p
UR LADY OF LOURDES,
y
BY
HENRI LASSERRE.
A work honored with a special brief addressed to the
Author, by his Holiness the Pope, Pius IX.
fqom the Ufqench.
NEW YORK:
D. & J. SADLIER, 31 BARCLAY
MONTREAL: COB. OF NOTEE DAME AND FKANCIS
1870.
MAY 12
EDWARD O. JENKINS,
PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,
TO THE AUTHOR OF
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
To his beloved Son, Henri Lasserre,
PlUS IX. POPE:
HT)ELOVED SON, Salutation and the apos-
, I J tolic benediction. Receive our felicitations,
very dear "son. Having obtained some time since,
a most remarkable benefit, you have just accom
plished, scrupulously and with feelings of love, the
vow you then made : you have just employed your
best efforts, in proving- and establishing the truth
of the recent Apparition of the most clement
Mother of God ; and this you have done in such
a manner that the very struggle of human malice
against the divine mercy serves but to bring out
more forcibly the luminous evidence of the fact.
In the explanation you have afforded of events,
their progress and dependence on each other, all men
may perceive clearly and with certitude how our
most holy Religion tends towards and results in the
true advantage of all people ; how it heaps on all
(3)
4 LETTER OF PIUS IX.
those who have recourse to it, gifts not only of a
celestial and spiritual but also of a temporal and
terrestrial nature. They will be able to see how,
even in the absence of all material force, this Re
ligion is all-powerful for the maintenance of order ;
how r , amid excited multitudes, it can restrain within
just bounds the anger and indignation, however
justified, of exasperated minds. They will be able
to sec lastly how the Clergy cooperate by their
loyal efforts and zeal towards the attainment of such
results, and how, far from encouraging superstition,
they display infinitely more deliberation and sever
ity of investigation than any other class of men,
when it is a question of pronouncing judgment with
reference to facts which seemingly surpass the or
dinary powers of nature.
Your narrative, in no less luminous a manner,
will render manifest the following truth that im
piety declares war against religion entirely in vain,
and that the attempts of the wicked to hamper the
divine counsels of Providence by human machina
tions are utterly unavailing, the perversity of men
and their criminal audacity serving, on the contrary,
as a means, in the hands of Providence, to confer
on its works more power and splendor.
Such are the reasons which have induced us to
receive with the most lively joy your work entitled :
Our Lady of Lourdes. We firmly believe that She
who, from every quarter, attracts towards Herself
by miracles of her power and goodness, multitudes
of Pilgrims, wills, in the same manner, to employ
your book in order to propagate more widely, and
to excite towards Herself, the piety and confidence
of mankind, to the end that all may participate in
LETTER OF PIUS IX. 5
the plenitude of Her graces. As a pledge of the
success we predict for your work, receive our apos
tolic benediction, which we address to you very
affectionately, as a testimony of our gratitude and
our paternal benevolence.
Given at Rome, at St. Peters, 4 September, 1869,
in the year of our Pontificate xxiv.
PIUS IX. POPE.
Dilccto Filio Hcnrico Lasscrre,
Pius PP. IX.
DILECTE FILI, Salutem et apostolicam benedic-
tionem. Gratulamur tibi, dilecte fili, quod, insigni
auctus beneficio, voturn tuum accuratissimo studio
diligentiuque exsolveris ; et novam clementissimce
Dei Matris apparitionem ita testatam facere cur-
averis, ut e conflictu ipso humanae malitise cum
cceleste misericordia, claritas eventus firmior ac
luculentior appareret. Omnes certe in proposita a
te rerum serie perspicere poterunt, religionem nos-
tram sanctissimam vergere in veram populorum
utilitatem ; confluentes ad se omnes supernis juxta
et terrenis cumulare beneficiis ; aptirsimam esse
ordini servando, vi etiam submola ; concitatos in
turbis animorum motus, licet justos compescere ;
iisque rebus sedulo adlaborare Clerum, eumque
adeo abesse a superstitione fovenda, ut imo seg-
niorem se prcebeat ac severiorem aliis omnibus
in judicio edendo de factis, qua? naturae vires exce-
dere videntur. Nee minus aperte patebit, impiet-
atem incassum indixisse religione bellum, et frustra
machinationes hominum divinse Providential con-
siliis obstare ; quse imo nequitia corum et ausu sic
6 LETTER OF PIUS IX.
uti consuevit, ut majorem inde quserat operibus suis
splendorem et virtutem. Libentissime propterea
excepimus volumcn tuum, cui titulus Notre Dame
de Lourdes ; fore fidentes, ut quas per mira poten-
tias ac benignitatis suse signa undique frequentis-
simos advenas accersit ; scripto etiam tuo uti velit
ad propagandam latius fovendamque in se pietatera
hominum ac fiduciam, ut de plenitudine gratias
ejus omnes accipere possint. Hujus, quern orain-
amur, exitus labore tuo auspicem accipe benedic-
tionem Apostolicam, quam tibi grati animi Nostri
et paternas benevolentiae testem peramanter imper-
timus.
Datum Romas, apud S. Petrum, die 4 September,
1869, Pontificatus Nostri Anno xxiv.
PIUS PP. IX.
THE AUTHOR S PREFACE.
IN consequence of a remarkable favor received,
the account of which will be duly found in the
course of this work, I promised, some years ago,
to write the history of the extraordinary events
which have given rise to the Pilgrimage of Lourdes.
If I have been guilty of a grave fault in deferring
for so long a time the execution of my promise, I
have, at least, made the most conscientious efforts
to study, with scrupulous attention, the subject I
wished to treat.
The presence of the incessant procession of visit
ors, pilgrims, men, women, whole populations, who
come no\v from every quarter to kneel before a
lonely grotto, entirely unknown ten years ago, and
which the word of a child has caused to be regarded
all at once as a divine sanctuary ; on seeing the
vast edifice rising which the faith of the people is
erecting on that spot at a cost of nearly two mil
lions, I felt an earnest desire not only to search for
the proofs of the supernatural fact itself, but also to
trace in what manner, by what logical connection
of things or of ideas, the belief in it had been so
universally spread.
(7)
8 PREFACE.
How has it been produced ? How was an event
of such a nature accomplished in the middle of the
nineteenth century ? How could the testimony of
an illiterate little girl with regard to a fact so extra
ordinary, touching Apparitions which no one of
those around her saw, find credit and give birth to
such astonishing results ?
There are persons who have one peremptory
word in answer to such questions, and the word
" superstition" is very convenient for that purpose.
For my own part, I am not so expeditious ; and I
wished to account to myself for a phenomenon so
entirely out of the ordinary course of things, and
so worthy of attention, from whatever point of view
we regard it. Whether the Miracle be true or
false ; whether the cause of this vast concourse of
people is to be found in divine agency or human
error, a study of this kind does not the less possess
the highest interest. I remark, however, that the
Sectaries of Free-thought are very cautious of
entering upon it. They prefer to deny the whole
thing bluntly. This is, at the same time, easier and
more prudent.
I understand, very differently from them, the
restless search after truth. If to deny everything
flatly appears to them the simplest mode, to affirm
everything roundly appears to me to be somewhat
hazardous.
I have seen savants toil up the steep paths of
mountains in order to be able to explain to them
selves why an insect of a certain class which is
found during the summer on the highest peaks, is,
after the winter has set in, only to be met with in
the valleys. This is all very well, and 1 cannot
PREFACE. g
blame them. I sometimes sa.y to myself, however,
that the great movements of humanity, and the
causes which set immense multitudes in motion,
have claims fully as great on the employment of
the sagacity of the human mind. History, Religion,
Science, Philosophy, Medicine, the different work
ings of human nature, are, in my opinion, quite as
curious as Entomology.
This study I wished to render complete. I did
not, therefore, content myself with official docu
ments or letters, or official reports or written attes
tations. It was my wish, as much as possible, to
know everything and see everything for myself, to
have everything brought freshly before my eyes
through the memory and narrative of eye-witnesses.
I have made long journeys over France to interro
gate all those who had figured whether as the
chief personages or as witnesses in the events I
had to recount, to check their accounts by com
paring them one with another, and then arrive at
entire and lucid truth.
In my investigations connected with this divine
history, I wished, in a word, to follow and even
push further, if that were possible, the excellent
method which M. Thiers has employed with such
happy results in the long labors and sagacious re
searches which preceded his chef-d 1 czuvre on the
Consulate and the Empire.
I trust that, with God s assistance, my efforts
have not been entirely in vain.
Once having acquired the truth, I have written
about it as freely as if, like the Due de St. Simon,
I had closed my door and written a history not
destined to appear to the world until after the lapse
I0 PREFACE.
of a century. I have wished to say everything
while the witnesses are still living-, to give their
names and place of abode, that it might be possible
for others to interrogate them and to renew the
investigation I have myself made, in order to con
trol my own labor. It was my wish that each
reader might examine for himself my assertions,
and render homage to the truth, if I have been
sincere ; it was my wish that he might be able to
cover me with confusion and dishonor if I have
been guilty of falsehoods.
The deep investigation to which I devoted my
self, the documents I consulted, the numerous tes
timonies I have heard, have allowed me to enter
into circumstantial details, which were not at the
disposal of those who gave a summary account of
these events when they first occurred, as also to
rectify sundry errors which had crept into the
chronological department. I have been most at
tentive in re-establishing the exact order in which
the several events occurred. This was very-
necessary in order to convey a just conception
of their logical consequences and their real es
sence.
To study facts, not only in their outward appear
ance, but in their hidden life ; to trace, with an ever
wakeful attention, the link often distant often im
perceptible at first sight which unites them ; to un
derstand and explain clearly their cause, origin and
generation; to surprise and detect the action of the
eternal laws and marvelous harmonies of the mir
aculous orders, in the depths one attempts to illu
minate ; such is the aim I had the boldness to con
ceive.
PREFACE. n
Such being my thoughts, no circumstance could
be a matter of indifference or deserve neglect. The
slightest detail might contain a light, and permit
me to seize if I may be allowed so to speak the
hand of God in flagrante delict o.
From this arose my researches ; from this the
form very different from the habitual style of offi
cial histories, which my narrative adopted of its
own accord ; from this, both in my account of the
Apparitions as in that of the miraculous cures,
those portraits, dialogues, landscapes, circumstances
of time and place, and descriptions of the weather :
from this, those thousand details which have cost
me so much trouble to collect, but which gave me
as I piously stored them up, the unspeakable plea
sure of seeing for myself, of tasting and feeling
with all the charm of a discovery scarcely suspect
ed beforehand the deep harmony of works which
proceed from God.
This joy I now endeavor to communicate to my
readers, to my friends, to those, who are curious to
learn the secrets from on high. Some of these de
tails at times arrive so wonderfully and opportunely
that the reader, accustomed to the discords of this
world, might suspect the painter of flattery in his
picture. But God is an artist that needs not the
invention of others. The supernatural works which
He designs to accomplish here bslow are perfect in
themselves. To copy them faithfully would be to
hit on the ideal.
But who can copy them in this way? , Who can
see them in all their beauty and harmony ? Who
has not his sight dimmed ? Who can penetrate all
the secrets of these great and little things ? No
12
PREFACE.
one, alas ! Almost everything escapes us and we
only see by glimpses.
I have now dared to say what I should have
wished to have done. The reader alone will see
what I have done.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
FIRST BOOK.
I.
r I THE small to\vn of Lourdes is situated in the
JL_ department of the Hautes- Pyrenees, at the
embouchure of the seven valleys of the Lavedan,
between the last undulations of the hills terminating
the plain of Tarbes and the first escarpments with
which the Grande Montagne commences. Its
houses, scattered irregularly over an uneven sur
face, are grouped as it were in defiance of order
at the base of an enormous rock, entirely isolated ;
on the summit of which, rises like the nest of an
eagle, a formidable castle. At the foot of this rock,
beneath the shade of alders, oaks and poplars, the
Gave hurries rapidly along, breaking its foaming
waters against a bar of pebbles, and serving to turn
the noisy wheels of three or four mills built on its
banks. The din of these mills and the murmur of
the wind in the branches of the trees are mingled
with the sound of its gliding waves.
The Gave is formed by the several torrents of
03)
14 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the upper valleys, which in their turn themselves
issue from the eternal glaciers and stainless snows
which mask in the depths of the chain, the arid
sides of the Grande Montagne. The most import
ant of these tributaries proceeds from the cascade
of Gavarine, which falls, as every one knows, from
one of those rare peaks which no human foot has
yet been able to scale.
Leaving on its right the town, the castle and all
the mills of Lourdes (with the exception of one
built on its left bank), the Gave, at if anxious to
reach its ultimate destination, flows rapidly towards
the town of Pan, which it hurries by in order to
join the Adour and finally the ocean.
In the environs of Lourdes, the scenery on the
banks of the Gave is sometimes wild and savage,
sometimes charming ; verdant meadows, cultivated
fields, thick woods and lofty rocks, are reflected
by turns in its waters. Here, the eye gazes over
smiling and cultivated farms, the most graceful
landscape, the high road to Pau, continually dotted
with carriages, horsemen and travelers on foot;
there, over stern mountains in all the terror of their
solitude.
The castle of Lourdes. almost impregnable be
fore the invention of artillery, was in days of yore
the key of the Pyrenees. It has been handed down
by tradition that Charlemagne, at war with the In
fidels, was long unable to take possession of it. Just
as he was on the point of raising the siege, an eagle,
winging his flight above the highest tower of the
beleaguered fortress, let fall upon it a splendid fish
which it had just captured in a lake in the neigh
borhood.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. i$
Whether it was that on this particular day the
laws of the Church prescribed abstinence, or that
the fish was a Christian symbol still popular at that
epoch, one thing is certain the Saracen chief Mi-
rat, who occupied the castle, regarded the occur
rence in the light of a prodigy, and became a con
vert to the true faith. It needed nothing less than
this miraculous conversion of Mirat and his subse
quent baptism, to re-incorporate this castle into the
domains of Christendom. Further, the Saracen, as
the chronicle informs us, expressly stipulated, that
" having become the champion of Our Lady, the
Mother of God, he would have it understood, both
in his own case and in that of his descendants, that
his dignity of Count, free from all earthly fiefclom,
was held from Her alone."
The punning coat of arms of the town testify to
this extraordinary fact of the eagle and the fish.
Lourdes bears on a field gules three towers or, faced
with stone-work sable Q\\ a rock argent. The center
tower, higher than that on either side, is surmount
ed by an eagle with outstretched wings sable, hold
ing in his beak a trout argent.
During the whole period of the Middle Ages,
the castle of Lourdes was a center of terror to the
surrounding country. Sometimes in the name of
the English, sometimes in that of the counts of Bi-
gorre, it was occupied by a kind of free-booting
captains, who, in point of fact, warred strictly on
their own account, and levied contributions ori the
inhabitants of the plain in a circle of forty or fifty
leagues. Their incredible audacity, we are told,
carried them even to the extent of laying violent
hands on persons and property up to the very gates
1 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
of Montpelier, after which they sought security,
like veritable birds of prey, in their own inaccessi
ble aerie.
In the eighteenth century the castle of Lourdes
was converted into a state prison. It was the Bas-
tile of the Pyrenees. The Revolution opened the
gates of this prison to three or four persons confined
in it by the arbitrary power of despotism, and in
return peopled it with several hundreds of crimi
nals, who, to tell the truth, were culpable in a -very
different way. A contemporary author has noticed
on the prison register the offences of these unfortu
nate wretches. He gives us specimens of the desig
nations of the crimes attached to the name of each
prisoner : " Unpatriotic Having refused the kiss of
peace to citizen N before the altar of our country
Troublesome A drunkard Cold as ice toward the
Revolution Hypocritical in disposition and reserv
ed in his opinions A peaceable Harpagon, indifferent
towards the Revolution, etc., etc"
From this we perceive that the Revolution had
just reasons for complaining of the arbitrary power
of kings, and had substituted a regime of mild tol
eration and entire liberty for the terrible despotism
of the monarchy.
During the Empire the Castle of Lourdes pre
served its character of state-prison, and only lost it
on the return of the Bourbons. Since the Res
toration, the terrible castle of the middle ages hav
ing become in the natural order of things a place of
fourth or fifth-rate importance, is now peaceably
garrisoned by a company of infantry under the
orders of a commandant. The town has neverthe
less remained the key of the Pyrenees, but in quite
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 17
a different point of view to what it was formerly.
Lourdes is the point of intersection of all the roads
leading to the warm baths, whether you go to Bar
eges, to Saint Sauveur, to Cautarets, to Bagneres
de Bigorre, or from Cauterets or Pau you attempt
to reach Luchou, you must always pass through
Lourdes. From the earliest times since the baths
of the Pyrenees have been visited by strangers, the
innumerable diligences employed for the convey
ance of passengers to the baths during the summer
season were in the habit of stopping at the Hotel
de la Poste. Travelers were usually allowed time
to dine, to visit the castle, and to admire the scenery
before resuming their journey.
We see then that for the last one or two centu
ries this little town has been constantly traversed
by those resorting to the baths, and by tourists from
every corner of Europe. A tolerably advanced state
of civilization has been the result.
In 1858, the period when this history commences,
the greater part of the Parisian newspapers had long
been regularly received at Lourdes. Several of its
inhabitants took in the Revue des deux Mondes.
As is everywhere the case, the cabarets and cafes
supplied their customers with three numbers of the
Siecle to-day s, yesterday s and the day before yes
terday s. The Bourgeoisie and the Clergy were
divided between the Journal des Debats, the Presse,
the Moniteur, the Univcrs and the Union.
Lourdes boasted a club, a printing establishment
and a newspaper. The Sous-prefet resided at Ar-
geles ; but the grief experienced by the inhabitants
of Lourdes at being deprived of this functionary,
was somewhat alleviated by the joy of having the
1 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Tribunal de premiere instance, that is to say three
Judges, a Procureur Imperial and a Snbstitut. As
inferior satellites of this luminous centre, there grav
itated around it a Jugc de Paix, a commissary of
Police, six Huissicrs and seven Gendarmes (one of
them a Brigadier). Within the town there was a
hospital and a prison, and, as we shall have perhaps
an opportunity of explaining, circumstances oc
curred when some strong-minded persons, nourish
ed on the wholesome and humanitarian doctrines
of the Sieclc, pretended it would be necessary to
place the criminals in the hospital and transfer the
sick to the prison.
But in addition to these powerful reasoners, at the
bar of Lourdes and in the medical profession, there
might be found men equally learned and distinguish
ed in manner men of remarkable powers of mind
and of impartial observation, such as are not always
to be met with in places of greater importance.
The mountain races are generally gifted with
firm and practical good sense. The population of
Lourdes having had little admixture with foreign
blood, was excellent. Few places could be cited in
France where the schools are more numerously at
tended than at Lourdes. There is not a boy in the
place who does not go for several years to some
lay institution or to the school conducted by the
Brothers ; not a little girl who does not in the same
manner attend the school of the Sisters at Nevers,
until she has completed the education adapted to
her place in society. With more instruction than
the working classes of most of our cities, the peo
ple of Lourdes have, at the same time, the simplicity
of rural life. They are warm in their affections,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 19
upright in heart, abounding in southern wit, and
strictly moral. They are honest, devout, and adverse
to innovations.
Certain local institutions, dating from time im
memorial, serve to maintain this happy state of
things. The inhabitants of these regions long be
fore the pretended discoveries of modern progress,
had understood and reduced to practice under the
shadow of the Church, those ideas of joint responsi
bility and prudence which have given birth to our
mutual aid societies. Societies of such a descrip
tion exist at Lourdes and have been in operation for
centuries past ; they date from the middle ages ;
they have emerged victoriously from the Revolu
tion, and the philanthropists would have long ere
this sung their praises, had they not derived their
vitality from the religious principle and were they
not still called, as in the fifteenth century, " Broth
erhoods."
"Almost all the people," says M. de Lagreze,
"enter these associations which combine philan-
throphy with devotion. Those of the laboring
class, united under the name of confreres, place their
work under the patronage of heaven and mutually
exchange assistance and Christian charity. The
common coffer receives the weekly offering of
the workman when in high health and full vigor,
to return it one day to him when laid low by sick
ness or distress. When a workman dies the ex
penses of his funeral are paid by the association,
and its members accompany him to his last resting
place. Each Brotherhood (with the exception of
two which share the high altar between them, has
a private chapel, the name of which is assumed by
20 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the members and the expenses of which are de
frayed by the offertory on Sunday. The Brother
hood of Notre Dame de Grace is composed of
husbandmen ; that of Notre Dame de Carmel, of
slaters ; that of Notre Dame de Monsarrat, of ma
sons ; that of Saint Anne, of cabinet-makers ; that
of Saint Lucy, of tailors and seamstresses ; that of
the Ascension, of quarry men ; that of the Holy
Sacrament, of church-wardens ; that of Saint John
and St. James, of all those who have received either
of these names in baptism."
The women are in the same manner members of
similar religious associations. One of them, " The
Congregation of the Children of Mary," is of a pe
culiar character. It is also, though in a spiritual
point of view, a mutual aid society. In order to
obtain admission into this Congregation, which is
of course confined to the laity, the candidate must
have been long known as of irreproachable charac
ter. Little girls think of it long before they become
young women. The members of this Congregation
pledge themselves never to incur danger of falling
by frequenting worldly society in which the re
ligious spirit is lost not to follow the absurdities
of fashion, and on the other hand to attend punctu
ally the meetings and instructions which take place
every Sunday. Admission into the Congregation
is deemed an honor, while exclusion from it is con
sidered a disgrace. The good effected by this as
sociation in preserving a high tone of morality in
the country and preparing young women for their
maternal duties is incalculable. Consequently, in a
great number of dioceses many Confrerics have been
founded on the model of this Mother Congregation.
OUR LADY OF LOTTEDES. 2 I
The whole country has a peculiar devotion for
the Virgin. Numerous sanctuaries are consecrated
to her in the Pyrenees from Pietat or Garaison to
Betharram. All the altars in the parish church at
Lourdes are dedicated to the Mother of God.
III.
SUCH was the state of Lourdes ten years ago.
The railroad did not then pass by it, nor was it
indeed in contemplation. One marked out more
direct appeared to be intended beforehand for the
line of the Pyrenees.
The whole of the town and the fortress, as we
have already observed, are situated on the right
bank of the Gave, which after breaking in its
course from the south igainst the enormous rock
that serves as a pedestal to the castle, makes imme
diately a bend at right angles and takes suddenly a
westerly direction.
An ancient bridge, built some little distance
above the first houses of the town, serves as a means
of communication with the country, meadows,
forests and mountains on the left bank.
On this last bank, a little above the bridge and
opposite to the castle, a large canal is formed from
the water of the Gave. This canal rejoins its par
ent stream about a kilometre further down, after
passing the rocks of Massabielle, the base of which
it washes.
The long island formed by the Gave and this
canal isone vast and verdant tract of meadow land
and is known by the name of r lie du Chalet, or
more commonly le Chalet.
22 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
The mill of Sitvy, the only one on the left bank,
is built across the canal and serves as a bridge
between the island meadow and the main land.
In 1858 there was scarcely a wilder, more savage
or solitary spot in the environs of the busy little
town we have described, than the Rocks of Massa-
bielle, at the foot of which the mill-stream rejoined
the Gave.
A few paces above this junction, on the bank of
the stream, the abrupt rock was pierced at its base
by three irregular caverns, curiously placed above
each other and communicating with one another
like holes in a gigantic sponge.
The singularity of these caverns renders them
somewhat difficult to describe.
The first and the largest was on a level with the
ground. It had almost the appearance of a booth
at a country fair, or of a badly shaped and very
high oven cut vertically through the centre, so as
only to form a semi : dome. The entrance in the
shape of an arch very much askew was about thir
teen feet high. The breadth and depth of the
grotto could not have been less than three times
its height. The rock sloped back from the en
trance, like the roof of a garret seen from below,
and became narrower on either side.
Above, somewhat to the right of the spectator,
were two superimposed apertures in the rock,
forming as it were annexes or dependencies of this
larger one.
Viewed from the outside the principal of these
two openings was oval in form and about the size
of a window in a house or a niche in a church. It
sloped slightly up as it receded ; then, at the depth
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
*j
of about six feet, forked ; one branch descending to
the grotto beneath, the other turning back on itself
as far as the exterior of the rock and forming the
second upper aperture of which we have spoken,
but being of no importance except that it gave light
in every way to this supplementary cavity.
An eglantine or wild rose, springing from a fis
sure in the rock, trailed its long branches at the
base of this niche-like orifice.
At the foot of this little series of caverns, which
the eye could take in at a glance, but of which it
is very difficult by mere description to convey a
correct idea, the mill-stream rushes over a chaos of
enormous rocks, fallen from the mountains, to re
unite with the Gave five or six paces below.
^ The grotto was exactly in front of the He du
Chalet which, as we have already observed, was
formed by the Gave and the canal.
These caverns were called the Grotto of Massi-
bielle from the name of the rocks of which it formed
a part. In \hepatois of the country " Massabielle "
signifies " Old Rocks."
Lower down on the banks of the Gave there was
a steep and rugged hillock which, as well as these
rocks, belonged to the commune of Lourdes, and
where the poor of the town used to bring their pigs
to feed. On the approach of a storm the grotto
served them as a place of shelter, as also to the few
fishermen who were wont to fish with nets in this
part of the Gave.
As in all caverns of this nature the rock was dry
in fine weather and slightly humid when it rained.
This occasional humidity and imperceptible drip
ping of the wet season was only observable on one
24 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
side, that to your right on entering. It is precisely
on this side that the rain usually comes, driven by
the westerly wind ; and the rock being very slender
and full of clefts in this place suffered in the same
way as do houses with the same exposure and built
with indifferent mortar.
The left side and the bottom not being thus ex
posed were always as dry as the floor of a drawing-
room. The accidental humidity of the western
wall served even to set off by contrast the burning
dryness of the northern, eastern and southern por
tions of the grotto.
Above this triple cavity arose almost in a peak
the enormous mass of the Rocks of Massabielle,
garlanded in many a place with ivy and box,
heather and moss. Tangled brambles, hazels and
wild roses, a few trees, whose branches were often
broken by the wind, extended their roots into the
fissures of the rocks, wherever the falling in of the
mountain or the breath of heaven had afforded them
a handful of earth for their nourishment. The
eternal sower, He whose invisible hand fills the
immensity of space with suns and planets, He who
has produced out of nothing the ground on which
we tread, the vegetable and animal kingdoms, the
Creator of so many millions of men who have peo
pled the earth, and so many millions of angels who
people heaven, that God, whose wealth is bound
less and power unlimited, does not intend that a
single atom should be lost in the immense regions
of his works. And this is why He leaves nothing
barren which is capable of production ; this is why
over the entire extent of our globe innumerable
germs float in the air, covering the vegetable earth
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 $
wherever it appears, were there only room for the
existence of a blade of grass or for the growth of
the tiniest moss. And in the same way, O Divine
Sower ! thy graces, like an invisible dust of fruitful
seeds, float around our souls on the watch for a
fertile soil. And if we are so barren, it is because
we present to Thee sometimes hearts harder and
more arid than the rock, sometimes beaten paths
for ever trodden by the feet of the passers by,
sometimes thickets of thorns solely occupied by
rank weeds which choke the good seed.
IV.
IT was necessary to describe somewhat minutely
the country destined to be the scene of the events
we are about to relate. It is of no less importance
to indicate beforehand what light, or I should rather
say what profound moral truth lights up the start
ing point of this history, in which, as will be seen,
the hand of God has visibly appeared. These re
flections will retard us but an instant in the com
mencement of our recital.
It appears almost superfluous to point out the
strong contrasts to be met with in this world, in
which the wicked and the good, the rich and the
poor are mingled together, and the cottage of the
indigent is sometimes separated but by a single wall
from the abode of opulence. On one side, all the
pleasures of a life of ease, agreeably organized in
the midst of the comforts and elegance of luxury ;
on the other, the horrors of want, cold, hunger,
disease the melancholy procession of human suf
ferings. Around the former, adulation, visits and
2 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
loud professions of friendship ; around the others,
indifference, solitude, desertion. People of the
world shun the poor man and leave him out of all
their schemes, either because they fear the impor
tunity of his actual or silent appeals, or because they
dread the sight of his fearful destitution, as a re
proach to themselves. The rich, forming themselves
into an exclusive circle which they call " good
society," consider all outside of themselves as hav
ing only as it were a secondary existence, unworthy
of their attention all those in fact who do not be
long to the class of " gentlemen." When they em
ploy a workman, even when they are charitably
disposed and succor the poor, they treat him as a
protege, as an inferior. They do not act towards
him with that simple intimacy with which they
would conduct themselves towards one of their
own set. With the exception of some rare chris-
tians, no one treats the poor man as his brother or
his equal. With the exception of the Saints
alas ! few and far between in our day who would
ever think of showing him the respect they deem
due to a superior? In the world, properly so
called, in the great world the poor man is absolutely
forsaken. Overwhelmed with the weight of labor,
worn out with want, despised and abandoned, would
it not appear as though he were cursed by the
Creator of the earth ? Ah ! it is just the contrary ;
he is the beloved one of the universal Father. While
the World has been cursed for ever by the infallible
word of Christ, it is the poor, the suffering, the
humble, the insignificant who are the " good so
ciety " in the eyes of God, the chosen company in
which his heart delights. " Ye arc my friends,"
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 ~
he tells them in his Gospel. He does more. He
identifies himself with them and only opens the
kingdom of heaven to the rich on condition of their
having been the benefactors of the poor. " Inas
much as ye have done it to one of the least of these
little ones, ye have done it unto me."
So, when the Son of God came upon earth, it was
His will to be born, to live and to die in the midst
of the poor to be Himself poor. It was from
among them He chose his Apostles, his principal
disciples, the first-born of his Church. In the long
history of that Church, it was upon the poor that
He generally poured forth his choicest spiritual
graces. In all ages with some slight exceptions
- Apparations, Visions, especial Revelations, have
been the privilege of the poor and little ones whom
the world despises.
When God, in His wisdom, deems fit to manifest
himself sensibly to men by these mysterious phe
nomena, He descends, as do the kings of the earth
when traveling, into the houses of His ministers or
of His particular friends. And this is the reason
of His habitual choice of the dwellings of the poor
and the humble.
For nearly two thousand years past has the word
of the Apostle been verified, " God hath chosen
what is weak according to the world to confound
that which is powerful."
The recital undertaken by us will perhaps furnish
some proof of these high truths.
V.
ON the nth of February, 1858, was inaugurated
2 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the week of profane enjoyments, which, according
to immemorial custom, precedes the austerities of
Lent. The weather was cold and somewhat over
cast, but very calm. The clouds remained motion
less in the depths of heaven. There was no breeze
to agitate them and the atmosphere was entirely
still. Occasionally there fell a few drops of rain. On
that day the diocese of Tarbes, in accordance with
the peculiar privileges of its Proper Office, was
celebrating the memory and the feast of the illustri
ous Sheperdess of Saint Genevieve.
It was eleven o clock in the morning by the
parish church of Lourdes.
While joyful assemblies and parties were almost
everywhere in preparation, a poor family, lodged
in a wretched dwelling in the Rue Petits-fosses,
had not even wood for cooking their scanty meal.
The father, still young, was a miller by trade, and
had for a short time kept a little mill situated to the
north of the town on one of the streams which flow
into the Gave. This business, however, required a
certain amount of capital, as the lower classes are not
in the habit of paying ready money for having their
corn ground, and consequently the poor miller had
been obliged to relinquish the little mill, where his
exertions, instead of placing him in easy circum
stances, had served only to plunge him into deeper
poverty. Waiting for better days he worked hard
not at home, for he had nothing in the world, not
even a small garden but all around, for some of
his neighbors, who employed him from time to time
as a day-laborer.
His name was Francois Soubirous, and he was
married to a very respectable woman, Louise Cas-
OUR LADY OF LO URDUS. 29
terot, who was a good Christian and kept up the
courage of her husband.
They had four children, two girls, the eldest of
them being about fourteen years old, and two boys
much younger ; the last born being between three
and four years old.
It was only within the last fortnight that their
eldest daughter, a weakly child, had been living
under the same roof with them. This is the little
girl destined to take an important part in our nar
ration, and we have carefully studied all the pecu
liarities and details of her life.
At her birth, her mother, then very much out of
health, had been unable to suckle her, and had
placed her out to nurse in a neighboring village,
Bartres, where the infant remained after bein^
o
weaned. Louise Soubirous had become a mother
for the second time ; and the care of two children
at the same time, would have detained her at
home, and prevented her from going out to daily
labor in the fields, which, however, she could easily
do as long as she only had one child at the breast.
For this reason the parents allowed their eldest
to remain at Dartres. They paid five francs a
month for her board, sometimes in money, but
more frequently in kind.
When the little girl was old enough to make
herself useful, and there was some idea of taking
her back to her parent s house, the good pea
sants, who had brought her up, perceived that
they had formed a strong attachment to her, and
regarded her almost as one of their own children.
From that day they kept her without charge, and
employed her in tending their sheep. Thus she
30 OUR LAD 7 OF LOUIWES.
grew up in the midst of the family which had
adopted her, passing all her days in solitude on
the lonely declivities, where her humble flock
grazed.
Her knowledge of prayers was entirely confined
to the Chaplet. Either because her foster-mother
had recommended this to her, or because it was
the simple want of her innocent soul, everywhere
and at all times, while engaged in watching her
flock, she was in the habit of reciting this prayer
of the simple. In addition to this, she amused her
self quite alone with those natural play-things,
which motherly providence provides for the chil
dren of the poor, who, in this respect, as indeed in
all others, are more easily satisfied than those
of the rich. She used to play with stones, which
she piled up in little childish buildings ; with the
plants and flowers which she gathered here and
there ; with the water of the brook, into which she
threw immense fleets of blades of grass, following
them with her eye as they floated downwards, and
lastly, with the lamb which was the object of her
preference in the flock intrusted to her care. " Of
all my lambs," she said one day, " there is one I
love more than all the rest." " And which is that,"
she was asked. " The one I love," she replied, " is
the smallest ; " and it was her greatest pleasure to
caress it in frolicsome sport.
Compared with other children, she was herself
like this poor little feeble lamb which she loved.
Although she had already attained her fourteenth
year, you would have never supposed her to be
more than eleven or twelve. She was subject to
an oppressive asthma, which, without rendering
OUR LADY OF LOURDE3. 3I
her absolutely sickly, caused her sometimes great
suffering. She bore her misfortune patiently, and
accepted her physical pains with that tranquil
resignation which appears so difficult to the rich,
but which the poor seem to find naturally and
without effort.
In this innocent and lonely school, the poor
shepherd-girl learned, perhaps, what is to the
world unknown: the simplicity, which is so pleas
ing to God. Far removed from the contagion
of impurity, ever communing with the Virgin Mary,
and passing her time and her hours in crowning
Her with prayers while telling her beads, she pre
served that entire candor, that baptismal purity,
which the breath of the world, even among the
best, so soon tarnishes.
Such was the soul of this child, limpid and peace
ful as those unknown lakes which are buried in the
midst of lofty mountains, and in which all the splen
dors of heaven are silently reflected. " Blessed are
the pure in heart," says the Gospel, "for they shall
see God."
These great gifts are hidden gifts, and the humil
ity which possesses them is often unconscious of
them. The young maiden had now reached her
fourteenth year, and if all those who accidentally
came in contact with her felt themselves attracted
towards, and secretly fascinated by her, she was
herself entirely unconscious of it. She regarded
herself as one of the last, and the most backward
children of her age, and in point of fact, she could
neither read nor write. In addition to this she was
wholly unacquainted with the French language, and
knew nothing but her own poor Pyrenean patois.
3 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
She had never been taught the catechism, and in
this respect her ignorance was extreme. " Our
Father, Hail Mary, I believe in God, Glory be to
the Father" recited in the course of the Chaplet,
constituted the extent of her religious knowledge.
After the foregoing details, it is unnecessary to
add, that she had not yet made her first com
munion. In was in fact with the view of preparing
her for this, and sending her to the catechism class,
that the Soubirous had just withdrawn her from
the retired village, where her foster-parents resided,
and had brought her to their own house, at
Lourdcs, notwithstanding their exceeding poverty.
It was about a fortnight since she had returned
to the dwelling of her parents. Her mother treated
her with every possible care and attention, as her
asthma and her general fragility of appearance
caused her much anxiety. While the rest of the
children of the Soubirous went about in nothing
but their sabots, this child wore stockings ; while
her sister and brothers were always running about
in the open air, she was almost constantly employed
in the house. The poor child accustomed to be in
the open air, would have preferred going out.
The day was Shrove-Tuesday ; it had struck
eleven o clock, and these poor people had not the
wood necessary to prepare their mid-day meal.
" Go and gather some on the bank of the Gave,
or on the common," said the mother to Marie, her
second daughter.
As in many other places, the poor in the com
mune of Lourdes, possessed the right of picking up
any dry branches which the wind might have
blown down from the trees, and any dead wood
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 33
-which might have been washed down by a flood,
and left among the rocks along the course of the
*t>
river.
Marie put on her sabots, an operation which her
elder sister, of whom we have just been speaking,
the little shepherd-girl of Bartros, regarded with
envy.
" Allow me to follow her," she said to her mother,
" I will also bring back my little bundle of wood."
" No," answered Louise Soubirous : you have a
cough, and it would make you worse."
In the mean time, a young girl from the next
house, Jeanne Abadie, about fifteen years old, had
entered, and volunteered to go with them to pick
up some wood. They all joined in urging the
mother to give the required permission, and at
length she consented.
The child at the moment had a handkerchief
wrapped round her head and knotted on the side as
is the custom with the peasant women in the South.
This did not appear sufficient to the mother.
" Take your capulct" she said to her.
The capulct is a very graceful article of dress,
peculiar to the races of the Pyrenees, and partakes
of the nature of the kerchief and the mantle. It is
a kind of hood, of very coarse cloth, sometimes
white as the fleece of a sheep, sometimes of a
brilliant scarlet, which covers the head and falls back
over the shoulders, as far down as the loins. When
the weather is very cold or windy, the women bring
it in front, and carefully envelope in it their neck
and arms. When they find it too warm for this
garment, they fold it up square, and carry it on
their heads, like a kind of quadrangular berret,
34 OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
The capulct of the little shepherd-girl of Bartrcs
was white.
VI.
THE three children soon left the town behind
them, and crossing the bridge, reached the left
bank of the Gave. They passed by the mill of
M. de Laffitte, and gaining the lie du Chalet, sought
here and there for small fragments of wood, in or
der to make a little faggot.
By degrees they descended the meadow, follow
ing the course of the Gave. The frail child, to
whom the mother had hesitated in granting per
mission to leave the house, walked somewhat in
the rear. Less fortunate than her two companions
she had not yet found anything, and her apron was
empty, while her sister and Jeanne were already
furnished with a little load of chips and small
branches.
Clad in a worn-out and patched black dress, her
delicate visage framed in the white capulet which
covered her head, and fell back on her shoulders,with
coarse sabots on her feet, she displayed an innocent
and rustic grace which charmed the heart even
more than the eye.
She was short for her age. Although her child
ish features were somewhat tanned by the sun, they
had lost nothing of their native delicacy. Her hair,
black and soft, was almost concealed by her ker
chief. Her brow, which was tolerably lofty, was
marked by lines of incomparable purity. Under
her well-arched eyebrows, her brown eyes sweeter
in her even than blue possessed a calm and pro-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. y
found beauty, whose magnificent limpidity had
never been troubled by any evil passion. It was
the simple eye spoken of in the Gospel. The
mouth, wonderfully expressive, served as the index
of a soul in which habitual goodness and compas
sion for suffering of every kind held undisputed
sway.
Her physiognomy was pleasing, owing to its
sweetness and intelligence, and her whole person
possessed an extraordinary attraction, which sensi
bly affected the most elevated regions of the soul.
What then was this attraction. I was going to
say this ascendancy, and this secret authority in
this poor ignorant child clothed in rags. It was
the greatest and the rarest thing in the world the
Majesty of Innocence.
We have not yet told her name. Her Patron was
a great Doctor of the Church whose genius shel
tered itself more especially under the protection of
the Mother of God the author of the Memorare,
" Remember, O most pious Virgin Mary," the ad
mirable Saint Bernard. However, in accordance
with a custom which is not without its charm, the
great name given to this humble peasant girl had
taken a child-like and rustic form. The little girl
bore a pretty name, graceful like herself she was
called Bernadette.
She followed her sister and her companion along
the meadow by the mill and searched, but in vain,
among the grass for some morsels of wood for the
hearth at home.
Such must have been the appearance of Ruth,
or of Naomi, going to glean in the fields of
Boaz.
36 OVR LADY OF LOUIiDES.
VII.
THE three girls, strolling- in this manner, had
reached the end of the He du Chalet, directly op
posite the triple excavation forming the Grotto of
Massabielle, which we have endeavored to describe.
They were only separated from it by the course of
the mill-stream, which was ordinarily very consid
erable, and which bathed the feet of the rocks.
Now, it happened that on that very day, the mill
of Savy was undergoing repairs, and the water
had been turned off as much as possible above.
The canal was, consequently, very easy to cross,
though not altogether dry, and the channel was ex
ceedingly narrow.
Branches of dead wood fallen from the various
wild trees and shrubs which grew in the fissures of
the rock were thickly scattered over this lonely spot,
which the accidental drainage of the canal rendered
more easy of access at the moment than was usu
ally the case.
