the early writers, or in 560, according to
the more sceptical critics of the last century, to build the
church, and fix his episcopal see at Anis. The authorisation
of the Pope was necessary, for which purpose Evodius jour-
neyed to Rome, and returned in company with a young Roman
architect named Scrutarius. In seven years they completed
building the round apse and cupola now occupied by the
chapter stalls, and commonly called 'the Angelic Chamber.'
When it was finished, say the historians of Puy, the bishop
again set out for Rome, accompanied by his architect, to solicit
permission for its solemn consecration, but they had not pro-
ceeded half a league before they were met by two venerable
old men, each carrying a casket of gold, containing relics
brought as they said from Rome, which they presented to the
Bishop, desiring him to deposit them in the church of Mount
162 Our Lady of Puy.
Anis, which at that moment they assured him was being
consecrated by the hands of angels. They then disappeared,
and the bishop returning barefoot to his church, found it
illuminated by 300 torches, and the altar still anointed with
an oil of delicious fragrance. Two of these torches are still
exhibited in the treasury of Puy ; the church never received
any other consecration, and has henceforth borne the title of
the Church of the Angels.
As the population increased, and a city gradually gathered
round the foot of the mountain, the apse of St. Vosy was
found far too small for the purposes of a cathedral. In the
ninth century the Angels' Tower was added, and a portion of
the transept, then the nave, and finally the great porch, in
different styles of architecture, all more or less of the Byzan-
tine character, which, however, harmonise together, and from
their unmistakeable air of genuine antiquity produce an effect
at once devotional and picturesque.
Accepting the chronology of the most incredulous critics,
we are therefore bound to assign the church of Puy an
antiquity which dates at the very least from the sixth century,
from which time to our own day Notre Dame de Puy has
constantly remained a place of devout pilgrimage.
It would altogether surpass our limits to attempt any-
thing like a history of this venerable sanctuary ; and we can
but select a few of the facts of special interest which fill
its chronicles. ' Puy Notre Dame,' as it soon came to be
called, is associated in a particular manner with the story of
the Crusaders. When Urban II. visited France to open the
Council of Clermont and preach the First Crusade, he came
to Puy, and was there received by its famous Bishop, Adhemar
de Montheil, who was the first man to assume the cross, and
who accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon to the Holy Land in
quality of Legate of the Holy See, A new door was opened
in the wall of the church on this occasion, to admit the Vicar
of Christ, after which it was walled up again, only to be re-
opened when any of his successors in the Chair of St. Peter
should visit the cathedral. Here, at the foot of Our Lady's
altar, Urban II. passed the entire feast of the Assumption
1095, praying for the success of his great enterprise, and the
Our Lady of Puy. 163
deliverance of the Holy Land ; and here, before leaving his
beloved city, Adhemar de Montheil prostrated on the same
spot, and then as bj sudden inspiration arose and intoned an
anthem, then heard for the first time, but which each suc-
cessive generation of Christians has repeated with increased
devotion : ' Salve Begina, Mater Misericordice, vita, dulcedo et
spes nostra, salve I ' Whether, as stated by the Puy historians,
Adhemar were really the author of this anthem, or whether the
circumstances under which it was then recited first rendered it
popular, one thing is certain, that in early times it constantly
bore the title of the Anthem of Puy, and that it formed the favo-
rite invocation of Our Lady in use among the first Crusaders.
The Salve Regina is not the only devotion to Our Lady
connected with the history of the First Crusade. At the
Council of Clermont Urban II. enjoined on the clergy the
recitation of the Little Office of Our Lady, to invoke her pro-
tection on the Christian arms. Peter the Hermit introduced
the recitation of the chaplet among the soldiers of his army,
as a substitute for this office, and the custom of ringing a bell
in the middle of the day to assemble them for this purpose is
supposed to have been the first origin of the mid-day Angelus.
I shall say nothing of the other Popes who have visited
Puy, or of the kings who have paid their vows here and thought
it an honour to sit among her canons, and, clad in surplice
and amice, to chant vespers in the apse of the angels. Some
ascended the holy mountain barefoot in the garb of simple
pilgrims, as Charles VII. and Louis XL, others like Francis I.
came hither surrounded by a brilliant court, so that their
pilgrimage became a pageant. And some, like Rene of Anjou,
added a more religious character to the pageantry, by bringing
with them a train of converts to the Christian faith ; Rene's
retinue including a company of several hundred Moorish
knights, all converts from Islam, who had vowed a pilgrimage
of gratitude to Our Lady of Puy. But it is necessary to speak a
little more particularly of one royal pilgrim, to whom Puy stood
indebted for the miraculous image of Our Lady which for
many centuries was the object of extraordinary devotion, not
only in France, but we may say throughout all Europe. It
was brought from the Holy Land and deposited in the basilica
M 2
164 Our Lady of Puy.
in the year 1254, by St. Louis himself, who at the same time
presented to the church a thorn from the holy crown. The
image, which was of great antiquity, was carved in very hard
cedar wood, and represented the Blessed Virgin seated, and
holding the Divine Child on her knees. It was first carried
in procession, by way of solemn thanksgiving for the safe
return of its royal donor, on which occasion such immense
crowds assembled in the steep and narrow streets that serious
accidents occurred, and some persons were even crushed to
death. In consequence of this disaster the holy image was
very rarely afterwards carried in public, and only on extra-
ordinary occasions. At such times the ceremony was per-
formed with the greatest splendour. Four nobles of the
highest rank were chosen to carry the image, and four others,
styled the Barons of Our Lady, held the canopy. These pro-
cessions were made to implore the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin when the country was afflicted by famine, pestilence,
or war. Thus, in the fifteenth century, when the greater part
of France was occupied by the English, Notre Dame de Puy
was carried in the midst of a crowd which, says the chronicler
Medicis, 'wept hot tears,' and besought the intercession of
Mary for their afflicted land. On another similar occasion, he
says, 'the people wept marvellously.' All these processions,
he adds, ' were very holy and devout. The people put their
souls in a good state, almost all were well shriven, and had
received the Holy Body of the Lord. And they walked weeping
hot tears with a lamentable vociferation, and calling on God
and Our Lady for mercy.'
Nor did they call in vain ; the deliverance of France from
the English invaders, the cessation of many plagues, the birth
of Charles VIII., the release of Francis I., as well as the paci-
fication of the country after the long civil wars of the League
were all regarded by the votaries of Puy as graces obtained
in answer to these prayers. Their confidence in the protec-
tion of Our Lady knew no bounds ; Puy was ' the city of
Mary ; ' and it was the proud boast of her citizens that she
had never opened her gates to a conqueror. Again and again
the Huguenots laid siege to the place, but whether they had
recourse to stratagem or violence, their eiforts were equally
Our Lady of Puy. 165
frustrated. The people of Puy commemorated their repeated
triumphs by engraving on one of the pillars of their cathedral
the following verse :
Civitas nunquam vincitur
Nee vincetur : sic igitur
Per Mariam protegitur
Hsec privilegiata.
A graphic pen would, indeed, be required to describe the
scenes which this old cathedral has witnessed during the
thirteen centuries of its glorious past. Here in 1399* a
strange procession might have been seen approaching, headed
by a hundred penitents, walking two and two, and clothed in
rough sackcloth. Then comes a Dominican friar who is about
to preach ; but no church will contain a tenth part of the im-
mense multitude that is gathered to listen to St. Vincent
Ferrer. A temporary amphitheatre has to be formed in the
immense meadow called Le Breuil, which then included all
the ground now covered by the prefecture, the courts of
justice, the museum, and the public promenade. A tempo-
rary altar was erected, and whilst the saint prepared to offer
the holy sacrifice, the penitents bared their shoulders, and in
the sight of all the people scourged themselves to blood, call-
ing on all sinners who loved God and hated sin to follow their
example, and displaying a banner representing in a terrific
manner the flagellation of Our Divine Lord. The fervid com-
punction of those believing multitudes manifested itself in
groans and cries and torrents of tears, and when Mass was
ended and the apostle began his preaching, prodigies of
penance were witnessed ; and this continued for fifteen days,
during which time the saint's voice never once grew weak or
exhausted, but made itself heard to the outermost rank of his
vast audience.
The enthusiasm with which the pilgrimage of Puy was
regarded by Catholics of all countries rather increased than
abated with time. Pilgrims came from Spain, from Greece,
and from Poland. New hospitals had to be built for their
reception, and new roads opened for their convenience ; which,
however, did not suffice to convey the thousands who, at the
approach of all the great festivals, took their way towards
166 Our Lady of Puy.
Puy Notre Dame. They came over the fields and the hills ;
in the depth of winter, they were often to be seen walking
barefoot the greater part of the way ; and when from the
neighbouring heights they caught a first sight of the Angelic
Sanctuary, they would fall on their knees in the midst of the
ice and snow and kiss the consecrated soil.
There was one occasion of rare occurrence, when these
pilgrimages became even yet more numerous : it was at the
time of the great Puy jubilee. This was a privilege granted
in Very early times by the Holy See, and enjoyed by no other
church in Christendom, in virtue of which a plenary indul-
gence could be gained in the church whenever the feast of the
Annunciation fell upon Good Friday. The first of these
jubilees of which we have any account took place in 1407,
and both then, and in 1418, several persons lost their lives
in the immense crowd that choked up both the church and
the streets, and the same thing happened in 1502, when
although the general jubilee of the year 1500 had so lately
closed, it seemed, says one writer, as if every country in
Europe was precipitating its inhabitants on Puy. The bishop
had provided three thousand confessors for the service of the
pilgrims, but it was found necessary to send in all directions
in order to collect another thousand, and the multitude con-
fessed themselves not only in the church, but in the porches,
the streets, the great meadow, and the churchyard. The
streets were so full of people, says the historian, that if you
dropt anything you could not stoop to pick it up. The air
became so hot, that people poured water from the windows of
the houses on those below in order to cool them, and members
of the same family in order not to lose each other in the
crowd, carried long sticks with ribbons of variegated colours
which might be seen overhead. In 1622, to prevent the risk
of accidents, Gregory XV. prolonged the time of gaining the
jubilee until the following Friday, in hopes the numbers
would be lessened by being spread over an entire week, but
the only effect of this change was to increase the numbers
who availed themselves of the privilege, and that year
300,000 pilgrims visited the cathedral. In 1785 took place
the last of these jubilees which the eighteenth century was
Our Lady of Puy. 167
destined to witness ; the great revolution followed, which,
among its other acts of sacrilege, did not spare the sanctuary
of Puy. The miraculous image, the gift of St. Louis and
the object of devout veneration to so many millions, was
dragged through the streets and ignominiously burnt in the
Place du Martouret, and fifty-seven years passed before the
disturbances of the times permitted the revival of the pil-
grimage. When at last, in 1842, a jubilee of Notre Dame de
Puy was again announced, few persons expected that the
scenes of former days could possibly be renewed. In the first
place, the jubilees of the Church had become more frequent,
and the gaining of plenary indulgences no longer involved the
painful and difficult exercises of ancient times. The ancient
image had disappeared, and was only replaced by a faithful
copy, and more than all, the faith of the multitudes had, it was
believed, grown cold, and a generation had passed away since
Puy had last seen her streets thronged with pious pilgrims ;
whilst the new one had sprung up and grown to manhood
during half a century of atheism, rationalism, and religious
indifference. Yet in spite of all these arguments, 150,000
pilgrims presented themselves that year, and in 1853, al-
though the Holy See had quite recently granted two general
jubilees to all the faithful, the jubilee of Puy equalled any-
thing that had been witnessed in the past. The season was
unusually severe, the roads were choked up with snow ; but
over snow and ice 300,000 pilgrims made their way, many
finding no home in which to lodge, and being content to pass
the nights praying in the churches ; and to the confusion of
the enemies of the faith never had there been witnessed a
larger number of conversions, more fervent communions, more
edifying signs of faith and piety. The old ceremonies too,
with a very few modifications, were revived. On Passion
Sunday took place the great procession intended to call down
the blessing of God on the ensuing jubilee. On the Wed-
nesday in Holy Week, the image of Our Lady was removed
from its ordinary resting-place, and placed in a conspicuous
place under a rich canopy, and on this occasion the barons of
Notre Dame appeared in their former place guarding the
holy image with their drawn swords ; and the following day
168 Our Lady of Puy.
an enormous and brilliant procession passed through the
streets, and returned to the gilded gate of the cathedral, which
being thrice struck by the bishop was thrown open to the
chant of the Jubilate, and the jubilee began.
It remains to notice the very remarkable monument erected
at Puy in our own time to the honour of the Blessed Virgin.
We have already spoken of the Cornelian Rock, or the E/ocher
Corneille, on which, according to ancient legend, appeared the
miraculous snow. Mgr. de Morlhon, the Bishop of Puy, who
presided at the jubilee of 1853, conceived the idea of making
this rock the pedestal on which should be raised a colossal
image of the Mother of God. The rock itself stands 757
metres, or 2,460 feet, above the level of the sea. On such a
pedestal, therefore, the image of the Mother of God might be
said to overlook the whole of France, the country long since
consecrated to her by one of her old line of princes, and which
the crimes of later generations have not succeeded in tearing
from her protection. It was a noble design and one worthily
executed. The first stone of the pedestal which was to be fixed
on the top of the rock was, by the judicious arrangement of the
Bishop, to have been laid on the very day when the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pius IX., but
circumstances having deferred the ceremony two days, the work
was commenced on the 10th of December, 1854. Then came
the war in the Crimea, and the idea was suggested by Marshal
Pelissier of applying to the Emperor for some of the cannon
taken from the Russians, as forming a fit material for
the statue of Our Lady of France. Mgr. de Morlhon sum-
moned courage to make the request on the 5th of September,
1855; three days later , Sebastopol was in the hands of the
allies, and the cannon taten by the French were in the follow-
ing April granted to the Bishop of Puy by an imperial ordi-
nance. The image was not completed and placed on its
pedestal till 1860 ; when i^welve bishops and an immense
throng of clergy and the faithful attended at the ceremony
which inaugurated Notre Dame de France. The statue is
described as a fine work of art, and measures with its pedestal
twenty- three metres, or about seventy- six feet. It represents
the Blessed Virgin, crushing the serpent's head under her
Our Lady of Chartres. 169
foot, while in her arms she bears the Divine Child, whose
hand is raised as if in the act of blessing France, and by
an episcopal ordinance the anniversary of its erection is to
be kept in perpetuity on the first Sunday after the 12th of
September.
