Full text of "Lourdes"
I
EX LIBRIS.
Bertram <. &.
.&., 3B.*c., &.S.6., JF.ia.^
LOURDES
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISL
A BIOGRAPHY.
BY JOHANNES JORGENSEN
Translated from the Danish with
the Author s sanction by T. O CoNOR
SLOANE, Ph.D.
With Five Illustrations.
8vo, i2j. 6d. net.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta & Madras.
BERNADETTE
LOU RDES
BY
JOHANNES JORGENSEN
In these lay a great multitude of
sick, of blind t of lame, of withered, waiting for
the moving of the water. And an angel of the
Lord descended at certain times into the pond :
and the water was moved. And he that went
down first into the pond after the motion of the
water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity
he lay under.
ST. JOHN v. 3-4.
TRANSLATED WITH THE
AUTHOR S SANCTION FROM THE ORIGINAL DANISH
BY
INGEBORG LUND
WITH A PREFACE BY
HILAIRE BELLOC
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 3 oTH STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1914
r i
[f LIBRARY]
\+^^s
JAN
PREFACE
IF men would, or could, detach themselves from
their own time and place, Lourdes would be the most
interesting business in the world.
Lourdes means, of course, the complex of
emotion, marvel, site and religious theory, for which
that word stands.
Now it is very difficult for men of our time to
detach themselves. We are not living in a moment
when sheer intellectual force has a social value.
Intrigue has the high value it has always had and gains
the rewards it has always gained, of shame, accumu
lated wealth and the contempt of one s fellow-men.
Intuitive creative genius still has social value, though
it is of less importance in the community than ever
before. But intellectual power and the results of an
intellectual process have nowadays, for the moment at
least, and particularly in this country, no market.
I do not mean no market in money, though that is
important ; I mean no reward attached to them in
fame or respect such that a man will be content to
exercise them.
On this account there is always an impediment
vi PREFACE
opposed to those who would discuss with their fellows
in modern England those problems which chiefly
exercise the intelligence. One feels it to be beating
the air. And to propound matters that demand an
intellectual process and the strong grasp of the mind
always feels in modern England something like speak
ing to the deaf in a foreign language not only to the
deaf but to the bored. And speaking to the bored,
even if they can make something of what you say,
is a very disheartening process.
Nevertheless, such is the driving power of mere
truth and the strong appetite of mere curiosity, that
men once engaged in an intellectual adventure can
hardly refrain from communicating their interest to
their fellows. And those who discover what Lourdes
means, not to the pilgrim, but to the mere observer
who has muscle enough in his mind to detach himself
from any modern bias those, I say, can with diffi
culty refrain from challenging the attention of their
contemporaries to the amazing thing Lourdes is.
Let us present first the popular or newspaper view
of Lourdes. Let us next recapitulate in series the
known facts about Lourdes. The contrast is almost
comic. Lastly, let us judge as soberly as we can what
we may say for and against the religious theory about
Lourdes based upon these facts.
Well then, the newspaper (which is also the finan
cial) world, the world of the English press in particular,
and of such sheets as the Matin or the Tribuna, and
other anti-Christian financial sheets abroad, will have
Lourdes to be something after this fashion : A number
PREFACE vii
of people belonging to a certain sect called Catholics
(in England the insular term is Roman Catholics)
frequent a town under the Pyrenees where, under the
influence of very strong emotion, there are produced
certain effects upon them such as strong emotion will
produce : the nervous are less nervous, the stammerer
and the twitched recover control, and in general men
and women under the influence of a violent emotion
discover aptitudes abnormal to their daily powers just
as they will discover such abnormal aptitudes under
any other great strain or shock; This superstition is
commoner with peasants than with townsfolk, and
commoner, of course, with the poor than with the
rich, and with the ignorant than with the cultivated.
Meanwhile it is fostered by those who can profit by it
even at the expense of reason and dignity. The priests
of the sect naturally foster the illusion and accentuate
the abnormal mental conditions of those who come
to be cured/ They claim as miraculous cures
what are often temporary phenomena, and always
phenomena of suggestion.
That is not an unfair summary of the way in which
the kind of people who control our press, and whose
chief concern is the Stock Exchange, desire the mass of
Europeans about them to consider Lourdes. That is
the way they talk about Lourdes, and that is quite
possibly the way they really think about it : for the
men who control our press to-day are as ignorant as
they are brutalised by intrigue and avarice, and
blinded by these and other appetites to reality and to
proportion.
A3
viii PREFACE
Now, as against this newspaper legend, let us put a
few facts. I shall be careful not to put them in any
fashion postulating the Catholic Faith. I shall put
down only what posterity will clearly see, whether that
posterity remain Christian and civilised or no. I shall
set down only what academic people call objective
truth : things as they are. In other words, what
ordinary people call the truth.
IThe truth about Lourdes is simply this. A long
ifetime ago the young daughter of certain poor
parents in the Pyrenean town of Lourdes said that she
had seen in a grotto overlooking the river of that place
a figure. She alone saw this figure, her companions
who were with her did not. The figure was that of a
young and beautiful woman. The figure spoke, pro
claiming itself to be Mary, the Mother of that
Personality Whose worship is embodied in a certain
organism known as the Catholic Church ; that organism
being in its turn the spiritual aspect and the Form of
European civilisation. In other words, the child
claimed to have had a vision of one of those figures
associated with what is, when they have religion, the
determinant religion of European men. The words
spoken by this vision inculcated repentance, the
frequentation (with the object of a cult) of this grotto,
the drinking of the water which flowed from it and
bathing in the same. Further, the figure said I am
the Immaculate Conception/
There was a great deal more, but I am giving only
the essentials of the story, as a detached but rationalist
historian would present it.
PREFACE ix
What next followed is exactly what might have
been expected. Since this child alone perceived this
figure and heard those words it was taken for granted
that she was either lying or the victim of an halluci
nation. But, what is more remarkable, so obvious did
this conclusion appear (and it is that which we should
all at once have come to upon hearing any similar tale)
that even those who could most have profited by
making something of the tale were the first to ridicule
it. The child s parents, and in particular the priests
of religion, the local religious official, and the Bishop
of the Diocese himself, thought it unworthy of any
other solution.
So far so good : not only history but most private
experience is full of things of that kind. But what
follows is of a different sort. Certain individuals,
willing to test the story or chancing for themselves
some cure which they had despaired of, begin to bathe
in and to drink those waters. Of those individuals many
are cured of their ailments. Time passes. The cures
continue and increase in number. These cures have,
roughly speaking, only one common feature. They are
physical cures, cures of physical ailments. They
have NOT in common the feature that the cures so
effected are cures of nervous trouble which a strong
affection of the mind might reasonably be supposed to
promote, at least for a time. Certain of the cures,
many of the cures are of this nature. For instance,
dumb persons recover their speech, just as dumb
persons have often recovered their speech elsewhere
under the influence of violent emotion. But then
x PREFACE
certain other cures, and those exceedingly numerous,
are concerned with ailments of a totally different
nature for instance, ulcers. With every passing year
the multitude, and what is more remarkable, the
external quality, of the cures develop. With every
year the accumulation of cures admittedly insus
ceptible to suggestion increases.
We must note this last item in our series of mere
facts as a true and plain fact ; a fact like any other,
to be admitted by Catholic and non-Catholic alike
and a simple piece of contemporary history ; it is
evidence no court can refuse, and it is the key to the
whole case. With every year the original hypothesis
of hallucination, or suggestion, becomes less tenable
to the average mind. The average sane visitor to
Lourdes who admits miracles in his philosophy, but
comes to Lourdes doubtful of phenomena which have
been utterly misrepresented in the press, is generally
convinced that what he sees at Lourdes is something
altogether different from what he had hitherto thought
possible or had expected. The average visitor who
comes to Lourdes not accepting the miraculous in
his system of philosophy has exactly the same ex
perience. Both kinds of men go away either converted
or puzzled. Of those who have really and carefully
watched the affair in what is sometimes called a
scientific spirit only a very small number remain
simply contemptuous and simply postulating a
material or even psychical solution of what they see.
This last fact is exceedingly important. It differen
tiates Lourdes from all historical parallels to Lourdes.
PREFACE xi
You can, if you will, deny the great miraculous Chris
tian shrines of the past Canterbury for instance
because the witnesses to them are dead. The evidence
is overwhelming indeed in its amount and detail ;
but its credibility ultimately depends upon the cha
racter of the witnesses and these are no longer avail
able. The close network of contemporary experience
upon which all our judgment of character is built has
faded or been obliterated altogether, and you can call
the witnesses fools or liars: for they are dead. But
you cannot do that about Lourdes. All up and down
Europe you will find men still living and submissible
to your own judgment, men of the first intelligence and
of the widest culture who have visited Lourdes and
watched the thing, and who will tell you, if they are
at one end of the line that they have seen Heaven
open and the power thereof, if they are at the other
end of the line that they have been wonderfully
puzzled. But you will only find a very few men, and
those not usually of the best judgment or of the
highest culture, who will tell you that the matter
was easily explicable or negligible.
Now when we consider this series of facts let us
see what we are to conclude. I do not mean what we
are to conclude in the matter of religion, nor even in
the transcendental matter, hardly subject to positive
proof, of why these things arose and What is that
which brings them about. I mean only, What is the
nature of these things in their relation to us are they
from us or from outside ?
I conceive that by a mere dry process of reasoning
xii PREFACE
we must determine that there is proceeding at Lourdes
an influence affecting mankind independently of man
kind and not proceeding from mankind.
For myself I have come to a much nobler and to a
much happier conclusion, and, from the year 1904,
about Easter time, I have had no doubt that here the
best influence there is for men (I mean that of our
Blessed Lady) is active. But I am not here concerned
to present a rhetorical or an emotional argument :
only a rational one.
If what happens at Lourdes is the result of self-
suggestion, why cannot men, though exceptionally,
yet in similar great numbers, suggest themselves into
health in Pimlico or the Isle of Man ? It is no answer
to say that here and there such marvels are to be found.
The point is that men go to Lourdes in every frame of
mind, and are in an astonishing number cured.
Again, it is to be noted that when a definition is
asked, Where will you draw the line ? What
physical ailment will you say is capable of a cure by
auto-suggestion and what is not ? those whom you
interrogate are as chary to-day of giving a reply as
they were ready to give it some twenty or thirty years
ago. They had but to formulate a test for that test
immediately to fail them in the next cure examined.
They had but to say, strong emotion can induce from
within the cure of alpha but not the cure of beta, for
a case of beta and a cure thereof immediately to
appear.
I remember a wealthy and foolish woman saying
some years ago at dinner that she would believe in
PREFACE xiii
miraculous powers if a man who had lost a finger or a
hand by amputation could have it joined again at
Lourdes. To which a priest present at the table
replied, with great judgment, that if or when this kind
of miracle were worked those who still believed the
phenomena of Lourdes to proceed from the cured
themselves would invent a bastard word, half-Greek,
half-Latin, ending in ism and signifying in plain English
the growing together of severed flesh and bone. In
the same way men who now admit that saints in
ecstasy have been raised into the air call that exercise
levitation.
But all this is mere reasoning on paper, and that is
not by any means the most convincing process. It is
my advice especially to those who have no devotion or
faith, but whose minds are none the less free and who
have the means and the leisure, to go to Lourdes and
see what they shall see. It is much the greatest
experience in travel they are likely to have in the
modern world.
H. BELLOC.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. ON THE WAY ARRIVAL i
II. THE OLD LOURDES BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS
THE APPARITION OF FEBRUARY n, 1858 . 5
III. THREE MORE APPARITIONS .... 14
IV. A DOCTOR S OBSERVATIONS THE ATTITUDE
OF THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES . . .22
V. THE APPARITIONS ON THE 23RD, 24TH, AND
25TH FEBRUARY THE FOUNTAIN . . 32
VI. THE ATTITUDE OF THE CLERGY 39
VII. THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION I AM
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION " . .46
VIII. THE DOGMA OF DECEMBER 8, 1854 THE
APPARITION OF APRIL 7 THE AUTHORITIES
INTERFERE ...... 49
IX. AT THE PISCINAE FLEMISH PILGRIMS . . 62
X. BENEDICTION IN FRONT OF LE ROSAIRE THE
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE . . . 71
XI. A RECOVERY ? BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS
MEDICALES Two RECOVERIES ... 77
XII. AUGUSTA DE MUYNCK 86
XV
xvi CONTENTS
PAGE
XIII. MARIE BAILLY THE OPINION OF A DANISH
SCIENTIST AMONGST PILGRIMS ... 92
XIV. AN ORGANIC LESION AURELIE HUPRELLE.
JOACHINE DEHANT. LEONIE LEVEQUE . 106
XV. THE POWER OF THE SOUL OVER THE BODY
PSYCHO - THERAPEUTICS AND SUGGESTION
CHARCOT AND BERNHEIM WHAT SUGGESTION
CAN NOT DO THE FAILURE OF SUGGESTION
AT LOURDES 121
XVI. THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI AT LOURDES
THE CANDLE-LIGHT PROCESSION EVENING
AT THE GROTTO A TALK WITH AN IRISH
PRIEST THIS is YOUR HOUR AND THE
POWER OF DARKNESS . . .. .130
XVII. HOSPITALIERS AND BRANCARDIERS IM
PRESSIONS OF LOURDES ADOLPHE RETTE . 147
XVIII. THE CURE OF THOSE WITH LITTLE FAITH
GABRIEL GARGAM . . . . .159
XIX. ZOLA AT LOURDES THE MIRACLES IN HIS
BOOK ELISE ROUQUET, LA GRIVOTTE
A FICTITIOUS RELAPSE . . . .172
XX. THE USE OF MIRACLES MIRACLE AND DOGMA
A LUTHERAN DEAN AT LOURDES . .180
XXI. THROUGH MARY TO JESUS. THE SPIRITUAL
MIRACLES ON THE MONT DES BRETONS . 188
XXII. TAKING LEAVE OF LOURDES. HOMEWARDS . 194
ILLUSTRATIONS
BERNADETTE . ... Frontispiece
MAP OF THE DISTRICT ROUND MASSABIEILLE . . p age 7
MASSABIEILLE IN 1858 . . .To face p. 10
THE BASILICA AT LOURDES
THE GROTTO
69
BENEDICTION OF THE SICK
THE RIVER GAVE
77
LEONIE LEVEQUE
119
LOURDES : GENERAL VIEW ... r
LOURDES
ON THE WAY ARRIVAL
IT was about four o clock one morning in June, and
a cold grey sky was hanging over the plains of Toulouse.
I had left Cette at midnight and had to change at
Toulouse or Tuluze, as the old city, owing its fame
to the Troubadours, is called in the soft accent of
the South of France and I expected to arrive at
Lourdes at half -past eleven.
True to what I understand to be the reputation
of French trains, that in which I was travelling also
arrived late. A hurried cup of coffee at the station
and then quickly on to the other train. It starts at
half-past five ; I contemplate the landscape awhile
and am reminded of my own country about Svendborg.
On a bridge across the wide Garonne but soon after
I quietly drop off to sleep and do not wake up till
nearly eight.
We are still amongst round green hills or moun
tains they may perhaps be called now. But the
sky is clearing, the chill greyness is yielding to the
sunshine. Peasant girls are busy tossing hay in the
2 LOURDES
fields ; others, with the black capeline the Pyrenean
head-dress are strolling slowly towards a village whose
pointed church spire soars above the trees. The
meadows are filled to overflowing with tall grass and
flowers that look very Danish pink lime-wort, white
and yellow ox-eyes, corn-cockle. The embankments
are lit up with Our Lady s Candles, perhaps better
known as great mullein. The mountains rise to
greater heights, ridge beyond ridge. Here and there
they are clothed in woods of oak or chestnut. Deep
green ravines, the steep roofs of tiny villages clustered
round an ancient church. Then comes a view over
a hilly and wooded country that reminds one of the
Black Forest.
I notice the names of the stations Tuzaguet,
Lannemezan, Lanespe~de, Lespouey to me they sound
Breton, and very probably they are old Gallic place-
names. We stop a long time, far too long, at each of
these small stations, with the result that we arrive
three quarters of an hour late at Tarbes, the capital
of the department to which Lourdes belongs.
At last the train starts again at 11.45 we ought
to have been in Lourdes long ago. A flat landscape
with rows of poplars passes slowly before the win
dows, far away in a distant haze the mountains the
Pyrenees. Black goats are grazing at the roadside.
Juillan and far off on a green hill I see a cross !
Is it the great cross on Grand Ger above Lourdes ?
is that the cross I can see already ? A moment later
it is gone, hidden by a forest of oaks, and hedges of
acacia waving in the wind. The forest recedes ; again
I look out on flat, green country the hill with the
cross is gone only far out in the horizon the Pyrenees
LOURDES 3
raise their long, hazy ridges. The sun is shining
feebly through the clouds.
At Ossun the clouds gain the day and the rain
begins. The mountains draw nearer, advance, close in
round the train, looming grey in the mist on both sides.
It is twelve o clock and the rain is pouring in
torrents ; it has evidently been raining a long time in
this narrow glen. All the roads bisected by the
railway are deep in mud. Through a veil of rain
I see wooded hills and beyond them distant mountains
shrouded in a monotonous mist.
But now what do I see ? Is not this the Church
of the Pilgrims at Lourdes, the famous Basilica that
I know so well from pictures ? Is not that the church
I see yonder, on the ridge of a hill that stands halfway
into the dale ? The pointed white spire is outlined
against an enormous mountain veiled in mist.
Here is the beginning of a town orchards, houses, a
bridge a glance at the Guide no ; it is Ade, it is not
Lourdes at all yet ! And the supposed Basilica is simply
the parish church
More fields, more oaks and chestnuts. White cows
are grazing on the green slopes. Then for some time
we pass through a deep cutting and see only a green
embankment on either side. Until a glen spreads out
is it Lourdes ? Yes ! No ! Yes, it is ! Mist-shrouded
hills rise to great heights. . . . There is a factory
chimney houses and suddenly we are at the
platform Lourdes.
Ambulance vehicles are standing in rows on the
asphalt, now bright with the rain, but otherwise there
is nothing remarkable to be seen. Only a couple of
alert-looking ladies nurses expecting patients. . . .
B 2
4 LOURDES
I pass the ticket-collector and go through the
waiting-room to the hotel omnibus in the great open
square where the rain is coming down in torrents. Then
into the jolting omnibus and down a steep street.
Between the houses a glimpse of the mist- veiled glen
past the market-place where a busy trade is going
on under many rain-glistening umbrellas. Down a new
street with modern houses, big shops, motor garages.
An electric tram-car thunders past. And the omnibus
stops between two tubs of laurel bushes, before a hotel
de luxe, where gentlemen in swallow-tail coats take
possession of my modest luggage and a lady with an
elaborate coiffure conducts me through long corridors
pervaded by the dignified silence of supreme comfort, and
shows me rooms at staggering prices. . . .
I select a room as high up as possible, and as a
receipt I am accorded the smile suitable to the room and
the price. I inscribe my name on the form laid ready
for that purpose, stating that I am homme de lettres,
and that I live in Denmark, which information I
consider sufficient. Then I am allowed to be alone.
From the window there is a view along the foaming
Gave, with its rows of poplars, towards the white
basilica, whose slender spire is outlined against the
background of the lofty mist-veiled mountains.
II
THE OLD LOURDES BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS THE
APPARITION OF FEBRUARY II, 1858
THERE was once, not so very long ago only fifty
years a Lourdes differing very much from the town
that now welcomes visitors and offers them its modern
improvements. A humble little country town at the
foot of the Pyrenees, only known as a posting station
on the road to Cauterets, Bareges, Bagnres, and other
watering-places amongst the mountains. There was
no railway, but a coach ran from Pau to Luchon, and
travellers generally stopped at Lourdes for the midday
meal, after which there was just time for a visit to
the old fortress frowning from the rock above the
town.
Lourdes was a small town, yet not outside the pale
of enlightenment. It was the seat of a lower court,
consisting of no less than six members ; it had a
hospital with its small staff of surgeons ; in the better-
class houses might be found La Revue des Deux Mondes
and Le Journal des Debats, while the habitues of the
caf6s read Le Silcle, the little local paper, Le Lavedan
or L Ere Imp en ale, published in the adjacent town of
Tarbes, where the Prefect of the department resided.
Education was provided partly by the municipal
6 LOURDES
schools, partly by religious communities, particularly
by the so-called Sisters of Nevers. Many social
institutions had continued from the time of the Middle
Ages right up to the present day, such as the confra
ternities into which the working men of the town were
organised, each having its own particular chapel in the
parish church. There was a guild of Saint Anne for
joiners, one of Saint Lucy for tailors, one of Our Lady
of Montserrat for masons, one of the Ascension for
quarrymen, and so on. The guilds served the purpose
partly of the mutual edification of their members,
partly of sick benefit societies or burial clubs.
There were corresponding communities for women,
the largest one being The Congregation of the Children
of Mary. On the whole Lourdes was a pious town
and there was, in particular, a fervent love of the
Blessed Virgin, and much devotion to her at several
shrines in the district, such as Bettharram, Garaison,
Pietat, to which the devout paid frequent visits. In
the parish church of Lourdes all the altars were
dedicated to Our Blessed Lady.
Of course the town was much smaller then than it is
now. The whole of it was contained within the small
glen which, in a direction from east to west, spreads out
to the wider valley formed by the river Gave. On the
western side of the valley, and forming a barrier across
it, stands the rock crowned by the old fortress said to
have been built by the Saracens and to have been the
scene of many a fierce contest in the wars of the Middle
Ages, from the days of Roland to those of Jeanne d Arc.
The castle hill slopes down abruptly to the green
foaming river, and to the south of this hill the main
street of Lourdes ended at an old stone bridge across
LOURDES
the Gave and was continued as a road out to the green
meadows along the river side. These meadows were
intersected by various canals through which some of the
water from the Gave made a short cut, instead of going
through the large detour made by the river outside
Lourdes. The largest of these water-courses, Savy s
Canal, flowed into the Gave about three-quarters
of a mile farther down, beneath a projection of the
South/.
East.
West
Forth.
THE DISTRICT ROUND MASSABIEILLE IN 1858.
A = Lafitte s (Savy s) Mill.
B = The Grotto.
Esp61ugues hill a steep, bare wall of rock, popularly
known as Massabieille, the old rock/ The island
formed by Savy s Canal was called the Chalet, and here
was situated the so-called Lafitte s Mill, which was both
a flour and a saw mill and was the property of a miller
named Savy. The road from Lourdes went farther
south of the canal, across a little brook called Merlasse,
and from there up the Espelugues hill. On the other
hand no road, not even a path, led to Massabieille ;
8 LOURDES
those who wished to go there had either to climb down
from the mountain or go through the mill and then
wade across Savy s Canal at the end of the Chalet.
The country round about Massabieille was always
rather deserted, only poor people went there to gather
wood for fuel.
And so it happened that three little girls from
Lourdes went there on this errand one winter day
about fifty years ago. It was on February n, 1858,
at eleven o clock in the forenoon, and the three little
girls were Jeanne Abadie, Toinette Soubirous, and
Bernadette Soubirous. Toinette and Bernadette were
sisters, Bernadette being the elder, and a little over
fourteen years old. She was an ignorant little girl
and could neither read nor write ; her parents were so
poor that they had been compelled the whole of the
previous year, in spite of her delicate health (she
suffered from asthma) to let her go out as a shep
herdess at Bartrds. She had come back to Lourdes
now to prepare for her first communion, but had
great difficulty in learning her catechism. She
knew, however, how to use her rosary, and always
carried it about with her. She did not speak French,
but the patois peculiar to Lourdes, and which was
more like Spanish.
It was in this patois, her own mother tongue, that
Bernadette later on, dozens, nay hundreds, of times,
had to repeat the story of what had happened to her
at Massabieille on that February afternoon in 1858.
This story has been carried all over the world, as far
as the Catholic Church extends ; it has been retold by
the devout Henri Lasserre as well as by the sceptical
Zola. I give the story here in the words in which it
LOURDES 9
was taken down from Bernadette s own lips by an eye
and ear witness, Jean Baptiste Lestrade, receiver of
taxes in Lourdes in 1858, a man who at first doubted
thoroughly about Bernadette and her story, but who
later became her ardent defender. His book, Les
Apparitions de Lourdes, souvenirs intimes d un
t6moin/ was first published in 1899 ; I quote from
a reprint which was issued in Lourdes in 1909.
It was a Thursday, Bernadette related, and a cold
dark day. After we had finished dinner, mother told
us that there was no more firewood and she was sorry
about it. My sister Toinette and. I then offered to
go and gather driftwood along the river-side. My
mother said that she could not let us do that because
the weather was so bad and we might easily fall into
the Gave. Then Jeanne Abadie, who lived next
door, came in, and said she would like to go with us.
She had to take care of her little brother, but she took
him home again and came back a moment after and
said that she had been allowed to go. Mother did not
quite like to let us go, but we begged her, and now that
there were three of us she gave us leave. First we
went out on the road to the cemetery ; firewood is
often unloaded there and you can find sticks and
shavings, but there was nothing that day. Then we
went along the banks of the Gave till we came to the
bridge. We discussed there whether we ought to go
up or down the river. We decided to go down and
went. along the road to the woods till we came to
the Merlasse brook. Then we went through Savy s
mill and on to Monsieur de Lafitte s meadows. When
we reached the end of the meadows, almost opposite
io LOURDES
the grotto at Massabieille, we were stopped by the
canal. There was not much water in it as the mill
was not working, but I was afraid of wading across
because it was so cold. Jeanne Abadie and my sister
were not afraid. They took their sabots in their
hands and went over. When they had reached the
other side they shouted across to me that the water
was very cold, and they stooped down as if to rub their
feet to warm them. That made me still more afraid,
and I was sure that if I stepped into the water my
asthma would come on again. I then asked Jeanne
Abadie, who was bigger and stronger than I, to come
and carry me over. " No, I am sure I won t," Jeanne
answered. You are a tiresome person to bring out
on an errand like this ; if you can t come over by
yourself, then stay where you are." With this they
gathered a few sticks below the grotto, and then
disappeared along the river banks.
At this stage of her story Bernadette once or twice
mentions a grotto, situated in the rock at Massabieille.
In the book referred to above, Estrade thus describes
the grotto : Massabieille, which faces due north, slopes
down steep and sharp like a gigantic wall. But at the
base of the rock, and underneath it, there is a cave,
about eight yards deep and twelve yards wide and in
shape something like a chapel. It is this cave that is
called the grotto the Gave flows close past it from
the river bank to the back of the grotto the ground
slopes evenly for a .length of fifteen and in a width of
twelve yards. One can stand up inside the grotto,
and in the vaulting overhead one sees an oblique
opening leading to a gallery up above. On one side
LOURDES ii
this gallery ends in a wall of the rock, on the other
it opens outwards in a sort of Gothic window, which
is half obscured by an immense block of granite.
Below this block there is a large, wild rose-bush which
hangs down over the rock like a green cascade. . . .
Here and there may be seen some plants growing
inside the grotto, and in particular a sort of golden saxi
frage (chrysosplenium opposite folium) and touch-me-not
(balsam).
Thus far Estrade s description. To return to Berna-
dette s narrative.
When they had left me/ she went on, I threw
some stones into the water so as to step over on them,
but it was no use. I then decided to take off my
sabots and wade across the canal as Jeanne and my
sister had done.
I had already taken off one of my stockings when
I suddenly heard a great noise like a storm coming.
I looked to the right and the left, at the trees beside
the river, but not a thing moved. Then I thought
I must have been mistaken and went on pulling off
my stockings, when I heard another noise just like
the first. I was frightened then and stood up. I
could not shout and did not know what to think,
and then I looked across the water at the grotto
and saw that a bush in one of the openings was waving
about as if it was in a strong wind. Almost at the
same time a cloud of a colour like gold came out of
the grotto, and soon after a young, beautiful lady, more
beautiful than any one I had ever seen, came out and
stood in the opening above the bush. She looked
straight at me and smiled, and beckoned to me to come
12 LOURDES
over to her as if she had been my mother. I was not
frightened any longer, but it was as if I did not know
where I was. I rubbed my eyes, I shut them and
opened them again, but the lady was still there,
smiling and trying to make me understand that I
was not dreaming. Without knowing what I was
doing I took my rosary out of my pocket and knelt
down. The lady nodded as if she was pleased and
herself took up a rosary which she earned over her
right arm. I was going to begin the rosary and
wanted to put my hand up to my forehead to make
the Sign of the Cross, but my arm seemed powerless
and I could not do it until the lady had crossed her
self. The lady let me pray alone, though she let
the beads of the rosary glide through her fingers, but
she did not say anything. Only, at the end of each
decade, she said with me, " Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost."
When the rosary was said the lady withdrew
into the back of the grotto and the golden cloud
disappeared with her. As soon as the lady was
gone Jeanne Abadie and my sister came back to the
grotto and found me kneeling. They laughed at
me for my devoutness and asked me if I was coming
home with them or not. I waded through the brook
without any trouble now and the water seemed to
me to be lukewarm like water for washing dishes.
" That was nothing to make such a fuss about,"
I said to Jeanne and Toinette as I dried my feet ;
" the water isn t cold at all, as you would have had
me believe."
Then we tied up three bundles of the branches
and driftwood that the others had gathered ; we
LOURDES 13
went up the side of Massabieille and so reached the
road to the wood. As we were going back to the
town I asked Jeanne and Toinette if they had not
noticed anything at the grotto.
" No/ they said. " Why do you ask ? "
" Oh, never mind. It does not matter."
All the same I could not help telling my sister
about the strange thing that had happened to me
at the grotto, but I asked her not to tell anyone
about it. All that day I thought of the lady, and
in the evening, when we were all saying our prayers,
I began to cry. Mother asked what was the matter,
and Toinette hurried and answered for me, so I had
to tell her myself what had happened. The others
asked me what the lady had looked like. I said
that she looked like a young girl of sixteen or seven
teen. She was wearing a white gown with a blue
girdle, the ends hanging down on one side. On
her head she had a white veil so that you could hardly
see her hair, and at the back the veil fell below her
waist. Her feet were bare, but the folds of her gown
almost covered them except quite in front, and there
was a golden rose on each. On her right arm she had
a rosary of milk-white beads, joined together with
golden links that shone like the two roses on her
feet.
" It is all something you have imagined," Mother
said. " You must put those fancies out of your head.
And you must not go to Massabieille any more ! "
Then we went to bed, but I could not sleep. All
the time I saw the sweet, lovely lady before me, and,
no matter what my mother had said, I could not
believe that I had been mistaken.
Ill
THREE MORE APPARITIONS
UP to this time Bernadette had been like most other
children. The Sisters of Nevers/ whose school she
attended, had not noticed anything remarkable
about her. When not prevented by her asthma she
played about in the garden like the other scholars.
As a rule she was cheerful, even gay, with the
simple gaiety of a child. There was no morbid
religious excitement about her. She was preparing
for her first Communion at this time, but the priest
who had her under instruction, in a class with other
children, did not even know her. Later on, when her
visions began to be talked about, he called her up at
one of his lessons to question her, merely in order to
see her. A shy and poorly-dressed little girl came
forward, and it was evident to the priest that she was
very simple-minded and ignorant. Her confessor, the
Abbe" Pomian, said later, There was nothing in the
least remarkable about Bernadette. She was ignorant
and her intelligence was below the average. Some
time after, when she entered a convent, the Superior
said of her : She is good, but there is no exaltation,
not even any entnusiasm in her/
Another account from the year 1869 l says, Berna-
1 Annales de la Grotte, vol. ii. April 30.
LOURDES 15
dette was good, gentle, straightforward, simple ; her
piety was edifying but not astonishing. Her mind
had no suppleness, her imagination no variety. . . .
She had no gift of vivid or interesting description ;
when speaking about her vision, her manner of narration
was concise, colourless, and cold ; one had to question
her again and again in order to get a complete account.
She spoke without any sign of inner emotion ; after
a while she might be carried away by her subject, but
there was never any ardour about her manner. . . .
She was really insignificant/
It is necessary to emphasise all this in order to
ward off the obvious explanation that Bernadette
was a hysterical or religiously excited little girl. She
was not, either at this time or ever afterwards. The
whole of her spiritual life was healthy, normal, and
quite average.
But after that nth of February it seemed to Berna
dette s mother that her little girl was not the same
as before. There was something strange about her
a look of sadness and a yearning after Massabieille,
where she had seen the beautiful apparition that she
could not help longing to see again. A day or two
passed by Friday, Saturday and on Sunday after
noon Bernadette s mother could not bear any longer
to see her favourite child drooping and sad. The
three children therefore, this time accompanied by
quite a little troop of friends who had been admitted
into the secret, again directed their steps to the grotto
beside the foaming Gave. Bernadette s mother had
given them a bottle of holy water, of which they were
to sprinkle a few drops in the direction of the vision,
lest it should be anything from an evil source. . . .
16 LOURDES
On the way out the little company divided into
two parts, the first being led by Bernadette and the
second by her friend, Jeanne Abadie. They did not
go by way of the Chalet, but chose the straight road
across the Merlasse brook to Massabieille, in order
to climb down the rock to the grotto. As soon as
Bernadette had reached the goal of her walk she
knelt down and began to pray, with her eyes turned
towards the window-shaped niche in which the lady
had first appeared. The others did not pray with her,
but suddenly they heard their little playmate exclaim,
There she is, there she is !
One of them, who was at this moment holding
the bottle of holy water, quickly handed it to Berna
dette and said, Quick, throw the water at her !
Bernadette seized the bottle and flung the contents
out in the direction of the rose-bush.
The lady is not at all vexed about it/ she declared ;
quite the opposite, she is nodding and smiling at us.
At these words the other little girls knelt down and
arranged themselves in a semicircle about Bernadette.
She did not seem, however, to notice them any more.
Her glance rested steadfastly and with a look of the
most intense joy on the grotto, where none of the others
saw anything but the bare rock and the leafless bush.
Bernadette s face was radiant, her usually rather
commonplace, though pretty, features seemed to be
transfigured by some inner light ; the children gazed
at her and could not recognise her. Quite over
whelmed they began to cry, and one of them exclaimed,
I hope Bernadette isn t going to die !
At the same moment a stone was thrown down
from the heights above, and this sudden rolling and
LOURDES 17
rattling noise was enough to make all the girls start
up and rush off screaming in all directions. They
were, however, soon assembled again, when they
found that it was only Jeanne Abadie who was on
the road above and wanted to frighten them, and
who now with her friends stood and laughed heartily
at them. Then they all went down to Bernadette
and found her immovable, in the same state of ecstasy
as before. The little girls did not know what to do
with her, and in their distress they ran to Savy s mill
for help. The miller s wife and her son both came
back with them ; the latter, a young man of twenty-
eight, carried Bernadette, still rigid and unconscious,
to the mill, where she at last came to herself.
In answer to their questions Bernadette told the
mill people that she had seen, in the main, the same
vision as on the Thursday. In the meantime her
mother had been sent for and now arrived, full of
indignation at the long time the children had stayed
away and at what she called Bernadette s nonsense.
Do you mean to make us the laughing-stock of
the whole town ? she shouted to her daughter as
she was coming to the house. She threatened the
child with a substantial stick, and it was only with
difficulty that the miller s wife rescued Bernadette
from making a closer acquaintance with it. At
last, with tears of annoyance and vexation, Madame
Soubirous took her child home. There was to be no
more going to Massabieille now !
Again some days passed. Bernadette went to
school and did not talk any more about the lady.
But others in Lourdes talked the more, and on Wednes
day evening, February 17, two devout ladies,
i8 LOURDES
Mademoiselle Antoinette Peyret and Madame Millet,
paid a visit at the house of the Soubirous in order to
hear a little more. They came in just as Bernadette
had plucked up courage and again asked her mother if
she might go to Massabieille. Thanks to these ladies,
who promised to go with the child and take care of her,
the permission was given. And on the morning of
February 18, before daybreak, the little company of
three walked along the road, already so dear and so
familiar to Bernadette, to the grotto. Arrived there,
the two ladies lit a blessed candle which they had
brought with them and all three knelt down and began
to pray. It was not long before Bernadette uttered
a cry of joy :
She is coming ! There she is !
And trembling for very joy she bent her head
close to the ground in greeting to the glorious visitant.
The two ladies saw nothing. They saw only the
joy in Bernadette s eyes and in her quiet, happy
smile. But the little seer did not fall into an
ecstasy this time, and Mademoiselle Peyret, who had
naively brought pen, ink, and paper, handed all three
to Bernadette with the words : Ask the lady, if she
has anything to say to us, to write it down ! Berna
dette took what was given her and went the few
steps up from the place where she had been kneeling,
to the grotto of the apparition. Standing on tip-toe
she held up the writing materials towards the mys
terious figure. She stood for a few moments like this,
looking up and so it seemed listening to something
that was being said to her. Then she let her arms
drop to her side, made a deep obeisance, and went back
to her place.
LOURDES 19
The lady smiled when I held up the pen and
ink, she said, but she was not vexed and she gave
me an answer. She said, "What I have to tell you
I do not need to write." And then she added, 1 " Will
you do me the favour to come here every day for two
weeks ?
And what did you answer ? asked Mademoiselle
Peyret.
I promised to come/
But why did the lady want you to come ?
I don t know. She did not say anything about
it.
Bernadette and her two companions then resumed
their prayers. The two ladies noticed that the little
seer often ceased her rosary prayers and seemed to
engage in an interior conversation with one who was
invisible to them. This lasted for about an hour,
then Bernadette declared that the apparition had
vanished.
And did she not say anything more to you ?
the ladies asked her, on the way home.
Yes, answered Bernadette, in a tone of mingled
joy and sadness ; she said, " I do not promise to make
you happy in this world, but in the next."
If the lady talks to you like that, why don t
you ask her to tell you her name ?
I have asked her.
And who is she, then ?
I don t know. When I ask her she only smiles
and bends her head/
1 According to Estrada s account, for the word favour Berna
dette sometimes used the expression boulentat (bontt), some
times gratia.
C 2
20 LOURDES
By this time Bernadette and the two ladies had
reached Lourdes, and the latter accompanied the
little seer to the humble cottage of the Soubirous
in the Rue des Petits Fosses a steep winding lane
in the oldest part of the town, crouching beneath
the old fortress and dominated by its threatening
towers and battlements, and dreary empty window
spaces.
Bernadette now told her mother about the promise
she had made to the lady. The good woman did not
know what to do, and at last went to ask advice of
her older sister, Bernarde. The sister wanted time
for consideration, but later in the day came down
to the Rue des Petits Fosse s, and gave it as her opinion
that for once Bernadette ought to be allowed to go
out to Massabieille, but that her mother ought to
go with her. Next morning, therefore, Bernadette,
in company with her mother and her aunt, set out
for the grotto, about half a dozen women following
them at some distance.
Arrived at Massabieille, Bernadette at once knelt
down, took out her rosary, crossed herself and began
to pray. A moment after the world about her no
longer existed for her, the vision had appeared and
she was in an ecstasy. Her face was transfigured,
her slender little figure was bent forward, it seemed
as though she must be lifted up bodily to the object
of her gaze. Without knowing why, all the women
about Bernadette were seized with trembling, and
her mother exclaimed involuntarily, Oh, my God, do
not take my child from me ! Their eyes were dimmed
with tears, and they all prayed silently and earnestly.