Delighted with this fortunate discovery, and as
active and diligent as Martha in the Gospel, Jeanne
and Marie quickly took off their wooden sabots and
forded the little stream.
"The water is very cold" they observed, on
reaching the opposite bank and putting on their sa
bots again.
It was the month of February, and these torrents
from the mountain, freshly issuing from the eternal
snows to which they owe their source, are usually
of an icy temperature.
Bernadette less active or less eager, and being be
sides far from robust, was still on this side of the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 37
little stream. The idea of fording- this feeble chan
nel was quite embarrassing to her. She had also to
take off her stockings, while Marie and Jeanne wore
nothing but sabots ; and, hearing the exclamation of
her companions, she feared the coldness of the wa
ter.
u Throw two or three large stones into the mid
dle of the stream," she said to them, " so that I
may pass over without wetting my feet."
The two gleaners of wood were already arrang
ing their little fagot and did not care to lose any
time in suspending their operations.
" Do as we did," answered Jeanne ; "go in bare
footed."
Bernadette submitted, and leaning against a frag
ment of rock which was there, began to take off
her shoes and stockings. It was about noon, and the
Angelus might sound at any moment from all the
towers of the Pyrenean villages.
VIII.
SHE was engaged in taking off her first stocking
when she heard around her as it were, the sound of
a blast of wind, rising in the meadow-tract with an
indescribable character of irresistible might.
She believed it to be a sudden hurricane, and
turned herself round instinctively. To her great
surprise, the poplars which border the Gave were
perfectly motionless. Not the slightest breeze stir
red their still branches.
"1 must have been deceived," she said to herself.
As she thought again about this noise, she did not
know what to believe.
38 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
She began once more to remove her shoes and
stocking s.
At this moment, the impetuous roaring of this
unknown blast became audible afresh.
Bernadette raised her head, gazed in front of her,
and uttered, or rather strove to utter, a loud cry,
which was stifled in her throat. She shuddered in
all her limbs, and confounded, dazzled, and crushed
in a certain manner by what she saw before her,
she sank down, bowed herself entirely to the earth
and fell on both knees.
A truly unheard-of spectacle had just met her
gaze. The narration of the child ; the innumerable
interrogations which a thousand sharp-sighted and
inquisitive minds have put to her since that period ;
the precise and minute particularities into which so
many intellects on the watch for discrepancies have
forced her to descend, allow us to trace with a
hand as sure of each detail as of the general physi
ognomy the wonderful and astounding portrait of
the marvelous Being who appeared at that instant
to the eyes of the terrified and transported Berna
dette.
IX.
ABOVE the Grotto, in front of which Marie and
Jeanne, eagerly bending to the ground were picking
up pieces of dead wood, in the rustic niche formed
by the rock, a woman of "incomparable splendor
stood upright, in the midst of a superhuman bright
ness.
The ineffable light which floated around her nei
ther paine, 1 nor distressed the eyes, as does the bril-
OUR LADY OF LOTTED ES.
39
liancy of sunshine. Far from this being the case,
this aureole, intense as a pencil of rays, and calm as
a profundity of shade, invincibly attracted the gaze,
which seemed to bathe itself in it and rest on it with
exquisite delight ! It was, like the morning star,
light combined with coolness. There was, in addi
tion to this, nothing vague or vaporous in the Ap
parition herself. She had not the transitory form
of a fantastic vision, she was a living reality, a hu
man body which the eye pronounced palpable, like
the flesh of us all, and which only differed from an
ordinary person by its aureole and its divine beauty
She was of middle height. She appeared to be
quite young, and had the grace of the age of twen
ty years. But, without losing aught of its tender
delicacy, this lustre, so fleeting in time, had in her
the stamp of eternity, Further, in her features so
divinely marked, there were mingled in some sort,
but without disturbing their harmony > the succes
sive and distinct beauties of the four seasons of hu
man life. The innocent candor of the Child, the
absolute purity of the Virgin, the tender serious
ness of the highest of Maternities, and Wisdom su
perior to that of all accumulated ages, were sum
med up and melted into each other, without injur
ing the effect of each in this marvelous countenance
of youthful womanhood. To what can we com
pare it in this fallen world, where the rays of the
beautiful are scattered, broken and tarnished, and
where they never appear to us without some im
pure admixture? Any image, any comparison
would be a degradation of this unutterable type.
No majesty existing in the universe, no distinction
of this world, no simplicity here below, could con-
40 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
vey any idea of it or assist us to comprehend it
better. It is not with earthly lamps that we can
can render visible, and, so to say, light up the stars
of heaven.
Even the regularity and the ideal purity of these
features, in which nothing clashed, shields them
from any attempt at description. Need we how
ever say, that the oval curve of the countenance
was infinitely graceful ; that the eyes were blue and
so sweet that they seemed to melt the heart of ev
ery one upon whom they turned their gaze? The
lips breathed forth divine goodness and kindness.
The brow seemed to contain supreme wisdom, that
is to say, the union of omniscience with boundless
virtue.
Her garments of an unknown texture, and doubt
less woven in the mysterious loom which furnishes
attire for the lilies of the valley, were white as the
stainless mountain snow, and more magnificent in
their simplicity than the gorgeous robe of Solomon
in all his glory. Her robe, long and training, fall
ing in chaste folds around her, suffered her feet to
appear reposing on the rock, and lightly pressing
the branches of the wild rose which trailed there.
On each of them in their virgin nudity there ex
panded the mystic rose of a bright, golden color.
In front, a girdle blue as the heavens was knot
ted half-way round her body and fell in two long
bands reaching within a short distance of her feet.
Behind, a white veil fixed around her head and en
veloping in its ample folds, her shoulders and the
upper part of her arms, descended as far as the hem
of her robe.
She wore neither rings, nor ndcklace, nor diadem,
ft* i
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 4I
nor jewels of any description ; none of those orna
ments with which human vanity has decorated it
self in all ages. A chaplet, with beads as white as
drops of milk strung on a chain of the golden hue
of harvest, hung from her hands, which were fer
vently clasped. The beads of the chaplet glided
one after the other through her fingers. The lips
however of. this Queen of Virgins, remained mo
tionless. Instead of reciting the rosary, she was
perhaps listening in her own heart to the eternal
echo of the Angelic Salutation, and to the vast mur
mur of the invocations coming from the earth.
She was silent ; but later her own words, and the
miraculous events which we shall have to recount,
plainly testified that She was the Immaculate Vir
gin, the most august and holy Mary, mother of
God.
This marvelous apparition gazed on Bernadette,
who, in the first shock of amazement, had, as we
have already said, sunk down, and without assign
ing any reason to herself, had suddenly prostrated
herself on her knees.
X.
THE child, in the first moment of astonishment,
had seized her chaplet, and holding it between her
fingers, wished to make the sign of the Cross and
carry her hand to her bosom. But she trembled to
such a degree that she had not the faculty of rais
ing her arm ; it fell powerless on her bended knees.
Nolite timcre, " do not fear," said Jesus to his dis
ciples, when he came to them walking on the waves
of the sea of Tiberias.
42 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The fixed gaze, and the smile of the incompara
ble Virgin, seemed to say the same thing to the lit
tle, terrified shepherd-girl.
With a grave and sweet gesture, which had the
air of an all-powerful benediction for earth and
heaven, she herself made the sign of the Cross, as
with the view of re-assuring the child. The hand
of Bernadette, raising itself by degrees? as if invisi
bly lifted by Her who is called the Succor of Chris
tians, made the sacred sign at the same moment.
Ego sum : nolitc timcrc. " It is I, be not afraid,"
said Jesus to his disciples.
The child was no longer afraid. Dazzled, fascin
ated, having nevertheless occasional doubts about
herself, and rubbing her eyes, her gaze constantly
attracted by this celestial apparition, she humbly
recited her chaplet : " I believe in God : Hail,
Mary, full of Grace
At the moment of her closing it by singing,
" Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Ghost," etc., etc., the Virgin, so radiant
with light, all at once disappeared, and doubtless
re-entered the eternal Heavens, the abode of the
Holy Trinity.
Bernadette experienced the feeling of one de
scending or falling from a great height. She glanced
around her. The Gave was pursuing its murmur
ing course over the pebbles and broken rocks ; but
its murmur seemed to her hoarser than before, the
waters more sombre, the landscape dull, and the
light of the sun even not so clear. Before her were
extended the Rocks of Massabielle, beneath which
her companions were busily occupied in gathering
morsels of wood. Above the Grotto, the niche
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
43
where the wild rose trailed its branches was always
open ; but nothing- unwonted appeared about it.
There remained in it no trace of the divine visit,
and it was no longer the Gate of Heaven.
XL
THE scene just recounted had lasted about a quar
ter of an hour : not that Bernadette was conscious
of the exact lapse of time, but she was enabled to
compute it by the fact of her having been able to
recite the five decades of her chaplet.
Bernadette being completely restored to herself,
finished taking off her shoes and stockings, and
fording the little stream, rejoined her companions.
Absorbed as she was with the thought of what she
had just seen, she no longer feared the coldness of
the water. All the childish faculties of the humble
little girl were concentrated to the end of turning
over and over again in her heart the remembrance
of this unheard of vision.
Jeanne and Marie had observed her falling on
her knees and engaged in prayer ; but this, thank
God, is not an event of rare occurrence among the
children of the Mountain, and being occupied in
their task, they had not paid any attention to the
circumstance.
Bernadette was surprised at the complete calm
ness of her sister and Jeanne, who having just then
completed their work, had entered the Grotto and
had commenced to play as if nothing extraordinary
had taken place.
" Have you seen nothing ?" asked she. They then
remarked that she appeared agitated and excited.
44
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" No," they replied. " Have you seen any
thing?"
Whether the youthful Seerfearedto profane what
so entirely filled her mind, Ijy repeating it, or wish
ed to digest it in silence, or was restrained by some
feeling of timidity, it is difficult to say ; but she
obeyed that seemingly instinctive necessity of hum
ble minds to conceal, as if a treasure, the peculiar
graces with which God has favored them.
" If you have seen nothing," she rejoined, " I have
nothing to tell you."
The little fagots were soon arranged and the
three girls started on their return to Lourdes.
Bernadette, however, had not been able to dis
simulate the troubled state of her mind. While on
the way home, Marie and Jeanne urged her to tell
them what she had seen. The little shepherd-girl
gave way to their entreaties, having previously ex
acted a promise of secrecy.
"I have seen," she said, "something clothed in
white ;" and she described to them, in the best lan
guage she could, her marvelous vision.
" Now you know what I have seen," she said at
the termination of her narration ; " but I beg of
you not to say anything about it."
Marie and Jeanne had no doubts on the subject.
The soul, in its first purity and innocence, is natu
rally prone to belief, and doubt is not the fault of
simple childhood. Beside, the touching and sin
cere accents of Bernadette, who was still agitated
and deeply impressed by what she had seen, sway
ed them irresistibly. Marie and Jeanne did not
doubt, but they were terrified. The children of the
poor are always timid. This may be easily ex-
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 45
plained, from the fact that suffering reaches them
from all quarters.
" It is, perhaps, something to do us harm," they
observed. " Do not let us go there again, Berna-
dette."
The confidantes of the little shepherd -girl had
scarcely reached home when they found them
selves unable to keep the secret any longer. Marie
related all the circumstances to her mother.
" It is all nonsense," said the mother. " What is
this your sister tells me ?" she continued, interroga
ting Bernadette.
The latter re-commenced her narration and her
mother shrugged her shoulders.
" You are deceived. It was nothing at all. You
fancied you saw something and have seen nothing.
It is mere folly and nonsense."
Bernadette persisted in what she had said.
" At all events," rejoined the mother, " do not go
there any more. I forbid you to do so."
This prohibition weighed heavily on the heart of
Bernadette ; for since the Apparition had vanished,
it had been her greatest wish to see it again. How
ever, she submitted and made no reply.
XII
Two days, the Wednesday and Thursday passed
away. This extraordinary event was never for a
moment absent from the thoughts of Bernadette,
and formed the constant subject of her conversa
tions with her sister Marie, Jeanne and some other
children. The remembrance of the celestial Vision
in all its sweetness, was still in the depths of Ber-
46 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
nadette s soul. A passion if we may use a word
so often profaned to designate so pure a sentiment
had sprung up in the heart of the innocent little
girl : the ardent desire of again seeing the incom
parable Lady. The name of " Lady," was the one
she had given her in her rustic language. How
ever, when any one asked her whether this Appa
rition bore any resemblance to any lady she might
see in the street or in the church, to any one of those
celebrated for their exceeding beauty throughout
the country, she shook her head and smiled sweetly :
" Nothing of all this gives you any idea of it,"
she answered. " The beauty she possesses is not
to be expressed by language."
It was, therefore, her great desire to see her
once more. The minds of the other children were
divided between fear and curiosity.
XIII.
THE sun rose brightly on the Sunday morning,
and the weather was splendid. There are often in
the valleys of the Pyrenees, days warm and mild,
like those of spring, which seem to have strayed
into the lap of winter.
On returning from Mass, Bernadette begged her
sister Marie, Jeanne and some other girls, to urge
her mother to remove her prohibition and to per
mit them to re-visit the Rocks of Massabielle.
" Perhaps it is something wicked/ said the chil
dren.
Bernadette replied that she could not believe
such to be the case, as she had never seen a coun
tenance of such marvelous goodness.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 47
" At all events," rejoined the little girls, who,
being better educated than the poor shepherd-girl
of Dartres, knew a little of the catechism " at all
events, you must throw some holy water over it.
If it is the Devil, he will depart. You shall say to it,
if you come on the part of God, approach ; if you
come from the Devil, depart."
This was not precisely the formulary for exor
cism ; but in point of fact these little theologians of
Lourdes reasoned on the case with as much pru
dence and discretion as any Doctor in the Sor-
bonne.
It was therefore carried in this youthful council,
to take some holy water with them. Besides, in
consequence of all these conversations, a certain
amount of apprehension had entered the mind of
Bernadette.
Nothing remained now but to obtain permission.
The children demanded this in a body after the
micl-day repast. The mother was at first unwilling
to grant their request, alleging- that as the Gave
flowed by and washed the Rocks of Massabielle,
their going there might be attended with danger ;
that the hour of Vespers which they must on no
account miss was near at hand, and that all this
story was childish. But we know how difficult it
is to resist the prayers and entreaties of a troop of
children. All promised prudence, expedition and
good behavior, and the Mother ended by giving
way.
The little group proceeded to the Church and
devoted a few moments to prayer. One of Berna-
dette s companions had brought with her a pint
bottle which was duly filled with holy water.
48 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
On their first arrival at the Grotto, there was no
manifestation of any kind.
" Let us pray," said Bernadette, " and recite the
chaplet."
The children accordingly kneeled down, and
commenced to recite the Rosary.
All at once the countenance of Bernadette ap
peared to be transfigured, and was so in reality.
An extraordinary emotion was depicted on her
countenance, and her glance, more brilliant than
usual, seemed to inhale a divine light.
The marvelous apparition had just become mani
fest to her eyes ; her feet resting on the rock, and
clothed as on the former occasion.
" Look!" she said ; "she is there."
Alas ! the sight of the other children was not mi
raculously released, as was her own, from the veil
of flesh which hinders us from distinguishing spir
itualized bodies. The little girls perceived naught
but the solitary rock and the branches of the wild
rose which descended in a thousand wild arabesques
to the base of the mysterious niche, in which Ber
nadette contemplated an unknown Being.
However, the expression of Bernadette s coun
tenance was of such a nature, as to leave no room
for doubt. One of the girls placed the bottle of
holy water in the hands of the youthful Seer.
Then Bernadette, remembering the promise she
had made, rose, and shaking the little bottle briskly
several times, sprinkled the marvelous Lady, who
stood, graciously, a few paces in front of her in the
interior of the niche.
" If you come on the part of God, approach,"
said Bernadette.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
49
At these words and actions of the child, the Vir
gin bowed several times and advanced almost to the
edge of the rock. She appeared to smile at the pre
cautions and hostile weapons of Bernadette, and her
countenance lighted up at the sacred name of God.
" If you come on the part of God, draw near,"
repeated Bernadette.
But, when she observed her beauty so gloriously
brilliant and so resplendent with celestial goodness,
she felt her heart fail her at the moment of adding
" If you come on the part of the Devil, depart."
These -words which had been dictated to her, ap
peared monstrous in the presence of this incompar
able Being, and they fled forever from her thought
without having mounted to her lips.
She prostrated herself afresh and continued to re
cite the chaplet, to which the Virgin appeared to
listen as her own beads glided through her fingers.
At the close of this prayer the Apparition van
ished.
XIV.
ON her way back to Lourdes, Bernadette was
filled with joy, She pondered in the depth of her
soul on these strikingly extraordinary events. Her
companions experienced a kind of vague terror.
The transfiguration of Bernadette s countenance
had proved to them the reality of a supernatural
apparition. Everything that exceeds nature is a
source of terror to it. " Depart from us, Lord, lest
we should die," was the exclamation of the Jews in
the Old Testament. .
" We are afraid, Bernadette. Let us not return
3
50 OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
here again. Perhaps what you have seen comes to
do us harm," said her timid companions to the
youthful Seer.
The children returned, according to promise, in
time for Vespers. When the office was over, the
fineness of the weather attracted many of the in
habitants to prolong their walk as they chatted to
gether, enjoying the last rays of the sun, so mild in
these splendid winter days. The story of the little
girls circulated here and there among these various
groups. By this means, a rumor of these strange
events began to be spread abroad in the town. The
report, which at first had only agitated a humble
knot of children, grew rapidly in proportion like a
wave, and penetrated from one to another into the
masses of the population. The quarriers, very nu
merous in that part of the country, the seamstress
es, the artisans, the peasants, the female servants,
the nurses, the poorer classes in general, talked of
this asserted apparition among themselves some
believing, others disputing it ; some only laughing
at it, while many exaggerated it. With one or two
exceptions, the bourgeoisie did not even take the
trouble of thinking for a moment about such child
ish stories.
Singularly enough, Bernadette s father and moth
er, though fully convinced of their child s sincerity,
regarded the Apparition as an illusion.
" She is but a child," they said. " She fancied
she saw something, but she has not seen anything.
It is only the imagination of a young girl."
However, the extraordinary preciseness of Ber
nadette s story puzzled them. At times, carried
away by the earnestness of their daughter, they felt
OUR LADT OF LOTJRDES. 51
themselves shaken in their incredulity. Much as
they wished her not to return to the Grotto, they did
not venture actually to forbid her doing so.
However, she did not return there until the fol
lowing Thursday.
XV.
DURING the first days of the week, many persons
of the lower classes came to the house of the Sou-
berous to put questions to Bernadette. The child s
answers were clear and precise. She might possi
bly be laboring under an illusion, but no one could
see her or hear her speak without being convinced of
her good faith. Her perfect simplicity, her inno
cent youth, and the irresistible emphasis of her lan
guage, something, what I know not, in all this,
inspired confidence, and most frequently produced
conviction. All those who saw her and conversed
with her, were entirely convinced of her veracity,
and fully persuaded that something very extraor
dinary had taken place at the Rocks of Massabi-
elle.
HOY. ever, the mere declaration of a little igno
rant girl could not suffice to establish a fact so en
tirely out of the ordinary course of things. Strong
er proofs were necessary than the word of a child.
Besides, what was the nature of this Apparition,
even granting its reality ? Was it a spirit of light,
or an angel from the abyss ? Was it not some soul
in a state of suffering wandering to and fro and de
manding the prayers of others ? Or further, such
or such a one who had died long ago in the country
in the odor of piety, and whose glory was now be-
52 OUR LADY OF LOLRDES.
ing made manifest ? Faith and superstition each
proposed their hypotheses.
Might it have been the funereal ceremonies of Ash-
Wednesday which served to incline a young girl
and a lady of Lourdes to one of these solutions ?
Did the glittering whiteness of the attire of the Ap
parition suggest to their minds the idea of a shroud
and a phantom ? We know not. The young girl
was called Antoinette Peyret, a member of the Con
gregation of the Children of Mary ; the other was
Madame Millet.
" It is doubtless some soul from Purgatory which
entreats for Masses," thought they.
And they went in search of Bernadette.
" Ask this Lady who she is and what she wishes,"
said they to her. " Let her explain this to you, or,
as you may not be able to understand her well, let
her commit it so writing, which would be still bet
ter."
Bernadette, who was strongly urged by some in
ternal impulse to re-visit the Grotto, obtained fresh
permission from her parents, and the following
morning at about six o clock, with the break of
dawn, after having assisted in the church at the
half-past five o clock Mass, she proceeded in the di
rection of the Grotto, accompanied by Antoinette
Peyret and Madame Millet.
XVI
THE repairs of M. de Lafitte s mill had been com
pleted, and the mill-stream restored to its usual
channel, so that it was impossible to reach their
place of destination by He du Chalet, as had been
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 53
the case on the former occasion. It was necessary
to scale the side of the Espelugnes, taking a raiser-
able road which led to the forest of Lourdes, and
then descend by a breakneck path to the Grotto, in
the midst of the rocks and steep and sandy decliv
ity of Massabielle.
Bernadette s companions were somewhat afraid
on meeting these unexpected difficulties. She her
self, on the contrary, on reaching the place felt her
heart thrill, and was impatient to arrive at the Grot
to. It seemed to her as if some invisible being bore
her along and lent her unwonted energy. Though
usually so frail, she felt herself strong at that mo
ment. Her step became so rapid in ascending the
hill, that Antoinette and Madame Millet, strong and
young as they were, experienced some difficulty in
following her. Her asthma which usually obliged
her to walk slowly, seemed for the moment to have
disappeared. She was neither out of breath nor
tired when she reached the summit. While her
companions were bathed with perspiration, her vis
age was calm and tranquil. She descended the
rocks, though for the first time in her life, with the
same ease and activity, being conscious as it were
of some invisible supporter by whom she was guid
ed and sustained. On these almost peaked declivi
ties, in the midst of these rolling stones, on the
edge of the abyss, her step was as firm and fearless
as if she had been walking on the broad and level
surface of a high-road. Madame Millet and Antoi
nette did not venture to follow her at this, to them,
impossible pace, but descended slowly and cautious
ly, as was indeed necessary in so perilous a path.
Bernadette accordingly reached the Grotto a few
54
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
moments before them. She prostrated herself and
commenced to recite her chaplet, gazing at the same
time on the niche, festooned with the branches of
the wild rose, which was still empty.
All at once she uttered a cry. The well-known
brilliancy of the aureola began to shed its rays
within the cavern. A voice, which called her, be
came audible. The marvelous apparition stood
there once more a few paces above her. The ad
mirable Virgin inclined her head, all-luminous with
eternal serenity, toward the child, and with a mo
tion of her hand signed to her to draw near.
Just at this moment Bernadette s two companions,
Antoinette and Madame Millet, arrived, after hav
ing gone through the most painful exertions. They
perceived the features of the child to be in a state
of ecstatic transfiguration.
She heard and saw them.
" She is there," she said. " She makes a sign for
me to advance."
" Ask her if she is angry at our being with you.
Should such be the case, we will retire."
Bernadette regarded the Virgin, invisible to all
save herself, listened for a moment and turned again
toward her companions.
" You may remain," she answered.
The two women kneeled down by the side of the
child and lighted a wax taper which they had
brought with them.
It was doubtless the first time since the creation
of the world that a light of the kind had shone in
this wild spot. This act so simple, which seemed
to inaugurate a sanctuary, had in itself a mysterious
solemnity.
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. 55
Under the supposition that the Apparition was
divine, this sign of visible adoration, this lowly
little flame lighted by two poor country women,
would never more be extinguished, but would in
crease in volume from day to day through the long
series of future ages. In vain would the breath of
incredulity exhaust itself in efforts, in vain would
the storm of persecution arise ; this flame, fed by
the faith of the people would continue to mount to
wards the throne of God, steady and inextinguish
able. While these rustic hands, doubtless uncon
scious of the importance of the act, lighted the
flame for the first time with so much simplicity in
this unknown grotto in which a child was praying,
the dawn, first of silvery whiteness, had assumed
successively golden and purple tints, and the sun,
which despite the clouds, was shortly to inundate
the earth with his light, began to appear from be
hind the crest of the mountains.
Bernadette in an ecstacy of delight contemplated
the faultless beauty. Tot a pulchra es, arnica, mea,
et macula non est in te.
Her companions addressed themselves to Berna
dette afresh.
" Advance towards Her since She calls you and
makes signs to you. Approach. Demand from
Her who she is, and why She comes here? Is it a
soul from Purgatory that entreats for prayers and
would have Masses said for it ? Beg her to write
on this piece of paper what She wishes. We are
disposed to do all she desires, all that may be ne
cessary for her repose."
The youthful Seer took the paper, pen and ink
handed to her and advanced toward the Apparition,
5 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
who seeing her approach encouraged her with a
Mother s glance.
However, at each step which the child took, the
Apparition drew back by degrees into the interior
of the cavern. Bernadette lost sight of her for a
moment and entered under the vault of the grotto
from below. There, always above her but much
nearer in the opening of the niche, she saw again
the radiant Virgin.
Bernadette, holding in her hands the writing ma
terials which had just been given her, stood on tip
toe in order to be able to reach with her tiny arms
the height where the supernatural Being was stand
ing-
Her two companions also advanced with the
object of trying to hear the conversation about to
be engaged in. But Bernadette without turning
and apparently in obedience to a gesture of the Ap
parition, signed to them with her hand not to ap
proach. Covered with confusion they retired a
little on one side.
" O Lady," said the child, " if you have anything
to communicate to me, would you have the kind
ness to inform me in writing who you are and what
you desire?"
The divine Virgin smiled at this simple request.
Her lips opened and she spoke.
" There is no occasion," she replied, " to commit
to writing what I have to tell you. Only do me
the favor to come here every day for fifteen
days."
" I promise you this," exclaimed Bernadette.
The Virgin smiled anew and made a sign of being
satisfied, thereby showing her entire confidence in
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. 57
the word of this poor peasant-girl who was but
fourteen years old.
She knew that the little shepherd-girl of Bartres
was like those pure children whose fair heads Jesus
loved to caress, saying : " Of such is the kingdom
of heaven."
She also replied to the promise of Bernadette by
a solemn engagement.
"And I," she said, "I promise to render you
happy, not in this but in the other world."
Bernadette, without losing sight of the Appari
tion, returned to her companions.
She remarked that the Virgin while She followed
her Herself with Her eyes, suffered Her gaze to
remain for upwards of a moment with an expression
of kindness on Antoinette Peyret, the unmarried
one of the two, who was a member of the Congre
gation of the Children of Mary. She repeated to
them what was passing.
" She is gazing on you at this moment," said the
youthful Seer to Antoinette.
The latter was deeply impressed by these words,
and since that time has been living on this souvenir.
"Ask Her," said they, "if it would be displeasing
to Her if we were to accompany you here every
day during the fifteen days ? "
Bernadette put the question to the Apparition.
" They may return with you," replied the Virgin,
" and others besides. I desire to see many persons
here."
In saying these words she disappeared, leaving
behind her that luminous brightness which had sur
rounded her, and which itself vanished by degrees.
On this as on other occasions the child remarked
.g OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
a peculiarity which seemed to be as it were the law
of the aureole with which the Virgin was constantly
surrounded.
" When the vision takes place," she said in her
way of speaking, " I see the light first and then the
Lady ; when the vision ceases it is the Lady
that disappears first and the light afterwards."
SECOND BOOK.
T.
ON her return to Lourdes, Bernadette had to in
form her parents of the promise she had made to
the mysterious Lady, and of the fifteen consecutive
days in which she was to repair to the Grotto. On
the other hand, Antoinette and Madame Millet re
counted what had past, the marvelous transfigura
tion of the child during her ecstacy, the words of the
Apparition and the invitation to return during the
Quinzaine. The rumor of these strange events
spread immediately in every direction, and, being
no longer confined to the lower classes, threw the
whole society of the country, from very different
motives, into the most profound state of agitation.
This Thursday, i8th of February, 1858, was mar
ket day at Lourdes. As usual, the attendance was
numerous, so that, the same evening, the news of
Bernadette s visions, whether true or false, was dis
persed in the mountains and valleys, at Bagneres,
Tarbes, Cautarets, Saint Pu, nay, in all directions
in the Department, and in the nearest towns of
Buarn. On the morrow, about a hundred persons
were assembled at the Grotto at the moment of
Bernadette s arrival. The following day, there
(59)
6o OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
were not less than four or five hundred ; and, on
Sunday morning-, the crowd collected was computed
at several thousands.
And yet, what did they see? What did they
hear under these wild rocks ? Nothing, absolutely
nothing, save a poor child praying-, who claimed to
see, and who claimed to hear. The more apparent
ly insignificant the cause, the more inexplicable,
humanly speaking, was the effect.
" It must be," argued believers, " either that the
reflection from on high was really visible on this
child, or that the breath of God which stirs up
hearts as it wills, had passed over this multitude.
Spirittis ubi vult spirat.
An electric current, an irresistible power from
which no one could escape, appeared to have roused
up the entire population at the word of an ignorant
shepherd girl. In the work-shops and yards, in the
interior of families, at the parties of the higher
classes, among clergy and laymen, at the houses of
rich and poor, at the club, in the cafes and hotels,
on the squares, in the streets, evening and morning,
in public and private, nothing else was talked of.
Whether any one sympathized with or was opposed
to it, or, without taking part either way was simply
curious and inquisitive to learn the truth, there was
not a single individual in the country who was not
strongly I had almost said entirely engrossed in
the discussion of these singular events.
Popular instinct had recognized the personality
of the Apparition without waiting for her to declare
her name. " It is, beyond a doubt, the Holy Vir
gin," was repeated by the multitude on every side.
In presence of the essentially insignificant author-
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 6l
ity of a little girl not yet fourteen years of age, who
pretended to see and hear what no one around her
saw or heard, the philosophers of the place had fair
play against Superstition.
This child is not even old enough to take an oath,
and her testimony would scarcely be received at any
of the tribunals when deposing to the most insigni
ficant fact ; and would you believe her,when the ques
tion in point is an impossible event, an Apparition ?
Is it not evidently a farce concocted for the sake of
raising money by her own family, or by the clerical
party? It only requires two sharp eyes to see
through this wretched intrigue. In less than ten
minutes any one of us might have seen through it.
Some of those who held this language determined
to see Bernadette, to ask her questions and be pres
ent at her ecstacies. The child s answers were sim
ple, natural, free from contradictions, and given with
an accent of truth which it was impossible to mis
take, so as generally to produce the conviction in
the most prejudiced minds of her entire sincerity.
With regard to her ecstacies, those who had seen at
Paris the greatest actresses of our day, agreed that
art could not go so far. The supposition of the
whole thing being a piece of acting, could not hold
out against the evidence of four and twenty hours.
The Savants, who at first had permitted the phil
osophers to decide the point/now took a high tone.
" We know this state perfectly well," they declar
ed. " Nothing is more natural. This little girl is
sincere, perfectly sincere in her answers ; but she is
in a state of hallucination. She fancies she sees, and
does not see ; she believes she hears, and does not
hear. As regards her ecstacies in which she is
6 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDE3.
equally sincere they are not acted nor do they pro
ceed from art. It is a purely medical question.
The young Souberous suffers from attacks of a cer
tain malady : she is cataleptic. In a derangement
of the brain, complicated with a muscular and ner
vous agitation, we have a full explanation of the
phenomena which makes so much noise among the
vulgar. Nothing is more simple."
The little weekly newspaper of the locality, Le
Lave dan, an advanced journal which habitually ap
peared behind its time, deferred its issue a day or
two in order to speak of this event, and, in as hos
tile an article as it could produce, summed up the
lofty speculations of philosophy and medicine, elab
orated by the clear heads of the place. From that
moment that is to say, from the Friday night and
the Saturday the idea of the whole thing being a
piece of acting had been abandoned in face of the
clearness of the facts, and the free-thinkers did not
return to it any more, as may be proved by all the
newspapers then issued.
In conformity with the universal tradition of High
Criticism in matters of religion, the excellent editor
of the Lavedan commenced with a little spice of cal
umny and insinuated that Bernadette and her com
panions were thieves.
" Three young children had gone to pick up some
branches of trees which had been felled near the
gates of the city. These girls, being surprised in the
-very act by the proprietor, fled as quick as their legs
could carry them to one of the grottoes, which arc
contiguous to the forest road of Lourdes."
The Free-thinkers have always written History
in this manner. After this straight-forward action,
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 63
which proved his good-will and admirable sense of
justice, the editor of the Lavedan gave a tolerably
correct account of what had taken place at the
Rocks of Massabielle. Indeed, the facts were too
notorious and had been witnessed by too many to
be denied.
" We will not relate," he added, " the innumer
able versions which have been given on this subject ;
we will only say that the young girl goes every
morning to pray at the entrance of the Grotto, a ta
per in her hand and escorted by more than five hun
dred persons. There she may be seen passing from
the greatest state of collectedness to a sweet smile,
and falling once more into the highest state of ec-
stacy. Tears escape from her eyes, which are per
fectly motionless, and remain constantly fixed on
that part of the Grotto where she fancies she sees
the Blessed Virgin. We shall make our readers
acquainted with the further progress of this adven
ture, which finds every day new adepts."
Not a word of acting or jugglery. They knew
well that this hypothesis fell to the ground on your
first conversation with Bernadette, on your first
glance at her ecstacy and the tears which moment
arily inundated her cheeks. The excellent Editor
affected to pity her, in order to induce others to
believe that she was an invalid. He never men
tioned her without calling her, in accents of gentle
compassion, " the poor visionary." " Everything,"
he said, from the opening of his article, " leads to
the supposition that this young girl suffers from an
attack of catalepsy."
" Hallucination," " catalepsy," were the two great
words in the mouths of the savants at Lourdes.
64 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" Be sure of one thing," they often said, " there is
no such thing as anything supernatural. Science
has abolished it. Science explains everything, and
in science alone can you find anything certain. It
compares and judges and looks to nothing but facts.
The supernatural was all very well in those ig
norant ages when the world was brutalized by
superstition and unable to observe things accu
rately ; but, in the present day, we defy its being
brought forward, for we are here. In the present
instance, we have an example of the stupidity of
the common people. Because a little girl is out of
health, and, when attacked by fever, has all kinds
of crotchets in her head, these blockheads loudly
proclaim a miracle. Human folly must, indeed,
be boundless to see an Apparition in what does not
appear, and detect a voice in what is heard by no
one. Let this pretended Apparition cause the sun
to stand still, like Joshua ; let her strike the rock,
like Moses, and make water gush from it ; let her
cure those pronounced incurable ; let her, in some
way or other, command nature as its mistress
then we will believe. But who does not know that
things of this nature never do happen and never
have happened."
II.
Such were the observations which were exchang
ed from morning to night among the sagacious in
tellects which then represented Medicine and Phil
osophy at Lourdes.
The greater part of these thinkers had seen
enough of Bernadette to establish the fact that she
was not acting a part. This satisfied their spirit
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 65
of inquiry. From the fact of her evident sincerity,
they concluded that she must be either mad or
cataleptic. Their strength of mind did not permit
them to admit even the possibility of any other ex
planation. When it was suggested to them to
study the fact, to see the child, to go to or to re
visit the Grotto, to follow in all their details these
surprising phenomena, they shrugged their shoul
ders, laughed as the so-called philosophers only can
laugh, and observed, " We know all this by heart.
A crisis of this kind is by no means rare. Before
a month is over, this child will be raving mad and
probably paralyzed."
There were some, however, who were not satis
fied with such superficial reasoning.
" Phenomena of this nature are rare," observed
Doctor Dozens, one of the most eminent physicians
in the town ; " and for my own part I shall not
allow this opportunity of examining them carefully
to escape. The advocates of the Supernatural cast
them so often in the teeth of men of our profession,
that I should be wanting in curiosity were I not to
study attentively and go to the bottom of this much-
vexed question, de visu and by personal experience,
now that they are produced at the present moment
under my very eyes."
M. Dufo, an advocate, and several members of
the bar ; M. Pougat, president of the Tribunal, and
a great number of other persons, determined to de
vote themselves, during the fifteen days announced
beforehand, to the most scrupulous investigation,
and to be as much as possible in the first ranks.
The number of observers increased in proportion
to the interest excited by the facts.
66 OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
Some of the medical profession, some autochthon
Socrates , some local Philosophers, terming them
selves Vottaireans to induce others to believe that
they had read Voltaire, firmly resisted their own
curiosity, and held it a point of honor not to figure
among the stupid crowd which was increasing daily
in number. As it almost always happens, the grand
principle of these fanatics of Free-thinking was not
to examine at all. In their view, no fact deserved
attention which deranged the inflexible dogmas
which they had learned in the Credo of their news
paper. From the heights of their infallible wisdom,
at their shop-doors, in front of the cafes, or at the
windows of the club, these intellects of the highest
order smiled with ineffable disdain as they saw pass
by the innumerable stream of humanity which was
borne along by I know not what wild spirit of
enthusiasm toward the Grotto.
III.
ALL these facts had naturally made a strong im
pression on the Clergy of the town ; but, with
wonderful tact and good sense, they had from the
very first assumed the most prudent and reserved
attitude.
The Clergy, surprised, like all around them, at
the singular event which had so suddenly taken
possession of public opinion, were busily engaged
in endeavoring to determine its nature. Whereas
the Voltaireanism of the place, in the largeness of
its ideas, admitted only one solution as possible,
the Clergy perceived several. The fact might be
natural, in which case it was the result of a fine
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. fy
piece of acting or of a most singular malady ; but
it might be supernatural, and the question to be
solved was whether this Supernatural was diabol
ical or divine. God has his miracles, but the De
mon has his prestiges. The clergy were fully aware
of all these things, and determined to study ex
tremely carefully the most trifling circumstances
of the event in progress. They had, besides, from
the first moment, received the rumor of so sur
prising a fact with the greatest distrust. However,
it might possibly be of a divine nature, and ought
not therefore to be pronounced upon lightly.
The child, whose name had suddenly become so
celebrated in the whole country, was entirely un
known to the priests of the town. Since her return
to the house of her parents at Lourdes, a period of
fifteen days, she had attended the Catechism, but
had not been remarked by the Abbe Pomian, who
was employed this year in instructing the children
of the parish. He had, however, once or twice
asked her questions, but without knowing her name
or paying any attention to her outward appearance,
lost, as she was, among a crowd of children, and
quite unknown, as those who come last generally are.
When the whole population were rushing to the
Grotto towards the third day of the Quinzaine, de
manded by the mysterious Apparition, the Abbe
Pomian, wishing to know by sight the extraordinary
child of whom every one was talking, called her by
name, to take part in the Catechism, as was his
custom, when he wished to put questions to any of
his little charges. At the name of Bernadette
Soubirous, a little girl, fragile in appearance, and
meanly dressed, rose from her seat. The ecclesi-
68 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
astic remarked in her only two things her simpli
city and extreme ignorance in all religious matters.
The parish was presided over at that moment by
a priest of whom we must furnish a portrait.
The Abbe Peyramale, then verging on his fiftieth
year, had been, for the last two years, cure doyen of
the town and canton of Lourdes. He was, by nat
ure, rough, perhaps somewhat extreme in his love
of what was good, but softened by Grace, which
still, however, now and then suffered glimpses to
escape of the primitive stock, knotty, but in the
main good, on which the delicate but powerful
hand of God had engrafted the Christian and the
priest. His natural impetuosity entirely calmed,
as far as he was himself concerned, had turned into
pure zeal for the house of God.
In the pulpit, his preaching was always apostol
ical, sometimes harsh ; it persecuted everything of
an evil tendency, and no abuse, no moral disorder,
from whatever quarter it might proceed, was treat
ed by him with indifference or weakness. Some
times the society of the place, whose vices or ca
prices had been lashed by the burning words of its
pastor, had exclaimed loudly against him. This
had never disturbed him, and, with God s assist
ance, he had almost always issued victorious from
the struggle.
These men with strict ideas of duty are a source
of annoyance to many, and they are seldom par
doned for the independence and sincerity of their
language. However, the one in question was for
given ; for when he was seen trudging through the
town with his patched and darned cassock, his
coarsely-mended shoes and his old, shapeless, three-
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. 69
cornered hat, every one knew that the money which
might have been devoted to his wardrobe was em
ployed in succoring the unfortunate. This priest,
austere though he was in morals and severe in doc
trine, possessed an inexpressible kindness of heart,
and he expended his patrimony in doing good as
secretly as he could. But his humility had not suc
ceeded, as he would have wished, in concealing his
life of devotedness. The gratitude of the poor had
found a voice : besides, in small towns, the private
life of an individual is soon exposed to the light of
day, and he had become an object of general vene
ration. You had only to see the way in which his
parishioners took off their hats to him as he passed
in the street ; only to hear the familiar, affectionate
and pleased accent with which the poor, sitting on
the steps of their door, said, " Good morning Mon
sieur le Cure!" to divine that a sacred bond, that
of good modestly done, united the pastor to his
flock. The Free-thinkers said of him, " He is not
always agreeable, but he is charitable and does not
care for money. He is one of the best of men, in
spite of his cassock." Entirely unrestrained in
manner, and overflowing with good-humor in pri
vate life, never suspecting any evil, and suffering
himself even sometimes to be deceived by people
who took advantage of his kindness, he was, in his
capacity of priest, prudent even to the verge of
distrust in whatever regarded the things of his
ministry and the eternal interest of Religion. The
man might sometimes be encroached upon the
priest never. There are graces attached to a par
ticular state of life.