4. Our Lady of Chartres.
IN some of the foregoing sketches we have had to claim for
the French sanctuaries of Our Lady an antiquity which will
doubtless provoke a contemptuous smile from readers of a
critical temper. The bare notion of images of the Blessed
Virgin having been brought into France, and churches built
in her honour, by the immediate followers of the Apostles
appears to many minds not merely legendary but apocryphal ;
yet in the history of the church of Chartres we are presented
with a greater wonder still, for that venerable city claims
pre-eminence among all those which boast of their ancient
devotion to Mary from the fact of its having been the seat of
a religious worship, which we may say was directed to her
even before her birth. This statement, which at first sight
appears preposterous, bears, nevertheless, more substantial
appearance of probability than many of the legends hitherto
quoted. Chartres, as we learn from Caesar, was the great
seat of Druidical worship in Gaul. The Druid priests held
their principal assemblies in its neighbourhood, in finibus
Carnutum, and their supreme chief always resided here.
The Druids, as is well known, performed their religious cere-
monies, not in temples, but in woods, and one of these sacred
woods covered the little hill now occupied by the cathedral of
Chartres. In this wood was a cave or grotto, where, accord-
ing to ancient tradition, an altar was erected to the Virgo
paritura, the Virgin who was to bring forth, to whom more-
over the king and his people solemnly consecrated themselves.
This tradition loses all character of improbability when we
remember that the mystery to which it alludes was to be
found in the religious belief of most pagan nations of anti-
quity. It formed, in fact, a portion of that primitive tradi-
tion which however much corrupted and overlaid by fables
1 70 Our Lady of Chartres.
had never been entirely effaced. Traces of it are to be found
in the mythologies of the Latins, the Chaldeans, the Per-
sians, and the Egyptians ; but in the religious system of the
Druids the belief in this mystery was given a peculiar pro-
minence, and far from there being anything uncommon in
the erection of such an altar as that of Chartres, we are
assured by more than one author that they were of frequent
occurrence not only in Gaul, but also in Germany and Eng-
land.
Whatever may have been the source whence the Druids
obtained this fragment of primeval truth, it cannot be doubted
that the possession of it prepared them in some sort for re-
ceiving the doctrine of the Incarnation when first preached to
them by Christian apostles. Hence, when St. Polentianus
and St. Savinianus arrived in the territory of Chartres they
found the minds of the inhabitants readily disposed to accept
the preaching of the gospel. As St. Paul appealed to the
altar erected by the Athenians to the unknown God, when
declaring to them Him whom up to that time they had igno-
rantly woi^hipped, so now the Christian missionaries found
willing hearers when they announced themselves servants of
Him who had truly been born of the Virgin they had so long
by anticipation revered. And on the conversion of the Char-
trains nothing could be more natural than that their ancient
grotto should be transformed into a Christian temple dedicated
in honour of the true Mother of God.* Nor can it be said
that these facts rest only on tradition. The grotto still forms
the crypt of the present cathedral, and has been religiously
preserved through all the reconstructions of the edifice ; and
up to the disastrous period of the revolution the ancient
Druidical statue was venerated there, forming one of the
greatest treasures of the city whether we regard it from a
religious or merely from an antiquarian point of view. It was
i
* Even this title is said to have been not unknown to the Druids.
Guibert de Nogent tells us in his memoirs that the church of his monastery
was said to have been erected on the site of one of the sacred woods of the
Druid priests, where they had been used to sacrifice to the Mother of the
God who was to be born Matri futures DEI nascituri. Gruib. 'de Vita sua,'
lib. ii. c. i.
Our Lady of Chartres. 171
most unhappily destroyed by the worse than Vandals who at
that time busied themselves in profaning every sacred monu-
ment ; but a very exact description of it has been preserved,
from which we learn that it was carved in wood, and (as it
would seem) out of the trunk of a tree ; that it was black
with extreme age, and that it represented the Virgin sitting
in a chair and holding her Divine Child on her knee.
It was in 1020 that the celebrated Bishop Fulbert of Char-
tres first formed the design of replacing the simple wooden
church erected over the sacred grotto in primitive times, by a
more solid structure. The cathedral begun by him was, how-
ever, destroyed by fire while still incomplete, and the whole
work had to be recommenced in the reign of Philip Augustus.
The extraordinary scenes which then took place have been
recorded by contemporary writers, such as Hugh, Archbishop
of Rouen, whose letter to the Bishop of Amiens is still pre-
served, wherein he speaks of those marvels, the rumour of
which has spread into all parts, and inspired the populations
of other dioceses with similar zeal. ' It was at Chartres,' he
says, ' that men were first seen humbly dragging carts and
other conveyances to help in the construction of a church,
their humility being rewarded with miracles.' He goes on
to relate that his own people having visited Chartres and be-
held what was done there returned to Rouen, determined not
to be outstripped in devotion by their neighbours ; and having
resolved to admit none into their society save those who had
confessed their sins, and were living at peace with their neigh-
bours, they elected one of their number as chief, and under
his direction undertook the restoration of their cathedral
church, harnessing themselves like dumb animals to heavy
carts, imposing on themselves severe privations, and perform-
ing all their labours in silence and tears.
Robert du Mont speaks in like manner of the spectacle first
witnessed at Chartres where women as well as men were to
be seen labouring like beasts of burden. * He who has not
beheld these things,' he says, * will never see their equal. . . .
Everywhere there is penance, humility, and forgiveness of
injuries ; men and women dragging themselves on their knees
through mud and marsh, beating their breasts, and calling on
172 Our Lady of Chartres.
heaven, in the midst of innumerable miracles that elicit songs
of thanksgiving.' But the most striking description is that
given by Haymon, Abbot of St. Pierre-sur- Dives, who wrote
a history of the miracles performed through the intercession
of the Blessed Virgin in 1140, in which he relates the scenes of
which he had been an eyewitness during the construction
of his own abbey church, on which occasion thousands both
of men and women emulated the example of the people of
Chartres, coming from great distances, across mountains and
even rivers, harnessed to their wagons, everywhere preserving
perfect order, singing canticles in admirable concert, or im-
ploring the mercy of God on their sins.
The dedication of the cathedral of Chartres took place in
1260, in the presence of the good St. Louis, who at his own ex-
pense erected the southern porch. This venerable structure,
recently restored, is admitted to be one of the grandest eccle-
siastical monuments existing in France ; nevertheless, it owes
its celebrity far less to the beauty of its architecture than to
the sacred relics which have for centuries attracted the devo-
tion of the faithful. Of these the Druidical statue, or Notre
Dame de Sous-Terre, was formerly the most renowned. The
massive crypt erected by Fulbert was not destroyed with the
rest of his building ; and in constructing it he was careful not
to disturb the ancient grotto and its image, in order, as one
writer expresses it, ' not to dry up a fount of grace.' In course
of time the piety of the faithful enriched this grotto with
every kind of ornament, and in the seventeenth century its
walls blazed with gold and precious marbles lighted up by in-
numerable lamps, which burnt day and night before the sacred
image.
Another image stood in the upper church known as Our
Lady of the Pillar, which was saved from destruction at the
time of the revolutionary troubles and has been recently
restored to its former place ; but the third and most precious
of the Chartres treasures was the relic known as Our Lady's
veil, which was long preserved at Constantinople, and is sup-
posed to have been presented to Charlemagne by the Empress
Irene, and afterwards to have been brought from Aix-la-
Chapelle to Chartres by his grandson, Charles the Bald.
Our Lady of Chartres. 173
This relic, folded in another silken veil, was formerly kept in a
cedar reliquary, adorned with gold and jewels, which was
never opened, and the reliquary itself was only exposed for
veneration on extraordinary occasions.
The people therefore formed their own ideas as to the
nature of the relic, which commonly went by the name of ' la
'chemise de Notre Dame,' and the custom was introduced of
fashioning garments supposed to resemble in form the veil so
religiously preserved, which were laid on the reliquary and
afterwards sold to pious pilgrims. Nobody ever thought of
visiting Chartres without bringing away one of the ' chemisettes
de Notre Dame' They were supposed to afford an excellent
defence in battle, and among other brave knights who were
proud to wear them, was the chevalier sans peur et sans
reproche, who came to Chartres, says his biographer, ''pour se
faire enchemiser de la chemisette de Notre Dame.' Even in
1712, when in consequence of the decay of the cedar-wood
reliquary, it became necessary to transfer the holy relic to a
silver case, this appears to have been done without any ex-
amination of the relic itself, which was not taken out of its
silken covering.
In 1793, however, that which had for nine centuries been
an object of such pious veneration fell into the hands of the
revolutionary government. Some of their commissaries were
despatched to Chartres in the December of that year, who,
entering the sacristy of the cathedral, insisted on having the
case containing Our Lady's veil given up to them. When
however they found themselves in presence of it, they were
seized with a certain involuntary sentiment of fear, and strange
to say, they shrank from laying their own hands on the relic
and decided that the case should be opened by a priest. When
this was done, and the veil was withdrawn from its covering
it was found to be wholly unlike what they had expected to
see. In the hopes of proving the falsehood of the tradition
attached to it, by exposing the popular delusion as to its form
and character, the commissaries cut off a considerable portion
and sent it to the celebrated Oriental scholar, the Abbe Bar-
thelemy, whose learning had been respected by the revolu-
tionists themselves, and had recently procured his release from
1 74 OUT Lady of Chartres.
prison, after lie had narrowly escaped becoming a victim of the
September massacres. The Abbe was not informed whence
the fragment had been obtained ; but after a careful scientific
examination, he replied that it was of great antiquity and pro-
bably as much as two thousand years old, and that it appeared
to have formed part of a veil or external wrapper, covering
the head and entire person, similar to those still worn by
women in the East. This decision, procured by those whose
object it had been to destroy all popular faith in the genuine
character of the relic, was the greatest confirmation of its
authenticity that could have been given, and the commissaries
thought it wise to proceed no further. They left the veil in
its case, contenting themselves with plundering the sanctuary
of all its treasure, and causing the Druidical image to be pub-
licly burnt before the west door of the cathedral. Occasion
was unfortunately taken of the opening of the reliquary to cut
up the precious veil, and distribute its fragments in various
quarters. A large portion found its way into Brittany, where
it is now preserved in the church of St. Anne of Auray.
Other smaller fragments were carried by missionary and
emigrant priests into Canada and England. On the re-estab-
lishment of religion, however, Mgr. de Labersac, Bishop of
Chartres, caused all the pieces he could collect to be carefully
authenticated and deposited in a new silver reliquary, which
in 1822 was restored to the cathedral treasury.
It need hardly be said that the sanctuary which possessed
so many memorials of the devotion to Our Lady has always
been regarded with special veneration. The number of graces
granted within its walls have formed the subject of histories
both in prose and verse, and few cities have boasted with
better cause than Chartres of the singular protection afforded
them by their heavenly patroness. Thus in 911 when the
city was besieged by the Normans under their chief Hollo, and
on the point of falling into their hands, we read that the
Bishop of Chartres advanced into the midst of the combatants
carrying the sacred veil, and that at his approach the Normans
fled, being seized with a sudden panic. A little chapel may
still be seen erected at the time on the spot where this occur-
rence took place. It stands in a ravine near the city which
Our Lady of Chartres. 1 75
received the name of Val-Rollon, now corrupted into Vauroux,
and the meadows through which the Norman chief beat his
retreat were designated the Pres des recules.
A still more celebrated event was the deliverance of the city
from the army of Edward III., who was encamped outside the
walls in 1360, when the people having solemnly invoked the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin, that tremendous tempest
broke out so graphically described by Froissart, wherein a
thousand men-at-arms and six thousand horses were killed by
monstrous hail-stones. Then it was that Edward falling on
his knees stretched out his arms in the direction of the cathe-
dral, and in his turn implored the aid of Our Lady of Chartres,
vowing if his army were spared, that he would grant peace to
France. Hardly was his vow pronounced than the storm
abated, and in fulfilment of his promise, the king soon after
signed the treaty known as the Great Peace of Bretigny.
Two centuries later, in 1568, a Huguenot army was at the
gates of Chartres, headed by the Prince of Conde, who had
been proclaimed king by the insurgent heretics. The citizens
in preparing for the defence had placed over each of their
gates a statue of the Blessed Virgin, bearing the inscription :
' Carnutum tntela.' One of these statues appeared over the
Porte Drouaire, and against it the Huguenots directed a
furious cannonade, which broke down the whole of the sur-
rounding walls, but left the image itself untouched. The
besieged defended themselves gallantly, and one piece of
artillery which had been taken from the Protestants at the
battle of Dreux, and which bore in consequence the title of
the Huguenot, did such good service on this occasion that it
was afterwards rechristened the good Catholic. The assailants
however succeeded in effecting a breach between the Porte
Drouaire and the River Eure, and the citizens believing all
human chance of escape was over, betook themselves in crowds
to the subterranean grotto, to implore the protection of Notre
Dame de Chartres. Wonderful to relate, at the very moment
when their victory seemed secure, the besieging army with-
drew from the open breach, a.nd raised the siege. Chartres
was once more delivered, and not by the force of arms ; and in
commemoration of this event an inscription was put up still
176 Our Lady of Chartres.
to be seen in the public library ; a little chapel being also
erected on that part of the wall which had been destroyed by
the artillery of the enemy, bearing the title of Notre Dame de
la Breche.*
The pilgrimages to Notre Dame de Chartres were in old
time so numerously attended, and especially on the Feast of
Our Lady's Nativity, that it is said the city could not afford
shelter to one half the pilgrims, multitudes of whom spent the
night in the cathedral. The sensible inclination of the floor
of the nave from the choir towards the door is attributed to
the constant influx of worshippers, and their vigils in the
church not being very conducive to the cleanliness of the
building, it was found necessary to flood the pavement every
morning before the celebration of Mass ; a cistern being con-
structed close by for this purpose, the old pipe of which has
recently been discovered.