Bernadette s ecstasy lasted half an hour. Then it
LOURDES 21
seemed as if she awoke, she rubbed her eyes, rose
from her knees and came, still radiant with happiness,
to her mother and aunt, who took her in their arms
without a word. Questioned as to what the lady
had said, Bernadette answered that she had said
she was pleased at her having come, and promised
to tell her important things on a later occasion.
And so began the fourteen days on which
Bernadette every morning went to the grotto, the
days from February 18 to March 4.
IV
A DOCTOR S OBSERVATIONS THE ATTITUDE OF THE
CIVIL AUTHORITIES
Le Lavedan, the local paper at Lourdes, in its issue of
February 20, 1858, contained an article briefly reporting
the events which were the general subject of discussion
in the town. After the report it continued :
A thousand explanations have been forthcoming,
but these we do not wish to discuss. We will only
say that the young girl goes out to the grotto every
morning to pray, with a lighted candle in her hand, and
accompanied by over five hundred persons. She is
seen first to fall into a state of devout reverence, then
she smiles gently and is rapt in ecstasy. The tears
stream down her cheeks and her eyes are steadfastly
fixed on that place in the grotto where she believes
she sees the Blessed Virgin.
We promise to keep our readers informed of this
extraordinary movement, which is daily gaining more
adherents.
Le Lavedan was right in its statement about the
numbers of people who had joined Bernadette in her
daily pilgrimage to Massabieille. On the second of the
fourteen days, that is, on February 20, there were
really hundreds of people in front of the grotto. The
LOURDES 23
large crowds did not, however, seem to embarrass
Bernadette. It was as though she did not see them
they did not make her shy, but on the other hand she
made no display of herself before them. She knelt
down, took out her beads and began to pray, quite
as if she had been alone, or with only her mother and
aunt near her. And she had scarcely been more than
a minute at prayer before her face was enkindled with
a radiance like that which shone from Moses when he
came down from Sinai. Madame Soubirous burst into
tears and exclaimed, Is this my daughter ? Is this
Bernadette ? I can t recognise her at all !
Then came February 21, which this year fell on a
Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent. Before sunrise a
concourse of several thousands of people was already
gathered about the grotto and in the meadows on the
other side of Savy s Canal. Bernadette came as usual,
quietly and modestly, her white capeline on her head
and her kerchief knotted on her breast, accompanied
by one of her relatives.
One of the spectators that morning was a doctor
in Lourdes, a Doctor Dozous, who was permeated
through and through with the sceptical rationalism of
the France of that time. He has himself told, in his
book, La Grotte de Lourdes, sa fontaine, ses guerisons/
the impression made upon him by what he saw.
As soon as Bernadette reached her place opposite
the grotto she knelt down, took out her rosary and
began to pray, letting the beads glide through her
ringers. Her face underwent a change which was
noticed by all the persons near her, and which indicated
that she was en rapport with her vision. While she
24 LOURDES
let the beads glide through her left hand, she held in
her right a lighted candle. The wind being strong
that morning the flame often went out, and each time
this happened she held out the candle to the person
nearest her, to have it lit again.
As I was anxious to know how this state affected
her circulation and breathing, I took hold of her arm
and felt her pulse. It was quiet and normal, her
breathing too was regular ; there was no indication of
nervous excitement.
After I had taken my hand from her arm Bernadette
arose and went a little nearer to the grotto. Soon
after this I saw her face, which up to now had been
radiant with the utmost happiness, assume a look of
sadness. Tears were running down her cheeks. I
wondered very much at this change, and when she
had finished her prayers and the mysterious vision
had disappeared, I asked her the reason. She
answered : " The lady turned her eyes from me for
a short while and looked out over my head. Then
she looked at me again, and when I asked why she
looked so sad she said, " Pray for sinners."
Then Bernadette left, as modestly and quietly as
she had come/
So far Dr. Dozous. During the course of the
Sunday he would probably have occasion to discuss
the matter with other people of some standing in the
town. Lourdes was, in fact, wholly taken up with
Bernadette and her visions and could talk of nothing
else, and it was to be expected that the crowds would
increase daily.
It was no wonder, then, that the public authorities
LOURDES 25
in Lourdes found it necessary to interfere and keep
order, and that the mayor, the imperial procurator and
the commissary of police already that very Sunday met
together in the town hall in order to make the necessary
arrangements.
In the morning, as Bernadette was coming home
from church, a policeman came up to her and asked
her, in the name of the law, to come with him.
Bernadette was brought before the procureur
imperial, Monsieur Dutour, the chief judge in Lourdes.
My dear child/ he began kindly, you are being
talked about a good deal of late. Do you intend to
keep on with your visits to that grotto ?
Yes, monsieur. I have promised the lady to
come. I have still twelve times to go.
But, my little friend, that lady does not exist
at all. It is only something you imagine.
Yes, I thought so too, at first. I rubbed my eyes
because I thought I was dreaming. But I know now
that it is no dream.
How do you know that ?
Because I have seen her several times. The last
time was this morning. And she speaks to me, too.
But the Sisters at the school you go to they say,
too, that it is all imagination.
The Sisters would not say that if they saw the
lady as plainly as I do.
Take care, my dear, perhaps it won t be long
before we find out something that will explain why
you are so obstinate. There are people who say that
you and your parents receive money for it secretly.
We receive nothing from anybody.
Anyhow, your behaviour at the grotto is a perfect
26 LOURDES
scandal. You fool people into going there. There
must be an end to it. Will you promise me not to go
to Massabieille any more ?
I can t promise that, sir/
And is that your last word ?
Yes, sir/
Very well then, you may go. You will hear from
me later/
The imperial procurator made no secret of the
fact that he had not been able to manage Bernadette,
and that afternoon at the club he related the whole
of his interview with her. Monsieur Jacomet, the
commissary of police, perhaps inspired by this account,
resolved to settle the question, and the very same
day, towards evening, he sent for Bernadette. The
interview took place in the presence of Estrade, who
lived in the same house, and who could therefore, as
if by chance, come into the office while Bernadette
was there. Just like Dutour and Jacomet, Estrade
also thought that it was a case either of a morbid
imagination or of conscious fraud. In his book he
says :
The child who here stood before me, and whom
I saw for the first time, seemed to be about ten or
eleven years old, though she was actually fourteen.
Her complexion was clear and healthy, her eyes sug
gested a character of great gentleness and simplicity ;
her voice was a little too strident, yet still pleasant.
I did not notice her asthma. She sat down opposite
M. Jacomet s desk in an unconstrained attitude, with
her hands folded on her knees and her head slightly
bent. She was wearing a white capeline ; the rest of
her dress was plain but clean and neat/
LOURDES 27
Just as Estrade came in M. Jacomet was saying,
in his friendliest manner :
No doubt you have already understood why I
have sent for you ? I have heard so much about all
the beautiful things you see at Massabieille that, like
everybody else, I should like to hear more. Would
you mind telling Monsieur Estrade and myself how
you made the acquaintance of the lady in the grotto ?
No, sir.
Your name is Bernadette, is it not ?
1 Yes, sir/
And your surname ?
The child hesitated a moment. Then she said,
My name is Bernadette Soubirous.
How old are you ?
Fourteen/
Aren t you making a mistake ? asked the com
missary, with a smile.
No, sir, I am not. I am fourteen past/
And what do you do at home ?
Not very much, sir. Since I came home from
Bartrs I have been going to school to learn my
catechism. After school I look after my little brothers
and sisters/
So you have been to Bartrs. What did you do
there ?
I stayed for a few months with my foster-mother.
She set me to mind the sheep/
With various questions of this kind Jacomet put
Bernadette at her ease. Then all at once he said :
And now, my child, we come to that which I want
you to tell me about ; that is, what it is that has made
28 LOURDES
such an impression on you at Massabieille. You need
not be afraid. Just tell me everything.
Bernadette needed no persuasion now, and told
him all about her first vision, such as it has been told
here. She gave all the details about the lady s age,
her clothes, appearance, all with such a convinced
naivete that it was impossible to doubt her sincerity.
While she was speaking the commissary quickly
jotted down some notes in pencil. At last he looked
up and said :
All that you have been telling me just now is
very interesting. But who is this lady that you
have taken such a fancy to ? Do you know her ?
No, I don t know her.
You say she is very beautiful. Is she like anybody
you know ?
Oh, sir, she is much more beautiful than anyone
I have ever seen.
She can t be more beautiful than, for instance,
Madame X or Madame U ? Jacomet
mentioned two ladies who were acknowledged beauties
in Lourdes.
They can t be compared to her 1
Can this lady move about, or is she immovable
like the statues in the church ?
Oh no, she moves about, and smiles and speaks
like anybody else. She has asked me to do her the
favour of coming out to the grotto every day for a
fortnight.
And what did you say to that ?
I promised to come.
And what do your father and mother say to all
this?
LOURDES 29
At first they said it was all imagination
Yes, my dear, and they were right Jacomet
interrupted with sudden gravity. All this, that
you believe you see and hear, only exists in your
own imagination.
Other people have said that too, but I am quite
certain that I am not mistaken.
Now listen to me, Bernadette. If that lady
in the cave was a creature like the rest of us, then
everybody ought to be able to see her and hear her.
How can it be, then, that this is not the case ?
I can t explain that, sir. I can only say that
the lady is real and alive.
Well, if you will insist on it, then believe what
you like, for all I care. But as it is not unlikely that
the Prefect will have to take up the matter, you
must tell me if I have understood you rightly.
With this Jacomet took up the paper on which
he had made his notes and read them out, purposely
making some alterations in order to confuse
Bernadette.
You said that the lady seemed to be between
seventeen and twenty years old ?
No, I said between sixteen and seventeen.
And that she was wearing a blue gown with a
white girdle/
No, it was the other way about : a white gown
with a blue girdle.
And that her hair fell down her back.
No, it was her veil, not her hair.
Bernadette was not self-assertive in making these
corrections ; nor, on the other hand, was she timid.
30 LOURDES
Jacomet understood that he would not succeed in
entrapping her into contradicting herself. He changed
his tactics. Looking straight at the young girl he
said :
My dear Bernadette, I have asked you to tell
me your little story yourself, but I must confess that
I knew it beforehand. I knew it and I know who
has taught it you.
Bernadette met the commissary s look as she
answered :
I don t understand what you mean.
Then I will explain. Now tell me honestly, is
there nobody who has set you to go about and tell
people that the Blessed Virgin has appeared to you
at Massabieille, and that if you only did this you
would be looked up to as a great saint, and that
the Blessed Virgin would be pleased ? Take good
care how you answer, I know more than you perhaps
think.
There is nobody, sir, who has told me to do tnat/
Very well. I know what I know. I won t
question you further. But in return promise me
one thing, that vou won t go to Massabieille any
more.
I have promised the lady to go.
Oh, have you indeed ! the commissary cried,
as he jumped up from his chair and pretended to be
angry. So that is your way, is it ? You think
you can make fools of us all with your stories and
your stubbornness? No, my dear; and if you don t
promise me at once, this very instant, that you v/ill
never go out to Massabieille again, I will call a
policeman, and then you will be put into jail !
LOURDES 31
Bernadette did not answer. At this point Estrade
judged it right to interfere and approached the little
seer. My dear child/ he said, don t be so obstinate.
Say yes to what M. Jacomet asks of you. It is for your
own good. But Bernadette did not answer him
either, and perhaps the matter would have ended there
if her father, Fran$ois Soubirous, had not come in just
then to fetch his daughter/
Master Soubirous/ exclaimed Jacomet, you come
just at the right moment ! You know the part your
daughter has taken upon herself to play lately. There
must be an end of these monkey tricks that are turning
the town upside down. So if you have not the necessary
authority to keep your daughter at home, then I must
see about keeping her out of mischief elsewhere/
Bernadette s father, a poor, bankrupt miller, who
earned only a bare subsistence as a day labourer and
who had a wife and six children to keep, promised, after
a feeble protest, to do what the authorities required.
On the way home, he said to his daughter :
My dear little Bernadette, you don t want to get us
all into trouble, do you ? All the great people in the
town object to your going to that grotto you will
really have to give it up/
Father/ said Bernadette, I can t help it. It is as
if there was something inside me calling and drawing
me, so that I must go/
However that may be/ answered Franois
Soubirous, I forbid you to go, and you won t disobey
me, will you, for the first time in your life ?
No, father, if you wish it, I will do my very best
to struggle against going/
THE APPARITIONS ON THE 23RD, 24TH, AND
25TH FEBRUARY THE FOUNTAIN
NEXT morning, therefore, Bernadette did not go to the
grotto. She was at school in the forenoon, ran home
at twelve for dinner, and then set out again to go to the
convent. But suddenly, as she was walking along the
street, she felt as if she was stopped by an invisible
barrier. It was as though she found herself in front of
a wall through which she could not pass. She turned
to the right, tried to go to the left ; the wall was every
where, right across the street. Then Bernadette under
stood, or thought she understood. Quickly she tuined
round and was soon at the grotto, where a large number
of people had assembled. Bernadette said her prayers
as usual, but the lady did not appear. A couple of
gendarmes had followed Bernadette, and some facetious
persons would have it that the lady had been afraid
of them. Madame Soubirous arrived on the scene,
greatly distressed at the disobedience of her child.
Several people there, however, spoke very warmly in
defence of Bernadette, and her mother at last promised
not to prevent the child any more from going to
Massabieille.
Accordingly on the 23rd she went out as usual in the
morning, amongst the spectators that day being the
LOURDES 33
tax receiver, Estrade, who had come for the first
time, chiefly to comply with the request of his sister.
Subjoined is his own account of what took place that
morning :
In company with the three ladies, for a couple
of friends had joined my sister, I arrived at Massabieille
at about six o clock, just at daybreak. On the way
out and going through the town, I had felt some
what annoyed at having to walk in such a large pro
cession, and I now tried to look as supercilious and
indifferent as possible. The seer had not yet arrived,
but from a hundred and fifty to two hundred people
were already assembled. I was glad to see amongst
them three or four gentlemen from Lourdes ; if I am
not mistaken they were Dr. Dozous, the advocate
Dufo, the commandant at the fortress, and Mon
sieur de Lafitte. Otherwise the gathering was com
posed chiefly of women, who were praying with an
earnestness worthy of a better cause.
After we had waited a few minutes, there was
a murmur through the crowd people made way
Bernadette was coming. The other gentlemen and
I pushed our way forward to the front rank so that
we could get a good view of the young girl.
Bernadette knelt down, took out her rosary,
and made a deep reverence. She was not embarrassed,
but, on the other hand, she did not make any display
of herself. Her behaviour was quite natural, as if
she had been in church at an ordinary service. While
she let the first beads of the rosary glide through
her fingers, she looked with expectant eyes at the
rock a look that showed how impatiently she was
34 LOURDES
waiting. And all at once it seemed as though she
gave a start of admiration, it was as if she were
born anew. Her eyes lit up and shone, an angelic
smile played about her lips ; her whole figure became
extraordinarily graceful. She looked as though her
soul were striving to burst the bonds of its corporeal
sheath and proclaim its joy to all the world.
Bernadette had ceased to be Bernadette. . . .
After the first rapture caused by the appearance of
the lady was over, one could see that she became atten
tive and that she was listening. Her gestures, her ex
pression, everything showed that someone was speaking
to her. Now she smiled, now she looked grave ;
she bent her head in assent, or she seemed to ask a
question. When the lady spoke to her a shiver of
joy seemed to pass through her ; at other times she
seemed to ask for something and her eyes filled with
tears. Now and then the conversation seemed to
have ceased. Bernadette again began to use her beads,
but always with her eyes on the rock. . .
Usually Bernadette finished her prayer with a
salutation to the invisible lady. I have been much
in society, but I have never seen anyone make so
graceful or distinguished a salutation as Bernadette.
During her ecstasy she now and then made the
Sign of the Cross. As I said that morning on the way
home, if the blessed in Heaven make the Sign of the
Cross, they must do it in that way.
The ecstasy lasted about an hour. Towards
the end the seer moved, still on her knees, from the
place where she had been praying close up to the rose
bush that hung down from the rock. There she kissed
the ground and then returned, still in a kneeling position,
to her starting-point. A last radiance passed over her
LOURDES 33
face ; then the rapture faded from it, little by little,
almost imperceptibly, growing paler and paler till it had
quite disappeared. The young girl continued praying a
while yet, but it was only the pretty, rustic-looking
little Bernadette Soubirous. At last she stood up, went
over to her mother and disappeared in the crowd/
Estrade did not go next morning to the grotto.
His sister, however, was present in the constantly in
creasing crowd, strangers from other towns in the
district having now added to its numbers. From
the account that she gave her brother, the events
were about the same as on the day before, except
that Bernadette, after she had kissed the ground
under the rose-bush, turned round to those present,
and, with a face swollen with weeping and her voice
choked with tears, exclaimed, Penance, penance,
penance !
We now come to the 25th of February, the day when
the wonder-working fountain, which has made Lourdes
famous, gushed forth for the first time. Here again
I avail myself of Estrade s version :
After a few minutes of quiet prayer/ he says,
Bernadette arose and went towards the grotto.
She turned aside the overhanging branches of the
rose-bush and kissed the ground underneath the
ledge of rock, behind the bush. Then she came back
and again became rapt in ecstasy.
She had said perhaps two or three decades of
the rosary 1 when she again arose and seemed to be
1 This consists, as is well known, of five decades. Each decade
consists of one large bead and ten smaller ones. An Our Father
is said at each of the large beads, and a Hail Mary at each of
the smaller ones, and each decade concludes with a Glory be to
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
D 2
36 LOURDES
perplexed. First she turned to the river and went
two or three steps in that direction. Then she
suddenly stopped, looked back as if some one had
called her, and stood listening, after which she nodded
and again went forward, this time to the grotto,
towards the left corner of it. Having gone three-
fourths of the way she stopped again and looked
hesitatingly about her. She looked up as if to ask a
question of the lady ; then she stooped down and
resolutely set to work to scratch up the ground.
The small hollow she had thus made quickly filled
with water, and after having waited a minute or so
she drank of the water and washed her face in it.
She also took some grass growing in this place and
put it in her mouth. All the onlookers watched
these movements with the greatest consternation
and a sense of something eerie. When Bernadette
at length arose and showed a face quite dirty with
the muddy water, all exclaimed as if with one voice,
in a tone of horror, " Bernadette has gone out of
her mind ! "
Bernadette herself did not seem to notice any
thing. Some one dried her face and it shone as before.
But no one admired her now, only pity was left, and
disappointment filled all hearts. Somewhat ashamed
and crestfallen, people slunk away and Bernadette
was left almost alone/
Estrade was amongst those who left. Bernadette s
ecstasy was not over until about seven o clock. Then
the faithful few who had remained behind asked her,
But, Bernadette, what made you do such strange
things this morning ? Why did you go here and
LOURDES 37
there ? Why did you scratch up the soil ? Why did
you drink of the muddy water ?
Bernadette answered : While I was praying the
lady said to me, kindly but gravely, " Go along to
the spring, drink of the water and wash yourself in it."
As I knew nothing about any spring I thought the
lady meant the river and went in that direction.
But the lady called me back and pointed to the grotto.
I did not see any water there, and as I did not know
what else to do, I scratched up the soil and then the
water came. I let it run a little clearer first, then I
drank of it and washed myself in it.
But you ate some of the grass, too, beside the
spring ; why did you do that ?
I don t know. I felt inwardly that the lady
wanted me to do it.
There could be no doubt that Bernadette had
found a spring. People who came out to the grotto
in the afternoon noticed the little stream which had
already channelled a course for itself in the ground
on its way down to the river Gave. The report of
it soon spread in Lourdes and next morning the
gathering at Massabieille was larger than ever. People
did not only want to see Bernadette, they wanted
above all to see the spring. The Pyrenees are rich in
mineral springs ; and there is a whole circle of mineral
watering-places about Lourdes Cauterets, Bareges,
Luz, Saint-Sauveur. All sorts of hopes and expecta
tions, therefore, were immediately centred in this
wonderfully created stream.
The numerous spectators saw the spring in full
activity on the morning of February 26. It had
already grown to the thickness of a finger ; a few days
38 LOURDES
later it was like a child s arm. As the present time it
yields no less than 122,000 litres * per day.
They saw the spring, and Bernadette into the
bargain. The distrust and disappointment of the
day before were quite gone ; they greeted her with the
exclamation, Here comes the saint ! It was in
vain, however, that Bernadette knelt down that day ;
the lady did not appear to her.
And yet the joy over the fountain and the admiration
for Bernadette were both justified. A fount of healing,
a health-giving water, had really sprung up here
although differing in nature from the sulphuric springs
in the Pyrenean watering-places . For there was a witness
to the nature of that healing fountain that Bernadette
had found, in the Gospel which was that day read in
all Catholic churches, and which said :
After these things was a festival day of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew
is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these
lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of
withered, waiting for the moving of the water. And
an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into
the pond ; and the water was moved. And he that
went down first into the pond after the motion of the
water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he
lay under/ 2
1 About 27,000 gallons. A gallon contains about 4^ litres.
2 St. John v. 1-4. The Gospel on the Friday after the first
Sunday in Lent. It happened that this Friday in 1858 was
February 26.
In all instances throughout the book, where quotations from the
Gospels occur, the Douai version has been used. Translator s Note.
VI
THE ATTITUDE OF THE CLERGY
ON Saturday morning, February 27, 1858, the parish
priest of Lourdes, Monsieur 1 Abbe Peyramale, was
walking up and down in his garden, reading his breviary.
A sound as of a gate being shut made him look up ; a
young girl had come into the garden and was coming
towards him. The priest stopped, his penetrating
glance under the bushy eyebrows resting on the visitor
who was timidly approaching him.
Who are you ? What do you want ? he asked
brusquely.
And Bernadette who, by her own admission was
* more afraid of Monsieur le Cure* than of the police
mentioned her name.
Oh, so it s you, is it ? exclaimed the Abbe* Pey-
ramale, and his face grew sterner even than before.
There are some fine tales being told about you ! Come
inside !
With her heart in her mouth, Bernadette followed
the imposing figure of the priest.
Well, then, what do you want ? the priest asked
again, when they were in his study.
And Bernadette, who had come straight from
Massabieille, where the lady had that morning appeared
to her, answered :
40 LOURDES
The lady in the grotto has told me to tell the
priests that she wishes to have a chapel built at Massa-
bieille, and that is why I have come/
The lady in the grotto who is she ? asked the
Abbe Peyramale, pretending to have heard nothing.
She is a very beautiful lady, who shows herself
to me at the grotto.
A lady belonging to Lourdes ? Someone you
know ?
No, she does not belong to Lourdes. I don t
know her.
And you undertake to bring messages of that
kind for a person you don t know ?
Oh, Father, this lady is not like any other lady !
What do you mean ?
That she is so beautiful, so lovely people must
be like that in Heaven !
The priest shrugged his shoulders.
You have never asked the lady her name ?
Yes, but she only looks down and smiles, and
doesn t answer me.
She can t speak, then ?
Yes, she speaks to me every day.
Tell me, anyhow, how you came to know her.
Bernadette then told the priest all that had hap
pened since the nth of February. Meanwhile the Abbe
observed her carefully, and it was evident to him that
she invented nothing, but only told him what she
believed she had seen. When she had finished he
said :
And this lady has ordered you to tell the priests
in Lourdes that she wishes a chapel built out there ?
Yes, Father.
LOURDES 41
Would you have undertaken to bring a similar
message for other ladies here in the town ?
Oh, Father, there is a great difference between
the lady I see and other ladies.
Yes, I should think so, indeed ! A lady who
won t tell you her name, who lives in a grotto and goes
about barefoot in the middle of winter ! No, my little
girl, it s all imagination !
The priest stood up. Bernadette remained seated,
her head bent. After having walked up and down
the room once or twice, Father Peyramale stopped in
front of her.
Tell the lady who has sent you that it is not the
custom of the parish priest of Lourdes to have any
dealings with people he does not know, and first of all
she must tell me who she is. If she does not, she need
not trouble to send me any more messages.
Without answering a word Bernadette stood up,
curtsied, and left. On Sunday, February 28, Monday,
March i, and Tuesday, March 2, she was at the grotto
as usual, and the vision appeared to her on all of the
three days. On the morning of March 2 she again
stood before the Abbe Peyramale, this time accom
panied by one of her aunts, Basile Casterot.
Well, said the priest, what did the lady say ?
Oh, Father, she told me to repeat to you that she
wants to have a chapel there, and she said besides,
" I wish them to come here in a procession ! "
Chapel ! procession ! exclaimed the Abbe Peyra
male, now losing patience. And what right has
this lady to ask for chapels and processions ? Now,
my child, either you are telling a lie, or this lady is
pretending to be the Blessed Virgin for that is what
42 LOURDES
she wants to make me believe she is. Besides, it is
for the Bishop of Tarbes, not for me, to decide in
matters of this kind the lady really ought to be aware
of that !
But it is time there was an end of this. If,
therefore, your lady is the person she is evidently
pretending to be, she can easily give me proof of it.
You say she appears in the grotto above a rose-bush ?
Very well. Ask her from me to cause that rose-bush
to put forth flowers one of these days ! When that
happens I will believe you, and then I promise to go
with you to Massabieille.
The miracle asked for by Father Peyramale did
not happen. But here and there in Lourdes people
began to talk about all sorts of other miracles about
strange and wonderful things said to have been
effected by the water from the grotto. Some workmen
had put up a small wooden pipe which conveyed
the water down to a little basin that they had dug
out, and there were already sick persons who began
to drink of the water and to step into the pool.
The first to be healed in this way was the stone
cutter, Louis Bourriette. It was a fact well known to every
one in Lourdes that one of his eyes had been injured,
nearly twenty years ago now, by a stone splint. In
the course of time the other eye had also become
weak, and it seemed probable that he would eventually
become totally blind. As soon, therefore, as Bourriette
heard about the spring at Massabieille, the hope
of a cure dawned in him and he sent his daughter
out for some of the water. It was still muddy, but
Bourriette was not to be daunted. In fullest trust
he bathed the injured eye and discovered, almost
LOURDES 43
at once, that he could begin to see with it again.
After each fresh application of the water his sight
improved, and when, on the following day, he met
Dr. Dozous, who had had him under treatment, he
went up to him and said, * I am cured ! It is
impossible/ was the answer. The injury to your
eye was organic/ As Bourriette persisted in his
assertion, however, the doctor at last took out a
note-book, wrote a few words in it, put one hand
over the sound eye, and with the other held the writing
before the injured one, certain that Bourriette, as
usual, would be unable to read a single word. There
was great consternation for several passers-by had
stopped to watch this consultation in the open street
when the patient read :
Bourriette suffers from incurable amaurosis and
he will never be better/ 1
Bourriette s cure was a permanent one, and in
a statement made on November 17, 1858, at the
desire of the Bishop of Tarbes, Dr. Dozous declared :
I have examined both of Bourriette s eyes and found
them quite equal, both in shape and in the organisa
tion of the individual parts. Both pupils re-acted
normally when subjected to rays of light. In the
right eye a scar was still visible, otherwise there
was no trace of the injury that had once occurred
to it/
Other cures succeeded this first one. Sufferers
who had spent long weeks or months on beds of
pain, and who had been given up by physicians,
1 Bourriette a une amaurose incurable, et il ne guerira jamais.
Cp. Dr. Dozous, La Grotte de Lourdes, sa fontaine, ses gutrisons,
and Dr. Boissarie, Lourdes (Paris, 1894), pp. 88-92.
44 LOURDES
declared that they had been cured by the water
from the grotto. Jeanne Crassus, who had for ten
years had a paralysed hand, dipped it in the spring,
and the strength of the hand was restored to it. A
child of two, Justin Bouhohorts, who was already
dying, came back to life when his mother, with the
courage of despair, plunged him into the icy cold
water. Dr. Vergez, physician at the watering-place
of Bareges, and Professor of Medicine at the University
at Montpellier, declared of this last- mentioned cure :
Never would any doctor have prescribed, for a
child in an extreme state of exhaustion, in fact, almost
dying, an icy cold bath lasting eight or ten minutes.
In order to effect the cure of her child, Madame
Bouhohorts has used means which are directly opposed
to experience and reason. The cure, however, has
not only been instantaneous, but the child who never
before could walk is now able to stand on his feet.
It is an instantaneous cure without any convalescence.
A fortunate cold-water cure, it will be said. Perhaps
a still more fortunate one was that by which the boy
Henri Busquet was healed of a scrofulous sore on the
neck after one night s treatment with a bandage dipped
in Lourdes water.
Accounts of these and other marvels went all over
the district, and when the last of the fifteen days
dawned, on which Bernadette had promised to come to
the grotto, from fifteen to twenty thousand people were
assembled at Massabieille. It was the 4th of March,
and eye-witnesses such as Estrade and Dr. Dozous
relate how great the throng was, how they climbed up
the rocks, into the trees, how even the river bank on
the opposite side was densely packed. There were
LOURDES 45
many who expected that the miracle asked for by
the Abbe Peyramale would happen on that day, and
that they would see the briar-rose flower before their
very eyes. Bernadette arrived accompanied by two
gendarmes who made way for her through the crowd.
Her ecstasy took its usual course, but those who stood
nearest to her saw that she was weeping, and thought
it would be because the mysterious lady was bidding
her good-bye. Nothing at all happened of all they
had been expecting no roses sprang forth from the
bare thorns, and the lady did not make herself visible
to them all.
When Bernadette came to herself again she was
surrounded by a number of curious persons who asked
what the lady had said at parting.
* She smiled to me as she disappeared, but she did
not say good-bye.
Will you still come here, now that the fifteen days
are over ?
All my life I will keep on coming here/ said Berna
dette.
VII
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION I AM
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
BERNADETTE went regularly to school and instruction
in the catechism and every day paid a visit to Massa-
bieille. But it was not as before, that she felt irresistibly
drawn to the spot ; she went there as she would go, for
instance, to church, or to see a good friend. And so
the days sped, quickly and monotonously ; the month
of March was waning, the Feast of the Annunciation
(March 25) was drawing near.
From time immemorial this feast has been cele
brated with particular solemnity in the Pyrenees. The
population of Lourdes generally chose this day for
a pilgrimage to one of the numerous shrines of the
Blessed Virgin ; in preference to Our Lady of Garaison
or Our Lady of B6ttharram. In the year 1858 the
pilgrimage was made for the first time to the spot which
was later to be known throughout the world as the
shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Bernadette, too, on that festal spring morning, felt
drawn to the bare rock and the grotto with the rose
bush, which was now beginning to put forth leaves,
though not yet flowers. Pious hands had arranged a
little chapel within the grotto, with a statue of the Holy
Virgin, and numerous tapers burned before it day and
LOURDES 47
night. Votive offerings were hung up there and no one
left the place without laying a gift at Our Lady s feet.
In the course of time quite a small treasury was
accumulated there ; it was not guarded by any one,
but no one would have dared to touch it.
Bernadette was drawn to Massabieille, not like the
other pilgrims, but in the way she knew so well from
the beginning, when the lady called her. With her
heart beating fast for very joy she threw her capeline
over her head and hurried out by the path to the wood.
A number of young girls and pious women were already
assembled in prayer before the grotto and oh, wonder !
the lady was there too ! Already a long way off
Bernadette saw the familiar light shining in the niche of
the rock the lady was there before her and stood
smiling and waiting for her like a mother for a child
who has overslept herself.
After I had knelt down before the lady/ Bernadette
afterwards related, I first asked her pardon for having
come so late. She gave me to understand that it did
not matter. Then I told her how glad I was to be
allowed to see her again, and after I had in this way
unburdened myself to her, I took up my rosary.
While I was praying the thought came to me that I would
ask her now what her name was, and after a little time
I could think of nothing else. I was afraid that she
might be vexed if I again asked a question which she
had always refused to answer, and yet there was
something that seemed to force me to speak. At last
I could not keep the words back any longer, and I
asked the lady to be so kind as to tell me who she was.
As she had done before, the lady bent her head
and smiled but did not answer. I don t know how
48 LOURDES
it was, but I had more courage and I asked her again
if she would not trust me with her name.
Again she smiled and bent her head, but still she
said nothing/
Then I folded my hands, and while I admitted that
I was unworthy of so great a favour, I repeated my
request the third time/
The lady was standing above the rose-bush and
showed herself as on the wonder-working medal. 1
When I made my request the third time she looked
grave and seemed to humble herself deeply before God.
Then she lifted up her hands, laid them against each
other on her breast, and looked up to Heaven. After
that she slowly took them apart again, and as she
bent forward towards me she said in a voice that
trembled, I am the Immaculate Conception/ 2
Bernadette always stopped at this point in her
story, overcome by her feelings, as she reproduced
the gestures and attitude of the heavenly apparition.
When she had finished her account the first time in
Estrade s house, she turned to Mademoiselle Estrade
and asked embarrassed at being so ignorant But,
mademoiselle, what do those words mean The Imma
culate Conception ? And all the way to the house of
the priest, to whom she could now at last tell the
Lady s name, she went on repeating the words to her
self, so that she might not forget them ; Immaculada
Counceptiou, Immaculada Counceptiou !
1 That is to say, with outstretched arms, and hands open and
turned outwards, like those on Thorwaldsen s statue of Christ.
The wonder-working medal was struck in commemoration of an
apparition of the Blessed Virgin to Catherine Laboure in a chapel
in the Rue du Bac in Paris in November, 1830.
8 In Bernadette s dialect : Que soy er Immaculada Counceptiou.
VIII
THE DOGMA OF DECEMBER 8, 1854 THE APPARITION
OF APRIL 7 THE AUTHORITIES INTERFERE
SEVERAL times the writer who is relating these
events has had occasion to observe, that it is not only
ignorant little girls in the Pyrenees, but also doctors
of philosophy in Northern Europe, and journalists on
the staff of big daily papers in the most enlightened
capitals, who do not know the meaning of the expres
sion, conceptio immaculata. As an instance : when
the radical Swedish professor, Knut Wicksell (last
year or the year before), was prosecuted for blasphemy,
it was commonly said that he had spoken contemp
tuously about the immaculate conception/ It seemed
to me, before I knew the details, that it was hardly
likely there would be so much sensitiveness in Lutheran
Sweden over a particularly Catholic dogma, and it
did eventually appear that what Wicksell had attacked,
and what the papers judged to be the Immaculate
Conception was the Virgin Birth of Christ ! More
over, grey-headed Protestant theologians have main
tained to me, and in spite of my denial insisted on
maintaining, that this opinion was right, and they
have referred me to what they considered to be the
doctrine of the Church, namely, that natural conception
50 LOURDES
was sinful and that the supernatural therefore was
alone immaculate/
With these experiences in mind, therefore, I do
not consider it inopportune if I explain here that the
Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception
embodies a quite different idea. It states only this :
That the Mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, was,
from the first moment of her existence, exempt from
that stain of inherited, original sin, in which all other
children of Adam and Eve come into the world. This
doctrine is found already in the teachings of such
Fathers of the Church as Irenaeus and Ephraim ; the
Franciscans contended for it all through the later
Middle Ages ; Sixtus IV, in 1447, in Rome inaugurated
the Feast in honour of Mary s Immaculate Conception ;
and Clement XI promulgated it as a doctrine for the
whole Church in 1708. It was, therefore, only the
climax of a long development when Pius IX, by his
Bull, IneffaUlis Dem, of December 8, 1854, solemnly
confirmed the doctrine that Mary, from the first
moment of her conception, for the sake of her Son
and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was preserved from every
stain of original sin, and declared this dogma to be
revealed by God and a clause in the Catholic Faith. 1
On December 8, 1854, n the Feast of the Con
ception of Mary, Pius IX had defined the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception.
1 The following extract from the text of the Bull is taken from
Deuzinger s Enchiridion, loth edition, No. 1641 :
. . . declaramus, pronuntiamus et definimus, doctrinam, quae
tenet, beatissimam Yirginem Mariam in primo instanti suae con-
ceptionis fuisse singular! omnipotentis Dei gratia et privilegio,
intuitu meritorum Christi Jesu Salvatoris humani generis, ab omni
originalis culpae labe preservatam immunem, esse a Deo revelatam
atque idcirco ab omnibus fidelibus firmiter constanterque credendam.
LOURDES 51
On March 25, 1858, on the Feast of the Annuncia
tion, the day when the Word became Flesh, as Mary
bent her head and said to the Angel, Be it unto me
according to Thy Word on that day she herself
stood in resplendent glory before another of her sex
who had found favour with God, and answered,
when asked her name, I am the Immaculate Con
ception.
The Mother of the Lord, says Lasserre, did not
say, " I am Mary Immaculate." She said, " I am the
Immaculate Conception ! " as if to emphasise the
essential character of the privilege which had been
given to her alone since Adam and Eve were created
by God. It was as though she had said, not " I am
pure," but " I am purity itself " ; not " I am a Virgin,
but "I am Virginity living and incarnate." It is
not a quality in her, it is her very essence.
Mary is more than conceived without sin, she is
the Immaculate Conception itself, that is to say, the
archetype of humanity itself without sin, of humanity
as it came from the hands of God in the Garden of
Eden
When you wish to obtain pure water from a
muddy source, you take a filter and cleanse the water
from its grossest impurities. After this you pass it
through a second filter and then a third, and so on.
Then a moment comes when the water is perfectly
clear and sparkles in the glass like liquid diamonds.
This is what God did when mankind became impure
at the source. He chose out a family and watched it
from century to century, from Seth to Noah, from
Shem to David, from David to Joachim and Anne,
the parents of the Blessed Virgin. And when the
E 2
52 LOURDES
human blood was thus purified, through fifty genera
tions of patriarchs and just, there came into the
world a being without stain, a child of Adam without
his guilt. Her name was Mary, as Virgin she became
Mother the Mother of Jesus Christ/
That which had now happened at Massabieille
was nothing less than the direct supernatural confirma
tion of the dogma which Pius IX had four years earlier
to use the words of an indignant Swedish poet 1
flung in the face of the civilised world. Such an
event, on which attention was already concentrated
within large circles in the Catholic Church, could not
but cause uneasiness amongst those men who governed
France at that time, and whose ideal was a steady,
sensible religion, which should be a social power and
contain the least possible elements of the supernatural.
Already on March 10 the Prefect of the department of
the Hautes Pyrenees, Baron Massy at Tarbes, had
received a communication from the Minister of Church
and Education, M. Rouland, asking for information
about the occurrences at Lourdes. And on April 12
a fresh ministerial communication arrived, stating,
amongst other things, that it was important that there
should be an end to scenes which could ultimately only
imperil the best interests of the Church and weaken
the religious feelings of the population. Strictly
speaking, no one had any right to erect a chapel or other
public place of worship without the joint permission
of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. It would
therefore be desirable to take immediate steps for the
closing of the grotto which has been transformed into
a sort of chapel.