This eminent priest combined with the heart of
70 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
an Apostle good sense of rare strength and a firm
ness of character which nothing could bend when
the Truth was in question. The events of the day
could not fail of bringing to light these first-rate
qualities. Providence had not acted without de
sign in placing him at this epoch at Lourdes.
The Abbe Peyramale, placing a strong check on
his own somewhat sanguine nature, before permit
ting his Clergy to take a single step or to show
themselves at the Grotto, which he did not even
visit himself, determined to wait until these events
had assumed some definite character until proofs
had been produced one way or other and judgment
had been pronounced by ecclesiastical authority,
He appointed some intelligent laymen, on whom
he could depend, to repair to the Rocks of Massa-
bielle every time Bernadette and the multitude
proceeded thither, and to keep him, day by day
and hour by hour, thoroughly acquainted with
what was going on. But at the same time that he
took proper measures to be informed of every par
ticular, he neglected nothing which might prevent
the Clergy from being compromised in this affair,
the true nature of which was still a matter of
doubt.
" Let us remain quiet," he said to those who were
impatient. " If, on the one hand, we are strictly
obliged to examine with extreme attention what is
now going on, on the other, common prudence for
bids us to mix ourselves up with the crowd which
rushes to the grotto chaunting canticles. Let us
refrain from appearing there, nor expose ourselves
to the risk of consecrating by our presence an im
posture or an illusion, or of opposing by a prema-
OUR LADY OF LOVED ES. 7!
ture decision and hostile attitude, a work which
possibly may come from God."
" As for our going there as mere spectators, the
peculiar costume we wear makes that impossible.
The people of the neighborhood, seeing a priest in
their midst, would naturally form a group around
him, in order that he might walk at their head and
intone the prayers. Now, should he give way to
the pressure of the public, or to his own inconsid
erate enthusiasm, and it should be discovered later
on that these Apparitions were illusions or lies, it is
clear to every one to what extent Religion would
be compromised in the person of the Clergy. If
they resisted, on the contrary, and later on the work
of God became manifest, would not that opposition
be attended with the same evil consequences ?
" Let us then take no part at present, since we
could but compromise God, either in the works
which he intends to accomplish or in the sacred
Ministry which he has vouchsafed to confide to us."
Some, in the ardor of their zeal, urged some
course of action.
" No," he answered them firmly, " we should only
be warranted in interfering in the case that some
manifest heresy, some superstition or disorder should
arise from that quarter. Then only our duty would
be clearly traced out by the facts themselves. The
fruits proving bad we should judge the tree to be
bad, and we ought to hasten to the rescue of our
flock on the first symptom of evil. Up to the pres
ent moment, nothing of the kind has arisen ; on the
contrary, the crowd, perfectly recollected, confines
itself to praying to the Blessed Virgin, and the
piety of the faithful seems ever on the increase.
72 OUR LADT OF LOUIWES.
" Let us then endeavor to wait for the supreme
decision which the wisdom of the Bishop shall
promulgate touching these events, while we submit
ourselves, apart, to a necessary examination.
" If these facts proceed from God, they are in no
need of us, and the Almighty will well be able,
without our puny aid, to surmount all obstacles and
turn every thing to suit his designs.
" If, on the other hand, this work is not from
God, He will Himself mark the moment when we
ought to interfere and combat in his name. In a
word let providence act."
Such were the profound reasons and considera
tions of deep wisdom which determined the Abbe
Peyramale formally to prohibit all the priests in his
jurisdiction from appearing at the Grotto of Massa-
bielle, as also to abstain from going there himself.
Monseigneur Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, ap
proved highly of this prudent reserve, and extend
ed even to all the priests of his diocese the prohibi
tion of mixing themselves up in any way in the
events at Lourdes. When any question respecting
the pilgrimage of the Grotto was put to a priest,
either at the tribunal of Penance or elsewhere, the
answer was determined on beforehand :
" We do not go there ourselves, and are conse
quently unable to pronounce on these facts with
which we are not sufficiently acquainted. But it is
plainly allowable for any of the faithful to go there,
if such is their pleasure, and examine facts on which
the Church has not yet pronounced any decision.
Go, or stay away : it is not our business to advise
you or dissuade you from doing so neither to au
thorize nor to forbid you."
OUR LADY OF LOTJRDE8. 73
It was, we must allow, very difficult to maintain
such an attitude of strict neutrality : for each priest
had to struggle on this occasion not only against
the force of public opinion, but further against his
own individual desire and that certainly a legiti
mate one to assist in person at the extraordinary
things, which were, perhaps, on the point of being
accomplished.
This line of conduct, however difficult it might
be to keep, was nevertheless observed.
In the midst of whole populations, stirred up all
at once like an ocean by a strange unknown blast,
and driven towards the mysterious rock where a
supernatural Apparition conversed with a child,
the entire body of the Clergy, without one single
exception, kept aloof and did not make their ap
pearance. God, who was invisibly directing all
things, gave his priests the strength necessary not
to give way to this unheard of current, and to re
main immovable in the bosom of this prodigious
movement. This immense withdrawal on the part
of the Clergy ought to show manifestly that the
head and action of men went for nothing in these
events, and that we must seek their cause elsewhere,
or to speak more correctly, higher.
IV.
HOWEVER, this was not sufficient. Truth re
quires to pass through another crucible. It be
hoves her, without any external support, relying on
herself, and herself alone, to resist the great human
forces let loose upon her. It is necessary for her
to have persecutors, furious enemies and adversa-
4
74 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ries skilled in laying snares. When Truth passes
through such trials, the weak tremble and fear lest
the work of God should be overthrown. Quid ti-
mctis, modiccB fidei. The very men who menace
her now are her bulwarks hereafter.
Such furious opponents attest to the eyes of ages,
that such a belief has not been established clandes
tinely or in the shade, but rather in the face of ene
mies, whose interest it was to see and control every
thing ; they attest to the eyes of ages that its found
ations are solid, since so many united efforts were
not able to shake them even at the moment when
they arose in their original weakness : they attest
that its basis is pure, since after examining every
thing through the magnifying glass of malevolence
and hatred, they failed in detecting in it any vice or
stain. Enemies are witnesses above suspicion, who
in spite of themselves depose, before posterity, in
favor of the very thing they would willingly have
hindered or destroyed. Consequently, if the Ap
paritions of the Grotto were the starting-point of
a divine work, the hostility of the mighty ones of
the world, must necessarily go side by side with
the withdrawal of the Clergy.
God had equally provided for this. While the ec
clesiastical authority, personified in the Clergy,
maintained the wise reserve advised by the Cure of
Lourdes, the civil authority was equally preoccu
pied with the extraordinary movement which was
in course of arising in the town and its vicinity, and
which, pervading by degrees the whole Department,
had already crossed its limits in the direction of
Beam.
Although no disorder had occurred, this class, so
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
75
prone to take umbrage, was rendered uneasy by
these pilgrimages, these crowds in a state of pious
recollection, and this child in a state of ecstacy.
In the name of liberty of conscience, was there
no means of preventing these persons from praying,
and above all from praying where they liked ? Such
was the problem which official liberalism began to
propose to itself.
The different degrees, M. Dutour, Procureur Im
perial, M. Duprat, Juge de Paix ; the Mayor, the
Substitute, the Commissary of Police and many
others besides, took and gave the alarm. A mira
cle in the midst of the igth Century, going forth all
at once without asking permission and without any
preliminary authorization, was viewed by some as
an intolerable outrage on civilization, a blow against
the safety of the state ; and it was necessary for the
honor of our enlightened epoch that this should be
set to rights. The majority of these gentlemen be
sides, did not believe in the possibility of supernatural
manifestations and could not be induced to see any
thing in it but an imposture or the effects of a mal
ady. At all events, several of them felt themselves
instinctively opposed to any event, of whatever na
ture which could directly or indirectly tend to in
crease the influence of Religion, against which they
were actuated either by blind prejudices or avowed
hatred.
Without returning to the reflections which we
made a short time since, it is truly a remarkable
thing to see that the Supernatural, whenever it ap
pears in the world, constantly encounters, though
under different names and aspects, the same oppo
sition, the same indifference, the same fidelity.
7 6 OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
With certain shades of distinction, Herod, Caiaphas,
Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Peter, Thomas, the
Holy Women, the open enemy, the coward, the
weak, the feeble, the devoted, the sceptic, the timid,
the hero, belong to all times.
The Supernatural, more especially, never escapes
the hostility of a party more or less considerable
of the official world. Only this opposition pro
ceeds sometimes from the master, sometimes from
his underlings.
The most intelligent of the little band of the
functionaries of Lourdes, at that time, was un
doubtedly M. Jacomet, although, in a hierarchic
point of view, M. Jacomet was the lowest of all,
inasmuch as he filled the humble post of Commis
sary of Police. He was young, of great sagacity
in certain circumstances, and gifted with a facility
of speaking not found generally among his peers.
His shrewdness was extreme. No one ever more
thoroughly understood the genus " Scoundrel."
He was wonderfully apt in foiling their tricks, and
the anecdotes, on this head, recorded of him are
astonishing. He did not understand so well the
ways of honest men. Quite at ease in complicated
affairs, anything simple troubled him. Truth dis
concerted him and excited his suspicions anything
disinterested was an object of distrust to him, and
sincerity was a torture to his mind, always on the
watch to discover duplicity and evasion. In con
sequence of this monomania, Sanctity would, doubt
less, have appeared to him the most monstrous of
impostures, and would have met no mercy at his
hands. Such whims are frequently found among
men of this profession, their employment habituat-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. jj
ing them to ferret out offences and detect crimes.
They acquire, in the long run, a remarkably restless
and suspicious turn of mind, which inspires them
with strokes of genius when they have to do with
rogues, and enormous blunders when they have to
do with honest people. Though young, M. Jaco-
met had contracted this strange malady of old
police-officers. In fact, he was like those horses of
the Pyrenees, which are sure-footed in the winding
and stony mountain-paths, but which stumble every
two hundred paces on broad, level roads ; like those
night-birds which can only see in the dark, and
which, in broad daylight, dash themselves against
the walls and trees.
Perfectly satisfied with himself, he was discon
tented with his position, to which his intelligence
rendered him superior. Hence arose a certain
restless pride and an ardent wish to signalize him
self. He had more than influence, he had an ascend
ancy over his superiors, and he affected to treat the
Procureur Imperial and all the other legal function
aries on a footing of perfect equality. He mixed
himself up with everything, domineered every
body, and almost entirely managed the affairs of
the town. In all matters regarding the canton of
Lourdes, the Prefect of the Department, Baron
Massy, only saw through the eyes of Jacomet.
Such was the Commissary of Police, such was
the really important personage of Lourdes when
the Apparitions at the Grotto of Massabiclle took
place.
78 OUR LADY OF LOURDKS.
V.
IT was the third day of the Ouinzaine, the
twenty-first of February, the first Sunday in Lent.
Before sunrise, an immense crowd, consisting oi
several thousand persons, had assembled in front ot
and all around the Grotto, on the banks of the
Gave and in the meadow-island. It was the hour
when Bernadrtte usually came. She arrived en
veloped in her white capitlet, followed by some of
her family, her mother or her sister. Her parents
had attended during her ccstacy the day before;
they had seen her transfigured, and now they be
lieved.
The child passed through the crowd, which re
spectfully made way for her, simply in a composed
and unembarrassed manner ; and, without appear
ing to be conscious of the universal attention she
excited, she proceeded, as if she was doing the
simplest thing in the world, to kneel down and pray
beneath the niche around which the wild rose fes
tooned its branches.
A few moments afterwards, you might have seen
her brow light up and become radiant. The blood,
however, did not mantle her visage; on the con
trary, she grew slightly pale, as if nature somewhat
succumbed in presence of the Apparition which
manifested itself to her. All her features assumed
a lofty and still more lofty expression, and entered,
as it were, a superior region, a country of glory,
significant of sentiments and things which are not.
found here below. Her mouth, hall-open, was
gasping with admiration, and seemed to aspire to
heaven. I ler eyes, fixed and blissful, contemplated
OUR LADY 0V LOU1WKH. 7Q
nn invisible beauty, which no one else perceived,
bul. whose presence was felt by all, scon by all, so
to say, by reverberation on I ho countenance of the
child. This poor little peasant girl, so ordinary in
her habitual state, seemed to have ceased to belong
to this earth.
It was the Angel of Innocence, leaving the world
for a moment behind and falling in adoration at the
moment the eternal gates are opened and the first
view of Paradise flashes on the sight.
All those who have seen Bernadette in this state
of ecstacy, speak of the sight as of something en
tirely unparalleled on earth. The impression made
upon them is as strong now, after the lapse of ten
years, as on the first day.
What is also remarkable, although her attention
was entirely absorbed by the contemplation of the
Virgin, full of Grace, she was, to a certain degree,
conscious of what was passing around her.
At. a certain moment her taper went out ; she-
stretched out her hand that, the person nearest to
her might relight, it.
Some one having wished to touch the wild rose
with a stick, she eagerly made him a sign to desist,
and an expression of fear passed over her counten
ance.
" 1 was afraid," she said, afterwards, with sim
plicity, " that he might have touched the Lady
and done her harm."
One of the observers, whose name we have al
ready mentioned, Doctor Dozons, was at her side.
There is nothing here," he thought, " either of
the rigidity of catalepsy or of the unconscious
ecstacy of hallucination; it is an extraordinary
go OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
fact, of a class entirely unknown to Medical
Science."
He took the child s arm and felt her pulse,
this she did not appear to pay any attention. Her
pulse was perfectly calm, and beat as regularly as
when she was in her ordinary state.
" There is, consequently, no morbid excitement,"
observed the learned Doctor to himself, more and
more unsettled in his views.
At that moment the youthful Seer advanced, on
her knees, a few paces forward into the Grotto.
The Apparition had removed from her original
place, and it was now through the interior opening
that Bernadette was able to perceive her.
The glance of the Blessed Virgin seemed, in a
moment, to run over the whole earth, after which
she fixed it, impregnated with sorrow, on Berna
dette, who still remained kneeling.
" What is the matter with you ? What must be
done?" murmured the child.
" Pray for sinners," replied the Mother of the
human race."
On perceiving the eternal serenity of the Blessed
Virgin thus veiled with sorrow as with a cloud, the
heart of the poor shepherd-girl experienced all at
once a feeling of cruel suffering. An inexpressible
sorrow spread itself over her features. From her
eyes, which remained wide open and constantly fix
ed on the Apparition, two tears rolled upon her
cheeks and staid there without falling.
A ray of joy returned at length to light up her
countenance, for the Virgin had herself doubtless
turned her glance in the direction of Hope, and had
contemplated, in the heart of the Father, the inex-
OUR LADY OF LOUKDES. 8l
haustible source of infinite mercy which descends
on the world in the name of Jesus, and by the hands
of the Church.
It was at this moment that the Apparition disap
peared. The Queen of Heaven had just re-entered
her kingdom.
The aureole, as was its wont, lingered a few mo
ments, and then became gradually obliterated like a
luminous mist which melts and disappears in the air.
The features of Bernadette lost by degress their
lofty expression. It seemed as if she passed from
the land of sunshine into that of shade, and the or
dinary type of earth resumed possession of that
countenance which, but a moment before, had been
transfigured.
She was now nothing more than a humble shep
herd-girl, a little peasant, with nothing outward
ly to distinguish her from other children.
The crowd pressed around her, panting for breath,
and in an extraordinary state of anxiety, emotion,
and pious recollection. We shall have, elsewhere,
an opportunity of describing their bearing.
VI.
DURING the whole morning after the Mass, and
up to the hour of Vespers, nothing was bruited
abroad at Lourdes but these strange events, of
which, as might be expected, the most opposite in
terpretations were given. To those who had seen
Bernadette in her state of ecstacy, proof had ap
peared in a form which they asserted to be irresist
ible. Some of them illustrated their convictions
with not inappropriate comparisons.
g 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
"In our valleys the Sun displays itself late, con
cealed as it is towards the East, by the Peak and
the mountain of Ger. But, long before we can see
it, we can remark in the West, the reflection of its
rays on the sides of the mountains of Bastsurguures,
which become resplendent, while we are still in the
shade ; and then, although we do not actually see
the sun, but only the reflection of its rays on the de
clivities, we boldly assert its presence behind the
huge masses of the Ger. " Bastsurgueres sees the
sun," we say, " and, were we on the same level as
Bastsurgucres, we should see it also." " Well it is
precisely the same thing when we gaze on Berna-
dette lighted up by this invisible Apparition : the
certainty is the same, the evidence altogether simi
lar. The countenance of the youthful Seer appears
all at once so clear, so transfigured, so dazzling, so
impregnated with divine rays, that this marvelous
reflection which we perceive gives us full assurance
of the existence of the luminous centre which we
do not perceive. And, if we had not in ourselves
to conceal it from us, a whole mountain of faults,
wretchedness, material preoccupations, and carnal
opacity, if we, also, were on a level with the inno
cence of childhood, this eternal snow never trodden
by human foot, we should see actually, and not
merely reflected, the object contemplated by the
ravished Bernadettc, which, in her state of ecstacy,
sheds its rays over her features."
Reasoning such as this, excellent perhaps in itself,
and conclusive for those who had witnessed this un
heard-of spectacle, could not satisfy those who had
not seen anything. Providence supposing it real
ly to have taken a part in these proceedings must,
OUR LADY OF LOUEDE8. g^>
it would appear, confirm its agency by proofs, which,
if not better (for scarcely any one resisted these af
ter having- experienced them), should at least be
more material, continuous, and, in some measure,
more palpable to the senses.
It may be, the profound design of God tended
that way ; and, that His object in calling together
such vast multitudes was to have, at the necessary
moment, a host of unobjectionable witnesses.
At the conclusion of Vespers, Bernadette left the
church with the rest of the congregation. She was,
as you may well imagine, the object of general at
tention. She was surrounded and overwhelmed
with questions. The poor child was distressed by
this concourse of people, and, having returned sim
ple answers, endeavored to get through in order to
return home.
At that moment, a man in the uniform of the po
lice, a Sergent de Ville, or officer of the police, ap
proached her and touched her on the shoulder.
" In the name of the law," said he.
"What do you want with me?" inquired the
child.
" I have orders to arrest you and take you with
me."
" And where ?"
" To the Commissary of Police. Follow me !"
VII.
A THREATENING murmur went through the mul
titude.
Many of those who were there had, the same
morning, seen the humble child transfigured by the
g 4 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
divine ecstacy and illuminated by rays from on
high.
For them, this little girl blessed by God had
about her something sacred. They thrilled with
indignation on seeing the agent of police lay hands
on her, and would have interfered on her behalf
had not a priest, who at that moment came out of
the church, made signs to the crowd to remain quiet.
" Let," he said, " the authorities act as they will."
By a wonderful coincidence, such as is often to be
met with in the history of supernatural events,
where any one gives himself the trouble, or rather
the pleasure of sifting them, the Universal Church
had sung that very day, the first Sunday in Lent,
those immortal words destined to comfort and con
sole the innocent and the weak in the presence of
persecution. " God hath confided thee to the care
of His Angels, that they may watch over thce in
thy way. They will bear thee up in their hands,
lest thy feet should be dashed against, and wounded
by the stones in thy path. Trust in him : He will
protect thee under the shadow of his wings. His
almighty Power shall encompass thee as with an in
visible shield. Go boldly ! thou shalt crush the Asp
and the Serpent under thy feet ; the lion and the
dragon shall be brought low by thee. Because he
hath hoped in me, says the Lord, I will deliver
him I will protect him because he hath confessed
my name. He shall call on me and I will gracious
ly hear him. I am with him in the day of trouble.
The Gospel for the day related how the Saviour
of men, eternal type of the just upon earth, had to
undergo His temptations ; and it gave all the details
of his famous struggles against, and victory over
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 85
the Evil Spirit, in the solitude of the desert: Ductus
est Jesus in desertum, ut tcntaretur a Diabolo.
Such were the texts so replete with consolation
for innocent and persecuted weakness, which the
Church had proclaimed ; such were the mighty sou
venirs which she had revived and the memory of
which she celebrated the very day on which, in the
depth of an obscure town among the mountains, an
agent of the civil power arrested, in the name of the
law, an ignorant little girl, in order to conduct her
into the presence of the most crafty of the repre
sentatives of Authority.
The multitude had followed Bernadette as she
was carried off by the official agent, in a great state
of excitement and grief. The office of the Com
missary of Police was not far off. The Sergent en
tered with the child, and leaving her by herself in
the passage, returned to lock and bolt the door.
A moment afterwards, Bernadette was ushered
into the presence of M. Jacomet.
An immense crowd remained standing outside.
VIII.
THE highly intelligent man who was about to in
terrogate Bernadette flattered himself with the idea
of obtaining an easy triumph.
He was one of those who obstinately refused the
explanation given by the savants of the place. He
had no faith either in catalepsy or hallucination, or
the various illusions of a morbid ecstacy. The par
ticularity of the statements attributed to the child,
and the observations made by Dr. Dozens and many
other witnesses of the scenes enacted at the Grotto,
86 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
seemed to him irreconcilable with such a hypothe
sis. With regard to the fact itself of the Appari
tions, he did not believe, they say, in the possibility
of those visions from the other world, and his detec
tive genius, however much it was adapted to track
rogues in their breach of the laws, could scarcely
perhaps reach so far as to discover God behind a
supernatural fact. Being, therefore, fully convinced
in his own mind that those apparitions could not but
be false, he had resolved, by fair means or foul,
to discover the clue to the error, and to render
the Free-thinkers in authority at Lourdes or else
where, the signal service of branding as an impos
ture, a supernatural manifestation which had gained
popular credit. He had there an admirable oppor
tunity of striking a heavy blow at the pretended au
thority of all the Visions of past ages, more espe
cially should he succeed in discovering and proving
that the Clergy, who so studiously kept aloof in this
affair, were secretly directing it and turning it to
their own advantage.
Under the supposition that God was nothing- and
man everything in this event, the reasoning of M.
Jacomet was excellent.
On the contrary supposing that God was every
thing in it and man nothing, the unfortunate Com
missary of Police was embarking on a most perilous
voyage.
In this disposition of mind, M. Jacomet, from the
very first day, had caused all the proceedings of
Bernadette to be carefully watched, with the view
of surprising, if possible, some mysterious commu
nication between the youthful Seer and any member
of the Clergy, whether of Lourdes itself or the
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 8/
neighborhood. He had even, it seems, extended
his official zeal so far as to place one of his creatures
in the church with orders to keep his eye on the
confessional. However, the children who attended
the Catechism, were in the habit of going to confes
sion by rotation once a fortnight or once a month,
and Bernadette s turn, during those days, had not
yet arrived. All his conscientious efforts had there
fore failed to discover any complicity in the acts of
imposture which were attributed by him to Berna-
dette. From this he drew the conclusion that she
was acting probably alone, without altogether re
nouncing his suspicions, for the true agent of police
is always suspicious, even when he has no proofs.
It is this which constitutes his peculiar type and his
proper genius.
When Bernadette entered he fixed on her for a
moment his sha% and piercing eyes, which he had
the wonderful art of impregnating all at once with
good-humor and unconstraint. Habituated as he
was to take a high tone with every one, he was
more than polite with the poor girl of Soubirous,
the miller: he was soft and insinuating. He made
her take a seat and assumed at the commencement
of his interrogatory the benevolent air of a real
friend.
" Tt appears that you are in the habit of seeing a
beautiful Lady at the Grotto of Massabielle, my
poor child. Tell me all about her."
Just as he had said these words, the door of the
apartment had been gently opened and some one
had entered. It was M. Estrade, Receveur des Con
tributions Indirectes, a. man of importance at Lourdes
and one of the most intelligent in the place. This
88 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
functionary occupied a portion of the house in
which M. Jacomet resided, and having been ap
prised, by the uproar of the crowd, of the arrival
of Bernadette, had naturally felt curious to be pres
ent at the interrogatory. He concurred, besides,
with M. Jacomet in his ideas on the subject of ap
paritions, and, like him, believed in some trickery
on the part of the child. He used to shrug his
shoulders on being offered any other explanation.
He considered things of this nature as being so ab
surd, that he had not even condescended to go to
the Grotto to witness the strange scenes reported
as taking place there. This philosopher seated
himself a little on one side, after having made signs
to the Commissary not to interrupt his proceedings.
All this passed without Bernadette appearing to
pay it any particular attention.
Thus the scene and the dialogue^)! the two inter
locutors obtained a witness.
On hearing the question of M. Jacomet, the child
had directed her beautifully innocent glance to
wards the agent of police, and set about relating in
her own language, that is to say in fae patois of the
country, and with a sort of personal timidity which
added still more to the truthfulness of her accent,
the extraordinary events, with which for some days
past, her life had been filled.
M. Jacomet listened to her with deep attention,
still affecting an air of good-humor and kindness.
From time to time he took notes on a paper which
lay before him.
This was remarked by the child but it did not
cause her any uneasiness.
When she had finished her relation, the Com mis-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 89
sary, with increased earnestness and sweetness of
manner, put to her innumerable questions as if his
enthusiastic piety was interested beyond measure
in such divine wonders. He shaped all his interro
gations, one after the other, without any order, in
short and hurried phrases, so as not to allow the
child any time for reflection.
Bernadette replied to these various questions
without any trouble or shadow of hesitation, and
with the tranquil composure of a person who is
questioned on the aspect of a landscape or a picture
immediately under his eyes. Sometimes, in order
to make herself understood, she added some imita
tive gesture, some expressive mimicry, to supply as
it were the feebleness of her expressions.
The rapid pen of M. Jacomet had in the mean
time noted, as she went along, all the answers which
had been given to him.
Then it was that after having attempted in this
manner to weary and perplex the mind of the child
by entering into such a minute infinity of details
then it was that the formidable agent of police as
sumed, without passing through any intermediate
stage, a menacing and terrible expression of coun
tenance and suddenly changed his tone :
" You are a liar," he exclaimed with violence and
as if seized suddenly with rage ; " you are deceiving
everybody, .and unless you confess the truth at
once, I will have you arrested by the Gendarmes."
Poor Bernadette was as much stupefied at the
aspect of this sudden and formidable metamorphosis
as if she had felt the icy rings of a serpent suddenly
twisting itself among her fingers, instead of the
harmless branch of a tree which she had fancied
90 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
she had been carrying- in her hand. She was stu
pefied with horror, but, contrary to the deep calcu
lations of Jacomet, she was not agitated. She
preserved her tranquillity as if her soul had been
sustained by some invisible hand against so unex
pected a shock.
The Commissary had risen to his feet with a
glance at the door as if to hint that he had only to
make a sign to call in the Gendarmes and send the
visionary to prison.
" Sir," said Bernadctte, with a calm and peaceful
firmness, which, in this wretched little peasant-girl
had an incomparably simple grandeur, "you may
have me arrested by the Gendarmes, but I can only
say what I have already said. It is the truth."
" We shall see about that," said the Commissary
resuming his seat and judging by a glance of his
experienced eye that threats were absolutely power
less on this extraordinary child.
M. Estrade, who had been a silent and impartial
witness of the scene described above, was divided
between feelings of immense astonishment with
which Bernadette s accent of conviction had in
spired him, and of admiration, in spite of himself,
of the skillful strategy of Jacomet, the aim of which
as it was unfolded before him, he thoroughly under
stood.
This struggle between such strength coupled with
craft, and mere childish weakness with no other de
fensive weapon than simplicity, assumed a totally
unexpected character.
Jacomet, however, armed with the notes which
he had been taking for the last three quarters of an
hour, applied himself to recommencing his inter-
OUR LADY OF LO URDUS, gi
rogatory, but in a different order and in a thousand
captious shapes, proceeding- always, according to
his method, with sudden and rapid questions and
demanding immediate answers. He had no doubt
of being able by such means to drive the little girl
to contradict herself, at least in some of the minor
details. Were this done, the imposture was ex
posed and the game was in his own hands. But he
exhausted in vain all the dexterity of his mind in
the multiplied evolutions of this subtle manoeuvre.
In nothing did the child contradict herself, not even
in that imperceptible point, that minute iota spoken
of in the Gospel. To the same questions, in what
ever terms proposed, she invariably replied, if not
in the same words, at least with the same facts and
in the same shade of meaning. M. Jacomet mean
while held out, if it was only with the object of
wearying still more this artless child whom he
hoped to find at fault. He turned and twisted her
account of the Apparitions into every possible
shape, without being able to impair it. He was
like a wild beast trying to make an impression with
its fangs on a diamond.
" Well," said he at length to Bernadette, " I am
going to draw up the report of your examination,
and you shall hear it read."
He wrote rapidly two or three pages, frequently
consulting his notes. He had designedly intro
duced into certain details some variations of slight
importance, as, for instance, the form of the robe
and the length or position of the Virgin s veil.
This was a new snare, but it was as useless as all
the rest. While he was reading and saying, from
time to time, " That is correct is it not ?" Bernadette,
92 OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
as simple and meek as she was unshaken, replied
humbly but firmly :
" No ; I did not say so, but so."
And she re-established the inexactly-stated par
ticular in its original truth and shade of meaning.
For the most part, Jacomet contested the point.
" But you did say so ! I wrote it down at the
time. You have said so-and-so to several persons
in the town," etc., etc.
" No," answered Bernaclette ; " I did not say so,
and could not have said so, for it is not true."
And the Commissary was always obliged to yield
to the child s objections.
The modest and invincible self-possession of this
little girl was, indeed, most remarkable, and the
surprise of M. Estrade, on observing it, increased.
Personally Bernadctte was, and appeared to be,
extremely timid, and her bearing was humble and
even somewhat confused before strangers. And
yet, in anything touching the reality of the Appa
ritions, she displayed uncommon force of mind and
energy of affirmation. When her testimony to
what she had seen was in question, she gave her
replies without hesitation and with undisturbed
composure. But even then it was easy to divine
in her the virgin modesty of a soul which would
gladly have concealed itself from the sight of every
one.
It was plain to be seen that she triumphed over
her habitual timidity solely from respect for the in
ternal truth, of which she was the messenger to
mankind, and from love for the " Lady" who had
appeared to her at the Grotto. She needed all the
feeling of her office to enable her to surmount the
OUR LADY OF LOUEDE8. 93
innate tendency of her nature, which, under any
other circumstances, was timid and disliked any
thing like publicity.
The Commissary betook himself once more to
threats.
" If you persist in going to the Grotto, I shall
have you put in prison, and you shall not leave
this place until you promise to go there no
more."
" I have promised to the Vision to go there,"
observed the child. "And, besides, when the mo
ment arrives, I am urged on by something which
comes within me and calls me."
The interrogatory, as we see, verged to a close.
It had been long, and could not have lasted less
than an hour, at least. Outside, the crowd, not
without a feeling of restless impatience, awaited
the coming out of the child whom they had seen
that very morning transfigured in the light of a
divine ecstacy. From the apartment, in which
passed the scene which we have just described,
might be heard confusedly the cries, words, ques
tions and thousand different noises which serve to
form the tumult of a crowd. The uproar seemed
to increase and assume a menacing tone. At a
certain moment there was a peculiar kind of agita
tion in the crowd as if some one, whose presence
had been greatly desired and long expected, had
arrived in the midst of it.
Almost immediately, repeated knocks at the door
of the house were heard, but they did not appear
to affect the Commissar}*.
The blows became more violent. The man who
struck them shook the door at the same time and
94 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
endeavored to force it. Jacomet rose in a state of
irritation and went to open it himself.
" You cannot come in here," said he furiously.
" What do you want ?"
" I want my daughter," answered the miller,
Soubirous, effecting his entrance by force, and fol
lowing the Commissary into the room in which
Bernadette was.
The sight of the peaceful countenance of his
daughter calmed the anxious agitation of her fath
er, and he once more subsided into a poor man of
the humbler class, who could not help trembling in
presence of a personage who, notwithstanding his
inferior position, was, owing to his activity and in
telligence, the most important and formidable man
in the district.
Francois Soubirous had taken off his Bearnois
beret and was twirling it in his hands. As nothing
escaped the notice of Jacomet, he saw, at a glance,
that the miller was frightened. Resuming his air
of good-humor and compassionate pity, he clapped
him familiarly on the shoulder.
" Friend Soubirous," said he to him, " take care,
mind what you are about. Your daughter is on
the eve of getting herself into trouble, and is on
the straight road to prison. I am willing not to
send her there this time, but only on condition of
your forbidding her to return to the Grotto, where
she is acting a farce. On the first repetition of the
offence, I shall be inflexible, and,- besides, you
know that the Procurcur Imperial treats such mat
ters earnestly."
"Since such is your wish, Monsieur* Jacomet,"
answered the poor father, panic-struck, " I will
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
95
forbid her to go there and her mother likewise,
and, as she has always obeyed us, she will certainly
not go there."
"At any rate, if she goes there, and this scandal
continues, I shall call you to account as well as
her," said the formidable Commissary, resuming
his tone of menace and dismissing them by a
gesture.
Cries of satisfaction were uttered by the crowd
at the moment Bernadette and her father came out.
The child then returned home, and the multitude
dispersed through the town.
The Commissary of Police and the Receveur being
left alone, communicated to each other the impres
sions made on them by this strange interrogatory.
" What firm resolution in her depositions !" ex
claimed M. Estrade, who had been struck with pro
found astonishment.
" What invincible persistence in her falsehood !"
replied Jacomet, stupefied at having been van
quished.
" What truth in her accents !" continued the
Receveur. " Nothing in her language or bearing
bore the slightest appearance of contradiction. It
is clear she believes she has seen something."
"What artful cunning!" rejoined the Commis
sary. " In spite of my efforts she never fell into
any discrepancy. She has her story at her fingers
ends."
Both the Commissary and M. Estrade persisted
in their incredulity regarding the actual fact of the
Apparition. But a shade of difference already
separated their two negations, and this shade of
difference was as a gulf between them. The one
9 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
supposed Bernadette to be dexterous in falsehood,
the other set her down as sincere in her illusion.
" She is artful !" said the former.
" She is sincere !" observed the latter.
IX.
ALTHOUGH M. Jacomet had been powerless
against the simple, precise and uncontradictory
answers of Bernadette, he had, nevertheless, gained
a decided advantage at the close of this long strug
gle. He had exceedingly terrified the father of the
youthful Seer, and he knew that in that quarter, at
least for the time, the odds were in his favor.
Francois Soubirous was a very good kind of a
man, but by no means a hero. Opposed to official
authority, he was timid, as the lower classes and
the poor usually are. To such, the least embroil
ment with the law is, owing to their poverty, a ter
rible misfortune, and they feel themselves utterly
powerless to cope with arbitrary power and perse
cution. He believed, it is true, in the reality of the
Apparitions ; but as he neither comprehended their
nature nor measured their importance, and even felt
a certain amount of terror in connection with these
extraordinary events, he saw no great inconvenience
in setting his face against Bernadette s revisiting
the Grotto. He had perhaps some vague fear of
displeasing the invisible Lady who was in the habit
of manifesting herself to his child, but the fear of
irritating a man of flesh and blood, of engaging in
a struggle with so formidable a personage as the
Commissary came nearer home to him and acted
much more powerfully on his mind.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 97
" You see that all these gentlemen of the place
are against us," he observed to Bernadette, " and
if you return to the Grotto, M. Jacomet, who is
master here, will put both of us in prison. Do not
go there any more."
" Father," said Bernadette, " when I go there, it
is not altogether of myself. At a certain moment
there is something in me which calls me and at
tracts me to the place."
" Be this as it may," rejoined her Father, " I for
bid you positively to go there again. You will
surely not disobey me for the first time in your
life."
The poor child, thus placed in a dilemma between
the promise she had made to the Apparition and
the express prohibition of her father s authority,
replied :
" I will in that case do all in my power to prevent
myself going there and to resist the attraction which
summons me to the place."
So passed sadly away the evening of the same
Sunday which had arisen in the blessed and glori
ous splendor of ecstacy.
X.
THE next morning, Monday the 22nd of Febru
ary, when the usual hour for the Apparition arrived,
the crowd waiting for the youthful Seer on the
banks of the Gave saw no signs of her coming.
Her parents had sent her at sun-rise to the school,
and Bernadette deeming it her duty to obey, had
repaired thither with a heavy heart.
The Sisters, whose duties combining charity and
5
98 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the instruction of children, to which may perhaps
be also added the recommendations of the Cure of
Lourdes, detained them at the Hospital or the
School, had never witnessed the ecstacies of Ber-
nadctte and placed no faith in the Apparitions.
Besides, in matters of this nature, if the common
people sometimes exhibit too much credulity, it is
a fact and the phenomenon, however surprising it
appears at first, is indisputable that Ecclesiastics
and Religious of both sexes are very sceptical and
loath to believe, and that, while admitting theoreti
cally the possibility of such divine manifestations,
they often demand a severity of proof which may
be regarded as excessive. The Sisters accordingly,
added their formal interdiction to that of Berna-
dette s parents, telling her that all these visions
were destitute of reality, and that either her brain
was affected or she was guilty of falsehoods. One
of them suspecting an imposture in things of so
grave and sacred a nature, displayed much severity
and treated the whole affair as a piece of trickery.
" Naughty child," said she to her, " this a pretty
Carnival you are making in the holy season of
Lent."
Other persons who saw her during the hours of
recreation, accused her of wishing to pass herself
off as a saint, and of making sport of sacred things.
The taunts of some of the children at the school
were added to the bitter reproaches and humilia
tions with which she was overwhelmed.
It was the will of God to try Bernadette. Hav
ing on the preceding days . inundated her with con
solation, He intended, in His wisdom, to leave her
for a certain reason in a state of complete abandon-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
99
ment, a prey to railleries and insults, and to bring
her in contact, alone and deserted as she was, with
the hostility of all those by whom she was sur
rounded.
The unfortunate little girl suffered cruelly, not
only from these external contrarieties, but perhaps
still more from the internal anguish of her mind.
This childish shepherd-girl, unacquainted hither
to in her short life with any thing but physical
evils, was now entering on a higher path and was
beginning to experience tortures and distractions
of another nature. On the one hand, she was un
willing to disobey the authority of her father or
of the Sisters : while on the other, she could not
endure the thought of failing in the promise she
had made to the divine Apparition at the Grotto.
A cruel struggle ensued in her young soul, hitherto
so peaceful. It seemed to her as if she was oscil
lating hopelessly between two abysses equally fatal.
To go to the Grotto was a sin against her father,
not to go there was a sin against the vision which
had come from on high. In either case, in her o\vn
point of view, it was evidently a sin against God.
And yet, situated as she was, she must choose be-
\veen the two f there was no middle course and
it was impossible to avoid so fatal a choice. It is
true, as we are informed by the Gospel, that what
is impossible to man is possible to God. The
morning passed away in distress of this nature,
which was rendered the more painful and distract
ing from the fact of its arriving in a soul entirely
fresh, at an age, habitually calm and pure, when
impressions take such deep root and when the deli
cate fibres of the heart have not yet been rendered
100 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
callous by long acquaintance with human suffer
ing.
Towards the middle of the day the children re
turned home for a few moments to partake of their
frugal meal.
Bernadette, her soul crushed between the two al
ternatives presented by her irremediable situation,
walked slowly towards her home. From the tower
of the Church at Lourdes the mid-day Angelus had
just sounded.
At that moment an unaccountable power took pos
session of her all at once, acting not on her mind
but her body, as an invisible arm might have done,
and, driving her out of the road she was taking,
forced her irresistibly in the direction of the path
which lay on her right. She was impelled by it,
seemingly, in the same way as a leaf, lying on the
ground, is hurried along by the imperious blast of
the wind. She could no more prevent herself ad
vancing than if she had been placed suddenly on a
most rapid descent. Her whole physical being was
dragged towards the Grotto, to which this path led.
She could not but walk, she was even obliged to
run.
And yet the movement by which she was carried
along was neither violent nor rough. It was irresis
tible ; but it had nothing in it harsh or shocking to
her who was under its control ; on the contrary, it
was supreme force co-existing with supreme mild
ness. The almighty hand rendered itself as soft as
that of a mother, as if it had feared to injure so
frail a child.
Providence, therefore, which directs all things,
had solved the insoluble problem. The child, sub-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. JQI
mitting to the will of her father, was not going to
the Grotto, where her heart yearned to be ; and yet
carried away forcibly by the Angel of the Lord,
she arrived there notwithstanding, thus fulfilling
her promise to the Virgin without having willfully
disobeyed the paternal command.
Such phenomena have been remarked more than
once in the life of certain souls, whose deep purity
has been pleasing to the heart of God. Saint Philip
Neri, Saint Ida of Louvain, Saint Joseph of Cu
pertino, Saint Rose of Lima experienced impulses
of a similar or analogous nature.
The humble heart of the child, bruised and de
serted, began already to smile with hope in propor
tion as her steps approached the Grotto.
" There," said she to herself " I shall see the be
loved Apparition once more ; there I shall be con
soled for everything there I shall contemplate that
beautiful countenance, the sight of which ravishes
me with happiness. Boundless joy will ere long
succeed these cruel sorrows, for the Lady will never
desert me."
Owing to her inexperience she was not aware
that the Spirit of God breathes where it wills.