The reader will perhaps smile at this last illustration of the
devotion exhibited towards this ancient sanctuary, and take it
as a proof that the pilgrims to Chartres in former times pre-
sented that combination of dirt and piety which is no un-
common spectacle in Catholic churches. In other words, the
sanctuary of Chartres was beloved and resorted to by the
poor, and within its walls they truly felt themselves at home.
But if this were true, it is no less certain that the list of her
pilgrims includes likewise the most illustrious names of
Europe : three popes, almost every one of the kings of
France, several even of those of England, our own saintly
primates St. Anselm and St. Thomas, as well as St. Bernard,
St. Vincent of Paul, and St. Francis of Sales, and lastly,
among the queens of France, the beautiful and unfortunate
Mary Stuart. Visitors of this class enriched the church with
their splendid ex-voto offerings, the inventory of which, in
1682, filled a quarto volume of 170 pages. There you might
see the silver sceptre of John II., the golden image of the
Blessed Virgin offered by his namesake, John Duke of Berry,
the magnificent cross blazing with emeralds and rubies
* An annual procession was made to this chapel, which in 1789 was
sold and demolished. It was however rebuilt in 1844, and the annual pro-
cession of gratitude has been restored.
Ou r Lady of Ch artres. 177
presented by Henry III., and the rich reliquaries and other
gifts offered by Henry IY., who chose that the ceremony of his
coronation should take place within this cathedral.
Bat all these treasures disappeared in the pillage which
took place during the revolutionary crisis, and even after the
restoration of religion the cathedral continued to bear lament-
able traces of the desecrations then perpetrated. It has been
reserved to our own days to witness the noble efforts of the
Bishop of Chartres, assisted by the pious devotion of his flock,
exerted in restoring the venerable sanctuary to something of
its former grandeur, the thirteen cha,pels of the cathedral
raised from their ruins, the grand old crypt cleared out, and
again thronged by pilgrims to the subterranean grotto, whilst
Our Lady of the Pillar fills her old place in the upper church,
and daily beholds at her feet a crowd of pious worshippers.
Among those whose prayers and example have done much
to effect this striking revival of faith in the hearts of the
people, must be numbered the venerable prelate, Monseigneur
Clausel de Montals, late Bishop of Chartres. On first coming
into the diocese, he engaged himself by vow to spend half an
hour every Saturday in prayer before Our Lady of the Pillar,
and during the whole of his long episcopate he was never
known to fail in accomplishing his promise. Neither extreme
old age nor painful infirmities sufficed as an excuse for his
absenting himself, and when at last obliged to resign his
episcopal charge, he failed not in his act of resignation to
express his desire of being suffered to die ' at the foot of those
towers which crown the Sanctuary of Our Lady.' His wish
was almost literally accomplished, for, on the 3rd of January,
1857, finding himself too feeble to make his way to the
cathedral on foot, he caused himself to be carried thither by
his attendants to make what proved to be his farewell visit to
his favourite sanctuary, and on the following day he happily
expired at the age of 88.
1 78 Our Lady of La Salette.
5. Our Lady of La Salette.
FIVE-AND-TWENTY years ago the name of La Salette was
unknown, save only to the inhabitants of its immediate vicinity.
It is a small village, near Corps, in the southern part of
Dauphine, consisting of eight or ten hamlets scattered about,
at no great distance from one another, in different nooks
and corners among the roots of the French Alps, which rise
rapidly, and in some places almost precipitously, behind them.
The chief of these hamlets, where the church is situated, and
which gives its name to the whole parish, is not less than
3700 feet above the level of the sea. The population, about
800 souls, are poor and simple, principally small farmers, with
their families and dependents. Late on the evening of Satur-
day, the 19th of September, 1846, two children, servants of
two of these farmers, returned from the mountain where they
had been engaged all day in keeping cows, and told their
masters a very wonderful story. The eldest of the children
was a girl of fifteen years of age, who had been out at service
ever since she was nine or ten years old, and had been with
her present master for the last six months. The other child
was a boy of eleven, who was quite a stranger in the village,
having been brought from the town of Corps, a distance of
four or five miles, only on the previous Monday, as a temporary
substitute for a cowherd that was ill. These two children,
then, told the following tale : They said that about midday
they had driven their cows, according to their usual practice, to
a certain rivulet to drink ; that they had at the same time
consumed the store of provisions which had been given them
when they left home in the morning, and that after wandering
about a little, they lay down on the grass and fell asleep near
a fountain which was at that time dry ; that the girl, Fran9oise-
Melanie Mathieu, was the first to awake, and seeing that the
cows had strayed, she immediately awoke her companion,
Pierre-Maximin Giraud ; that they went together to look for
their cattle, and from the brow of the hill soon discovered
Our Lady of La Salette. 179
where they were ; but before going to reclaim them and drive
them to their proper pastures, they turned back to the place
where they had slept to fetch their empty provision-bags ;
that their eyes were at once arrested by the appearance of a
very extraordinary brilliance, dazzling as the sun, yet not of
the same colour ; and that presently this light appeared to
open, and they distinguished within it, the form of a lady yet
more brilliant. She was sitting on the stones at the head of
the dry fountain, in an attitude of the most profound grief.
She was clothed in a white robe studded with pearls, and a
gold-coloured apron ; white shoes, and roses of every variety
of colour about her feet ; a wreath of roses around her head-
dress, which was a high cap and slightly bent in front ; upon
her breast was a crucifix, suspended by a small chain from her
neck ; on the left of the crucifix, was a hammer, and on the
right the pincers ; another and larger chain encircled all these
instruments of the Passion, and this again was within a still
larger wreath of roses. Such at least was the description of
the costume as given at the time by the children themselves ;
but, as Maximin now very justly observes, ' How could ignorant
children, called upon to describe such extraordinary things,
have been able to find fitting expressions, when the best-
educated persons sometimes fail in finding them to depict
mere ordinary objects ? When called upon to describe what
I saw, I feel something of the same embarrassment which
St. Paul must have felt when he returned from the third
heaven, for the eye of man hath not seen, nor his ear heard,
what it was then given to us to see and hear. Let not people
therefore be astonished if what we called a cap, a crown, a
handkerchief, chains, roses, an apron, stockings, buckles and
shoes, had scarcely the real form of these objects. In that
beautiful dress, there was nothing earthly ; rays of light and
a variety of hues combined to produce a magnificent whole,
which we only diminish and materialise by attempting to
describe.'
When the lady stood upright, she was of a tall and majestic
appearance, so tall, Melanie told us, that she had never seen
any one of equal height ; the children, however, were unable
to gaze steadfastly upon her countenance because of its
N2
180 Our Lady of La Salette.
brightness. At first her elbows rested on her knees, and her
face was buried in her hands, whilst tears flowed copiously
from her eyes. The girl was frightened, and dropped her
stick ; but the boy bade her pick it up again, adding that he
should take care of his, for that if it (meaning the figure which
they saw) offered to do them any harm, he would give it a
good blow. Then they heard a most sweet and gentle voice,
bidding them not to be afraid but come forward, for that she
had great news to tell them. The voice sounded as of one
speaking close to their ears, though the figure was seen at the
distance of nearly thirty yards. It at once dispelled all their
fears, they ran towards her as to a loving mother, of whose
good- will they were well assured. The lady herself arose
and advanced to meet them, not seeming however to tread
upon the earth as she went, but to be raised a few inches
above it. Presently she stood between them, and addressed
the following words to them, weeping as she spoke : ' If my
people will not submit themselves, I must let the hand of my
Son fall upon them ; it is so strong, so heavy, that I can keep
it up no longer. How long a time have I suffered for you !
If I wish my Son not to abandon you, I am obliged to pray to
Him without ceasing ; and yet you pay no regard to all this.
However much you may pray, whatever you may do, yet you
never can recompense all the trouble that I have taken in your
behalf. I have given you six days to labour in, I have
reserved the seventh for myself; yet they will not give it me.
It is this which makes the hand of my Son so heavy.
Wagoners cannot swear without introducing the name of my
Son. These two things are what make the hand of my Son
so heavy. If the harvest is spoilt, you yourselves are the only
cause of it. I made you feel this last year in the potatoes,
but you took no account of it ; on the contrary, when you
found the potatoes were spoiled, you swore, and you took the
name of my Son in vain. They will go on as they have
begun, and by Christmas there will be none left.'
Thus far the lady had spoken in French, and the girl had
not understood what she was speaking of in this last sentence,
because in the patois of that country potatoes are not called
pommes de terre, but truffes. Melanie therefore was going to
Our Lady of La Salette. 181
ask Maximin what was the meaning of this word, pommes de
terre ; but she had not yet spoken, and the lady knowing her
thoughts, anticipated her words by saying, ' Ah, my children,
you do not understand me, I will speak differently ; ' and
she then went on to repeat the very same sentence beginning
with the words, ' If the harvest is spoilt,' using the patois of
the neighbourhood. This she also continued to use in the
following : ' If you have corn, you must not sow it ; all that
you sow the beasts will eat ; any that comes up will fall to
powder when you thresh it. There will come a great famine ;
and before the famine the children under the age of seven
years will be seized wi'h a trembling, and will fall in the
hands of those that hold them ; the rest will do penance by
the famine. The nuts will become bad, the grapes will rot ;
but if they be converted, the stones and the rocks will change
into heaps of corn, and the potatoes shall be self-sown in the
earth.'
Here the lady paused, and it seemed to Melanie that she
was speaking to the boy, but she heard nothing of what was
said ; then, in like manner, she spoke to Melanie, and the boy
saw that she was speaking, or seeming to speak, but could not
hear what was said, or whether anything was really being said
at all. Only afterwards, when the vision had disappeared, the
children spoke to one another about this mysterious silence,
and each declared to the other that the lady had at this
juncture confided to them a secret, which they were on no
account to reveal to any one until the time came for so doing.
Neither knew anything about the secret of the other, whether
it was the same as his own or different.
The lady then resumed her discourse to the two children
together, asking, in the patois of the country, ' Do you say
your prayers well, my children?' 'Not very well, ma'am.'
The lady replied, ' Take care always to say your prayers, my
children, every night and morning. When you can do nothing
else, say only a Pater and an Ave Maria ; but when you have
time say more. Only a few old women go to Mass, the others
work on Sundays during the summer ; and in the winter, when
they know not what to do, the youths go to Mass only to
make a mockery of religion. In Lent they go to the shambles
182 Our Lady of La Saldte.
like dogs. Did you ever see corn that was spoiled, my child ? *
Maximin answered, ' No, ma'am.' Melaiiie too gave the same
answer, but in a gentle tone, for she was not sure whether or
not the question had been addressed to her as well as to her
companion. The lady then spoke to Maximin, and said,
' You have seen it, my child, once when you were with your
father at Coin. The owner of a piece of ground there told
your father to go and see his wheat that was spoilt. You
went, both of you, and you took two or three ears of corn
in your hands ; you rubbed them, and they crumbled into
dust. Then you went home ; and whilst you were about half
an hour's walk from Corps, your father gave you a piece of
bread, and said, " Take this, my child, let us eat it this year
whilst we can get it ; I don't know who will be able to eat
any next year, if the wheat goes on like that." Maximin
answered, ' Oh, yes, ma'am, I remember now : just now I had
forgotten all about it.'
Then the lady spoke once more in French, and said, ' Well,
my children, you will cause this to be told to all my people ; '
and with these words, she passed on before the children and
crossed the rivulet, and ascended the short but steep side of
the opposite slope ; then she repeated the very same words ;
and again she walked forward to the spot where the children
had gone when they were in quest of the cattle.
' Motionless as statues,' we quote the words of Maximin
himself as he published them two years ago, ' our eyes fixed
on the beautiful lady, we saw her, with feet close together
like those of a person skating, gliding over the top of the
grass without causing it to bend. When we had recovered
from our rapture, we ran after her and soon overtook her.
Melanie placed herself in front, and I behind, a little to the
right. There, in our presence, she rose gradually, visible for
some minutes between heaven and earth, at the height of two
or three feet ; then her head, her body, and her feet became
lost in the light which surrounded her. We could see nothing
but a globe of fire rising and penetrating the firmament. In
our simple language we called this globe a second sun. Our
eyes remained long fixed on the spot where the luminous globe
had disappeared. I cannot describe the ecstasy in which we
Our Lady of La Salette. 183
found ourselves. I speak only of myself ; I know very well that
my whole being was overpowered ; I was as it were paralysed.
When we came to ourselves again, we looked at one another
without being able to utter a single word, sometimes raising
our eyes towards heaven, sometimes looking on the ground
around us. We seemed to be seeking the resplendent figure
which however I have never since beheld. . . . My companion
was the first to break silence, and said, ' It must be the good
God, Memin, or my father's Blessed Virgin, or perhaps some
great saint.' 'Ah,' I replied, 'if I had known that, I would
certainly have asked her to take me back with her to heaven.'
It was now time to think of descending from the mountain ;
the children called together their cows, and returned (reveurs
et pensifs, says Maximin) to the village. There they first met
the mistress of Melanie, to whom Maximin began to talk of
the beautiful lady they had seen, 'My expressions,' he says,
' of a lady in fire, a second sun, &c., made her think that I
was gone mad. Nevertheless she begged me to tell her all
that I had seen and heard, and she was much astonished at
the recital. I in my turn was amazed that she had not seen
as well as I this brilliant light placed on the top of the moun-
tain, and consequently visible, as I supposed, to a very great
distance. I could not imagine that I had received a special
grace.' Then Maximin alone went on to the farm to which
he belonged, and as soon as his master came home he com-
municated to him the same story.