1 Victor Rydberg.
LOURDES 53
It is probable that practical difficulties will be
attached to a sudden exercise of this right. It must
therefore be sufficient to hinder the young girl in
question from frequenting the grotto, and to take such
measures as will, little by little, draw away the attention
of the public from the spot, by gradually restricting
the number of visitors.
Moreover, Monsieur le Pre"fet, it is desirable that
you should put yourself in communication with the
clergy ; and I would suggest that you approach directly
the Bishop of Tarbes. I authorise you to say to his
Lordship that I am not disposed to submit any longer
to a state of things which will serve as a pretext for
fresh attacks on the clergy and religion.
It was now the Prefect himself who had to accom
plish that in which neither M. Dutour nor M. Jacomet
had succeeded. The latter had even seen his orders
disregarded by the Soubirous, and in the accomplish
ment of his task the Prefect had to seek help from the
ecclesiastical authorities.
In the meantime Bernadette faithfully continued
her visits to the grotto. The water rushed merrily
through its wooden conduit down to the basin and
increased in volume from day to day. And on the
Wednesday of Easter Week, April 7, the Blessed Virgin
appeared once again to the little seer. Estrade was not
present on this occasion, but Dr. Dozous gives the
following account :
* Bernadette, as usual, held her rosary in her left
hand and a lighted candle in her right. . . . Suddenly
it happened that as she wished to join her hands to
gether she held the candle under her left hand, which
54 LOURDES
was so spread out that the flame found a way out
between the fingers. Contrary to all reason and
experience the flame did not seem to affect the hand in
any way whatever.
Astonished at this, I prevented others from inter
fering, took out my watch and observed the pheno
menon for a whole quarter of an hour. At last
Bernadette again separated her hands.
When the ecstasy was over she arose and prepared
to leave. I stopped her and asked her to show me her
left hand. I did not find the least trace of burning
anywhere.
I then had the candle re-lit and held it under
Bernadette s left hand.
" You are burning me ! " she exclaimed, and quickly
withdrew her hand.
Many others besides myself observed this incident.
I mention it just as it occurred without offering any
explanation.
The remarkable, nay the inexplicable, element in
the incident narrated by Dr. Dozous is not Bernadette s
insensibility. This has also been noticed in nerve
patients. The peculiarity in Bernadette s case consists
in the fact that the hand is not affected by contact with
the flame. Even the most complete catalepsy cannot
prevent the tissues from being affected in a natural
manner by fire.
This event occurred, as stated above, on April 7.
About a week later the Prefect, Monsieur Massy,
called on the Bishop of Tarbes, Monseigneur Laurence,
to convey to him the ministerial threat. The Bishop,
however, was not in the least inclined to take any steps
LOURDES 55
whatever in the matter, and preferred to await the
course of events. The Prefect was therefore compelled
to take action alone, and in the beginning of May he had
the grotto cleared of the objects of devotion collected
there. The road to it was closed, and all access to
Massabieille and the surrounding land was forbidden.
At the same time the Government had a sample of the
water analysed, in order to determine whether it
possessed any medicinal qualities. The analysis showed
that the spring contained several minerals, especially
lime, magnesia, oxides of iron and carbonate of sulphur.
A later and more accurate analysis, made by a chemist
in Toulouse, showed that a kilogramme of the water con
tained 8 centigrammes carbonic acid, 5 centigrammes
oxygen, 17 centigrammes azote, traces of ammonia, 96
milligrammes carbonate of lime, 12 milligrammes carbon
ate of magnesia, traces of iron and carbonates of sodium,
8 milligrammes salt, traces of chloride of sodium, 18
milligrammes silicates, traces of sulphuric sodium, and
traces of iodine.
The chemist who made this analysis, which is
dated August 7, 1858, states that the water from
the grotto of Lourdes may be considered as drinkable
water of the same kind as that which is frequently found
in mountainous districts with a chalky soil. The
sample taken does not contain any substance which
would contribute to the therapeutic qualities of the
water : it can be drunk without any ill effects. *
This excluded the hope of explaining from natural
causes the cures which had been effected from the use of
the water at Lourdes. As, however, the water was at
the same time declared to be innocuous, it would seem
1 This analysis can be found in Estrade s Les Apparitions de
Lourdes, p. 251.
56 LOURDES
that permission might be given for the free use of it.
Nevertheless, access to it was prohibited and several
women who had defied the authorities were arrested
and summoned before the higher court at Pau, but
they were dismissed after having being kept two or
three days in remand. The prohibition was not
cancelled until October 5, at the direct intervention of
Napoleon III, to whom the inhabitants of Lourdes had
sent in a complaint, seizing the opportunity for this
during the Emperor s visit to Biarritz. Free access
to the grotto was granted, and, moreover, a few weeks
later the Moniteur Officiel was able to announce that the
Baron Massy had been promoted to the Prefecture of
Grenoble, and the Commissary of Police, M. Jacomet,
had received a better appointment at Avignon.
But before this day of victory dawned, the Blessed
Virgin appeared yet once more to Bernadette, and
bade her good-bye. During the time that the path
to the grotto was closed, the little seer generally
went out to a meadow on the other side of the Gave,
from which she could look across the river to Massa-
bieille. It was here that she had come on July 16,
on the Feast of Our Lady of Carmel. Several
women were gathered about her, and to their surprise
and delight they saw that Bernadette s face began
to shine once more in ecstasy. And Bernadette,
beside herself with joy, pointed to the other side of
the river in the direction of the grotto, where the briar-
rose was now in full bloom, and cried : There she
is 1 there she is ! She is smiling to us across the
barrier/
Bernadette then appeared to hold a long con
versation with her who was invisible to all the others.
LOURDES 57
It was late in the afternoon. The sun was sinking
lower and lower. When it disappeared it was as if
the light faded from Bernadette s face too. She
had beheld the glorious vision for the last time.
She remained in Lourdes eight years yet. In
November, 1858, the Bishop of Tarbes appointed a
Committee before which Bernadette had to appear ;
at the same time inquiries were made into the genuine
ness of the miraculous cures said to have taken place.
The Committee worked for three years and a half,
and on the basis of its inquiries Monseigneur Laurence,
in a decree issued on January 18, 1862, at last made
the pronouncement that the Blessed Virgin might
be believed to have revealed herself at Lourdes.
The devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes was permitted
throughout the whole of the district, and the Bishop
asked the Catholics of France to assist in building
the church which the Blessed Virgin desired to be
erected at the grotto. With this object in view he
had already bought the whole of Massabieille, the
island Le Chalet, and the land beyond Savy s Canal,
south of the grotto in the direction of Lourdes.
Two years later a statue, the work of the sculptor
Fabisch, from details furnished by Bernadette, was
placed in the niche of the rock where the Blessed
Virgin had revealed herself. It represents her at
the moment when she uttered the words, I am the
Immaculate Conception, and Fabisch, when writing
home, said, I have never seen anything so beautiful
as Bernadette when I asked her to show me how the
Blessed Virgin had looked when she said those words.
Bernadette stood up, folded her hands and looked up
to heaven. But neither Fra Angelico nor Perugino,
58 LOURDES
nor Raphael has ever painted anything so gentle
and yet so profound as the look in the eyes of this
simple, naive young girl/
And this was not a fortunate chance, something
that only happened once, and not oftener.
In another letter, of later date, the artist writes,
No, as long as I live, I shall never forget this adorable
expression ! I have seen the works of the great
masters in Italy, but in none of them have I found
rapture and heavenly joy so adequately expressed.
And every time I asked Bernadette to sit to me, it
was always the same radiant glory that transfigured
her face/
Fabisch was a talented artist, but not aFra Angelico.
When, therefore, Bernadette saw the statue completed
she exclaimed, with unmistakable disappointment :
Yes, it is beautiful, but it is not like her ! The
picture that was always present to her soul was so
immeasurably more glorious, and she tried again
and again to describe it to the artist.
On April 4, 1864, Fabisch s work was placed in the
niche with much solemnity. In the course of time
the stately basilica began to rise, on the top of the rock
of Massabieille, above the grotto. The first pilgrimage
came to Lourdes on July 25, 1864, the first of those
processions which the Blessed Virgin had expressed a
desire to see at the grotto, in her apparition on March
2, 1858. The little town of Loubajac, in the same
diocese as Lourdes, inaugurated the long train of
pilgrimages that were to find their way to Bernadette s
grotto as time went on, and that brought nearly four
million pilgrims to Lourdes during the years from
1867 to 1903.
LOURDES 59
The basilica was completed in 1876 and was
consecrated in the presence of thirty-five bishops,
a cardinal, three thousand priests and one hundred
thousand of the faithful. In order to give the con
stantly increasing number of pilgrims the opportunity
of hearing Mass and receiving the Sacraments, it became
necessary to build a second church in front of and
below the basilica, at the foot of the Espelugues hill.
This, the Church of the Rosary, was consecrated in 1901.
And everything else in Lourdes has grown in proportion.
Bernadette did not witness this development.
She had fulfilled her mission, testified to her vision ;
there was nothing more for her to do. On July 29,
1866, she took the veil in the Convent of Saint Gildard
at Nevers, and entered the community of the same
sisters whose school she had once attended. Bernadette
Soubirous became Sister Mary Bernard.
Her convent life was not to last more than twelve
years. In her extreme humility she always strove to
avoid everything that could bring into remembrance
the part she had played at Lourdes, and nothing was
more painful to her than to be sent down to the parlour
by her superiors, in order to satisfy the more or less
pious curiosity of some casual visitor. The wild
beast has to be shown/ she used to remark on such
occasions. Even the celebrated Dupanloup, Bishop of
Orleans, had some difficulty in obtaining an interview.
He came to Nevers in a state of doubt, but, after a
conversation of two hours with Bernadette, he
declared : I have gazed into an innocent soul, and I
have felt the irresistible power of truth. Some months
later the great opponent of Papal Infallibility went
as a pilgrim to Lourdes.
60 LOURDES
It was only to children that Bernadette spoke
willingly of her memories.
Sister Mary Bernard/ a little girl asked her, is it
true that you have seen the Blessed Virgin ?
Quite true.
Was she very beautiful ?
So beautiful/ Bernadette answered, in a voice
that was husky with emotion, that I am only
longing to die so that I may see her again !
She never deigned to look at the statues of Our
Lady of Lourdes in the convent. If she could not
avoid letting her eyes rest on one of these gaudy
manufactured objects it was with a sigh, How hideous
it is !
When the basilica above the grotto was about to
be consecrated she was asked if she did not wish to be
present ; her superiors were willing to give her per
mission to make the journey.
No, thank you/ she said, with a sigh; but I wish
I could have gone there like a little bird 1
She wished to see without being seen, noticed, and
made much of. And, indeed, she never returned to
the places which had been so dear to her, and where
she had spent the happiest hours of her life.
In the convent Bernadette s duties were partly
those of a nurse and partly of a sacristan. Meanwhile
her health was failing. Her asthma had not left her,
several times she coughed up blood, and on the whole
her health was delicate. At last she spent most of
her time in bed. When able to do so she did needle
work, embroidering altar-cloths or the like, or she
used her beloved rosary or suffered. I am in pain/
she said to the sister who nursed her, but I am
LOURDES 61
content. Besides, suffering is good for Heaven.
What God wills, as He wills, and as much as He wills.
In December 1878 she became seriously ill. During
this illness she received two visitors, sent by the Bishops
of Tarbes and Nevers, and to them she repeated once
more all that she had so often before told about her
visions. Face to face with death, and the Judge in
Whom she believed, she solemnly declared : I have
beheld the Blessed Virgin, I have seen her.
Her illness, so rich in suffering, lasted all the winter
and well into the spring. Yet once more Bernadette
could live in spirit through all those most wonderful
days in her life from that nth February, twenty-one
years before, when she heard on the banks of the Gave,
the same still, small voice in which of old, God
revealed Himself to the Prophet, to that bright,
sunny day, on the Feast of the Annunciation, when the
Lady from Heaven had told her her glorious name.
Sister Mary Bernard died on the Wednesday after
Easter, April 16, 1879, at three o clock in the after
noon, with the crucifix in her hands, and with those
words on her lips which she had so often repeated all
through her life : Holy Mary, Mother of God. . . .
IX
AT THE PISCINA FLEMISH PILGRIMS
THE greatest difficulty that confronts the stranger
who visits modern Lourdes for the first time would
seem to be that of finding the grotto. On reaching
the outskirts of the town, and after crossing one of the
two bridges over the Gave, one enters into a series of
gardens, bewildering in their number and extent.
Avenues, lawns, flower-beds, gravel-paths, statues ;
on the right and the left buildings that look like offices ;
finally an immense, wide esplanade terminated by the
low and broad fagade of a church built in the
Romanesque style, with a snow-white Madonna on
a golden background above its wide open door. This
esplanade is framed on both sides by semicircular,
very slightly rising ascents supported on enormous stone-
built arches, the ascents leading up to a second church,
which up above raises its slender Gothic spire to heaven.
The lower, Romanesque church is known as the Church
of the Rosary, and is built like a great hall or rotunda,
with room for thousands and thousands of pilgrims.
The church above is the original basilica and consists
in an upper church and a crypt hewn out of the rock
of Massabieille itself. Underneath the steps up to the
main doorway of the basilica a door opens on to a
long, low corridor with marble walls, like the entrance
to a Roman catacomb. This leads to the crypt.
LOURDES 63
The whole of the former island of Le Chalet, and
the summit, as well as the eastern slope of the
Espelugues hill, is covered with these gardens and
hidden by these buildings. In order to reach the
grotto you turn to the right through one of the arches
on the north side of the Place du Rosaire. This
brings you to a narrow strip of land situated between
the hill and the river Gave. Here, too, the ground
has been levelled and gravel paths have been made,
and on the side nearest the water a stone parapet
serves as a back-rest for a long bench, on which hundreds
of persons can find seats. This bench and the river
behind it is on the right ; on the left, beneath the
hill, there is first a small book-shop, then the piscina
or bath-houses, three low buildings, in which the
baths for invalids are situated, and which have taken
the place of the primitive basin in which the water
from the spring was first collected. Beyond the
bath-houses one comes to a long row of taps, twelve
in number, from which water is drawn, and then at
last one arrives at the grotto, in front of which there
is a large paved space, fenced in and provided with
seats. One of the flag-stones is inscribed with
the words : Place OIL priait Bernadette, n fevrier,
1858. On this spot Bernadette prayed on February
n, 1858.
The spring found by her has for a long time not
been visible. It issues on the left side of the grotto,
in the place where there is now a large metal slab
or hatch, fastened with a padlock. From here the
water is conducted through a concealed pipe, first
to a tank above the twelve taps, from which everyone
may drink of it, and then further down to the piscina,
64 LOURDES
where it is used in the baths for the sick. There is
one bath-room with three baths for the men and
two rooms with six baths for the women. Each
bath holds about 400 litres. 1 In the wall above the
bath there are two taps, of which one is always running,
so that the water is constantly being renewed. The
baths are placed in a recess, with room on each side
for those who have to lower the patient into the
water. There is a curtain in front of each of these
small bath cells ; in the space in front there are chairs
and pegs for clothes. All the work connected with
the baths is carried out free by a voluntary band
of helpers les Hospitallers de Notre Dame de Lourdes
while the baths, too, are entirely free, and nothing
is paid for residence in the hospital. Baths are
given daily from nine to eleven and from two to
four. Between eleven and two o clock the baths
are emptied and cleaned.
Even with a supply of over 120,000 litres 2 per day
the water would not, however, suffice for the larger
stream of pilgrims in the summer often four or five
hundred baths in one day. For this reason the clergy,
to whom the Bishop of Tarbes has entrusted the
administration of the church of the pilgrims and
everything connected with it, collect the water from
the spring during the night and in the winter, in a
large reservoir which has been constructed under
neath the Rosary Church. It was this precaution
that some years ago gave rise to a sensational article
in American and European papers, alleging that the
water in the piscina did not come from the spring
1 About 88 gallons. a About 26,000 gallons.
LOURDES 65
at all, but was simply river water which the crafty
priests had led into the baths.
On this rainy afternoon, then, after I have washed
and had a meal at the hotel, I go across the Place in
front of the Rosary and under the arches towards
the piscina. It is just at the time when the bathing
is going on, between two and four o clock. A company
of Belgian pilgrims, about twelve hundred persons,
have arrived in the morning and have now brought
their sick, about two hundred, to the baths. In
front of the bath-houses there is a large enclosed
space which is reserved for the patients, nurses, and
the brancardiers, the other voluntary corps of helpers
at Lourdes. Its members can easily be distinguished
by the leather straps over their shoulders, which
they use when they carry patients on their stretchers.
Some of these assistants, as well as the hospitaliers,
are resident in Lourdes, but each train of pilgrims
also brings its volunteer helpers, who complete the
personnel of the organisation. The brancardiers under
take the work of conveying the patients from the
hospital and back, either on stretchers or in small,
light ambulance carriages.
Just as I arrive the enclosure is full of these
ambulances, waiting in front of the piscines. Most of
them are empty the patients are sitting on benches
at the entrance to the baths and awaiting their turn.
Hospital nurses, doctors, and the leaders of the pilgrim
age, easily recognised by their badges in the Belgian
colours, are going about amongst them. The other
pilgrims, too, wear ribbon badges, but smaller ones,
and a number corresponding to their number in the
pilgrim register, which makes it possible, in the event
66 LOURDES
of a cure, to identify them at once and find the papers
relating to their case.
Owing to the rain I do not see much of the patients
themselves umbrellas are put up over them, or they
lie on their stretchers covered with tarpaulins and
other protections from the rain. I have stopped to
see the men s section, and everything is done very
quietly only now and then there is more movement,
when the door to the baths is opened and a couple
of patients come out after their bath and new ones
are admitted. One is reminded of the consulting-
room of some great doctor only the waiting-room
is in the open air. I notice a man who is sitting quite
close to the door, and who will evidently go in next
his face is violet of a strange, dead metallic hue
as if he was saturated right to the skin by some
horrible poison. His reddish, inflamed eyes are
lowered ; between his fingers, also violet, the rosary
beads are gliding. . . .
For all pray here who possibly can. The space
outside the enclosure is thronged with people, not
inquisitive spectators, but relatives, friends, acquaint
ances, compatriots of the patients all pilgrims
who, under the glistening umbrellas, in hushed voices
murmur the prayers of the rosary. And in the space
within the enclosure a tall young priest now steps
forward, uncovers his head in the pouring rain, and
in a loud voice begins a series of prayers sounding
strangely impressive in the strong Flemish language,
and repeated in chorus by all those standing about me.
They are short invocations, cries to God for help,
impetrations, hurled up towards the grey, apparently
indifferent and relentless, heavens.
LOURDES 67
Heiligste hart van Jesus, genees onze zieken/
prays the Flemish priest, and round about me all
murmur the same prayer, Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus, heal our sick !
1 Heiligste hart van Jesus, bekeer onze zondaars/
he continues, and all say after him, Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus, convert our sinners.
Heiligste hart van Jesus, ontferm u onzer/ Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us/
For a moment he pauses. The rain is streaming
down his black hair, his lofty brow, over his strong
and beautifully modelled features. His deep-set eyes
are particularly wonderful their earnest, powerful,
enthusiastic expression as in one whose faith can
move mountains. . . .
Again he raises his voice ; now he is calling on
Mary :
Onze lieve vrouw van Lourdes, onbevlekte
maagd, Moeder van God, genees die zieken voor de
bekeering der zondaars ! Our dear Lady of Lourdes,
immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, heal the sick that
sinners may be converted !
Onze lieve vrouw van Lourdes, genees onze
zieken ! Our dear Lady of Lourdes, heal our sick !
Onze lieve vrouw van Lourdes, bekeer onze
zondaars ! Our dear Lady of Lourdes, convert our
sinners/
Onze lieve vrouw van Lourdes, bid voor ons/
Our dear Lady of Lourdes, pray for us/
Again a pause, then the young priest takes out his
rosary and I pass on, while the salutations to Mary
begin to resound behind me. A few minutes walk
and I stand before the grotto.
F 2
68 LOURDES
I had imagined it larger. The pictures of it give
one the impression that it is rather large. I wonder
still more at finding that the marble statue in the
niche above the briar-rose is so small.
At this moment the space in front of the grotto,
fenced in with chains, is quite full of stretchers and
invalid chairs, patients being carried or wheeled along
after their bath. A couple of children are placed in the
front row underneath the umbrellas I see two little,
leaden-hued faces, and small white, frail fingers
fumbling with a rosary and such wistful, such plead
ing eyes, fastened on the white statue, on her who has
helped so many others, and who could help them
too. . . . They are boys one of them has continual
fits and throws off all rugs and coverings ; his father,
who looks like a working man, and who is kneeling in
prayer behind the stretcher, patiently puts every
thing right again each time. . . . Another child is
continually thrusting his head forward, his eyes are
closed, a little froth is oozing from the half-open lips
a brancardier eases the pillow under his head.
I stand a few moments looking out over the
stretchers. The rain is ceasing and umbrellas are
being closed. The patients in the first row are all
children, small, poorly-dressed boys they are fully
dressed so that one sees their rough, common clothes
and with such wasted, tortured, earth-coloured or
ashen faces. There is no sight so heart-rending as
that of suffering children cheeks that ought to be
plump and rosy, and instead are pale and sunken ;
eyes that ought to glow with the joy of life, and
sparkle with merriment, are instead dull, listless,
almost lifeless. . . .
LOURDES 69
I go on, into the grotto ; I cannot bear the sight
of the sick children. . . . There is an iron railing
before the grotto with Entree on one side and Sortie
on the other. Up above there are rows of crutches,
left there by those who have been cured . . . there are
many more on the wall of the rock outside. Im
mediately below the statue there is a large iron stand,
full of burning candles of all heights and sizes, from
the large ornamented ones as thick as a boat s mast
and costing a hundred francs, to the small, thin ones
no bigger than a farthing dip and costing fifty
centimes. Behind this first large stand there is
another, a little lower. And the whole of the inner
most part of the grotto, where the rock slopes low
down, is laid out like one solid bed of flames, with
row upon row of iron spikes on which the candles are
impaled. There is just room to walk between the
altar in the middle of the grotto and this garden of
flames. An old man with a motionless face, the
colour of brown parchment, and with a coarse, blue
apron over his clothes, goes about unceasingly and
trims the candles, cleans the sockets or spikes by
scraping off the wax that has dripped, and changes
them as they burn down and can be moved in where
the roof is lower, lights new candles and puts them
in the place of those that have gone out, receives the
candles one wishes to put up and puts them in a box
where hundreds of others are already waiting, and
from which he is continually renewing his supply.
It is warm here under the sooty, lowering roof,
warm and extraordinarily quiet. Many people are
continually passing through ; they touch with their
fingers or lips that place in the rock which is just
70 LOURDES
below the Madonna niche, and on going out place an
offering in the large copper vase. Many stay a little
while, kneeling on the prie-dieus ranged on the left
underneath the rock, or on the paved floor of the
grotto. . . . Yet notwithstanding those who pass
out and those who stay, the stillness is as deep as if
one were far away amongst lonely mountains. . . .
The old watchman moves noiselessly to and fro
amongst his candles; one hears only the faint guttering
of the flames, the metallic ring of coins dropping into
the bronze urn, and the sighs breathed forth by those
at prayer about one and behind one. . . . the sighs
that here, on this consecrated spot, the goal of such
ardent longings and such long journeys, rise from a
burdened heart, and trembling between doubt and
confidence rise to the Blessed among women : Our
dear Lady of Lourdes, immaculate maid, Mother of
God, heal our sick, that sinners may be converted.
BENEDICTION IN FRONT OF LE ROSAIRE
THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE
IT is four o clock the piscina are being closed.
On the space in front of them and before the grotto
the long train of Belgian pilgrims moves away-
carried, wheeled, led by the arm crippled, lame,
blind, diseased and leprous a crowd as piteous to
behold as that which in far-off days, along the roads of
Galilee and in the towns about the Lake of Gennesaret,
thronged about the Master from Nazareth, and tried
if they could but touch the edge of His mantle or the
hem of His garment.
Slowly the sad procession moves in the direction
of the hospital, home to Our Lady of the Seven
Sorrows/ as the hospital in Lourdes has fittingly been
called. But first a pause is made on the big Place/
that spreads out before the Rosaire in a sweeping
curve, between the two ascents. Here is seen one
of the most impressive sights to be witnessed in Lourdes,
or indeed anywhere in the world, a sight that has not
been equalled since the time of the Gospels, when Our
Lord walked on this earth, and, as one of His apostles
has said, * went about doing good/
On each side of the immense circular space the
patients are ranged in their invalid chairs or on their
stretchers. Behind them stand the brancardiers or
72 LOURDES
stretcher bearers, the nurses, the relatives or friends of
the sick who have accompanied them. In a wide
circle outside, all the rest of us. Alone, in the middle
of the great Place, a priest or two, to lead the prayers.
And now, from the porch of the Rosaire, and
followed by priests in vestments, and acolytes with
censers and lighted candles, steps forth an ecclesiastic
in shining cope, with the Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar, the Sacred Host, borne in a glittering monstrance.
A canopy protects the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Slowly the solemn procession approaches, comes down
the steps along the perron of the church and moves
towards the invalids. Opposite every single stretcher
and every little carriage the procession stops, and
while all around fall on their knees, the officiating
priest blesses the sick with the uplifted monstrance.
The Saviour Himself comes in the White Robe of the
Host to each of these cripples and suffering ones who
are lying in His path, as of old they lay along the dusty,
sun-scorched roads of Galilee and Judaea. And, as
at the marriage feast at Cana, it is His Mother who
brings them to Him and pleads their cause with His
Heart. Listen, it is said now as it was once outside
the gates of Jericho or Capernaum : Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on us ! The priest, from the
midst of the Place, with a ringing voice hurls forth
these invocations, and in united chorus the assembled
thousands echo his prayers and his cries.
Lord, we adore Thee ! he exclaims, and round the
Place the echo rolls like a wave,
Lord, we adore Thee !
Lord, we hope in Thee ! And we all answer
and repeat, Lord, we hope in Thee !
LOURDES 73
Lord, we love Thee !
Yes, yes, we love Thee, as well as we can, imperfectly,
weakly, selfishly ! We have so little compassion for
others, so much for ourselves ! And yet it is not quite
false when we say that we love Thee, Thou the purest,
best, noblest of the children of men ! We do at least
desire to love Thee, and would fain grow in love of
Thee and learn to do Thy Holy Will.
Hosannah, Hosannah, thou Son of David ! Blessed
is He that cometh in the name of the Lord !
It is the cry of Palm Sunday, of the victorious
entry into Jerusalem. It is echoed here, now, like
a cry for help from the archways at the pool of
Bethesda. . . .
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God I :
Thou art my Lord and my God ! :
Thou art the Resurrection, and the Life !
The voices rise in response yes, resurrection and
life is what all these dying ones, these corpses almost,
are waiting for, hoping for.
Thou art the Resurrection, and the Life !
Save us, Lord, we perish! cries the priest, like the
disciples on that terrible night of the storm on the
Lake of Gennesaret, and as though we all expected
to see Him come walking upon the waters we pray in
an agony of fear : Lord, save us, we perish !
Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me whole.
Lord, say but a word, and I shall be healed/
Yes, Lord, if Thou wilt. . . Thou didst awaken
the daughter of Jairus and the widow s son at Nam.
Thou saidst to the centurion, Thy son liveth/ and
the fever left him in that same hour.
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us ! :
74 LOURDES
Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on us ! :
Mary, Mother of Jesus, pray for us !
One by one the loud invocations roll over the heads
of the sick ; they respond in low murmurings, quiet and
bent, fingering their rosaries. And slowly, solemnly
the procession with the Sacred Host moves from one
litter to another.
It was a priest from Montauban, the Abbe Lagardere,
who, in 1888 conceived the idea of this Benediction of
the sick in the open air, and since then it takes place
daily at Lourdes, during the whole season of the
pilgrimages. It is the close of the day for the invalids,
as the Mass in the morning is the beginning, and often
it has happened, just as the monstrance with God s
White Heart (the expression is Robert Hugh Benson s)
is uplifted in benediction over a sufferer, that one who
has been declared incurable, given up by all physicians,
has heard within him an all-conquering Talitha cumi,
a mighty Ephphatha, a supernatural Arise, take up
thy bed and walk !
I stand amongst the pilgrims in the large circle
and see the Benediction given to one after the other
of the sick. Wherever the canopy and the gold-
glittering vestments of the priests and the incense and
candles approach, they cause a breach in the human
wall of those who fall on their knees. A moment after
they rise, while the monstrance passes on like a flashing
sickle, mowing down swath by swath. Slowly it comes
to the place where I am standing the procession is now
only a couple of stretchers away now it is next to us
now right in front of us. We all drop on our knees, our
heads bent deep, and caring nought for the pools of
water in which we kneel.
LOURDES 75
For it is still raining streaming pouring. The
sky seems to have reserved one of its greatest cloud
bursts for this moment. The invalids are covered
with tarpaulins, rubber capes, raised hoods on the
ambulances and stretchers. We others protect our
selves as best we can under our umbrellas, while we
stand so close together that the water trickling from
the umbrella of one runs down inside the coat collar of
another.
And yet everything is done with the same undis
turbed calm as though we had above us the brightest
blue sky of a summer day. The priests do not walk
one single step quicker, though their gold embroidered
copes are streaming with rain. The priest who gives the
Benediction does not pass over any of the sick, hurries
nothing, does not shorten or rush anything. And out
in the middle of the Place, which has gradually become
a lake of yellow water, stands the young Flemish priest
whom I saw this morning at the baths. It is he who
leads the prayers ; with the rain streaming from his
hair, drenched to the skin, his strong face raised to the
pitiless sky, he cries unweariedly up to this apparent
indifference to us poor human worms, indifferent to
our weal and woe, flinging prayer after prayer like
flaming arrows up through this wilderness of driving
clouds.
Lord, we worship Thee :
Lord, we hope in Thee :
Lord, we love Thee !
In vain does the rain come down, in vain do these
merciless elements rage, as though they wished to
drown in their streaming waters all the fair aspirations
of poor human hearts. Faith unquenchable burns
76 LOURDES
like a fire that cannot be extinguished, that does
not die, but only burns up afresh in a still more
unconquerable prayer.
Lord, we worship Thee ! is the cry of these un
happy ones, sorrowful, bowed down to the earth,
crushed by the weight of life, in whose misery not a
ray of sunshine, not a gleam of heaven s blue can be
seen. . . .
Lord, we hope in Thee ! confesses this defeated,
conquered host, helpless and wounded to death. . . .
Lord, we love Thee ! is the cry of the dying,
while the storm beats over their last couch, and it
seems as though every spark of hope must be quenched
under the pouring rain. Lord, we love thee in spite of
all, in spite of everything ! We are in Thy hands, and
we know that Thou art our Father, and that not a
sparrow falls to the ground without Thy will. . . .
Lord, we love Thee ; Lord we love Thee !
THE RIVER GAVE
XI
A RECOVERY ? BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS
MEDICALES TWO RECOVERIES
BEING tired after my long journey and the new and
strong impressions I have received, I go to bed early
and wake up next morning at about seven o clock.
It is still cold, but the rain has ceased, the sun is
shining, and the sky is a misty blue, with drooping
clouds. I hear the rushing of the Gave beneath my
windows, and a few birds singing in the hotel garden.
All about the town and up behind the pilgrim church
the mountains are ranged, large and green, with worn-
looking places where the bare chalk shows.
I dress quickly, hurry over the bridge across the
Gave and down through the gardens and across the
esplanade to the grotto and the baths. The Belgian
pilgrims are already there and again I am stirred with
emotion at the sight of these pale, leaden-coloured
faces, and the everlasting repetition of the prayer, so
pathetic in its very expression, Onze lieve vrouw van
Lourdes, bid voor ons i As on the previous day, I go
into the innermost corner of the grotto, where the flames
of the candles crackle in the deep silence, and where one
is involuntarily overcome by one s feelings. Slowly
and ceaselessly the scalding tears fill one s eyes, run
down and burst forth again. It is as though the entire
78 LOURDES
woe of the whole of mankind were concentrated in this
place, and one can do nothing but weep and pray
saying the prayers of the rosary, that has been washed
in tears and consecrated in blood the rosary that has
been called rich in sorrows, and that is to remind us of
Him who prayed in the Garden of Olives and when
He was sorrowful even unto death, He prayed the
longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood
trickling down upon the ground. . . .
Presently, as I am about to leave, there is a sudden
commotion in the crowd gathered in front of the grotto.
A stretcher is quickly brought in and the bearers
smile and wave their hands to everyone. Genesen,
genesen ! passes in delighted tones from mouth to
mouth, gueri, gueri ! Some one has been cured !
The crowd closes in, but the brancardiers take care
that none of those outside come into the space before
the grotto which is reserved for invalids. The stretcher
is set down amongst the others, and round about me
I hear in French and Flemish that the patient is a
woman who has been paralysed and who can now move
one hand after a bath at the wells.
I take careful note of myself at this moment.
I realise that I am in a state of strange excitement.
I have a feeling of being thoroughly shaken out of
my usual folds. It seems as though I have been
breathed upon by spirits from unknown worlds, and
I am filled with fear rather than satisfaction. Here
I am, suddenly confronted with something I cannot
explain, which I have not the means to examine, nor
the foreknowledge to judge. I am reminded of
what was once said to me by a Danish Catholic, a
devout and fervent old lady who had just come back
LOURDES 79
from Lourdes : They cried miracle ! miracle ! but,
really, / couldn t see any miracle !
And then I remember that there is a medical
institution at Lourdes, the so-called Bureau des
Constatations M&dicales, and that I have a letter
of introduction to Dr. Boissarie, the physician who
has presided over this institution for many years.
On my way across the esplanade this morning I saw
the blue enamelled plate of the bureau somewhere
above a door, and directly after luncheon I direct
my steps to it, find the door, and notice that
the bureau is built underneath the ascent, between
two of the arcades supporting it. On one side of
the door there are two windows, provided with dull
glass panes ; one of them is furthermore protected
by iron bars. Above and between the windows
there is a statue of Saint Luke, the physician, and
the patron saint of the medical profession.
This bureau was established in 1882, under the
management of Dr. Boissarie s predecessor, de Saint
Maclou. Since then all pilgrims coming to Lourdes
in quest of health are required to bring with them
a medical certificate, as fully detailed as possible.
If they appear to have been cured, the bureau is
able, by means of this certificate, to form an opinion
about the patients, and, after an examination, to
determine whether any change has taken place in
their condition.
Dr. Boissarie, who has managed the bureau since
1883, is assisted in his daily work by Dr. Cox, an
Englishman. The bureau is, however, open to all
doctors above all to those who accompany the
pilgrims, but next to them to all others. Thus, in
8o LOURDES
1892 it was visited by 120 doctors, in 1902 the
number had risen to 268, in 1907 to 332, and in 1908
even to 625. During the last seventeen years the
bureau has received altogether 4,117 doctors within
its walls. And everything is open to these members
of the medical profession, they can examine the
patients for themselves, study the certificates,
scrutinise the records of the bureau ; there is no
secrecy, everything is done in the fullest publicity.
Nay, not only the doctors, and not only a Zola (who
was the guest of Dr. Boissarie in 1892, before he wrote
his celebrated novel, Lourdes ), but every writer, every
journalist, every educated person who is interested,
has the same right to form an opinion based on the
most complete personal observation.
I was aware of this, and yet it was with some
trepidation that I approached this place where science
sits in judgment on the miraculous. It was two
o clock, so that the bureau would be open. My
knocking called forth a gruff Entrez I opened the
door and walked straight into the consulting-room,
or whatever it ought to be called.
It is a large room, taking up the whole width of
the ascent and with a door at the back opening on
to the road along the river bank, behind the arcades.
The walls and the vaulted ceiling are lined with light
pitch pine. A couple of large frames, with a collection
of photographs of those who have been cured, hang
on one of the walls on the right as one steps in. There
are benches covered in American leather against the
walls,, a few chairs and bookshelves full of journals
and documents. In the background one or two
doors leading to the rooms where the patients are
LOURDES 81
examined. And on the left, in front of the window
overlooking the esplanade, there is a long, wide table,
at which Dr. Boissarie himself is seated, with Dr.
Cox at his side.
I deliver my letter of introduction to the senior
doctor, who after rapidly glancing over it, hands it
to Dr. Cox. Then he turns his clean-shaven, im
movable lawyer face to me ; a couple of stern furrows
run from the nose down about the tightly closed
lips, and the pale blue eyes contemplate me keenly
over the eye-glasses.
Sit down there, so that we can see you/
And I sit down in one of the leather-covered arm
chairs provided for patients and begin to give some
information about myself. Then Dr. Cox joins in
the conversation, and it turns out that he is a friend
of Robert Hugh Benson, whose novel, The Lord of
the World/ I have just begun to translate into Danish,
and that he is also, like myself, an admirer of the Irish
writer, another Catholic priest, Sheehan, the author
of Luke Delmege/ My New Curate/ and many other
impressive books.
But there is not much time to examine me, as
we now hear the sound of many voices outside. Dr.
Boissarie casts an alert glance to the right, towards
the door. Dr. Cox puts my letter in a portfolio, and
arranges his papers ; I rise from my chair, and before
we know what is happening the room is full of people.
No less than three patients, said to be cured, are
brought in one of them walks unaided, the second
is on a stretcher ; the third, a middle-aged woman, sits
upright on the arm of a stalwart attendant, carried
like a child, and smiling and bowing to everybody.
82 LOURDES
In the train of the three patients follow Sisters of
Mercy, doctors, ecclesiastics, and inquisitive spectators.
More are threatening to come in, but a couple of
muscular brancardiers put their shoulders against
the door, get the key turned in the lock and the bolt
shot. So now we are in peace and the examination
can begin.
Dr. Boissarie turns first to the patient on the
stretcher, a woman, like the other two, by the way.
She is not the patient whom I saw at the grotto this
morning it is not a paralytic who has regained the
use of her hand, but a blind person who asserts that
she has received her sight. The doctor asks for her
certificate, the number attached to her dress is
examined, and then Dr. Cox finds her certificate on
a large file. Muttering to himself, Dr. Boissarie
runs through the paper and then turns to a young
Belgian doctor who is eagerly reading with him.
And now she asserts that she can see ?
A little nun, who is kneeling beside the stretcher
and supporting the patient s head, eagerly answers
that she does.
What can she see then ? continues the old
doctor, with apparent sternness. People, trees ?
She can see light/ explains the little nun.
Will you open the eye/ Dr. Boissarie asks the
young Belgian.
He kneels down beside the stretcher, removes the
bandage and a tampon of cotton wool, and opens first
one and then the other of the patient s closed eyes.
Dr. Boissarie looks at them with interest, but
immediately shakes his head.
* Quite destroyed ! Impossible to see with those
LOURDES 83
eyes ! Involuntarily the good little nun s eyes
become dimmed with tears.
But, monsieur le docteur, she can really see light,
she has said so herself !
The doctor, however, does not change his opinion,
and our interest is centred on the next patient. It
is she who was carried in before ; she is sitting now in
one of the large armchairs in front of Dr. Boissarie,
her face still beaming all over, while her papers are
produced and given to Dr. Cox, who reads out their
contents.