XL
SHORTLY before Bernadette s arrival at the Grot
to, the mysterious power which had borne her along
seemed to be diminished, if not to have altogether
ceased. She walked slower, and felt a degree of
fatigue which was unusual to her; for this was pre
cisely the spot where, on other days, an invisible
power seemed at one and the same time to draw her
I02 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
towards the Grotto and support her in the exertion
of walking. On that day, she did not experience
either this secret attraction or mysterious support.
She had been driven towards the Grotto, but she
had not been attracted towards it. The power,
which had seized her, had marked out to her the
path of duty and shown that, above all things, she
must obey and keep the promise she had given to
the Apparition ; but, she had not, as on former oc
casions, heard the interior Voice and experienced
the all-powerful attraction. Any one accustomed
to the analysis of mental feelings will appreciate
these shades of difference which are more easily un
derstood than expressed.
Although the vast majority of the multitude
which had remained all the morning in the vain ex
pectation of seeing Bernadette arrive had dispersed,
there was still at that moment a considerable crowd
assembled in front of the Rocks of Massabielle.
Some had come there to pray others actuated by
mere curiosity. Many of these, having from a dis
tance observed Bernadette walking in that direc
tion, had rushed to the spot and reached it simul
taneously with her.
The child, according to her usual habit, knelt
down humbly and began to recite her chaplct,
keeping her eyes fixed on the opening festooned
with moss and wild branches where the celestial
Vision had, already six times, deigned to ap
pear.
The crowd wrapped in attention, curious, collect
ed and breathing thick with the intensity of their
feelings, expected every moment to see the counte
nance of the child become radiant and indicate by
OUR LADY OF LOTTRDES.
103
its lustre that the superhuman Being was standing
before her.
A considerable period of time elapsed in this
way.
Bernadette prayed fervently, but no portion of
her motionless features was lighted up from the di
vine reflection. The marvelous Vision did not man
ifest herself to her eyes, and the child was not heard
when she earnestly besought the realization of her
hopes.
Heaven, like earth, seemed to abandon her and
to remain as hard to her prayer and her tears,
as the rocks of marble before which her knees were
bent.
Of all the trials to which she had been exposed
since the previous evening this was the most cruel,
and her cup of bitterness was full to overflowing.
" Why hast thou disappeared ?" thought the child,
" and why dost thou abandon me?"
The marvelous Being seemed herself in fact to
reject her also, and by ceasing to manifest herself to
her, to justify those who opposed her and leave the
victory in the hands of her enemies.
The crowd was disconcerted and interrogated
poor Bernadette. Those around her asked her a
thousand questions.
" To-day," replied the child, her eyes red with
tears, " the Lady has not appeared to me. I have
not seen any thing. "
" You must now be convinced," said some, " that
it was an illusion, my poor little girl, and that there
has never been anything ; it was merely your fan-
cy."
" In fact," added others, " if the Lady appeared
104
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
yesterday, why should she not have appeared to
day?"
" On the other days, I saw her as plainly as I now
see you," said the child; "and we conversed to
gether. But to-day, she is no longer there, and why
it is so, I know not."
" Pshaw !" rejoined a Sceptic, " the Commissary
of Police has succeeded, and you will see an end of
all this."
De par le roi, defense a Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu.
Believers who happened to be there were trou
bled in heart, and did not know what to say.
As to Bernadette, sure as she was of herself and of
the past, not a shadow of doubt flitted across her
mind. She was, however, profoundly mournful, and
shed tears and prayed on regaining her father s
house.
She attributed the absence of the Apparition to
some feeling of dissatisfaction. " Could I have com
mitted any fault?" she asked herself. But her con
science did not reply to her with any reproach.
Meanwhile, her feeling of enthusiasm towards the
divine Vision, whom she evidently longed to con
template, was one of redoubled fervor. She sought
in the simplicity of her soul what measure she
could take to see her again, and she discovered none.
She felt her utter absence of power to evoke this
immaculate Beauty which had appeared to her, and
turning her heart to God, she wept, not knowing
that to weep is to pray.
There remained, however, a secret hope in the in
nermost depths of her sorrowing soul, and some
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 105
rare rays of joys, piercing- here and there all
these sombre clouds, passed at intervals over her
heart, strengthening her faith in the divine Appari
tion, which she never ceased to love and in which
she believed, although it was no longer presented to
her sight. And yet, doubtless, the poor and igno
rant child did not and could not know the meaning
of the words which were being chanted at that mo
ment in the Epistle of the Mass : " Ye shall rejoice
in God, should it be necessary for you to be grieved
with divers trials, to the end that, thus strengthened,
your faith infinitely more precious than gold (which
is also tried by fire), may turn into praise, into
glory, and into honor for the manifestation of Jesus
Christ, Him ^vhom ye love always, although ye have
not seen Him; Him, in whom ye believe, although
ye see him not now ; and, for the very reason that ye
thus believe, ye shall be crowned with indescribable and
glorious joy."
In the same way she had no presentiment of the
event which was on the eve of being accomplished,
and she was unable, humble peasant girl as she was,
either to know or to apply to the Rock of Massa-
bielle those words which the Priests of the entire
Universe pronounced that very day in the Gospel
for the Mass, " Super hanc petram cedificabo Eccle-
siam mcam" " On this rock I will build my Church."
She did not divine that very shortly, that is to say,
on the morrow of these hours passed in bitter tears,
she would herself announce prophetically, and de
mand, in the name of the Apparition, the erection
of a temple on those lonely rocks.
All these things were hidden in the unfathomable
obscurity of the future.
5*
I 6 OUR LADY OF LOUKDES.
" Where do you come from ?" said her father to
her, the moment she came in.
She related to them what had just happened.
" And you say," continued her parents, " that
some power carried you along in spite of yourself?"
" Yes," answered Bernadette.
" That is true," they thought to themselves, "for
this child has never told a falsehood."
Bcrnadette s father reflected for some moments.
It seemed as if there was a kind of struggle going
on within his mind. At length he raised his head
and seemed to arrive at a definite resolution.
" Well," he rejoined, " since it is so, since some
superior power has dragged you there, I no longer
forbid you to go to the Grotto, and leave you free
to do as you like."
An expression of joy of the purest and most love
ly kind lighted up Bernadette s countenance.
Neither the miller nor his wife had taken any ob
jection to the absence of the Apparition on that
day. Perhaps, in the bottom of their hearts, they
attributed its cause to the opposition they had of
fered, from fear of the civil power, to superhuman
commands.
XII.
WHAT we have just related had taken place in
the afternoon, and a rumor of it had rapidly spread
through the town. The sudden interruption of the
supernatural Apparitions gave rise to the most op
posite comments. Some pretended to derive from
the circumstance an unanswerable argument against
all the preceding visions ; others, on the contrary,
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
ID/
considered it as an additional proof of the child s
sincerity.
This irresistible power, said to have carried away
Bernadette in spite of herself, elicited shrugs from
all the philosophical shoulders in the place, and fur
nished a subject for interminable theses to the re
spectable savants, who explained everything 1 by a
perturbation of the nervous system.
The Commissary, seeing that his injunctions had
been infringed, and learning, in addition to this,
that Francois Soubirous had removed the prohibi
tion which he had imposed on his daughter, sent
for both of them, together with the mother, and
renewed his threats. He succeeded in alarming
them afresh ; but, notwithstanding the terror with
which he inspired them, he was greatly surprised
at no longer finding in Francois Soubirous the do
cility and feebleness of character displayed by him
the previous evening.
" Monsieur Jacomet," said the poor man, " Ber
nadette has never told an untruth, and if God, the
Blessed Virgin, or any other Saint calls her, we
cannot offer any opposition to them. Put yourself
in our place. God would punish us."
" Besides, you say yourself that the Vision has
ceased to make its appearance," argued Jacomet,
addressing himself to the child. " You have now
nothing more to do there."
" I have promised to go there every day during
the Quinzaine," replied Bernadette.
"All that is mere stuff!" exclaimed the Commis
sary, in a tone of exasperation ; " and I shall put
you all in prison if this girl continues to excite the
mob with her grimaces."
108 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" Good God !" said Bcrnadette. " I go to pray
there quite alone. I do not invite any one, and it
is not my fault if so many persons precede and
follow me. They have, indeed, said that it was the
Blessed Virgin, but as for myself, I do not know
who it is."
Accustomed as he was to the quibbles and art
ful tricks of rogues, the Agent of Police was dis
concerted, face to face, with such profound sim
plicity. His craft, his marvelous shrewdness, his
captious questions, his threats, all the cunning or
alarming tricks of his calling had been hitherto
foiled, by what, at first sight, and even now, appear
ed to him to be weakness itself. Never, for a single
moment, admitting himself to be in the wrong, he
could not conceive the reason of his complete fail
ure. Far, then, from ceasing to oppose the free
course of things, he resolved to summon other
forces to his assistance.
" Really" he exclaimed, stamping on the floor,
" this is a mighty stupid business !"
And, permitting the Soubirous to return home,
he rushed to the Procurcur Imperial.
Notwithstanding his horror of superstition, M.
Dutour could not find any law in the arsenal of our
code to warrant him in treating the youthful Seer
as a criminal. She did not summon any one to
join her ; she did not derive any pecuniary advan
tage from her proceedings ; she went to pray on a
public piece of ground, open to everybody, and
where no law prohibited her from kneeling ; she
did not give out that the Apparition uttered any
thing subsersive of, or contrary to, the Govern
ment ; the population did not commit the slightest
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
disorders. On these heads there was evidently no
opening for treating her with rigor.
As to prosecuting Bernadette on account of
"fausscs nouvellcs" experience had established the
fact, that she never contradicted herself in her
story, and without a contradiction in her words,
admitting of actual proof, it was difficult to estab
lish that she lied, without directly attacking the
very principle of supernatural Apparitions a prin
ciple admitted by the Catholic Church in all ages.
Without the concurrence, then, of the high author
ities of the Magistracy and the State, a mere Proc-
ureur Imperial could not take upon himself to en
gage in a conflict of this nature.
To make her, then, amenable to prosecution, it
at was least, necessary that Bernadette should con
tradict herself one day or other ; that either she or
her parents should derive some profit from the
transaction, or that the crowd should be guilty of
some disorder.
All this might occur.
To natures of the common order, which usually
busy themselves in the lower regions of the offi
cial world, it would, doubtless, have only been a
step from this hypothesis to the desire of realizing
it ; from this clear view of things in the minds of
those hostile to the fanaticism of the people, to
the wish to lay snares for the multitude or the
child. But M. Jacomet was a functionary, and the
morality of the police is above suspicions of the
kind. It is only ill-disposed minds which can
believe in the existence of agents who provoke
others to infringe the laws.
1 10 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
XIII.
ON the morning of the next day, the crowd was
assembled before the Grotto ere the sun had risen.
Bernadette repaired to her post with that calm sim
plicity of manner which remained unchanged amid
the threatening hostility of some and the enthusiastic
veneration of others. The sorrow and anguish of
the previous day had left some traces on her coun
tenance. She still feared she should see the Appa
rition no more ; and whatever were her hopes, she
scarcely dared to give way to them.
She kneeled down with humility, supporting in
one hand a taper which she had brought with her,
or had been given to her, w r hile, in the other, she
held her chaplet.
The weather was calm, and the flame of the taper
did not mount more straight to heaven than did
the prayer of this soul towards those invisible re
gions from which the blessed Apparition was wont
to descend. Doubtless it must have been so ; for
scarcely had the child prostrated herself, when the
ineffable Beauty, whose return she was then so
ardently invoking, manifested herself to her eyes
and transported her with ravishment. The august
Sovereign of Paradise gazed on the child of this
world with an expression of indescribable tender
ness, appearing to love her still more since she had
suffered. She, the greatest, the most sublime, the
most powerful of created Beings ; She, whose glory
swaying all ages and filling eternity, makes all other
glory grow pale, or rather disappear ; She, the
Daughter, Spouse and Mother of God, seemed to
wish to introduce, as it were, a kind of intimacy
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. IIT
and familiarity into the feelings which united her
with this little unknown and ignorant child, this
lowly shepherd-girl. She addressed her by her
name, with that sweet, harmonious voice, the deep
charm of which ravishes the ear of the Angels.
" Bernadette," said the divine Mother.
" I am here," replied the child.
" I have to tell you a secret, for you alone, and
concerning you alone. Do you promise me never
to repeat it to any one in the world ?"
" I promise you," said Bernadette.
The dialogue continued, and entered into a pro
found mystery, which it is neither possible nor
allowable for us to fathom.
Whatever it may have been, when this kind of
intimacy had been established, the Queen of the
eternal Realm gazed on this little girl, who the day
before had suffered, and was destined again to suf
fer, for love of Her ; and it pleased Her to choose
her as an embassadress to communicate one of Her
wishes to mankind.
"And now, my child," said she to Bernadette,
" S> S to the Priests and tell them to raise a chapel
to me here." And as She pronounced these words
the expression of her countenance, her glance and
her gesture, seemed to promise that she would pour
out there numberless graces.
After these words, she disappeared, and the
countenance of Bernadette re-entered into the
shade, as the earth at night, when the sun has
gradually worn away in the depths of the horizon.
The multitude pressed round the child, who had
but just now been transfigured in ecstacy. The
hearts of all were touched with emotion. Ques-
112 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
tions were showered upon her from all quarters.
They did not ask her if the vision had taken place ;
for at the moment of her ecstacy, all had under
stood, had been conscious that the Apparition was
there ; but they wished to know the words which
had been uttered. Every one made efforts to ap
proach the child and to hear what she said.
" What did she say to you ? What did the Vis
ion say to you?" was a question which escaped
from the mouths of all.
" She told me two things the one for myself
alone, the other for the Priests ; and I am going to
them immediately," replied Bernadette, who was in
haste to take the road to Lourdes in order to de
liver her message.
She was astonished on that, as on the preceding
days, that every one did not hear the dialogue and
see the " Lady." " The vision speaks loud enough
for others to hear," she said ; " and I also speak in
my ordinary tone of voice." In fact, during the
ecstacy, every one perceived the child s lips to
move, but that was all ; no one could distinguish
any words. In this mystic state, the senses are, in
a manner, spiritualized, and the realities which
strike them are absolutely imperceptible by the
gross organs of our fallen nature. Bernadette saw
and heard, she spoke herself; and yet no one
around her could distinguish the sound of her voice
or the form of the Apparition. Was Bernadette,
then, mistaken ? No ; she alone grasped the truth.
She alone, aided by spiritual succor and ecstatic
grace, perceived momentarily that which escaped
the senses of all others ; precisely as the astron
omer, furnished with the material assistance of his
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 113
telescope, contemplates for an instant in the heav
ens the vast yet distant star which is invisible to
the eyes of the vulgar. Outside her state of ec-
stacy she saw nothing ; exactly as the astronomer
without the powerful optical instrument, which in
creases a hundred-fold the power of his eye, is as
powerless to discover a hidden star as his next
neighbor.
XIV.
WHAT then had this strange and intimate conver
sation turned upon ? What was this peculiar secret
of which Bernadette spoke, being at the same time
unwilling to explain its nature ? What secret could
there be between the Mother of the omnipotent
Creator of Heaven and Earth and the lowly daugh
ter of the miller Souberois ; between this radiant
Majesty, the highest that exists after God ; between
this supreme Queen of the Realms of the Infinite,
and the little shepherd girl of the hills of Bartres?
Assuredly we will not attempt to divine it, and we
should regard it as a sacrilege to play the eaves
dropper at the gates of Heaven.
We may, however, be allowed to remark the pro
found and delicate knowledge of the human heart
and the maternal wisdom which doubtless prompted
the august speaker, in Her interview with Berna
dette, to introduce some words of profound secrecy
as a prelude to the public mission with which She
invested her. Favored in the eyes of all with mar
velous Visions, charged to the Priest of the true
God with a message from the other world, the soul
of this child, up to that moment so peaceful and
II4 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
solitary, found itself transferred all at once into the
midst of innumerable crowds and infinite emotions.
She was about to become the mark of the railleries
of some, the menaces of others, the contradictions
of many, and, what was attended with most danger
to herself of the enthusiastic veneration of a great
number. The days were at hand when the multi
tudes would receive her with acclamation and
would vie with each other for the possession of
shreds of her garments, as if they were holy relics ;
when eminent and illustrious personages would
prostrate themselves before her and implore her
blessing ; when a magnificent temple would rise and
whole populations would flock together in incessant
pilgrimages and processions on the faith of her
word. And thus it was that this poor child, sprung
from the people, was on the point of undergoing the
most terrible trial which could assault her humility,
a trial in the course of which she might lose for
ever her simplicity, her candor, in short all those
modest and sweet virtues which had germinated
and blossomed in the bosom of solitude. The very
graces she received became a source of fearful dan
ger to her, a danger to which more than once the
choicest souls, honored by favor from heaven, have
succumbed. St. Paul himself, after his visions, was
tempted with pride, and required to be buffeted by
the Evil Angel of the flesh in order that he might
not exalt himself in his own heart.
The Blessed Virgin willed, however, to protect
this little girl whom She loved, without permitting
the Evil Angel to approach this lily of purity and in
nocence, opening its petals to the rays of her grace.
What then does a mother when her child is threat-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ened with danger? She clasps it closer and more
tenderly to her bosom and says to it quite loiv, in
the mystery of a word softly murmured in -her ear,
" Fear nothing. I am there." And should she be
obliged to quit it for a moment and leave it alone,
she adds : " I am not going away far. I am here
within a few paces of you, and you have but to
stretch out your hand to take mine." In the same
manner did the Mother of us all act towards Berna-
dette. At the moment when the world with all its
various temptations, and Satan with all his subtle
snares were about to strain every nerve to tear the
child from Her, She was pleased to unite her more
intimately to Herself. She girded her with Her
arms and pressed her more energetically to Her
heart. She, the Queen of Heaven ! by imparting
a secret to the child of earth, She did all that ; it
was to elevate Bernadette even to the import of
Her lips which uttered low tones ; it was to found
in her childish memory an inaccessible place of
refuge, a place of peace and close intimacy which
no one could ever succeed in disturbing.
A secret imparted to and heard by another cre
ates the strongest bond of union between two souls.
To tell a secret is to give a sure pledge of affection
ate fidelity and unreserved confidence ; it is to es
tablish a closed sanctuary and as it were a sacred
place of meeting between two hearts. When some
one of importance, some one infinitely above us in
rank, has put us in possession of his secret, we can
no longer doubt him. His friendship has by means
of this intimate confidence taken up, as it were, its
abode in ourselves, and by it he has made himself
the guest, or to speak more clearly, the tenant of
Il6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
our soul. When our thoughts dwell on this secret,
we seem in a measure mysteriously pressing his
hand and feel as if in his presence.
In like manner a secret imparted by the Virgin
to the miller s daughter became for the latter a safe
guard on which she might firmly rely. We are not
taught this by Theology : it is the study of the hu
man heart which attests its truth,
THIRD BOOK.
I.
ON her arrival in the town Bernadette found
that the multitude had streamed there in ad
vance of her in order to observe her next proceed
ings.
The child passed down the road which traverses
Lourdes and served to form its principal street ;
then stopping- in the lower part of the town, before
the boundary wall of a rustic garden, she opened
its gate, which was painted green, with an open rail
ing, and directed her steps toward the house to
which the garden belonged.
The crowd, actuated by a feeling of respect and
decorum, did not follow Bernadette, but remained
outside.
Humble and simple in appearance, her poor gar
ments patched in many places, her head and should
ers covered with her little white capulct of the
coarsest material ; having in a word no external sign
of a mission from on high with the exception per
haps of the royal mantle of poverty which Jesus
Christ himself bore the messenger of the divine
Virgin, who had appeared at the Grotto, had just
entered the abode of the venerable man, in whom,
(117)
n g OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
in that out-of-the-way part of the world and for
this child, the infallible authority of the Catholic
Church was personified.
Although it was still early the Cure of Lourdes
had already finished saying his Office.
We know not whether at the moment he was
about to hear for the first time the voice of this
poor shepherd-girl, so insignificant in the eyes of the
flesh and the world, but so great perhaps in the
judgment of Heaven, his memory recalled to him
the various words he had just pronounced that very
day at the Introit and Gradual of the Mass: " In
incdio Ecclesice aperuit os cjus Lingua cjus
loquitur judicium. Lex Dei cjus in corde ipsius"
" His lips have spoken in the midst of the Church.
His tongue hath said that which is just. The law
of God is in his Heart."
The Abbe Peyramale, although, as a faithful and
pious son cf the Church, fully convinced of the
possibility of the Apparitions, experienced some
difficulty in believing in the divine reality of this
extraordinary Vision which, according to the state
ment of a child, was making itself manifest on the
banks of the Gave, in a grotto, hitherto unknown,
of the Rocks of Massabielle. He would doubtless
have been convinced by the aspect of her ecstacy ;
but he had seen nothing of all these things save
through the eyes of strangers, and great doubts ex
isted in his mind respecting the reality of the Ap
paritions in the first place, and secondly as regarded
their divine character. The Angel of Darkness truly
transforms himself at times into an Angel of Light,
and in such matters a certain uneasiness is quite
warrantable. Besides he deemed it necessary to
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
test the sincerity of the youthful Seer himself. He
therefore received Bernadette with an expression
of mistrust which amounted even to severity.
Although, as we have already stated, he had
kept himself aloof from what had been taking
place and never in his life spoken to Bernadette
who besides had only recently been added to his
flock she was known to him by sight, some per
sons having pointed her out to him a day or two
before, when she happened to be passing in the
street.
" Are you not Bernadette, the daughter of Sou-
birous?" said he to her, when, having crossed the
garden, she presented herself before him.
The eminent priest, whose portrait we have
sketched, had all the familiarity of a father with
his parishioners, more especially with the little chil
dren belonging to his flock. Only on that day was
the tone of the Father severe.
" Yes, it is I, Monsieur le Cure," replied the hum
ble messenger of the Virgin.
" Well, Bernadette, what do you want of me ?
What are you coming to do here ?" he rejoined
somewhat harshly, glancing at the same time at
the child with an expression of cold reserve and
severe scrutiny, eminently calculated to disconcert
a soul which might not have much confidence in
itself.
" Monsieur le Cure, I come on the part of the
Lady who appears to me at the Grotto of Massa-
bielle."
" Ah, yes," observe^ the priest, cutting her short,
"you pretend to have visions, and you draw every
one after you with your fabrications. What is all
120 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
this? What has happened to you within the last
few days ? What is the meaning- of all these strange
things you affirm without bringing forward any
thing in proof of them."
Bernadette was grieved, perhaps in her innocence,
surprised at the severe bearing and almost harsh
tone assumed by the Cur6 on receiving her, as he
was usually so kind, paternal and mild with his
parishioners, more especially with the little ones.
She however related simply all the facts already
known to the reader, and though she was heavy at
heart, her tale was told without agitation and with
the calm self-possession of truth.
This man of God could rise superior to all his
personal prejudices. Accustomed from long prac
tice to read the hearts of others, he inwardly
admired, while she was speaking, the wonderful
character of truthfulness in this little peasant-girl,
recounting in her rustic language occurrences of so
marvelous a nature. Through her limpid eyes,
behind her candid countenance, he perceived the
profound innocence of her highly privileged soul.
It was impossible for one of his noble and upright
nature to hear that accent of truth and survey those
pure and harmonious features, so stamped with
goodness, without feeling himself inwardly prompted
to believe the words of the child, who was then
speaking.
The incredulous themselves, as we have already
explained, had ceased to arraign the sincerity of the
youthful Seer. In her state of ecstacy, Truth from
above seemed entirely to illuminate her and enter
within her. In her accounts of what had happened,
Truth seemed to proceed from her person and
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. I2I
spread its radiance around, filling the hearts of
others with new ardor and scattering, like vain
clouds, the confused objections of the intellect.
This extraordinary child, in short, had around her
brow as it were an aureole of sincerity, which was
visible to the eyes of pure souls and even to those
of an opposite kind, and her words were gifted with
the power of expelling doubt.
In spite of M. Peyramale s unbending and decided
character, in spite of his strength of mind and intel
lect, in spite of his profound distrust, his heart was
strangely stirred with an emotion which seemed in
explicable by the accents of . Bernadette, who was
so much spoken of and to whom he was now listen
ing for the first time. This man, notwithstanding
his strength, felt himself vanquished by this all-
powerful weakness. However, he had too much
self-command and was too prudent to allow himself
to be carried away by an impression which, after
all, might deceive him. As a mere individual, he
would probably have said to the child, " I believe
you." As Pastor of a vast flock, over which he was
placed as the guardian of the truth, he had deter
mined to surrender only to visible and palpable
proofs. Not a muscle of his face betrayed his in
ward agitation. He was able to preserve his harsh
and severe expression of countenance towards the
child.
: And you do not know the name of this Lady ?"
" No," replied Bernadette. She did not tell me
who she was."
Those who have faith in your statements," re
joined the Priest, " imagine that it is the Blessed
\ irgm Mary. But are you aware," he added with
6
I22 OUR LADT OF LOUEDES.
a grave and vaguely menacing voice, " that if you
falsely pretend to see Her in this Grotto, you are
on the high road never to see Her in Heaven ? Here,
you say you alone see Her. Above, if you lie in
this world, others will see Her, and, in punishment
of your deception you will be for ever far from Her,
for ever in hell."
" I know not whether it is the Blessed Virgin,
Monsieur le Cure," replied the child ; " but I see
the Yision as I now see you, and She speaks to me
as you are doing now. And I come to tell you
from Her that She wishes a chapel to be erected to
Her at the Rocks of Massabielle, where she appears
to me."
The Cure gazed on this little girl while she was
intimating to him this formal demand with such
perfect assurance ; and, in spite of his previous emo
tion, he could not repress a smile at this strange
message when taken in connection with the humble
and childish appearance of the embassadress from
heaven. The emotion of his heart was succeeded
by a thought taking possession of his mind that the
child was laboring under a delusion, and doubt re-
assumed the upper hand.
He made Bernadette repeat the very terms em
ployed by the Lady of the Grotto.
" After having confided to me the secret which
regards me alone and which I cannot reveal, She
added : And now go to the Priests and tell them I
wish they would erect a chapel to me here.
The Priest remained silent for a moment. " After
all," he thought, " it is possible ! " And this thought
that the Mother of God was sending a direct mes
sage to himself, a poor unknown priest, filled him
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
123
with trouble and agitation. Then he fixed his eyes
on the child and asked himself, " What guarantee
have I of the truth of this little girl and what is
there to prove to me that she is not the sport of
some error?"
" If the Lady of whom you speak to me, is
really the Queen of Heaven," he replied, " I should
be happy to contribute, so far as my means will
allow, to the erection of a chapel to Her; but your
word is not a certainty. Nothing obliges me to
believe you. I do not know who this Lady is,
and before busying myself with her wishes, I would
know whether she has a right to make this demand.
Ask her then to give me some proof of her power."
The window happened to be open and the Priest
glancing downward into the garden perceived the
arrest of vegetation and the momentary death
produced among the plants by the hoar-frosts of
winter.
" The Apparition, you tell me, has under its feet
a wild rose tree, an eglantine, which grows out of
the rock. We are now in the month of February.
Tell her from me that if she wishes the Chapel, she
may cause the wild rose to blossom." Saying
which he dismissed the child.
II.
IT was not long before all the details of the con
versation, which had taken place between Berna-
dette and the universally respected Priest who at
that time was Cure of the town of Lourdes, became
general!} known.
" He has given her a sorry reception," observed
I2 4 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the savants and philosophers in great glee. " He is
too reasonable to believe in the reveries of a child
in a state of hallucination and has shown consider
able tact in getting himself out of the difficulty.
On the one hand, it was impossible for a man of his
intelligence and calibre to countenance such follies,
while on the other, by opposing to all this a simple
denial, he would have had all this fanatical multi
tude on his back. Instead of falling into this double
danger and being taken in the horns of this dilemma,
he escapes quietly out of the difficulty, and, with
out going directly against the popular belief, he
very cleverly demands a visible, palpable, and cer
tain proof from the Apparition, in a word, a Mira
cle, which is equivalent to an impossibility. He
condemns the lie or the illusion to refute them
selves, and, with the thorn of a wild rose tree bursts
this grand balloon. It is a very happy idea."
Jacomet, M. Dutour and their friends rejoiced
at this demand in due form of law notified to the
invisible Being of the Grotto. " The Apparition is
summoned to produce her passport," was a joke
repeated with much laughter in official quarters.
" The wild-rose will blossom," said the firmest
among the believers, those who were still under the
impression made on them by having witnessed
Bernadette in a state of ccstacy.
A great number, believing though they did in the
Apparition, were alarmed at this ordeal. The heart
of man is after this fashion, and the Centurion, men
tioned in the Gospel, spoke for most of us when he
said, " Credo JDominc, adjura incrcdulitatcjn mcam"
" Lord I believe. Help thou mine unbelief."
Both parties awaited the morrow with impatience.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 12 $
III.
AMONG those who had been prevented hitherto
by their superlative contempt for superstition from
mixing themselves with the multitude in order to
examine what was going on, several resolved from
that time forth to repair to the Grotto, in order to
attend officially the popular deception. One of the
above was M. Estrade, the Rcceveur dcs Contribu
tions Indirect cs, of whom we have already spoken,
and who had been present in M. Jacomet s room, at
the interrogatory of the youthful Seer. He had
been there, as you will remember, deeply struck
with Bernadette s strange accent of sincerity, and
being unable to doubt the child s good faith, had
attributed her story to the results of a hallucination.
At times, however, this first impression fading away,
he inclined to the solution of Jacomet, who con
tinued to view the whole affair as an extremely
clever piece of acting and a miracle of roguery.
M. Estrade s philosophy, however firm in its prin
ciples, oscillated between these two explanations,
which to his point of view were the only ones pos
sible. His contempt for these mystic extravagances
and these impostures went so far that up to that
moment, in spite of his secret curiosity, he had made
it a point of honor not to go to the Rocks of Massa-
bielle. That day, however, he resolved to repair
to them partly to attend a strange spectacle
partly to observe for himself and partly out of
complaisance and to escort thither his sister, who
was much touched with these accounts, and certain
12 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ladies in the neighborhood. He has, himself, re
lated to us his impressions, which are not liable to
any suspicions.
" I reached the spot," he informs us, "much dis
posed to examine and, to tell the truth, to laugh
and enjoy myself thoroughly, expecting as I did to
see a kind of farce or some grotesque absurdities.
An immense crowd of people massed themselves by
degrees round those wild rocks. I wondered at the
simplicity of so many blockheads and smiled to my
self at the credulity of a crowd of devotees who
were kneeling sanctimoniously in front of the rocks.
We had come very early in the morning, and thanks
to my skill in elbowing the crowd, I had no great
difficulty in securing a place in the front ranks. At
the usual hour, towards sunrise, Bernadette arrived.
I was near to her. I remarked in her childish fea
tures that expression of sweetness, innocence and
profound tranquillity with which I had been struck
some days previously at the residence of the Com
missary. She knelt down in a perfectly natural
manner, without ostentation or embarrassment, and
paying apparently little attention to the crowd
which surrounded her, precisely as if she had been
alone in a church or in a solitary wood, far from
human gaze. She drew out her chaplet and began
to pray. Shortly afterwards her look seemed to
receive and reflect a strange unknown light ; it be
came fixed and rested wondering, ravished and
radiant with happiness on the opening in the rock.
I turned my eyes in the same direction, but I saw
nothing, absolutely nothing, except the naked
branches of the wild-rose. And yet, must I confess
it to you? In face of the transfiguration of the
OUR LADY OF LOUIWES. I2 ;r
child, all my former prejudices, all my philoso
phical objections, all my preconceived negations
fell at once to the ground and cleared the way
for an extraordinary feeling which took posses
sion of me in spite of myself. I had the certi
tude, the irresistible intuition that a mysterious
being was there. My eyes did not see it ; but my
soul and the souls of the innumerable witnesses of
this solemn hour saw it as I did, with the inner
light of evidence. Yes, I attest the fact that a
divine being was there. Suddenly and completely
transfigured Bernadette was no longer Bernadette.
It was an Angel from heaven plunged in indescrib
able ravishment. She had no longer the same coun
tenance ; another cast of intelligence, another life,
I was going to say another stamp of soul was de
picted upon it. She bore no longer any resem
blance to herself, and it seemed as if she was a per
fectly different person. Her attitude, her slightest
gestures, the manner, for instance, in which she
made the sign of the Cross, had a nobility, dignity,
and grandeur, exceeding anything human. She
opened her eyes wide as if insatiable of seeing
wide open and almost motionless ; she was afraid,
it would seem, to droop her eye-lids and to lose for
a single moment the ravishing sight of the marvel
she was contemplating. She smiled at that invisi
ble being, and all this conveyed the fullest idea of
ecstacy and beatitude. I was not less moved than
the rest of the spectators. Like them, I . held my
breath, in order to endeavor to hear the colloquy
which was being carried on between the Vision and
the child. The latter listened with an expression
of the most profound respect, or to express it better,
128 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
of the most absolute adoration mingled with bound
less love and the sweetest ravishment. Sometimes
a shade of sorrow passed over her countenance, but
its habitual expression was one of extreme joy. I
observed that, at intervals of a few moments, she
ceased to breath. During- the whole of this time
she had her chaplet in her hand, sometimes motion
less (for ever and anon she seemed to forget it in
order to lose herself entirely in the contemplation
of the divine Being), sometimes gliding the beads
more or less regularly through her fingers. Each
of her movements was in perfect harmony with the
expression of her countenance, which denoted by
turns admiration, prayer and joy. She made from
time to time those signs of the Cross, so pious, so
noble and so imprinted with power, of which I have
just spoken. If the denizens of Heaven make the
signs of the Cross, they will assuredly resemble those
made by Bernadette in her state of ecstacy. This
gesture of the child, restricted as it was, seemed to
a certain extent to embrace the Infinite.
"At a certain moment Bernadette quitted the
spot where she was praying on the bank of the
Gave, and without rising from her knees proceeded
to the interior of the Grotto. It is a distance of
about forty-five feet. While she was mounting this
somewhat abrupt slope, the persons who were on
her route, heard her very distinctly pronounce the
words Penitence ! penitence ! penitence !
" A few moments afterwards she rose and walked
in the midst of the crowd towards the town. She
had subsided into a poor little tattered girl, who to
all appearance had taken no more part in this ex
traordinary spectacle than those around her."
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
However, while all this scene was being enacted
the wild rose had not blossomed. Its bare and un
attractive branches wound motionless along the
rock, and in vain had the multitude awaited the fra
grant and charming miracle which had been de
manded by the chief pastor of the town.
It was, however, a remarkable circumstance that
this fact did not seem to stagger the belief of the
faithful ; and notwithstanding this apparent protes
tation on the part of inanimate nature against all
supernatural power, many considerable men, and
among others the one whose account of the occur
rence we have just given, felt themselves converted
to belief on witnessing the transfiguration of the
youthful Seer.
The crowd, as was always the case, minutely ex
amined the Grotto at the close of the ecstacy, when
the child had taken her departure. M. Estrade,
like all the rest, explored it with the greatest atten
tion. Every one sought to discover something ex
traordinary in it, but there was nothing in it to
strike the eye. It was an ordinary cavity in a hard
rock and its surface was perfectly dry in every di
rection with the exception of the entrance and that
part exposed to the west, when, during wet weather,
the wind driving the rain produced a temporary
humidity.
IV.
" WELL, have you seen her to-day, and what has
she said to you ?" demanded the Curd of Lourdes,
when Bernadette had presented herself at his house
on her return from the Grotto.
6*
1 30 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
11 1 have seen the Vision," replied the child, " and
I said to her Monsieur le Cure requests you to
furnish him with some proofs, as for instance, to
cause the wild rose which is under your feet to
blossom, because my word- alone does not satisfy
the Priests, and they will not rely on me. Then she
smiled but said nothing. Afterwards she bade me
pray for sinners, and commanded me to ascend to
the bottom of the Grotto. And she cried out three
times the words Penitence ! penitence ! penitence !
which I repeated as I dragged myself on my knees
as far as the bottom of the Grotto. There she im
parted to me a second secret which regards myself
alone. Then she disappeared."
" And what have you found at the bottom of the
Grotto?"
" I looked after She had disappeared (for as long as
She is there my attention is fixed on Her alone and
She entirely absorbs me), and saw nothing but the
rock, and on the ground a few blades of grass which
were growing in the midst of the dust."
The priest remained absorbed in a kind of rev
erie.
" Let us wait," said he to himself.
The same evening, the Abbe Peyramale related
this interview to the vicaires of Lourctes and some
priests from the neighborhood. They rallied their
Dean on the apparent failure of his demand.
" If it is the Blessed Virgin," they said to him,
" this smile on the receipt of your request, appears
to us as unfavorable for you ; and irony from so ex
alted a quarter strikes us as alarming."
The Cure extricated himself from this view of the
question with his usual presence of mind.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. I ^ l
" This smile is in my favor," he replied ; " the
Blessed Virgin is no scoffer. If I had spoken ill,
she would not have smiled, she would have been
moved to pity at my plea. She smiled ; therefore
she approves."
V.
THERE was certainly some truth in the Abbe
Peyramale s sly repartee ; but, perhaps, not so much
as he was inclined to think. Surely, if at that mo
ment with his profound sagacity and high-minded-
ness, he had maturely reflected on the words which
the Celestial Vision had pronounced a short time
after having smiled, he would have comprehended
the meaning of the smile which the poor child, fa
vored though she was with such visions, was un
able to interpret.
" To pray for sinners, to do penance, to climb kneel
ing the steep and difficult slope which leads from
the rapid and tumultuous waves of the torrent to
the unchangeable rock on which one of the sanctu
aries of the Church was to be founded," such had
been the commands of the Apparition at the close
of the child s prayer; such had been Her answer to
the request that She should cause the wild-rose to
blossom ; such had been, from Her own mouth, the
plain and clear commentary on Her smile. Who
does not see after due reflection, the admirable
meaning of this symbolic response ?
" And what, even though T am the Mother of the
God-Saviour, the Mother of that Jesus who spent
his life in doing good and in consoling the afflicted,
could they demand nothing from me as a proof of my
132 OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
power but this idle and frail marvel, which the rajs
of the sun, who is my Servant, will perform of them
selves a few days hence? When a multitude of sin
ners, indifferent or hostile to the law of God, covers
the surface of the globe ; when whole nations, either
guilty or led astray, quench their thirst at the poi
soned stream of this world or at the turbid torrents
which rush down to the abyss ; when they have
need, above all things, to scale on their knees the
rugged path which separates the fleeting and trou
bled life of the flesh from the unchangeable life of
the spirit ; when the salvation of so many outcasts
and the healing of so many sick in soul is the con
stant study of my maternal heart, am I not to give
better proofs of my Power and Goodness than to
make roses bloom in the depth of winter? and is
it for so trifling an amusement that I appear to a
young girl of earth and open my hands full of graces
before her?"
Such was, it appears to us, as far as it is permitted
to a wretched man to penetrate and interpret things
so lofty in their nature, the deep meaning of the
smile and the commands by which the Mother of
the human race replied to the request of the Pastor
of Lourdes. God, more especially in evil and ne
cessitous times, does not condescend to fritter away
(if we may use the expression), his omnipotence in
vain prodigies which only strike the eye, or in ephem
eral wonders which would wither before the close
of day and be carried away by the first blast of wind.
When it is His will to found aught eternal, He sup
ports it by some eternal proof which future ages
will not be able to impair.
What, meanwhile, was the signification of the
OUR LADY OF LOU1WES.
133
command received by Bernadette to scale on her
knees the surface of the Grotto until her progress
was arrested by the escarpment of the parched
rock? No one knew ; and, in the presence of that
arid rock, no one dreamed that, from the moment the
Synagogue had committed self-murder while think
ing to slay Jesus, the staff of Moses had passed as
an heir-loom to the people of Christ.
The Curd of Lourdes, despite the lofty range of
his mind, did not at once see these things which the
future was to make so clear. The strong doubts he
cherished within him of the reality of the Appari
tion prevented him from meditating carefully on the
various circumstances connected with the scene at
the Grotto, and fixing on them that clear glance
which he usually threw on the things pertaining to
God.
The Free-thinkers of the place, although some
what disconcerted at the conversions produced that
day at the Rocks of Massabielle by the extraordi
nary splendor of Bernadette s transfiguration, tri
umphed exceedingly at the check the believers had
met with, in regard to the humble and graceful
proof which had been demanded by M. Peyramale.
They praised the latter even more than they had
done oh the previous day for having exacted a mir
acle.
" Jacomet," they said, " was guilty of a blunder
in wishing to kill the Apparition : the Cure, with
much greater shrewdness, forces her to commit sui
cide." Incapable of appreciating the loyal simpli
city of his impartial wisdom, which, doubtless, de
manded some proofs before either believing or
rejecting the matter, they attributed to craft what
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
was really the result of prudence, and detected a
snare in the simple prayer of an upright soul which
was in quest of truth. As we see, on this occasion,
these gentlemen were almost on the point of paying
the Cure of Lourdes the high compliment which
he certainly did not deserve of reckoning him as
one of their own number,
VI.
THE honorable M. Jacomet, in the meanwhile,
seemed to be annoyed with himself for not having
surprised the imposture in the very act, and crushed
the growing superstition by his own personal exer
tions. He racked his brains to guess the answer to
the enigma, for he began to see clearly, from the
very demand made by the Cure of Lourdes, that the
Clergy had nothing to do with the matter. He had,
therefore, only the little girl and her parents to deal
with. He never for a moment doubted, that some
how or other, he would settle the affair to his satis
faction.