The strange news soon spread among the neighbours, but
was not believed. Early the next morning, the master of
the boy, who had promised to take him back to Corps on that
day, brought both the children to the parish priest. He was
a very simple-hearted old man ; and after having listened to
the tale, and questioned and cross- questioned the narrators,
he was so impressed with their truthfulness, that he repeated
a good deal of the history to his parishioners in the middle of
that day's Mass ; an irregular and rash act, for which he was
afterwards reprimanded and removed. He was so much
affected in reciting the story, that those who had heard no-
thing of it before scarcely knew what he was speaking about.
However, as soon as Mass was ended, they lost no time in
184 Our Lady of La Salette.
informing themselves, and all crowded round the children to
hear it from their own lips. Our readers may easily imagine
the cross-examination to which they were subjected. Still
nobody could succeed in shaking their testimony ; they steadily
persisted in repeating the same thing over and over again to
all inquirers, answered all their questions with a readiness
and simplicity truly surprising, and disposed of all their objec-
tions with the ease and ingenuity of the most practised advo-
cates ; in a word, though their evidence stood alone and
unsupported, yet it was impossible to throw discredit upon it
by any contradictions or inconsistencies in their manner of
giving it. The girl was now sent by her master to drive the
cows to the mountain as usual. It was a long and tedious
ascent, and not one of the neighbours had the curiosity to
accompany her ; they did not yet believe the story they had
heard ; the pilgrimage to La Salette had not begun. After
vespers (our readers will not have forgotten that it was Sun-
day), eight or ten people went up, and these were the first
pilgrims, led rather by curiosity than by faith ; and they made
Melanie tell her story again, and point out the precise spots
where everything was said to have happened. On her return
in the evening, the mayor of the village came and questioned
her ; he questioned the boy also in a separate apartment ; he
then brought them face to face, and gravely told them that
what they had been saying was clearly a lie, and that God
would punish them very severely if they persisted in repeating
it. He exhorted them therefore to confess the imposture,
and promised to shield them from all punishment. His elo-
quence was entirely thrown away ; the children said they
must do as ' the lady ' had told them and proclaim the fact.
Next he offered them money, about 2Z., to bribe them into
silence ; it was in vain ; and lastly he threatened them with
imprisonment and other punishments ; but this too was equally
inefficacious, and the worthy magistrate returned to his home
baffled and perplexed, and perhaps half disposed to be con-
vinced. At a later hour of the day, the boy was taken back
to his parents at Corps according to agreement ; and this was
of course a means of spreading the marvellous story through-
out a wider circle ; or rather, there became two centres, as it
Our Lady of La Salette. 185
were, from whence it radiated throughout the neighbouring
towns and villages, the boy at Corps and the girl at La Salette.
Of those who heard the story, some shook their heads and
laughed, and whispered something about priestcraft, ignorance,
and superstition ; but others, on the contrary, turned it over
in their minds, and thought it would be well to go and exa-
mine the witnesses for themselves, to confront them with one
another and with the scene of the supposed vision. Of those
who adopted this latter course, many returned quite satisfied
and convinced ; and all acknowledged that they certainly were
unable to detect the fraud and imposture, if fraud and impos-
ture there were. There was nothing perhaps, either in hear-
ing the story again from the lips of its original narrators, or
in seeing the places where it was alleged to have happened,
that was calculated in itself to enforce conviction upon an
unwilling mind ; only the most incredulous were obliged to
confess, that if the story was really false, it was strange they
could not succeed in detecting the falsehood in any of the
multiplied examinations, conducted with more than judicial
severity, to which these young and ignorant children had been
subjected. Daily experience shows us how the most plausible
tale is often made to break down, or at least to seem to break
down, under the pressure of some skilful cross-examination ;
but in this instance there was nothing of the kind ; the wit-
nesses could not be brow-beaten ; the story kept its ground.
And this was a great step. A consistent story, however
strange, if it be continually repeated and insisted upon, gradu-
ally gains belief; it perplexes and annoys those who would
fain disbelieve it, but it slowly gains the assent of the indif-
ferent and unprejudiced. And it was so here. Persons, prid-
ing themselves upon their prudence perhaps, again and again
made offers to the children of large sums of money if only
they would hold their tongues and say no more about it ; but
their answer was uniformly the same, viz., that they had been
specially charged by ' the lady ' to cause it to be told to all
the people, and that they must obey this command. Still, it
must not be thought that they went about in an excited
gossiping way, neglecting their daily duties, and taking upon
themselves the office of itinerant preachers ; far from it : they
186 Our Lady of La Salette.
remained steadily in their former Immble occupations, the girl
continuing in the same service at La Salette, and the boy
living at Corps with his parents ; only they always repeated
the history to those who asked for it, and answered the objec-
tions of those who tried to gainsay their testimony, and pointed
out the precise spot where it all happened to those who sought
their company for that purpose.
We must not omit to mention another circumstance also
which tended greatly to give credibility to the children's
words, viz. that an intermittent fountain at the spot where
this 'lady' first appeared, and which on that day and for
some time previously had undoubtedly been dry, was found
to be flowing copiously on the following morning, and had
never since ceased ; nor has it ceased up to the present day,
though previously to the apparition it flowed only at rare
intervals, after a heavy fall of rain or the melting of snow
upon the mountains.
So much, then, for the original story of the children, and
their steadfastness in maintaining it. Let us next enquire
how this story was received by the authorities of the Church.
Did they encourage or discountenance it ? or did they observe
a strict neutrality ?
Many of the parish priests in the neighbourhood wrote to
consult the Bishop (of Grenoble) as to what they ought to do
and say under the circumstances ; and these inquiries soon
became so general, that on the 9th of October, that is, within
three weeks after the story had first been heard of, his lord-
ship addressed the following circular to his clergy :
Monsieur le Cure, You have no doubt heard of the extraordinary
facts which are said to have taken place in the parish of La Salette,
near Corps. I beg you will refer to the Sjnodical Statutes which I
gave to ray diocese in the year 1829. You will find there, at page 94 :
( We prohibit, under pain of excommunication to be incurred ipso
facto, the declaration, printing, or publication of any new miracle, under
any pretext of notoriety whatsoever, excepting only the authority of
the Holy See or our own, after a severe and careful examination.'
Whereas, therefore, we have not yet pronounced upon the facts above
referred to, both duty and prudence prescribe to you the greatest pos-
sible reserve concerning them, and above all, an absolute silence about
them in the pulpit.
Our Lady of La Salette. 187
Notwithstanding this, certain persons have ventured to issue a
lithograph print of the scene, to which are appended some verses. I
have to announce to you, Monsieur le Cure, that this publication has
not only not received any approbation from me, but that it has much
annoyed me, and that I have formally and severely reproved it. You
will be cautious, therefore, and both set an example of prudent reserve
in your own conduct and also recommend the same to others.
Accept, Monsieur le Cure, the assurance of my sincere and tender
regard.
>J PHILIBERT, Bishop of Grenoble.
By Order, CHAMAED, Honwary Canon, Sec.
But whilst the Bishop was thus enforcing a wise caution on
his clergy, he was far from being an unconcerned spectator of
what was going on. He had already removed the parish priest
of La Salette to another cure, and substituted a priest brought
from a distance ; he now required all the clergy of the neigh-
bourhood and of his own episcopal city, and all others whom
he knew to be travelling in that .direction, to institute the
most careful inquiries upon the spot, and to communicate the
result to him without delay. He studied with great diligence
the mass of documents which were thus forwarded to him ;
and in consequence of what he learned in this way, he ap-
pointed two commissions early in December to draw up a
report for him, and to advise him whether or not he should
pronounce any decision on what was said to have happened.
One of these commissions consisted of the chapter of his cathe-
dral, the other of the professors in the ecclesiastical college of
the diocese. On December 15, these reports were presented,
and they were perfectly unanimous in the advice which they
gave ; advice characterised by that extreme caution and pru-
dence which are so uniformly found in ecclesiastical decisions
on matters of this kind, but the very reverse of which Protes-
tants, in their ignorance, habitually attribute to them. Both
the canons and the professors advised his lordship to abstain
from giving any decision whatever : he could not, they said,
give an unfavourable decision, for the whole affair was tres
plausible, and such as they should certainly be disposed to
believe at once if it were only an ordinary and natural event
that was being called in question; and moreover, it had
188 Our Lady of La Salette.
produced none but purely beneficial effects ; it had excited the
devotion of the people, and made them more exact in the per-
formance of their religious duties ; it had entirely removed in
the neighbourhood where it had happened the faults complained
of the swearing, the desecration of the Sunday, &c. &c. The
Bishop could not therefore declare the story to be false, and
prohibit all belief in it. On the other hand, it rested on the
authority of two children, who might possibly be either deceiv-
ing or deceived ; and the personage who was supposed to have
appeared to them had not required them to communicate it to
the ecclesiastical authorities ; there was no obligation there-
fore on the part of the Bishop to give any judgment at all ;
and considering that all eyes were upon him, and what a
serious thing it was to pronounce in such a matter, they
counselled a complete silence, ' to leave those who were satis-
fied with the sufficiency of the proofs that could be alleged,
free to believe it, yet not to censure those who, from a contrary
motive, refused or withheld their belief. If this event comes
from God, and it is God's will that the authorities should in-
terfere in the matter, He will manifest his will more clearly
and positively. Then it will be quite time enough for the
authorities to break silence ; there is no necessity to do so at
present ; there is no danger in delaying ; it is more prudent,
therefore to wait.' Such was the language of the Bishop's
advisers, and it is language which will commend itself to every
sober right-judging man. There is something in it eminently
practical, which the English mind is singularly calculated to
appreciate ; and we will venture to say that it is as far as pos-
sible from what any of our Protestant readers would have
expected.
Matters remained in this state for a considerable time ; that
is to say, there was no official interference on the part of the
ecclesiastical authorities, either in the way of encouragement
or otherwise, for a period of six or seven months. But mean-
while the story spread far and wide, and found many to credit
it ; laymen, priests, and even bishops, came from a distance,
examined for themselves, returned home, and sometimes pub-
lished an account of their visit, uniformly pronouncing them-
selves in favour of the reality of the apparition. Rumours of
Our Lady of La Salette. 189
miraculous cures wrought at the fountain, or elsewhere, upon
persons drinking of the water of the fountain and calling upon
the intercession of Our Lady of La Salette, grew and multiplied.
Pilgrims from various parts of France and Italy, and even
from Spain and from Germany, began to arrive in large
numbers. The affair was growing serious ; it arrested the
attention of the government, at that time by no means inclined
to look favourably upon anything that savoured of religious
devotion and enthusiasm. People, it was said, ought not to
be allowed to flock together in this way in an obscure corner
of the kingdom. What was this secret ? these prophecies of
famine and distress coming upon the land ? There might be
some political mystery at the bottom of it ; it might be in-
tended to take advantage of the superstition of the people to-
devise some plot, or to create some disturbance of the peace ;
any how it was a matter that should be looked into, and if
necessary, be put down. Accordingly, on May 22, 1847, the
children were summoned by order of the higher authorities,
before the juge de paix, or justice of the peace, for Corps,
assisted by the recorder or registrar of the same district.
They were examined both separately and together ; and after
a solemn warning from the magistrates to declare the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, they each repeated, almost
word for word, the narrative which has been already given.
In forwarding the depositions to the attorney-general, which
was done on the following day, the examining magistrate
enclosed a private note, saying that the children had given
their evidence very much as if they were reciting a lesson ;
but he added, ' this is not to be wondered at ; for they have
repeated it so often, and to such a number of persons, that
they have naturally acquired this habit.' He further added,
that he could vouch for the identity of their present narrative
with that which they gave at the very first to their masters ;
at least he had been assured of this identity by the testimony
of one of the masters themselves, who had committed the
whole story to writing the very day after he first heard it, and
whose MS. is still extant.
Two months later, July 19, the Bishop of Grenoble again
appointed a commission, with authority to institute the most
1 90 Our Lady of La Salette.
rigid examination, and to collect all possible information upon
the subject, both as regarded the history of the event itself,
and also the authenticity of any miracles which professed
to have been wrought in connexion with it. This commission
consisted of sixteen ecclesiastics of the highest repute in the
diocese for learning and piety ; the two vicars- general, eight
canons, the superior of the seminary, and five parish priests.