Her name is Marie Dillen ; she comes from Melsele,
near Antwerp, is forty-five years old, a sempstress
and unmarried. She has been delicate since the age
of fifteen, and during the last ten years she has had
frequent and sharp pains in the stomach and has often
had to vomit her food directly after a meal. Taking
nourishment caused her increasing difficulties ; at last
she could hardly drink even milk. Since August of
last year, that is 1908, she had been confined to bed.
Her doctor diagnosed her case as an ulcerated stomach.
Five times she had vomited blood.
How much every time ? asks Dr. Boissarie,
looking at the sempstress. But she does not under
stand French, and a Flemish priest who is present has
to translate the question and act as interpreter for her.
Picking at the fringe of her faded grey shawl she
answers timidly, A great deal/
A great deal ! growls Dr. Boissarie. What
does that mean ? Was it a basin full, a saucer, a
soup-plateful ?
A soup-plate/ was the rather frightened answer.
Quite black blood/ she adds.
G 2
84 LOURDES
1 When did you arrive ? the old doctor asks.
On Wednesday/
That was the i6th. And what was your journey
like ? Did you eat anything on the way ?
No, nothing.
Nothing at all ? Nor drink anything either ?
No, nothing at all. I felt better when I didn t
have anything.
And here, in Lourdes ?
I have had a little milk here.
And that makes you think that you are cured ?
Do you feel better ? When did you begin to feel
better ?
The eyes of all present are on the poor Flemish
sempstress, who is nearly out of her wits with embar
rassment . She gathers all her courage together and says :
I have had altogether four baths at the wells, the
last was this afternoon. The other three did not do
me much good, I was carried away on my mattress
as miserable as I came. But to-day, when I was
put into the water, I had an attack of most dreadful
pain in my stomach it went right through every
part of my body, and then, directly after, it was all
quite gone, I hadn t felt so well for years, and I felt
that I was cured. . . .
The doctor s face is inscrutable, not a muscle
moves.
Very well, he says. If you are cured then
you must be able to eat. Now go home, have your
dinner, and come back to-morrow.
The blind woman has already been taken away,
now Marie Dilleri goes too. There remains the young
girl who came on foot.
LOURDES 85
Her papers, too, are produced. Miss Julia
Witthamer, from Antwerp, twenty-seven years old.
She, too, suffers from an ulcerated stomach and has,
moreover, been twice operated, but the operations
have been unsuccessful : the pains and vomiting
have continued, and the young girl has been re
duced to living on milk and tea. Like Marie Dillen,
she thinks that to-day, on the Feast of the Sacred
Heart, she has been cured by a bath her third
in the piscina. She is given the same advice as her
fellow-sufferer, to eat some food and come back on
the following day.
This finishes the programme for the day. Dr.
Boissarie rises and thus gives the signal for the
dispersal of the company. Soon after I am sitting
down to dinner at the hotel. A group of Belgians,
who have taken possession of the large table in the
middle of the room, are eagerly discussing the two
cures of the day.
XII
AUGUSTA DE MUYNCK
NEXT morning I am back at the bureau early and
there I find, amongst doctors and priests, both
Mademoiselle Witthamer and Marie Dillen.
The first named says that she had soup, an egg,
bread and butter, as well as some wine last night,
and that for her breakfast this morning she has had
coffee and a ham sandwich, all of which would have
been certain death for her not twenty-four hours
before.
Excellent, mademoiselle just you go on like
that/ says the old doctor. There is only one thing
that is rather annoying, and that is, that my worthy
colleagues at Antwerp have taken away so much of
your stomach that there is not room enough in it
any longer. You ought to have come here sooner,
mademoiselle !
And turning to the rest of us the old doctor cannot
repress an outburst of indignation at the mania of
surgeons for operations.
It is now Marie Dillen s turn. Last night she
ate an egg and two croissants, and drank a glass
of wine this morning she has drunk chocolate all
good things to which her stomach would previously
have strongly objected. And triumphantly she
LOURDES 87
presses her hand on this part, presses hard and long
on that spot which was before so painful and where
she feels nothing at all now. She is dismissed with
the same advice as yesterday, and told to present
herself for observation next day.
Julia Witthamer gets up to go too, and, with her,
a fair and pale young girl who had been sitting beside
her on the bench underneath the photographs of
those who had been cured. A smile brightens up
Dr. Boissarie s stern face and there is a look of paternal
affection in his eyes when he sees the fair-haired girl.
He gives her his left hand, la main du coeur/ and
as he leads her to a chair beside the table he says,
turning to us :
This is Miss Augusta de Muynck, one of our visitors
last year, who has come back now to show us that
the cure has been maintained. . . . Oh, Cox, just
look up Miss de Muynck s case it is No. 10 in the
register for 1908.
The English doctor seeks out the papers in question
and places them before his senior, who begins, in his
slow, somewhat hesitating and yet firm manner, a
little lecture in something like the following words :
Augusta de Muynck was born at Borgerhout, near
Antwerp. Her father was a Catholic but not a practis
ing one ; her mother was a very fervent Protestant,
a Calvinist. None of the children, therefore, were
baptized. When Augusta was six years old her father
died. On his death-bed he sent for a priest, and the
latter insisted on the children being baptized. Augusta
was baptized at the same time that her father received
Extreme Unction. When her mother heard of it she
declared that she would have nothing more to do with
88 LOURDES
Augusta, and the child was therefore placed in the care
of the Sisters of St. Vincent at Ecloo. She stayed with
them till her twenty-fourth year.
Augusta grew up in the convent in an atmosphere
of piety. At the age of twelve she made her first
Communion, and at seventeen she began to go to daily
Communion and has continued the practice for fifteen
years now. It was indeed fortunate for her that she
had all the means of help that religion could give, to
meet the trials that now awaited her.
For she had a sad physical inheritance to endure.
Both her parents were consumptives and died of this
disease ; as did also a sister. And five years ago
tuberculosis declared itself in a very serious form.
On December 16, 1906, she underwent an operation
at the hospital of St. Erasmus at Borgerhout. This
was followed by two other operations, the latter in
Antwerp, on December 16, 1907, at the St. Camillus
Hospital. After these three operations her strength
was quite exhausted. She suffered unceasingly ; it
was necessary to give her injections of morphia,
and she could take no nourishment but a little milk,
sometimes only water.
In this desperate condition she resolved to seek help
at Lourdes. She arrived here in May, 1908, practically
in a dying state, after a railway journey of twenty-
nine hours. From Dr. de Preters, who had attended
her in Antwerp, she brought the following certificate :
Miss Augusta de Muynck is suffering from double
peritonitis (Pyo-salpinx) of a tuberculous nature.
The disease dates back to the begininng of 1906.
She underwent a first operation on December 16,
1906 (removal of the left ovary and the Fallopian tube).
LOURDES 89
On May n, 1907, laparotomy on the left side, opening
of the abscess and draining. December 18, 1907,
third laparatomy and draining of the abscess/
Provided with this certificate, Miss de Muynck
came to Lourdes on May 27, 1908. At this time she
had a fistula in the abdomen, in which was inserted
a rubber tube, f of an inch in diameter, by means of
which it was hoped to drain the abscess. During the
journey, however, the tube was replaced by a gauze
drain (mlche de soie) of the same size.
The suppuration is very copious, about half a litre l
pus per diem. It seems as though the abscess were
connected with the bladder ; a catheter is required to
relieve the patient of water, and Dr. Moorkens, who
accompanies the pilgrims, states that when he was called
in to assist the patient on the journey, nothing but
matter came from the instrument. The patient s
nourishment consisted only of milk, water, and coffee.
At Bordeaux she fainted and her condition seemed
hopeless.
As stated before, she arrived here on May 27. On
the 28th, a Thursday, she was carried on a stretcher to
the piscina and given a bath. It had no effect, or
rather, it seemed to make her worse. Nor did the
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the afternoon
of the same day have the least influence.
On Friday, the 29th, she had two baths, one in the
morning and one after mid-day. These baths caused
an appreciable improvement. She was afterwards
present at Benediction, and just as the Blessed Sacra
ment was carried back to the church, Augusta sat up on
her stretcher and cried, I am cured ! At this moment
1 A litre is equal to almost 2 pints.
90 LOURDES
all her linen was saturated with matter, the discharge
had been so great. She was placed on the stretcher
again and brought back to the hospital, but there
she sprang out of bed, changed her linen without
assistance, and declared that she no longer felt any
pain.
She had an excellent night. For the first time for
many months, or rather years, she was able to sleep
without morphia. Her appetite returned, and Augusta
ate of everything that was offered her. On the next
day, that is, the 3oth, the rubber tube was removed as
there was no longer any trace of suppuration, and the
fistula closed up in the course of the day. In the
evening Augusta dined at the adjacent hotel with an
appetite that astonished every one present.
On the following day, May 31 st, she again came to
the bureau, and we ascertained that there was no longer
any pain anywhere. The bladder had resumed its
functions and contained no more pus.
It is over a year since then ; it is to-day June 19.
Miss de Muynck has now returned in order to show us
that her cure has been maintained. She brings a
certificate from her doctor in Antwerp, stating that she
had enjoyed good health from June 1908 to April this
year. He does not deny that she is cured, but maintains
that it is due to suggestion.
For my part Dr. Boissarie sums up his little
lecture it is clear to me that in this cure there is an
almost instantaneous change for the better in an illness
which, during three years, had ravaged all the organs of
the pelvis. It is impossible, on the basis of medical
science, to explain so rapid a re-absorption of an abscess
which discharged half a litre of pus per diem. Besides,
LOURDES 91
the bladder would probably be perforated and, in
consequence of this, the surrounding organs would be
affected.
It is no less surprising that the patient s general
health is all at once restored. We have here the case
of a patient who has for three years been ravaged by
fever, the secretion of pus, lack of nourishment,
operations. Ghe suffers from a tuberculous diathesis
to which she would of necessity have succumbed like
her parents and her sister. Instead of this, she is now
restored to health, and has since last year increased
1 8 kilogrammes in weight. 1
Perhaps it would have been possible to cure
her elsewhere at a sanatorium or the like I do
not know. In any case it would not have been with
such suddenness, in a moment.
Dr. de Preters says that Augusta is nervous.
Even so, I do not believe that nervousness can have
the least influence on a disease of a definitely tuber
culous character. Even the most powerful suggestion
can do nothing with an abscess of so serious a nature,
and which has been allowed to continue so long. This
explanation, therefore, does not suffice here, for in
Augusta s case we are on purely tuberculous ground/ 2
Dr. Boissarie ceases speaking and glances round
at his audience. No one contradicts him. One of
the foreign doctors bends towards Dr. Cox, whom
I hear whispering the technical term Pyo-salpinx to
him.
To talk about nervousness or suggestion in this
case is simply unreasonable/ concludes the old doctor.
Augusta s cure is, from a scientific standpoint,
1 About 36 Ibs. 2 ( En plein terrain tuberculeux. )
92 LOURDES
inexplicable. Even if nature can repair such damage,
she only does it slowly, in the course of years, little by
little
Again he is silent for a few minutes. His glance
rests on the young lady who is sitting opposite him,
and who has been quietly listening to his account of
the disease as if it did not concern her.
And now *r,y cliiid, show these genl^m^n what
the Blessed Virgin has delivered you from.
Augusta de Muynck looks at the old doctor with
her eyes full of tears. Then she slowly takes out of
her pocket a small parcel, unwraps it and shows us
silently, almost solemnly, a small piece of india-rubber
tubing
XIII
MARIE BAILLY THE OPINION OF A DANISH
SCIENTIST AMONGST PILGRIMS
AFTER having been present at the Benediction of the
sick on the Place du Rosaire, I am back in my room
again later in the afternoon. The morning after my
arrival at Lourdes I left the hdtel de luxe into which
I had been enticed at the recommendation of well-to-do
friends, and moved into a pension where I was just as
comfortable and in pleasant surroundings at a reason
able price. It is here that I have met the Belgians,
who seem to have made this pension their head
quarters. From the window in my bright little
room I have the same view as from the hotel, at even
closer range. I look along the greenish-blue rushing
Gave towards the basilica, and have besides a glimpse
of the road between the river and the baths, and of the
square in front of the grotto. I have a small table
at the window and have now begun to read the book,
of which Dr. Boissarie has so kindly given me a copy
the latest edition of his work, L GEuvre de Lourdes/
the continuation of his earlier great work, Les grandes
gue*risons de Lourdes.
At the bureau I had had an opportunity of speaking
a few words with Mademoiselle de Muynck. The
quiet, pale, and retiring young girl confirmed all that
94 LOURDES
I had heard from Dr. Boissarie, and yet I could not
repress my doubts. Who knows, I ask myself,
whether she was not improving in health when she
set out for Lourdes ? The statement of Dr. de Preters
was written a little while before her departure, perhaps
the fistula had simply closed up on the way, and this
process of healing was completed at Lourdes. Finally,
it is possible that cold baths, such as those given at
the piscines, may have a hitherto unknown effect on
ulcers, peritonitis, and similar diseases.
But this last thought is so grotesque that I quickly
dismiss it again. Besides, there are witnesses of the
actual journey, that Augusta de Muynck s health
was not improving on the way quite the contrary.
And yet, after all, it is difficult to rid oneself of doubts
in the face of unusual events, and I look through Dr.
Boissarie s book for other and more strongly certified
cures.
Augusta de Muynck does not seem to be the only
case of tuberculous peritonitis to be found in the
records of Lourdes. I find several in Dr. Boissarie s
book, and I select a case which seems to me to be
particularly well attested.
Marie Bailly s cure/ writes the doctor, 1 is one
of the most interesting cases we have examined and
authenticated. It is especially interesting from the
standpoint of medical science ; it is impossible to find
an examination more thoroughly and strictly con
ducted. For three years this young girl was under
treatment in the hospitals at Lyons and Sainte Foy ;
eight doctors attended her and gave evidence about
her. One doctor of indisputable ability, and just as
1 L CEuvre de Lourdes (Paris, 1909. lome ed.), pp. 69-82.
LOURDES 95
unquestionable open-mindedness, accompanies her on
her pilgrimage and never loses sight of her for a
moment ; at Lourdes he goes with her to the hospital,
to the grotto, to the piscines, everywhere.
He watches her cure from hour to hour, from
minute to minute ; he carefully notes the changes
taking place before his eyes. It is, so to speak, a
resurrection, of which he is given an opportunity of
making a scientific record.
Marie Bailly s History.
Marie Bailly s father and mother both died of
pulmonary tuberculosis. One of her brothers suc
cumbed to the same disease, another is definitely
tuberculous. It seemed that Marie Bailly, too, was to
share their fate. " From my thirteenth year," she
says herself, " our doctor at home, Dr. Terver, always
advised me to live in the country and to avoid all
mental work. I had a most distressing cough,
frequently coughed up blood, and in winter suffered
from an endless bronchitis. Finally, at the age of
seventeen, in February 1896, I had an attack of
double pleurisy. I was sent to St. Joseph s Hospital
(at Lyons) to undergo an operation, but Dr. Chabalier
refused to perform a puncture, as he thought I would
not live through the night. I received the Last
Sacraments and the Sister placed a medal of Our
Lady about my neck.
" Contrary to expectation I was better the next
morning, and the doctors were of opinion that I would
now be able to undergo an operation. They made
two punctures and there was a discharge of about
half a litre of fluid. I was confined to bed for five
96 LOURDES
months. On leaving the hospital I had so far recovered
that for the next two years I could live like other
people.
" Then my mother died in 1898 and I fell ill again.
I had dropsy from head to foot, I could not breathe.
Again I was sent to St. Joseph s, and put under the
treatment of Dr. Clement. On my chart it was said
that I suffered from nervous dyspnoea, and in the
course of two months seven blisters were applied ;
sedative medicine was given, and also phosphorated
lime and cacodylate. 1 None of it had any effect, and
on April 17, 1899, I was transferred to the hospital at
Sainte Foy."
Marie Bailly was there placed in the care of
Dr. le Roy, who treated her for pulmonary tuberculosis
and laryngitis. He continued her treatment of
arsenic in the form of pills and injections, gave her
creosote, tried an air cure. The patient s voice became
weaker, the disease seemed to reach the larynx, the
vocal chords were painted with lactic acid. Dr.
Fondet, who then examined the patient, prescribed
a change of air, and in May, 1901, Marie Bailly went
to Chabannes near Le Puy.
Here the patient began to feel acute pains in the
abdomen, and it seemed that the tuberculosis was about
to extend its ravages in this direction. The summer
passed badly, the general state of health became worse,
the patient grew thinner and lost her appetite. The
abdomen swelled up and became very tender to the
touch. On November 7, 1901, the young girl came
back to the hospital at Sainte Foy. Dr. le Roy now
diagnosed the case as tuberculous peritonitis. The
1 An arsenical preparation.
LOURDES 97
patient was confined to bed in the beginning of
December and did not rise again until May 28, 1902, in
Lourdes. In January, 1902, she had violent pains in
the head, stiffness of the neck and other joints, feverish
delirium. It was tuberculous meningitis, and the
patient s condition was so low that one day Dr. le Roy
was even prepared to sign the death certificate.
Marie Bailly recovered from the meningitis,
however, but the peritonitis pursued its course. In
March Dr. le Roy sent his patient to St. Joseph s to
undergo an operation a last attempt to arrest the
progress of the peritonitis.
Marie Bailly was put under the care of Dr.
Goullioud, surgeon at the hospital. He examined her
and dictated his observations to one of the junior
surgeons. The abdomen was swollen and tender, but
did not contain fluid. He, too, diagnosed tuberculous
peritonitis, but declined to operate as the patient
seemed to him to be in far too weak a state. After
a short stay Marie Bailly was therefore sent back to
Sainte Foy. Her condition became continually worse,
she was emaciated in an extreme degree, there was
severe pain in the abdomen ; Dr. le Roy considered
her incurable and allowed her to go to Lourdes, with
a certificate stating that she was suffering from
tuberculous peritonitis.
The Pilgrimage and the Recovery.
" I do not know myself," said Marie Bailly later,
" how the idea of going to Lourdes came to me. I had
long since given up praying for my recovery. The
first time the doctor told me that I was consumptive
I felt most dreadfully hopeless ; I was only twenty
B
98 LOURDES
years old and I could not resign myself at all to the
thought that nothing could be done for me. One can
be resigned to illness, to suffering, if only there is a
gleam of hope in the horizon, but for me the only prospect
was death and the grave. Gradually, however, I grew
reconciled to my fate, I offered my life to God as an
oblation : and, resigned to His holy will, I only awaited
my dissolution. I do not understand how I conceived
the idea of going to Lourdes.
" I think it was one night in March when I was
suffering most dreadfully. Then it was that I suddenly
thought of Lourdes and I understood that I was to be
cured there. My relatives were against it and the
Sisters at the hospital too, as they thought the journey
would be too much for me. But in spite of this I
applied for a ticket and set off. I was carried to the
train and laid upon a mattress ; I had to lie in a
cramped position because the carriage was not wide
enough to allow me to be stretched out.
The journey was extremely painful ; I had
terrible pains in the abdomen and thought I should
never reach Lourdes alive. The doctor stayed a long
time with me in my carriage ; he asked me if I thought
I would be cured, if I had faith in my recovery. I
thought that the Blessed Virgin would surely help
me, but, I added, she must hasten, for there is not
much time left. During the whole of the journey I
had no food whatever, not even a spoonful of tea."
Thus far Marie Bailly. Her account leads on
naturally to the doctor s notes : these also are given
in Dr. Boissarie s book.
Monday, May 26. In the train. A young girl
LOURDES 99
of twenty-two, pale, emaciated, with drawn features,
lying on her back ; clothed in a black gown, instead
of a belt a ribbon, which is fastened with a pin. My
attention is immediately drawn to her very swollen
abdomen, which I examine. On the left side there
is a slightly more prominent place ; I find that there
is a substance which resists touch. There is no fluid ;
on percussion a dull sound.
It seems that the abdominal cavity contains
hard masses separated by a part that gives way under
pressure ; it is an illustration of suppurative peritonitis.
In view of these symptoms, the inherited tendencies
of the patient and the history of her disease, as well
as the diagnosis of so able a surgeon as Dr. Goullioud,
I also presume the disease to be tuberculous peritonitis.
Impossible to form any other hypothesis.
The left side of the abdomen is very tender to
the touch. Breathing rapid and jerky. Pulse 120.
(Edema in the legs. The patient is quiet, there is
no religious excitement.
Tuesday, May 27. Lourdes. Arrival at 2 o clock.
The patient is brought from the train to the hospital.
She is put to bed and is to rest until to-morrow.
As a result of the journey her condition is worse.
Vomiting, very violent pains. The breathing has
become more rapid, pulse 120.
Wednesday, May 28. In spite of the rest the
patient is not better. At her own particular request,
however, she is placed on a stretcher and taken to the
grotto and the baths. She does not have a bath, has
to be content with cold spongings on the chest and
abdomen. At 10 o clock returns to the hospital, where
her condition causes grave anxiety. She is pale. The
H 2
ioo LOURDES
features drawn with pain, breathing very rapid.
Weak pulse, 150. The face slightly bluish. Caff Sine
injection, hot fomentations, ice on the abdomen.
May 28. 1.15 P.M. Condition very grave. The
patient can only with difficulty and without real coher
ence answer the questions put to her. The abdomen
very painful, very distended. Pulse irregular, very
weak, hardly perceptible, about 160 ; jerky breathing
(90), corpse-like face, very pale, faint violet hue.
Nose, ears, hands and feet cold/
At this moment Dr. Geoffroy, from Rive-de-Gier,
joins in observing the patient. It is clear to him,
as it is to his colleague, that the patient is dying. As
she expresses a wish, however, to see the grotto once
more, and as there is nothing to lose in yielding to her,
she is carried down to it again. The doctor on duty
continues the report :
1.50 P.M. The patient arrives at the baths. She
is on her mattress in a state of apathy, stretched on her
back, her head lying backwards, the face colourless, with
a violet tinge in the cheeks. Very rapid breathing.
The swollen abdomen is perceptible under the blanket.
There is everything to gain at this moment and
nothing to lose and it is decided to take the patient
to the baths and make a further attempt towards
obtaining her recovery. Marie Baily s own account
describes these moments.
" A lady carrying my shroud walked behind my
stretcher. Those who were carrying me prayed for my
last moments. The doctor had said that carrying
me to the baths would hasten my death and that I
would return as a corpse.
" I could not pray any more, but in spite of
LOURDES 101
everything I thought of the dear Blessed Virgin, and
I was convinced that I would recover. 1 When I
reached the wells they would not give me a bath,
but only spongings. At first the water caused me
terrible pain, and the ladies who were sponging me
wanted to stop, but I asked them to go on. At the
same moment I said interiorly to Our Lady of Lourdes,
If thou wilt, thou canst cure me with this sponging
just as well as with a bath/
They continue the sponging, therefore, and the
patient feels even more pain than before. It stabs
her like knives, and suddenly all pain is gone. She
sits up on the stretcher and exclaims : I am cured 1
She is out of her mind ! says the nurse.
They lay her down again on the stretcher and
take her away. At this juncture the doctor resumes
his account.
2.20 P.M. Marie Bailly is carried out of the
piscina and set down before the grotto. There are not
yet many people about and I can examine her at leisure.
2.30 to 2.40. The breathing is slower, more
regular. The facial expression alters, a slight pinkish
tint colours the skin. The patient seems to be better,
and smiles to the nurse who is bending over her.
2.55 P.M. The outline of the body visible under
the blanket is changing, the distended abdomen sinks
1 It seemed strange to me that Mary Bailly, who is described
as being in a dying state, should have been all the time so fully
conscious as she is apparently supposed to have been, and it appears
to me to weaken the impression of credibility otherwise given by
this account.
Meanwhile, in Albert Eulenburg s Real Encyclopddie der gesamten
Heilkunde, vol. ii. (Berlin and Vienna : 1907), p. 308, it is noted as
a peculiarity of peritonitis that consciousness as a rule is clear,
and it is not infrequently maintained up to the last moment.
102 LOURDES
down. There is a marked improvement in the patient s
appearance.
3.10. Hands, ears, nose warm. Breathing has
become slow, 40 per minute, heart pulsations stronger,
more regular, but still 140. The patient says that
she feels better. She is given a little milk, which she
is able to retain.
3.20. The patient sits up on the stretcher and
looks about her. The blanket lies in slack folds
over the abdomen. The limbs are moving, the body
is turned round on the right side. The face has become
calm and there is a faint tinge of healthy colour.
3.45 P.M. The patient is carried to the Rosary
Church.
4.15. The improvement is pronounced. The
breathing is slow, the face a faint pink. The patient
tells me that she feels well, and that if she only dared,
she would be quite able to get up. The change that
has taken place is now so distinct that every one
notices it. She is taken to the Bureau des Const at a-
tions ; she arrives on a mattress, she leaves in an
invalid chair.
7.30 P.M. At the hospital. The patient is
looking splendid. The face is very thin, but calm
and faintly rosy. The breathing very regular. I
examine her and find that the wall of the abdomen
is now like that of a normal young girl of about twenty,
soft, elastic, and bent inwards. Owing to emaciation
the wall is very thin and this facilitates examination
of the organs. I trace the aorta l with my finger ; on
the right side there is in the depth a hard mass which
1 The main artery, running from the heart down through the
middle of the body.
LOURDES 103
is continued up to the groin. I can grasp with both
hands round a very hard but not tender mass, as
thick as a forearm and attached to the hindermost
wall of the abdominal cavity. This tumour does not
move after respiration.
8 P.M. The improvement continues. The voice
is stronger. Breathing 30, pulse 100, regular and
vigorous.
Next morning 6.30, Thursday, May 29. General
condition excellent. The patient gets up for breakfast.
Breathing 18, pulse 88. The abdomen quite normal.
The hard mass observed yesterday has almost dis
appeared. There is a small, very hard, very firmly
fixed, but painless tumour left.
Friday, May 30. The patient has dressed herself
and walks about in her room. She can walk upstairs.
Her strength is returning rapidly. She can get into
a carriage almost without assistance, and performs
a journey of twenty-four hours sitting in a third-
class carriage. She is very calm, is not in any state
of religious excitement, avoids the curiosity of those
about her as much as possible. Returns to the
hospital at Sainte Foy.
June 4th. Marie Bailly looks like a healthy
young girl. Her appetite is good, she is increasing
rapidly in weight, up to now almost a pound. The
abdomen completely elastic, the tumour has quite
disappeared. No sign of hysteria, no insensibility, no
diminution of the powers of vision, no intellectual
disturbance. Nor were any hysterical symptoms
discoverable in her during her illness, no nerve attacks,
neither depression nor excitement. She had an even
and well-balanced mind.
104 LOURDES
June 27. During the last fortnight Marie Bailly
has increased twelve pounds in weight. She feels
perfectly well.
July. From and including the second week in
July the legs are no longer swollen. The patient has
made a complete recovery. She increases in weight
at the rate of one kilo. (2 Ibs.) per week. Her general
health is excellent. The young girl is modest, quiet,
rather intelligent, remembers well, speaks of her
recovery only on being questioned, does not attempt
to play the part of a saint.
August 8. Marie Bailly leaves the hospital and
enters the convent of Saint Vincent de Paul.
With this the doctor concludes his notes on this
remarkable recovery. Dr. Boissarie says in his book
that on two later occasions Marie Bailly s blood was
tested, and it was shown on serum re-actions that she
had been tuberculous. There has been no relapse
during the last seven years, and in 1909 Marie
Bailly held an appointment at the orphan asylum
at Pau.
Anyhow, one thing is certain, I reflect, as I put down
the book. The contention of a Danish scientist in
regard to Lourdes finds no justification here, in this
accurate observation and record, and yet Dr. Lehmann
maintains, in his Superstition and Witchcraft/ 1 that
The recoveries at these places derive their miracu
lous character chiefly from the fact that no one ever
takes the trouble to examine the patients and to deter
mine whether there is really an organic lesion or only
a disturbance of the nervous functions. The latter
1 Alfred Lehmann, Overt og Trolddom, vol. iv. (Copenhagen :
1896), p. 295 seq.
LOURDES 105
can be cured by psychic means, but not the former.
While, therefore, a cure of nervous disorders is only
natural and can be understood, the repair of an organic
lesion would be a real miracle but such a case has
never yet been authenticated.
I put aside the little sheet of paper on which I have
written down, for the purpose of my notes on Lourdes,
the unassailable opinion of this Danish scientist about
things which he has apparently never taken the trouble
to investigate.
Then the gong sounds for dinner and I go down
stairs. The Belgians, as usual, occupy the middle
table in the large dining-room. They talk and laugh,
shout across the table, now in French, now in Flemish.
And if I am not mistaken no, it really is Julia Witt-
hamer, the young girl who was cured yesterday, and
who is now sitting here, not five paces from me. Her
ulcerated stomach seems now to be a legend of the past
how she is enjoying her dinner ! I see her partaking
of roast veal and macaroni pudding, and drinking claret
with this substantial fare.
Then there is a moment of silence in the room.
The lame lady, who is usually late, comes in. But she
does not, as usual, go up to her seat at the end of the
Belgian table. Limping painfully and leaning on her
crutch, she goes to Julia Witthamer, congratulates her,
and with tears in her eyes kisses her on both cheeks.
XIV
AN ORGANIC LESION AUR&LIE HUPRELLE -
JOACHINE DEHANT L ONIE L&V&QUE
I CANNOT tear myself away from Dr. Boissarie s book,
and directly after dinner I go back to my room to
resume my study of it. Every moment I stop at some
account that is more remarkable than usual. There is
plenty of material, as the bureau every year investi
gates and verifies about a hundred and fifty cases
either of complete recovery or considerable improve
ment. 1 And yet it is by no means everything of this
kind in Lourdes that comes to the knowledge of the
doctors. A pilgrimage from Metz in 1905 had only
reported two cures to the bureau, and there were,
actually, twenty-two cases of improvement; another
from Lyons in the same year had only reported five
out of fifty-eight cases of cure and improvement. Dr.
Boissarie therefore deals only with absolutely certain
cases. It is amongst these that I am making a search,
taking as my guide Dr. Lehmann s words : The cure
of an organic lesion would be a genuine miracle, but
such a case has never been verified/
Organic lesion an organic lesion is a far ad-
1 The average number for the years 1894 to 1903 is 157. The
highest number, 236, was reached in 1898, the lowest, 103, was
that of 1903.
LOURDES 107
vanced pulmonary tuberculosis, with cavities in the
lungs is that an organic lesion ? I wonder. If so,
the history of AureUie Huprelle might perhaps furnish
the miracle required.
This young girl was cured on August 21, 1895,
at seven o clock in the morning by one bath in the
piscina. In May of the same year her doctor had
examined her thoroughly and found that after six
years phthisis a large cavity had been formed under
the left clavicle, and that her condition altogether was
extremely grave. She had recently had a violent
haemorrhage, and was only as a last, desperate resource
allowed by the doctor to go to Lourdes. She was there
cured completely by one single bath in the icy-cold
water from the grotto, and on September i, 1895, her
medical adviser, Dr. Hardivilliers of Beauvais, declared,
in a written statement, that all the symptoms of
tuberculosis described in his earlier certificate had
disappeared. In the winter of 1908-9, thirteen years
after the cure, Dr. Boissarie visited Aurelie, and found
that she had not been ill a single day since her recovery.
People living in the district said about her, That is
the young girl who had no lungs. Then she went to
Lourdes and had a new pair put in ! *
1 The following is the statement made by Dr. Hardivilliers
(Boissarie, L CEuvre de Lourdes, p. 280) :
On April 20, 1895, I was for the first time called in to see
Mademoiselle Aurelie Huprelle, living at Marais, in the Commune
of St. Martin le Noeud. The result of my examination was as
follows :
The patient states that she has had several attacks of bronchitis.
At the present time she complains of severe dyspnoea, and frequent
expectorations of blood. Coughs up large quantities in the morning.
Perspires freely at night.
Percussion : Semi-dull sound at and under the right clavicle.
The same, but more pronounced, on the left side.
Auscultation : Above right front and back surface raucous
io8 LOURDES
But is this an organic lesion ? In the medical
sense I suppose it is, and yet I feel, somehow, that Dr.
Lehmann, like Zola s other self, the Parisian journalist
in the novel Lourdes, wants something external,
visible to everyone, something like a cut finger that
comes out of the water healed.
So I turn over the pages in search of such a case.
I pause for a moment at Joachine Dehant s cure of a
large cancerous ulcer on the right leg, one of twelve
years standing. There are two certificates from the
same doctor, one dated September 6, stating that the
ulcer is there and covers two-thirds of the outer surface
of the right leg/ another dated September 19, stating
that the ulcer has completely disappeared, and that the
place where it had been was only indicated by a faint
reddish tinge on the skin. There are, moreover,
numerous witnesses to the fact that the ulcer existed on
the journey to Lourdes on September 12, a journey
which would otherwise have been lacking in
breathing. On the left front and back surface sibilant breathing.
Beneath the clavicle can be heard faint, moist rattling sounds ;
also about the angle of the shoulder blade.
Over the whole extent of the lung pleural friction sounds.
The patient s face is pale, emaciated, the epidermis discoloured,
the nails domed.
Pulse rapid, 120 per minute.
Temperature up to 104 (39 Celsius).
The patient complains of complete lack of appetite.
******
A month later all these symptoms have become still more
pronounced, especially on the left side. An extended cavity has
formed under the left clavicle. Respiration is distinctly cavernous.
Moreover, other sounds can be heard, large-bladdered rattling
sounds, friction sounds. The expectoration has changed it is
of the shape of coins, floating in a clear fluid, the so-called num-
mulated expectoration. The patient complains of pains in the
chest, stitches here and there, most frequently underneath the
shoulder blades. (C/. Boissarie, L CEuvre de Lourdes, p. 285 seq.)
LOURDES 109
motive, and that it had disappeared on the following
day. 1 But this was in 1878, a long time ago. I look
for something more recent. And then I stop at the re
covery of Lonie Levque. It occurred in 1908, that
is, only a year ago, and it is a case which has been
exposed to the fullest daylight of modern medical
science. I reproduce the history of Mademoiselle
Le ve que s illness, such as it has been drawn up by
Dr. Moullin, her medical attendant, and published
by Dr. Boissarie. 2
Up to the age of fourteen the patient s health
is good. Then a marked poverty of blood sets in and
a curvature of the spine, which renders a surgical
corset necessary. Since then Mademoiselle Le ve que
is constantly more or less in bad health. At the age
of eighteen she has appendicitis and inflammation of
the intestines, and, in consequence of this, peritonitis.
Condition extremely grave. Inflammation of the intes
tines is of long duration and special diet is necessary.
At the age of about twenty the patient for the
first time has pains in the head, attacks that last
two or three hours. The pains are acute, localised
above and in the hollows of the eyes. They end in a
more or less copious flow of matter through the nostrils.
These attacks occur at intervals of about three weeks.
There is, moreover, constantly some headache.
At about twenty-two years of age the patient
suffers from cerebral anaemia, loses her memory, is
unable to work.
1 The documents relating to this case are to be found in Bertrin s
Histoire Critique, pp. 526-537. The size of the ulcer (32 centim.
by 15 = 1 2| in. by 6 in.) is given by Boissarie, Lourdes (Paris 1894),
p. 266.
8 L CEuvre de Lourdes, pp. 20-22.
no LOURDES
At twenty-four she takes an engagement in a
school at Honfleur. The sea air does her good, yet
the attacks in the head continue. It is with difficulty
that she teaches music.
In June, 1906, oedema of the root of the nose ;
the patient consults a specialist at Havre, Dr. Lenhardt.
He advises an operation, but being obliged to go away
on a journey does not perform it.
In September, 1906, the patient goes to Nogent-
le-Rotrou and takes up a teaching engagement in
Mademoiselle Renou s boarding-school. The pains in
the head are less acute but still continue.
In May, 1907, I am called in for the first time to
see the patient. She has very violent pains above
the hollows of the eyes, oedema of this part. Vomitings.
As her condition appears to me to be grave, I advise
the patient to consult Dr. Chevallier of Le Mans. He
diagnoses the case as one of inflammation of the
frontal sinuses.
May 25. Operation. Incision above the arch
of the left eye. Draining through the left nostril.
As a result, an improvement lasting some days.
June 17. Fresh operation. This time an open
drainage is made, in the incision itself, one tube to the
right and one to the left. No improvement, still very
severe pains. General state of health poor, the patient
cannot walk.
July 8. (Edema of the frontal bone above the
left eye. I again send the patient to Le Mans. Dr.
Chevallier and Dr. Mordret state that an immediate
operation is imperatively necessary, and on July 10
make an incision on the left side of the sinuses.
Draining by means of gauze. During the first few
LOURDES in
days there is a slight improvement, then the pains
return. The discharge of matter increases. The
patient is still confined to bed, but lies on a couch during
the day.
Dr. Chevallier advises consultation with Dr.
Laurens, who examines the patient and declares a new
operation to be necessary. October 8. Frontal in
cision to the right. The surface of the frontal bone is
removed. Improvement while the draining continues.
The general state of the patient s health is now
very much affected. Severe heart attacks occur,
complete loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dyspepsia,
attacks of giddiness.
November 14. Severe pains in the pit of the groin.
I fear appendicitis, order ice. November 15. Heart
attacks, fainting fits. The patient is restored to
consciousness by the injection of ether. Receives
Extreme Unction.
December 15. Condition almost unchanged, yet
the patient is able to be moved to Paris, to her relatives.
She is there given salt water injections. The forehead
again begins to swell. She consults a specialist, Dr.
Lacage, who advises an operation. She cannot resolve
to consent to this ; again consults Dr. Laurens, who
advises her to wait and to return to Nogent.
February n, 1908. Fresh incision and draining.
On the 20th the patient is sent to the sanatorium
at Pen-Bron, where she is attended by Dr. Poisson.
As the pains continue she is given morphia injections.
The heart continues to be very weak. The patient
is sent to Pouliguen. The general condition improves,
There is some appetite, but still sleeplessness. Dis
charge of matter through the nose and throat.
H2 LOURDES
At the end of April the patient returns to Nogent.
The heart continues to be in a very bad state. I
give her digitalis and spartein. The patient lies down
almost all day. On May 7 she is weighed. Her
weight is 44 \ kilo, (about 6J stone). Derangement
of sight sets in, also attacks of giddiness. During
one of these, on June 6, she falls down a flight of stairs
and strikes her head; a boil forms. On June 16
Dr. Chevallier states that there is inflammation of
the frontal bone, and that an operation must be
performed, but the patient cannot bear either chloro
form or cocaine. Two button-hole incisions at an
interval of 3 centimetres (| in.) are now made above
the right eye-brow, and a canula is inserted through
these openings. The discharge does not come until
a few days after. The matter has an offensive odour,
and flows in great quantities; it also runs through
the nose into the patient s throat. The general
state of health grows steadily worse ; the patient
takes no other nourishment than a little champagne.
The pains are so severe that the patient is given
up to five injections of morphia a day. On June 12
the patient s weight has decreased to 41 J kilo. (5
stones 12 Ibs.).