When Bernadette chanced to make her appear
ance on the street, the crowd eagerly pressed round
her: at every step she was stopped by some one,
and every one wished to hear from her mouth the
details of the Apparitions. Several persons, among
others M. Dufo, an advocate and one of the eminent
men of the place, sent for her and asked her numer
ous questions. They did not resist the secret pow
er which the living Truth imparted to her words.
Many persons repaired in the course of the day to
the house of the Soubirous to hear Bernadette s
account of the affair. She submitted with all sim-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. l ,t
plicity and complaisance to these incessant interro
gations, and it was plain that, from that time forth,
she considered it her peculiar office and duty to
bear witness to all that she had seen and heard.
In a corner of the room in which visitors were
received, there was a little shrine adorned with
flowers, medals and holy images, and surmounted
by a statue of the Virgin, which gave it an appear
ance of luxury and attested the piety of the family.
All the rest of the chamber showed signs of the
most wretched destitution ; a pallet-bed, a few rick
ety chairs, and a miserable table, comprised all the
furniture of the dwelling in which crowds came to
learn the splendid secrets of heaven. The majority
of visitors were struck and touched by the sight of
such extreme indigence stamped on everything, and
could not resist the pleasing temptation of leaving
. these poor people some present, some trifling alms.
This, however, the child and her parents invariably
refused so peremptorily, that they could not press
anything on them.
Many among these visitors were strangers to the
town. One of the latter came to the house one
evening at an hour when the throng of visitors had
subided, and there only remained a neighbor or a
relation of the family sitting at the fireside. He
carefully interrogated Bernadette, desiring her not
to omit the slightest detail, and appearing to take
an extraordinary interest in the child s narration.
Every moment he betrayed his enthusiasm and faith
by the most tender exclamations. He congratula
ted Bernadette on having received so great a favor
from heaven, and then compassionated the want of
which he saw around him so many marks.
136 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" I am rich," said he ; " allow me to assist you."
He placed on the table a purse, which he half
opened, showing that it was full of gold.
A flush of indignation mantled Bernadette s coun
tenance.
" I do not wish for anything, Sir," she observed
eagerly. " Take it back again."
And she pushed the purse, which had been placed
on the table, towards the unknown gentleman.
" It is not for you, my child, it is for your parents,
who are in want, and you cannot hinder me from
succoring them."
" We do not wish to have anything, nor Bcrna-
dette either !" exclaimed her parents.
" You are poor," continued the stranger, insisting
in his offer. " I have put you out of your way, and
I take an interest in you. Is it from pride that you
refuse me ?"
" No, Sir ; but we do not want anything. Take
back your gold."
The unknown took back his purse and left the
house, with an expression of much annoyance on
his countenance.
Where did this man come from, and who was he ?
Was he a compassionate benefactor or a crafty
tempter ? We know not. The police arrangements
were so excellent at Lourdes, that perhaps M.
Jacomet, more fortunate in this respect than our
selves, knew the secret, and could solve the riddle
better than any one else.
If, then, by one of those accidents which some
times occur in matters of police, the cunning Com
missary heard that very evening the details of
this scene between Bernadette and this mysterious
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 137
stranger, he must have allowed that snares and
temptations were as useless against this extraordi
nary child as captious questions and violent threats
had already proved. The difficulties attending the
unravelling of this affair increased for this man,
who was yet so superlatively shrewd and so expert
in merely human matters. If he had been surprised
at the complete impossibility of producing the
slightest contradiction in Bernadette s recital, he
was plunged into a state of absolute stupor by her
disinterestedness and the firmness she had displayed
in rejecting a purse full of gold.
Such conduct would have been easily explained
in the mind of the sagacious Commissary had not
the demand of some visible proof, of a miracle, of
the impossible blossoming of the wild rose, which
the Cure had made, proved, beyond a shadow of
doubt, that the Clergy were not lurking behind the
youthful Seer. But Bernadette and her parents, left
to their own resources, poor, in distress, wanting
for bread, and still not deriving any profit from the
popular enthusiasm and credulity this was a thing
altogether inconceivable.
Had the little girl invented the imposture merely
to make herself talked about ? But, to say nothing
of the fact that there appeared little probability of
such an ambition in the mind of a little shepherd-
maid, what explanation could be offered for the in
defeasible unity of her narration and her disinter
estedness, which extended even to the members of
her family, who were all extremely poor, and, con
sequently, sorely tempted to turn the blind cre
dulity of the multitude to their own advantage.
M. Jacomet was not the man to flinch because
j^S OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the case was attended with some insoluble objec
tions, and he confidently awaited the turn of events,
little doubting that a triumph was in store for him,
which would only be rendered more glorious from
the fact that at first it had been beset with difficul
ties and obstacles.
VII.
THE night had ended the agitations of so many
minds so differently influenced, some believing in
the reality of the Apparition, others remaining in a
state of doubt, while a certain number persisted in
denying the fact.
Day was about to break, and the universal Church,
over all the surface of the Globe, was murmuring in
the interior of Temples, in the silence of solitary
Presbyteries, in the peopled shade of Cloisters, be
neath the vaulted roofs of Abbeys, Monasteries and
Convents, those words of the Psalmist in the Office
of Matins : Tu cs Dens qui fads mirabilia. Notam
fecisti in populis virtutcm titam Viderunt te
aquae Deus, viderunt te aquas, ct imucrient, ct tur-
bata sunt abyssi. " Thou art the God who workest
marvels. Thou hast shown forth Thy power in the
midst of the multitudes The waters saw Thee,
Lord, the -waters saw Thee, and they trembled in
Thy presence and the depths were troubled."
Barnadette, having arrived before the Rocks of
Massabielle, had just knelt down.
An innumerable crowd had preceded her to the
Grotto and pressed around her. Although there
were there a good number of sceptics, of such
as denied the truth of the Apparition, and of others
OUR LADY OF LOTTED ES.
139
who came merely from motives of curiosity, a
religious silence suddenly prevailed as soon as the
child had been perceived. A shudder had passed
through the crowd like a shock of electricity. All,
by a unanimous instinct, the incredulous as well
as believers, had uncovered their heads. Several
had kneeled down at the same time as the daughter
of the miller.
At that moment the divine Apparition manifested
Hers elf to Bernadette, who was suddenly trans
ported into her marvelous ecstacy. As was always
the case, the radiant Virgin stood in the oval exca
vation of the rock, and her feet rested on the* wild
rose.
Bernadette contemplated her with an inexpress
ible sentiment of love, a sentiment sweet and deep,
which overflowed her soul with delight, without at
all disturbing her mind or causing her to forget
she was still upon earth.
The Mother of God loved this innocent child.
She wished, by a still closer intimacy, to press her
yet more to her bosom ; She wished to strengthen
still more the bond which united Her to the humble
shepherd-girl, in order that the latter, amid all the
agitations of this world, might feel, so to say, every
moment, that the Queen of Heaven held her invis
ibly by the hand.
" My child," she said, " I wish to impart to you,
always for you alone, and concerning you alone, a
last secret, which, as with the other two, you will
never reveal to any one in the world."
We have explained further back t he profound rea
sons which formed, out of these intimate confidences,
the future safeguard of Bernadette, amidst the moral
140 OUR LADY OF LOUKDE8.
dangers to which the extraordinary favors, of which
she was the object, must inevitably expose her. By
this triple secret, the Virgin clothed her messenger,
as it were, with armor of three-fold strength against
the dangers and temptations of life.
Bernadette, in the exceeding joy of her heart,
listened, in the meanwhile, to the ineffable music of
that voice so sweet, so maternal, so tender, which,
eighteen hundred years ago, had charmed the filial
ears of the Infant-God.
"And now," rejoined the Virgin, after a short
silence, go and drink from, and wash yourself in
the fountain, and eat of the herb which is growing
at its side."
Bernadette, at this word "Fountain," gazed
around her. There was, and never had been, any
Spring in that spot. The child, without losing
sight of the Virgin, betook herself quite naturally
towards the Gave, whose tumultuous waters were
rushing a few paces from there, across pebbles and
broken rocks.
A word and a gesture from the Apparition arrest
ed her in her course.
" Do not go there," said the Virgin ; " I have not
spoken of drinking from the Gave ; go to the
Fountain, it is here."
And stretching out Her hand that delicate yet
powerful hand to which nature submits, She
showed with her finger to the child, on the right
side of the Grotto, the same parched corner to
wards which, but the morning before, She had
made her ascend on her knees.
Although she saw nothing in the place pointed
out to her which appeared to have any connection
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. I 4I
with the words of the divine Being, Bernadette
obeyed the command of the heavenly Vision. The
vaulted roof of the Grotto sloped downwards on
this side, and the little girl scrambled on her knees
the short distance she had to traverse.
On reaching the end, she did not perceive before
her the least appearance of a fountain. On the
face of the rock there sprung here and there some
tufts of that herb belonging to the Saxifrage family,
which is call la Dor inc.
Whether it was owing to a new sign from the
Apparition, or to an inward impulse of her soul,
Bernadette, with that simple faith so pleasing to
the heart of God, stooped down, and, scratching
the ground with her tiny hands, began to scoop out
the earth.
The innumerable spectators of this scene, as they
neither heard nor saw the Apparition, did not know
what to think of this singular operation on the
part of the child. Many already began to smile,
and to believe in some derangement of the poor
shepherd-girl s brain. How little is needed to shake
our faith.
All at once the bottom of this little cavity dug
by the child became damp. Arriving from un
known depths, across rocks of marble and the
bowels of the earth, a mysterious water began to
spring up, drop by drop from beneath the hands
of Bernadette, and to fill the hollow, about the size
of a goblet, which she had just completed.
This water, newly come, mixing itself with the
earth broken by Bernadette s hands, formed at
first nothing but mud. Three times did Bernadette
essay to raise this muddy liquid to her lips ; but
I4 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
three times was her feeling of disgust so strong
that she rejected it, feeling she had not the power
of swallowing it. However she wished, before
everything else, to obey the radiant Apparition
who towered over this strange scene ; and the
fourth time, making a grand effort, she surmounted
her repugnance. She drank, she washed herself,
and she ate a morsel of the wild plant which grew
at the foot of the rock.
At that moment the water of the Spring over
leaped the brim of the little reservoir hollowed by
the child, and proceeded to flow in a slender
stream, more sle-nder, perhaps, than a straw, to
wards the crowd which was pressing on the front
of the Grotto.
This stream was so extremely small that for a
long time until the close, in fact, of that day the
parched earth sucked it up entirely on its passage,
and you could only guess its progressive course by
the damp line, like a ribbon, which was traced on
the ground, and which, increasing in length by de-
degrees, advanced at an extremely slow rate to
wards the Gave.
When Bernadette had accomplished, as we have
related above, all the mandates she had received,
the Virgin gazed at her with an expression of satis
faction, and, a moment afterwards, She disappeared
from her sight.
The multitude were greatly excited by this prod
igy. As soon as Bernadette emerged from her state
of ecstacy, all rushed towards the Grotto. Every
one wished to see with his own eyes the little hol
low from which the water had gushed from beneath
the hand of the child. Every one wished to dip
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. I ^$
his handkerchief in it and raise a drop of it to his
lips. So this infant spring, in consequence of the
gradual enlargement of its reservoir by the crum
bling in of the earth, assumed, in a short time, the
appearance of a puddle of water or of a liquid mass
of wet mud. The Spring, however, seemed to in
crease in volume as water was drawn from it, and
the orifice through which it gushed from the depths
below became visibly larger.
" It was some water which must have accidentally
dripped from the rock during the rainy season, and
which, and that, too, accidentally, must have form
ed a little pool, under the ground which the child
has also accidentally discovered," said the savants
of Lourdes.
And the philosophers remained perfectly satisfied
with this explanation.
The next day, the Spring, urged by an unknown
power from the mysterious depths, and perceptibly
increasing in volume, gushed from the ground more
abundantly.
The stream proceeding from it was already about
the thickness of your finger. It was, however, still
muddy, owing to its struggles in forcing its pass
age through the earth. It was only at the expira
tion of a few days that, after having augmented to
a certain degree from hour to hour, it ceased to in
crease, and became perfectly limpid. From that
time it gushed from the earth in a jet of considerable
magnitude, having almost reached the size of a
child s arm.
We must not, however, anticipate events, but
continue to follow them, day by day, as we have
done hitherto. We will now resume our narrative.
I44 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
VIII.
PRECISELY at that hour, at the very moment the
Spring was gushing softly but irresistibly from be
neath the child s hand, in testimony, as it were
of the divine intervention, the Philosophers of
Lourdes published a new article on the occurrences
at the Grotto in the Free-thinking journal of the
locality.
The Lavcdan, a newspaper we have already
quoted, had been issued, and was in process of dis
tribution just at the moment of the return of the
amazed multitudes from the Rocks of Massabielle.
Neither in this article nor in the preceding one,
nor, indeed, in any of the descriptions of the place
written at that time, was there the slightest hint of
the existence of any Spring at the Grotto. And
thus incredulity had paralyzed beforehand the
audacious assertion that the Spring had always
flowed there, to which the Free-thinkers might,
after a certain time, be tempted to have recourse.
It was the will of Providence, that, in addition to
the testimony of the public, these men should have
their own articles, their own printed publications,
which their dates rendered authentic and beyond
refutation, brought against them. If these beauti
ful gushing waters, which delight the eye to-day,
had been in existence before the 25th of Feb
ruary, before the scene we have just described
was enacted, and the orders and indications given
by the Virgin to Bernadette in her state of ccstacy,
how came it that the editors of the papers, who
were always supposed to keep their eyes open, and
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
145
whose details were sometimes so minute how-
came it that they never saw this copious spring
nor ever once mentioned it? We defy the Free
thinkers to produce a single document we repeat,
the words, a single document which makes any
mention of a Spring, or even of any water, before
the period when the Virgin commanded and Nature
obeyed.
IX.
THE popular emotion had considerably increased.
Bernadette, when she passed, was received with
acclamation, and the poor child used to return
home with all possible speed in order to escape
their ovations. This humble soul, which, up to
that time, had lived entirely unknown, in silence
and solitude, found itself all at once placed in a
blaze of light, in the midst of uproar and of the
crowd, on the pedestal of fame. This glory, which
so many court so eagerly, was to her a martyrdom
of the most cruel description. Her most insignifi
cant words were commented on, discussed, admired,
rejected, made the subject of scoffs in a word,
abandoned to the different currents of human opin
ion. It was then she tasted the heartfelt joy of
having something she was not to divulge, and of
finding, in the three secrets imparted to her by the
Virgin, a kind of secluded sanctuary to which her
heart might retire with a sense of perfect peace,
and refresh itself in the shade of that mystery, and
with the charm of its intimate union with the
Queen of Heaven.
As we have already remarked, the outburst of
7
OUR LADY OF LOTTRDES.
the Fountain had taken place towards sunrise in
the presence of a numerous assemblage. It was
the 25th of February, the third Thursday of the
month, and a great market-day at Tarbes. The
news, therefore, of the marvelous occurrence of the
morning at the Rocks of Massabielle, was carried
to the town by a multitude of eye-witnesses, and
before night had been spread through the whole
Department, and even as far as the nearest towns
of the neighboring departments. The extraordi
nary movement, which, for the last eight days, had
attracted to Lotirdes so many pilgrims and others,
urged by mere curiosity, was from that moment
developed to a most surprising degree.
A great number of visitors came to sleep at
Lourdes in order to be on the spot next day;
others walked all through the night, and at break
of day, the usual hour of Bernadette s arrival, five
or six thousand persons, closely packed on the
banks of the Gave, the neighboring eminences and
the rocks, were encamped in front of the Grotto.
The Spring had considerably increased in volume
since the previous day.
When the youthful Seer, humble, peaceful and
simple in manner in the midst of so much commo
tion, presented herself in order to pray, the cry of
" There is the Saint ! There is the Saint !" arose
from the vast throng. Several persons sought to
touch her garments, regarding as sacred every
thing pertaining to one so privileged by the Lord.
It was not, however, the will of the Mother of
the humble and the lowly that this innocent heart
should succumb to the temptation of vain glory,
and that Bernadette should, for one moment, be
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. l * 7
puffed up with pride on account of the singular
favors she had received.
It was well that the child should feel, in the
midst of such acclamations, her own nothingness,
and realize once more how powerless she was, when
left to herself, to evoke the divine Vision. It was
in vain she prayed. The superhuman radiancy of
ecstacy was not observed diffusing itself over her
features ; and, when she rose, after her long prayer,
she replied, in a tone of sadness to the interroga
tions showered upon her, that the Vision from on
high had not appeared.
X.
THIS absence on the part of the Virgin was,
doubtless, intended to maintain Bernadette in a
state of humility and in the consciousness of her
own nothingness ; but, in addition to this, it con
tained, perhaps, for Christians, a high and mysterious
precept, the import of which will not escape the
attention of souls accustomed to contemplate and
admire tne secret harmony which exists in works
proceeding from God.
If heaven, on that day, had closed itself to the
eyes of Bernadette, if the celestial Creator, who
used to appear to her in visible flesh, had seemed
to vanish for a moment, the Fountain proof of the
reality and power of that superhuman Being which
had sprung forth the day before, and was continu
ally increasing, was visible to the eyes of all, and
trickled on the sloping floor oi the Grotto in sight
of the astonished multitude.
The Vision had withdrawn in order to allow her
I4 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
work, so to say, to speak. She had withdrawn and
remained silent in order to allow an opportunity of
speaking to the Church of that country, whose
words at the introit of the Mass and at the answers
of Matins, might serve as a commentary on this
singular fountain which had suddenly started into
existence from beneath the hand of Bernadette in
her state of ecstacy.
While in fact all this was taking place at the
Grotto, before the miraculous Spring which had
burst forth on the right side of the arid rock, the
memory of another Spring the most illustrious and
life-imparting of all those which for the last six
thousand years have watered the heritage of Adam
W as being celebrated in the diocese of Tarbes,
and in several dioceses of France. That day, Feb
ruary the 26th, 1858, being the Friday of the first
week in Lent, was the Feast of the Holy Lance, and
of the Nails of Our Lord. And the Spring of which
we speak and the memory of which was then being
glorified in the Office prescribed for the diocese, was
the great divine Fountain which the lance of the
Roman centurion, piercing the right side of the life
less body of Christ, had made to flow as a river of
life for the regeneration of earth and the salvation
of the human race. " Vidi aquam egredientem de
templo a latere dextro ; et omnes ad quos pervenit
aqua ista salvi facti sunt." " I saw water flowing
from the temple on the right side, and all to whom
that water came were saved." Such was the ex
clamation of the Prophet, when he contemplated
the prodigies of the mercy of God in the dim vista
of a-cs. " In that day," said the priests in the Of
fice of Matins, " there shall be a fountain opened
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
149
for the house of David and for the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, which shall serve to purify the sinner and
all such as are polluted."
By these coincidences, wonderful in themselves
and which we urgently beg our readers to verify for
themselves in the places pointed out in the note, did
the Church of that place reply with dazzling clear
ness to the innumerable questions proposed around
the marvelous Fountain which was spouting forth
its waters on the right side of the Grotto. The
Spring of water which had just made its appear
ance at the base of the Pyrenees, derived its source,
by some mysterious process of infiltration, from that
vast stream of divine Grace which, under the Nails
of the soldiers and the Lance of the centurion, had
begun to flow eighteen hundred years ago from the
summit of Mount Golgotha.
Such was the original principle to which we must
retrace our steps, in order to discover the hidden
origin of the miraculous Spring, and it was well that
the Offices celebrated at its starting point, at the
very place where it had pierced the earth, should
of themselves lead the mind towards these mystic
heights. With regard to the practical results and
external effects which were to be produced abroad
by this mysterious fountain, their interpretation and
secret were naturally not to be sought at its centre
and starting-point, nor in the confined circle, and at
an exceptional feast of a particular diocese, but
rather, in the universal Offices which the Catholic,
Apostolic, and Roman Church was at that moment
celebrating throughout the Christian world. Now,
this very day, February 26th, 1858, being the Fri
day of the first week in Lent, the Gospel appointed
150 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
for the Mass contained the following words, which
need no comment : " Now, there is at Jerusalem a
pond called Probatica which, in Hebrew, is named
Bcthsaida having five porches. In these lay a great
multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered, wait
ing for the movement of the water. And an angel
of the Lord went down at a certain time into the
pond, and the water was troubled. And, he that
went down first into the pond, after the motion of
the water, was made whole of whatever infirmity he
lay under.
XL
ALTHOUGH doubtless very few persons in the
crowd instituted comparisons of this nature, the idea
that the waters of the Spring which had gushed forth
at the Grotto might have the power of healing the
sick, must have suggested itself to the mind of every
one. -From the morning of the same day, a rumor
of several marvelous cures began to spread in all
directions. Amid the contradictory versions which
were being circulated, and taking into consideration
the sincerity of some, the exaggeration voluntary
or involuntary of others, the flat denial of many, the
hesitations and uneasiness of a great number, the
emotion of all, it was difficult at the first moment to
distinguish truth from falsehood among the miracu
lous facts which were asserted on all sides, told as
they were in different ways, with great blunders in
names and confusion of persons, to say nothing of
mixing up the circumstances of several episodes
differing from and foreign to each other.
Did you ever in one of your country walks, throw
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 151
suddenly a handful of corn into an ants nest ? The
terrified ants run from one side to the other in an
extraordinary state of agitation. They keep com
ing and going to and fro, crossing each other, run
ning against each other, alternately stopping and re
suming their course, suddenly changing the point
towards which they were running, picking up a
grain of corn and leaving it there, and wandering
in every direction in a state of feverish disorder, a
prey to indescribable confusion.
Very similar was the conduct of the multitude,
both of inhabitants and strangers at Lourdes, in the
state of stupefaction into \vhich they were thrown
by the superhuman wonders which reached them
from Heaven. Such is always the conduct of the
natural world, when it is suddenly visited by some
manifestation from the supernatural world.
By degrees, however, order is restored in the ants
nest, and its momentary agitation ceases.
There was, in the town, a poor workman known
by every one ; who, for many years, had dragged
out a most miserable existence. His name was
Louis Bourriette. Some twenty years before, a
great misfortune had befallen him. As he was work
ing in the neighborhood of Lourdes, raising stone
with his brother Joseph, who was also a quarryman,
a mine owing to some mismanagement had exploded
close to them. Joseph was killed on the spot, and
Louis, of whom we are now speaking, had his face
ploughed with splinters of rock, and his right eye
half destroyed. His life had been saved with the
greatest difficulty. He suffered so terribly from the
results of this accident, that he was attacked with a
burning fever, and for some time force was obliged
l$ 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
to be employed to keep him in his bed. However,
he recovered by degrees, thanks to the skill and de
voted care of those who attended him. But, the
medical men, in spite of the most delicate operations
and masterly treatment, failed entirely in effecting
the cure of his right eye, which had unfortunately
been injured internally. The poor man had return
ed to his occupation of quarryman, but he was no
longer fit for any thing but the coarsest style ot
work, as his wounded eye was utterly unservice
able, and he could only see objects as it were
through an impenetrable mist. When the poor
workman wished to undertake any work requiring
more than usual care, he was obliged to apply for
assistance to others.
So far from time having brought any ameliora
tion in his condition, his sight had diminished from
year to year. This progressive deterioration had
become still more sensible, and at the time we have
now reached in our history, the evil had made such
progress that his right eye was almost entirely lost.
When Bourriette closed his left eye, he could not
distinguish a man from a tree. The man and
the tree were to him only a black and confused
mass, scarcely perceptible as in the obscurity of
night.
Most of the inhabitants of Lourdes had given
Bourriette employment at one time or other. His
state excited pity, and he was much liked by the
brotherhood of quarrymen and stone-cutters, who
form a numerous class in that part of the country.
This poor creature hearing about the miraculous
Spring at the Grotto, called his daughter.
" Go and bring me some of this water," he said.
OUR LADY OF LOUEDE8. 153
" Blessed Virgin, if she it is, has but to will my cure
in order to effect it."
Half an hour afterwards, the child brought him,
in a basin, a small quantity of the water which, as
we have explained above, was still dirty and impreg
nated with earth.
" Father," observed the child, " it is only muddy
water."
" That does not matter," replied the father, ad
dressing himself to prayer.
He bathed with the water his weak eye, which
he but a moment before considered gone forever.
Almost immediately he uttered a loud cry, and
began to tremble in the excess of his emotion. A
sudden miracle had been accomplished in regard to
his sight. The air had already become clear around
him and bathed in light. Nevertheless, objects ap
peared still as if surrounded with a light gauze,
which hindered him from seeing them perfectly.
The mist was still before his eyes, but it was no
longer dark as it had been for the last twenty years.
It was penetrated by" the sun, and instead of thick
night it was to the eyes of the poor sick man, as the
transparent vapor of morning.
Bourriette continued to pray, and at the same time
washed his right eye with the salutary water. By
degrees the light of day flooded his sight and he
distinguished objects clearly.
Next day or the day after, he happened to meet
on the public square of Lourdes with Doctor Do-
zons, who had never ceased to attend him since the
commencement of his malady. He ran towards him
saying, " I am cured."
" Impossible," exclaimed the Doctor. " Your or-
7*
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
gan of sight is injured to such an extent as to ren
der your cure out of the question. The treatment
I have prescribed for you is only intended to soothe
your pain, but can never restore you the use of
your eye.
"It is not you who have cured me," replied the
quarry-man with emotion, " it is the Blessed Virgin
of the Grotto."
The man of human science shrugged his shoul
ders.
" That Bernadette has ecstacies of an inexpressi
ble nature, is certain ; for I have devoted unwearied
attention to establishing that fact. But it is impos
sible that the water, which, how I know not, has
gushed forth at the Grotto, should cure suddenly
maladies which are in their very nature incurable."
On saying this he took a little tablet out of his
pocket and wrote a few lines with a pencil on one
of its pages.
Then with one hand he closed Bourriette s left
eye, which was still serviceable, and presented to
his right eye, which he knew to be entirely de
prived of sight, the little sentence he had just writ
ten.
" If you can read this I will believe you," said
the eminent physician with an air of triumph,
strong as he felt himself to be from his extensive
knowledge and profound medical experience.
Many persons who happened to be walking on
the square at the time had formed a group around
them.
Bourriette glanced at the paper with the eye, the
sight of which but just now was extinct, and read
immediately and without the slightest hesitation:
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. ^5
" Bourriette has an incurable amaurosis from which
he can never recover."
Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of the learn
ed physician it could not have stupefied him more
than did the voice of Bourriette as he read calmly
and without any effort the single line of small writ
ing which was lightly traced in pencil on the page
of the tablet.
Doctor Dozons was more than a merely scienti
fic man, he was by nature conscientious. He frank
ly recognized and unhesitatingly proclaimed the
agency of a superior power in this sudden cure of
a malady deemed to be incurable.
" I cannot deny it," he said ; " it is a miracle, a
true miracle, with all due deference to myself and
my brethren of the faculty. This has quite upset
me ; but we can but submit to the imperious voice
of a fact so clear and so entirely beyond the range
of poor human science."
Doctor Vergez, of Tarbes, Fellow and Professor
of the Faculty at Montpellier, and resident Physi
cian at the Baths at Bareges, being summoned to
pronounce his opinion in the case, could not pre
vent himself from recognizing, and that in the most
undeniable way its supernatural character.
As we have already observed, Bourriette s state
had been notorious for upwards of twenty years,
and the poor man himself was universally known
in the town. Besides, this marvelous cure had not
caused the disappearance of the deep traces or
scars, which the accident had left on his face, so
that every one had it in his power to verify the mira
cle which had just been accomplished. The poor
quarry-man, almost mad with joy, recounted all the
156 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
particularities of the event to any one who cared
to listen to him.
He was not the only one who openly bore wit
ness to an unexpected good fortune and loudly
proclaimed his gratitude. Events of a similar na
ture had taken place in other houses in the town.
Several persons residing at Lourdes, Marie Daube,
Bernard Soubie, Fabien Baron, had all at once
quitted their sick-bed, to which maladies of differ
ent kinds, but all pronounced incurable, had con
fined them, and they proclaimed publicly their cure
by the water of the Grotto. The hand of Jean
Crassus, which had been paralyzed for ten years,
had become straightened again and recovered all
the vigor of life in the miraculous water.
Thus the accuracy of facts succeeded, among the
different accounts in circulation, to the vague ru
mors of the first moment. The enthusiasm of the
people was raised to the highest pitch, an enthusi
asm at the same time touching and sound, which in
the church expressed itself in fervent prayers, and
around the Grotto in the canticles of thanksgiving
which burst from the joyful lips of the pilgrims.
Towards evening, a great number of workmen
belonging to the association of quarry-men, of which
Bourriette was a member, repaired to the Rocks of
Massabielle and laid out a path for visitors in the
steep declivity near the Grotto. Before the hollow
from which the spring now bubbled forth, they
placed a balustrade formed of wood, beneath which
they dug a small oval reservoir, about half a metre
in depth, and in shape and length not very unlike
an infant s cradle.
The enthusiasm was momentarily increasing.
OUR LADY OF LOTJEDES. 157
Vast throngs were perpetually passing to and fro
on the road leading to the miraculous spring of
water. After sunset, when the first shadow of
night began to fall on the earth, you might perceive
that the same thought had occurred to a throng of
believers, and the Grotto was all at once illuminated
with a thousand lights. Rich and poor, children,
men and women had brought spontaneously candles
and tapers. During the whole night, this clear and
mild light might be seen from the opposite side of
the Gave. Thousands of small torches placed here
and there without any apparent order seemed to
give back on earth the glittering lustre of the stars
with which the firmament of heaven was so thickly
studded.
Neither priests nor pontiffs nor leading men of
any kind were to be found among those masses of
people ; and yet, without any one having given any
signal, the moment the illumination lighted up the
Grotto and the rocks, and shed a trembling re
flection on the little reservoir of the miraculous
Spring, the voices of all rose at the same time and
mingled with each other in a chaunt, which seemed
to proceed from a single soul. The Litany of the
Blessed Virgin burst on the ear, interrupting the
silence of night to celebrate the memory of our
admirable Mother, in front of the rustic throne on
which in her wisdom she had deigned to appear in
order to crown the hearts of all Christians with joy.
Mater admirabilis, Scdes Sapiential, Causa Nostrcs
Icetititz or a pro nobis.
158
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
XII.
IN the evening of the same day, a time usually
devoted to amusement after the cares of business,
the enemies of superstition assembled in great force
at the club and round the tables of the cafes, and
great agitation pervaded their Sanhedrim. -
3 " There has never been a spring of water in that
place," exclaimed one of the most strong-headed
of the party. " It is but a pool of water, formed, I
know not how, by some accidental infiltration, and
which must have been discovered by the merest
chance by Bernadette when she stirred up the
ground. Nothing is more natural."
3 " Evidently," they answered on all sides.
Nevertheless," some one ventured to observe,
" they pretend that the water flows."
" Not the least in the world," exclaimed several
voices. " We went there ourselves : it is nothing
more nor less than a pool of water. The common
people with their usual exaggeration, pretend to
say that the water flows. This is not true ; we put
the thing to the test yesterday, on the first rumor
reaching us, and it is nothing but a muddy puddle."
These assertions were looked upon as satisfactory
and consistent by the philosophic and learned
world. It was the official version of the story, and
was received as certain and incontestible. So cred
ulous are even the incredulous in whatever seems
to help their own arguments, so completely do the
followers of Free Examination discard anything
like investigation in matters of this nature, and so
obstinate are they in maintaining the grounds
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. l $g
they have once taken, even when disproved by
facts themselves, that, six weeks after this period,
and in spite of the crushing evidence of the ex
istence of a copious fountain, which as every one
might prove for himself, supplied more than 25,000
gallons of water a day, this absolute denial of any
spring of water, this impudent version of the puddle,
passed current and was even boldly printed in the
journals of the Free - thinkers. This would be
hardly credible, if we did not give a proof of it at
random, extracted from the official journal of the
department.
With regard to the asserted cures, they were de
nied unprovisionally, as had been the case with the
Spring of water. All of them, without any excep
tion, were unconditionally rejected with shruggings
of shoulders and loud laughter, as indeed had been
that of Louis Bourriette.
" Bourriette is not cured," said one.
" He was never sick," replied another.
" He imagines he is cured ; he believes he sees,"
insinuated a young man of the school of M. Renan.
" The effect of the imagination on the nerves is
sometimes surprising," rejoined a physiologist.
" There is no such person as Bourriette in exis
tence," exclaimed sturdily a new arrival, striking
at once at the root of the question.
The attitude assumed by the philosophical heads
of the place was summed up in these four or five
formularies, as far as these extraordinary cures, so
much bruited among the common people, were
concerned.
It was a matter of astonishment to them that such
grave and highly educated men as M. Dufo, who
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
was then president-elect of the Order of Barristers,
as Doctor Dozon, as M. Estrade, as the Command
ant of the Garrison, as the retired Intendant Mili-
tairc, M. de Laffite, should have displayed such
inconceivable weakness as to allow themselves to
be deluded by all that was taking place.
In the course of this day so pregnant with events,
Bernadette had been summoned to the chamber of
the Tribunal, either before or after the sitting of the
court, and the dialectics brought into play by the
Procureur Imperial, the Substitut and the Judges had
not been more successful in producing any varia
tion or contradiction in her story than the genius
of M. Jacomet, in spite of his long experience in
the Police.
The Procureur Imperial, followed by his Substitut,
had pronounced his own opinion in the matter some
days before and nothing could shake the firmness
of his mind. He deplored this invasion of fanati
cism and was determined to discharge his duty
energetically. Owing to I know not what circum
stances, and as is seldom the case in such immense
assemblages, no disorder arose, and the laudable
zeal of the Procureur Imperial was doomed to a state
of complete inaction and to an attitude of expecta
tion. In the midst of this vast movement of men
and ideas which stirred up the whole country, it
would seem if an invisible hand protected those in
numerable crowds and hindered them from giving,
even innocently, the slightest pretext for the forcible
interference of the law-officers, police or civil ad
ministration. Whether they liked it or not, these
formidable personages had at least for the time
their hands tied, and they were not to be untied
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. l6l
until the moment when the mysterious Apparition
of the Grotto had completed her work. These
multitudes then could come with perfect security ;
these multitudes so vast to the bodily eye which
saw them meeting from every side of the horizon ;
so insignificant to the spiritual eye after comparing
them with the millions of men destined to repair to
the same spot in the future as a place of pilgrimage.
An invisible asgis seemed to defend from all danger
those first witnesses whom the Blessed Virgin had
summoned : " Nolite timer e, pusilhis grex"
The enemies of Superstition applied most ur
gently to the Mayor of Lourdes in order to induce
him to issue an order prohibiting all access to the
Rocks of Massabielle, which formed part of the
public lands belonging to the commune. Such an
order, they thought, would inevitably be infringed
in the then excited state of popular feeling and
would give rise to innumerable proceedings. It
would be resisted and resistance would be followed
by arrests, and if the judicial authority, including
that of the police and the administration, could
once take the matter in hand, it would easily carry
everything before it, as it would be supported by
all the powers of the State.
M. Lacade, Mayor of Lourdes, was a most up
right and excellent man and had deservedly ac
quired the general respect of the public. Every
one in the town of Lourdes did justice to his rare
personal qualities, and his enemies or such as
were jealous of him never reproached him with
anything worse than a certain timidity which pre
vented him from taking a decided course between
extreme parties, and a somewhat too great attach-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ment to his functions as Mayor, though, as every
one allowed, he discharged them in a decidedly
superior manner.
He refused to issue the order which was solicited
from him.
" I do not know where the truth lies in the midst
of so much clamor," he replied, " and it is not for
me to pronounce either for or against. As long as
there is no disorder I let things take their course.
It is for the Bishop to decide the question, as it
regards religion; it is for the Prtfct to decide
measures which are in the jurisdiction of the Ad
ministration. For myself, I wish to keep clear of
the whole business, and I shall only act in my ca
pacity of Mayor on the express order of the Prefet."
Such, if not the very language, was the import
of his reply to the worrying applications urged upon
him by the Philosophers of Lourdes, who, as re
garded Christian belief, resembled in that respect
the philosophers of all times and places. The pre
tended liberty of Thought rarely tolerates the
liberty of Belief.
Since the gushing forth of the Spring the Appa
rition had not re-iterated her command to Berna-
dette to go to the Priests and demand from them the
erection of a chapel. On the next day, as we have
already related, the Vision had not manifested her
self, so that, since that moment, Bernadette had not
made her appearance at the presbytery. The Clergy,
notwithstanding the rising tide of popular faith
and the increasing rumors of miracles which were
spread by the multitudes, continued to remain
strangers to all the manifestations of enthusiasm
which took place around the Grotto.
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 163
" Let us wait patientl) 7 ," they said. " In human
affairs it is enough to be prudent once. In things
pertaining to God our prudence should be seventy-
fold."
Not a single priest therefore appeared in the
ceaseless procession which was repairing to the
miraculous Spring of water. Owing therefore to
the Clergy having made a point of keeping aloof,
and to the municipal authorities refusing to act and
oppose their veto, the popular movement had free
course and was always on the increase, like the
rivers of their country at the period of the melting
of the snow. It overflowed on all sides, perpetually
advancing and covering the surrounding country
with its innumerable waves. The advocates of re
pression began to feel how powerless they were to
resist a current of such formidable strength and to
see clearly that all opposition would be swept away
like a dyke of straw by this sudden and mighty ir
ruption. They were forced to resign themselves to
allow free passage to these multitudes which had
been invisibly upheaved and put in motion by the
breath of God.
At the Grotto the greatest order was maintained,
notwithstanding so vast a concourse of people.
They continued drawing water from the Fountain,
singing canticles and devoting themselves to prayer.
The soldiers of the Garrison, agitated in common
with all the people of the country, had requested
permission from the Commandant of the fort to re
pair, themselves, to the Rocks of Massabielle. With
the instinct of discipline developed in their case by
military system, they took measures of their own
accord to obviate obstructions, to leave certain
OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
passages free and to prevent the crowd from ap
proaching too near to the dangerous banks of the
Gave, stationing themselves for this purpose on
both sides of the river and assuming spontaneously
a certain amount of authority, which no one, as was
reasonable, dreamt of disputing.
Some days passed by in this manner, during
which the Apparition manifested herself .without
any new peculiarity except that the Spring of water
was always increasing in volume and the miraculous
cures effected by it were multiplied more and more.
There was a moment of profound astonishment in
the camp of the Free-thinkers. The facts were be
coming so numerous, so amply proved and so pa
tent that almost every moment the ranks of the
incredulous suffered from desertion. The best and
the most upright among them suffered themselves
to be gained by the evidence adduced. There re
mained, however, an indestructible number of
minds arrogating to themselves superior strength,
but whose strength in point of fact consisted in
rejecting all proofs and refusing to give way to
truth. This would appear impossible did not every
one know that a great part of the Jewish people
resisted the miracles even of Jesus Christ and His
Apostles, and that four centuries of miracles were
necessary to open the eyes of the pagan world.
FOURTH BOOK.
I.
ON the second of March, Bernadette repaired
anew to the residence of the Cure of Lourdes,
and spoke to him a second time in the name of the
Apparition.
" She wishes a chapel to be erected, and proces
sions to the Grotto to be organized," said the child.
Events had crowded, the Spring had gushed forth,
cures had been effected and miracles had supervened
to bear witness, in the name of God, to Bernadette s
veracity. The priest had no further proofs to de
mand, and he demanded none. His conviction was
settled, and thenceforth no doubt could touch his
heart.
The invisible " Lady " of the Grotto had not de
clared her name. But, the man of God had not
failed to recognize Her in Her maternal kindness
and, perhaps, he had already added to his prayers,
" Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us."
Notwithstanding, however, the secret enthusiasm
with which his ardent heart had filled on seeing the
great things which had been done, he had with rare
prudence succeeded in withholding the premature
expression of the deep and sweet sentiments which
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
agitated him, at the thought that the Queen of
Heaven had descended amid the humble flock of
his parishioners ; and, he had not cancelled the for
mal prohibition of going to the Grotto which he
had imposed on his Clergy.
" I believe you," said he to Bernadette, when she
presented herself to him anew. " But, what you
demand of me in the name of the Apparition, does
not depend on myself; it depends on the Bishop,
whom I have already apprised of all that is passing.
I am about to go to him and acquaint him with this
fresh application. He alone can act in this affair."
II.
MoNSElGNEUR Bertrand-Scvere Laurence, Bishop
of Tarbes was the man of the Diocese, individually
as well as officially. He had been born in it, reared
in it, grown in it to man s estate. Rising rapidly,
owing to his merit, to the highest ecclesiastical func
tions, he had been, successively, Superior of the
Petit Senlinaire of Saint Pe, which he had founded,
Superior of the Great Seminary, and Vicar-Gen
eral.
Almost all the priests of the diocese had been his
pupils. He had been their Master before becoming
their Bishop ; and, under one or other of these ti
tles, he presided over them nearly forty years.