Two or three of these set out about ten days afterwards on a
tour of inquiry, which they prosecuted with great diligence
throughout the neighbouring dioceses of Valence, Viviers,
Avignon, Mnies, Montpellier, Marseilles, Frejus, Digne, and
Gap. On August 25, they arrived at Corps and examined the
children ; and the next day they ascended the mountain in
their company, and in the company of some thirty or forty
other persons, ecclesiastics and others. Having thus done all
that it was possible to do in the way of preliminary investiga-
tion, having collected a good deal of very important documen-
tary evidence properly attested, the members of the episcopal
commission were summoned for their first formal session on
November 8. The Bishop himself presided on the occasion ;
the proceedings were opened with a solemn invocation of the
Holy Ghost, and other prayers ; a form of devotion was pre-
scribed for the daily use of all the commissioners during the
progress of the inquiry ; a plan of operations was laid, down
according to which the inquiry should be conducted ; and this
was the whole of the first day's business. On November 15,
they met again to examine witnesses ; first, the cure of Corps,
then the boy Maxiinin. The next day they examined the girl,
and also the Reverend Mother Superioress of a religious com-
munity, in whose schools both the children had been taught
(reading and writing, and their religion, for they had been
grossly ignorant) ever since the Christmas after the apparition ;
and on the third day they examined both the children to-
gether. On all these occasions the ingenuity of the examiners
was racked to the very utmost to discover questions that
should perplex and expose the children ; there were those
upon the bench who by no means wished the weight of epi-
scopal sanction to be given to the marvellous narrative which
the children told, and who therefore suggested doubts and
Our Lady of La Salette. 191
difficulties, and proposed questions which they themselves
thought quite unanswerable. But their labour was all in vain ;
and at the end of the third day they had made no progress
whatever towards invalidating the testimony of these dull,
uneducated peasants. The acuteness of some of their answers
(specimens shall be given hereafter), the simplicity of others,
and the unhesitating boldness of all, proved to be more than a
match for all the captious objections and subtle refinements
of the most practised logicians. The fifth conference wa.s held
on November 22, and the subject discussed was the nature of
probability and of moral certainty, the number of witnesses
necessary to authenticate a fact, &c., &c. ; and at the end of
this session a certain portion of the report was read and
adopted. The next two sessions, November 29 and December
6, were devoted to the examination of documents sent from
other dioceses relative to certain miracles alleged to have been
wrought upon persons drinking the water of the fountain of
La Salette, and joining in certain devotional exercises ad-
dressed to our Blessed Lady under this new title. In the first
of these sessions, two miracles were admitted as proved ac-
cording to the strictest rules laid down by theologians in this
matter ; and in the second, one only was admitted. The eighth
and last session was held on December 13 ; in it divers objec-
tions and difficulties were started and solved, the remainder
of the report was adopted, and the Bishop declared the con-
ferences to be now closed ; he thanked the members of the com-
mission for their assiduous attendance, and dismissed them,
saying that he reserved to himself the right of pronouncing
his solemn judgment upon the matter that had been under
discussion, at such time as he should deem most suitable.
Such is the history of the committee of inquiry, as we may
call it, that was instituted by the Bishop of Grenoble to in-
vestigate the extraordinary story circulated by the two chil-
dren ; and we think most unprejudiced persons will consider
that for sober, straightforward, and business-like order of
proceeding it will not suffer by comparison with any of our
ecclesiastical courts, any committee of our House of Commons,
or in fact any other of the judicial or semi-judicial tribunals
of our country. The report was ordered to be printed, to-
1 92 Our Lady of La Salette.
gether with tlie pieces justificatives, as they are called that is,
the documents on which certain portions of it were grounded ;
and the work would have appeared immediately, but for the
revolution which broke out so unexpectedly on the 24th of
February, 1848. It was scarcely to be expected that amid
the general excitement and confusion which was the conse-
quence of that event, amid the distress and misery which
were the necessary results of so sudden an overthrow of public
credit and paralysis of all the usual branches of commerce and
industry, the report of an ecclesiastical committee should
arrest the public attention. In the middle of June, however,
the Bishop ordered it to be published, and, in the letter of
approbation which he caused to be prefixed to it, he declared
his conviction that it would be found to be useful to persons
of all classes ; for * it will tend to dissipate,' he says, 'many
erroneous opinions that have gained possession of the public
mind. Those who believe the story, those who doubt, and
those who disbelieve it, will all read the work with interest,
and, we hope, not without profit. Pious persons who have
believed it will see that by so doing they have not incurred
the reproach of imprudence and weak-mindedness. Those
who have thought it safer to suspend their judgment will
certainly be struck by the many and strong arguments by
which the fact is supported. And lastly, those whose preju-
dices are such that they at once declare to be false whatever
is uncommon and marvellous, will yet remember that truth is
sometimes stranger than fiction, and that an event whose
fame has filled the whole Catholic world for the last twenty
months, and has set in motion more than a hundred thousand
pilgrims, does not deserve to be rejected without examination.'
The extreme moderation of this language of the venerable
Bishop must strike even the most prejudiced reader with
astonishment, if not with admiration. The story of the two
children had now stood the test of public criticism for nearly
two years ; they had been examined and re-examined during
this period both by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, as
also by hundreds upon hundreds of private individuals, both
lay and clerical, both well-disposed and ill-disposed towards
the reception of their tale, and yet they had never been
Our Lady of La Salette. 193
detected in a contradiction or an inconsistency ; they had been
subjected to every kind of treatment that the most determined
resolution and the most experienced ingenuity could devise,
to force or to wheedle them into a betrayal of their alleged
secret, yet not the faintest whisper had escaped them which
could furnish even so much as a clue to its probable nature
and subject ; they had become objects of interest to hundreds
of thousands, and their society had been sought by some of
the best and wisest of the land, yet they had not profited by
these circumstances to enrich their families, neither did it
seem to have in any way injured their natural humility and
modesty of character ; pilgrims had come from the north and
the south, from the east and from the west, and had carried off
with them of the waters of La Salette as a precious treasure,
and then there were borne back to the infant sanctuary from
the four winds of heaven rumours upon rumours, or rather
proofs upon proofs, and well- authenticated proofs, of mira-
culous cures and other supernatural favours, both temporal and
spiritual, obtained through the medium of this new apparition ;
men of prudence and of learning had come from afar to inquire
and to satisfy themselves by a rigorous examination upon the
spot, and had gone away saying, ' It cannot be but that the
finger of God is here ; ' * in a word, the seal of truth had been
as it were visibly set upon the whole narrative both by the
voice of Grod and of man, yet the Bishop does but allow and
encourage the publication of the report; he abstains from
issuing any authoritative decision, and chooses rather to leave
all the subjects of his diocese free to canvass the facts, and, if
they will, to deny and to ridicule them. Certainly one would
have thought that the prudence and moderation of this judg-
ment had scarcely deserved to be branded with the note of
' gross credulity and grovelling superstition.'
But to proceed with our narrative. The report was received
with the greatest eagerness on all sides ; several thousands of
copies were sold in a few months, for it was the first official
and really authentic document that had appeared upon the
subject, and all knew that it could be depended upon. The
* See the letter of Mgr. Dupanloup, written on June 11, 1848, and pub-
lished in the 'Ami de la Religion,' 7 avril, 1849.
194 Our Lady of La Salette.
concourse of pilgrims continued to increase, and was only sus-
pended during the winter months, when the snow and ice
rendered the mountain inaccessible. Several bishops wrote to
the author of the report, or to the Bishop, to express the
satisfaction with which they had read it, and their own inti-
mate conviction of the truth of the children's story ; and the
general opinion of the public expressed itself more and more
strongly in the same sense. In the end of December 1849,
the Bishop authorised the publication of a supplement to the
official report, consisting chiefly of facts and documents con-
nected with the authentication of new miracles that had been
wrought in various dioceses of France upon persons using the
water of La Salette, and invoking Our Lady's help. In pub-
lishing these documents, the Bishop expressed his conviction
that they would go far towards removing any doubts and
prejudices that might yet remain in the minds of any against
the truth of the apparition ; that they would cause the in-
different to reflect, and confirm the faithful in their devotion.
Still he pronounced no judgment ; he did not attempt to inter-
fere with the belief of others.
One feature in the case yet remained which might seem to
afford a convenient shelter for doubt and suspicion. ' Nothing
can be easier,' it was objected, ' than for the children to say
that they have been entrusted with a very precious secret ;
but as long as they steadily refuse to communicate to any man
living what that secret is, we are at liberty to doubt whether
they really have any secret at all ; we have no proof of it, and
therefore we shall disbelieve it.' When our readers come to
learn by and by the strength of the temptations by which the
children were tried upon this head, and consider the facility
(on the supposition that the children are impostors, which, of
course, is what these objectors professed to believe) of invent in <j
a secret, they will estimate this argument at its true value.
However, the pastoral solicitude of the Bishop of Grenoble
was not satisfied until he had removed even this stumbling-
block from the way of the weakest members of his flock.
Accordingly, early in the month of July, 1851, the aged prelate
sent for the two children, and explained to them that all
visions and revelations and supernatural events of whatever
Our Lady of La SaJette. 195
kind that happen in the Church ought to be fully and com-
pletely submitted to the holy Pontiff; that as head of the
Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth, it belonged to
him to judge in these matters ; he therefore required them,
under obedience to his authority, to commit to writing the
secret which they said Our Blessed Lady had confided to them,
and he on his part would charge himself with the responsi-
bility of sending the letters by faithful messengers to Rome.
As soon as the children were satisfied by the Bishop's argu-
ments that it was their duty to obey him in this matter, they
sat down at different tables, and wrote their respective letters
without the smallest hesitation, and exactly as if they had
been copying what they wrote from some original before them.
They signed and sealed their letters, and the Bishop entrusted
them to the vicar-general of his diocese and another priest to
carry to Rome. On the 18th of the same month these precious
missives were placed in the hands of the Holy Father by the
persons we have named. His Holiness immediately read
them in the presence of the messengers, but, of course, with-
out communicating to. them any of their contents : he said he
must read them again at his leisure, and then added, ' These
are scourges for France, but Germany and Italy, and many
other countries, deserve the same ; ' and he went on to assure
the Abbe Rousselot that his books (the Report and its supple-
ment, already mentioned) had been examined by the Promoter
of the Faith, and were approved of. Thus fell to the ground
the last reasonable excuse for doubt. The secret which these
two poor ignorant children had professed to be entrusted
with, and which for five years they had so jealously and so suc-
cessfully guarded against the pertinacious efforts of thousands
of curious inquirers, was no fiction, but a reality ; a reality
sufficient to engage and to satisfy the mind of the holy Pontiff,
and therefore more than sufficient to assure all reasonable
men that at least it was no idle invention of the children
themselves.
At length, therefore, on September 19, 1851, the fifth anni-
versary of the apparition, after so many years of careful and
patient investigation, the Bishop issued a formal authoritative
o2
1 96 Our Lady of La Salette.
decision, and in a pastoral letter * solemnly declared the
apparition to be a certain and unquestionable fact. He begins
this letter by explaining and justifying his long delay, which
arose, he says, from no indifference or slowness of heart to
believe, but simply from that prudence and circumspection
which is so necessary a part of the episcopal character. He
knew, on the one hand, that any hasty decision in such a
matter would scandalise both weak Catholics and avowed
unbelievers ; and on the other, that no real harm could arise
from a cautious delay, ' since the religion of Jesus Christ hag
no need of this particular fact to establish the truth of a
thousand other heavenly apparitions in times past, recorded
in Holy Scripture.' Although personally, therefore, his own
conviction of the truth of the children's narrative was com-
plete at the end of the examination that was conducted in his;
presence in the months of November and December 1847, still
he had been unwilling to press it upon the acceptance of
others who might think differently about it. Since that time
he had redoubled his prayers to the Holy Spirit that his mind
might be illuminated, and that he might be guided aright ; he
had scrupulously studied and followed all the rules laid down
by holy doctors of the Church as necessary to be observed in
affairs of this kind, and was ready to submit and correct hi?
judgment, if the See of Peter, the mother and mistress^of all
churches, should declare herself in a contrary sense. ' Where-
fore,' he continues, * considering, in the first place, that we are
wholly unable to explain the fact of La Salette in any other
way than as an act of the direct interference of Almighty
God, whether we look at it in itself, in its circumstances, or
in its object, which is essentially religious ; considering, in the
second place, that the marvellous consequences which have
flowed from this fact are the testimony of God himself, given
by means of miracles, and that this testimony is superior alike
to the testimony and to the objections of mere men ; con-
sidering that either of these reasons taken alone, and still more
both together, ought to override all doubt and utterly destroy
any weight which might at first sight seem to attach to the
* The original may be seen in the ' Manuel du Pelerin a Notre Dame de
Salette,' par M. 1'Abbe Rousselot, p. 29. Grenoble, Baratier, 1852.
Our Lady of La Salette. 197
difficulties and objections which have been raised against it ;
considering, lastly, that a spirit of docility and submissiveness
to the warnings of Heaven may preserve us, perhaps, from
those new chastisements with which we are threatened, whilst
contrariwise a prolonged resistance may expose us to fresh
&nd irremediable evils : At the express demand of all the
members of our venerable chapter, and of a very large ma-
jority of the priests of our diocese, as also to satisfy the just
desires of a large number of pious souls, both at home and
abroad, who would otherwise, perhaps, accuse us of hiding
and imprisoning the truth, Having called upon the Holy
Spirit and implored the assistance of the pure and spotless
Virgin, We decree as follows : ' namely, what has been already
mentioned that the apparition of La Salette is a true and
certain fact, which none of the clergy or faithful of the diocese
are hereafter at liberty publicly to contradict or call in ques-
tion ; that it may be preached and commented upon in the
pulpit, but that no prayers or hymns, or other books of devo-
tion connected with it, may be printed without the episcopal
approbation, given in writing ; and that a church and house
of refuge for pilgrims shall be immediately begun on the site
of the apparition, for which purpose alms are solicited from
all the faithful.
This pastoral was followed by another on the 1st of May
in the next year, a few extracts from which will serve better
than any words of our own as a commentary upon the last.
After speaking of the high privilege he had enjoyed in being
the chosen instrument to proclaim the truth of an apparition
of the Blessed Virgin, a privilege and a duty of which he was
obliged to avail himself under pain of a blameworthy resistance
to the voice of God and to the unanimous desire of the faithful,
the Bishop continues : ' Our mandement of September 19 has
been received with universal satisfaction ; for, in truth, public
opinion had anticipated our decision, and the formal decree
which we issued did but give that sanction which was wanting
;o make it a full and complete certainty. We have received
numerous congratulations, expressions of agreement with our
decision, gifts, and promises of assistance from divers princes
of the Church and a large number of our venerable colleagues.
1 98 Our Lady of La Salette.
... It could not be otherwise, my brethren ; for it was not
without a purpose that the Mother of Mercy condescended to
visit the children of men. . . . Words descended from on high
must needs spread far and wide, and be heard by all nations.