The patient expresses a desire to go to Lourdes.
I advise her not to travel in a pilgrim train, and she
therefore goes alone, accompanied only by one of
her colleagues, one of the mistresses in Mademoiselle
Renou s school/
So far this history, as written by the doctor.
Now let Lonie Le\que herself tell the rest. She
wrote an account of her cure in the Journal
LOURCES 113
de la Grotte, published in Lourdes, in the issue of
November 8, 1908.
It was in the month of April that I first thought
of going to Lourdes, I dreamed about it in the
night. . . .
Towards May I talked vaguely to the head-mistress
about it, but she pretended not to understand me,
and I thought, " She will not let me go."
On June 16 I was in Dr. Bonnire s private
hospital at Le Mans, to undergo an operation. One
of the Sisters there talked to me about Lourdes. After
my return to Nogent I again spoke to the head
mistress, and this time she advised me herself to
make the attempt. . . .
But I continued to grow worse, and on July n,
after a dreadful attack, Dr. Moullin said : " I ab
solutely refuse to allow Mademoiselle LeVSque to
go to Lourdes in a large train of pilgrims. If she
wants to go, she must go alone, and as soon as possible ;
in a few days it will perhaps be too late." I heard
these words from my bed of suffering.
On July 13, in the afternoon, Mademoiselle
Renou came in and said that one of the mistresses
was to go with me to Lourdes, and that we were to
leave on the I5th. " Why not to-morrow ? " I asked.
" Then I can be in Lourdes on the i6th, the Feast
of Our Lady of Carmel." x "As you please," said
Mademoiselle Renou, "I won t refuse you anything."
1 July 1 6, 1858, is the date of the last of the apparitions at
Lourdes. It occurred in the evening at about six o clock. In com
memoration of this event a Mass was said at the grotto, by special
permission of Pius X, at six o clock in the evening, on July 16, 1908.
It was at this solemnity, which concluded the fifty years jubilee
at Lourdes, that Mademoiselle Levgque wished to be present.
H4 LOURDES
Then the morning of July 14 dawned. I was
deeply moved when I said good-bye to my colleagues.
Was I not taking leave of them for ever ? I felt
very poorly, I had seen the doctors certificates and
knew how ill I was. . . .
We left at 10.15, by way of Le Mans, Tours,
Bordeaux. The journey was dreadful, every jolting of
the train shook my poor suffering head. At Tours we
had to wait two hours and a half, so that I was able to
get a short rest there. It was July I4, 1 the town was
decorated with flags, but I had no heart to look at
anything.
At five o clock we left for Bordeaux. The pains
were increasing and it became necessary to give me
an injection of morphia. I could not bear either to lie
down or to sit up.
We arrived at Bordeaux at 10.30. I could not
continue the journey, I was in too great an agony, my
heart was beating violently, I was suffocating. We left
the station and went to the nearest hotel. We had
to go up three flights of stairs ; at every step I was
obliged to stop and gasp for breath. Mademoiselle
Aubert, my companion, had almost to carry me. The
maid was alarmed at the prospect of having some
one ill in the house and talked of speaking to the
proprietress, but Mademoiselle Aubert managed to
stop her.
I had a terrible night, but hope returned with the
dawn. We were soon to be in the city of miracles. I
believed in my recovery, or at least in an improvement,
and already began to make great plans for the future.
My journey passed off a little better, and at a quarter
1 The national fe"te of France.
LOURDES 115
past twelve we arrived at Lourdes. We put up at
Madame de Sails , No. 6, Rue Garnavie.
I wanted to go straight to the piscina, without
resting first, in order to be present at Benediction of the
Most Blessed Sacrament. I was in hopes that I should
be cured, and I prayed earnestly.
On the 1 6th I had the great happiness of being
able to receive Holy Communion at the grotto. After
that I went to the Medical Bureau to have my illness
verified. I took with me the following certificate :
" I hereby certify that Mademoiselle Levque,
teacher at Mademoiselle Renou s school at Nogent-le-
Rotrou, is suffering from inflammation of both frontal
sinuses. In spite of several operations a cure has not
been effected. Chronic secretion of pus continues, as
well as the inflammation of the frontal bone. At the
present moment no operation seems possible as the
health of the patient is in every way very much
weakened. " CHEVALLIER, Physician.
" Le Mans, June 9, 1908."
I took with me a similar certificate from Dr.
Moullin ; he particularly emphasised the weakness of
the heart. Dr. Boissarie said to me, " Complete your
pilgrimage and come back before you leave." *
The pains now became more and more violent.
At 4.30 I was placed in an ambulance and taken up to
the Place in front of the Rosary Church for Benediction
1 Boissarie says in his book (p. 19) : On July i6th, at four
o clock in the afternoon, Mademoiselle Leveque came into the
Bureau. Her head was wrapped up in several layers of flannel.
The matter had soaked through her bandages, and several persons
who were standing near her, especially Dr. Thomas, of Lons-de-
Saulnier, stated that they had felt discomfort at the penetrating
odour emitted by the ulcer.
I 2
n6 LOURDES
of the Blessed Sacrament. It was the great day, the
solemn moment, but my sufferings were so severe that
I was no longer able to pray. I raised my bandage for a
moment, the discharge was flowing freely and emitted
a sickening odour. Mademoiselle Aubert said to me,
" I think the canula is slipping; but put on your band
age, it may be unpleasant for those standing near."
The Sacred Host was approaching and stopped
opposite my chair. Scalding tears were running
down my cheeks. I stammered out, " My God ! my
God ! " I could not say anything else.
The Blessed Sacrament passed on and alas !
I was not cured. On the contrary, I suffered such
terrible agony that I thought it must be death. All
at once I had no hope any more, I only prayed to God
to grant me resignation to His will, and comfort and
strength to those dear to me.
We were told that the sick would not be allowed
to be present at the Mass in the evening. We then
returned to Rue Garnavie and Mademoiselle Aubert
renewed the bandage. It was soaked through ; the
matter had streamed out, not only through the canula,
but above and below it. My companion wanted to stay
with me, but I begged her to go to the evening Mass.
In the meantime I installed myself on a little flat roof
arranged like a garden.
There was a clock opposite me. I watched its
hands with feverish interest. I suffered more and
more, the pains stabbed through my head, I did not
know what to do with myself. At last I sat quite
crouched up with my face in my hands and my head
supported on my knees.
It was six o clock Mass was beginning. At
LOURDES 117
the same moment I felt an unutterable peace stealing
over me. I felt that something stupendous, some
thing divine, was now being accomplished. I began
to weep uncontrollably, I could have run out to the
grotto and thrown myself at Mary s feet. There was
no pain at all any longer ; my sight, which had been
double, became normal. And yet I did not say to
myself, " I am cured " ! I was afraid of being mistaken.
But I enjoyed the peace of that moment and thanked
God for it with all my heart.
I do not know how long I sat thus, but when I
think of those wonderful moments my eyes involuntarily
fill with tears. At last I ventured to touch my fore
head. It did not hurt any more, even if I pressed
hard, yet I dared not remove the bandage.
At 7.15 the first people came back from Mass.
There was a flight of stairs with fifteen steps at Madame
de Salis . I descended it without stopping to meet
Mademoiselle Aubert. " I want to go to the grotto,"
I said. " I have no pains any more. I believe I am
cured ! "
It was impossible to reach the grotto. The
whole town was en fete, decorated with flags and
illuminated, very beautifully, I believe; but I saw
nothing, I was quite absorbed in my happiness. I
went home again to go to bed ; I would not let
Mademoiselle Albert change the bandage, I was still
afraid. . . .
In the middle of the night I sat up in bed and
exclaimed, " But I am really cured ! I have no pains
any more, and I can lie in bed in any way I like."
Mademoiselle Aubert now got up and I removed the
bandage. The canula had slipped out and the whole of
n8 LOURDES
the right side of the forehead was quite healed. I put
on a compress of Lourdes water and put on the bandage
as before. 1 I had a good night but I could not sleep,
I was far too happy. Next morning a little blackish
blood came out of the left opening, but no matter
any more. The canula could be inserted, but did not
come out on the other side. I had no pains. I drank
a big cup of chocolate and went on foot to hear Mass ;
the walk did not tire me, nor did my heart give me
any trouble. I went to the baths, and after that to the
Medical Bureau. " My canula has dropped out/
I told Dr. Boissarie, " and I cannot get it in again."
" Then leave it alone," he answered. " Finish your
pilgrimage and look in again before you go away."
I ate a good dinner, had an appetite and was
able to partake of everything, while for the last
fortnight I had had nothing but water. In the
afternoon I did some more walking; I visited the
Basilica, the Rosary Church, was present at the
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. At half-
past six I was back at my lodgings and wanted to
change the bandage. The canula dropped into the
wash basin. I tried to put it in again, it was impossible,
my forehead was quite healed. From this moment
there was no longer any discharge of matter, either
through the nose or the throat.
Saturday passed off quietly. The lady who
attended to me at the baths was very much interested
in what had happened ; she urged me to have it
authenticated. But I was still afraid there might
be some mistake.
1 It does not appear from the accounts of this case that this
had been applied all the time, but it seems probable.
LEONIE LEVEQUE
LOURDES 119
I did not go to the Bureau till Sunday morning.
The doctors present noted that there was a slight
depression in the place where the operations had been
performed, but that all secretions, all pains, had
disappeared, and that the recovery seemed to be
complete.
I went to the grotto, and on the same spot where
Bernadette had once knelt down I said my Magnificat.
The same afternoon at five o clock Mademoiselle
Levque left Lourdes. At Bordeaux the maidservant
at the hotel recognised her. Was it not you,
mademoiselle, who were here a couple of days ago
and who were so ill ? Yes. And now I am well.
I have been to Lourdes ! Ah, c est chic, c est chic !
At Le Mans the returning pilgrim visited the private
hospital where she had been operated upon. There
was great astonishment, every one wanted to see her.
Dr. Chevallier exclaimed, But this is turning every
thing upside down ! Of course I will give you a certi
ficate, but let us wait a fortnight first and see how
you get on/ The joy at Nogent was boundless,
everyone wanted to see Mademoiselle LeVe*que and
to touch her forehead.
This recovery has been maintained. On Sep
tember 12, 1908, Le"onie Levque made a pilgrimage
of thanksgiving to Lourdes, and was then, at the
Bureau des Const at ations, examined by a large
assembly of doctors. Not only was her forehead
completely healed up and the former sore covered
by a rosy scar, but her general state of health was
improving. Mademoiselle Levque brought with her
the following certificate from Dr. Moullin :
120 LOURDES
I have again seen the patient after her return
from Lourdes. The scar formation on the wound is
now complete ; all that now remains is something
like a small knob, but this is also about to disappear.
The patient no longer feels any pain, either without
exterior causes or from even very severe pressure.
The derangement of the visual organs has ceased, as
also the giddiness. The appetite is excellent ; sleep
also very good. The heart is again normal. Finally,
the patient has, since her return home, been able to
fulfil all the duties incumbent upon her without
feeling the least weariness. On July 22 she weighed
39 kilo. 700 grammes ; on August 14, 44 kilo.
400 grammes.
MouLLiN, Physician.
Nogent-le-Rotrou, August 18, 1908.
XV
THE POWER OF THE SOUL OVER THE BODY PSYCHO-
THERAPEUTICS AND SUGGESTION CHARCOT AND
BERNHEIM WHAT SUGGESTION CAN NOT DO
THE FAILURE OF SUGGESTION AT LOURDES
I PUT down Dr. Boissarie s book ; I have hardly been
able to read the last lines in the fading daylight. It
is eight o clock ; the Gave is foaming beneath my
windows, hurrying along under the trees where great
lamps are being lit. Above the basilica the moun
tains loom up green close by, bluish grey further off,
under a cold, grey evening sky. I close the shutters,
light the electric lamp and resume, within my four
walls, in the closed and bright silence, my discussion
with the opponent I have brought with me from
Denmark, my familiar, modern science.
Very well, says this counterpart of myself, let all these
things be proved as conclusively as you and Dr. Boissarie
believe them to be. Let it all be perfectly correct as
regards Augusta de Muynck, and Marie Bailly, and
Mademoiselle Huprelle, and Joachine Dehant, and
Mademoiselle Leveque. After all, they are all of them
nothing but cases of religious suggestion ; it is Charcot s
Foi qui gurit ; it is the soul showing its power over
the body, and under a high pressure of feeling, an
exercise of all her powers, producing these wonderful
results.
122 LOURDES
To these remarks I make the following answer :
To begin with, it is strange to hear a modern man
of science talk in this strain about the power of the
soul over the body. I could have understood such
words coming from the lips of a scholastic of the
Middle Ages ; he believed that the soul was a substance,
that it was the essential part of a man, that it was
even forma cor p or is, the principle that gave form
and consistency to the body.
But to all modern minds the soul is only one of
those old, somewhat cumbrous words, about which
Renan says that a quite new meaning must be put
into them before they can be used in their modern
sense. A psychologist of the present day uses the
term soul in the sense of consciousness, and
consciousness, again, is identical with all that it
comprises of imagination, feelings, movements of
the will, kept together by something called synthesis,
the nature of which no one can explain. In any case
synthesis is only something like a ribbon in which
a bunch of flowers is tied up. At death the ribbon
is untied, the flowers drop apart, fall to the ground,
wither, are trodden down, become dust, and cease
to exist. The soul no more has independent existence
than the tones of a harp. When the harp is broken
no music can ever again be heard from it.
That is the modern doctrine about the soul
Hoff ding s, Wundt s, Jodl s, and whoever they all
are, these great men of our own day who occupy
the professors chairs of the universities all over
Europe, and whose words are the creed of modern
humanity. This is the teaching of those who have
the public ear of the present day, and who are
LOURDES 123
responsible for their disciples. And their disciples
go forth through their various countries and increase
the responsibility of their masters a hundred and a
thousand fold, and call out to the multitudes, Science
has spoken ! You have no souls ! There is no immor
tality ! Hear it, oh, humanity, and arrange your affairs
accordingly !
And you really mean to tell me that this poor soul,
which is barely allowed to exist, this by-phenomenon
of matter, as consciousness has been called by the
French biologist and philosopher, le Dantec that
this soul is really possessed of such extraordinary
powers ? That it can call the dead back to life, heal
mortal wounds, heal in a moment that for which
modern science has tried in vain to find remedies after
years of effort ? Shame then, on our physicians, that
they do not avail themselves of such wonderful powers,
but leave it to the Catholic Church and her priests
to make use of them to strengthen and spread abroad
superstition. By means of these psychic powers,
Lourdes alone effects at least one hundred and fifty
recoveries in a year. And the cures thus effected are
not trifles ; there are blind who receive their sight and
deaf whose ears are opened ; consumptive, cancer,
and tuberculous patients of all kinds who are restored
to health and life. Millions of sufferers all the world
over would be thankful if such things could be repro
duced in other places.
And this has been attempted, answers my familiar,
Science, in a superior voice. You mentioned Charcot
just now, my dear sir, but you do not seem to know
that both he, at La Salpe triere, and Bernheim, at Nancy,
have explained, and to a certain extent even imitated,
124 LOURDES
the miracles at Lourdes. But, in a hospital in Paris,
or in Copenhagen, one has not at one s disposal all the
suggestive material possessed by a great religious
centre. Your contention that the miracles at Lourdes
ought to be imitated is therefore unreasonable and can
simply be set aside.
Quite so, I answer. Now let us examine what
Charcot and Bernheim think. The former, in his
pamphlet La Foi qui gue*rit (1893), maintains that
a miracle is a quite natural phenomenon, a result of
the religious excitement produced by faith. He
contends that in Lourdes only nervous ailments are
cured. Everybody is agreed that when a crippled leg
is cured, or a lame person regains the power to walk,
this is done without any infringement of natural laws.
As a set-off against this, a great deal of stir is made
about tumours and sores also being healed indeed,
such cures seem to occur rather often at this place of
miracles. Now, if it were to be proved that these
tumours and these sores were of an hysterical nature,
would not that make an end of miracles ?
This contention would be of great importance if
tumours and sores of hysterical origin were complaints
of a fairly frequent occurrence. But they are so rare
that Charcot does not quote a single case from his own
practice, but is compelled to go back to the eighteenth
century to find one. A certain Mademoiselle Coirin,
he tells us, twice fell from her horse in the year 1716.
Some time later she begins to be afflicted with various
diseases, amongst others, nervous oedema, and finally
a tumour develops in the breast. It opens and forms
a sore, it is feared -to be cancer. Mademoiselle Coirin
suffers from this trouble until 1731. Then a devout
LOURDES 125
lady prays for her at the grave of the Jansenist deacon,
Paris, who was renowned for his sanctity, and some earth
from his grave is brought to the patient. This earth is
no sooner placed on the ulcer than it begins to heal. It
is, however, not quite healed until twenty days after, and
six weeks elapse before the patient is able to go out.
This deacon, Paris, was, as stated, a Jansenist, and
the miraculous incidents at his grave played a great
part in the campaign carried on by Port Royal against
the Ultramontanists and Jesuits. Meanwhile, pro
vided the account of Mademoiselle Coirin s recovery
is quite reliable, the miracle said to have happened
is really not overwhelming. Many ulcers can be
healed in the course of twenty days, and Mademoiselle
Coirin, whose convalescence takes six weeks, has not
much in common with a Marie Bailly, or with a
L6onie LeVSque, who rises practically from the dead,
eats, drinks, and walks. . . .
And this single case from an old book is all that
Charcot can muster up against the recoveries that take
place in Lourdes in full view of the twentieth
century. . . .
Bernheim is the other great specialist of the present
day in psycho-therapeutics. His attitude to Lourdes
is friendly, condescendingly appreciative. All these
observations down yonder/ he says, have been made
by honourable men, and they have collected and
tested them in the most complete sincerity. The
facts are right enough, it is only the explanation that
is at fault. l The standpoint is the same as that of
1 Toutes ces observations ont 6te recueillies avec sincerite et
contr616es par des hommes honorables. Les faits existent ; 1 inter-
pretation est erronee. Bernheim : De la Suggestion et ses Applica
tion a la Th&rapeutique (Paris : 1891, p. 296).
126 LOURDES
Alfred Lehmann. Quoting from Lasserre, he mentions
in his book five cases of recovery from paralysis at
Lourdes, besides one of nervous eye trouble and one
of nervous hip disease also cured there. But these do
not surpass what he is able to do himself in his cures
by suggestion at Nancy.
These are the cases, then, that we must consider.
In his book Beniheim mentions 105 cases in which
his suggestive treatment has resulted in partly complete
recovery, partly distinct improvement, either permanent
or temporary.
There are, first, ten cases of organic trouble in the
nervous system. Of these, five are recoveries, three
improvements, and one a relapse. Then there is a
series of cures : eighteen cases of hysteria, twenty-
seven of neuro-pathic complaints ; fifteen cases of
various kinds of neurosis (St. Vitus dance, somnam
bulism, writer s cramp), three cases of paralysis, four
of stomach and intestine complaints (with three
recoveries and one temporary improvement) ; thirteen
cases of nervous sensations of pain which were more
or less rapidly cured, nineteen cases of rheumatic
trouble, and seven of various other complaints also
related to the nerves.
Apparently, then, it is chiefly nervous complaints,
or diseases originating in the nervous system, that
Bernheim undertakes to cure.
It is the slowness of these cures that more than
anything else distinguishes them from those at Lourdes.
Suggestion has to be repeated again and again, from
day to day, sometimes through five whole weeks.
And the improvements he notes only occur gradually,
very slowly, without the abrupt transitions peculiar
LOURDES 127
to Lourdes. One of Bernheim s most successful
cures is that of a young girl who had become crippled
as a result of years of rheumatic trouble. Aided by
the influence of continuous suggestion, Bernheim
gradually succeeded in making the patient lift her
arms above her head and stand on her feet. The
body, which at first collapsed when placed in an
upright position, was able after a time to hold itself
erect.
Again, suggestion can only be effective in the
treatment of functional disturbances. In a later work
Bernheim says that Suggestion is powerless to re-set
a limb that has been put out of joint, to cause
rheumatic swellings to disappear, or to restore cere
bral tissue that has been destroyed. Do not let us
exaggerate. The influence of psycho-therapeutics on
organic injuries is limited. You cannot employ it to
remove an inflammation or check the development
of a tumour. Suggestion cannot destroy microbes or
heal an ulcer in the stomach, or put tubercles to
flight. Not that Bernheim would decline to employ
suggestion in the treatment of tuberculous patients.
On the contrary, he endeavours with its help to
remove coughing, sleeplessness, and the like. By
means of this I strengthen the patient s power of
resistance against microbes and check, if I do not
arrest, the development of the disease. But as for
obtaining the complete recovery of such a patient,
or restoring an organism that has been destroyed,
or in one instant putting in a new pair of lungs
in a consumptive, or closing up an intestinal fistula,
healing an ulcer with these Bernheim has no con
cern. One can only heal that which is capable of
128 LOURDES
being healed suggestion cannot restore that which is
destroyed. l
The difference between that which happens at
Lourdes and modern therapeutic suggestion is therefore
fundamental. Several of the earliest cures at Lourdes
might be explained by suggestion. As time goes on it
seems that these cures decrease while the cures of organic
ailments increase. Dr. Boissarie gives a striking ex
ample in his book of how small a part suggestion
really plays at Lourdes.
In the year 1897, during the great national
pilgrimage/ he tells us, the Esplanade in front of
the Rosaire presented a marvellous spectacle to all
beholders. Fifteen hundred patients were seated
or lying down in a double row all round the Place.
The platform in front of the church was filled with
three hundred and fifty people who had been cured in
previous years and who carried a forest of gorgeous
banners. Thousands and thousands of spectators
waited in an indescribable suspense. Full of hope
the sick gazed at the sound. It was like an electric
current passing to and fro.
Then Father Picard stepped forward and, with
his commanding look, gazed on the multitude. In
dicating with a gesture those who had recovered their
health, he said to the sick, " Look, there are your
models ! They were once what you are now. Do
as they once did. Like you, they lay on their stretchers
and they arose, stood up and walked. What is there
to keep you back?" And in a ringing voice of
1 * On ne peut guerir que ce qui est curable. ... La suggestion
ne peut restaurer ce qui est detruit. Hypnotisms, Suggestion,
Psycho-TMrapie (Paris: 1903), p. 352. Previous quotations,
pp. 321-325.
LOURDES 129
command he flung out the order over the sick, " Stand
up and walk ! "
His order was obeyed. There were really invalids
who stood up, left their stretchers and went towards
the church. There was general rejoicing, an irresistible
rush of feeling swept over the multitude. We are used
to many things in Lourdes, but we have never been
more deeply thrilled than on that day. Some of the
invalids stood up. But how was it possible they did
not all do so ? How could even a single one fail to rise ?
This rousing call, this emotion that stirred all hearts,
these shouts that filled the air, and standing in front
of the church, like a heavenly vision, those who had
been healed, all this should have been enough to
recall the dying to life and to make corpses rise from
their graves. It was impossible to attain to anything
higher, we had reached the limits of human emotion.
Religious suggestion had said its last word.
And the result ? The next day eight or ten who
had been cured reported themselves at the bureau.
They were those that Dr. Boissarie had seen rising
on the previous day. And they were : a consump
tive woman, two patients with tuberculous abdominal
inflammation, a woman with spinal tuberculosis, a
man suffering from the same disease, one or two
patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, one with chronic
bronchitis and emphysema, finally three with nervous
ailments. Three and there were three hundred nerve
patients lying in front of Le Rosaire waiting to be
cured !
The hypothesis of suggestion could not have
received a more forcible refutation.
XVI
THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI AT LOURDES THE
CANDLE-LIGHT PROCESSION EVENING AT THE
GROTTO A TALK WITH AN IRISH PRIEST THIS
IS YOUR HOUR AND THE POWER OF DARKNESS/
I HAVE been in Lourdes three days and I feel as though
I had been here from time immemorial. I came
here from Italy I had spent three weeks in Assisi,
Siena, Florence ; I had seen many things, had many
experiences but it seems to have happened years
ago. Lourdes has its own strong atmosphere, there
is a sense of the supernatural before which everything
sinks into oblivion, making it recede far away and
deep down, and seem insignificant and unreal. Letters
from Denmark are brought to me, amongst them
there is an invitation to take part in a congress of
authors in Copenhagen. All these beautifully printed
programmes, syllabus cards, tickets of admission, look
so strange here in this town of miracles where man is
wrestling like Jacob with the angel the wrestling
of faith on the highest summits : I will not let thee
go till thou hast blessed me !
I arrived in Lourdes on Thursday; Friday and
Saturday are gone the same pouring rain as on the
first day. Now Sunday morning has dawned in
radiant sunshine and the sky is a brilliant blue.
LOURDES 131
Below my windows the Gave ripples greenish-blue,
no longer greenish-grey.
Later on the day grows warmer. The quivering
leaves of the poplars glitter in the sun along the river
banks and the firs stand motionless with branches
like drooping banners. Up above Lourdes the
mountains raise their green and sunlit heights and
furthest away in the south, in the direction of the
sources of the river, the everlasting snow glitters on
the high Pyrenees on the summits at Argeles.
I go into the town where preparations are going
on for the Feast of Corpus Christi to be kept to-day.
Dazzling white sheets, covering both windows and doors
and the show cases on the pavements, have long been
hung up in front of the countless shops where rosaries
and other objects of devotion are sold, and the owners
of the shops are standing on steps and chairs fastening
flowers and small green boughs on these white surfaces
as ermine is flecked with black spots. It is like
walking through streets lined with flowered curtains.
Box and myrtle are strewn in the middle of the street
freshly gathered branches and whole trees placed in
tubs of water are ranged along the edge of the pave
ment, and altars, gorgeous in crimson and gold, with
yellow candles and many coloured statues of saints,
are set up at street corners and on market-places.
Besides the Flemish pilgrims, twelve hundred in
number, who are still here, one train of pilgrims has
arrived from Rennes and another from St. Jean de Luz
at Bayonne. The two extremes of France meet here,
Bretons and Basques, numbering respectively thirteen
and seventeen hundred. They pervade the town
dressed in their national costumes, and doing their
K 2
132 LOURDES
shopping behind the white sheets amongst the rustling
bunches of rosaries and the endless cases of jingling
medals of all sizes, at all prices. Their purchases made,
they all go down through the streets and congregate
in front of the grotto, at the baths, or in the churches
to hear Mass. It is possible from this day to gain
some feeble impression of what Lourdes must be when
one of the great pilgrimages fills the town in the height
of summer, not with thousands, but with tens of
thousands of people.
I go with the stream down to the Church of the
Rosary. The Basques are singing at High Mass, the
purest Gregorian chant, sung by the whole congregation,
a choir of several hundred strong men s voices. Kyrie
eleison, Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison/ rings out through
the open doors. I pass on to the baths, to the grotto.
The old Flemish women s white, winged head-dresses
mingle with the black hoods of the Basque women.
Yonder is a gathering of Bretonnes in white tulle caps.
And what faces they have, framed in the white caps and
black hoods so pure, so regular, so noble ! Eyes whose
glance has grown clear through centuries of gazing at
the Crucified, and that have been washed free of all im
purities in the Precious Blood from the Sacred Wounds ;
lips so calm and so pure like a threshold over which
the Saviour has passed again and again. . . . Perhaps,
amongst these girls and women of all ages, there are
some who can hardly write their own name, and whose
only literature is their prayer-book what does it matter
when their names are indelibly written in the Book of
Life, and when they have known how to shape their own
lives like a work of art, like the finest poem, not on
paper and in rhythms, but in reality and in deeds
LOURDES 133
poems of goodness, affection, self-sacrifice, fulfilment
of duty, and faithfulness unto death. . . .
More and more pilgrims are coming ; soon the whole
space in front of the grotto is filled. The invalids, as
usual, are lying on their stretchers or sitting in their
ambulance chairs. And inside the grotto all the golden
flames gleam and shimmer the outer ones pale, the
inner ones deep golden. The two great stands for
candles look like two large illuminated Christmas trees.
Quiet reigns over this great crowd of people, all are
praying silently. The rosaries rustle, behind us the
river foams and rushes onwards on its swift course, a
couple of twittering swallows dart swiftly to and fro
over our heads. Then all at once the pilgrims, standing
close together and pressed right up to the railing before
the grotto, break into song, the song of the Breton
pilgrims with the march-like rhythm so well-known
to all visitors to Lourdes r
Nous venons encore
Du pays d Arvor
Ou le sol est dur,
Et le cceur est fort.
Fiers de notre foi,
Notre saint tresor,
Nous venons du pays d Arvor.
Gradually the singing increases in volume, the
voices ring out around me, metallic and deep, the
song of * the strong hearts. Proud of their faith,
their sacred treasure/ they come from that province
which is the tower of strength of Catholicism in France,
that province in which Celtic depth of feeling and
Celtic faithfulness keep knightly vigil over the ancient
faith of Gaul and guard it against Latin pride of
intellect and Frankish immorality.
134 LOURDES
On my way back to the hotel I see the door to the
Bureau des Constatations standing open and I go
in. There is a rather large gathering of people ;
doctors Belgian and French nurses, priests, visitors.
I am already included amongst the habitue s of the
bureau ; Dr. Boissarie nods to me across the table,
and I take up a position in a corner from which I can
see and hear while he continues questioning a patient.
This time it is a man, one Antoine van Deulen
from Flanders. He is a cigar-maker, has been ill
for thirteen years, suffering from an ulcer in the
stomach, thinks he is cured now. He looks pale and
miserable. His papers are produced, and it is stated
in them that he has a tumour in the stomach as big
as a man s fist. He explains that he feels no pain
now he has felt better during the whole of the
journey, to-day he has even been able to eat meat.
He is taken into another room to be examined ; one
of the young Belgian doctors is to examine him.
Marie Dillen, one of those who were cured on
Friday, is also present. She is looking much better,
says that she has a good appetite, and she now has
round, rosy cheeks. On being requested to do so
she tells us a little more about her recovery. She
had to be carried to the baths, it was the fourth
time. On being lowered into the water she felt
nervous twitchings all over her body, and as soon
as she was taken out she was able to walk, a thing
that had been quite impossible for her for a long
time.
Let us see how you walk/ says Dr. Boissarie.
The patient gets up, we make room for her, and
smilingly she walks up and down a few times.
LOURDES 135
Evidently she still finds it difficult, however, and
she is taken back to her chair.
Julia Witthamer is there too there can be no
doubt at all about the improvement in her. She has
been weighed to-day and has increased one pound.
The Belgian doctor now comes out of the other
room with the cigar-maker. Dr. Boissarie glances
at him with a questioning look ; his young colleague
shakes his head. The patient who believes himself
cured is then dismissed with the usual advice to try
to eat, and then to report himself again. Then the
meeting is adjourned and the bureau is closed.
See you again this afternoon/ the old doctor calls
to me as I go out. A few minutes later I see him
strolling towards the town, his face inscrutable,
meditative. . . .
The great procession of the Feast of Corpus Christi
starts to-day from the parish church of Lourdes, the
colossal but never completed work of the Abbe Pey-
ramale. After dinner I go up through the town again ;
it is now decorated all over. The church is crowded,
and I work my way up through one of the side aisles
till I am in a line with the choir. Vespers are nearly
over the Salve Regina rises up, borne by the flute-like
tones of the boys and the strong, ringing voices of the
men. And where could the words of the ancient hymn
be more fittingly sung than here in Lourdes : Hail, holy
Queen, Mother of Mercy, ... to thee do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our
sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears . . .
f gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle. . . .
And yet there is nothing to-day that reminds one
of Lourdes being a vale of tears, one great Hospital of
136 LOURDES
the Seven Dolours/ Outside the blue summer sky and
the white summer sunshine are bright and dazzling, and
here, in the church, the chancel glows in colours like
a picture by Fra Anglico.
Before the high altar, under the gorgeous Roman
esque canopy, the three officiating priests in gold
broidered vestments ; round about the steps, a group
of altar boys in crimson cassocks, and crimson caps sur
mounting the small, brown Spanish faces with regular
features and brilliant brown eyes. . . . Amongst them
older boys in long sky-blue robes, carrying procession
lamps ; and just outside the chancel screen the floor is
like a garden of lilies formed by a troop of white clad
little girls with white wreaths on their heads. In their
hands they hold baskets from which they are to strew
flowers before the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar on
Its way through the town. A delicate blue veil of incense
is drawn across the whole picture, the sunlight falls
in broad slanting streamers through the high windows
and the flames of hundreds of small candles glimmer
like stitches of gold embroidery on a background of
colours.
All other feasts than those of religion are only
mud feasts/ my friend, Father Willibrord Verkade,
the Dutch monk and artist, once said to me. On his
behalf and my own I apologise for the somewhat force
ful expression. But no other festivals can really be
compared with the festivals of the Church. For it is
only in religious festivals that one has the feeling of
bending before the Highest before that which is
indeed worthy of the festival.
I am very vividly conscious of this in the church in
Lourdes, still more so when the procession, towards six
LOURDES 137
o clock, has reached the altar set up on the great plat
form outside Le Rosaire. The whole of the church
facade has been arranged as a background for the altar
and is covered with white and blue. A network of
glow-lamps is drawn over it and, behind the forest of
candles on the altar and the sea of flame from the pro
cession, it shines like a huge jewelled setting of dull
gold pearls.
All the invalids, Flemish, Breton, and Basque, are
assembled with their friends on the esplanade. How
different from yesterday and the day before, in the
pouring rain ! It is so warm to-day that the young
Belgian girls, who are doing duty as nurses, are contin
ually being called from stretcher to stretcher to give
the invalids to drink Lourdes water, which they pour
from small blue and white enamelled tin cans slung in
a strap over their shoulders. And in the golden light
of late afternoon the gleaming monstrance passes round
the Place whilst the supplications mount heavenwards.
Seigneur, Fils de David, ayez piti6 de nous !
Seigneur, faites que je marche !
Seigneur, faites que je voie !
Seigneur, faites que j entende !
Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us !
Heal my palsied limbs ! Open my ears ! Give me
back the light of my eyes !
But no cure occurs during the procession of the
Blessed Sacrament. It is carried back towards the
church and a last Benediction is given from the altar
on the platform to the kneeling crowds on the enormous
Place. Nor are there now any that rise from their
beds restored to health. The pilgrims disperse, and
the mournful train of hundreds of stretchers and
138 LOURDES
ambulances slowly forms into line and quietly and
patiently returns to the hospital.
After supper I sit a while in the little garden
belonging to the pension. Across the low wall I
look along the river, purling and foaming, bluish-
green, with bright, dark reflections, like liquid flint.
Along the banks alders and firs and poplars stand
motionless, and the tower and spire of the basilica
are outlined against a background of green mountains
lightly veiled in a thin haze. The furthest ridge
fades away in blue, and closes the valley against
the faint pink, milky evening sky. And far away
in the south, far beyond town and fortress and the
nearer mountains, I see glimpses of rose-tinted snow-
covered peaks.
The beautiful day is succeeded by an equally
beautiful evening, and at half past eight I am at the
grotto. I go to the parapet above the river, and look
out across the water. The hurrying waves of the
Gave catch the last blue tints of daylight lingering
amongst the grey and misty heights. Bats are
winging over it. And up on the hills the trees stand *
clear cut against the light summer evening sky.
The pilgrims are assembling in front of the grotto
for the torch-light procession la procession aux
flambeaux. Every evening during the visits of pilgrims
to Lourdes this procession starts from the grotto,
and passing up the ascents to the Basilica, goes down
on the other side, to assemble finally in front of the
Rosary Church, where the Credo is generally sung
before the candles are extinguished. Consequently,
every afternoon rows of candle-sellers may be seen
at the sides of all the roads leading to the grotto,
LOURDES 139
with large baskets full of white candles with blue
rings, white and blue being the colours of the Blessed
Virgin and pilgrims provide themselves from these
baskets. A small screen shaped like an extinguisher,
to protect the flame from wind and rain, is sold with
the candles.
The pilgrims gathered in front of the grotto have
now finished saying their rosaries. All over the Place
and along the parapet candles are being lit, they
light up the dusky and still summer evening like a
living bed of great golden flowers.
And look, yonder on the basilica, high up above
the grotto, on the top of Massabieille, a few twink
ling lights appear the church is being illuminated,
its contours are outlined with small golden glow
lamps.
Down here, where I am standing, all the candles
are lit and moving restlessly to and fro like the
dying sparks of burning paper . . . but soon they
settle into ordered lines and like a luminous river the
procession streams slowly out of the grotto, past the
baths. At the same time the singing begins a French
hymn of which I only hear the refrain, an endless,
monotonous, unceasing * Ave", ave", av, Maria !
Av6, ave", ave*, Maria !
How many people are there in this procession ?
Twelve hundred, fourteen hundred, two thousand ? I
don t know. I hasten on before them to the esplanade,
and here I behold a new and most impressive sight.
Not only the basilica is illuminated from the top, but
the Rosary too, its enormous Romanesque facade
below, and the immense rotunda of the dome above.
A gigantic NLD flames in red and green from the
140 LOURDES
middle of the tower of the basilica and electric projectors
cast violet shadows over the slender spire. On the
other side, towards Lourdes, a halo of glow-lamps gleams
about the great Madonna statue on the esplanade, and
high up, on the top of le Grand Ger, the mountain above
the town, an electrically illuminated cross stands like
burnished gold against a deep blue sky.
Splendid indeed ! says a voice in English just
beside me at this moment, and turning round I recog
nise a young Irish priest with whom I exchanged a few
words yesterday at the bureau. His dark blue eyes
gleam in the light of the illumination, and there is a look
of enthusiasm in his firmly chiselled, very priestly face.
We shake hands.
Isn t it so ? ; he exclaims. You see such things
as these only in the Catholic Church.
And he points to the enormous ascents where the
procession is now beginning to wind its way upwards.
It is like a molten stream from a smelting furnace, little
by little filling up a shadowy mould. The rear of the
procession has not yet left the esplanade when the
vanguard returns. The ascents to the basilica slant
upwards like a colossal figure eight to the base of the
church. And the singing goes on ceaselessly : Ave*,
ave*, ave, Maria ! Ave, ave, ave, Maria ! It is like
a wandering people of singing flames.
The Irish priest and I take up our positions so that
the procession must pass close in front of us when it
comes down to the Place before the Rosaire. We
recognise the members of the various pilgrimages the
Basque, Breton, and the Flemish. The light from the
screened candles falls sharply on their open, singing
lips, on the white wing-shaped head-dresses of the
LOURDES 141
Sisters of St. Vincent of Paul, on the hard and keen pro
files of the Pyrenean peasants, and the glittering golden
helmet, surmounted by a lace cap, of a Dutch peasant
woman. At last they are all assembled before the facade
of the Rosary Church, which shines in the light of its glow
lamps as though studded with precious stones. From
a corner of the platform I can look out over the thousands
of candles ; in their coloured sugar-loaf screens they
look like great tulips with waving stamens of fire.
And amongst them all the light faces a sea of counten
ances, all turned to one spot, to the shining white
statue of the Blessed Virgin above the entrance to the
church.
For a moment there is silence on the great Place.