The profound harmony and entire unity of mind
and soul which, owing to the above circumstances,
reigned between the former Superior of the Semin
aries and the Clergy he had trained for the sacerdo
tal life, had been one of the causes of his promotion
to the Episcopacy. When, some twelve years be-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 1 67
fore, the See of Tarbes had become vacant by the
death of Monseigneur Double, every one pointed
out the Abbe Laurence as eminently qualified to
succeed him. A great number filled with the same
desire and animated with the same hope, signed a
petition requesting the nomination of the Abbe
Laurence to the See of Tarbes. Thus, the Bishop
had been selected and raised to his eminent rank by
the suffrages of the faithful, as had frequently hap
pened in the primitive Church. It may easily be
inferred from what we have said, that Monseigneur
Laurence and his Clergy formed one large Christian
family, as should be the case in all times and places.
All the warmth of his nature was concentered in
his excellent and paternal heart, which made itself
all things to all men. By a curious contrast, which
could hardly be termed a contradiction, his head
was cool, and subjected every thing to the investi
gation of impassible reason. The Prelate s intellect,
although naturally adapted to every branch of men
tal exercise, was essentially practical in its tendency.
Never was any one less accessible to the illusions of
the imagination, or the allurements of unguarded
enthusiasm. He distrusted ardent and exaggerated
natures. In order to convince him, arguments
addressed to the passions were unavailing. If his
heart was under the influence of his feelings, his in
tellect was governed by reason alone.
Before proceeding to act, the Bishop was wont
to weigh most carefully not only his acts in them
selves, but, also, all their consequences. From this
there resulted in him sometimes a certain slowness
in pronouncing judgment in affairs of importance
a slowness which, doubtless, did not originate in in-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
decision of character, but rather in discretion of
mind, which desired to act with deliberation, and
only come to a determination after thorough ac
quaintance with the subject in question. Knowing,
besides, that Truth is eternal in its nature, and that
the hour of its triumph must inevitably arrive, he was
endowed with that virtue, the rarest in the world
patience. Monseigneur Laurence could wait.
Gifted with uncommon powers of observation,
Monseigneur Laurence knew mankind thoroughly,
and possessed in a high degree the difficult art of
managing and guiding them. Unless the interests
of religion were at stake and there was some par
ticular reason for publicity, he carefully avoided
any clashing of opinion, disagreements and disputes,
knowing as he well did, that to excite feelings of
hostility against the Bishop, was, owing to the na
tural bent of the human heart, to make enemies to
the Episcopacy and religion. His prudence was
extreme, and, having to steer the bark of Peter
through the whole extent of his Diocese, he was
thoroughly imbued with a sense of his own respon
sibility. Ever on the watch to observe the state of
the sea and the direction of the wind, he not seldom
gazed down into the depths of the water and care-
fullv looked out for the first appearance of breakers.
Remarkable for his skill in the administration of
affairs, orderly in his habits, a strict disciplinarian,
and combining in his person apostolic simplicity
with diplomatic prudence, he had been always, from
the reign of Louis Philippe to the re-establishment
of the Empire, very highly appreciated by the dif
ferent governments which succeeded each other.
When Monseigneur Laurence demanded any thing,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 169
it was known beforehand in the highest quarters,
that what he demanded was certainly just and very
probably necessary, and he never met with a refu
sal.
Thus, for a long time past, in this Pyrenean dio
cese, the spiritual and temporal authority had been
on the best possible terms with each other, when
those miraculous events occurred at Lourdes, of
which we have treated in the present work.
III.
THE Abbe Peyramale explained to the Bishop
the surprising events of which the Grotto of Mas-
sabielle and the town of Lourdes had been the scene
for nearly the last three weeks. He recounted the
ecstacies and visions of Bernadette, the words ut
tered by the Apparition, the gushing forth of the
Spring, the sudden cures effected, and the agitation
which pervaded the whole community.
His narration, which we have no doubt was high
ly animated and picturesque, though we regret that
we cannot furnish our readers with its exact words,
must have struck the mind of the good Bishop, but
it could not lead hastily to his immediate convic
tion. Habituated as he was to see Truth descend
hierarchically from the heights of the Vatican, Mon-
siegneur Laurence felt little disposed to receive and
accept without mature investigation a message from
heaven, delivered suddenly, and in defiance of ordi
nary rules by a little illiterate peasant-girl.
He was, however, too well versed in all matters
touching the History of the Church, to deny the
absolute possibility of a fact which, after all, has had
8
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
its counterparts in the secular annals of Catholicism ;
but, at the same time, the practical tendency of his
mind rendered conviction in his case somewhat dif
ficult. The Bishops are the successors of the Apos
tles. Monseigneur Laurence was an apostle and a
holy one : but, like St. Thomas, he wished to see
before he believed ; and, in some respects, this was
a fortunate circumstance ; for, when the Bishop be
lieved, every one knew that he might in all safety
believe with him, and that the clearest proofs had
been brought forward.
The Cure of Lourdes had not himself actually
witnessed the majority of the facts he adduced;
and, in consequence of the reserve he had imposed
on the Clergy, he could only appeal before the
Bishop, to the declarations of third persons, and
those laymen, of whom some, being either sceptical
or indifferent in matters of religion, did not even
follow the observances of the Church.
Besides, in the midst of so many accounts given
to him, of the multiplicity and confusion of so many
incidents, of the unavoidable hiatuses in his infor
mation, and of the numberless reports which were
current, it was impossible for him to satisfy himself
on the subject, and to display the logical and provi- .
dential march of events in the methodical manner
which is so easy at the present time. It is with facts
of a moral order, as it is with objects of a physical
order ; we must be at some distance from them, in
order to see them in their proper point of view.
The Abbo Peyramale could certainly analyze many
details of what was being accomplished under his
eyes ; but, just at that time, it was not in the Bishop s
or his power to see it as a whole, and to remark its
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. \>j\
admirable coherency, they were too near the stage
on which this scene was enacted.
Monseigneur Laurence did not pronounce any
opinion. Wiser in this repect than St. Thomas, he
refrained from denying the truth of the fact ; for, he
knew that things of that nature, though very rare,
are yet possible. He confined himself to not believ
ing, or, in other words, to saying neither yes nor no,
and remaining in that methodical state of doubt
which is affirmed by Descartes to be the best con
dition, in order to proceed to the search after truth.
As Bishop, he required documents and attestations
of unimpeachable authenticity, and the second-hand
proofs which he received from the Cure of Lourdes
did not appear to him sufficient. Might there not
be some illusion in the child s mind ? some exagger
ations in the accounts given by the crowd? Had
not pious souls suffered themselves sometimes to be
deceived by false miracles, whether proceeding from
imposture, hallucination, or the artifices of the Evil
one ? All these questions suggested themselves to
his mind and made it his duty to proceed with the
greatest prudence.
The idea of instituting an official inquiry pre
sented itself naturally to his mind, and public
opinion, desirous of having the difficulty solved,
urged the episcopal authority to take the affair
officially in hand and pronounce its judgment on
the matter. The Bishop, with admirable foresight,
comprehended that the very agitation of the popu
lation would injure the maturity and safety of the
inquiry. He wisely pursued the difficult course of
resisting the pressure universally brought to bear
upon him. He resolved, therefore, to allow things
j~ 2 OUR LADY OF LOUIWES.
to take their own course, to let new events be
come known, and to wait for the production of
Borne striking testimony in the interests of truth,
whatever might be its nature.
" It is not yet time for the episcopal authority to
busy itself with this affair. To establish the judg
ment which is expected from us, we must proceed
extremely slow, distrust the impulse of the mo
ment, give time for reflection, and request to be
enlightened, in order to a careful investigation of
facts."
Such was the language held by the Bishop.
He did not, therefore, cancel the order which
prohibited the Clergy from repairing to the Grotto.
At the same time, however, in concert with the
Cure of Lourdes, he took all proper measures to
be informed, day by day, of whatever took place
at the Grotto, and of all the cures, true or false,
which were effected, employing for that purpose
witnesses of unshaken integrity and acknowledged
capacity.
It naturally resulted, from the reserved attitude
adopted by the Bishop, that the investigation would
be made, so to say, of its own accord, publicly,
and, after having heard the adverse parties, not
by a commission composed of certain persons, but
by the intelligence of all, and in accordance with
the necessities of the case. Should there be any
error or trickery in the affair, the unbelieving class,
which resented so deeply the popular superstition,
would not be slow to detect and proclaim them,
with the proofs in their hands. If, on the other
hand, these events had a divine character, they
would triumph alone over all obstacles, and display
OUR LADY OF LOUIWES. ^3
their intrinsic vitality, while dispensing with any
external support.
Their authority, in this case, must prove incon
testable in the eyes of all right-thinking persons.
The Bishop, therefore, decided to remain in this
attitude of observation, whatever might happen,
and as long as possible at least for some months
and to postpone any direct interference until forced
to it by the events themselves.
IV.
WHILE, at the Bishop s palace, matters were
treated with such extreme circumspection, the
civil authorities were in the greatest state of per
plexity with regard to what was passing at Lourdes.
The prefecture of Tarbes was occupied by M.
Massy, and the Ministry of Public Worship by M.
Rouland.
The Baron Massy, Prefect of the Hautes- Pyr
enees, was a good but independent Catholic, and
decidedly opposed to anything like Superstition.
He professed, as a good Christian, to believe the
miracles recounted in the Gospels and in the Acts
of the Apostles ; but outside these prodigies, which
are, in some measure, official, he did not admit the
Supernatural.
Miracles having been indispensable in order to
found the Church and give her authority, he ac
cepted them as being a necessity of that period of
formation. But, in his opinion, God ought to stop
there and be satisfied with this minimum of the
Supernatural so fairly conceded. In the eyes of
this official personage, the part of God was fixed
174 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
and regulated by the orthodox Credo and the con
cordats of the Church. It was established, formed
into a code, and drawn up into articles of faith and
articles of law. These mysteries were respected by
the faithful, and the various Governments had put
up, as well as they could, with these distant facts
which affected them but little. God should not,
therefore, transgress those limits and proceed to
trouble the constitutional course of things by in
opportune interference or by personal acts of power.
Let him allow the constituted authorities to act
per me regcs rfgnantand let Him remain hence
forth in the invisible depths of the Infinite. The
Prefect, having bowed his lofty intellect to faith in
the miracles recorded in the Gospels, was not un
like those excellent persons who, in the apportion
ment of their income, assign to charity a fixed sum,
beyond which they make it a rule never to give
anything, and when the Supernatural presented it
self, he was tempted to say to it, " Walk on, my
friend, you have already received your dole."
M. Massy was, as we see, very orthodox ; but,
on theoretical grounds, he dreaded the invasion of
the Supernatural, while, practically, he feared
the encroachments of the Clergy. " Nothing too
much," was his motto. This was all very well, but
those who are always repeating this generally end
by making the measure too narrow and not giving
enough. The summumjus, the strict right, approxi
mates closely to the summa injuria, or last degree of
injustice. The Latins, with their habitual good
sense, pretended that it was precisely the same
thing.
Wedded to his ideas of government, and essen-
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 175
tially official, he was for whatever was established,
solely owing" to the fact of its having been estab
lished. Whatever was, ought to be. A state of
things existing 1 was a principle justificatus in scmet-
ipsum. Whatever was legal was legitimate. In
vain was he told, Dura lex. He answered, Sed lex.
He went even further. Like many men who have
grown old in the affairs of government, he was
tempted to believe that the slightest deviation from
ordinary routine was an attempt against eternal
right. He confounded arrangement with order,
and mistook regulation for law.
M. Massy, was, however, remarkably intelligent,
and administered the affairs of the department con
fided to him with talent. He took in, at a glance,
the real state of things, and his judgment was
prompt. Unfortunately, men have often, in the
world, faults closely allied to their good qualities,
and this valuable faculty of seeing and deciding, as
it were, by intuition, sometimes led him into error.
Depending, perhaps, somewhat too much on his
first cursory view of a question, it happened some
times that he acted prematurely. When this was
the case, he was guilty of the serious fault of being
unable to acknowledge that he had been deceived ;
and notwithstanding the precipitation of some of
his decisions, he was never known to swerve from
the course he had once resolved to take, whether
men, ideas, or facts were at stake.
In such circumstances, which, however, rarely
occurred, he usually displayed obstinacy and a de
termination to march on against the obstacles
which, from the very nature of things, were oppos
ed to his progress. It is assuredly a great quality
176 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
t(* persevere without flinching in any fixed line of
conduct, but only on the supposition that we never
fall into error and are always proceeding in the
right path. When we are unfortunate enough to
get heedlessly entangled in a blind alley, this qual
ity degenerates into a great vice, and we end by
breaking our head against the wall.
Up to that time the Prefect and the Bishop had
lived on a perfectly good understanding. M. Massy
was Catholic, not only in what he believed, but in
practice also. Everybody did justice to his exem
plary morality and to his domestic virtues, and he
met with just appreciation from the Bishop. The
Prefect, on his part, could not but admire and love
the eminent qualities of the Bishop. The prudence
of the latter, united to his knowledge of mankind,
had always avoided any occasions of collision be
tween the spiritual and temporal authorities, so
that not only peace but the most cordial harmony
existed between the head of the Diocese and the
head of the Department.
V.
M. MASSY, who was informed, from time to time,
of the events at Lourdes by Monsieur Jacomet, in
whom he placed the blindest confidence, by no means
imitated the Bishop s wise reserve. He gave way to
his first impression ; and having no faith in the pos
sibility of Apparitions and Miracles of the kind,
and flattering himself that he might put a stop to
the popular torrent whenever he chose, he openly
declared his own opinions on the subject, and re
solved to smother in its cradle this new supersti-
GUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
tion, which, from its first birth, seemed to threaten
so rapid a growth.
" If I had been Prefect of the Isere at the time of
the pretended Apparitions of La Salette," he often
used to say, " I should soon have set it to rights,
and that legend would have been heard of no more,
as will soon be the case with the one at Lourdes.
All this phantasmagoria will come to nothing."
Instead of remaining quiet until the ecclesiastical
authority, the only-competent one in the case, should
consider the proper time to have arrived for tak
ing in hand the investigation of so extraordinary
an affair, the Prefect anticipated the decision of the
question in accordance with his own anti-supernatu
ral prejudices. The Bishop, naturally patient, was
taking his time to untie the Gordian knot, while M.
Massy, giving way to the impetuosity of his tem
per, preferred to cut it once for all. These trials
of strength were all very well for the sword of
Alexander, but the dress-sword of a Prefect runs
considerable risk of being found unequal to the
task. On an occasion of this kind, that of M. Massy
was destined to be blunted preparatory to being
shivered.
Although his mind therefore was quite made up
on the subject, he could not but perceive that the
question was in the jurisdiction of the episcopal au
thority, and not in any way in that of the civil
power, and he did not wish in any manner to wound
the feelings of the venerated Prelate who conducted
the affairs of the diocese, as every body acknowl
edged, with so much wisdom. While he permit
ted his hostile sentiments against the " miracles" of
the Grotto to become generally known, and had
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
them investigated by his agents, he confined him
self publicly to taking certain measures, for which
the immense concourse of people attracted by the
fame of these events to Lourdes, might at a shift
serve for a pretext.
He began, with what exact expectation we know
not, by having the Grotto secretly watched, day
and night, as if some human trickery could have
been in complicity with this strange gushing-forth
of the miraculous Spring and its progressive aug
mentation.
On the third of March, in obedience to orders
arrived from the Prefecture, the Mayor of Lourdes,
M. Lacade, wrote to the Commandant of the For
tress to place at his disposal the troops forming the
garrison, and to keep them from the next day in
readiness for whatever might happen. The soldiers,
fully armed, were to occupy the road and approach
es to the Grotto. The local Gendarmerie and all
the police-officers had received similar instructions.
How far was this menacing display of armed
force necessary for the maintenance, of the public
tranquillity ? It is beyond our powers of compre
hension. Was it not to be feared that these hostile
or, to say the least, unreasonable demonstrations,
and this attempt at intimidation might tend to irri
tate the population of these districts, who, though
they had hitherto conducted themselves so peace
ably, were naturally of ardent temperament and at
the moment excited in the highest degree by the
events we have just narrated? Was there not a
risk of provoking some cries of anger, some move
ment, some seditious agitation in minds so power
fully excited by sentiments of religion? Many
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
feared this would be the case. Others hoped it,
perhaps, and confidently reckoned on the multitude
giving the armed force some pretext for interfer
ence. The odds were a hundred to one that it
would turn out so.
VI.
NOTWITHSTANDING the disquietude and suspi
cion which pervaded official quarters, the fame of
these marvelous events had been spread in all the
surrounding districts with electrical rapidity.
The whole of Bigorre and Beam, previously agita
ted by the first reports of the Apparition, was stirred
to its depths on receiving intelligence of the burst
ing forth of the Spring and the subsequent miracu
lous cures. All the high-roads throughout the de
partment were covered with travelers, hastening to
their destination. Every moment, from all sides,
by every road and every path which terminated in
Lourdes, there arrived a motley crowd of vehicles
of every description, carriages, wagons, chars -a
banes, men on horseback and pedestrians.
Even at night this rush suffered little diminution.
The inhabitants of the mountain came down by
starlight in order to reach the Grotto by morning.
The travelers, who had arrived in the first in
stance, had for the most part remained at Lourdes,
not wishing to lose any of these extraordinary
scenes which had certainly not been paralleled for
centuries past. The hotels, inns and private houses
overflowed with people. It became almost impos
sible to provide lodgings for the fresh crowds which
continued to pour in. Many passed the night in
l8o OUR LADY OF LOU.RDES.
prayer in front of the illuminated Grotto, for the
purpose of securing places nearer the youthful
Seer on the morrow.
Thursday, the fourth of March, was the last day
of the Quinzaine.
When day-break began to silver the horizon, the
approaches to the Grotto were more densely crowd
ed than on any of the preceding days.
A painter such as Raphael or Michael Angelo,
might have derived from this living spectacle a sub
ject for an admirable picture.
Here, an old mountaineer, bent beneath the
weight of years, and venerable as a patriarch, sup
porting himself with his trembling hands upon his
enormous staff shod with iron, met your view.
Around him \vas crowded all his family, from the
grandmother, an ancient matron with attenuated fea
tures, her face tanned and wrinkled, hooded in her
flowing black cloak lined with red, down to the
youngest boy, who stood on tip-toe in order to ob
tain a better view. The young maidens of the
mountain, their hands clasped with fervor, beauti
ful, calm and grave as the splendid Virgins of the
Campagna of Rome, prayed alone or in groups.
Many of them were dropping through their fingers
the rustic beads of their chaplet. Some of them
were reading in silence some book of prayer. Others
holding in their hand or even on their head an
earthen jar, to be filled with the miraculous water,
recalled to the imagination the biblical countenances
of Rebecca or Rachel.
There you saw the peasant of Gers with his
enormous head, his bull neck and face apoplectic,
and coarse-featured like that of Vitellius. At his
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 181
side appeared in profile the finely-marked head of
the Bearnais, which has been rendered so familiar
by the innumerable portraits of Henry IV.
The Basques, of middle stature, but appearing
tall owing to their wonderful erectness, with fine
open chests, rather high shoulders and limbs indica
tive of great agility, looked on perfectly motion
less, and seemed rooted to the soil. Their high
forehead, narrow and prominent chin, their visage
thin and in the shape of a V, their characteristic
features and the distinctness of their type, indica
ted the primordial purity of their race, which
is, perhaps, the most ancient in the land of the
Gauls.
Men of the world, of all professions, magistrates,
shop-keepers, notaries, advocates, doctors and
clerks, displaying forms less rough but at the same
time less marked, more humble or more polished,
more distinguished in the opinion of some, more
vulgar in that of others, were mingled in great
numbers with the crowd.
The ladies, in bonnets and veils, with their hands
buried in their muffs, seemed, in spite of all their
precautions, to suffer from the frosty morning air,
and might be seen changing their position and mov
ing about in hopes of keeping themselves warm.
A few Spaniards scattered here and there, re
markable for their impassible dignity, and envelop
ed in the capacious folds of their large cloaks, stood
waiting with the immobility of statues. They kept
their eyes fixed on the Grotto and prayed. They
scarcely turned their heads when any incident or
the undulation of the crowd forcibly withdrew
them from their contemplation ; their darkly lumin-
!82 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ous eyes flashed for a moment on the multitude and
they resumed their prayers.
In many places the pilgrims, fatigued with their
journey, or their stations during the night, were
sitting on the ground. Some of them with prudent
foresight, had with them knapsacks furnished with
provisions. Others carried in a sling a bottle-gourd
filled with wine. Many of the children had fallen
asleep stretched on the ground, and their mothers,
stripping themselves of their capulets, cautiously
covered them with them.
A few troopers, belonging to the cavalry regiment
at Tarbes or the depot at Lourdes, had come
mounted and stationed themselves out of the way
of the bustle in the bed of the Gave. Many of the
pilgrims, and others brought there by mere curi
osity, had climbed into the trees, and from their
isolated heads, which towered above the rest and
were very conspicuous, all the fields, meadows,
roads, hillocks, and eminences which commanded the
Grotto, were seen literally covered with an innumer
able multitude of men, women and children, of old
men, persons of all classes, workmen, peasants and
soldiers, all agitated, closely packed together, and
swaying to and fro like ripe ears of corn. The pic
turesque costumes of those districts flaunted their
gaudy colors in the -first rays of the sun, whose disk
was beginning to appear from behind the peaks of
the Ger. From a distance, the hills of Vizens, for
instance, the capulets of the women, some white as
snow, others of a brilliant scarlet, combined with
the large blue caps of the peasants of Beam, shone
like daisies, poppies and corn-flowers from the midst
of this harvest of human beings. The helmets of
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. ^3
the troopers stationed in the bed of the Gave flashed
in the early rays which broke from the east.
There could not have been less than twenty
thousand persons spread over the banks of the
Gave, and this multitude was incessantly recruited
by the arrival of new pilgrims from all quarters.
On these countenances were depicted prayer,
curiosity, and scepticism. Every class, every idea,
every sentiment was represented in this immense
multitude. There was to be found there the rough-
hewn Christian of the first ages, who knows that
with God all things are possible. Further on might
be seen the Christian tormented with doubts, who
had come before these wild rocks in search of argu
ments for the firmer establishment of his faith. The
believing woman was also there, demanding from
the divine Mother the recovery of some dear one
brought low by sickness, or the conversion of some
beloved soul. There also was the decided rejecter
of the Supernatural, having eyes which would not
see and ears which would not hear. And lastly,
there might be found there the frivolous-minded
man, oblivious of his own soul s best interests, in
search only; beneath Heaven, which was half-opened
to his gaze, of the amusement of his curiosity in
what to his eyes was a trivial spectacle.
Around this crowd and along the road the Con
stables and the Gendarmes kept going to and fro
in a state of nervous anxiety. The Deputy, having
on his official scarf, remained motionless.
On a little eminence might be seen Jacomet and
the Procureur Imperial, closely watching the state
of things and prepared to take rigorous measures
on the slightest appearance of disorder.
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
There proceeded from the multitude an immense,
vague, confused and indescribable murmur, formed
of a thousand different noises, of words, conversa
tions, prayers and exclamations, resembling the
unappeasable roar of the ocean.
Suddenly an exclamation broke forth from the
lips of all, " There is the youthful Saint ! there is
the youthful Saint ! " and an extraordinary agitation
pervaded the whole crowd. The hearts of all, even
of the coldest, were stirred with emotion : every
head was lifted and every eye directed to the same
point.
Bernadette, accompanied by her mother, had just
made her appearance on the path laid out by the
Brotherhood of Quarry-men some days before, and
was calmly descending towards this sea of human
beintrs. Although she had this vast multitude be-
o o
fore her eyes and was doubtless filled with happi
ness at seeing so many testimonials of adoration for
" the Lady " she was entirely absorbed with the
thought of seeing once more that incomparable
Beauty. Who cares to gaze on earth when heaven
is on the point of throwing wide its gates? She
was so completely engrossed with the joyful hope
which filled her heart that the cries of " There is
the youthful Saint," and the testimonials of popular
veneration did not appear to reach her. She was
so full of the image of the Vision, she was so per
fectly humble, that she had not even vanity enough
to cause her to blush or to suffer from confusion.
The Gendarmes, however, had hastened to the
spot, and breaking through the crowd in front of
Bernadette, formed an escort for the child and ef
fected a passage for her up to the Grotto.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 185
These excellent fellows, like the soldiers, believed,
and their sympathizing and pious deportment pre
vented the crowd from being irritated at such an
employment of armed force, and further disap
pointed the calculations of the crafty.
The thousand cries of the multitude had by de
grees subsided, and a great silence ensued. There
could not be greater recollection in any of the
Churches of Christendom during Mass, on the oc
casion of an ordination or a first communion. Every
one, to a certain degree, held his breath. No one
shutting his eyes would have imagined that so vast
a crowd was there assembled, and amid the univer
sal silence the murmur of the Gave would alone
have struck his ear. Those who were near the
Grotto could distinguish the bubbling of the mi
raculous Spring as it flowed calmly into the little
reservoir through the little wooden pipe which had
been placed for that purpose. .
When Bernadette prostrated herself, every one,
by a unanimous movement, knelt down.
Almost simultaneously the superhuman rays of
ecstacy lighted up the transfigured features of the
child. We shall not describe again this marvelous
spectacle of which we have more than once endeav
ored to convey some idea to our reader. It was a
spectacle ever new, as is the rising of the sun every
morning. The power which produces such splen
dors has the infinite at its disposal, and employs it
unceasingly to diversify the external form of its
eternal unity ; but the pen of a poor author com
mands only limited resources and pale colors. If
Jacob, the son of Isaac, wrestled with the Angel,
the artist, in his weakness, cannot wrestle with
!86 OUR LADY OF LOURDE&,
God ; and there is a time, when feeling his utter
inability to express by his art all the delicate grada
tions of the divine work, he is silent and confines
himself to the act of adoration. I leave, therefore,
to souls which peruse my feeble lines the task ot
imagining all the successive joys, all the melting
feelings, all the graces and celestial inebriation
which the blessed Vision of the immaculate Virgin,
the admirable Beauty with which God himself was
charmed, caused to pass over the innocent brow of
the enraptured Bernadette.
The Apparition, as on the preceding days, had
commanded the child to drink at and wash herself
in the Fountain, and to eat of the plant to which
we have already referred ; she had afterwards re
newed her order to her to go and tell the Priests
that she desired a chapel built on the spot and pro
cessions to repair to it.
The child had besought the Apparition to inform
her of her name, but the radiant " Lady " had not
returned any answer to the question. The moment
for doing so had not yet arrived. It behoved that
Her name should be first inscribed on the earth and
engraved on the heart by uncounted deeds of
mercy. The Queen of Heaven wished to be inden-
tified by her benefits ; She intended that the grate
ful voice of every mouth should name Her and
glorify Her before She answered and said : " Your
heart has not deceived you : it is I indeed."
VII.
BERNADETTE had just set out on her return to
Lourdes. In the immense crowd, which we have
OUR LADY OF LOUHDES.
attempted to describe, and which was now slowly
dispersing, the question was continually recurring-,
diversified with a thousand commentaries, " What
could be the signification of the strange and mys
terious order given by the Apparition to the child
the week before, an order reiterated several times
and more especially that very day." They ex
amined all its details and weighed all its circum
stances.
The Blessed Virgin, addressing herself to the
daughter of man, and speaking perhaps to us all
through her, had commanded Bernadette to turn
her back on the Gave, to ascend towards the rock,
even to the farthest corner of the Grotto, to drink, to
eat of the plant, and to wash in the Fountain, which
at that time was invisible to all eyes. The child
had obeyed in every particular the divine voice.
She had scaled the steep ascent. She had eaten of
the plant. She had scooped out the earth. The
water had burst forth, at first feeble and turbid,
afterwards in greater abundance and clearer; and
in proportion as it was drawn, it had become in a
few days a copious and magnificent jet-deau, clear
as crystal a stream of life for the sick and infirm.
It required no profound knowledge of the science
of Symbolism to comprehend the deep meaning, so
admirably adapted to the times, of this order, in
which the imbecility of philosophy could detect
only what was fantastic.
What is the evil of modern societies ? In the
order of ideas, is it not pride ? We are now living
in days when man makes himself God. In the
order of morals, is it not the most unbridled sensu
ality, the love of everything which is in its nature
I88 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
transitory ? What is the cause, and what is the
object of this prodigious activity, this marvelous
industry which distracts the world ? Man wishes
enjoyment. Through so many fatigues he
physical comforts, pleasures, and the satisfaction of
his most material and most selfish instincts,
places the aim and object of his wishes here below,
as if he were to live for ever. And this is why he
never dreams of directing his steps towards 1
Church, the suspicion never having once crossed
him that She alone possesses the secret of true
and endless happiness.
O senseless mortals," says the Mother of the
human race, go not to quench your thirst at the
Gave, whose waters fleet rapidly by ; with tho<
ephemeral passions which falsely promise you al
ways/ while the apparent life of the senses
but a kind of death ; with those material joys, wh
destroy the spirit ; with those waters which imt
your thirst instead of appeasing it ; with those un
availing waters which afford you but a momentary
illusion, and leave you in the same state of mis.
wretchedness and want you experienced before
Forsake those tumultuous and agitated waves, turn
your back on those billows which soon sink for
ever, and on that torrent which flings itself head
long into the abyss. Come to the Fountain which
quenches your thirst and calms your mind, which
heals you and brings you back to life. Come and
drink at the Fountain which dispenses true joy an
true life, that Fountain which gushes from the un
changeable Rock on which the Church has laid
her eternal foundations. Come and drink from
and wash yourselves in that gushing Fountain
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 189
" Drink at the Fountain ! But where is it ?
Where, then, in the rock of the Church is that
Spring of unheard-of graces ? Alas ! the times are
past and gone when the Church restored the power
of walking to the paralytic, and sight to the blind !
In vain do we fix our eyes on the unchangeable
rock, our eyes do not perceive that miraculous
Fountain in which the sick are healed. Either it
never was in existence or its source has been dry
for the last eighteen hundred years."
Such is the view taken by the world.
"Ask and you shall receive," say the Holy Scrip
tures. " If prodigies do not arise in the midst of
you, as in the time of the Apostles, it is so because,
being devoted to mere sensual existence, and re
fusing to admit anything you cannot actually see
with your eyes, you do not seek for the miraculous
fountain in the secrets of divine goodness. You
do not see the water, you say, gush forth in the
mysterious corner of the Sanctuary ? Notwith
standing this, only believe, O Bernadette, and all ye
children of men. Come and draw from it with the
entire faith which the sucking -babe has when he
glues his lips to his mother s breast. What is Prov
idence but our Mother ? See, then, the Fountain
how it gushes forth and increases in volume as its
water is drawn from it, precisely in the same man
ner as the milk of a mother flows to the lips of her
infant."
" Drink ! But this water which issues from the
rock passes through impure elements ! The Clergy
have a thousand human thoughts and peculiar ideas
which have naught to do with heaven. They have
impregnated the divine Spring with earth. Wash
OUR LADY OF LOfEDES.
myself in it ? Ah ! I am more highly educated,
less sullied by vice and more noble-minded than
this priest !"
" Proud wretch, art thou not also formed of earthly
clay ? Memento quod pulvis cs. Eat of the plant,
humiliate thyself, and be mindful of thy origin.
Does not everything with which thou art nourish
ed pass through the earth, and does not thy daily
subsistence proceed always from the clay of which
thou wert formed ?
" Is the Spring dried up ? Humble faith will cause
it to gush forth anew. Is it muddy ? Is it impure ?
Drink, then, copious draughts from it, and it will
become clear, transparent and luminous, and the
sick and the infirm will be healed by its waters.
How plain is the teaching given to all the faithful !
Would you effect a change for the better in the Cler
gy ? Would you bring them back to a state of Aposto
lical virtue ? Would you sanctify the human ele
ment of the Church ? Partake of the Sacraments
which are dispensed by the Priesthood. Be only
sheep, and you will have pastors. Wash yourselves
in the soul of your priest, and it will purify itself
while it is working your purification. You have
suffered the Fountain of Miracles to be lost, owing
to your not availing yourselves of its use. It is by
the reverse of this conduct, it is by using it that
you must find it again. Qu&rite ct invenietis. If
you would have the gate opened to you, you must
knock. If you would receive, you must demand."
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 191
VIII.
ALTHOUGH the crowd was, as we have already
stated, more particularly dense in the morning at
the time of Bernadette s arrival, it was not to be
supposed that solitude reigned during the after
part of the day at the Rocks of Massabielle. All
the afternoon there was perpetual going to and fro
on the road leading to the Grotto, which, from that
time, was to be so celebrated. Every one examin
ed it in all directions, many prayed in front of it,
and some broke off fragments of it in order to keep
them as pious souvenirs.
On that day, towards four o clock, there were
still five or six hundred persons, employed as above-
mentioned, on the banks of the Gave.
At the same moment, a heart-rending scene was
passing round a cradle in a squalid house at
Lourdes, in which resided Jean Beauhohorts, a day-
laborer, and his wife Croisine Ducouts.
In the cradle there lay a child about two years
old, who was sickly, and of a wretched constitu
tion. He had never been able to walk, was con
stantly out of health, and, from his birth, had been
wasted by slow fever of a consumptive nature,
which nothing had succeeded in reducing. Not
withstanding the skillful attention of a medical man
of the place, M. Peyrus, the child was rapidly ap
proaching his end. Death was spreading its livid
hues on a countenance which had been reduced by
protracted sufferings to a deplorable state of emacia
tion.
The father and mother kept their eyes fixed on
I9 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
their dying child, the former, calm in his grief,
while the latter seemed plunged in despair.
One of their neighbors, Franconnette Gozos was
already busying herself in preparing a shroud for
the poor child s burial, and, at the same time, using
her best efforts to induce the mother to listen to
some words of consolation.
The latter was crushed with grief, and anxiously
watched the progress of the -last agony of death.
The child s eye had become glazed, his limbs were
absolutely motionless, and his breathing was imper
ceptible.
" He is dead," said the father.
" If he is not dead," observed the neighbor, " he
is on the point of death, my poor friend. Go and
weep by the fire, while I, ere long, fold him up in
his shroud."
Croisine Ducouts, the mother of the child, did not
appear to hear what was said to her. A sudden
idea had just taken possession of her mind, and her
tears ceased to flow.
" He is not dead !" she exclaimed ; " and the
Holy Virgin of the Grotto is going to effect his
cure for me."
" Grief has turned her head," said Beauhohorts,
sadly.
He and the neighbor endeavored in vain to de-
suade the mother from her project. The latter had
just taken the already motionless body of her
child out of the cradle and wrapped it up in her
apron.
" I go at once to the Virgin !" she exclaimed
making her way to the door.
" But my dear Croisine," said her husband and
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 193
Frangonnette to her, " if onr poor Justin is not quite
dead, you are going to kill him outright."
The mother, as if beside herself with grief, refus
ed to listen to their expostulations.
" What matters it whether he dies here or at the
Grotto ! Allow me to implore the mercy of the
Mother of Gocl."
Saying this she left the house, carrying the child
in her arms.
As she had said, " she went at once to the Virgin."
She walked at a rapid pace, praying aloud, invok
ing Mary, and appearing to all who met her like an
insane person.
It was about five o clock in the evening, and
there were some hundreds of persons before the
Rocks of Massabielle.
The poor mother forced her way through the
crowd, with her precious burden in her arms. At
the entrance of the Grotto she prostrated herself
and prayed, after which she dragged herself on her
knees towards the miraculous Spring. Her face
was burning, her eyes sparkling and full of tears,
and the state of disorder of her entire person prov
ed the intensity of her grief.
She had reached the basin which had been dug
by the quarry-men. The water was of an icy tem
perature.
" What is she going to do ?" observed the spec
tators to themselves.
Croisine drew out of her apron the body of her
dying child, which was in a state of complete nu
dity. She made the sign of the Cross on him and
herself, and afterwards, without hesitation, and
in a quick and determined manner, plunged the
9
I94 CUE LADY OF LOURDES.
child up to his neck in the icy water of the
Spring.
A cry of terror, and a murmur of indignation
arose from the crowd.
" The woman is insane !" they exclaimed on all
sides, pressing round her to hinder her putting
her plan into execution.
" Would you kill your child ? " said some one to
her, rudely. It seemed as if she were deaf. She
remained motionless as a statue, the statue of Sor
row, Prayer, and Faith.
One of the by-standers touched her on the shoul
der. The mother turned round on this, still keep
ing her child in the water of the Fountain.
" Let me alone, let me alone !" she exclaimed in
a voice at once energetic and beseeching. " I wish
to do all in my power, God and the Blessed Vir
gin will do the rest."
The complete immobility of the child and the
cadaverous hues of his face, were remarked by sev
eral of those present.
" The child is already dead," they said,
her alone; grief has turned the poor mother s
head."
No ; grief had not turned her head. It led her,
on the contrary, into the path of the loftiest faith,
of that absolute, unhesitating, undecaying faith
which God has solemnly promised never to resist.
The earthly mother felt within her, that she was ad
dressing herself to the heart of that Mother who is
in heaven. Thence arose her boundless confidence
which neutralized the terrible reality of the dying
body she held in her hands. Doubtless, she saw
as plainly as the multitude around her, that ice-cold
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 195
water, such as that in which she was plunging her
child, was calculated, in ordinary circumstances, in
fallibly to kill the little hapless being to whom she
was so fondly attached, and suddenly to terminate
his agony by the strokeof death. No matter ! Her
arm remained steady and her Faith was strong.
For a whole quarter of an hour, before the aston
ished eyes of the multitude, in the midst of the
cries, reproaches, and insults heaped upon her by
the crowd of by-standers, she kept her child im
mersed in the mysterious water which had but late
ly gushed forth at a gesture from the all-powerful
Mother of that God, who, for our sins, died and rose
again.
What a sublime spectacle of Catholic faith ! This
woman precipitated her dying child into the most
imminent of earthly dangers, to find in it, in the
name of the Virgin Mary, the cure which comes
from heaven. Humanly speaking, she was urging
him in the direction of death, in order to lead him
supernaturally to life ! Jesus commended the faith
of the Centurion. Truly, that displayed by this
poor mother strikes us as being still more worthy
of admiration.
The Heart of God could not but be touched by
an act of faith, at once so simple and so grand.
Our Father, who is, at the same time, so invisible
and so manifest, bent Himself, doubtless, at the
same time as the Blessed Virgin, over so moving
and religious a scene, and He blessed the Christian
woman, who believed with all the fervor of primi
tive times.
The child had remained motionless as a corpse,
during this long immersion. The mother wrapped
196 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
him once more in her apron, and hastily returned
home.
His body was cold as ice.
" You see now that he is dead," said the father.
" No," said Croisine, " he is not dead ! The
Blessed Virgin will effect his recovery."
With these words the poor woman laid the child
down in his cradle. He had scarcely been there a
few moments, when the mother, having bent her ear
attentively over him, suddenly exclaimed :
" He is breathing !"
Beauhohorts advanced rapidly and listened in his
turn. Little Justin was certainly breathing. His
eyes were closed, and he slept a calm and deep
slumber.
The mother did not weep. During the evening
and following night, she came every moment to lis
ten to her child s respiration, which became stronger
and more regular, and she waited with anxiety for
the moment of his awaking.
This took place at break of day.
The child s emaciation had not disappeared, but
there was some color in his cheeks, and his features
wore an air of repose. The mild ray of life spark
led in his laughing eyes, which were turned towards
his mother.
During his slumber, deep as that sent of yore
by God upon Adam, the mysterious and omnipotent
hand, from which every thing good emanates, had
re-animated and strengthened we dare not say re
suscitated his body, which, but a short time before
was motionless and chill.
The child sought his mother s breast and drew
from it long draughts. Though he had never walk-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 197
ed, he wished to leave his cradle and walk about the
room. But Croisine, notwithstanding the courage
and entire faith she had displayed the previous day,
dared not trust too much in his recovery, and
trembled at the thought of the danger he had es
caped. She resisted the repeated solicitations of
the child, and refused to remove him from the cra
dle.
Thus the day passed by. The child constantly
demanded nourishment from his mother s breasts.
Night at length came, and was passed as calmly as
the one preceding it. The father and mother left
the house at day-break, in order to proceed to their
daily toil, and their little Justin was still sleeping in
his cradle.
When the mother opened the door on her return,
she almost fainted at the sight presented to her
view.
The cradle was empty. Justin had risen without
any assistance from where his mother had laid him ;
he was on his legs going to and fro, touching the
different articles of furniture, and disarranging the
chairs. In short, the little paralyzed child was
walking.
A mother s heart alone can imagine the cry ol
joy emitted by Croisine at such a spectacle. She
wished to rush forward, but could not, so great was
her emotion. Her limbs trembled. Her sense of
happiness seemed to deprive her of strength, and
she supported herself against the door. A vague
fear, however, in spite of herself, was mingled with
her beaming happiness.
" Take care, you will fall down !" she cried out
with anxiety.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
He did not fall ; his step was firm, and he ran and
threw himself into the arms of his mother,who
embraced him with tears in her eyes.
" He was cured from yesterday," thought she to
herself; " since he wished to leave his cradle and
walk, and T, like an infidel, have hindered him, ow
ing to my want of faith."
" You now see that he was not dead, and that the
Blessed Virgin has saved him," she observed to her
husband, on his return home.
Such were the words of this happy mother.
Fran?onnette Gozos, who had, only two nights
since, been present at what was supposed to be poor
Justin s death-agony, and had arranged the shroud
for his interment, happened to arrive at the same
time, and could scarcely believe her eyes. She was
never tired of gazing at the child, as if she wished
to convince herself of his identity.