Look back at the origin of this great event ; see its obscure
birth, its rapid diffusion first throughout France and the whole
of Europe, then to the four quarters of the world, and, finally,
its arrival in the capital of Christendom. To God alone be
the honour and glory ! We have only been a feeble instru-
ment of his adorable will. It is to the august Virgin of La
Salette that this prodigious and most unexpected result must
be attributed ; she alone has made the necessary disposition
of things to bring it about she alone has triumphed over all
obstacles, solved all objections, annihilated all difficulties she
alone has prepared all that has yet happened she alone will
put the final crown upon her own work.'
He then goes on to announce the arrangements he has
made for laying the foundation-stone and blessing the new
church, as also for establishing a body of clergy to be called
Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, who shall reside on
the mountain during that part of the year when it can be
frequented by pilgrims, and during the winter months shall
be employed in preaching missions and retreats in different
parts of the diocese.
The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was fixed for
the 25th of this same month, the month of Mary, and the
Bishop was assisted in it by one of his colleagues, the Bishop
of Valence. More than 3,000 persons received holy com-
munion at the various Masses which were celebrated on the
top of the mountain on this occasion, and 15,000 pilgrims
assisted at the high Mass, sermon, and benediction.
Thus the pilgrimage of La Salette, whose first feeble begin-
nings may be said to date almost from the very day after the
original announcement of the apparition, but which had grown
so rapidly that not less than 60,000 pilgrims were assembled
on occasion of the first anniversary, was now finally and
authoritatively established, and from that day forward its
celebrity has been more and more confirmed. Between thirty
and forty thousand pilgrims visit the shrine annually, among
Our Lady of La Salette. 199
I >->>
whom are more than 700 priests, who come to celebrate the
holy sacrifice on so favoured a spot. More than 300 chapels
or churches, and a countless number of altars, have been
dedicated throughout the Christian world under the title of
Our Lady of La Salette ; 330 confraternities are associated
to the archconfraternity established on the mountain ; and
the annals of the sanctuary, published every month by the
missionaries, are distributed to six or seven thousand sub-
scribers in every part of the globe. Henceforth, La Salette
has taken its place among the most famous of Our Lady's
sanctuaries, and as long as the world shall last it will never
cease to be an object of the deepest interest and a place of
frequent pilgrimage to the pious servants of Mary. Other
such places in various parts of the world are venerable with
the traditions of fifteen or sixteen centuries ; but it is scarcely
possible that there should be ever one whose claims upon our
devotion can be more thoroughly and satisfactorily sifted than
that whose history has now been given. We have traced its
early beginnings and marked every stage in its progress, from
the episcopal letter of October 9, 1846, enjoining upon the
clergy ' an absolute silence ' upon this matter in the pulpit,
down to the second letter from the same Bishop, dated Sep-
tember 19, 1851, in which he not only allows the whole story
to be preached and published, but also peremptorily forbids
any of the clergy to contradict it ; and we need not hesitate
to assert that the history which we have given proves at least
as much as this, viz. that there was no carelessness or pre-
cipitancy on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities concerned,
but, on the contrary, the utmost deliberation and prudence ;
and that no attempt was made to stifle inquiry and opposition
until the experience of five years had demonstrated the futility
of all objections that could be raised. It may still be asked,
however, whether the evidence to which the Bishop and the
committee of his appointment ultimately yielded was such as
would command the assent of all reasonable men, or whether
they allowed themselves too easily to be persuaded by the
plausible tale of the children and the credulity of those around
them. In other words, we have to inquire what grounds they
had for believing in the reality of the alleged apparition ; and
200 Owr Lady of La Salette.
in particular, how the state of the evidence in its favour in
1851 differed from what it had been in 1846. To answer this
question fully would involve a complete analysis of the evi-
dence given before the two commissions, together with some
account of the numerous independent witnesses, or, as they
might more properly be termed, self-appointed commissioners,
who had at various times during the interval subjected the
whole history and the persons concerned in it to the most
critical examination ; and although this is quite beyond our
present purpose, yet we cannot omit some summary at least
of the principal points of proof.
First, then, let us say something about the children, whose
tale, first told on the evening of September 19, 1846, was
the beginning of the whole history. Born of parents in
the very poorest class, and in a part of the country where the
people were at that time notorious for inattention to their
religious duties, they had been brought up in the grossest
ignorance, both secular and religious. The girl was nearly
fifteen years of age ; but having been at service ever since she
was nine or ten, and having been made by her masters to
work on Sundays and holydays almost as constantly as during
the week, she had a most imperfect knowledge of the doctrines
of the Christian faith ; she could not repeat two lines of cate-
chism, and had not been admitted, therefore, to make her first
communion with the other children of her age. She was
naturally timid, careless, idle, and disobedient ; her memory
and intellectual capabilities were so feeble that, even after the
apparition, after having been taught to repeat twice every
day for a twelvemonth the Acts of faith, hope, and charity,
she could not be trusted to recite them correctly by herself ;
matters which many of the children in our poor schools, of the
age of seven or eight, or even less, would recite with the ut-
most facility. She was afterwards for six years under the
care of the Sisters of Providence, and the training which she
received during this period of course considerably strength-
ened and improved her mental faculties ; we were told, how-
ever, by the chaplain of the convent where we saw her as a
novice in 1852, that they were still certainly below the average.
This fact was not apparent in the course of the conversation
Our Lady of La Salette. 201
which we had with her ourselves, for we talked only about
the history of the apparition ; and upon this subject, as we
shall presently have occasion to observe, both the children
have always displayed a degree of sharpness and ability alto-
gether beyond their natural powers. Her singular simplicity
and modesty of manners was very prepossessing, and the ready
straightforwardness of her replies seemed to us thoroughly
incompatible with all idea of cunning and deceit. The Bishop
of Birmingham, who saw her two years later in the same con-
vent, says that he found * her demeanour singularly modest
and recollected, and her manner simple and religious. ... I
put a series of questions, which she answered with calmness, but
with readiness.' * She did not persevere in the community
of the Sisters of Providence, but removed to the much stricter
order of Mount Carmel, and ' is at this moment,' writes one
of the missionaries of La Salette in a private letter addressed
to ourselves on September 25, 1867, ' at Castellamare, near
Naples, where she is gone this year to assist in a religious
foundation, of which the mother house is at Marseilles.'
The boy Maximin we have never seen ; but the same vener-
able authority whom we just now quoted writes that * his
general appearance is frank, and he prepossessed me favourably.
His manner is free and easy, but still rustic. He answers
readily when questioned, but his hands are restlessly employed
about his knees. His voice has an independent drawl in it,
and he has not an atom of mere human respect in his com-
position. All reports agree that he has made but a very poor
way in learning, for he is both slow in mind, heedless, and
volatile.' The farmer for whom he was keeping cows at the
time of the apparition described him to the commission of
enquiry as * an innocent, without malice and without fore-
sight.' His father testified that it had been a work of three
or four years to teach him the Our Father and Hail Mary ;
and when he was taken into the school of the Sisters of Pro-
vidence, at the age of eleven years, a twelvemonth's instruc-
tion was not sufficient to enable him to serve Mass. His in-
dolenco too, and love of play, retarded the progress of his
studies almost more than any natural deficiency of mental
* ' The Holy Mountain of La Salette.' by a Pilgrim of the year 1854.
202 .Our Lady of La Salette.
powers. When once he had begun to learn, he was very-
anxious to become an ecclesiastic, and means were afforded
him to gratify this desire ; as far, at least, as man can help
him that is, as far as his education is concerned. He was
sent to the seminary of Grenoble, but after a sufficient trial
was rejected as seemingly incapable of steady persevering ap-
plication ; and ten years afterwards we find him serving the
Church in a way better suited to his capacity, as a Pontifical
Zouave. These, then, are the children who, on the evening of
September 19, 1846, came down from the mountain, and
told the wonderful story which we have narrated ; and we
think we need not say another word to show that they were
at least incapable of inventing such a story. Had the mes-
sage which they professed to have received, and to be commis-
sioned to deliver to the people, been short and simple had it
consisted of a single sentence or had it confined itself to a
mere general exhortation to greater strictness and holiness of
life, and a general denouncement of evils to come if the people
did not repent, the case would have been very different. In
this case, though it might have been difficult to have con-
ceived any adequate motive that could have induced the chil-
dren to invent such a tale, still it would not have been a self-
evident absurdity to suggest the suspicion. But nqw, looking
at the message as it really stands, considering its length, the
minuteness of its announcements, the boldness and accuracy
of its predictions, and the whole character of the language in
which it is couched, every one can see at once that the idea of
two ignorant peasant children having been the authors of such
a narrative is simply preposterous.
But if the story be not true, and if the children were not
the authors of it, it must needs be either that they were the
instruments and accomplices of the author, or else the victims
of some extraordinary ocular or mental delusion. The refu-
tation of this latter hypothesis may safely be left to the com-
mon sense of our readers ; and the same may be said also of
the idea suggested by the Times* of a ' got-up apparition.'
Had the scene of the plot been laid in some thick wood, and
in ' the witching hour of night,' we might have thought
* See the ' Times ' of September 7 and October 26, 1852.
Our Lady of La Saiette. 203
differently ; but a ' got-up apparition ' at noonday, when there
was not a single cloud in the heavens, and on the summit of a
bare mountain, where not a tree or a shrub is to be seen, is
simply impossible. It remains, therefore, to enquire whether
the children may not have been the conscious accomplices of
some third party yet undiscovered ; for if the story be not
true, this is the only explanation of the matter that deserves a
moment's consideration. Yet that even this too is utterly in-
admissible, it will not be difficult to demonstrate, by observing
what has been the conduct of the children subsequently to
their first announcement of the marvel.
It has been already mentioned that they were strangers to
one another until the day before the alleged apparition ; the
boy had only keen in the village of La Saiette for five days
altogether, and both the place and the occupation being new
to him, his master had felt himself obliged to accompany him
every day, and to remain in his immediate neighbourhood at
work, that so he might always have an eye upon him ; and he
deposes that during the whole of this week the two children
had not been in one another's company until the Friday.
Then on the Sunday they were separated again ; the boy re-
turned to Corps, the girl remained at La Saiette ; and they
never met, save only to be examined from time to time by
some of the numerous visitors, until the following Christmas.
At that time the girl was taken into a poor- school kept by
some religious in Corps, and the boy frequented the same
school as a day scholar. Strangers frequently came to inter-
rogate the children, both separately and together ; and some-
times these strangers took the boy away with, them for a day
or two to go and point out the precise spot upon the moun-
tain ; but it was never observed that on any of these occasions
the children showed the slightest desire to come together after
the examination was over, in order that they might ' compare
notes ' as to the questions that had been asked and the answers
given. On the contrary, it was notorious that they never
sought one another's society at any time ; there was a perfect
indifference between them ; neither cared to learn how or by
whom the other had been examined ; nor did they ever make
it a subject of conversation with their school-fellows. They
204 Our Lady of La Salette.
were always ready to see anybody who came to question them
upon the subject, and their answers were always prompt to the
inquiries that were put to them ; but they neither talked of it
unnecessarily to their companions, nor communicated to one
another afterwards the result of the examination. They never
seemed in the slightest degree anxious or oppressed, as with
the consciousness of some great mystery in which they had a
part to play ; but the whole thing appeared to sit lightly and
naturally upon them, like any other fact in their past history,
which it was not necessary for them ever to speak about, but
if interrogated upon, there was no reason why they should
hesitate to answer ; and in this free and unembarrassed way
they have undergone the examination of thousands of curious
and cunning inquirers, of priests and bishops, lawyers, magis-
trates and judges, during a period of several years, and yet
have never been detected in any untruth or contradiction.
And here also seems the proper place to mention another
feature in the conduct of the children which it would be hard
to reconcile with the idea of their being parties to any fraud
in the matter : we allude to the wonderful fidelity with which
they kept the secret which they said had been entrusted to
their charge. Our space will not allow us to enumerate all
the various ways by which it has been attempted from time to
time to extort from them, if not the secret itself which they
had been forbidden to disclose, yet at least some petty circum-
stance connected with it, against which there was no such
prohibition ; as, for instance, whether it was of public or
private concern, whether it was good news or bad, whether
the time would ever come for revealing it, &c. &c. We will
select, as a single specimen of what the children have had to
undergo upon this head from a multitude of persons, the fol-
lowing account of the attempts that were made by Monsigneur
Dupanloup, the distinguished Bishop of Orleans. It is taken
from a letter addressed by himself to one of his private friends,
on June 11, 1848. He says,
' I cannot help seeing in the fidelity with which the children have
kept their secret a strong token of their truth. Each has maintained,
for the last two years, that he is in possession of a certain secret ; yet
neither pretends that he knows the other's. Their parents, their
Our Lady of La Salette. 205
masters, their parish priests, their companions, thousands of pilgrims
have questioned them on this subject; the most incredible efforts
have been made to wrest from them some sort of revelation about it ;
but neither love nor money, neither promises nor threats, neither the
civil authorities nor the ecclesiastical, have been able to make the
slightest impression upon them in this matter ; so that at this very
day, after two years of continual efforts, nothing, absolutely nothing, is
known about it. I myself made the most earnest endeavours to
penetrate this secret ; and certain accidental circumstances helped me
to push my endeavours further than most others perhaps, and at one
moment I really thought I was succeeding. ... I am bound to confess,
however, that all my efforts were perfectly fruitless , at the instant
that I fancied I was compassing my end and going to obtain some-
thing, all my hopes vanished ; all that I fondly imagined that I had
got, suddenly escaped me, and one answer of the child plunged me
again in all my former uncertainty.'