Then the singing bursts forth again and now it is the
hymn of praise of the Blessed Virgin.
My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his
handmaid : for, behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty hath done great things
to me : and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations,
to that them fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm : he hath
scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and
hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things :
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful
of his mercy.
142 LOURDES
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to
his seed for ever/ 1
The singing ceases, the candles are extinguished,
the pilgrims quietly disperse. In company with
the Irish priest I stroll slowly towards the baths.
It is now a beautiful summer night, the sky is bright
above the filmy white vapours of the meadows and the
silvery blue water of the strangely living and swiftly
gliding river. There are still many people praying
quietly at the grotto, all the candles are still burning
in it behind the closed gates as they always burn,
day and night, as they have burned without ceasing for
half a century now.
The young priest and I sit down on the bench
placed towards the Gave, facing the grotto. I tell
him my thoughts of the afternoon about the Bretons
and add a few words about the position of the Irish
in the Anglo-Saxon world. Everywhere the Celts are
the upholders of the Catholic Church in France, in
England, in North America
And in Australia, too/ the young Irishman breaks
in. The persecution that England carried on against
us, and which culminated in the Year of Terror of 1798,
has in God s hands been instrumental in spreading
the Catholic religion all over the British Empire.
Amongst the English convicts in Australia there were
many of my compatriots who had been deported
because of their faith. At first an attempt was made
to convert them by force to Protestantism, but when
this proved unsuccessful the Colonial Government,
in 1820, made the concession that two two ! Catholic
priests might be admitted to the country. Later on we
i St. Luke, i. 46-33.
LOURDES 143
were given entire liberty, and now, in 1900, Australia
has over 700,000 Catholics with more than 800
priests, a cardinal-archbishop, four other archbishops,
and fourteen bishops. We have thirteen hundred
churches and a thousand schools with one hundred
thousand scholars it is a great tree that has grown
from that small seed in the course of only eighty
years.
From ecclesiastical matters our talk strays into
literature. I express my admiration of Robert Hugh
Benson and of Sheehan.
Sheehan ! exclaims the young priest. Why, he
is a great friend of mine ! When I am back in Ireland
again, I will tell him that I met a Dane in Lourdes
who knew him and had read his books.
On the whole, we Catholics do not take at all a
bad place in literature, continues the priest. Here,
in France, for instance, many of the most distinguished
names are on our side : Paul Bourget altogether, Barrel,
Lemaitre, Leon Daudet, Charles Maurras more or less
and amongst deceased authors Verlaine and Huysmans
still wield their influence.
You might add the greatest living writer of lyric
poetry in France, Francois Jammes, and you might
point out a similar movement in the world of paint
ing, for an artist so decidedly Catholic as Maurice
Denis
And yet, I continue, and yet I don t believe in
any revival of Catholic art. Catholic poetry, Catholic
literature, must essentially be something that is born
of the Catholic religion as were the cathedrals of the
twelfth century and the frescoes of the fourteenth.
But those who are now called Catholic writers and
144 LOURDES
artists men like those you have just mentioned in
France, or like Benson and Sheehan in England are
all converts, if not in religion, then in literature. They
have had their training elsewhere, they have been the
pupils of the great master novelists, and now they
employ what they have learnt from them in the service
of the Church.
In other words, I think Catholic art has become
a thing of the past. Protestant Christendom may still
produce an art of its own ; we have excellent instances
of this in Denmark. But Protestant Christendom
is still young, only four hundred years old.
The Catholic church has passed her season of
flowering. She has flowered, in such abundance, such
beauty, and for so long that the world has never seen
it equalled, but now
Now/ the Irish priest interrupts me, now, you
think it is the turn of the others to flower ?
Yes/ I answer. The world is a garden in which
everything that mankind contains must put forth
flowers and bear fruit for the Great Harvest. There
are some words in the Gospels, in the story of the
Passion, that have always made a deep impression
on me. They are the words of Jesus when He says
to His enemies, " This is your hour, and the power of
darkness/ I cannot but believe that we have now
reached this hour.
You mentioned just now some modern French
writers who have come close to Catholicism ; most of
them, by the way, have done so for political reasons.
But think of that host of highly-gifted writers who are
consciously anti-Christian. Think of Anatole France,
our great enemy, to whom all the cultured world of
LOURDES 145
Europe listens think of the satirical, sceptical,
sensualistic Remy de Gourmont or read one or two
of the brilliantly written but wholly corrupt novels
published by the Mercure de France.
And in Germany, in Italy, in Scandinavia and
Denmark, literature is developing in the same direction.
Everyone who has talent enrols himself among the
enemies of Christ. They are attracted to them as if
by an elective affinity. Sometimes, perhaps, one or
another has the strength to tear himself away for a
time, partly or altogether. But they always return,
if not before, then at the edge of the grave. It is as
though they could not find peace till they had done
so/
You are a pessimist, my dear sir ! Benson, how
ever, has said about the same thing/
I know he has. What I have said just now, I
wrote in a small Danish weekly Catholic paper, already
ten years ago. But the fact that the same line of
thought forms the basis of your English confrere s
wonderful book l has, of course, only confirmed me in
my views/
While we have been talking the Place has become
almost deserted, only a few scattered faithful ones
can still be seen, kneeling close to the railings of
the grotto. The illuminations have been over for
some time now, in their stead we have the stars shining
over our heads. The Gave ripples and gurgles behind
us in the calm of the summer night
What is left, then, for us Catholics of the twentieth
century, besides the crumbs that fall from the rich
man s table ? the Irish priest at last asks bitterly.
1 The Lcrd of the World.
146 LOURDES
For answer I point to the grotto, where the candles
are burning steadily and gleaming out in the darkness
of the night.
This/ I say to him, Magnum stgnum apparuit
in ccelo. A great sign appeared in heaven, a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 1
1 Apocalypse (Rev.) of St. John, xii. i.
XVII
HOSPITALIERS AND BRANCARDIERS
IMPRESSIONS OF LOURDES ADOLPHE RETTE
NEXT to the Bureau des Constatations Medicates
is the Bureau des Hospitaliers. The door is standing
open as I pass by on Monday morning and I look
in. I see a great empty room, meagrely furnished
with a few office benches and tables. Papers and
open letters are lying in business-like disarray on a
desk, but I do not see any people about. For some
time I stand waiting, and meanwhile study a time
table giving the following information :
THE HEAD MANAGEMENT OF HOSPITALITY OF
NOTRE DAME DE LOURDES
Regulations for June 21, 1909.
Morning :
5.30 A.M. The sick are taken to the grotto.
8.0 A.M. The sick have breakfast.
9.0 A.M. The baths open.
10.30 A.M. The sick are taken back to the hospital.
Afternoon :
2.0 P.M. The sick are taken to the grotto.
3.0 P.M. The baths open.
4.30 P.M. Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacra
ment.
5.30 P.M. The sick are taken back to the hospital.
L 2
148 LOURDES
Superintendents on duty :
Superintendent in chief : Comte de Beauchamp.
Interior of the grotto : Colonel Marmet.
Square before the grotto : M. Verhaven.
The Baths : Rev. Father Espinos.
Square at the Baths : Monsieur de Werbier.
The Esplanade : Monsieur de la Salle.
The Hospital : Monsieur Batkin.
Still no one comes who can give me the informa
tion I want, and I therefore go on to the Medical
Bureau. I find Dr. Cox alone, and put before him
my inquiries with regard to the organisation of the
nursing at Lourdes. Who owns the hospital ? Who
are the hospitallers, the hospitalises ? What is the
difference between them and the brancardiers ? Are
they two independent bodies, and how are they
recruited ? Who provides them with board and
pays for their maintenance ?
With his usual kindness the English doctor
enlightens me.
To begin with the hospital, it is really incorrectly
so called. It is a hospice, a home for the aged,
belonging to the Sisters of Nevers, and they allow
us the use of it during the season of the pilgrimages.
We should not be able to use it if our sick did not
live out of doors practically all day ; in the open
air, at the grotto, and the baths, and on the esplanade.
Now they only spend the night in the hospital and
take their meals there.
To look after all these invalids you have seen
these last few days how many there are, and this is
only a trifling number compared with those that come
LOURDES 149
later on in the summer ; for instance, during the great
national pilgrimage we should require a whole
army of Sisters of Charity stationed at Lourdes. That
is, of course impossible. A confraternity has therefore
been founded, called the " Hospitalite de Notre Dame
de Lourdes," and consisting of ladies and gentlemen,
partly from France and partly from other countries,
who voluntarily place their services at the disposal
of the sick. The members of this confraternity are
called hospitallers and hospitalities ; the men s and
the women s section each have a president, a vice-
president, and a council ; appointment to all these
offices is made by vote. Brancardiers is only a
distinctive name for those hospitallers who are selected
to carry the sick from the station to the hospital, from
the hospital to the grotto and vice versa. The ladies
are employed exclusively at the baths, where they
help in bathing the sick, in dressing wounds, &c. The
men s duties are more varied. They are sent by the
council wherever they are needed, to the railway
station when a train of pilgrims is expected, to the
piscina to bathe the sick, to the grotto to keep order
and be of use generally, to the hospital to watch at
bedsides. They are guides, bath attendants, stretcher-
bearers, day and night nurses, ready to do everything
they are told to do, at any time of the day or night.
Of course they do all this purely for the love of God ;
they are not paid even their expenses, but have to keep
themselves entirely/
And there is never any lack of them ? There are
always plenty to do this work ?
There are far more applications for admission
than required. The council can pick and choose.
150 LOURDES
Candidates are admitted on trial and wear a bronze
medal the first year, and must by steady and unremit
ting work during one or more seasons prove themselves
worthy of being finally enrolled in the confraternity.
After that they are allowed to wear a silver medal
and are then full members. At the present time there
are several hundreds of them, and it may interest you
to know that Dr. Boissarie and I are both entitled
to wear the silver medal. The confraternity has
its own chapel over there in the Rosary Church,
and on certain days Mass is said there for our
intentions/
I express my thanks to the genial English doctor
for his information and prepare to go. Dr. Boissarie
has not yet put in an appearance, nor are there any
invalids to be seen. Outside the dazzling sunshine
of the morning, that seemed to promise another
bright day, has turned into dulness and it is now
beginning to rain. I put up my umbrella and stroll
in a desultory way about Lourdes, in the oldest part
of the town. Here is the Rue des Pet its Fosses, where
the Soubirous lived in 1858 ; their dwelling was part
of the disused jail and was commonly called le
Cachot. The street looks unpretentious, provincial ;
one walks between grey garden walls ; an open door
reveals some steps and green large-leafed fig-trees.
The tops of acacias show above the walls.
In a small, narrow lane, running down from the
Rue du Bourg, at the corner of the modern Boulevard
de la Grotte, there is an old house with the inscription,
Maison paternelle de Bernadette Soubirous/ The
description is correct if it does give rise to erroneous
ideas. The facts of the case are these :
LOURDES 151
When attention had been drawn to Bernadette
and interest in her aroused, it could not fail to make
a painful impression to learn that she and her family
were living in such acutely distressed circumstances.
It was in vain that efforts were made to induce
Bernadette to accept charity. Her parents were just
as resolute. Estrade has preserved quite a number of
small incidents showing the heroic disinterestedness of
these worthy people, who, even in their direst need,
refused to accept even considerable gifts of money. They
could not bear the thought that the mission which
had been entrusted to Bernadette should be in the
very slightest degree tarnished.
Eight years passed by in this way and Bernadette s
mother died on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,
December 8, 1866, in the midst of the most abject
poverty. Not till then was the Abbe" Peyramale
allowed to reach out a helping hand. In company
with the Bishop of Tarbes he bought a mill which
happened to be for sale and handed it over to Fran9ois
Soubirous, who was thus enabled to resume his old
trade on his own account. The family had, however,
already left le Cachot in the Rue de Petits Fosse s and
had moved to the slightly better dwelling in the Rue
du Bourg. And this is where the room that Berna
dette once lived in may still be seen on the first floor.
The chief piece of furniture is a large bedstead which has
been surrounded by a railing to prevent visitors from
chipping souvenirs from it. A few of the little seer s
modest possessions, amongst them her white capeline,
have been preserved here. On one of the walls there
is a large, beautiful picture of Bernadette, a photo
graph taken in 1860. After being shown this room
152 LOURDES
visitors are conducted into the adjoining house, facing
the Boulevard de la Grotte, where a busy trade is
carried on in objects of devotion, by Bernadette s
5^oungest surviving brother, Pierre Bernard.
I purchase a few medals and other things and
pass on across the market-place, past the never
completed, generously planned parish church, which
the Abbe Peyramale had intended to be a sister church
to the basilica above the grotto. The old priest lies
buried in his unfinished church. He died on the Feast
of the Nativity of our Lady, on September 8, 1877, and
his death was the cause of perhaps the deepest grief
known to Bernadette s heart. Oh, Father, Father !
she sobbed, weeping over the strict, good, fatherly
Abbe Peyramale, who had at first seemed so stern and
harsh to her and had since become her faithful friend
and supporter. I pass by his house and garden now ;
it looks neglected and deserted ; the gate is standing
open to the forsaken paths, the gate that Bernadette
timidly opened on that first morning when she came in
from Massabieille with her message from the Lady.
I return by way of the new Lourdes, and in a book
seller s window the title of a book catches my eye. It
is Un se"jour a Lourdes. Impressions d un bran-
cardier/ by Adolphe Rette. I purchase it and take it
with me to my room, for the rain is pouring now.
There is nothing to be done but to seek shelter as
quickly as possible.
Adolphe Rette was at one time, that is about 1890,
a symbolist writer who wrote in La Plume, and pub
lished small books printed on hand-made paper and in
editions of a few hundred numbered copies. Then he
disappeared from the literary world and turned up
LOURDES 153
in politics as an extreme radical, a revolutionary an
archist until he startled the world a couple of years
ago with a book on his conversion, entitled Du Diable
a Dieu, in which he recounted his journey from the
desperate love of destruction and enjoyment of
extreme egoism to the sacrifice of self and the love
of all living things of Christianity.
Du Diable a Dieu was followed by a so-called
Catholic novel entitled Le Regne de la Bte, in
which he describes the subjection of the individual in
Socialism. This book made the impression chiefly of
being a rough draft ; it seemed as though the author
had had other things in his mind while he wrote it, and
was in a hurry to finish it. And, as a matter of fact,
Rette" had become more interested in religion than in
literature. The book about Lourdes shows it. In the
concise style of a diary he describes his pilgrimage
from Poitiers to Lourdes ; he made this journey on
foot, 260 miles, in twenty-four days, of which eight
were days of rest. Arrived in Lourdes he was, half
against his will, led to serve as brancardier and bath
attendant, and found this occupation so satisfying that
he stayed in it for two months. The impressions of his
activities during this period form the most valuable
part of the book.
It often happens/ he says, that in the course of
a couple of hours one has to give baths to four or five
hundred invalids. Many of them are so infirm or
so crippled that they cannot help themselves. There
is many a pair of boots to pull off and many a flannel
vest of doubtful cleanliness to remove. There are
palsied men who have to be put in straps or laid on
boards before they can be lowered into the water. It
154 LOURDES
takes four, six, sometimes eight people to do it, the
main thing is that it is done. And then the care
that is necessary not to hurt or scratch these poor,
tortured bodies, that feel in agony at every movement.
Here may be seen a former government official
busy putting on a bandage. There is an engineer
helping a cancer patient to get dressed. In the next
cubicle a manufacturer is engaged in fishing cotton
wool and bandages out of the bath ; a stalwart soldier is
carrying the most afflicted ones away in his arms or on
his back. And right through it all one goes on praying.
In a few rapidly-drawn lines Rette sketches some
portraits of his comrades at the baths.
There is M. de Barbarin, a man of sixty ; he is a
specialist in putting bandages on again. I have seen
him standing five or six hours at a time, bending over
boils and ulcers, without ever showing signs of weariness
or disgust. Yonder is the Abbe Blanchet, who has a
particular affection for cancer patients, those who are
afflicted with lupus, and those who are almost half dead.
. . . Berton, a sturdy peasant from the Charente
Infrieure ; he was cured last year, and has now come
back this year to show his gratitude. . . . Henry Noury
from Nantes, who had himself an ulcer on the leg,
but forgot it in helping the others. Harmois, a feeble,
old priest from Paris, but the first to come and the
last to go.
A warm friendship bound all these different
people together. The happiness of working together
in the service of the Blessed Virgin created bonds
between us that nothing could break. We were often
asked whether we. did not, after a time, feel sickened
amongst all this suffering and these ceaselessly repeated
LOURDES 155
groans. I answered, on my own account : "By no
means. To me it is as if I had heaven enshrined in
my heart."
After all, it is only thinking too much about
one s self that makes one sad. If you have once
succeeded in pushing back that ever-complaining
self and in making it give way to others, and besides
this allowed yourself to be guided by the grace that
speaks so distinctly during the work at the baths,
you become quite changed, and you are surprised
at being able to do work that you would before have
shuddered at thinking about/
And as this applies to those who wait on the
sick, it applies, too, in a great measure, to the sick
themselves. Instead of being impatient for their
turn to come, says Rette, the sick mutually call
attention to one another " He is more miserable
than I, let him go in first." And they try to help
one another in undressing, they encourage one another,
pray for those who are in the baths, forget their
own sufferings in those of others/ As a particularly
pathetic incident Rette relates the following case :
Amongst the pilgrims from Les Landes there
was a peasant of about fifty years of age. He was
completely paralysed, and, moreover, covered with
suppurating sores of an offensive odour all over his
body. It took six of us to lay him on a plank and
lower him into the water. He showed great patience
and much resignation to God s will, and we came to
have a liking for the man. For three consecutive
days he was bathed without the least result. His
faith remained unshaken ; indeed, it seemed as though
disappointment only made it more ardent. On the
156 LOURDES
evening before the day when he was to leave he was
allowed to spend the night in prayer at the grotto,
in company with the young brancardier who had
charge of him.
Next morning he came and had his bath as
usual. It was the last, and it did him no more good
than any of the previous ones. But his calm face
showed no trace of discouragement, there was a quiet
radiance in his eyes. We crowded round him and
reminded him that cures have often occurred on
the way home from Lourdes, nay, even later.
" No," he answered, " I shall not be cured.
During the night I prayed to the Blessed Virgin
to let me keep my sufferings. I have offered them
to God in propitiation for all the sins committed
in the parish at home, where most of the people are
unbelievers. I felt that my prayer was heard. So
don t pity me. I am quite happy."
Rette also notes one or two significant details
in connection with the voluntary nurses, the
hospitalieres. Some of them save up money for a
whole year in order to be able to make the journey
to Lourdes and spend their holidays in tending the
sick. Others are wealthy and belong to great families.
These leave to their relations the pleasures of fashion
able Biarritz and themselves go instead to Lourdes.
It is now the third time that my people have written
for me to come/ one of these young ladies told Rette,
and for the third time I have had my trunk packed
to go to Biarritz. But then, when I get down to
the hospital to say good-bye to my invalids, I can t
help it I go back and unpack again. One forgets
one s self in Lourdes.
LOURDE5 157
Self -for get fulness, that is the constantly recurring
word when Rette wishes to sum up his impressions
in one main thought. And it is evident, from a little
sketch that he gives of a night spent in the hospital,
and of the following morning, that he has himself
experienced this self-forgetfulness and the happiness
it gives.
One night/ he says, there was a cancer patient
from Nancy in one of the wards. The Sisters of St.
Vincent at Montrouge had recommended him to me.
He had an ulcer below the navel, that was continually
suppurating and emitting a penetrating stench. His
state was extremely grave and death might come at
any moment. In order that his wife, who had come
with him, might get a little sleep, I offered to stay
beside him.
The ward was crowded that night. The beds
were ranged so close together that it was hardly possible
to move between them. It was very warm and all the
windows were open.
During most of the time I sat at the head of my
cancer patient s bed. We said the rosary when his
pains had somewhat abated. Now and then he fell
asleep, and I went about in the ward seeing to the wants
of the other patients.
Towards dawn it suddenly grew cool. Com
plaining voices asked for the windows to be closed.
I complied. But the odour from the cancer patient,
from the tuberculous, from the many with open sores,
in addition to the other exhalations in the ward,
became so unbearable that I felt as if I were being
suffocated. I snatched up my bottle of eau de Cologne,
but it was of no use, even that seemed to smell of cancer.
158 LOURDES
This corpse-like smell was actually so penetrating that
even after three days I could not get it out of my nose,
and the clothes I had worn retained the smell a long
time. I was on the point of being sick when I was
at last relieved from duty and could go out in the
fresh air.
* I went down to the courtyard of the hospital
and drew in deep breaths of the fresh morning air.
The day was dawning, the Cross on the Grand Ger
glowed in colours of rose and gold, a last star quivered
in the pallid blue sky. There was no sound but the
foaming of the river in the cascades close by, near the
convent of Poor Clares.
And then it seemed as though a luminous joy
streamed down upon me. I was filled with a deep and
peaceful happiness, with a clearness that penetrated
to the innermost recesses of my soul. I was happy,
cheerful, and contented ; something was ringing in my
heart, in tones of crystal clearness.
Instead of going home to bed I wandered down
to the grotto. The man who attends to the candles
opened the gate for me and I knelt down behind the
altar. A silence of wordless prayer descended upon
me, and thanksgiving and love mounted from my soul
like great resplendent roses. . . .
XVIII
THE CURE OF THOSE WITH LITTLE FAITH
GABRIEL GARGAM
IT is the last day of the Belgians at Lourdes, they go
away to-morrow. Apparently in order to test their
steadfastness once more, the sky opened up all its
sluices at about four o clock, and they received
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament under a down
right shower bath. As wet as a drowned rat, I leave
the esplanade and go back to my room, where I
change into dry clothes.
And while the rain is pouring down over the bottle-
green Gave, I resume my silent combat, within four
walls, with my adversary, sceptical science.
Let Bernheim say and think what he likes let
him be unable to imitate the miraculous cures at
Lourdes after all, when all is done, it must be faith
that cures ; suggestion, illusion, the fixed idea, that
works.
This, it seems to me, expresses the views of the
scientific quand meme. And so it is ardent faith,
firm conviction, that arrests tuberculosis, heals inflam
mation, and causes even the most dangerous and long
enduring sufferings to cease, as in the cases of Augusta
de Muynck, Leonie Levque, and so many others
whose diseases are recorded in the Annales de la
Grotte.
Meanwhile, what becomes of this hypothesis if
160 LOURDES
it can be shown that it is by no means all of those who
recover their health who are possessed of that faith
that moves mountains/ spoken of in the Gospels ?
As it happens, this was the case with Mademoiselle
Lv6que. It is true that up to her fifteenth year
she had received a Catholic education in the pension
of the Dames du Sacr6 Cceur. But then she was
placed in other environment, read modern books, and
became quite unbelieving. The Catholic doctrine of
the Blessed Sacrament seemed to her particularly
unreasonable ; and during a stay in England an
increasing aversion for this belief took firmer root
in her mind. She had heard of Lourdes only through
Zola s novel. 1
Then her illness began, and under its influence
Mademoiselle Levque regained a faint sense of
religion, especially a belief in a Supreme Being. It
was only by slow degrees that she found her way back
to Catholicism, and she knew nothing of the part
that the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar plays at
Lourdes until she went there herself. It was, therefore,
not any deep or earnest or firmly grounded faith that
worked here. And yet the result was considerable,
an inflammation that several operations had failed
to cure was, so to speak, removed in a moment and
removed permanently.
A still smaller modicum of faith was that possessed
by a blind man from Lille, one Kersbilck, who received
his sight at Lourdes on September 17, 1908. Kersbilck
was a working man, and it is a well-known fact that
the religious sense is not the strong point of French
working men. A Sister of Chaiity had persuaded
1 Journal de la Groite, September 12, 1909.
LOURDES 161
him to go to Lourdes, but he did not give any actual
proof of understanding what was going on about him.
He spoke of the braconniers (poachers) instead of
brancar (tiers, and in connection with the bath houses
or piscines he used a word that was not exactly respect
ful. His medical certificate stated his case as one of
complete blindness caused by atrophy of the visual
nerve. This man regained his sight at Lourdes, and
on his return to Lille was given an uproarious reception
by more than a thousand working men, most of them
Socialists, who had assembled at the railway station,
and some of whom asserted that Kersbilck had
accepted bribes to pretend that he was cured. 1
But the typical case of a patient who comes to
Lourdes without faith, who is even at enmity with
religion, yet who is completely cured there, is that of
Gabriel Gargam. This is his story : 2
It was the evening of December 17, 1899. The
express that leaves Bordeaux at 10.30 had started, and
Gabriel Gargam, postal assistant, was at his work in
the mail van, the last carriage but one in the train.
Between Bordeaux and Angoulme the train slackened
speed ; the engine was in a bad condition, and although
the driver made every effort to keep up the regulation
speed it was impossible for him to do so. At Livernant,
some few kilometres from Angoule me, he could not
make the train go any further; the engine stopped.
Ten minutes after, the express, however, the rapide
from Bordeaux to Paris, was due. We had hardly
stopped, therefore/ Gargam said later, when a
terrible, dull sound could be heard approaching with
1 Boissarie, L CEuvre de Lourdes, pp. 195-202.
2 Ibid., pp. 93-109 ; Bertrin, Histoire Critique, pp. 330357.
M
162 LOURDES
the speed of lightning; it was the rapide, running at
a speed of over fifty miles per hour. Owing to a curve
on the line, it was impossible for her driver to catch
sight of us before it was too late.
It was half -past twelve. Hardly more than a
few seconds passed before we were shattered and the
carriage splintered into match-wood. My comrades
and I were flung in all directions ; I was thrown
thirty yards away and fell to the bottom of a snow
drift.
All my recollection stops at that terrible sound
of the train that was rushing to our destruction. It
was such a frightful shock to my nerves that in a
certain sense I ceased to exist from that moment.
We were four postmen in the train. One of us
was killed and two others are invalids to this day.
As for me, I lay buried in the snow until I was found
the next morning at seven. I was taken to the
hospital at Angoulme with the other injured. And
in what a state ! I was one mass of injuries and could
not move a limb. I did not recover consciousness
until towards evening. For the first fortnight I
could take no other food than the juice I sucked from
slices of orange.
On January i I had improved so far that I could
eat an egg, but my food was still only of the slightest.
I ate enough not to die of starvation, not enough to
regain strength. The doctors soon found out that I
was completely paralysed from the waist downwards.
Moreover, I could not lift up my head, and vomited
at the least movement/
Dr. Decressac, physician at the hospital at
Angoul&ne, tried to effect an improvement in the
LOURDES 163
condition of the patient by means of baths. They
only made matters worse, however ; the throat
contracted so that the patient could no longer swallow
anything at all. It became necessary to feed him by
means of a tube, and even this could only be inserted
once a day.
Eight months after the accident in August 1900
Gargam was still lying in this condition. The young
man, who had by nature been sound and robust,
gradually became like a skeleton: round the calf
he measured only nine inches ; the thigh, measured
round the middle, was only ten. His weight was
36 kilo. (72 Ibs.)
Gargam had claimed compensation from the
Paris-Orleans Railway Company and had won his
case in two instances. In the first, the court gave
the following reasons for supporting his claim :
1 Gargam will require at least two persons in
constant attendance upon him, and they must be
competent enough to give him, day and night, the
special nursing necessary to him in order to preserve
his life ; he will, moreover, frequently need medical
attendance, this accident having changed him into
an absolute wreck of a human being, whose intelligence
alone remains intact/ l
The court had ordered the railway company to
pay Gargam an annuity of 6,000 francs and a com
pensation once for all of 60,000 francs. The Company
appealed to the higher court at Bordeaux, but only
with the result that the judgment was confirmed.
1 Une veritable epave humaine, dans laquelle 1 intelligence
seule n a pas ete attaint. Bertrin, Histoire Critique, p. 338. Idem,
pp. 544-549; for medical certificates and legal papers relating to
the case.
M 2
164 LOURDES
This happened on July 2, 1901, and Gargam s future
was so far assured.
But what a sad future ! And was there indeed any
future ?
The doctors did not hold out much hope. Gargam
still had a feeling of intense pain about the lumbar
vertebrae, and it was the opinion of the under-surgeon
at the hospital, Dr. Teissier, that the spinal column
had been dislocated in the lumbar region, and that
Gargam s paralysis was due to the pressure thus
caused on the marrow. Teissier therefore suggested
trepanning the spine, but the operation was not
performed as the patient strongly objected to the idea.
Then one day bluish black spots appeared on the
patient s feet. Gangrene had set in, and it seemed
as though Gargam, while still alive, would see the
beginning of his own dissolution. An iron cradle
was placed over the lower end of his bed, to pre
vent the sheet from coming into contact with the
putrefying flesh.
And so Gargam lay and waited for death. His
mother, who lived in Angoul^me, came to see him
every day ; she was a devout woman and often tried,
but always in vain, to speak of religion to her afflicted
son. The chaplain at the hospital was just as un
successful. For fifteen years Gargam had had nothing
to do with the Church, nor did he now wish for her
help.
He knew he was in a hopeless state, and that at
the best he might drag along this dreary existence
a few summers and winters yet. He was only thirty-
one, had done well in the postal service and his
prospects had been excellent. Now it was all wasted,
LOURDES 165
irretrievably lost, destroyed in one single terrible
moment, and only because an engine-driver had not
taken care to have his engine in proper working order.
Was death or life, happiness or disaster, to depend
on such trifles as these ? And yet, in spite of this,
there were people who believed in a Providence !
Gargam was more embittered than ever against
religion, and more impervious to its influence. If
one of the Sisters at the hospital came in and began
to pray for him at his bedside, he was irritated and
annoyed.
And yet he did not seem unwilling to listen when
his mother one day timidly suggested that he should
try Lourdes. Dr. Teissier had again spoken to him
about trepanning, and Gargam could not bear the
thought of having to go through this new and great
suffering. Besides, he had now been lying ill in this hos
pital for twenty months, and had grown tired of looking
every day at the same white ceiling. Going to Lourdes
meant getting away into new surroundings. And
if he was to die he might as well die there, where he
would at least be with those who were dear to him,
where his mother would be with him.
Gargam discussed it with a cousin who was a
doctor, and the journey to Lourdes was decided upon.
His mother, who had already succeeded in this, now
became bolder and explained to her son that if the
pilgrimage was to be of any help to him, he must
first be reconciled to God, that is to say, make his
confession and receive Holy Communion. Gargam
was quite willing to please his mother; besides, if
one was a pilgrim, evidently one must act like a
pilgrim ! He was going to perform an experiment,
166 LOURDES
he must therefore carry out all the details connected
with it. He agreed to making his confession, and,
after some demur and an attempt at procrastination,
also to receiving the Blessed Sacrament. There were
great practical difficulties, however, in administer
ing this, as he could hardly swallow anything. He
succeeded, though, in swallowing a quite small particle
of a Host.
On August 19, 1901, the departure for Lourdes
took place. A stretcher of the width of a carriage
door had been made for him ; here, too, a cradle kept
the sheet up from the gangrened feet. A male nurse
and three other persons accompanied him.
The journey was extremely painful, Gargam faint
ing on the way. As they were approaching Lourdes,
on the morning of August 20, his mother showed him
the great crucifix that can be seen from the top of
the Mont des Bretons, far out in the country, pro
claiming to the pilgrim that he is near the goal of his
journey. Gar gain turned his head away, unwilling to
look at it, and refused to take any part in his mother s
prayers.
Yet, in spite of this mood of antipathy against
religion, he received Holy Communion an hour later at
the grotto. He had promised his mother that he would ;
besides, it was part of the pilgrimage, of the cure !
And now something happened that is quite in
explicable on all hypotheses of suggestion, because
there is such an absolute lack of proportion between
cause and effect between Gargam s somewhat super
cilious yielding to that to which his friends ascribed
so much importance, and which after all could not do
him any harm and the consequences of his yielding.
LOURDES 167
For he had hardly received the Sacred Host before
he was overcome by a great desire to pray. And yet
he could not formulate a single prayer, could not,
in fact, utter a word it was as though he was being
suffocated, he gasped for breath and at last burst into
tears he felt as if light was being poured into his
soul from on high he saw, and he believed. With
a feeling of boundless trust, of deep confidence, he
turned his tear-dimmed eyes to the statue of Mary
in the niche above the grotto.
It was that which Christianity calls Grace that was
streaming into Gargam s soul. Many prayers had
lately been said for his conversion one of his aunts
was a nun at the Sacre" Cceur, a cousin was a Poor
Clare at Orthez and while the sick man gazed stead
fastly, ecstatically up at the image of the Blessed
Virgin, the light grew clearer and clearer within him,
that light by which one sees with almost physical
distinctness that everything that Christianity teaches
is really true, that God is in His Heaven, that Jesus
was God and is God, and that in Him is peace, salvation,
and everlasting life.
Gargam had become a believer. But he was not
cured. He could not leave his stretcher, and had to eat
his dinner by means of a tube.
And it seemed as though he were not to be cured.
In the afternoon he was carried to the baths and
lowered into the water on a plank. He succeeded in
praying ; he repeated the prayers of the attendants :
Our Lady of Lourdes, heal our sick ! Health of the
sick, pray for us. Nothing happened.
At four o clock in the afternoon he was taken to the
esplanade to receive Benediction. He fainted there,
168 LOURDES
worn out with the exertions of the last twenty-four
hours. He was believed to be dead, and his attendants
were about to cover his face.
Then he opened his eyes, thought at first that all
was over, and was filled with deep disappointment.
He then heard the supplications and prayers going on
around him. And suddenly he tried to raise himself
on his elbows sank back again tried to rise. They
tried to keep him down, but he protested : You ought
rather to help me/ he cried in a hollow voice. And,
suddenly he stood upright, tall, gaunt, wrapped in his
long night-shirt, like a skeleton in a shroud. He
walked five tottering steps towards the monstrance with
the Blessed Sacrament. Then he stumbled, was caught
as he fell and led back to his bed.
At this moment there were thirty thousand people
gathered in front of Le Rosaire, and Gargam s stretcher
was all at once the focus of everyone s gaze, the centre
of the eager interest of all. The invalid now made
whole was again stretched on his bed ; great tears
were rolling down his emaciated cheeks, and again and
again he exclaimed, Holy Virgin, I thank thee !
His mother knelt beside him, and between her sobs she
stammered, It is twenty months since he was last
able to speak aloud !
Gargam s appearance at the Bureau des Const at a-
tions, says Dr. Boissarie, was one of the most impres
sive sights I had ever witnessed. It was during the
National Pilgrimage, and over sixty doctors were
present in the bureau hospital surgeons, professors,
doctors from abroad.
Gargam arrived on a stretcher, wrapped in a long
night-shirt, attended by his mother, his male nurse,
LOURDES 169
and several ladies from the hospital. He stood up ;
we beheld a ghost.
Great staring eyes were all that lived in this
emaciated, colourless face; he was bald and looked
like an old man, yet he was only thirty-two. There
was great excitement and a hail of questions. We were
compelled to put off the examination till the next day,
we could not have kept the crowd from the doors of
the bureau.
On the following day it was impossible to find
room for all the doctors in the bureau. People stood
on chairs and benches in order to see. Gargam
walked in, he was not carried, and he was correctly
dressed in a new suit of clothes, bought for him the
previous evening. The sores on his feet, suppurating
freely the day before, were about closed up ; he could
walk without too much difficulty. He gave a very
clear account of his recovery, and said that the previous
evening he was able to put away the tube and to eat
like other people. He had eaten soup, oysters, the
wing of a chicken, and a bunch of grapes. He had had
an excellent night. He was very thin ; it was a
skeleton that stood before us.
One of those present asked him about his religious
convictions. Gargam answered, " As late as the day
before yesterday, when I left Angoul&ne, I was a
sceptic and did not believe in miracles. Nay, even
yesterday morning I did not believe in them."
Gargam stayed some time in Lourdes after his
recovery. He increased rapidly in weight, a little
over twenty pounds in a few days ; the muscles filled
out too, he soon measured twelve centimetres (4-5- in.)
more round the thigh than before August 20. And this
170 LOURDES
man, who only lately was dying, developed an astonish
ing power of endurance, submitting to the questions of
the curious, the examinations of doctors, all day long.
It was simply a case of resurrection. As it was said
of Lazarus it might also be said of Gargam, * by this
time he stinketh/
This man, who was actually at the edge of the
grave, and was in one instant restored to life, has
during the years that have elapsed since then enjoyed
excellent health. It was proved by a Rontgen ray
examination that Dr. Teissier was right in his
conjecture, in so far as the spinal column was still
dislocated in the lumbar region. This fact notwith
standing, the paralysis was cured and the gangrene
in the feet disappeared completely.
Gargam returned to his employment in the postal
service. After his recovery the Paris-Orleans Railway
Company withdrew his annuity and he was again
obliged to work for his living. But every year during
the month of August Gargam comes to Lourdes and
helps at the baths as brancardier. That is his way
of giving thanks for his recovery.
Thus the history of Gabriel Gargam, told by
trustworthy men. Rette* saw him here in Lourdes
last year and questioned him. . . . And now, Science,
my familiar friend and compatriot, what do you think
of this ?
I get up and go to the window. It is nearly
eight o clock and growing dark, and the rain is still
pouring. And what is this ? Yonder, in front of
the grotto and the baths ? Surely those are candles
that I see moving to and fro. No, not candles, but
torches that can defy the rain. They, range them-
LOURDES 171
selves in rows, they set off it is the Belgian pilgrims
having their last procession in Lourdes. I open
the window, and now I can hear the singing too, the
constantly repeated Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria ! In
the grey dusk, in the pouring rain, the voices go on
without ceasing, and a long time after I have closed
the window I can still hear them, far away, like little
bells ringing under water.
XIX
ZOLA AT LOURDES THE MIRACLES IN HIS BOOK
ELISE ROUQUET, LA GRIVOTTE A FICTITIOUS
RELAPSE
CHARCOT and Bernheim have never visited Lourdes ;
their judgment on miracles is not based on personal
investigation. But in the summer of 1892 a man
who might justly be considered the delegate of modern
France arrived at Lourdes ; a man of letters, who
had put experiment at the head of his programme,
and who had made it his ambition to be the Claude
Bernard of novel-writing. One day in August Emile
Zola stepped out upon the platform at Lourdes.