" It is certainly he !" she exclaimed. " It is cer
tainly poor little Justin !"
They knelt down.
His mother joined the child s hands to raise them
towards heaven; and, all together, they offered
thanksgivings to the Mother of Mercies.
His malady never returned. Justin grew rapidly
and suffered from no relapse. Since that period,
eleven years have elapsed. The writer of these
pages determined to see him, not very long since.
He is strong and in good health ; only his mother
grieves that he sometimes plays truant when sent
to school, and reproaches him with gadding about
more than he ought.
M. Peyrus, the medical man, who had attended
the child, frankly allowed the impossibility of ex~
OUE LADY OF LOURDES. 199
plaining this extraordinary occurrence, according to
the ordinary rules of medical science.
The Doctors Vergez and Dozons undertook, sep
arately, an examination of this fact so highly inter
esting, both as regards Science and Truth, and, like
M. Feyrus,they could but attribute it to the omnip
otent agency of God. All united in establishing
three circumstances which manifestly impressed on
this cure a supernatural character, the duration of
the immersion, its immediate effect and the facul
ty of walking displayed as soon as the child had
quitted his cradle.
The conclusions of M. Vergez report were un
mistakable on this head.
" A bath of cold water of a quarter of an hour s
duration, in the month of February, inflicted on a
child in the agony of death, must, in his opinion,
and according to all the data, theoretical and experi
mental, of medical science, produce immediate death.
For," added the skillful physician, " if affusions of
cold water, especially when applied repeatedly,
may be of the utmost service in severe adynamic
affections, their use is subject to certain rules which
cannot be transgressed without exposing life to real
danger. As a general rule, the duration of the ap
plication of cold water should not exceed a few
minutes, because the depression occasioned by cold
would destroy all power of reaction in the system.
" Now, the woman Ducouts, having plunged her
child in the water of the Fountain, kept him in it
for upwards of a quarter of an hour. She therefore
sought the cure of her son by means absolutely
condemned by experience and the rationale of medi
cal science, and yet she did not on that account ob-
200 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
tain it less immediately ; for, a few moments later,
he fell into a calm and deep sleep which lasted for
about twelve hours. And in order that this fact
should stand out in the clearest light, and that not
the slightest incertitude should hover over the re
ality and instantaneousness of its production, the
child, ivho had never walked, escaped from his cradle,
and commenced walking about with the confidence
which is usually only the result of practice, showing
by this that this cure was effected without any in
termediate state of convalescence, in a manner alto
gether supernatural."
IX.
OTHER cures continued to take place in all direc
tions. It would be impossible to report each par
ticular case, not only from their number but from
the fact that the author of this book has made it a
rule not to bring forward anything in this class of
facts of which he has not himself proved the exacti
tude, not only from the depositions of actual .wit
nesses of what took place, but also from those per
sons who were themselves favored with such
marvelous graces. Notwithstanding then the inter
est which attaches to every supernatural fact, we
have been obliged to confine ourselves within cer
tain limits. We have been forced, not without
regret, to discard from our narrative many of these
wonderful prodigies, which we had ourselves per
fectly verified, and limit ourselves to producing a
circumstantial history of the most striking miracles.
We will, however, risk quoting from the official re
port of the Commission named later on to invcsti-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 OI
gate these events, a few of the cures which took
place about this time, which were duly authenti
cated, and of which, consequently, the fame was
spread from the very first throughout the district.
The restaurateur, Blaise Maumus, on plunging his
hand into the Spring had himself witnessed the dis
solving and disappearance of an enormous wen he
had in the joint of his wrist. The widow Crouzat,
who had been so deaf for the last twenty years as
to be unable to hear the Offices, suddenly recovered
her hearing on making use of this water. In a
similarly miraculous manner, Auguste Borde, who
had long been lame owing to an accident, found his
leg become straight again and recover its strength
and natural shape. All the persons we have just
mentioned belonged to Lourdes, and any one who
wished it could hear from them a full account of
these extraordinary facts.
X.
ON the supposition that the Parquet, at whose
anti-superstitious tendencies we have already hinted,
were right in the decision they had come to of de
nying every thing connected with the Apparition,
they had, in these miracles, so publicly attested and
proclaimed, an excellent opportunity of instituting
a rigid investigation and of prosecuting, if neces
sary, the authors or propagators of these reports,
calculated as they were to lead astray the public
conscience and trouble the minds of many. Unlike
the Apparitions which had been visible to Berna-
dette alone, these cures were open to universal
scrutiny. They were numerous, and, far from being
202 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
isolated cases, they already mounted to five and
twenty or thirty. They were within reach of any one
who wished to investigate them. Every one might
verify, studv, or analyze them in order to recog
nize their truth or demonstrate that they were false.
The Supernatural was abandoning the invisible:
it was becoming material and palpable to the senses.
In the persons of the sick restored to health, of
paralytics who recovered the power of motion, it
appealed to all, as did Jesus Christ to the Apostle
Thomas, " Look at my feet, look at my hands. See
these darkened eyes which have refound the bless
ings of light. Look at those restored to life who
were but now in the agony of death ; those now
hearing who were formerly deaf; those now run
ning with the agility of strength and health who not
long since were lame." The Supernatural had, so
to speak, incarnated itself in all these incurables
who had been cured so suddenly, and, publicly
attesting its own claims, courted inquiry, investiga
tion and prosecution. It became possible, if we
may be permitted to use such an expression, to lay
violent hands upon it and arrest it like any other
criminal.
Here lay, as every one perceived, the very core
of the question. Some satisfactory method of treat
ing these inconceivable facts, which were so entirely
opposed to all received notions, must be discovered.
There was therefore hardly cany one who did not
endeavor to guess the crafty and energetic means
which would be employed by that fraction of the
official world which had hitherto displayed so firm
a resolution of unceasingly persecuting and finally
crushing fanaticism.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 203
What kind of interrogatories would be instituted
by the Police ? With what kind of judicial examina
tions would the Parquet commence? To what severe
measures would the Administration have recourse?
The Administration, the Parquet, and the Police did
nothing at all, and directing their attention in other
quarters, did not think it advisable to run any risk
in a public investigation of facts so notorious and
so bruited abroad over the whole surrounding dis
trict.
What was the meaning of this singular forbear
ance in presence of such striking prodigies? It
meant that Incredulity acts prudently.
Even in the midst of their transport and passion,
parties, religious as well as political, have some
times a certain instinct of self-preservation which
warns them of the extreme danger into which they
are on the point of rushing and forces them to re
coil. They cease all at once to advance towards
the logical development of their situation and have
not courage to attack their enemy on that decisive
point towards which they were blindly hurrying,
uttering triumphant shouts in anticipation of vic
tory. They are suddenly brought to understand
that they would be entirely, suddenly and hope
lessly vanquished, and that such a line of action can
only terminate in their death. In such a case what
do they do ? They retrace their steps and carry on
a guerilla warfare on less dangerous ground.
This is all very well in military affairs ; but in the
order of ideas it appears difficult to reconcile this
kind of prudence with entire sincerity of belief. It
supposes a vague disquietude as to the value of our
own line of argument, and a vague presentiment of
204 OUR LAI) Y OF LOURDES.
the absolute certainty of the thing s we are opposing-.
To fear to face the investigation of any fact, the ex
istence of which would lead to the entire overthrow
of such or such a doctrine, is to declare ourselves
that we have internal doubts of what we assert so
boldly ; it is to show that we fear the truth to be
known ; it is to take to flight without attempting
the struggle and to tremble at -the approach . of
light.
Such were the reflections that occurred to the
strongest minds in the place on perceiving this re
treat and withdrawal of actual hostilities in presence
of the events which were occurring.
Incredulity ought to have been convinced, but
such was not the case. It was only disconcerted
and overwhelmed by the force of circumstances, by
the evidence adduced and by the sudden invasion
of the Supernatural. Those know but little of the
human heart who think that the most conclusive
and indubitable proofs are sufficient to bring men,
who have already made up their mind, to a humble
acknowledgment of their error. The free-will of
man has the terrible power of resisting every thing
even God Himself.
It is in vain that the Sun gives light to the world
and illuminates the infinite space in which the globes
of our universe pursue their course : we have only
to shut our eyes in order to resist his omnipotence
and to extinguish his very being. The soul also as
well as the body may in the same manner shut its
senses to the light of truth. The darkness does not
proceed from the weakness of the understanding :
it is the result of an act of the will, which persists
and takes pleasure in its self-imposed blindness.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2O5
However, in matters of this kind, men feel the
necessity of a certain amount of self-deception, and
to quiet their consciences are obliged to keep up
the show of sincerity. They have not sufficient de
termination to deny or to oppose resolutely and
face to face what is plainly acknowledged to be
truth. What then is their line of conduct? They
make it their study to remain in a kind of obscurity,
which permits them to struggle against truth with
out seeing clearly, and which serves them in some
measure as an excuse. Forgetting that ignorance,
when voluntary, does not remove responsibility,
they reserve to themselves the right of replying :
" Nay, Lord, I was ignorant," and for this reason
they make up their minds to deny every thing, and
limit themselves to shrugging their shoulders with
out caring or wishing to take the trouble of getting
to the bottom of things. The contempt which they
affect outside is but the hypocrisy of the fear they
experience within.
Thus it was that the incredulous, brought face to
face with the supernatural cures which were being
effected on all sides, refused to give themselves the
trouble of examination, and dared not hazard inves
tigation. Notwithstanding the challenges issued
to them and the railleries of those who believed,
they turned a deaf ear to whatever tended to pro
duce a public debate on these miraculous cures.
They affected not to busy themselves with the di
vine phenomena which were submitted to their
senses, which were notorious, which claimed uni
versal attention and might have been easily studied,
continuing to produce theories on hallucinations a
vague and mist-clad region, in which they might
20 6 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
talk and declaim at their case, without being felled
by the stubbornness of facts which were palpable,
manifest and impossible to gainsay.
The supernatural, therefore, courted discussion,
and that to the furthest extent. The Free-thinkers
declined the challenge and beat a retreat. By so
doing they acknowledged their own discomfiture
and condemnation.
XI.
THE philosophers of unbelief, irritated by these
events they appeared to despise, and in regard to
which they dared not risk the decisive proof of a
public investigation, sought other means of ridding
themselves of such stubborn facts. They had recourse
to a manoeuvre which in its extreme cleverness and
machiavelic type showed all the resources of intel
lect which hatred of the Supernatural induced the
cluster of Free-thinkers to employ. Instead of in
vestigating the miracles which were really true,
they invented false ones, reserving to themselves
the right of exposing the imposture at a later pe
riod. Their journals made no mention, either of
Louis Bourriette, or of the child of Croisine Du-
couts, or of Blaise Maumus, or of the widow Cro-
zat, or of Marie Daube, or of Bernarde Soubie, or
of Fabien Baron, or of Jean Crassus, or of Auguste
Borde, or in fact of hundreds of others. But they
treacherously fabricated an imaginary legend, hop
ing to propagate it by means of the press, and re
fute it at their ease later on.
This assertion may appear strange, but we assert
nothing without having the proofs in our hands.
OUR LADY OF LO URDUS.
2O7
" Do not be astonished," observed the journal of
the Prefecture, the fire Imptrialc, " if there are
still to be found persons who persist in maintain
ing- that the young girl is predestinated and en
dowed with supernatural power. For them it is af
firmed,
" i. That a dove hovered the day before yesterday
over the head of the child during the time her state
of ecstacy lasted.
" 2. That the young girl has breathed on the eyes
of a little blind child and restored her sight.
" 3. That she has cured another child whose arm
was paralyzed.
"4. Lastly, that a peasant from the valley of Cam-
pan, having declared that he was not the dupe of
these scenes of hallucination, the little girl had the
same evening procured his fish to be turned into
snakes, which snakes devoured this irreverential
man, leaving no trace of his bones."
As to the real cures, the miracles fully authenti
cated, and the bursting forth of the fountain, the
crafty editor took good care not to mention them.
With no less art, he did not give any names, in
order to avoid being contradicted.
" Such is the present state of things, and all this
might have been obviated at Lourdes if the parents
of the girl had followed the advice of the medical
men and sent her to the hospital."
We may remark that none of the medical men
had up to that time offered advice of the kind.
After having invented these fables, the pious and
judicious writer sounded the alarm in the name of
reason and the faith
208 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" Such is the opinion," he continued, " of all rea
sonable people, who are actuated by feelings of real
piety, who have a real love and respect for religion,
who look upon the mania of superstition as highly
dangerous, and who hold fast to the principle that
the Church alone is competent to pronounce on the
genuineness of miraculous facts."
The remarkable diplomacy which had dictated
these articles, was worthily crowned by this devout
ebullition of faith and this closing genuflexion.
Such are the ordinary formularies of all those who
would reduce to the confined limits of their own
systems the position which it pleases God to occupy
in this nether world. As regards the last affirma
tion propounded as a principle, when miraculous
facts are in question, is it necessary to say that they
command respect or not, according to their own
merits, as indeed do all facts, and derive their pe
culiar character, not from the Church, by which
they are only recognized, but from God himself,
by whose power they are directly produced ? The
decision of the Church does not create a miracle,
it only authenticates it, and on her authoritative ex
amination and affirmation the faithful believe. But
no law, either as regards faith or reason prevents
Christians, who arc witnesses of a fact plainly super
natural, from recognizing, of their own accord, its
miraculous character. Such an abdication of their
reason and common sense has never been exacted
from believers by the Church. She only reserves
to herself the right of judging without appeal in
the last resort.
" It does not appear up to the present moment,"
were the closing words of the article, " that the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 209
religious authorities have thought what is going on
worthy of any serious attention."
On this last point, the editor of the journal which
supported the views of the Administration w r as in
error, as our readers have already learned in the
course of this narration. However, this observa
tion of his and in this respect at least it was of
great value proved for futurity and for History,
that the Clergy had been entire strangers to the
events which had taken place up to that moment,
and that those events were continuing to take place
without the slightest connivance on their part.
The poor Lavcdan, the local organ of Lourdes,
though placed in the very centre of all that was oc
curring, felt itself crushed by the stubbornness of
facts, and had all at once subsided into absolute si
lence. This silence was destined to endure for sev
eral weeks. It never alluded in the most distant
manner to these events, so unheard of in their na
ture, or to the immense concourse of people they
attracted. You would have thought it was pub
lished for the benefit of readers in some other quar
ter of the globe, had not its columns been filled
with articles borrowed in all directions from the
public prints and directed against Superstition in
general.
XII.
DURING the period of the manifestation of the
Apparitions, the popular movement had been favor
ed with the most magnificent weather. There had
been an uninterrupted series of fine days, such as
had not been experienced for many years past.
2io OUE LADY OF LOURDES.
From the fifth of March, there was a change in the
weather and a heavy fall of snow. The severity
of the season naturally abated for some days the
concourse of visitors to the Grotto.
The miraculous cures, however, increased in
number. Benoite Cazeaux, a most respectable in
habitant of Lourdes, had been confined to her bed
for three years by a slow fever accompanied with
pains in her side, and all her applications to the
medical men of the place had been fruitless. A
course of baths at Gazost had proved equally un
availing towards the recovery of her health.
The medical men had become disheartened by
the unsuccessful issue of all their efforts, and had
ceased to visit the poor woman, regarding her as
incurable. Finding herself in this desperate situ
ation, she had had recourse to Our Lady of Lourdes,
and her supposed incurable malady had suddenly
disappeared in consequence of drinking one or two
glasses of water from the Grotto, and the applica
tion of some lotions.
Another woman, Blaisette Soupenne, of Lourdes,
about fifty years of age, had been suffering for sev
eral years from a chronic affection in her eyes, and
her state was truly pitiable. In technical terms, it
was a Blepharitis accompanied with atrophy. A
continual flow of tears from the eyes, severe smart
ing pains sometimes at the same time, sometimes
alternately ; an eversion of the eyelids and total dis
appearance of the eye-lashes, the two lower lids
being covered with a multitude of fleshy warts-
such was the disastrous state of this unfortunate
woman. It was in vain she applied lotion* of cold
water several times a day to her eyes, employed all
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 211
the remedies prescribed by her medical advisers, or
sought some relief at the baths of Bareges, Cauta-
rets and Gazost everything had been a failure.
Abandoned by man, she had turned herself towards
the Divine Goodness which had manifested itself
at the Grotto. Pronounced incurable by medical
science, she had addressed herself to Faith, and had
besought the miraculous Lady to remove from her
that cruel malady which had defied the skill of men
and the agency of natural remedies. She received
great relief on the application of the first lotion.
At the second application, which took place the
following day, the cure was complete. Tears
ceased to flow from her eyes, the eyelids resumed
their natural form, and the fleshy warts disap
peared. From that very day the eye-lashes grew
again.
In the opinion of the medical men called in to
examine the above case, the supernatural effect in
this marvelous cure was rendered more obvious
from the fact " that the material injury," they said,
" was more striking, and that to the rapid re-estab
lishment of the tissues in their normal and organic
condition, was added the restoration of the eyelids
to their original form and position. The import
ance of this fact is so much the greater as the
malady in question is one of the most difficult to
treat successfully, and in the stage it had reached
in the case of Blaisette Soupenne, necessitated a
surgical operation, such as the excision of the pal-
pebral mucous membrane, or at least a severe cau
terization of the swellings and fleshy pimples of
that membrane."
These wonderful ev r ents increased daily in num.-
212 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
her. God proceeded in His work. The Blessed
Virgin afforded ample display of her omnipo
tence.
XIV.
SINCE the last day of the Quinzaine, Bernaclette
had several times re-visited the Grotto, but much
like any other simple individual, that is to say,
without hearing in her heart the irresistible voice
which was wont to summon her to the spot.
She heard this voice, however, once more on the
twenty-fifth of March, in the course of the morning,
and immediately proceeded towards the Rocks of
Massabielle. Her countenance was beaming with
hope. She felt within herself that she was going to
see the Apparition once more, and that Paradise
would throw its eternal gates half open to her rav
ished eyes.
It may be easily conceived that she had become
ere this an object of general attention at Lourdes,
and she could not take a step without becoming
" the observed of all observers."
" Bernadette is going to the Grotto," was the
observation of the one to the other as she was seen
passing by.
A moment afterwards, a crowd, issuing from all
the houses and collecting from all the alleys, rushed
in the same direction and reached the Grotto at the
same time with the child.
In the valley, the snow had melted within the last
two or three days, but still remained on the crests
of the neighboring peaks. The weather was fine
and clear, and not a speck was to be seen in the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 213
calm blue of the firmament. The sun seemed to
rise with royal pomp from the bosom of the white
mountains and threw a splendor over his cradle of
snow.
It was the anniversary of the day on which the
Angel Gabriel had descended to the purest of vir
gins, the Virgin of Nazareth, and had saluted her
in the name of the Lord. The Church was cele
brating the feast of the Annunciation.
While the crowd was hurrying to the Grotto, and
amongst it might be noticed the greater number of
those who had been cured Louis Bourriette, the
widow Crouzat, Blaisette Soupenne, Benoite Ca-
zeaux. Auguste Bordes, and twenty more, the Catho
lic Church, at the close of her morning office, was
intoning those wonderful words, " At that moment
shall the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the
deaf shall recover their hearing, the lame shall leap
like the deer, for the waters have burst forth in the
desert, and torrents in the wilderness."
Bernadette had not been deceived by the joyful
presentiment she had felt. The voice which had
called her was the voice of the faithful Virgin.
As soon as the child had fallen on her knees the
Apparition made herself manifest. As ever before,
an ineffable aureole beamed around her, of bound
less splendor and infinite sweetness ; it was like the
eternal glory of absolute peace. As ever before, her
veil and her robe falling in chaste folds were white
like the glistening snow. The two roses which
blossomed on her feet had the yellow tinge which
pervades the base of heaven at the first light of the
virgin da\vn. Her girdle was blue as the azure
firmament.
214 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Bernadette, plunged in ecstacy, had forgotten
earth in the presence of her spotless beauty.
" O Lady, she said to her, " would you have the
goodness to inform me who you are and what is
your name? "
The queenly Apparition smiled but gave no reply.
But at that very moment, the Universal Church,
proceeding with the solemn prayers of her Office,
was exclaiming :
" O holy and immaculate Virginity, what praises
can I give unto Thee? In truth, I know not, for
thou hast borne in thy womb Him whom the
Heavens cannot contain."
Bernadette heard not these distant voices, nor
could she surmise these profound harmonies. Not
withstanding the silence on the part of the Vision,
she urged her request, and repeated :
" O Lady, would you have the kindness to inform
me who you are and what is your name ? "
The Apparition appeared to become more radi
ant, as if her joy kept increasing, and yet she did
not reply to the child s question. But the Church,
spread over the whole of Christendom, was con
tinuing her prayers and chaunts and had reached
those words :
" Wish me joy, all ye who love the Lord, for
when I was yet a child, the Most High hath loved
me, and from my womb was produced the God-
Man. All generations shall proclaim me Blessed,
for God hath deigned to regard the lowliness of his
hand-maiden ; and from my womb was produced
the God-Man."
Bernadette redoubled the urgency of her request
and pronounced for the third time the words :
OUR LADY OF LOUUDES. 21$
" O Lady, would you have the kindness to inform
me who you are and what is your name?"
The Apparition appeared to enter more and more
into the glory of beatitude, and as if absorbed in
her own felicity, continued to return no answer.
But, by an extraordinary coincidence the universal
choir of the Church was at that moment bursting
forth into a song of joy and pronouncing the earthly
name of the marvelous Apparition, " Hail Mary,
full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee, blessed art
Thou among women."
Bernadette pronounced once more these suppliant
words :
" O Lady, I beseech you, have the kindness to
inform me who you are and what is your name ? "
The hands of the Apparition were clasped with
fervor and her countenance was radiant with the
splendors of infinite beatitude. It was Humility
crowned with Glory. At the same time that Ber
nadette was contemplating the Vision, the Vision
was doubtless contemplating, in the bosom of the
divine Trinity, God the Father of whom She was
the daughter, God the Holy Ghost of whom She
was the Spouse, and God the Son of whom She was
the Mother.
At the last question of the child She unclasped
her hands, slipping over Her right arm the chaplet,
whose alabaster beads were strung on a golden
thread. She then opened both of Her arms and
bent them towards the ground, as if to show to the
earth Her Virgin hands, full of blessings. After
wards, raising them towards the eternal region,
from which on that very day centuries before the
divine Messenger of the Annunciation had de-
2i6 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
scended, She joined them again fervently, and gazing
up to Heaven with an expression of unspeakable
gratitude, she pronounced the following words :
" I am the Immaculate Conception."
Thus saying, She disappeared, and the child, like
the multitude, found herself opposite a solitary
rock.
At her side, the miraculous Fountain, falling
through its wooden conduit into its rustic basin,
soothed the ear with the peaceful murmur of its
waters.
It was the day and the hour, when Holy Church
was intoning in her Office the magnificent hymn,
" O most glorious of Virgins."
O Gloriosa Virginum,
Sublimis inter sidera.
XIV.
THE Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ had not
saic^ I am Mary, the Immaculate ; She had said,
" I am the Immaculate Conception," as if to mark
the absolute, and, as it were, substantial character
of the divine privilege granted to Her alone since
Adam and Eve were created by God. It is as if
she had said, not, " I am pure," but, " I am purity
itself ; " not, " I am a Virgin," but, " I am the in
carnate and living Virginity ; " not, " I am white,"
but, " I am whiteness !"
Any thing that is white may cease to be so ; but,
Whiteness is always white. It is its essence and not
its quality.
Mary is more than conceived without sin : She is
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 I/
the Immaculate Conception itself; the essential and
superior type ; the archetype of unsullied humanity,
of humanity as it proceeded from the hands of God,
without having been tainted by the original stain,
by the impure element which the fault of our first
Parents mixed with the very source of that vast
river of generations, which has flowed for the last
six thousand years, and of which, each of us, is a
fleeting wave.
What would you do, if you wished to draw wa
ter pure from a muddy spring ? You would pass
it through a filter, and the water clears itself of its
grosser elements. You then pass it through a sec
ond filter, then through a third, and so on. The
time soon comes when the water becomes entirely
pure and clear, a liquid diamond. In the same
manner did God act, when the original Spring was
troubled. He chose a particular family in this
world, and watched over it from age to age, from
Seth unto Noah, from Shem unto David, from Da
vid even unto Joachim and Anne, the parents of
the Blessed Virgin. And, when this human blood
was thus filtered, so to speak, in spite of the acci
dents of some intermediate guilty persons, through
nearly fifty generations of patriarchs and just men,
there came into the world a creature absolutely
pure ; a creature without stain ; a daughter of Adam
entirely immaculate. She was called Mary, and
Her fruitful Virginity produced Jesus Christ.
The Virgin, at that moment, had desired to attest
by her presence and her miracles, the last dogma
defined by the Church, and proclaimed by St. Pe
ter, speaking by the voice of Pius IX.
It was the first time in her life that the little shep-
10
21 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
herd-girl, to whom the divine Virgin had just ap
peared, had heard the words: "Immaculate Con
ception ; " and, being entirely ignorant of their
meaning, she exerted herself to the utmost on her
way back to Lourdes to retain them in her memory.
" I repeated them to myself all along the road, in
order not to forget them," she told us, one day ;
"and, up to the very door of the presbytery to
which I was going, I kept saying, Immaculate Con
ception, Immaculate Conception, at each step I made,
as I wished to take to the Cure the exact words of
the Vision, in order that the chapel might be built."
FIFTH BOOK.
I.
HE- question which had mounted from M. Ja-
1 comet to the Prefect had continued its upward
flight, and reached the Ministry of Public Worship.
On the 1 2th and 26th of March, the Prefect had
sent in his reports to his Excellency, confining him
self, until an answer was received, to the steps we
have already mentioned.
The Ministry of Public Worship was not then, as
is the case now, united to the department of Jus
tice, but to that of Public Instruction. Monsieur
Rouland was the Minister.
Formerly Procureur General, and at the date of our
story, Minister of Public Instruction, M. Rouland
had, at one and the same time, in regard to religious
matters, the traditional and suspicious formalism
of the old parliamentary body, and the ideas and
feelings current in the University of France. Of a
dogmatic turn of mind, deeply convinced of his own
importance, his very philosophy tinged with sectar
ianism, an extravagant admirer of his own wisdom,
and easily irritated against anything which did not
square with his own systematic ideas, M. Rouland
was unable to admit for dhe moment the reality of
(219)
220 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
the Visions and Miracles at Lourdes. Such being
the case, though at a distance of two hundred and
fifty leagues from the spot where the events occur
red, and having no other documents than two let
ters received from the Prefect, he solved the ques
tion with that decisive tone which settles matters
of importance without even condescending to dis
cuss them. Notwithstanding the advice he gave
the Prefect to act prudently, it was plain that he
had decided in his own mind not to tolerate either
the Apparitions or the Miracles. As was always
the case, in similar circumstances, the Minister as
sumed the attitude of a defender of the interests of
religion. We subjoin a copy of the letter written
by him to M. Massy, bearing date the twelfth of
April.
"MONSIEUR LE PREFET:
" I have examined the reports, which you had
the goodness to forward to me on the twelfth and
twenty-sixth of April, on the subject of a pretended
apparition of the Virgin, said to have occurred in a
Grotto at no great distance from the town of Lourdes.
It is of importance, in my opinion, to put a stop to
proceedings which would result in compromising
the true interests of Catholicism, and weakening
the religious feeling of the population of the dis
trict.
" Legally., no one can establish an oratory or place of
public worship, without the double authorisation of the
civil and religious authorities. We should then be
justified, were we to carry out the law rigorously,
in immediately closing the Grotto, which has t
transformed into a kind of chapel.
OUR LADY OF LOUIWES. 221
" But, serious inconveniences would, in all prob
ability, arise from putting this law suddenly into
force. It would, therefore, be better to confine our
selves to preventing the youthful visionary from re
visiting the Grotto, and to taking such measures as
shall insensibly divert public attention, by rendering
the visits to the spot less frequent from day to day. I
could not, however, Monsieur le Prefct, give you
more precise instructions at the present moment : it
is a question which requires most especially tact,
prudence and firmness, and, in this respect, any re
commendations from me are unnecessary.
" It will be indispensable for you to act in concert
with the Clergy ; and I cannot lay too much stress
on the advisability of your communicating, person
ally, with the Bishop of Tarbes in this delicate af
fair, and I authorize you to tell the Prelate, from
me, that I do not think it expedient to permit a state
of things to continue unchecked, which cannot fail of
affording a pretext for fresh attacks on the Clergy and
Religion"
II.
ON the strength of this letter, M. Massy address
ed himself to the Bishop, begging him, formally, to
prohibit Bernadette from repairing in future to the
Grotto. He naturally brought forward the inter
ests of religion, which were compromised by these
hallucinations or deceptions, and the deplorable ef
fect which things of this nature were producing on
all serious minds, which sincerely sought to recon
cile Catholicism with sound philosophy and modern
ideas. As to the supposition of there being any re-
222
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ality in the Apparitions, M. Massy, following in the
wake of M. Rouland, did not deign to notice it.
The Prefect and the Minister agreed in treating
such superstitions with contempt.
The Prefect was clever, but the Bishop in his turn
was shrewd, and it was not easy to pass off on him
the shadow for the substance. Monseigneur Lau
rence discerned, clearly, two things :
The first was, that the Authorities (and, by this
word, we understood only the Prefect and the Min
ister, who happened to be in power for the time
being), would have been very glad to have put the
Clergy prominently forward, while, at the same
time, they dictated to them their course of action.
Now, Monseigneur Laurence had too high a sense
of his duties as Bishop to become a mere tool in the
hands of others.
The second was, that the Minister possibly and
the Prefect certainly were tempted to have recourse
to violent measures, that is to say, to oppose ma
terial force to opinion. Now, Monseigneur Lau
rence was too prudent not to exert every effort in
order to avoid an evil of such magnitude.
It was necessary therefore for him, on the one
hand to resist energetically the pressure brought to
bear upon him by the Civil Authorities, and on the
other not to irritate them ; to reject their unreason
able demands as inadmissible, and at^the same time
to maintain a spirit of harmony.
Amidst these difficulties of so opposite a nature,
the Bishop succeeded in steering a middle course.
At the same time that he stemmed the popular
enthusiasm which urged him to proclaim the Mir
acle officially, he resisted the Minister and the Pre-
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 223
feet, who requested him to condemn it without in
vestigation. Impassible in the midst of the agita
tions of the multitude, and the blind prejudices of
men in power, he was determined not to pronounce
his judgment until he was thoroughly acquainted
with the merits of the case, to refrain from any pre
mature decision and to keep the future in reserve.
However, perceiving as he did, the undisguisedly
hostile disposition of the Administration, he recog
nized it to be his duty to do all in his power to pre
vent the Civil Authorities from betaking themselves
to deplorable acts of violence. They must be de
prived of all pretext for adopting such a line of con
duct. Since the Temporal Power inclined towards
inconsiderate measures, the Spiritual Power must
have prudence for both. Since the. Prefect had
not prudence enough, the Bishop must have it in
excess : it was in his opinion, the only .-way of
having enough.
III.
MONSEIGNEUR Laurence, as we have already ob
served, was still in a state of doubt as to the judg
ment he should form on the events which had
occurred at Lourdes. Not being on the spot, not
seeing directly the marvels which were in process
of accomplishment, and deriving what little knowl
edge he had of them from the reports of ecclesias
tics who had not themselves been eye-witnesses of
the facts, he had not yet come to any full convic
tion. He was waiting.
Under these circumstances, to formally prohibit
Bernadette from going to the Grotto \vhtn she
224
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
felt herself called to the place by a voice from on
high, would have been to attack the most sacred
liberty the soul can enjoy, and this, Churchmen
can respect even in a child : but to employ words
of council and to pledge Bernadette not to repair
to the Rocks of Massabielle, unless under the im
mediate influence of that irresistible suggestion,
this was what the Bishop deemed it prudent to
order the Cure of Lourdes to undertake, in order
to prevent, as far as lay in his power, the Civil
Authorities from entering on the dangerous path
of persecution, to which his admirable foresight
shewed him they were tending.
What in reality held the Prefect back, was not so
much a question of principle as a personal con
sideration. He felt he must look twice before
attempting a religious coup (fttat with a Prelate
so universally venerated as Monseigncur Lau
rence, more especially after having lived with
him up to that moment in the most perfect har
mony. Baron Massy was too deeply imbued with
the political feeling of the affairs of administration
not to hesitate in breaking up this feeling of cor
diality, and in violently invading a jurisdiction
which belonged of right to the Bishop, and to him
only.
IV.
EASTER-SUNDAY had arrived. Notwithstanding
the pious apprehensions of the Minister of Public
Worship, the marvelous occurrences at Lourdes
had not " weakened the religious feeling of the
population of the district." Numberless conver-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
225
sions had taken place, and the confessionals were in
a state of siege. Usurers and robbers had made
restitution of their ill-gotten gains, and many scan
dals had ceased. The Faithful crowded to the
Holy Table.
On Easter-Monday, the fifth of April, that is to
say the very day the Prefect had visited the Bishop,
the Mother of God had once more by an internal
call, summoned the daughter of the miller, and the
child, soon followed by an immense crowd, had re
paired to the Grotto, where, as on the preceding
clays, the Heavens had opened themselves before
her eyes, and displayed to her the Virgin Mary in
a state of glory.
That day a very singular occurrence took place
before the wonder-struck eyes of the multitude.
The taper, which Bernadette had either brought
with her, or received from one of the bystanders,
was of considerable size and she had rested it on
the ground, supporting it at the bottom between
the fingers^ of her hands, which were half clasped.
The Virgin appeared to her. And behold, by an
instinctive movement of adoration, the youthful
Seer, falling in a state of ecstacy before the Im
maculate Beauty, slightly raised her hands and let
them rest calmly, and without thinking of what she
was doing, on the lighted end of the taper. And
then the flame began to pass between her fingers,
which were half open, and to mount above them,
flickering in different directions, according as the
light breeze blew. Bernadette, however, remained
motionless and absorbed in the heavenly contempla
tion, utterly unconscious of the phenomenon which
caused so much astonishment to the multitude
10*
226 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
around her. Those who witnessed it pressed closely
on each other in order to obtain a better view.
M.M. Jean-Louis Fourcade, Martinou, Estrade, Cal-
let, warden of the forest, the demoiselles Tard hivail,
and a hundred other persons were spectators of this
unheard of incident. M. Dozens had remarked by
his watch that this extraordinary state lasted more
than a quarter of an hour. All at once a slight
shudder was perceptible in the frame of Bernadette.
Her features lost their lofty expression. The
Vision had vanished and the child resumed her
natural state. The bystanders seized her hand but
it presented nothing unusual to the eye. The flame
had spared the flesh of the youthful Seer during
her ecstacy at the feet of Mary. The crowd, not
without sufficient reasons, exclaimed that a Miracle
had been performed. One of the spectators how
ever, wishing to test the fact, took the taper which
was still lighted and applied it to Bernadette s
hand, without her being aware of what he was
doing.
" Ah ! Sir," she exclaimed, drawing back quickly,
" you are burning me."
The occurrences at Lourdes had produced such
an excitement in the surrounding districts, and the
influx of strangers was so great, that on that day
the multitude which had in a moment flocked
around Bernadette amounted to nearly ten thou
sand persons, and these had not been warned be
forehand, as was the case during the Quinzaine.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
V.
227
SOME young women of Lourdes, of exemplary
virtue, among whom we will only mention by name,
Marie Courrege, a pious servant-maid respected by
every one, had the same vision as Bernadette, at
the Grotto, separately, twice or thrice. This was
vaguely rumored abroad, but had no influence on
the mass of the public. Some little children had
also visions, but of a perfectly distinct and rather
alarming nature. When the divine Supernatural
manifests itself, the diabolical Supernatural strives
to mingle itself with it. This is a truth proved
in almost every page of the history of the Fathers
of the Desert and of the Mystics. The abyss
was troubled and the Evil Angel had recourse
to his counterfeits for the purpose of troubling the
souls of believers.
These various facts, which did not attract much
observation at the time, are not sufficiently precise
(more especially as some of their details have been
forgotten) to be consigned to the pages of History.
We merely point them out that we may not incur
the blame of neglect. The true visions were only
important so far as they affected individuals, the
remainder died away of themselves.
VI.
THE road to the Rocks of Massabielle continued
to be thronged. Never did an uproarious cry
escape from the crowd, nor was there any agitation
in this popular stream whose waves were inces-
228 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
santly renewed. Canticles, litanies, vivats in honor
of the Virgin were all that struck the ear, and all
that M. Jacomet and his police could register in
their Reports. It was something more than order,
it was a state of pious recollection.
The artizans of Lourdes had widened the road
which had been laid out some fifteen or twenty days
previously on the slopes of Massabielle, by the
quarry-men ; they had blown up the rock with
powder, and reduced it in many places, so that
they had made a broad and very commodious road
on those precipitous declivities. It was a work of
considerable toil, requiring trouble, time, and out
lay of money. These good-hearted fellows devoted
themselves to the task every evening, on their re
turn from the work-yards in which they were
employed from morning to night. They rested
from the toil of their hard day s work in laboring
at this road, which led the way to God : In labor e
reguies. Towards night-fall they might be seen
clinging like a nest of ants to the side of the steep
descent, digging, wheeling barrows, boring the
rock, inserting powder and shivering vast blocks of
marble or granite.
" Who will pay you ?" they were asked.
" The Blessed Virgin," was the reply.
Before retiring from their labor, they descended
all together into the Grotto and offered up their
prayers in common.
In the midst of this magnificence of nature,
beneath that lovety starry heaven, these Christian
scenes offered a spectacle of simplicity and grand
eur redolent of the primitive ages of the Church.
The outward appearance of the Grotto gradually
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
changed. Up to that date tapers had been burned
in it as a sign of veneration. About this time there
were placed in it vases of flowers, either growing
naturally or arranged in bouquets by pious hands,
statues of the Virgin and ex-votos as marks of
gratitude. A small balustrade had been erected
by the workmen to protect these fragile articles from
the involuntary accidents which might have hap
pened from the too great eagerness of the throng.
Several persons, having received some special
grace by the intervention of Our Lady of Lourdes,
brought with them by way of homage to the place
of the Vision their little gold cross and chain, and
placed their pious offering under the guardianship
of the public faith. As it was from that time the
general cry of the country that the command of
the Apparition must be obeyed, and a chapel erec
ted, it became the custom to throw pieces of money
into the Grotto. Considerable sums, amounting to
several thousand francs lay consequently exposed
in the open air, without any outward protection,
night and day : and such was the respect inspired
by this spot, a short time before entirely unknown
such was the moral effect produced on souls, that
not a single evil-doer was to be met with in the
whole country to attempt a sacrilegious robbery.
But what made this more wonderful was the fact
that, a few months previously several churches in
the neighbourhood had been plundered. The Vir
gin willed not that the slightest souvenir of crime
should be connected with the origin of the pilgrim
age it was her wish to establish.
230 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
VII.
A SINGULAR circumstance, which perhaps passed
unnoticed at the time, derived importance from
what followed, and struck the attention of many.
We cannot refrain from pointing it out.
One of the highest privileges of soveregnity is
the right of granting pardon, and when a king
wishes to solemnize his accession to the throne, he
issues an amnesty to those who have made them
selves amenable to the law.
The power of the Queen of Heaven was greater,
and she exerted it in a higher degree. She willed
that there should not be any guilty of crime. The
Apparitions which had already taken place, and
those which took place later on, were spread over
two periods of three months; at the commence
ment of each of which the assizes were held. Now
during these two judicial quarters, there was not a
single crime committed or a single criminal condemned,
throughout the Department. The session of the
March assizes had only to examine a single case
anterior to the date of the Apparitions, and this
single case terminated in an acquittal. The next
session, which was to be in June, had only two
cases to pronounce upon, both connected with occur
rences anterior to this same period,
It appears to us that this wonderful coincidence,
this mysterious mark of divine influence which*
hovered over the whole country, this entirely ex
traneous proof, this moral prodigy, this miracle
extending over a whole diocese, is eminently calcu
lated to afford food for reflection to the most
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
231
frivolous minds. How came it that during so long
a time the arm of the criminal was stayed? Is that
imposture, hallucination or calalepsy ? How was it
that the sword of justice was not required to strike
a blow? How came this peace, this truce of God?
precisely at that very moment. Setting aside the
reason we have assigned, we challenge unbelief to
endeavor to discover the cause of this surprising
fact, of this strange coincidence. It will make the
attempt in vain.
The Queen of Heaven had passed by, the Queen
of Heaven had left her blessing.
Bernadette received constant visits from the in
numerable strangers whom piety or curiosity
brought in crowds to Lourdes. They were of all
classes, of all professions, and of every school of
philosophy. No one was offended at the simple
and sincere language of the youthful Seer; no one
after seeing her and hearing her speak dared to say
that she was telling falsehoods.
In the midst of excited parties and numberless
discussions, this little girl, by an inconceivable priv
ilege, inspired every one with respect, and was
never, for a single moment, exposed to the attacks
of calumny. Such was the halo of her innocence,
that she was never personally assailed : she was
protected by an invisible aegis.
Bernadette was, in every respect, a child of very
ordinary intelligence, but she seemed to rise above
herself whenever she had to bear testimony to the
truth of the Apparition. She was never discom
posed by any objection.