He then goes on to relate the different ways in which he
tried to overcome the boy's constancy, and to wrest from him
some portion of his secret. It happened that he had a little
travelling-bag with him which opened by a secret spring,
without any lock and key. The boy's curiosity was greatly
excited by seeing this bag opened and shut in so mysterious a
manner. He examined it in all directions ; and not being able
to discover the spring, he begged Monsigneur Dupanloup to
show it him. The prelate agreed to do so, on condition that
the child would, in like manner, reveal his secret. It was in
vain that the boy pleaded the great difference there was be-
tween them ; that there was a prohibition in the one case, and
none in the other. The bishop or professor rather, for he
was not then raised to the see of Orleans would hear of no
other condition. Ten times in the day did the boy return to
the charge, and always with the same result. The professor
did all he could to excite his eager curiosity more and more,
and then declared his willingness to satisfy it, if only he would
tell him something, though it were ever so little, about this
mysterious secret. But the moment the words of temptation
were spoken, the boy's whole tone and manner were imme-
diately changed ; his curiosity seemed altogether to vanish,
and he became grave and serious. At last, after the lapse of
several hours, the professor relented, and showed him the
206 Our Lady of La Salette.
secret spring. But it was only to attack him by another wea-
pon ; for he now appealed to his generosity. The boy seemed
to feel the reproach, but was still silent ; ' and I remained
convinced,' says M. Dnpanloup, ' as any one else would be
who knows what human indiscretion is and especially the
indiscretion of children that the lad had victoriously with-
stood one of the most violent moral temptations that can well
be imagined.' The professor, however, having come from a
considerable distance, on purpose that he might thoroughly
investigate this matter upon the spot, was not going to
abandon his project because he had been twice or three
times baffled. He reopened his attack, and in a more serious
way. He tried what bribery would do. First he gave the
boy himself some trifling presents of pictures, a new hat and a
blouse ; and then he got him to talk about the poverty and
distress of his father ; after which he proceeded to promise that
his father should not be allowed to want for any thing, but
should be enabled to live at home in ease and comfort all the
rest of his days, if only the boy would tell him not the
whole secret, but only such portion as he might tell without
breaking his promise. M. Dupanloup says that he inwardly
reproached himself all the time for making the boy undergo
such temptations ; what the inward feelings of the boy were
we do not know ; we only know that he always simply and
unhesitatingly answered, 'No, sir, I cannot.' Once more did
this indefatigable tormentor renew his attack upon the child,
and perhaps this last was the severest trial of all ; still it met
with no better success than its predecessors. As he was pack-
ing up his baggage at the inn, he allowed the boy to meddle
with every thing as though it had been his own. Amongst
other things, he laid hold of M. Dupanloup 's purse, in which
there happened to be a considerable sum of gold. Instantly
he opened the purse, turned out its contents upon the table,
and was soon absorbed in arranging and rearranging them in
several little heaps. When M. Dupanloup saw that the child
was thoroughly enchanted by the sight and handling of so
much money, he told him with the utmost gravity, and really
meaning what he said, that all this gold should be his, for his
own use and that of his father, and that it should be given him
Our Lady of La Salette. 207
then and there upon the spot, if only he would consent to
reveal what little he might feel himself at liberty to reveal
about the secret entrusted to his charge. The result of this
most trying temptation shall be told in M. Dupanloup's own
words.
1 Then I witnessed a most singular moral phenomenon, which still
strikes me with astonishment as 1 recount it to you. The child had
been entirely absorbed by the gold ; he was delighted to look at it,
to handle and to count it. All on a sudden he became quite sad at
hearing what I said, abruptly left the table where the temptation was
before him and said, "Sir, I cannot." "And yet/' said I, "there is
money enough there to make both you and your father very comfort-
able." Again his only reply was the same ; " Sir, I cannot; " uttered
in a tone so firm and simple that I felt I was vanquished. Unwilling
to confess as much, however, I added in a tone of assumed displeasure,
contempt, and irony, " Perhaps you won't tell me your secret because
you have none to tell ; it's all a mere joke." He did not seem to be
the least offended by these words, but answered briskly, " Oh, but I
have though ; only I can't tell it." "Why not ? Who has forbidden
vou ? " " The Holy Virgin." Henceforth I gave up the useless
contest. I felt that the dignity of the child was superior to my own.
Placing my hand with respect and affection upon his head, I made
the sign of the cross upon his forehead, and said, <f Adieu, my child ;
1 trust that the Blessed Virgin will excuse the solicitations I have
addressed to you: be faithful all your life to the grace you have
received : " and in a few minutes we parted to see each other no more.
Whoever will well consider what the nature of children is,' adds the
bishop, 'how light, and fickle, and unsteady, and talkative, and indis-
creet, and curious they are, and then shall make the same experiments
that I have made, will certainly share also in the astonishment which
'. I have felt, and cannot fail to ask himself whether it is by the two
children that he is being thus baffled, or whether it is not rather by
some higher and divine power.' *
The testimony of this distinguished ecclesiastic is so full
and precise, and his observations upon it so clear and con-
vincing, that we will not run the risk of weakening the im-
pression it may have made upon our readers by adding
another word upon this branch of our subject. We will pass
* The whole of this most interesting and important letter may be seen in
' Some Account of the Apparition of La Salette.' Burns and Lambert.
208 Our Lady of La Salette.
on at once to another kindred feature in the case, which in
some respects perhaps is even yet more surprising. We have
seen how, on all matters concerned with the miraculous story
of ' the lady's ' apparition, the moral character of the children
has risen above itself, superior to the strongest and most try-
ing temptations ; we shall now see how, in their intellectual
capacities also, they have manifested a similar superiority.
On all other subjects they have always been slow, dull, and
stupid ; but upon this one subject of the apparition, their
quickness and ingenuity has amazed and confounded their
examiners ; and yet without the children seeming to be the
least elated by, or even conscious of, the triumph they had
achieved. Their most brilliant and profound replies have
been given with precisely the same natural ease and simpli-
city as other answers in no way surprising ; and no one has
ever seen so much as a smile upon their countenances, even
when their victory has been most complete. A few specimens
must suffice. Did one who had examined them profess to
disbelieve the whole story, and to treat the children as wicked
impostors ? They answered with an air of the utmost un-
concern, ' The lady charged us to repeat what she had said ;
she gave us no commission to make you believe it.' Did
another taunt them as to the non-fulfilment of the threats
which the lady had uttered ? Immediately they replied, that
that was no concern of theirs, but only of the lady who had
spoken to them ; or at another time they objected to the same
taunt the fact of the people's repentance. When a priest
asked them whether they were not tired of repeating the
same tale over and over again day after day, the retort was
instantly ready, ' And you, sir, are you tired of saying Mass
every day ? ' ' The lady who taught you all that story on
the mountain has been discovered, and she is now in prison at
Grenoble,' was the abrupt announcement of a stranger to
them one day ; they only answered, ' He will be a clever
fellow who catches her.' 'But the lady was no real person
at all,' it was said on another occasion ; ' your eyes were de*
ceived ; it was merelv a bright luminous cloud which seemed
to assume that shape.' ' But bright luminous clouds don't
make long speeches.' { I quite believe in the truth of all
Our Lady of La Salette. 209
you have told me,' was the apparently candid acknowledgment
of a very clever ecclesiastic ; * but it was not a messenger from
heaven who spoke to you, but rather the Father of lies, dis-
guised as an angel of light and seeking to sow disorder and
falsehood in the Church.' ' But the devil would not be anxious
to make us keep holy the Sunday, to behave well in church,
and not to swear and blaspheme ; besides, the devil would not
carry a cross.' ' Why not ? ' replied the priest ; ' we read in
the Bible that he once carried our Lord Himself to Jerusalem
and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and if he was able
to do this with the living body of Christ, a fortiori he might
well carry a mere image of Christ, a crucifix.' ' Nay,' said
the child, * but I am sure that God would never allow him to
carry his cross like that.' 'But why not?' insisted the
priest, ' if he once carried Himself ? ' * Because by the cross
He saved the world.' When the other child, or the same child
on another occasion, was pressed by the same difficulty, the
answer was still more touching and more utterly beyond their
age and natural capacities : ' Yes,' said the child, * that may
have happened when Our Lord was upon earth, but He was not
then glorified.'
Let any one turn over these answers seriously in his mind,
and if we were not afraid of wearying our readers, we
could fill our pages with many more such let him consider
the extraordinary simplicity, yet no less singular appositeness
of some of them, the beauty and profound philosophy of
others, and the thorough satisfactoriness of all ; and then let
him ask himself whether it is within the range of human pos-
sibility that this should be the language of dull and ignorant
children, who have been tutored to play a certain part in a
public imposture ? Who could have foreseen these questions ?
Who suggested these answers ? Even granting that it had
been possible, by dint of most assiduous perseverance, so far
to overcome the natural stupidity of these children, as that
they should faithfully retain in their memory the very words
of a long and difficult discourse some of it spoken in a
language they did not understand and never vary in their
repetition of it ; yet what merely human genius could have so
thoroughly apprehended the whole compass of the objections
2 1 Our Lady of La Salette.
that might be raised against the narrative, as to have primed
the children with answers to them all? and what merely
human prudence could have sufficed so clearly to arrange these
questions and answers, and so deeply to impress them upon
the children's minds, as that they should never be at a loss, or
confound one answer with another ? These are considerations
which it behoves those who scoff at the history of La Salette,
and will not believe that the finger of God is there, seriously
to examine and satisfactorily to explain. Let them not run off
into idle declamations against priestcraft, prostration of in-
tellect, superstition, and credulity ; but let them deal soberly
with the facts which have been adduced, and suggest some
reasonable interpretation * of them other than that which we
propose, viz. the truth of the apparition. We know, indeed,
that there were once those upon earth to whom it had been
expressly forbidden to * take thought how or what to speak,'
because it should be * given them in that hour what to speak,'
and we know that Almighty God might render the same super-
natural assistance to any other persons whom from time to
time He chose to accredit as his messengers. We know also
that ' out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings He has
perfected praise ; ' that He * has chosen the foolish things of
the world that He may confound the wise, and the weak things
of the world that He may confound the strong ; and the base
things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, and
things that are not, that He might bring to nought things that
are.'f All this we know ; and therefore, if it be allowed that
the history which we have told is a true history, and that the
apparition of our Blessed Lady to the children of La Salette
was the act of Almighty God, every difficulty disappears. The
event takes its place at once amongst a class and order of
* This is what they can never be brought to do. The ' Times ' confined
itself to the most general terms : ' monstrous imposture,' ' notorious falsehood/
' grossest credulity and most grovelling superstition.' ' The Gentleman's
Magazine' (January 1854) 'does not think it worth the trouble to endeavour
to account for the story, but leaves it in the hands of its readers to settle it
in their own way. Whether it be delusion, fraud, or both, is not a matter
of much importance to determine.' Ex uno disce omnes.
f St. Matt. x. 19 ; Ps. viii. 3 ; 1 Cor. i. 27.
Our Lady of La Salette. 211
events where the incongruities we have pointed out are no in-
congruities at all, but in the strictest harmony with every-
thing about them. Twelve poor ignorant fishermen confound
the wisdom of philosophers, and convert the world ; this is
the type of God's dealings with mankind under the Christian
dispensation ; and it is a type with which, if we may be
allowed to compare things of such unequal magnitude, the
history now before us faithfully corresponds.
But that two dull and ignoranj; children should consistently
maintain during a period of twenty years, in spite of all kinds
of threats and promises, a lying tale of their own invention, or
that had been taught them by another; that they should,
during this same period, answer in the most unhesitating
manner to every question that was proposed to them, upon the
spur of the moment, and without the possibility of previous
confederation, and yet that these answers should never be con-
tradictory, and often most profound ; that they should impose
upon the public, both lay and clerical, and even upon the
Sovereign Pontiff himself ; this is a phenomenon which cer-
tainly does not harmonise with the general history of the
world around us. The history of the sanctuary of La Salette,
taken in the order of things divine, is not extraordinary ;
taken as a merely human affair in which the finger of God
has had no part, it is quite inexplicable.
We have dwelt at such length upon the internal evidence in
favour of the story of the apparition of La Salette, to be de-
rived either from an examination of the narrative itself, or
from the conduct of the children towards it, or from any other
of its own intrinsic circumstances, that we must pass over in
a very hurried way such external evidence as can be adduced
for it. It is briefly this ; first, the new spring of water upon
the mountain ; secondly, the universal acceptance which the
story has met with throughout the Christian world ; and
thirdly, the fact of many miracles having been wrought upon
persons believing it and calling upon our Blessed Lady of La
Salette for extraordinary help and assistance. The first of
these facts cannot of course be anything more than an indirect
confirmation of the story told by the children ; bat certainly
p2
212 Our Lady of La Salette.
it is at least as much as this, and ought not therefore to be set
aside as of no value. The children affirm that they saw a lady
sitting on a particular spot, and that this lady communicated
to them certain intelligence which they were to impart to the
people. The people are attracted by curiosity to go and visit
the spot, and they find that an abundant fountain of very pure
water is flowing there, where on the day before there had been
no water at all. And the whole population of the neighbour-
hood have now had the experience of twenty years, during the
whole of which time they have observed that it has never
ceased to flow ; yet they knew that before the apparition it
was a most irregular and intermittent stream. Here, then, is
a plain sensible change in one of the phenomena of nature
upon this mountain-top ; and it falls in with, and to a certain
degree corroborates, the children's story ; and at least it cer-
tainly predisposes the minds of those to whose knowledge it
has been brought, to accept a story which seems to account
for the change and is otherwise well attested. Moreover, it is
worth noticing that the children themselves made no mention
of this ' miraculous fountain ' as a part of their story. They
are positive that there -was no water there on the Saturday ;
they saw it flowing on the Sunday ; but neither of them pre-
tends to know when or how it began to flow.