Zola came well prepared. He had read the story
of Bernadette and had conceived a sincere sympathy
for the pure and upright personality of the seer,
who was as far removed from lying and deceit as
from pride and worldliness.* And now he retraced
the footsteps of Bernadette everywhere in Lourdes,
he even made a pilgrimage to Bartres where she had
at one time tended sheep ; he took in impressions
of the country, the town, the churches, the popula
tion, the pilgrims. In the Rue des Petits Fosse s he
trod reverently the word is not too strong across
the threshold of the house in which the Soubirous
LOURDES 173
had once lived, and into that one room which formed
their whole apartment. It was a room ten to twelve
feet square/ he says in his novel about Lourdes,
with a stone floor and raftered ceiling, and two
windows of different sizes overlooking a small yard,
into which only a greenish, obscured light penetrated ;
if you wanted to read in this room you would have
to light a candle in the middle of the day. And in
this confined space seven people had lived, the parents,
two boys and three girls, without light, without
air, almost without bread ; their existence must
have been a living burial. Here was her room ;
from this wretched place it had all come forth here
the child had slept in heavy dreams between her
two little sisters ; from here she had stepped out
on her life s journey. And no one came any more
to this place, the manger was empty, was forgotten
and forsaken, whilst the seed that she had sown
grew up so abundantly out yonder in the grotto and
gave to the world a miraculous harvest such as it
had never before seen. The tears welled up in Pierre s
eyes, and he murmured softly, " This is Bethlehem ! "
Zola has a motive in this constant praise of
Bernadette and the Abb Peyramale ; it is that he
may be able the more vehemently to attack the priests
at the grotto and in the basilica. He brings the most
serious accusations against them of avarice and
deceitfulness, and of having demoralised Lourdes,
made a Sodom and Gomorrah of Bernadette s
Bethlehem/ This latter side of the case seems to
have been of great interest to Zola ; a coquettish
shop-girl cannot speak in a subdued voice across the
counter to a handsome young ecclesiastic without
174 LOURDES
arousing the moral indignation of the author of
Nana/ and making him scent improper relations.
And the low-necked corsage and aggressive manners
of a flower-girl fire his apparently too inflammable
imagination.
And yet Zola s book contains passages of great
beauty. Read, for instance, in the nineteenth chapter,
the magnificent description of the procession with
Marie Guersaint, who has been cured, up the ascents
to the basilica, and the Benediction from there over
the sunny landscape. Here Zola is the poet who
is carried away spontaneously, who sees, feels and
describes.
But behind the poet stands the theorist Zola, the
dogmatic naturalist, who has beforehand laid it down
as a law that the supernatural does not exist, that a
miracle is an impossibility, that whatever is so called is
nervous excitement, auto-suggestion, something science
can explain and label with its own proper name.
The heroine of the book, Marie Guersaint, is com
posed on the basis of this parti pris, and also her cure,
foretold by the wise Parisian doctor. It is intended as
a paradigma on Charcot s La Foi qui guerit.
Starting from the same parti pris, Zola recomposes
nearly all the real cures that he witnessed in Lourdes
and that he wished to include in his book. He has
justly been censured for this falsification of human
documents.
Zola went to Lourdes in a pilgrim train ; already
on the journey he wished to make the acquaintance
of the sick, to see their sores, hear about their sufferings,
in order to be able to judge better about their possible
cures later. In the first chapters of his novel he gives
LOURDES 175
a masterly description of the knowledge he obtained
in this intimate way.
Amongst the invalids in Zola s train there was a
young girl named Marie Lemarchand, in the novel
she is called Elise Rouquet. She suffered from lupus
in the face, and Zola gives the following description :
Her scarf fell aside a little and Marie (Guersaint)
shuddered. It was lupus, and it had spread little by
little over the nose and mouth ; a rodent ulcer under
the crust was still ravaging the mucous membrane.
The face was elongated like a dog s nose, it looked
repulsive, with bristling hair and big round eyes. The
cartilage of the nose was almost consumed, the extremely
swollen upper lip pulled the mouth up to one side like
a crooked cleft, loathsome and shapeless. Blood and
matter oozed out of the big, sallow ulcer/ l On the
next page Zola shows us the patient eating. Elise
Rouquet carefully put small pieces of bread into the
gaping hole that formed her mouth. All the other
passengers turned pale at this gruesome sight. And
in the souls of all the same thought awoke : " Ah,
dear blessed Virgin, all-merciful Mother of God, what
a miracle if this can be cured ! "
Zola saw this miracle accomplished.
He arrived at Lourdes on August 20, Marie Lemar
chand therefore on the same day. On the following
day Zola was present at the Bureau des Constatations
when Marie Lemarchand came in. She was cured !
She exposed her face to view, as she took off her scarf.
She said that since the morning she had washed her
sores at the spring and that they were now beginning
to heal up and grow paler. This was actually true.
1 Lourdes (1903), p. 15.
176 LOURDES
Pierre (the hero of the book) saw that the face looked
less repulsive/ l
Zola, chooses his words carefully, but one perceives
that he is confronted with something that has struck
him with wonder and that he does not dare to deny.
Yet Marie Lemarchand s case was really even more
serious than as described by Zola. She suffered not
only from lupus in both cheeks, in the eyelids, the lower
part of the nose, the upper lip and the tongue she also
had lupus ulcers on other parts of her body, and both
her lungs were attacked by tubercles. For three
months she had had an incessant cough and had now
and then expectorated blood.
Shortly before Marie Lemarchand came into the
bureau, Zola had just happened to say to Dr. Boissarie
that he wished he could see only so much as a cut
finger come up whole from the baths. 2 Here/
exclaimed the director of the medico-scientific bureau,
here is what you are seeking, Monsieur Zola ; an ulcer
visible to everyone and healed in a moment ! Just
come and look carefully at this young girl.
Zola laughed. I should like very much to look
at her, but she must grow a little prettier first !
This wish, too, was granted him. Marie Lemarchand
really did grow better-looking. The sceptical doctor in
the novel, Dr. Ferrand, verifies this : It was now certain
that the lupus that was devouring Elise Rouquet s
face was improving. She continued her sponging
treatment at the spring, and was just leaving the bureau
where Dr. Bonnamy (i.e. Boissarie) was exulting about
her. Ferrand went up to her, examined the sore which
had already become paler and slightly dried up ; it was
1 Lourdes, p. 194. Italics mine. 2 Ibid., p. 193-
LOURDES 177
still far from being quite cured, but a process of healing
was actively at work/ l
According to the account given in the Annales de
Lourdes/ Marie Lemarchand s recovery was even more
rapid than would appear from this description given
by Zola. At that bath in the piscina she was cured, not
only of the lupus from which she had been suffering, but
also of tuberculosis. Her recovery was lasting ; sixteen
years later, on November 7, 1908, she wrote to Dr.
Boissarie : I am still perfectly well ; the terrible disease
from which I suffered so much, and of which I was
cured on August 21, 1892, has never again made its
appearance. I was married six years ago, and now
have five children. This will show you what a gift
of grace I received at Lourdes ; from being a poor,
miserable invalid I have become a strong, healthy
woman and a happy mother. The Blessed Virgin does
not do her work by halves/
Zola wrote his novel the year after he had been in
Lourdes. He ascribed the cure of Marie Lemarchand
to auto-suggestion ; he considered her lupus to be an
unknown formation of ulcers of hysterical origin/ It
would have been interesting to know whether the great
writer, with whom it was a point of honour to be a man
of facts and an incorruptible witness to the truth,
would have continued to believe in a suggestion that
was powerful enough to endure in its effects after a
period of sixteen years.
It is hardly possible that he would, for in his own
novel, Lourdes/ he has shown that he does not
ascribe such power to suggestion. In his book he has
1 Tout un travail sourd de guerison commen^ait. Lourdes,
PP- 363-364-
N
178 LOURDES
placed La Grivotte, whose cure he also witnessed at
Lourdes, side by side with Elise Rouquet. This
miracle too, he thought, was due to the nerves. After
having described La Grivotte s recovery he therefore
lets her have a relapse and die on the way home from
Lourdes. This relapse, however, is Zola s own fiction,
put into the book to support his theory.
The real name of La Grivotte was Marie Lebranchu.
She was in the same pilgrim train as Elise Rouquet.
Zola describes her in the following outlines : An
emaciated face, wavy hair, and strangely brilliant eyes
that made her almost beautiful. She was consumptive,
and at a very advanced stage of the disease.
Marie Lebranchu was cured on the same day as
Marie Lemarchand. There was great excitement at
this moment in the bureau La Grivotte came rushing
in like a whirlwind. " I am cured ! I am cured ! "
She said that at first they had refused to bathe her
and she had begged and implored and cried. She
had a cold and was in a perspiration, but she had hardly
been put into the icy water and been in three minutes
before she felt her strength returning. It seemed as if
there was a sudden flash of life right through her body.
And now she was radiant, jumped and danced about,
could not keep still. " I am cured ! I am cured ! "
Pierre contemplated her. Was this the girl he
had seen last night, lying on the seat in the railway
carriage, coughing up blood, with a face the colour of
clay ? He did not recognise her as the same person as
she stood there, erect, with rosy cheeks and sparkling
eyes. T
False excitement ! Zola thought. A moment s
1 Lourdes, p. 195.
LOURDES 179
rapture ! And in his book he lets her collapse
again.
But Marie Lebranchu did not collapse. Next year
she came back to Lourdes to have the permanency of
her cure verified. In 1895 Zola himself looked her up
in Paris, and was able to assure himself that she was
not dead. Later on she married, became a widow,
and she now lives as a servant in the house of some
Sisters of Charity. Dr. Boissarie last heard from her
in December, 1908, and her letter concludes : I shall
probably never see you and Lourdes again, but I make
a daily pilgrimage thither in my thoughts.
There are only two explanations possible here.
Either La Grivotte was never consumptive but
Zola s description quite coincides with Marie Le-
branchu s medical certificate, with which he made
himself acquainted at the bureau l or else something
happened that is beyond human understanding.
Tuberculosis like that of Marie Lebranchu is not cured
by suggestion, nor by cold baths.
Zola knew this, he therefore lets La Grivotte have a
relapse and die. When Dr. Boissarie called on him
one day in Paris, and asked him why he had made the
story conclude in a way that was opposed to the actual
facts, the famous novelist answered in a tone of annoy
ance, I suppose I am master of the persons in my own
books and can let them live or die as I choose ? And
besides/ he added, I don t believe in miracles. Even
if all the sick in Lourdes were cured in one moment I
would not believe in them !
1 Her case is diagnosed as tuberculose pulmonaire avec ramol-
lissement et cavernes. The patient had been confined to bed
for ten months and had lost 48 Ibs. in weight. Boissarie, L GEuvre
de Lourdes, p. 323.
XX
THE USE OF MIRACLES MIRACLE AND DOGMA
A LUTHERAN DEAN AT LOURDES
THOSE who have accompanied me so far as this will
stop at these words of Zola, and they will ask me,
What, then, is the use of all these miracles ? supposing
that they are miracles. When all is said and done it is
the same as in the Gospels ; if they do not believe Moses
and the prophets, neither will they believe though one
should rise from the dead/
This I quite admit. Unbelief is not cured by
miracles and doubt is endless. In this respect Zola s
attitude to the medical certificates placed before him
at the Bureau des Constatations is typical. Many
of them were far too concise, others exceedingly clear
and exhaustive. Other certificates were furthermore
provided with the signature of the local magistrate.
Still one had a right to doubt. Who was the doctor
in question ? Was he a competent member of his
profession ? Were his motives known ? One felt
tempted to institute inquiries with regard to each
signature.
Of course how could it be otherwise ? Outside
the domain of the exact sciences it is altogether
impossible to give an absolutely convincing proof
LOURDES 181
of anything at all. In all historical questions one
is dependent on the testimony available, and one
cannot arrive at a complete conviction of their credi
bility. One never gets further than probability, that
all reasonable doubt is excluded. But there is always
room for belief or unbelief.
Miracles, therefore, are not worked for the sake
of unbelievers, they are worked for those who believe.
In order to strengthen them, to confirm them in their
faith, to inspire them with ardour, and fill them with
new life and fervour. For how difficult it is, how
almost impossible, in the midst of our modern enlighten
ment, to keep hold of one s conviction of the existence
of the supernatural. Perhaps it is only an historical
illusion, but it seems to us that it would have been
easier to believe in God as the Almighty before man
himself became so mighty, easier to believe in God s
providence and God s paternal love before the vault of
heaven s roof was shattered to pieces, and we, from
our corner of the universe, gazed terror-stricken into
a cosmic infinity where there is no longer any Jacob s
ladder with angels ascending and descending, but only
the relentless forces of nature moving onwards at a
whirling speed in their eternal orbits.
Ah, how hard it is, in view of the doctrine of
modern psychology and physiology about the relations
between soul and body, about the simultaneous
decay, dissolution and disappearance of both how
hard it is to keep hold of the old, simple creed : I
believe in the resurrection of the body ; I believe in
the life everlasting. Where are they now, all those
who have said this through the ages ? Moulded away
in their graves, become earth in earth, dust in dust ;
182 LOURDES
And shall it ever be sounded, that novissima tuba,
that rousing trumpet that Saint Paul hoped for, at
whose voice all shall rise from their graves as on the
naive altar-piece by Fra Angelico ? Saint Paul and all
the apostles are dead. Is it not an everlasting death ?
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, died. And is not her
assumption into heaven a mere legend only a beau
tiful picture on a background of gold ? And Jesus
Himself, He died too. And did He ever rise again ?
The disciples saw the empty tomb. But was Mary
Magdalene not instinctively right when she asked,
Where have they laid Him ? They had laid Him in
another place they, Joseph of Arimathsea and Nico-
demus, that was the whole miracle of the Resurrection !
In view of such doubts, God must come to the
assistance of His faithful. A Lutheran minister of
the Danish National Church has given an impressive
account of his spiritual anguish during the assaults
of such thoughts as these, and has described how he
fought his way through them. But that method is
possible only for the few, for those who have know
ledge and time and not least means to give up a
year or two of their lives to investigate to its very
roots the question about which the contention goes on.
As surely as Christianity is not the concern of the
learned only, there must be another weapon against
doubt.
This weapon is the miraculous, and it is a weapon
in two ways. First, because it is the evidence of a
power that is higher than Nature and that answers
our prayers, gives us what we ask for. Such a power
as this is what all ages and all nations, from Hellas to
the Fiji Islands, have understood by the term God.
LOURDES 183
But, secondly, the miraculous is closely related to
dogma. Christian doctrines, for instance, about the
Trinity, about the Virgin Birth of Jesus, His Resurrec
tion, His Ascension, are rejected by many because
they are unthinkable. This is true, they are un
thinkable. We can accept these sentences as correct,
i.e. corresponding to actual facts, but we cannot
connect them with any concrete idea in our minds.
The same peculiarity, however, holds good of the
miraculous. It can be verified, but it cannot be
imagined. All processes of healing known to us are
consecutive, dependent on time, consist of a series
of changes linked together by advancements from
one stage to another. At Lourdes the recoveries
occur suddenly, instantaneously, accomplishing in a
few hours or days that which it would otherwise take
months or years to achieve. And the connection
between cause and effect is cancelled to such an extent
that the same water, used as a bath or a lotion, now
fills up a pair of hollow lungs, now heals up caries or
cures an abdominal inflammation. Either the water at
Lourdes contains wonderful, hitherto unknown pro
perties but then, why are these properties not always
and regularly effective according to a law that ought
to be discoverable ? or else it is God that works here,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the
prophets, the God of Jesus, the God of the Apostles,
He who kindled the wood of Elijah s pile on Mount
Carmel with fire from Heaven, and healed the sick in
Jerusalem by means of Peter s shadow.
This line of thought is not very modern, and perhaps
it will be least acceptable to the theologians of the
present day. However this may be, I remember
184 LOURDES
having read in a handbook on the philosophy of
religion, written by a Lutheran minister, a licentiate
in theology, that we are unacquainted with miracles
at the present day ; they do not occur within the
experience of modern humanity. The accounts given
by the Catholic Church of miracles are of such a nature
that it is best to ignore them. And another in
fluential Danish theologian has quite cursorily and
contemptuously spoken of those who still, in our age,
boast of authenticated miracles/
The truth is that the impossibility of the mira
culous, or what comes to the same thing the
impossibility of verifying the miraculous is a funda
mental dogma in the modern outlook of the world.
Such dogmas, however, have this in common with
so many other modern productions, that they look
more formidable than they are. They are not so
well reasoned out as they would seem to be, perhaps
that is why they are enunciated with so much the
more assurance and with an air of assuming that the
last word on this matter has been said long ago. I
have long had my suspicions about this scientific
high-and-mightiness that declines even to enter on
any discussion, not to mention investigation of facts,
which might endanger its system. And in order
to justify these suspicions of mine, I would mention
that about a little more than a century ago it was still a
settled question amongst men of science in Europe that
meteor stones could not be of cosmic origin, that they
did not come to us from space outside. The learned
Professor Stiitz of Vienna, in speaking of a large meteor
stone that had fallen at Agram in 1751, simply wrote,
in 1790, that it may perhaps have been believed,
LOURDES 185
even by the most enlightened minds in Germany
in 1751, when great ignorance still prevailed with
regard to natural history and physics, that iron could
drop down from the sky. In our own day it would
be unpardonable to find such fairy tales even probable.
In several museums meteor stones were even thrown
away, as it was not desirable to be considered foolish
for having kept them ! At about the same time,
however, as the publication of Stiitz s article, that
is in 1790, a meteor stone took the liberty of falling
down near Juillac in France, and the mayor of the
town then sent a report of the fall, signed by three
hundred eye-witnesses, to the Academy of Sciences
in Paris. And behold ! this appeal to the highest
scientific authority in the country was not made
in vain ! Bertholon placed the report before the
members of the Academy with sincere regrets that
not only the mayor of the town, but its entire popu
lation, by an official statement, testifies to a popular
legend that one can only contemplate with pity.
What am I to do with such a document ? The
philosophically cultured reader will at once form
his own opinion when he peruses this authentic testi
mony to an evidently false fact, a physically im
possible phenomenon !
If I am not quite mistaken, then, in this matter,
I see science of 1790 with an air of sternness and a
consciousness of her outraged dignity firmly and
gravely rejecting those who boast of authenticated
falls of meteor stones. Meteor stones might fall
as thick as hail and be as large as ostrich eggs science
knows better ; they cannot fall, therefore they do
not fall ! The old scholastics taught that when
N 3
186 LOURDES
anything was real it was always possible ab esse ad
posse valet consequentia. Modern science has turned
the sentence round ; when anything, in her opinion,
is impossible, she gives it her marching orders to
depart out of reality. In more unenlightened times
people believe what they saw. But in our times
we are too wise to do that. * If I saw such a stone
fall down to my feet/ said the learned Deluc, after
Bertholon had spoken, I should, of course, have
to say that I had seen it, yet I should not be able to
believe it. It is better/ Vaudin declared, simply
to deny such incredible things than to attempt any
explanation/
Thus spoke science of the present day in 1790 ;
thus she still speaks in 1910. Let fire fall down from
heaven, or let the sick be made whole at Lourdes as in a
new pool of Bethsaida, still the answer is the same
self-assured, imperturbable, It is impossible, it does not
happen/ Science of the present day is always true
to herself, in the eighteenth as in the twentieth century.
This book, therefore, is not written for her, it is
written against her.
After all, I am not alone, there are others on my
side. It is true they are not great theologians, whose
works are able to command, alas, only a conditional
and very condescending, but oh ! so valuable an
acknowledgment from free-thinking philosophers. But ,
for instance, a worthy old Danish village pastor, the
late Dean Aleth Hansen, who in his time also visited
Lourdes, and who described his travels in a little book
called From Arcachon to Nimes/ published in 1892,
very quietly and without making any stir.
Aleth Hansen did not deny the reality of the
LOURDES 187
miracles that happen at Lourdes. He has the same
conception of them as of the cures by means of prayer
and laying on of hands which have often been performed
by believing Lutheran Christians, in reliance on the
words in the Epistle of St. James v. 14-17, by
Zeller of Mannedorf, by Blumhardt of Bol (Wurt-
temberg). Aleth Hansen writes that these com
munities at Bol and Mannedorf have awakened to a
full consciousness that signs and wonders must occur
in the Church, as they did of old in the days of the
Apostles, if the Church is indeed built on the founda
tions laid down by the Apostles and Prophets, with
Jesus Christ as the chief corner-stone/
With regard to Lourdes, the Danish ecclesiastic
says that here Mary is invoked as the loving Mother,
to whom petitions are made to lead souls suffering
from sin and disease to the Saviour, and also to make
intercession for their temporal and eternal salvation
with Him/ And it seems to me that a petition for such
help and support from the Virgin Mary is so far as I
can see from a Christian standpoint quite reasonable
and warrantable. Further, as the sick and suffering
are required to confess their transgressions, it can quite
well be reconciled with the prayer of the righteous
in Mannedorf and Bol, in the way inculcated at
Jerusalem. The Church, this quite unmodern author
says in conclusion, * is more than a mere name and
a mere nominal value, it is a living reality and a
community endowed with vital power, and thanks
be to the living Lord of the Church, Who is personally
with His own " all days until the consummation of the
world," there are movements in the Church of deep,
wonderful, and wonder-working forces/
XXI
THROUGH MARY TO JESUS THE SPIRITUAL MIRACLES
ON THE MONT DES BRETONS
IT is my last day in Lourdes the eighth day since
my arrival.
The Belgians have left ; early this morning I saw
Augusta de Muynck and Julia Witthamer, the two
inseparable friends, kneeling together at the grotto ;
they were paying their farewell visit to Our Lady.
The Bretons, too, are gone, the space round the
baths is almost deserted. Only the Basques remain ;
from the Bureau des Const citations, where I have
called to say good-bye, I can hear them singing in the
Rosary Church. The deep metallic voices are ringing
out ; listen, it is the Credo : et in Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia
saecula, Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum
verum de Deo vero/ and in Jesus Christ, the only-
begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before
all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, true God
of true God
Yes/ says Dr. Boissarie, who has been listening
too for a moment ; that is the greatest and the real
significance of Lourdes, " Per Mariam ad Jesum "
the white Virgin of Massabieille would fain bring all
these multitudes to her son.
LOURDES 189
And the old doctor begins to speak of the religious
significance of Lourdes. He mentions the number of
communicants ; on an average about half a million
communions are given yearly, and last year, the jubilee
year of 1908, this number rose to even nearly seven
hundred thousand.
Huysmans was right/ he continues, when it
seemed to him that in Lourdes he was moved back to the
ages of faith ; as it was in the Middle Ages there are
now whole companies of pilgrims who, during their
stay, have no other abode than the Church. It is their
house, their hotel. In the evening the Blessed Sacra
ment is exposed on the High Altar and the pilgrims spend
the night in prayer before it. ... Then in the earliest
hours of the morning the priests begin to say Mass,
sometimes an altar is set up on the platform outside the
Church and Mass is then said in the open air, under a sky
luminous with stars. It is hardly possible to imagine
anything more impressive, more solemn. I was present
one night when Monsignor Gieure said Pontifical Mass
in the open air, and whilst Mass was being said twelve
priests went on unceasingly giving Holy Communion.
This constant stream of communicants lasted two
hours.
And this is by no means a unique instance. I
remember another time, inside the Rosaire the
pilgrims from Les Landes were here five thousand
of these worthy people spent the night in prayer in the
church, and the Communion in the morning lasted three
whole hours. There were between two and three
thousand who went to Communion.
Yes/ the old doctor continues, God does mighty
works in Lourdes the cures are not the greatest
190 LOURDES
miracles no, all the conversions that occur they are
not all saints, those that come here. Many come out of
consideration for others, or take it as an opportunity for
a change and make a holiday of their visit here. Add
to these the numerous tourists who come out of curiosity,
or as doubters, as sceptics, as mockers. . . .
Ah, if the confessionals in the crypt of the basilica
and in the Rosaire could speak if the lips of the
confessors were not sealed ! But it is of course impossible
to set up any bureau des constatations on that side of
the matter. Nevertheless, the priests cannot refrain,
from time to time, from expressing their happiness,
their astonishment, at the wonderful conversions that
they are permitted to witness here. Often the penitents
themselves, for the glory of God and our Blessed Lady,
speak of the grace that has been conferred on them in
Lourdes. These things always leak out, and we can
judge from them that Lourdes is, above all, the promised
land of grace, a fountain of healing for diseased
consciences, a gigantic sanatorium for souls.
And indeed the Blessed Virgin did make it known
that this was her object when she bade Bernadette
proclaim repentance. Penance, Penance : those
words from the lips of Our Lady are assuredly the
profoundest explanation why Lourdes exists. . . .
Notice, too, how Mary, as it were, retires, takes
a second place in the cures that occur. Every year
fewer and fewer are cured at the grotto and in the
baths, more and more at the Benediction of the
Blessed Sacrament. At first the eucharistic cures
were only a fifth or a sixth of the entire number, now
they amount to one half or more. One of the most
beautiful cures we have had this year, on February n
LOURDES 191
last, happened at the moment when the invalid
received Holy Communion. It was Mademoiselle
Philiberte Dionet, who had suffered for eighteen
months from spinal tuberculosis, from Pott s disease,
and who was cured in one instant.
It has always been Mary s highest wish to bring
mankind to her Son. . . . "Whatsoever He tells you,
that do ye," she says in the Gospel and leads those
who ask for help to Him. Here in Lourdes, too,
she seeks gradually to step into the background,
more and more to give all the glory to Our Lord.
She has prepared the way ; now it is He Who is to
make His triumphal entry. Per Mariam ad Jesum
in these words of Saint Bernard the aim of Lourdes
is expressed as in a formula : Through Mary to
Jesus !
We are alone in the bureau, Dr. Boissarie and I ;
at my request he gives me some information on one
or two more points. Then visitors begin to arrive,
not any sick who are cured, but other pilgrims, a
few ecclesiastics, a couple of foreign doctors. Soon
the old doctor has a whole circle around him.
I stand for a few minutes contemplating the
photographs in large frames on the walls, of invalids
who have been cured. I see Madame Rouchel, the
lupus patient from Metz, a pendant to Zola s Elise
Rouquet. Marie Borel, with the terrible abdominal
ulcers, cured after one bath in the piscines ; the two
skeletons, as Dr. Boissarie generally calls them, two
dreadfully emaciated young women, looking, on
their photographs before their cure, like nothing but
two frameworks of bones, and a year later like two
radiantly healthy young girls. . . .
192 LOURDES
Then I turn to say good-bye to Dr. Boissarie.
He stretches out his hand to me in an abstracted
manner.
See you to-morrow, then ?
No, doctor ; I am going away.
Oh, you are going away, yes, of course. Eh,
bien ! And the old doctor comes close to me, embraces
me cordially, and we kiss each other on both cheeks.
An hour later I sit on the top of the Mont des
Bretons, so called because the Breton pilgrims have
made a road with the fourteen Stations of the Cross
up its sides and set up an enormous crucifix on the
summit. It is the highest point of the Espelugues
hill and towers far above the spire of the basilica.
On the way up I passed the hideous groups of
gaudily coloured statues forming the stations, and
I understand the rage of Huysmans against these
artistic (or rather inartistic) horrors. And yet
and yet all this about art becomes a matter of such
indifference at Lourdes, it seems to me, and one would
need to be a more hardened aesthetic than I am,
to be able to waste one s indignation on the lack
of taste that one encounters here and there. The
fact is, Catholic art is dead and will never again rise
from the grave. Besides, there are other wonders
that are more necessary.
And if art, or rather, the manufacture of religious
statues, sins at Lourdes, Nature makes ample
compensation. How wonderful, for instance, is the
river Gave ! Last night I was again at the grotto.
After the rainy day the evening was clear and cool.
The last clouds rose up like white smoke amongst the
mountains before the pale gold of the evening sky.
LOURDES 193
And the river foamed and rushed onwards between
its green banks, reflecting at first the pallid blue of
the sky, later, when it grew darker, silvery blue,
wonderfully alive, with light bluish-white vapours
against the sombre trees.
And now I am sitting here on the top of the Mont
des Bretons, where three great bare crosses have been
set up in a mound of stones. Down the sides the
mountain is clothed with trees, but on the level at
the summit there is only grass, sprinkled here and
there with white clover. Quite small fir trees, sycamores
and rowan, all newly planted, are dotted round about ;
large grey boulders and slabs lie spread here and there.
I sit on the southern slope of the hill and look down
into the upper valley of the Gave. On either side other
mountains rise up, covered near the base with the dark
green of trees, higher up with the brighter hue of
pastures ; furthest away fading into a chilly blue with
patches and grooves of snow on the peaked ridges
beneath an unsettled and cloudy sky. I hear the
roaring of the river in the depths below and the
muffled sound of a cow bell from a slope that I cannot
see. The grey clouds lower, drooping with heavy
ragged edges over the distant snow peaks. For a
moment they scatter and a shred of sky peeps out ;
there is an angelic softness in its faint and pallid blue.
But soon everything is again dark and gloomy, some
big drops of rain begin to fall, the tall grass rustles
about me in the cold wind.
Here I bid farewell to the country of Bernadette.
XXII
TAKING LEAVE OF LOURDES HOMEWARDS
IN the evening I pay a last visit to the grotto. The
rain is pouring, as on most of the preceding evenings,
and I splash through shallow lakes ; the pilgrims have
had to give up the torch-light procession and have
taken refuge in the immense hall of the Rosary. A
brilliant light streams out from the open doors and
shines on the glistening pavement ; they are singing
within.
There is no one at the grotto, but there it is, low
and bright, shining out on the wet, dark night a place
of refuge and light in the midst of a world of darkness.
Next morning the train bears me away from
Lourdes. I travel towards Biarritz ; the railway line
runs along the banks of the Gave, and a little
way outside the town Massabieille can be seen on
the other side of the river. I send a last farewell
across, catch a glimpse of the white statue, see a
number of people gathered before it new pilgrims
must have arrived this morning. . . . Then the vision
is gone ; I can still see the basilica in the background,
and the old fortress, lonely and towering and Le Grand
Ger, with its cross on the top and furthest away the
gleaming snow peaks. . . . Still a few moments and
LOURDES 195
ail has vanished. The line bends, only the Gave
flows faithfully on.
My journey first goes westwards then to the
north, further and further north. ... To the old,
Gothic Bayonne and the Atlantic at Biarritz then
via Bordeaux to Paris, and from Paris homewards
in long day s marches : Paris Cologne ; Cologne
Hamburg ; Hamburg Kiel ; Kiel Korsor Copen
hagen, a long journey with two so different extremities :
the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, with the sick at
the miraculous fountain, and the square of the Town
Hall in the capital of Denmark, with young people
in gay summer attire round the cafe tables in front
of the Hotel Bristol. . . .
From my long journey I have brought home two
things a bottle of Lourdes water which friends in the
north have asked me to bring and the rough draft
of a book.
The bottle of water from the spring has long since
reached its destination ; it was received gratefully
As for the book, it is now written, and it goes forth
into a world that I know has not asked for it.
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10 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
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CONTENTS. Arthur James Balfour Three Notable Editors : Delane, Hutton, Knowles
Some Characteristics of Henry Sidgwick Robert, Earl of Lytton Father Ignatius Ryder
Sir M. E. Grant Duff s Diaries Leo XIII. The Genius of Cardinal Wiseman John
Henry Newman Newman and Manning Appendix
ESSAYS ON MEN AND MATTERS. By WILFRID
WARD. 8vo.
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Stuart Mill Tennyson at Freshwater Cardinal Vaughan The Sensitiveness of Cardinal
Newman Papers read before the Synthetic Society, and other Essays.
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mingham. With Frontispiece. 8vo, 9s. net.
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BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. II
Biography, etc. continued.
LIVES OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS.
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Edited by EDWIN H. BURTON, D.D., and JOHN H. POLLEN, S.J.
Vol. I 1 583- 1 588. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.
THE THREE SISTERS OF LORD RUSSELL OF
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UNSEEN FRIENDS. By Mrs. WILLIAM O BRIEN.
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LIFE OF THE MARQUISE DE LA ROCHE-
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12 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Biography, etc. continued.
LIFE OF ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY,
DUCHESS OF THURINGIA. By the COUNT DE MONTALEM-
BERT, Peer of France, Member of the French Academy. Translated by
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LIFE OF THE VISCOUNTESS DE BONNAULT
D HOUET, Foundress of the Society of the Faithful Companions of
Jesus, 1781-1858. By the Rev. FATHER STANISLAUS, F.M.,
Capuchin of the Province of Paris. Translated from the French by one of
her daughters. With Prefaces by His Eminence CARDINAL BOURNE,
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President of the English Benedictines. With Pho ogravure Portrait and 57
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HISTORY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL, Founder of
the Congregation of the Mission (Vmcentians), and of the Sisters of Charity.
By Monseigneur BOUGAUD, Bishop of Laval. Translated from the
Second French Edition by the Rev. JOSEPH BRADY, C.M. With an
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IN ST. DOMINIC S COUNTRY. By C. M. ANTONY.
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S.T.L. With 50 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6s. net.
The record of a pilgrimage to the towns and villages of Southern France known to have
been visited by Saint Dominic, between 1205-1219, with the account of his Apostolate there,
and the founding of his First and Second Orders. A sketch of the Albigensian Crusade is
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have been expressly taken for the purpose, and contains two sketch maps. It may on this
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Saint Dominic.
The Beginnings of the Church.
A Series of Histories of the First Century.
By the Abbe CONSTANT FOUARD, Honorary Cathedral Canon Professor
of the Faculty of Theology at Rouen, etc., etc.
THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. A Life of Our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With an Introduction by CARDINAL
MANNING. With 3 Maps. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 14s.
Popular Edition. 8vo. Cloth, Is. net. Paper Covers, 6d. net.
ST. PETER AND THE FIRST YEARS OF CHRIS
TIANITY. With 3 Maps. Crown 8vo. 9s.
ST. PAUL AND HIS MISSIONS. With 2 Maps. Crown
8vo. 9s.
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THE LAST YEARS OF ST. PAUL. With 5 Maps
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ST. JOHN AND THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC
BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 13
Lives of the Friar Saints.
Editors for the Franciscan Lives :
The Very Rev. Fr. OSMUND COONEY, O.F.M., Provincial, and
C. M. ANTONY.
Editors for the Dominican Lives :
The Rev. Fr. BEDE JARRETT, O.P., and C. M. ANTONY.
Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, Is. 6d. per volume; Leather, 2s. 6d. net per volume.
THE HOLY FATHER has expressed through the Very Rev. Fr.
Thomas Esser, O.P., Secretary of the Congregation of the Index, his great
pleasure and satisfaction that the series has been undertaken, and wishes it
every success. He bestows " most affectionately " His Apostolic Blessing upon
the Editors, Writers, and Readers of the whole series.
The Master-General of the Dominicans, at Rome, in sending his blessing to
the writers and readers of the series, says : " The Lives should teach their readers
not only to know the Saints, but also to imitate them ".
The Minister-General of the Franciscans sends his blessing and best wishes
for the success of the series.
The series, which has received the warm approval of the authorities of both
Orders in England, Ireland, and America, is earnestly recommended to Tertiaries,
and to the Catholic public generally.
Fr. OSMUND COONEY, O.F.M.,
Fr. BEDE JARRETT, O.P.,
C. M. ANTONY,
Editors.
DOMINICAN. FRANCISCAN.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. ST. BONAVENTURE.
Of the Order of Preachers (1225- The Seraphic Doctor. Minister
1274). A Biographical Study of General of the Franciscan Order,
the Angelic Doctor. By Fr. Cardinal Bishop of Albano. By Fr.
PLACID CONWAY, O.P. LAURENCE COSTELLOE,
With 5 Illustrations. O.F.M. With 6 Illustrations.
ST. VINCENT FERRER,
O.P. By Fr. STANISLAUS ST. ANTONY OF PA-
HOGAN, O.P. With 4 Illus- DUA. The Miracle Worker
trations. (1195-1231). By C. M. AN-
ST. PIUS V. Pope of the TONY - Wlth 4 I"-
Holy Rosary. By C. M.
ANTONY. With Preface ST. JOHN CAPISTRAN.
by the Very Rev. Monsignor By Fr. VINCENT FITZ-
BENSON. With 4 Illustra- GERALD, O.F.M. With 4
tions. Illustrations.
14 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Belles Lettres.
LEVIA PONDERA: An Essay Book. By JOHN
AYSCOUGH. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.
CONTENTS. Sir Walter A Scamp s Probation" The Entail " : an Appreciation The
Leddy o Grippy Fickle Fame King s Servants An Essay on Essayists Parallels
Loyalists and Patriots Time s Reprisals Cause and Cure The Shoe and the Foot Of
Old Ways Scientiae Inimici Laxity or Sanctity Press and Public On Book Buying Of
Dislike of Books Atmosphere and Antidote On Sitting Still Diabolica Trees Footnotes
" This Public Conscience "State and Conscience Empire Day Duty and Discipline-
On Decadence Messrs. Hooligan and Turveydrop Two Pessimisms Peace and Peoples
Dress and Clothing Of Cathedrals Of Stone Sermons and White Elephants An
Admiration Note Why Norwich ? Cold Porridge Of Weaker Brethren The Roman Road
Of Saints and Worthies Of Great Age Mare s Nests and Much Boasting Of Lapse
and Losses.
IN GOD S NURSERY. By C. C. MARTINDALE, S.J.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
These are sketches of children s lives as they have been lived at different times, and in
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playing in the Streets thereof".
HAPPINESS AND BEAUTY. By the Right Rev. JOHN
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CONTENTS. The Hunger of the Heart Certain Leading Principles Various Degrees of
Happiness Man s Magnificent Destiny Beauty : Visible and Invisible.
ESSAYS. By the Rev. FATHER IGNATIUS DUDLEY
RYDER. Edited by FRANCIS BACCHUS, of the Oratory, Birming
ham. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 9s. net.
CONTENTS. A Jesuit Reformer and Poet : Frederick Spee Revelations of the After-
World Savonarola M. Emery, Superior of St. Sulpice, 1789-1811 Auricular Confession
The Pope and the Anglican Archbishops Ritualism, Roman Catholicism, and Converts
On Certain Ecclesiastical Miracles The Ethics of War The Passions of the Past Some
Memories of a Jail Chaplain Purcell s Life of Cardinal Manning.
APPENDIX. Some Notes on Ryder s Controversy with Ward.
UNSEEN FRIENDS. By Mrs. WILLIAM O BRIEN.
With a Photogravure Portrait of Nano Nagle, Foundress of the Presentation
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CONTENTS. Mother Margaret Mary Hallahan A Novelist of the last Century : Mrs.
Oliphant Nano Nagle Charlotte Bronte at Home Mary Aikenhead, Foundress of the
Irish Sisters of Charity Felicia Skene Catharine McAuley, Foundress of the Sisters of
Mercy Jean Ingelow Mother Frances Raphael Drane Eugenie de Guerin Emilie
d Oultrement Pauline de la Ferronays and her Family A French Heroine in China :
He lene de Jaurias, Sister of Charity Christina Rossetti Marie Antoniette Fage.
A GUIDE TO BOOKS ON IRELAND. By STEPHEN
J. BROWN, S.J. 3vols. Crown 8vo.
Vol. I. PROSE, LITERATURE, POETRY, MUSIC, and PLAYS.
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BY ROM AN. CATHOLIC WRITERS. 15
For Spiritual Reading.
THE SERMON OF THE SEA, and Other Studies. By
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THE PLAIN GOLD RING. By the Rev. ROBERT
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SERMONS AND HOMILIES. By the Rev. EDMUND
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CHRIST IN THE CHURCH : A Volume of Religious
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LAWS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. By the Rev.
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SPIRITUAL GLEANINGS FOR MARIAN SODAL-
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THE INNER LIFE OF THE SOUL. Short Spiritual
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THESAURUS FIDELIUM : a Manual for those who desire
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OUR LADY IN THE CHURCH, and other Essays. By
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A collection of essays, mainly historical or antiquarian in character. The papers deal
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16 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
For Young People.
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BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 17
Poetry and Romance.
WELSH POETRY (OLD AND NEW) IN ENGLISH
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VERSE. By ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES, M.A. (" Canwr
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HISTORICAL BALLAD POETRY OF IRELAND.
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18 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Fiction.
GRACECHURCH. By JOHN AYSCOUGH. Crown 8vo. 6s.
A READER S GUIDE TO IRISH FICTION. By
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BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 19
Works by the Very Rev. Canon Sheehan, D.D.
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versities (Three Essays) German and Gallic sponsibilities The Study of Mental Science
Muses Augustinian Literature The Poetry Certain Elements of Character The
of Matthew Arnold Recent Works on St. Limitations and Possibilities of Catholic
Augustine Aubrey de Vere (a Study). Literature.
20 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Education.
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ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND.
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BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 21
Education continued.
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PRINCIPLES OF LOGIC. By G. H. JOYCE, S.J., M.A.,
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INTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY: a Textbook for
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FIVE CENTURIES OF ENGLISH POETRY. From
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22 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Cardinal Newman s Works.
i. SERMONS.
PAROCHIAL AND PLAIN SERMONS. Edited by
the Rev. W. J. COPELAND, B.D. 8 vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each.
The first six volumes are reprinted frrm the six volumes of Parochial Sermons.
first published in 1834, 1835, 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1842 respectively; the seventh and
eighth formed the fifth volume of Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts
for the Times, originally published in 1843.
The fame of these sermons has been celebrated by Froude, Principal Shairp, James
Mozley, Dean Church, and others. " The Tracts," writes the last-named in his Oxford
Movement, "were not the most powerful instruments in drawing sympathy to the
movement. None but those who heard them can adequately estimate the effect of Mr.
Newman s four o clock sermons at St. Mary s. The world knows them . . . but it hardly
realizes that without these sermons the movement might never have gone on. . . . While
men were reading and talking about the Tracts, they were hearing the sermons ; and in
the sermons they heard the living meaning, and reason, and bearing of the Tracts.
. . . The sermons created a moral atmosphere, in which men judged the questions in
debate." The Parochial Sermons fell out of print between 1845 and 1868, at which
latter date they were republished by Newman s former curate at St. Mary s, Mr.
Copeland. The success of this re-issue was a striking testimony to the degree to
which Newman had recovered his popularity and prestige by the Apologia. He recorded
in his private journal that in six months 3500 copies of the first volume were sold.
Ward s Life of Newman, vol. ii. p. 241.
SELECTION, ADAPTED TO THE SEASONS OF
THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR, from the "Parochial and Plain
Sermons". Edited by the Rev. W. J. COPELAND, B.D. Crown
8vo. 3s. 6d.
This volume consisting of fifty-four sermons was first published in 1878.
CONTENTS: A dvent : Self-denial the Test of Religious Earnestness Divine Calls
The Ventures of Faith Watching. Christmas Day : Religious Joy. New Year s Sunday :
The Lapse of Time Epiphany: Remembrance of Past Mercies Equanimity The
Immortality of the Soul Christian Manhood Sincerity and Hypocrisy Christian
Sympathy. Septuagesima : Present Blessings. Sexagesima : Endurance, the Christian s
Portion. Quinquagesima : Love, the One Thing Needful. Lent; The Individuality of
the Soul Life, the Season of Repentance Bodily Suffering Tears of Christ at the Grave
of Lazarus Christ s Privations, a Meditation for Christians The Cross of Christ the
Measure of the World. Good Friday : The Crucifixion. Easter Day . Keeping Fast and
Festival. Easter Tide : Witnesses of the Resurrection A Particular Providence as
revealed in the Gospel Christ Manifested in Remembrance The Invisible World
Waiting for Christ. Ascension: Warfare the Condition of Victory. Sunday after Ascen
sion : Rising with Christ. Whitsun Day : The Weapons of Saints. Trinity Sunday : The
Mysteriousness of Our Present Being. Sundays after Trinity : Holiness Necessary for
Future Blessedness The Religious Use of Excited Feelings The Self-wise Inquirer-
Scripture a Record of Human Sorrow The Danger of Riches Obedience without Love,
as instanced in the Character of Balaam Moral Consequences of Single Sins The
Greatness and Littleness of Human Life Moral Effects of Communion with God The
Thought of God the Stay of the Soul The Power of the Will The Gospel Palaces-
Religion a Weariness to the Natural Man The World our Enemy The Praise of Men-
Religion Pleasant to the Religious Mental Prayer Curiosity a Temptation to Sin
Miracles no Remedy for Unbelief Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed The Shep
herd of our Souls Doing Glory to God in Pursuits of the World.
BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 23
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
SERMONS BEARING UPON SUBJECTS OF THE
DAY. Edited by the Rev. W. J. COPELAND, B.D. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d.
This volume was first published in 1843, and republished by Mr. Copeland in 1869.
This collection contains the celebrated sermons " Wisdom and Innocence," and " The
Parting of Friends ". Mr. Copeland appended to it very important chronological lists,
giving the dates at which the sermons contained in it and the eight volumes of Parochial
and Plain Sermons were first delivered.
CONTENTS. The Work of the Christian Saintliness not Forfeited by the Penitent
Our Lord s Last Supper and His First Dangers to the Penitent The Three Offices of
Christ Faith and Experience Faith unto the World The Church and the World
Indulgence in Religious Privileges Connection between Personal and Public Improve
ment Christian Nobleness Joshua a Type of Christ and His Followers Elisha a Type
of Christ and His Followers The Christian Church a Continuation of the Jewish The
Principles of Continuity between the Jewish and Christian Churches The Christian
Church an Imperial Power Sanctity the Token of the Christian Empire Condition of
the Members of the Christian Empire The Apostolic Christian Wisdom and Innocence
Invisible Presence of Christ Outward and Inward Notes of the Church Grounds for
Steadfastness in our Religious Profession Elijah the Prophet of the Latter Days-
Feasting in Captivity The Parting of Friends.
FIFTEEN SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, between 1826 and 1843. Cr.8vo. 3s. 6d.
The first edition of these sermons was published in 1843 ; the second in 1844. The
original title was " Sermons, chiefly on the Theory of Religious Belief, Preached," etc.
The third edition was published in 1870, with (i) a new Preface, in which the author ex
plains, inter alia, the sense in which he had used the term " Reason" in the sermons ;
and (2) notes " to draw attention to certain faults which are to be found in them, either of
thought or language, and, as tar as possible, to set these right ". This preface and the
notes are of great value to students of the Grammar of Assent. Among the sermons con
tained in this volume is the celebrated one delivered in 1843 on " The Theory of Develop
ments in Religious Doctrine ".
CONTENTS. The Philosophical Temper, first enjoined by the Gospel The Influence
of Natural and Revealed Religion respectively Evangelical Sanctity the Perfection of
Natural Virtue The Usurpations of Reason Personal Influence, the Means of Pro
pagating the iruth On Justice as a Principle of Divine Governance Contest between
Faith and Sight Human Responsibility, as independent of Circumstances Wilfulness,
the Sin of Saul Faith and Keason, contrasted as Habits of Mind The Nature of Faith
in Relation to Reason Love, the Safeguard of Faith against Superstition Implicit and
Explicit Reason Wisdom, as contrasted with Faith and with Bigotry The Theory of
Developments in Religious Doctrine.
DISCOURSES TO MIXED CONGREGATIONS.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
First published in 1849.
" These sermons have a definite tone and genius of their own . . . and though they
have not to me quite the delicate charm of the reserve, and I might almost say the shy pas
sion, of his Oxford sermons, they represent the full-blown blossom of his genius, while
the former shows it only in the bud. . . . The extraordinary wealth of detail with which
Newman conceives and realises the various sins and miseries of the human lot has, per
haps, never been illustrated in all his writings with so much force as in the wonderful
sixteenth sermon on The Mental Sufferings of our Lord in His Passion, " etc.
The late Mr. R. H. HUTTON.
CONTENTS. The Salvation of the Hearer the Motive of the Preacher Neglect of
Divine Calls and Warnings Men, not Angels, the Priests of the Gospel Purity and
Love Saintliness the Standard of Christian Principle God s Will the End of Life-
Perseverance in Grace Nature and Grace Illuminating Grace Faith and Private
Judgment Faith and Doubt Prospects of the Catholic Missioner Mysteries of Nature
and of Grace The Mystery of Divine Condescension The Infinitude ot the Divine Attri
butes Mental Sufferings of our Lord in His Passion The Glories of Mary for the Sake
of Her Son On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary.
24 MESSRS. LONGMANS LISTYOF WORKS
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
SERMONS PREACHED ON VARIOUS OCCA
SIONS. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
This volume, which was first published in 1857, consists of eight sermons preached
before the Catholic University of Ireland in 1856-1857, and seven sermons delivered on
different occasions between 1850 and 1872. Among the latter are the celebrated " Second
Spring " and " The Pope and the Revolution " preached 1850-1872 at St. Chad s, the
Oratory, Oscott, and Farm Street, London, with Notes.
CONTENTS. Intellect the Instrument of Religious Training The Religion of the
Pharisee The Religion of Mankind Waiting for Christ The Secret Power of Divine
Grace Dispositions for Faith Omnipotence in Bonds St. Paul s Characteristic Gift
St. Paul s Gift of Sympathy Christ upon the Waters The Second Spring Order, the
Witness and Instrument of Unity The Mission of St. Philip Neri The Tree beside the
Waters In the World but not of the World The Pope and the Revolution Notes.
2. TREATISES.
LECTURES ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICA
TION. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
These Lectures were first published in 1838. They were reprinted in 1874 with an
" Advertisement to the Third Edition " and some additional notes.
CONTENTS. Faith considered as the Instrumental Cause of Justification Love con
sidered as the Formal Cause of Justification Primary Sense of the term "Justification"
Secondary Senses of the term "Justification" Misuse of the term "Just " or Righteous"
The Gift of Righteousness The Characteristics of the Gift of Righteousness Right
eousness viewed as a Gift and as a Quality Righteousness the Fruit of our Lord s
Resurrection The Office of Justifying Faith The Nature of Justifying Faith Faith
viewed relatively to Rites and Works On Preaching the Gospel Appendix On the
Formal Cause of Justification.
AN ESSAY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRIS
TIAN DOCTRINE. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
" In this New Edition of the Essay, first published in 1845, various important altera
tions have been made in the arrangement of its separate parts, and some, not indeed in
its matter, but in its text." Preface to Third Edition, 1878.
THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY DEFINED AND
ILLUSTRATED. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
I. In Nine Discourses delivered to the Catholics of Dublin.
II. In Occasional Lectures and Essays addressed to the members of the Catholic
University.
Part I. was first published in 1852 under the title of Discourses on the Scope an !
Nature of University Education, etc.
CONTENTS. I. Introductory II. Theology a Branch of Knowledge III. Bearing of
Theology on other Knowledge IV. Bearing of other Knowledge on Theology V. Know
ledge its own End VI. Knowledge viewed in Relation to Learning VII. Knowledge
viewed in Relation to Professional Skill VIII. Knowledge viewed in Relation to Religious
Duty IX. Duties of the Church towards Knowledge.
Part II. was first published in 1859 under the title of Lectures and Essays on Uni
versity Subjects.
CONTENTS. I. Christianity and Letters II. Literature III. Catholic Literature in the
English Tongue IV. Elementary Studies V. A Form of Infidelity of the Day VI.
University Preaching VII. * Christianity and Physical Science VIII. Christianity and
Scientific Investigation IX. Discipline of Mind X. Christianity and Medical Science.
%* Part I. is also issued -separately as follows :
UNIVERSITY TEACHING CONSIDERED IN NINE DIS
COURSES. With a Preface by the Rev. JOHN NORRIS. Fcp.
8vo. Cloth, Gilt Top, 2s. net. Leather, 3s. net.
BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 25
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
AN ESSAY IN AID OF A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
First published in 1870, with Notes at the end of the volume added to the later editions.
AN INDEXED SYNOPSIS OF CARDINAL NEW
MAN S " AN ESSAY IN AID OF A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT ".
By the Rev. JOHN J. TOOHEY, S.J. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
3. HISTORICAL.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES. Three vols. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. each.
VOL. I. The Turks in their Relation to Europe Marcus Tullius Cicero Apollonius
of Tyana Primitive Christianity.
The Essay on " The Turks in their Relation to Europe " was first published under the
title of Lectures onthe History of the Turks by the Author of Loss and Gain, in 1854. As
is well known, Newman took what was then the unpopular side. The Czar was " attack
ing an infamous power, the enemy of God and Man ". " Many things are possible ; one
is inconceivable that the Turks should, as an existing nation, accept of modern civilisa
tion ; and in default of it, that they should be able to stand their ground amid the
encroachments of Russia, the interested and contemptuous patronage of Europe, and
the hatred of their subject populations."
Personal and Literary Character of Cicero. First published in 1824.
Apollonius of Tyana. First published in 1826.
Primitive Christianity.
I. What does St. Ambrose say about it ? II. What says Vincent of Lerins ? III. What
says the History of Apollinaris ? IV. What say Jovinian and his companions? V. What
say the Apostolical Canons ?
This series formed part of the original Church of the Fathers as it appeared in the
British Magazine of 1833-36, and as it was published in 1840. " They were removed
from subsequent Catholic editions, except the chapter on Apollinaris, as containing
polemical matter, which had no interest for Catholic readers. Now [1872] they are
republished under a separate title."
VOL. II. The Church of the Fathers St. Chrysostom Theodoret Mission of St.
Benedict Benedictine Schools.
The Church of the Fathers.
I. Trials of Basil II. Labours of Basil- III. Basil and Gregory IV. Rise and Fall of
Gregory V. Antony in Conflict VI. Antony in Calm VII. Augustine and the Vandals
VIII. Conversion of Augustine IX. Demetrias X. Martin and Maximus.
St. Chrysostom. Reprinted from the Rambler, 1859-60.
Trials of Theodoret. First published in 1873.
The Mission of St. Benedict. From the Atlantis, 1858.
The Benedictine Schools. From the Atlantis, 1859.
VOL. III. Rise and Progress of Universities (originally published as " Office and
Work of Universities ") Northmen and Normans in England and Ireland Mediaeval
Oxford Convocation of Canterbury.
Rise and Progress of Universities.
The following illustrations of the idea of a University originally appeared in 1854 in
the columns of the Dublin Catholic University Gazette. In 1856 they were published in
one volume under the title of The Office and Work of Universities, etc.
Northmen and Normans in England and Ireland. From the Rambler of 1859.
Mediaeval Oxford. From the British Critic of 1838.
The Convocation of the Province of Canterbury. From the British Magazine of
1834-35
THE CHURCH OF THE FATHERS. Reprinted from Historical
Sketches". Vol. II. With a Preface by the Rev. JOHN NORRIS,
Fcp. 8vo. Cloth, Gilt TOD, 2s. net. Leather. 3s. net.
26 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
4. ESSAYS.
TWO ESSAYS ON MIRACLES. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
CONTENTS. I. The Miracles of Scripture compared with those reported elsewhere as
regards their nature, credibility, and evidence II. The Miracles of Early Ecclesiastical
History compared with those of Scripture as regards their nature, credibility, and evidence.
The former of these Essays was written for the Encyclopedia Metropolitana, 1825-
26; the latter in 1842-43 as Preface to a Translation of a portion of Fleury s Ecclesi
astical History. They were republished in 1870 with some additional notes.
DISCUSSIONS AND ARGUMENTS. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d.
i. How to accomplish it. 2. The Antichrist of the Fathers. 3. Scripture and the
Creed. 4. Tamworth Reading-room. 5. Who s to Blame ? 6. An Internal Argument for
Christianity.
How to Accomplish It originally appeared in the British Magazine of 1830 under the title
of " Home Thoughts Abroad". "The discussion on this Paper is carried on by two
speculative Anglicans, who aim at giving vitality to their church, the one by uniting
it to the Holy See, the other by developing a nineteenth century Anglo-Catholicism.
The narrator sides on the whole with the latter of these."
The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. This was the Eighty-third Number of the Tracts
for the Times, published in 1838.
Holy Scripture in its Relation to the Catholic Creed. This was the Eighty-fifth
Number of the Tracts for the Times.
The Tamworth Reading: Room. A series of seven letters, signed " Catholicus," first
printed in the Times during February, 1841, and published as a pamphlet. They were
provoked by addresses delivered by Lord Brougham at Glasgow and Sir Robert Peel
at the opening of a Library and Reading Room at Tamworth, in which those distin
guished statesmen exalted secular knowledge into the great instrument of moral
improvement. They ran as follows: (i) Secular Knowledge in contrast with Religion.
(2) Secular Knowledge not the principle of Moral Improvement. (3) Not a direct means
of Moral Improvement. (4) Not the antecedent of Moral Improvement. (5) Not a
principle of social unity. (6) Not a principle of action. (7) But without personal
religion a temptation to unbelief.
Who s to Blame? A series of letters addressed to the Catholic Standard in 1855. There
was at that time a great deal of blame attributed to the Government on account of its
management of the Crimean War. Newman threw the blame on the British constitu
tion, or rather on those who clamoured for a foreign war, for the conduct of which
this constitution is singularly ill-adapted. The letters are a valuable study of the
genius of the Anglo-Saxon race and the British constitution.
An Internal Argument for Christianity. A review, originally published in the Month
, of June, 1866, of Ecce Homo.
ESSAYS, CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL. Two vols.,
with Notes. Crown 8vo. 7s.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. I. Poetry with reference to Aristotle s Poetics. With Note
II. The Introduction of Rationalistic Principles into Revealed Religion. With Note III.
Apostolical Tradition. With Note IV. The Fall of la Mennais. With Note V.
Palmer s View of Faith and Unity. With Note VI. The Theology of St. Ignatius. With
N te VII. Prospects of the Anglican Church. With Note VIII. The Anglo-American
Church. With Note IX. Selina Countess of Huntingdon. With Note.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II. X. The Catholicity of the Anglican Church. With Note-
XL The Protestant View of Antichrist. With Note XII. Milman s View of Christianity.
With Note XIII. The Reformation of the Eleventh Century. With Note XIV. Private
Judgment. With Note XV. John Davison. With Note XVI. John Keble. With Note.
The first Essay was written in 1828 for the London Review ; the second in 1835 for the
Tracts for the Times ; the last in 1846 for the Dublin Review ; the rest for the British
Critic between 1837 and 1842. The original title of VII. was Home Thoughts Abroad.
The " Notes " were written when the Essays were republished in 1871.
BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 27
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
5. PATRISTIC.
THE ARIANS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
First published in 1833. Republished, with an Appendix containing over seventy
pages of additional matter, in 1871.
CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. I. The Syrian School of Theology II. The Early Doctrine
of the Divine Genesis III. The Confessions at Sirmium IV. The Early use of usia and
hypostasis V. Orthodoxy of the Faithful during Arianism VI. Chronology of the Councils
VII. Omissions in the Text of the Third Edition (1871).
(5) is a long extract from the article published in the Rambler of 1859, " On con
sulting the Faithful on Matters of Doctrine". In the fourth (1876) and subsequent
editions of the Arians the author appended to the extract an explanation of a passage
in the original article which had been seriously misunderstood in some quarters.
SELECT TREATISES OF ST. ATHANASIUS IN
CONTROVERSY WITH THE ARIANS. Freely Translated.
Two vols. Crown 8vo. 7s.
First published in 1881. The first volume contains the " Treatises " ; the second the
notes alphabetically arranged so as to form a kind of theological lexicon to St.
Athanasius s writings.
In 1842 Newman contributed to the Oxford Library of the Fathers two volumes
entitled Select Treatises of St. Athanasius in Controversy with the A rians. This work was
described by the late Canon Bright as ranking " among the richest treasures of English
Patristic literature" ; by the late Canon Liddon as " the most important contribution to the
Library"; and in later prospectuses of the Library, after Newman s connection with it
had ceased, as " the most important work published since Bishop Bull ". The present
edition differs from that of the Oxford Library in four important points, viz. : (i) the
freedom of the translation ; (2) the arrangement of the notes ; (3) the omission of the
fourth " Discourse against the Arians " ; (4) the omission of some lengthy Dissertations.
A Latin version of these last is included in Tracts : Theological and Ecclesiastical.
TRACTS : THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
CONTENTS. I. Dissertatiuncuhe Quatuor Critico-Theologicae [Rome 1847] II. On the
Text of the Epistles of St. Ignatius [1870] III. Causes of the Rise and Success of Arianism
[1872] IV. The Heresy of Apollinaris V. St. Cyril s Formula MIA $Y2I2 2E2APKO-
MENH. (Atlantis, 1858) VI. The Ordo de Tempore in the Breviary. (Atlantis, 1870)
VII. History of the Text of the Douay Version of Scripture. (Rambler, 1859).
6. POLEMICAL.
THE VIA MEDIA OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH.
Illustrated in Lectures, Letters and Tracts written between 1830 and 1841.
Two vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each.
This collection was first published in 1877.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I, The Prophetical Office of the Church, etc., originally published in
1837, reprinted with Notes and a Preface.
The Preface, which extends to about ninety pages, is one of Newman s most im
portant polemical writings. His adversary is his former self. In his " Essay on
Development," he dealt with one of the two great charges he used to bring against the
Catholic Church ; in this Preface he deals with the other.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II. I. Suggestions in behalf of the Church Missionary Society, 1830
II. Via Media, 1834 (being Nos. 38 and 40 of Tracts for the Times) III. Restoration of
Suffragan Bishops, 1835 IV. On the Mode of Conducting the Controversy with Rome (being
No. 71 of Tracts for the Times) V. Letter to a Magazine in behalf of Dr. Pusey s Tracts
on Holy Baptism, 1837 VI. Letter to the Margaret Professor of Divinity on Mr. R. H.
Froude s Statements on the Holy Eucharist, 1838 VII. Remarks on Certain Passages in the
Thirty-nine Articles, 1841 (being No. 90 of Tracts for the Times) VIII. Documentary
Matter consequent upon the foregoing Remarks on the Thirty-nine Articles IX. Letter to
Dr. Jelf in Explanation of the Remarks, 1841 X. Letter to the Bishop of Oxford on the
same Subject, 1841 XI. Retractation of Anti-Catholic Statements, 1843-45.
** No. VII. in this Volume is the famous Tract 90 of Tracts for the Times, the
whole with new Notes.
28 MESSRS. LONGMANS LIST OF WORKS
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES FELT BY ANGLICANS
IN CATHOLIC TEACHING CONSIDERED. Two vols. Crown
8vo. 3s. 6d. each.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Twelve Lectures addressed in 1850 to the party of the Religious
Movement of 1833.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II. I. Letter addressed to Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., on Occasion of
his Eirenicon of 1864 II. A Letter addressed to the Duke of Norfolk, on Occasion of Mr,
Gladstone s Expostulation of 1874.
LECTURES ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF
CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. Addresses to the Brothers of the
Oratory in the Summer of 1851. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA, being a History of his
Religious Opinions.
First published in 1864.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
Pocket Edition. Fcp. 8vo. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net. Leather, 3s. 6d. net.
Popular Edition. 8vo. Paper covers, 6d. net.
The " Pocket " Edition and the " Popular " Edition of this book contain a letter, hitherto
unpublished, written by Cardinal Newman to Canon Flanagan in 1857, which may be said
to contain in embryo the " Apologia " itself.
7. LITERARY.
LOSS AND GAIN : The Story of a Convert. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d.
First published in 1848.
" Of his experience as a Catholic, Loss and Gain, published in 1848, was the first
fruit ... the book has been a great favourite with me, almost ever since its first publi
cation, partly for the admirable fidelity with which it sketches young men s thoughts
and difficulties, partly for its happy irony, partly for its perfect representation of the
academical life and tone at Oxford. ... In the course of the story there are many
happy sketches of Oxford society, such as. for example, the sketch of the evangelical
pietism which Mr. Freeborn pours forth at Bateman s breakfast, or the sketch of the Rev.
Dr. Brownside s prim and pompous Broad Church University sermon. . . . Again, there
is one very impressive passage not taken from Oxford life, in which Newman makes . . .
[one of his characters] insist on the vast difference between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic conception of worship." R. H. BUTTON S Cardinal Newman.
CALLISTA : A Tale of the Third Century. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d.
First published in 1855, with postscripts of 1856, 1881, 1888.
" It is an attempt to imagine and express, from a Catholic point of view, the feelings
and mutual relations of Christians and heathens at the period to which it belongs."
Author s Preface.
VERSES ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
Pocket Edition. Fcp. 8vo. Gilt top, Cloth, 2s. net. Leather, 3s. net.
THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS.
1 6mo. Paper covers, 6d. Cloth, 1 s. net.
With Introduction and Notes by MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, D.D.,
LL.D. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. Is. 6d.
Presentation Edition, with an Introduction specially written for this Edition by
E. B(L). With Photogravure Portrait of Cardinal Newman, and 5 other
Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo. Cream cloth, with gilt top, 3s. net.
LITERARY SELECTIONS FROM NEWMAN. With
Introduction and Notes by A SISTER OF NOTRE DAME.
Crown 8vo. Is. 6d. (Longmans Class-Books of English Literature.)
BY ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 29
Cardinal Newman s Works continued.
8. DEVOTIONAL.
MEDITATIONS AND DEVOTIONS. Part I. Medita-
lions for the Month of May. Novena of St. Philip. Part II. The
Stations of the Cross. Meditations and Intercessions for Good Friday.
Litanies, etc. Part III. Meditations on Christian Doctrine. Conclusion.
Crown 8vo. 5s. net.
Also in Three Parts as follows. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, Is. net each. Limp
leather, 2s. net each.
Part I. THE MONTH OF MAY.
Part II. STATIONS OF THE CROSS.
Part III. MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
9. BIOGRAPHIES.
THE LIFE OF JOHN HENRY CARDINAL
NEWMAN. Based on his Private Journals and Correspondence. By
WILFRID WARD. With 2 Portraits. 2 vols. 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.
LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN
HENRY NEWMAN DURING HIS LIFE IN THE ENGLISH
CHURCH. With a brief Autobiography. Edited, at Cardinal Newman s
request, by ANNE MOZLEY. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 7s.
" Materials for the present work were placed in the Editor s hands towards the close of
1884. The selection from them was made, and the papers returned to Cardinal Newman
in the summer of 1887." Editor s Note.
" It has ever been a hobby of mine, though perhaps it is a truism, that the true life of a
man is in his letters. . . . Not only for the interest of a biography, but for ar.iving at
the inside of things, the publication of letters is the true method. Biographers varnish,
they assign motives, they conjecture feelings, they interpret Lord Burleigh s nods; but
contemporary letters are facts. " Dr. Newman to his sister, Mrs. John Mozley, May 18,
1863.
10. POSTHUMOUS.
ADDRESSES TO CARDINAL NEWMAN, WITH
HIS REPLIES, 1879-81. Edued by the Rev. W. P. NEVILLE (Cong.
Oral.). With Portrait Group. Oblong crown 8vo. 6s. net.
NEWMAN MEMORIAL SERMONS: Preached at the
Opening of the Newman Memorial Church, The Oratory, Birmingham,
8th and 12th December, 1909. By Rev. Fr. JOSEPH R1CKABY, S.J.,
and Very Rev. Canon McINTYRE, Professor of Scripture at St. Mary s
College, Oscott. 8vo. Paper covers, Is. net.
SERMON NOTES, 1849-78. Edited by the FATHERS
OF THE BIRMINGHAM ORATORY. With Portrait. Crown 8vo.
5s. net.
Cardinal Newman left behind him two MS. volumes filled with notes or memoranda
of Sermons and Catechetical Instructions delivered by him during the years 1847 to
1879.
Besides their utility to priests and teachers, it is hoped that the notes will appeal to
all lovers of Newman s writings. So characteristic ot him are they, in spite of their
brevity, that their authorship would be at once recognised even if they appeared without
his name. Ihose of an earlier date are specially interesting. They introduce the
reader to Newman in the fiist days of his Catholic life, settling down to the ordinary
duties of an English priest, and instructing a " Mixed Congregation " m the rudiments
of Catholic Doctrine.
INDEX.
Page
A dventures of King James II. of England 9
Antony (C. M.) In St. Dominic s Country 12
St. Antony of Padua ... 13
St. Pius V 13
Arundell (Lord) Papers 6
Ayscough (J.) Gracechurch 18
Levia Pondera 14
Balfour (Mrs. Reginald) The Life and
Legend of the Lady Saint Clare ... n
Barnes (A. S.) Early Church in the Light
of the Monuments 3
Barrett (E. Boyd) Motive Force and
Motivation-Tracks 4
Barry (W.) The Tradition of Scripture ... 3
Batiffol (P.) Credibility of the Gospel ... 4
- History of the Roman Breviary 4
Primitive Catholicism ... 4
Benson (R. H.) Child s Rule of Life ... 16
Christ in the Church ... 15
Confessions of a Convert 10
Cost of a Crown 16
Friendship of Christ ... 15
Maid of Orleans 16
Mystery Play 16
Non-Catholic Denomina
tions 3
Old Testament Rhymes ... 16
Paradoxes of Catholicism 15
Boedder (B.) Natural Theology 2
Bosch (Mrs. H.) Bible Stories told to
"Toddles" 16
Good Shepherd and
His Little Lambs 16
When " Toddles " was
Seven 16
Bougaud (Mgr.) History of St. Vincent
de Paul 12
Brown (M. J.) Historical Ballad Poetry
of Ireland 17
Brown (S. J.) A Guide to Books on
Ireland 14
A Reader s Guide to Irish
Fiction 18
Browne (H.) Handbook of Greek Composi
tion 21
Homeric Study 21
Latin Composi
tion 21
Burton (E. H.) Life dnd Times of Bishop
Challoner 7
and Myers (E.) New Psal
ter and its Use 3
and Pollen (J. H.) Lives
of the English Martyrs n
Camm (B.) Lives of the English Martyrs u
r.ntknlir ritnvrh fvnin Within fi
Page
Cecilia (Madame) Spiritual Gleanings for
Marian Sodalists 15
Challoner, Life and Times of Bishop ... 7
Chapman (J.) Bishop Gore and Catholic
Claims 6
Chisel, Pen, and Poignard 9
Christ, Life of, for Children 16
Clarke (R. F.) Logic 2
Class-Teaching (The) of English Com
position 20
Coffey (P.) The Science of Logic 4
Conway (P.) St. Thomas Aquinas ._ 13
Corcoran (T.) Studies in the History of
Classical Teaching 20
Costelloe (L.) St. Bonaventure 13
Cronin (M.) The Science of Ethics ... 5
Curious Case of Lady Purbeck 9
Cuthbert(Fr.)LifeofSt. Francis of Assisi n
De Bonnault d Houet, Life of Viscountess,
by Fr. Stanislaus 12
Delehaye (H.) The Legends of the Saints 3
De Montalembert (Count) Life of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary 12
Devas (C. S.) Political Economy 2
Key to the World s Progress 5
Devas (R.) Dominican Revival in the
Nineteenth Century 7
De Vere (Aubrey), Memoir of, by Wilfrid
Ward ii
Dewe (J. A.) Psychology of Politics and
History 6
De \Vulf(M.) History of Medieval Philo
sophy 4
Scholasticism, Old and New 4
Digby, Life of Sir Kenelm 9
Dobree (L. E.) Stories on the Rosary ... 16
Drane (A. T.) History of St. Catherine of
Siena n
Memoir (Mother Francis
Raphael) n
Dubray (C. A.) Introductory Philosophy 21
Dwight (T.) Thoughts of a Catholic
Anatomist 5
Emery (S. L.) The Inner Life of the Soul 15
English (E.) Sermons and Homilies ... 15
Falklands 9
First Duke and Duchess of Newcastle-on-
Tyne 9
Fitz-Gerald (V.) St. John Capistran ... 13
Fletcher (M.) The Fugitives 18
Fortescue (A.) The Mass 3
Fouard (Abb) St. John and the Close of
the Apostolic Age 12
St. Paul and his Missions 12
St. Peter 12
The Christ the Son of God 12
Last Years of St. Paul 12
INDEX.
31
Fountain of Life (The) ......
Francis (M. E.) Christian Thai ...
--- Dorset Dear
--- Fiander s Widow
---- Lychgate Hall ...
Manor Farm
Yeoman Fleet wood
Friar Saint Series
Pag,
.. 2:
... i!
i!
... i!
.. if
.. if
.. 18
13
Gerard (J.) The Old Riddle and the
Newest Answer
Grammar Lessons, by the Principal of
St. Mary s Hall, Liverpool 20
Graves (A. P.) Welsh Poetry i
Healy (T. M.) Stolen Waters
Hedley (J. C.) Holy Eucharist
Hogan (S.) St. Vincent Ferrer 13
Hoyt (F. D.) Catherine Sidney 18
Hughes (T.) History of the Society of
Jesus in North America
Hunter (S. J.) Outlines of Dogmatic
Theology 4
Index to The Month ...
Joppen (C.) Historical Atlas of India ... 20
Jorgensen (J.) St. Francis of Assist ... n
Joyce (G. H.) Principles of Logic ... 21
Joyce (P. W.) Ancient Irish Music ... 17
Child s History of Ireland 20
English as we Speak it in
Ireland . ,.20
Grammar of the Irish
Language
Handbook of School
Management
History of Ireland
Australian Catholic Schools ...
Irish Peasant Songs
Old Celtic Romances
for
Old Irish Folk Mttsic ...
-Origin and History of
Irish Names of Places
lit lines of the History of
Ireland 20
Reading Book in Irish
History 20
Short History of Ireland
Smaller Social History
of Ancient Ireland
-Story of Irish Civilisation
-Wonders of Ireland
Joyce (R. D.) Ballads of Irish Chivalry 17
Kane (R.) Good Friday to Easter Sunday 15
Plain Gold Ring 15
Sermon of the Sea 15
Keating (T. P.) Science of Education ... 21
Page
Lives of the English Martyrs n
Lives of the Fnar Saints 13
Lockington (W. J.) Bodily Health and
Spiritual Vigour 5
Maher (M.) Psychology 2
Mann (J. E. F.), Sievers (N. J.) and Cox
(R. W. T.) Real Democracy 6
Marshal Turenne ... ... ... ... 9
Martindale (C. C.) In God s Nursery ... 14
Maturin (B. W.) Laws of the Spiritual
Life 15
Price of Unity ... 6
Self -Knowledge and
Self-Discipline 15
Maxwell-Scott (Hon. Mrs.) Life of the
Marquise de la Rochejaquelein ... n
Montalembert (Count de) St. Elizabeth
of Hungary n
Month 6
Moyes (J.) Aspects of Anglicanism ... 6
Mulhall (M. M.) Beginnings, or Glimpses
of Vanished Civilizations 7
Nesbitt (M.) Our Lady in the Church ... 15
Newman (Cardinal) Addresses to, 1879-81 29
Apologia pro Vita
sua 10,28
Arians of the Fourth
Century 27
Callista, an Histori
cal Tale 2 8
Church of the Fathers 25
Critical and Histori
cal Essays 26
Development of
Christian Doctrine 24
Difficulties of Angli
cans ... ... ... ... , 28
Discourses to Mixed
Congregations 23
Discussions and
Arguments 26
Dream of Gerontius 28
Essays on Miracles 26
Grammar of Assent 25
Historical Sketches 25
Idea of a University 24
Justification 24
Letters and Corre
spondence 39
- Life, by Wilfrid
Ward io, 29
Literary Selections... 28
Loss and Gain ,. 28
32
INDEX.
Page
Newman (Cardinal) Meditations and De
votions 29
Memorial Sermons... 29
Oxford University
Sermons
23
Parochial Sermons... 22
Present Position of
Catholics 28
Select Treatises of St.
Athanasius 27
Selections from Ser
mons 22
Sermon Notes ... 29
Sermons on Subjects
23
of the Day
Sermons Preached on
Various Occasions 24
Theological Tracts 27
University Teaching 24
Verses on Various
Occasions 28
Via Media 27
O Brien (Mrs. William) Unseen Friends n, 14
O Dwyer (E. T.) Cardinal Newman and
the Encyclical, etc 6
O Malley (A.) and Walsh (J. J.) Pastoral
Medicine 5
O Neill (G.) Five Centuries of English
Poetry 21
Plater (C.) Clergy and Social Action ... 3
Policy and Paint 9
Pry ings among Private Papers 9
Quick and Dead 21
Rickaby (John) First Principles of Know
ledge 2
General Metaphysics ... 2
Rickaby (Joseph) Moral Philosophy ... 2
. a nd Mclntyre (Canon)
Newman Memorial Sermons 29
Rochester and other Literary Rakes ... 9
Roche (W.) The House and Table of God 16
Rockliff (E.) An Experiment in History
Teaching 20
Rose (V.) Studies on the Gospels 4
Rosmini (A.) Theodicy ... > 5
Russell (M.) Among the Blessed 15
At Home with God 15
Page
Sales (Brother De) Teacher s Companion 21
Scannell (T. B.) The Priest s Studies ... 3
Sheehan (P. A.) Blindness of Dr. Gray 19
Early Essays and Lec
tures
19
Glenanaar 19
Intellectuals 19
Lisheen 19
" Lost A ngel of a Ruined
Paradise " 19
Luke Delmege 19
Miriam Lucas ... ... 19
Parerga 19
Queen s Fillet 19
Smith (S. F.) The Instruction of Converts 3
Stockl (A.) Handbook of the History of
Philosophy 4
STONYHURST PHILOSOPHICAL
SERIES
Stuart (J. E.) The Education of Catholic
Girls 21
Terry (R. R.) Old Rhymes with New Tunes 16
Thesaurus Fidelium 15
Thurston (H.) Lent and Holy Week ... 6
Toohey (J. J.) Synopsis of Newman s
" Grammar of Assent" 25
Vaughan (J. S.) Happiness and Beauty... 14
Vices in Virtue 9
Walker (L. J.) Theories of Knowledge ... z
Ward (B.) Dawn of the Catholic Revival
in England 7
Eve of Catholic Emancipation 7
Ward (Wilfrid) A ubrey de Vere, a Memoir n
Essays on Men and
Matters 10
Life of Cardinal New
man 10, 29
Life of Cardinal Wise
man 10
Ten Personal Studies ... 10
William G. Ward and
the Catholic Revival 10
Ward (Mrs. Wilfrid) Great Possessions ... 18
Job Secretary ... 18
Light Behind ... 18
One Poor Scruple 18
Out of Due Time... 18
WESTMINSTER LIBRARY 3
WESTMINSTER VERSION OF THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES 2
Wiseman (Cardinal) Life, by Wilfrid Ward 10
The Three Sisters of Lord ; Wyatt-Davies (E.) History of England
Russell of Killowen u | for Catholic Schools 20
Ruville (A. Von) Back to Holy Church 10 - - Outlines of British
Ryder (I.) Essays 10, 14 | History 20
Jbrgensen, Johannes*
Lourdes.
J3QT
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