But secondly, the story has met with universal acceptance ;
and this, again, is an argument in favour of its truth. The
' Times,' indeed, endeavours to throw ridicule upon this reason-
ing : * Each pilgrim,' it says, ' is supposed to bear witness to
the truth of the original story, by affording his presence in
confirmation of the fact.' This of course is a gross misrepre-
sentation of what has been urged by the advocates for the
reality of the apparition ; it is to have recourse to that dis-
honest argument known to our logical readers as the fallacy
of Division and Composition. We say that the acceptance of
the story by the whole Catholic world is an argument for its
truth ; but it suits the purpose of our adversaries to represent
us as saying that its acceptance by each individual Catholic is
toties quoties a separate and independent argument in its fa-
vour. The difference is palpable ; and but few words are
needed to show that the argument, as we have here stated it,
Our Lady of La Salette. 213
is sound and trustworthy. Every one who is familiar with
works written upon the evidences of Christianity must have
met with it again and again. It is a very common observation,
and one that cannot be gainsayed, that the universal acceptance
of the Gospel would be more extraordinary on the supposition
of its falsehood than it is on the supposition of its truth ; and
the same may be said of the case before us. How did the tale
of two peasant children command the assent and belief, first of
those living upon the spot or in its neighbourhood, and then
of the faithful generally throughout France, Belgium, Italy,
Spain, and other Catholic countries ? How did their feeble
voice suffice to bring together on the first anniversary of the
apparition upwards of sixty thousand pilgrims from different
parts of the earth ? Their tale had been most rudely handled
by those public journals which habitually laugh to scorn every
thing that is religious ; on the other hand, it had not yet been
endorsed by the ecclesiastical authority ; it stood therefore
entirely upon its own merits ; and nevertheless it was believed
by hundreds and by thousands ; and at this moment it has
not only outlived all opposition, but it has won, not a mere
unreasoning assent, but a most deep and hearty devotion from
the great majority of the faithful. Vox populi, vox Dei.
The third and last point of external evidence which we
mentioned was the evidence of miracles that is, of miraculous
cures that have been wrought in connection with a belief in
this apparition, and as it would appear, in confirmation of
that belief.
In the autumn of 1847 there was in Avallon, a town in the
archdiocese of Sens, on the high road between Auxerre and
Chalons-sur-Saone, a lady named Marie-Pierrette Gagniard,
the greater part of whose life had been spent in continual
suffering. She was then aged about thirty-two, and for the
last seventeen years she had been always under medical care
for very grave and acute maladies ; indeed her maladies had
been so bad that in one single year she had received the last
sacraments three times. She had lost the use of her left eye
ever since she was an infant, from an attack of small-pox ; the
eyelid was closed, and could with difficulty be made to open.
On the 12th of July, 1845, she lost the sight of the other eye
214 Our Lady of La Salette.
also, and became totally blind, and tlie doctor attributed this
misfortune to a cancer in the head. His own medical account
of the matter stands thus : ' July 12, 1845. Sensation of some
foreign substance in the right eye, and convulsive movements
of the same, so that one could see nothing but the sclerotica.
The following day the upper lid had fallen ; and from that
time forward no efforts, however violent, could succeed in
forcing it open further than to catch a glimpse of the eyeball,
which seemed to be rolling about in a most frightful manner.
As the other eye had been lost from her infancy, Pierrette
Gagniard was now completely blind ; she could not even dis-
tinguish the day from the night.' Three months afterwards
the whole of her left side was paralysed. In the month of
April, 1847, there began a discharge (through the mouth) of
very offensive matter, as from a purulent ulcer. This con-
tinued at intervals for a period of eight months, spite of the
most energetic treatment by the medical men of the place. It
was particularly bad on the 29th of November, 1847, and the
doctor promised to come and bleed her the next morning.
Some unexpected summons prevented him from keeping his
engagement ; and when he came on the 1st of December, he
found that it was no longer necessary ; the discharge had
stopped suddenly on the previous day. His patient had
heard of what was said to be the miraculous cure of a near
neighbour of hers, who had suffered even more acutely than
herself and for an equal length of time. It was told her that
this lady had been suddenly and completely cured at the end
of a novena, or nine days' prayer, to Our Lady of La Salette,
with the use also of some of the water brought from that
fountain. She was naturally anxious to have recourse to the
same Solus infirmorum ; a good nun in the town who was in
the frequent habit of visiting her, promised to bring some of
the water every day, and it was agreed that the novena should
end on the 8th of December, the feast of the Immaculate Con-
ception. It was begun therefore on the 30th of November,
and on that day, as we have seen, the discharge of matter
entirely ceased. Her headaches, however, her blindness, her
loathing of food, and all her other maladies continued with
the same intensity until seven o'clock in the morning of the
Our Lady of La Salette. 215
8th of December, when she received the holy communion as
she lay upon her sick bed. Within an hour afterwards, she
fell into a sound sleep, such as she had not enjoyed before for
many years, and she slept for three or four hours, until she
was awoke by some one coming into her room. She now was
conscious of the light, which had not been the case for more
than two years before, and she shed abundant tears. Encou-
raged by these symptoms, she proceeded to get up, which she
found she could do without difficulty or fatigue. Two or three
hours later, the nun paid her daily visit, and pouring the few
drops of water that remained upon a handkerchief, applied it
to her eyes. Immediately she exclaimed that she saw the
nun's crucifix, then that she saw her whole figure ; and in
another minute she was able to recognise every body in the
room and all the neighbours who came crowding in to see
her ; and in the evening she read her prayer-book as easily as
though she had never lost the use of this right eye at all.
These facts were solemnly attested both by the patient
herself, by many of her relations, friends, and neighbours, and
by the doctor who attended her ; and the latter concludes his
deposition with these words, ' It being impossible, as I believe,
to explain these facts by the ordinary laws of science, je ne
crains pas de m'incliner devant ce qui est possible a. Dieu'
And you, reader, are you too of the same opinion ? Is this
the conclusion which you would have drawn from the same
facts ? are you, too, ready to bow before the hand of God, and
to recognise in this cure no merely natural effect, no singular
coincidence, no result of ordinary medical treatment, but the
visible seal, as it were, of God's approbation of the super-
natural means of remedy to which the sufferer had had re-
course ? You will have observed how the cessation of one of
the patients' maladies synchronised with the commencement
of her novena, and how the cessation of the rest crowned the
conclusion of it ; the final blessing of all, the restoration of
her sight, followed immediately on the application of some of
the water from La Salette. This happy synchronism, how-
ever, is far from being all that the Church requires, when she
is called upon to take cognisance of matters of this kind with
a view to pronouncing a judgment upon them ; and the his-
216 Our Lady of La Salette.
tory we have narrated did not satisfy the severe, scrutiny of the
ecclesiastical authorities, and the Archbishop of Sens refused
to pronounce it a certain miracle. Not that there was any
doubt as to the authenticity of the facts ; far from it ; these
were established beyond all possible cavil by abundant testi-
mony, down to the most minute particulars, as they have been
now described ; but the Vicar- General of the diocese, who had
been deputed to examine into the case, fancied that he could
detect in these facts certain circumstances which caused them
to fall short of what the holy jealousy of the Church requires
before she pronounces a cure to be miraculous. He says, in
his report addressed to the Archbishop : ' First, it is not
proved to my satisfaction that Marie- Pierrette Gragmard was
really what is properly called blind ; secondly, I think one
may explain her cure by natural means, without having re-
course to the Divine interposition by a miracle.' The first
of these observations he justifies by making a distinction be-
tween the loss of the faculty of seeing, and the mere loss of
the use of sight ; e. g. in many persons who are really blind the
eyelids are open, and an unscientific observer does not recog-
nise any fault in the outward appearance of the eye ; but
these persons have not the faculty or power of seeing ; they
are really blind ; and to restore sight to such an one would be
really miraculous. But there are others who still retain the
power of seeing, yet are deprived of the present use of that
power, owing to some injury that has been inflicted on the
optic nerve, or some temporary or accidental derangement of
the mechanism of the eye, such as (in the present instance)
inability to raise the eyelids ; when this temporary evil is
removed, the patient recovers, not the power of seeing, which
he had never lost, but only the use of his sight ; and these
cases are quite within the range of medical skill. Having
established this distinction, he proceeds to give his reasons for
considering that the recovery of this lady may have been
brought about by merely natural means. "We will not attempt
to follow him through all the medical details of his report (for
the whole discussion turns entirely upon these), but content
ourselves with a very brief summary.
Our Lady of La Salette. 217
' ft This lady/' lie says, " was considered by the doctor to have an
abscess somewhere in her head j the natural end of every abscess is
suppuration ; such an end was attained in the present instance : when
suppuration is complete, the inflammation diminishes, and by and by
altogether ceases ; then the other symptoms of which the inflammation
was the true cause, cease also, and the patient is cured. This seems
to me the history of the present case ; the suppuration was complete,
we may suppose, on the 30th of November, when the discharge
ceased; after so severe an illness, a week is not too long a period to
allow for the gradual cessation of the inflammation and its conse-
quences j the sound sleep on the morning of the 8th of December
greatly facilitating the process of recovery ; and in fact we observe
that the recovery was altogether gradual ; she was sensible of the
presence of light two or three hours before she was able to distinguish
objects. The whole thing was gradual, and therefore may have been
natural. Far be it from me to wish to derogate from the power and
goodness of God, and to say that this recovery may not have been a
special blessing conferred by Him at the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin Mary upon one of her faithful children ; I only say, and I am
confident that your Grace will agree with me in saying, that where
the natural laws of reason and science furnish us with an explanation
of certain phenomena, even though that explanation be not thoroughly
satisfactory and convincing, yet if it be only plausible, we ought not
indiscreetly to declare that there has been an interference with those
laws by a divine miracle. In a word, the case before us cannot be
said to satisfy all the conditions laid down by the Church as essential
to the proof of a really miraculous cure; it may be miraculous, but
it has not been proved to be such. In particular, it does not altogether
satisfy either the first, second, fourth, or sixth of the following canons
laid down by Benedict XIV. in his work De Canonizatione Sanctorum,
lib. iv. pars 1, cap. 8, no. 2.
Ut sanatio a morbis inter miracula censeatur, plura debent occxirrere :
1. Ut morbus sit gravis, et vel impossibilis, vel curatu difficilis;
2. Ut morbus qui depellitur, non sit in ultima parte status, ita ut noil
multo post declinare debeat ;
3. Ut nulla fuerint adhibita medicamenta, vel si fuerint adhibita, certum
sit ea non profuisse ;
4. Ut sanatio sit subita et momen ta nea ;
5. Ut sanatio sit perfecta, non manca ant concisa ;
6. Ut nulla notatu digna evacuatio, seu crisis prcecedat temporibus debitis,
et cum causa ; si enim ita accidat, tune vere prodigiosa sanatio dicenda non
erit, sed vel ex toto, vel ex parte naturalis ;
7. Ut sublatus morbus non redeat.
218 Our Lady of La Salette.
It is sufficiently clear, we think, that in the archdiocese
of Sens, there is no danger of the episcopal sanction being
rashly given to the report of any alleged miracle ; yet in the
very same official document from which we have made these
extracts, the Yicar- General goes on to inform his diocesan
that he does not see how he can withhold that sanction from
the report of another miraculous cure, into which he had been
ordered to inquire, and which had taken place a few weeks
before that whose history we have now given, in the same
town of Avallon. Accordingly, on the 4th of March, 1849,
the Archbishop published a decree in which he makes no
mention whatever of the cure of Marie-Pierrette Gagniard ;
but declares concerning the other case, of Antoinette Bollenat,
that after thje most mature examination, it is found to present
all the essential characteristics and conditions of a miraculous
cure. We abstain from entering upon the details of this case,
only because we wish to be as brief as possible ; and we have
special reasons, which will presently appear, for taking another
case, as the one only instance we shall give of a miracle,
wrought in confirmation of the apparition at La Salette, which
has received episcopal sanction.
On the 16th of April, 1846, when the community of nuns
known by the name of the religious of St. Joseph were being
removed from one establishment to another in the city of
Avignon, the whole population of the place saw one of the
sisters being transported in a litter, because she was unable to
bear removal in any other way. She had been a member of
that community for twelve years ; during the last eight of
which she had had many severe illnesses, which terminated at
last in a confirmed consumption. She was obliged to keep her
bed, and only attempted to hear Mass five or six times in the
year ; being carried to the chapel to gratify her own earnest
desire, but soon brought back again in a state of insensibility,
having fainted from fatigue. On the 14th of February, 1847,
she received Extreme Unction ; and the holy Viaticum was ad-
ministered to her two or three times more in the course of the
next month. Both the doctors who attended her had pro-
nounced her case desperate ; and had warned the sisters that
they might expect her death at any moment, without any pre-
Our Lady of La Salette. 2 1 9
monitory symptoms whatever ; for that the marvel was what
kept her alive from day to day. The only food that she took
were a few teaspoonsful of milk and water, or very weak
broth ; and she seemed in the last stage of exhaustion. Whilst
Sister St. Charles (this was her name in religion) was lying in
this state, the reverend superioress of the house heard ru-
mours of miracles that were said to be wrought by the use of
water from the fountain of La Salette. She herself acknow-
ledges that she did not at first believe in these rumours ; but
by and by, when she heard of a miraculous cure having been
wrought in the town of Avignon itself, and having ascertained
that this at least was no false report, she determined to have
recourse to the same remedy in behalf of her dying sister.
She expressly states in her deposition, that although she cer-
tainly desired the recovery of Sister St. Charles, yet that her
principal object in this novena was the glory of the Blessed
Virgin, and the confirmation of the story she had heard of her
apparition on the mountain of La Salette ; and it was for this
reason that she selected this particular sister from among
others who were in the infirmary, because her illness was so
notorious and so inveterate, that, should she be restored to
health, this recovery would answer the end of the novena far
better than the recovery of any other. When the idea was
first suggested to the invalid, she said that she had no wish to
recover ; and that she would rather die or continue to suffer as
she now did, according to God's good pleasure. The supe-
rioress was obliged to interpose her authority in order to pre-
vail upon her to take part in the novena with the rest of the
community ; but when once the novena was begun, the suf-
ferer expressed her firm conviction that she should be cured.
Nothing, however, occurred during the first seven days to
give any encouragement to such an expectation ; on the con-
trary, she seemed to be daily growing worse and worse ; so
that the good sisters began to think their prayers were going
to be answered in a different sense from what they had in-
tended, and that the sufferings of their companion w 