Her answers, at times, displayed considerable
depth of thought. M. de Resseginer, Counselor-
232 LADY OF LOURDES.
General and formerly Deputy for the Basses-Pyr
enees, came to see her, accompanied by several
ladies of his family. He made her enter into the
most minute details connected with the Visions.
On Bernadette telling him that the Apparition
expressed herself in the patois of Beam, he ex
claimed:
" You are not telling the truth, my child ! God
and the Blessed Virgin do not understand your
patois, and know nothing of such a miserable dia
lect"
" If they did not know it," she replied, " how
could we know it ourselves ? And if they did not
understand it, who could render us capable of un
derstanding it ?"
Her repartees were not deficient in wit.
" How could the Blessed Virgin have ordered
you to eat grass ? Did she take you for a beast of
the field," observed a sceptic to her one day,
"Do you think of that when you are eating
salad?" she replied, smiling archly.
Her answers were remarkable for their, artless
simplicity. This same M. de Resseginer happened
to be speaking to her of the beauty of the Appari
tion at the Grotto.
" Was she as beautiful as any of the company now
present," he asked her.
Bernadette glanced slowly round the charming
circle of ladies, married and unmarried, who had
accompanied her visitor, and with almost a little
pout of disdain she replied :
" Oh ! it was quite a different thing from all that f"
" All that," was the elite of the society of Pan.
She used to disconcert those who proposed to her
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
233
subtle questions in hopes of causing her embarrass
ment.
" If the Cure were to formally prohibit your going
to the Grotto, what would you do?" some one said
to her.
" I would obey him."
" But if you reeived at the same time from the
Apparition a command to repair thither, how would
you act between these two contrary orders?"
The child without the slightest hesitation an
swered at once :
" I should go to ask permission from the Curd."
Nothing either then or later caused her to lose
her graceful simplicity. She never spoke of the
Apparition unless she was interrogated on the sub
ject. She always regarded herself as the most
backward of all the children at the school superin
tended by the Sisters, \vho found some difficulty in
teaching her to read and write. The mind of this
child was elsewhere, or, if we dared to penetrate the
recesses of her exquisite nature so imbued with
grace, we would rather say her soul, which doubt
less felt little curiosity towards mere earthly learn
ing, was playing truant in the thickets of Paradise.
During the hours of recreation she was con
founded with the rest of her companions. She
liked to play.
Sometimes a visitor, it might be a stranger from
a distance, requested the Sisters to show him this
youthful Seer, this being so privileged by the Lord,
this beloved of the Virgin, this Bernadette whose
name had already acquired so much celebrity.
"There she is," said the Sister, pointing her out
with her linger among the rest of the children.
OUR LADY OF LOU EVES.
The visitor on turning his eyes in that direction
beheld a little weakly child, miserably dressed,
playing at base, blind-man s buff, or with her skip
ping rope, entirely taken up with the pleasures of
childhood. But what she preferred to any thing
else was to figure as the thirtieth or fortieth in one
of those immense circles which children make, hold
ing each others hands and singing all the while.
The Mother of God, while visiting Bernadette,
while allotting to her the part of a witness of
divine things, while making her the center ot vast
throngs, and as it were, an object of pilgrimage,
had, by a miracle greater than all the others, pro
tected her candor and her innocence, and had
granted her the extraordinary, nay, divine gift, of
remaining a child.
IX.
IT was not only at Lourdes that miraculous cures
had taken place. Many, whose maladies prevented
them from repairing to the Grotto had procured
some of the water and found their most inveterate
symptoms suddenly disappear.
At Nay, in the Basses Pyrenees, there was a young
lad, about fifteen years of age, called Henry Busquet,
who fallen into hopelessly bad health. He had,
in 1856, a violent and long typhoid fever, the
result of which was that an abscess had formed on
the right side of his neck, spreading imperceptibly
to the top of his chest and the extremity of his
cheek. The abscess was about as big as your hand.
This caused the lad such intense suffering as to
force him at times to roll himself on the ground.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 235
The medical man who attended him, Doctor Suber-
vielle, a practitioner of great repute in his district,
lanced the abscess about four months after its first
formation, and there issued from it a vast quantity of
sero-purulent matter ; but this operation did not con
duce to the recovery of Henry. After having tried
several unavailing remedies, the Doctor thought of
the waters at Cauterets. In 1857, in the course
of the month of October a season of the year
when the rich frequenters of the baths having taken
their departure, those in poorer circumstances repair
to them young Busquet went to Cauterets and
took a course of fifteen baths. These proved more
prejudicial than useful to him and served but to ag
gravate his sores. His malady increased in violence
notwithstanding some momentary relief. The un
fortunate lad had, in the parts mentioned above, an
extensive ulcer, which emitted an abundant suppu
ration, covering the top of his chest and all one side
of his neck, and threatening to spread to his face.
In addition to this, two fresh glandular swell ngs
of considerable size had arisen at the side of this
terrible ulcer.
Such was the state of this poor lad when, happen
ing to hear the marvelous effects of the water of
the Grotto spoken of, he had thoughts of under
taking the journey to Lourdes. He wished to leave
home and make the pilgrimage on foot ; but he
presumed too much on his own strength, and his
parents refused to take him there.
Henry, who was very pious, was haunted with
the idea that he would be cured by the Virgin who
had appeared to Bernadette. He requested a
woman, one of his neighbors, who was going to
236 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Lourdes, to draw for him a little of the water at the
Spring. She brought him a bottle-full of it on the
evening of Wednesday, April the 28th, the Feast of
the Patronage of St. Joseph.
Towards eight o clock at night, before retiring to
rest, the lad knelt down and prayed to the Most
Blessed Virgin Mary.
His family, consisting of his father, mother and
several brothers and sisters, joined with him in
prayer. They were all excellent people, simple
and full of faith : one of the daughters is at the
present moment a rcligicuse with the Sisters of
Saint Andre.
Henry went to bed. Doctor Subervielle had
charged him repeatedly never to use cold water,
as it would inevitably lead to a serious complication
of his malady ; but at that moment Henry was think
ing of something else than medical prescriptions. He
removed the bandages and lint which covered his
ulcer, and with a piece of linen soaked in the water
from the Grotto, he bathed and washed his sores
in the miraculous fluid. He was not wanting in
faith. " It must be," he thought to himself, " that
the Virgin will effect my cure." He went to sleep
with this hope in his breast and fell into a deep
slumber.
On awaking, what he had hoped proved a reality :
all his pain had ceased, all his sores were closed ;
the glandular swellings had disappeared. The
ulcer had became a solid scar, as solid as if it had
been slowly healed by the hand of time. The
eternal power which had stepped in and effected
the cure, had performed in a few moments the work
of several months or several years. His recovery
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
237
had been complete, sudden and without any inter
mediate state of convalescence.
The medical men in their Report addressed to
the Commission (from which we have derived the
technical terms employed in our narration), humbly
acknowledged the miraculous nature of the young-
lad s recovery.
"All affections of this nature," observed one of
them, " can only be cured very slowly, because
they are connected with scrofulous diathesis, and
involve the necessity of an entire change in the sys
tem. This consideration alone, placed in opposition
with the suddenness of the cure, is sufficient to prove
that the fact in question deviates from the ordinary
action of nature. We rank it among facts which
fully and evidently possess a supernatural charac
ter."
The lad s usual medical attendant, Doctor Suber-
vielle, declared this sudden cure as indeed did
every one to be marvelous and divine; but the
restless skepticism, which often lurks at the bottom
of the hearts of members of the Faculty, waited for
time to afford full proof of the truth of his theory.
" Who knows," M. Soubervielle was often in the
habit of saying, " but what this malady may recur
when Henry reaches the age of eighteen ? Up to
that period I shall be always in a state of anxiety."
The eminent physician who spoke thus was not
destined to rejoice at seeing the cure of Henry con
firmed by time. He died a short time after this
and his death was a calamity to that part of the
country.
As to young Henry Busquet, the author of this
book, in accordance with his practice of ascertain-
238 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ing the truth of facts by personal investigation,
availed himself of the opportunity of seeing him
and hearing the circumstances from his own lips.
Henry told us his story, with which we are al
ready acquainted from official reports and the tes
timony of several individuals. He related it to us
as if it had been the simplest thing in the world,
without showing surprise or astonishment. To the
strong good sense of Christians, like Henry, sprung
from the lower classes, whose minds have not been
led astray by sophistry, the supernatural does not
appear extraordinary, still less contrary to reason.
They find it strictly conformable with common sense.
If they are sometimes surprised at being restored
to health by the aid of a physician, it is to them no
matter for astonishment that God, who had power
sufficient to create man, should, in his loving kind
ness, cure him when attacked with sickness. They
see clearly at a glance that a miracle, far from dis
turbing order, is on the contrary one of the laws
of eternal order. If God, in His mercy, has con
ferred on certain waters the virtue of removing
maladies of certain kinds if He cures indirectly
those who employ, according to certain conditions,
such material agency, have we not greater reason
to believe that He will effect a direct cure in those
who address themselves directly to Him ? Such is
the reasoning of the humbler classes.
It was our great wish to see with our own eyes
and touch with our own hands the traces of this
terrible sore, which had been so miraculously cured.
The place where the ulcer was is marked by an im
mense scar. It is now long since the lad passed
safely through the crisis of his eighteenth year,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
239
and there has been no hint of any return of his
cruel malady. He has never suffered again from
any running nor shown any tendency to glandular
swellings, and he enjoys perfect health. Henry Bus-
quet is now a man of five and twenty years of age,
strong and hearty. Like his father, he is a plaster
er by trade. On Sundays he plays the trombone
in the brass band at the Faufare de POrpkeon, an in
strument on which he displays no small talent. He
has a splendid voice. If ever you happen to go to
the town of Nay, you will not fail of hearing him
through the windows of some house, either being
built or repaired, for, when on the scaffolding, he is
wont to sing at the top of his voice from morning
till night. You may listen to him without any fear
of your ears being offended by any coarse song.
His charming voice delights in gay and innocent
ballads, not unfrequently in the canticles of the
Church. The singer has not forgotten that it is to
the Blessed Virgin he owes his life.
X.
WHILE all these Miracles were taking place in
different directions, there occurred an incident, in
appearance very foreign to the object of this his
tory, but which, notwithstanding its apparent in
significance, was destined to be attended with most
important consequences as events progressed.
The Prefect of the Hautes-Pyrenees made about
this time the notable discovery that his carriage and
saddle horses were not particularly well domiciled,
and that it was desirable to erect elegant and spa
cious stables for their accommodation. Unfortu-
240
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
nately the ground about the Prefecture was some
what confined, and Baron Massy wished, above all
things, to avoid disfiguring either his court-yard or
his garden.
The Prefecture of Tarbes is quite close to the
Cathedral. Between the two buildings was the for
mer cemetery of the priests and canons of the
Church. It is handed down by tradition, that
many of the noble families of the country had for
merly had vaults in it, and that the ashes of their
j llustrious members repose below. The Prefect ob
served to himself that this plot of ground was the
very thing for his stables and coach-houses. With
Baron Massy the execution of a project followed
speedily on its first conception. He had the founda
tions therefore dug among the tomb-stones and
fragments of human bones, and the buildings neces
sary for the accommodation of the official horses
began shortly afterwards to rise conspicuously in
the cemetery. The Prefect erected his buildings
exactly opposite one of the ancient doors of the
Cathedral, and at a very small distance from it, so
that the noise of the stable was unavoidably heard
by the congregation.
Such a forgetfulness of decorum could not fail of
deeply annoying the occupants of the Palace. Mon-
seigneur Laurence strove in vain to make the Pre
fect understand that the ground was consecrated,
that it belonged to the Church, and that neither the
repose of the dead nor the devotion of the living,
ought to be disturbed by the pawing and neighing
of horses. The Prefect, as we have observed be
fore, could never relinquish what he had once re
solved upon. By discharging his workmen and se-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
241
leering another site, he would have allowed himself
to have been in the wrong. Notwithstanding, there
fore, the sincere desire he might have to keep the
Bishop in good humor, he did not pay the slightest
attention to his remonstrances. His workmen re
mained on the old cemetery engaged in the con
struction of his stables.
On seeing the Prefect persist in his desecration
of the tombs, Monseigneur Laurence threw off his
reserve and protested energetically against his con
duct. The Bishop addressed himself directly to
the Minister of Public Worship, requesting author
ization to pull down these unseemly and offensive
buildings.
The Prefect was greatly annoyed at the very firm
and dignified attitude assumed by the Bishop. He
went post-haste to Paris, to argue his own case with
the Minister, and endeavored to bring over the
Council General to his side of the question ; he
sought legal opinions on the subject, and in short
entered on a desperate struggle, the various epi
sodes of which would be of no interest to our read
ers. The question lasted several months, and was
eventually decided in accordance with the wise ex
postulations of Monseigneur Laurence. The grass
grows once more to-day on the site of the demol
ished stables, and a funereal tree, planted in the
centre of the cemetery, serves to mark that the
ashes of the dead repose in that place.
But from the day when the Bishop issued his pro
test, the harmony, which, up to that period, had ex
isted between the Head of the Department and the
Head of the Diocese was broken for ever. In the
heart of the Prefect this harmony was succeeded
ii
242 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
by an intense feeling of irritation. He ceased to be
inclined to arrange matters amicably ; perhaps his
tendencies took quite the opposite direction. As he
wished to encroach on the property of the Church
in this miserable affair of his stables, so with regard
to the question of the Apparitions, he from that
time felt himself more inclined than before to en
croach on the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop.
The bridle, which up to that moment had kept
him in check, was snapped. Great effects are not
unfrequently produced by very insignificant causes.
XI.
IN the course of the months of April and May,
after as well as before the receipt of the letter from
the Minister, the Prefect had employed his natural
quickness of mind in endeavoring to find a key to
these strange events at Lourdes, independent of the
supernatural. Interrogatories had been renewed
to no purpose, by the Parquet and Monsieur Jaco-
met. Neither the Commissary of Police nor M.
Dutour had been able to catch the child tripping.
This little shepherd-girl, thirteen or fourteen years
of age, illiterate and unable to read or write, or
even speak French, disconcerted by the mere force
of her profound simplicity the crafty and the pru
dent.
A disciple of the Mesmers and the Du Potets
where from no one knew had attempted in vain to
throw Bernadette into the magnetic slumber. His
passes had failed in exerting the slightest influence
on her calm, and but slightly nervous temperament,
and his success was limited to causing the child a
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
243
head-ache. The poor little thing, however, sub
mitted herself with resignation to the experiments
and examinations of every one. It was the will of
God that she should be exposed to every form of
trial, and emerge triumphantly from them all, with
out exception.
It was understood that a foreign family of im
mense fortune having, as was the case with all, been
fascinated with Bernadette, had proposed to adopt
her, offering at the same time to her parents the
sum of one hundred thousand francs, with the per
mission of remaining with their daughter. The
disinterestedness of these good souls had not even
been tempted for a moment, and they preferred re
maining poor.
Every thing brought to bear on Bernadette failed,
the snares laid by guile, the offers of enthusiasm,
the dialectics of the most acute intellects.
However great the horror M. Dutour entertained
for fanaticism, he was unable to find, either in the
Code of Criminal Instruction or in the Penal Code,
any text which would authorize him in taking se
vere measures against Bernadette, and throwing her
into prison, An arrest of this nature would have
been illegal in the highest degree, and might be at
tended with very unpleasant consequences to the
Magistrate by whose order it was carried into exe
cution. In the eye of the penal law, Bernadette was
innocent.
The Prefect, with his exceeding clearness of mind
took all this into consideration as thoroughly as if
he had been a practical lawyer. He then entertain
ed the idea of arriving at the same result by the em
ployment of other means, and of proceeding by a
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
measure emanating from the Administration to ef
fect an incarceration, which, as it appeared to him,
would be of considerable utility, but in which the
Magistrates, with the codes in their hands, did not
deem themselves authorized to assume the initiative.
XII.
IN the immense arsenal of our laws and regula
tions, there is one formidable weapon provided, as
we think, somewhat imprudently, with the very
praiseworthy intention of protecting an individual
against himself, but which should it chance to fall
into the hands of malice and blind hatred may
give rise to the most frightful of all tyrannies ; we
mean the arbitrary sequestration against which
there is no power of appeal of an innocent person.
We would be understood to allude to the law
regarding Insanity. Without public discussion,
or the possibility of making any defence, on the cer
tificate of one or two medical men, declaring him to
be laboring under mental alienation, an unfortunate
wretch may be seized suddenly, by a simple meas
ure of the Administration, and thrown into the
most horrible of prisons into the dungeon of a
mad-house. We believe, and we are under the ne
cessity of believing, that, in the majority of cases,
this law is equitably applied, in consequence of the
general feeling of honor and the capacity of the
medical body. But, we are at a loss to understand
how this feeling of honor and this medical knowl
edge can afford just reasons for suppressing all
means of defence, all publicity, and all opportunity
of appeal ; that the decision, with closed doors, of
OUR LADY OF GOURDES. 24$
two medical men, should be exempted from this
triple guarantee with which the Law has seen right
to surround the judgments pronounced by the Mag
istracy. The members of the medical profession
are, doubtless, well skilled in their art, and we ac
knowledge that the fact of finding two of them
perfectly agreed in opinion, renders the truth of
their common thesis sufficiently probable ; but, is
there in this proceeding a certitude sufficiently
grave, sufficiently evident, sufficiently clear if we
may be permitted to employ a pleonasm of this "na
ture to confer irrevocably the right of depriving,
without any other form of procedure, a citizen of
his liberty? That medical men are actuated by a
high sense of honor is equally beyond a doubt, and
no one has a greater veneration than ourselves for
members of their profession ; but, may not more
especially in cases of mental alienation their pre
conceived ideas and philosophical doctrines some
times incline their minds, in spite of themselves, to
wards very deplorable errors ? One of them, M.
Lelut, in a publication which h gained a certain
celebrity, has ranked amongst the deranged, Soc
rates, Newton, Saint Theresa, Pasc !, and a host
of others, who, like the former, were the glory of
Humanity. Would, for instance, such a Master and
his pupils deserve to be invested with the right of
shutting up as maniacs, without any opposing evi
dence, without publicity and without appeal, mere
ly after a simple consultation, all those whom they
should regard as such ? And yet, M. Lelut is a man
of remarkable learning and a medical celebrity ; he
is a member of the Institute. What can we say of
the guarantee offered by the- mob of practitioners
246 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
by some of those wretched little village doctors who
have succeeded to the Barber-Surgeons, with whom
our ancestors were perfectly satisfied.
Convinced as he was of the absolute impossibility
of the Supernatural, Baron Massy, observing- the
incapacity of action to which the Magistracy was
reduced, hesitated not to seek for a solution of the
extraordinary question, which had so suddenly
arisen in his department, in calling this terrible law
to his assistance.
XIII.
ON learning that the Virgin had appeared anew,
and revealed her name to Bernadette, the Prefect
sent a Commission, composed of two medical men,
to the house of Soubirous. He chose them from
among those, who, like himself, rejected the Super
natural, and who had their conclusions written be
forehand in their so-called medical philosophy.
These two physicians who belonged to Lourdes one
of them being an intimate friend of the Procurcur
Imperial had been exhausting their efforts for the
last three weeks in supporting all kinds of theories
on catalepsy, somnambulism, and hallucination, and
waging a war of exasperation against the inexpli
cable radiances of Bernadette in her state of ecstacy,
the gushing forth of the Spring, and against the sud
den cures which were perpetually occurring to ef
fect a breach in the doctrines with which their pro
fessional education had imbued them.
It was to these men and under these circum
stances, that the Prefect, in his wisdom, deemed it
right to confide the examination of Bernadette.
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 247
These gentlemen felt the child s head and did not
discover in it anything wrong. On comparing it
with the system of Gall, no signs of the bump of
insanity were visible. The child s answers were
sensible, without any contradictions or singularity.
There was nothing exaggerated in the nervous sys
tem : on the contrary, there was the most perfect
equilibrium, and an indescribable calmness. The
little girl s chest suffered often from asthma, but this
infirmity had no connection with a derangement of
the brain.
The two physicians, who, in spite of their preju
dices were truly conscientious men, recorded all this
in their report, and attested the healthy and normal
state of the child.
However, as, when the Apparitions were in ques
tion, she persisted without variation in her account
of what had taken place, the two gentlemen, who
utterly disbelieved the possibility of visions of the
kind, laid considerable stress on that head, in order
to affirm that Bernadette might possibly be laboring
under a state of hallucination.
In spite of their anti-supernatural notions, they
dared not after seeing the child s state, in which
mind and body seemed to be so equally balanced
assume a more decided tone of affirmation. They
felt instinctively, that it was not their positive sci
ence, with its concomitant certitude, but rather their
preconceived philosophical opinions which led them
to a conclusion of this kind, and which answered
one question by propounding another.
The Prefect did not scrutinize the affair so nar
rowly, and the report appeared to him sufficient.
Armed with this document, and in virtue of the law
248 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
of June 30th, 1838, he determined to have Berna-
dette arrested and conducted to Tarbes to be shut
up provisionally in the hospital, from which she
would doubtless be transferred eventually to the
lunatic asylum.
It was not enough to strike a blow at the child, it
was necessary to oppose a barrier to this extraordi
nary movement of the people. M. Rouland had in
sinuated in his letter to the Prefect, that this was
possible without outstepping the limits of the law.
For this, it was only required to consider the Grotto
as an Oratory, and to have it stripped of its ex-vo-
tos and the offerings of believers.
If these believers opposed any resistance, a squad
ron of cavalry would be quartered at Tarbes, ready
to act as events might render necessary. An out
break would have crowned the secret wishes of
many. It only remained to put into execution these
various measures against Bernadette and the popu
lation of the Department. The Prefectoral infalli
bility had recognized their necessity and urgency,
in order to parry the increasing attacks of Supersti
tion.
XIV.
IT was the time of the year when the Council of
Revision was held. Under these circumstances, M.
Massy had an opportunity of going to Lourdes,
where all the Mayors of the canton would meet
him.
" The Prefect," as an illustrious writer has since
observed, " had undertaken on that day to impose
on those under his jurisdiction a tolerably severe
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
249
and grievous service, inaugurated in a sufficiently
repugnant manner. He might have well under
stood, had he wished to do so, that some consoling
liberties are necessary as a slight compensation for
the sacrifices exacted by society. Now, the liberty
of praying in certain places, of burning a taper
there, of placing an offering there, or drawing thence
a little water, cannot appear very onerous to the
state, fatal to the public liberty, nor offensive to the
modesty or liberty of any one, yet it is a source of
deep consolation to those who make use of it.
Encourage therefore the existence of Faith. In
the enjoyment of your high posts, your power,
and your fortunes, consider that the majority of
men whom you govern are obliged to ask God day
by day for bread, and only obtain it by a kind of
miracle. Faith is as it were already bread ; it
assists the poor to eat even black bread, it aids them
to wait for it patiently, when the hour is passed at
v hich it ought to come. And when God appears
willing to open one of those places of grace where
Faith flows more abundantly and affords prompter
succour, do not close them. You yourselves will
be the first to require them. It is there you will
be able to effect a saving in the expenses incident to
hospitals and prisons."
Far different were the thoughts and feelings of
Baron Massy. After having exacted in the name
of Power that terrible tax of blood, which is termed
the Conscription, he addressed an official speech to
the Mayors of the canton. He well knew how to
invoke at one and the same time the interest of the
Church and that of the State, the Pope and the
Emperor, while touching on the subject of Appari-
n*
250 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
tions and Miracles. To each of his phrases, peri
phrases and paraphrases, he began with piety and
ended with the administration. The premises were
those of a theologian, the conclusions those of a
Prefect.
" The Prefect has shown to the Mayors," said the
organ of the Prefecture on the following day, " in
what points the scenes which had been enacted
afforded matter for regret, and hoiv much disrepute
they tended to throw upon religion. He particularly
applied himself to make them understand that the
fact of the formation of an oratory at the Grotto, a
fact sufficiently established by religious emblems and
tapers being placed there, was an attack made on the
ecclesiastical and civil authority, an illegality which it
was the duty of the Administration to put a stop to,
since, according to the express terms of the law, no
public chapel or oratory can be founded without the
authorisation of the Government, on the recommenda
tion of the Bishop of the Diocese."
" My sentiments," the devout functionary had
added, "ought not to be suspected by any one.
Every one, in this department, knows my profound
respect for Religion. I have given, I think, suffi
cient proofs of it to render it impossible to put
a bad interpretation on my intentions.
" It will cause you, therefore, no surprise to learn,
Gentlemen, that I have ordered the Commissary of
Police to remove all objects deposited at the Grotto
and transfer them to the Mayoralty, where they
will be placed at the disposition of their rightful
owners.
" I have further directed that all persons claiming
to see Visions shall be arrested and taken to Tarbes
CUB LADY OF LOURDES. 251
at the public expense, to be there placed under medi
cal treatment, and I shall see that all those who have
helped to spread the absurd rumors now in circula
tion, are prosecuted as propagators of false news"
Ail this happened on the fourth of May. It was
thus that the very pious Prefect inaugurated his
Month of Mary.
These words were received " with unanimous en
thusiasm" if we are to believe the organ of the Pre
fecture.
The real truth was, that some disapproved most
strongly, the violent measures to which the authori
ties were pledging themselves, while others, who
belonged to the sect of Free-thinkers, flattered
themselves that the hand of the Prefect would be
sufficient to put the drag on the progress of events.
Outside, the philosophers and savants were in
high glee. The Lave dan, which had maintained
absolute silence for nearly two months, owing to its
having been overwhelmed by the evidence adduced,
recovered its powers sufficiently to intone a dithy
ramb to the praise and glory of the Prefect.
Immediately on the conclusion of his speech, the
Head of the Department quitted the town, leaving
his orders to be executed in his absence.
The Prefect s measures completed each other.
By the arrest of Bernadette, he attacked the cause
of trouble ; by having the various objects removed
from the Grotto, he attacked its effect. If, as was
highly probable, the ardent populations of the dis
trict, wounded in their freedom of belief, their right
* o
of praying and their religion, attempted any resist
ance or committed any acts of disorder, the squad
ron of cavalry, summoned in all dispatch, would
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
hasten to the spot, and, placing everything in a
state of siege, would refute Superstition with the
all-powerful argument of the sword. As M. Massy
had just transformed a question purely religious
into one dependent on the Administration, he was
equally prepared to transform the latter into one of
military interference.
The Mayor and the Commissary of Police, each
in his own department, were charged with the
execution of the Prefect s wishes. The first was
ordered to have Bernadette arrested, the second to
repair in person to the Rocks of Massabielle and to
despoil the Grotto of whatever the piety or grati
tude of the faithful had deposited within its pre
cincts.
Let us follow the progress of both, beginning
with the Mayor, as is due to his higher functions.
XV.
ALTHOUGH M. Lacado, Mayor of Lourdes,
avoided giving his own opinion on the extraordi
nary events which were occurring, he had been
deeply impressed by them, and it was not without
a certain degree of terror that he saw the Adminis
tration having recourse to such violent measures.
He was in a terrible state of perplexity. He did
not know what attitude the people might assume.
It is true the Prefect had announced the possibility
of sending a squadron of cavalry to Lourdes to
maintain the tranquillity of the town when the
arrest should have taken place ; but that very fact
caused him no little uneasiness. The supernatural
aspect of the question and the Miracles also filled
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 253
him with alarm. He did not know exactly how to
act, placed as he was between the authority of the
Prefect, the force of the people and the power from
on high. He would have gladly made some com
promise between earth and heaven. To keep up
his courage, he addressed himself to the Procureur
Imperial, M. Dutour ; and the two went together to
the residence of the Cure of Lourdes to communi
cate to him the order for the arrest of Bernadette
which had emanated from the Prefecture. They
explained to the Abbe Peyramale how, accord
ing to the wording of the law of June 3, 1838, the
Prefect was acting in the plenitude of his legal
rights.
The Priest was unable to restrain himself from a
burst of indignation at the cruel iniquity of such a
proceeding, though it might be actually possible in
conformity with some one of the innumerable laws
produced at some time or other by the second
hand Lycurguses who have been cast on the strand
of the Palais-Bourbon by the flowing and ebbing
tides of our twelve or fifteen political revolutions.
" This child is innocent !" he exclaimed, " and the
proof of it is, that, in your capacity of Magistrate,
Sir, you have never been able, in spite of your
various interrogations, to find a pretext for an
attempt at prosecution. You know that there is
not a Tribunal in France but would acknowledge
her innocence, which is as clear as the sun at noon
day ; that there is not a Procureiir-Gtmral, who
would not only, under such circumstances, declare
this arrest to be monstrous and have it cancelled,
but would even protest against a simple action
at law."
254 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" This being the case the Magistracy does not act
in the matter," replied M. Dutour. " The Prefect,
on the report furnished by the medical men, has
Bernadette shut up on the plea of derangement,
and this for her own good, in order that her cure
may be effected. It is a simple administrative
measure, which has nothing to do with Religion,
since neither the Bishop nor the Clergy have pro
nounced any opinion officially on all these events,
which are taking place entirely independently of
them."
" Such a measure," rejoined the Priest, becoming
warm as the discussion proceeded, " would be the
most odious of persecutions ; so much the more
odious from the fact that it assumes the mask of
hypocrisy, affects to wish to afford protection, and
conceals itself beneath the cloak of legality, while
its real object is to strike a blow at a poor defence
less being. If the Bishop and Clergy, including
myself, are waiting for more light to be thrown on
these occurrences, in order to pronounce on their
supernatural character, we, at least, know enough
to judge of Bernadette s sincerity, and the sound
ness of her intellectual faculties. And since your
two medical men do not certify the existence of any
cerebral affection, in what respect are they more
competent to judge of madness or good sense
than any one of the thousand visitors who have
put questions to the child, and who have all agreed
in admiring the entire lucidity and normal charac
ter of her mind. Your doctors themselves dare
not make a positive affirmation, and only conclude
with a hypothesis. The Prefect cannot have Ber
nadette arrested on any plea whatever."
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 255
" It is a legal proceeding."
" It is unlawful. As Priest, as the Cure-doyen of
the town of Lourdes, I have a duty towards all.
and more especially the weakest. If I saw an arm
ed man attack a child, I would defend that child at
the peril of my life, for I know the duty of protect
ing others, which is incumbent on a good Pastor.
Be assured, I would act in the same manner even
if the man were a Prefect, and his weapon were a
bad clause of a bad law. Go, then, and tell M.
Massy that his Gendarmes will find me on the
threshold of the door of this poor family, and that
they will have to lay me low, to pass over my
body and trample me under their feet before they
touch a hair of this little girl s head."
" However "
" There is no however in the case. Examine,
institute investigations ; you are at full liberty to
do so, and everybody invites you to do so. But if,
instead of this, you wish to persecute, if you wish
to strike the innocent, know well that before you
reach the last, and the least among my flock, it is
with me you must begin."
The Priest had risen from his chair. His tall
figure, his strongly-marked features, the plenitude
of strength for which he was remarkable, his reso
lute gestures, and his countenance burning with
emotion, supplied a commentary to his words and
stamped their character upon them.
The Procureur and the Mayor were silent for an
instant. They afterwards mentioned the measures
relative to the Grotto.
"As far as the Grotto is concerned," replied the
Priest, " if the Prefect wishes, in the name of the laws
256 OUR LAD 7 OF LOURDES.
of the Nation, and in that of his own private piety,
to strip it of the various objects which innumerable
visitors have deposited there in honor of the Bless
ed Virgin let him do so. Believers will be sorry
and even indignant. But let him not be alarmed ;
the inhabitants of this country know the respect
due to Authority, even when it strays from the
right path. It is said that at Tarbes a squadron of
cavalry, with their horses saddled and bridled, are
only waiting a signal from the Prefect to hasten to
Loirrdes. Let the squadron dismount.
" However warm the heads of my people may be,
however ulcerated their hearts, they listen to my
voice, and I answer for their tranquillity without
any armed force. With an armed force, I am no
longer responsible for them."
XVI.
THE attitude of energy assumed by the Cur6 of
Lourdes, who was known to be incapable of giving
way when what he considered to be his duty was
at stake, introduced into the question an element
hitherto overlooked, though it might very easily
have been foreseen.
In the case of any measure emanating from the
Administration, the intervention of the Procurcur
Imperial was not required, and it was only from
friendly motives that M. Dutour had accompanied
M. Lacadc to the residence of the Abbe Peyramale.
All the onus of the decision to be taken weighed,
therefore, on the Mayor.
M. Lacade was perfectly certain that the Cure of
Lourdes would infallibly act as he had said. As to
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 257
attempting a surprise and arresting- Bernadette
suddenly, without the knowledge of the Pastor, it
was not to be thought of, now that the Abbe Peyra-
male was forewarned and had his eyes open. We
have just mentioned the impressions which the
Mayor experienced in presence of the Supernatural
rising all at once before him. The apparent im
passibility of the municipal magistrate did but
mask the excessive anxiety and agitation of the
real man.
He communicated to the Prefect the conversa
tion which M. Dutour and himself had just had
with the Cure- doyen, as also the behavior and
words of the man of God. The arrest of Berna
dette, he added, might, further, in the then state of
public feeling, rouse the town and provoke an in
dignant revolt against the constituted authorities.
As to himself, in consequence of the determination
so formally expressed by the Cure, and fearing the
terrible consequences which might ensue, he re
gretted to find himself forced to refuse even if he
were obliged to resign the honors of the Mayor
alty to take any personal part in the execution of
such a measure. It was for the Prefect, if he saw
good, to act himself, and to have the arrest effected
by a direct order to the Gendarmerie.
XVII.
WHILE Bernadette s lot and liberty were subject
to such uncertainty, M. Jacomet, in full uniform,
and wearing his scarf of office, was making the ne
cessary preparations to execute, at the Rocks of
Massabielle, the orders of the Prefect.
258 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The report that Baron Massy had enjoined the
spoliation of the Grotto had spread rapidly, and
had caused much agitation in every quarter of the
town. The entire population were thrown into a
state of consternation, as if in the presence of some
monstrous sacrilege.
" The Blessed Virgin has condescended to de
scend among us," they said, " and to work miracles,
and see how they receive her. It is enough to
bring down the wrath of heaven."
The coldest hearts were stirred with emotion ; a
mysterious effervescence displayed itself by degrees
among the people and continued to increase. From
its very commencement, and before the interview
we have just described, the Cure Peyramale and
the Priests of the town had suggested to all words
of peace, and had endeavored to calm those who
were most irritated.
" Dear friends," said the Clergy, " do not com
promise your cause by disorders ; submit your
selves to the law, however bad it may be. If the
Blessed Virgin takes any part in all these things,
she is perfectly capable of turning them all to her
own glory, and any violence on your part would
be a want of faith towards her and an insult to her
omnipotence. Look at the Martyrs ; did they re
volt against the Emperor ? They owed their tri
umph to the very fact of not having combated."
The moral authority of the Cure was great ; but
those who listened to him were hot-headed, and
their hearts were indignant. Everything depended
on the merest chance.
The religious objects and ex-votos deposited at
the Grotto formed a considerable mass, and were
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. 259
too heavy to be transferred to the town by hand.
M. Jacomet repaired to the Paste, kept by M.
Barioze, to procure a cart and horses.
" I do not lend my horses for such purposes,"
replied the Post-master.
" But you cannot refuse your horses to any one
who is willing to pay for them !" exclaimed M. Ja
comet.
" My horses are intended for the service of the
Post, and not for business of this nature. I do not
wish to have anything to do with this proceeding.
Bring an action against me, if it suits you to do so.
I refuse to let you have my horses."
The Commissary went elsewhere. At all the
hotels, at all the livery stables, which were pretty
numerous at Lourdes, owing to its proximity to the
different bathing places, at the houses of private
individuals, to whom he addressed himself in de
spair, he met with similar refusals. His situation
was truly a cruel one. The population, agitated
and quivering with emotion, watched him thus go
ing, to no purpose, from house to house, and were
spectators of his successive disappointments. He
heard the murmurs, the laughter and the bitter
gibes of the crowd. The eyes of all scowled upon
him as he pursued his painful and fruitless course
across the squares and through the streets of the
town. In vain did he successively increase the
sum of money he offered for the loan of one horse
and cart. He had been refused it by the very
poorest, though he had offered as much as thirty
francs; and the distance to the Grotto was incon
siderable.
The crowd, on hearing the sum of thirty francs
2 6o OUR LADY OF LOU1WE8.
mentioned, compared it with the thirty pieces of
silver.
At length, at the house of a farrier, he found a
girl who, for the sum offered, lent him what he
needed.
When the multitude saw him issue from this
house with the cart and horses, they were the more
indignant, as the venal complaisance of the pro
prietor could not be excused by the urgency of
want. The family were not poor.
Jacomet proceeded in the direction of the Grot
to. The Sergents de Ville drove the cart. An im
mense crowd followed them. They were silent,
sombre and uneasy, as if they felt in themselves
the accumulation of the awful electricity of a thun
der-storm.
In this manner they reached the Rocks of Mas-
sabielle. As the cart could not be driven up to
the very spot, it was halted at some little dis
tance.
Under the vaulted roof of the Grotto there were
tapers burning here and there, placed in candle
sticks, adorned with moss and ribbons. Crosses,
statues of the Virgin, religious pictures, necklaces
and jewels of various kinds rested on the ground or
in the cavities of the rock. In certain places, car
pets had been spread under the images of the
Mother of God. Thousands of bouquets had been
carried there in honor of Mary by pious hands, and
the earliest blossoms of the month of flowers dif
fused their fragrance and embalmed this rural sanct
uary.
In one or two willow baskets and on the ground
there glittered copper, silver, or gold pieces,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 6l
amounting altogether to several thousand francs, the
first spontaneous gift of the faithful towards the
erection, on this spot, of a temple to the Immaculate
Virgin a pious offering, whose sacred character
had struck with respect the audacity even of crim
inals, and in which, in spite of the facilities afforded
by night and solitude, no robber up to that time
had dared to lay a sacrilegious hand.
M. Jacomet cleared the balustrade constructed
by the workmen of Lourdes, and entered the
Grotto. He appeared agitated. The Sergents de
Ville were near him; the crowd which had fol
lowed him watched him, but did not utter any cries.
There was something alarming in the outward
tranquillity of this multitude.
The Commissary began by securing the money.
Then, extinguishing the candles, one by one, and
collecting the chaplets, crosses, carpets, and various
articles with which the Grotto was filled, he handed
them over to the Sergents dc Ville to stow away in
the cart. The poor fellows seemed to be disgusted
with the business they were engaged in, and dis
played much feeling of sorrow and respect as they
carried to the cart all the articles of which Jacomet
stripped the Grotto, honored and sanctified but a
short time since by a visit from the Mother of God,
the gushing forth of the Fountain, and by the cure
of the sick.
Owing to the cart being at some distance from
the Grotto, all this occupied some time. M. Jaco
met called a little boy who happened to be there, a
little in front of the crowd.
" Here, take this picture and carry it to the cart."
The little boy stretched out his hands to take hold
262 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
of the frame. Another child at his side called out
to him :
" Wretch ! what are you going to do ? God will
punish you."
The child started back in terror, and no fresh
order on the part of the Commissary could induce
him to come to the front again.
There was something I know not what con
vulsive in the movements of the Commissary.
When he picked up the first bouquet, it was his in
tention, as he looked upon it as a thing of no value,
to throw it into the Gave, but a vague murmur in
the crowd arrested him in the act. He appeared to
understand that the measure of the popular patience
was full to the brim, and that the least incident
might cause it to overflow. The bouquets were
then, with all the other articles, transferred to the
cart.
A moment afterwards a statuette of the Virgin
fell to pieces in the hands of the Commissary, and
this little incident produced once more a terrible
sensation in the crowd.
When the Grotto was stripped of every thing,
M. Jacomet wished to carry off even the balustrade.
For this purpose he required an axe. Some men
who were shaping wood in a saw-pit attached to
M. Laffite s mill refused successively to lend him
one. Another workman, who was employed at
some little distance from the others, dared not resist
him and suffered him to take his axe.
M. Jacomet took the business in hand himself and
struck the balustrade several blows with the axe.
As it was not strongly made, it immediately
yielded.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 263
The sight of this act of material violence, the
spectacle of this man striking the wood with the
axe, produced more effect on the multitude than
any thing that had occurred before and was fol
lowed by a menacing explosion. The Gave was
close at hand, deep and rapid in its course, and a
few moments of egarcmcnt would have been suffi
cient to have induced the crowd in one of those
irresistible paroxysms of rage to which crowds are
sometimes subject to hurl the unfortunate Com
missary into its waters.
Jacomet turned round towards them and showed
his countenance pale and distracted.
" What I am doing," he said, with apparent re
gret, " T am not doing of my own accord, and it is
with the greatest regret that I find myself obliged
to put it into execution. I am acting in obedience
to the orders of the Prefect. I must obey the
higher authorities, however much it may cost me.
I am not responsible for this and you must not bear
any grudge against me."
Some voices from among the crowd exclaimed :
" Let us remain calm and abstain from violence ;
let us leave everything in the hands of God."
The advice and activity of the Clergy produced
their fruits, and there was not any disorder. The
Commissary and the Sergcnts de Ville drove the cart
without any obstacle to the Mayoralty, where they
deposited all the articles they had collected at the
Grotto. The money was handed over to the
Mayor.
In the evening, for the purpose of protesting
against the Prefect s measures, an innumerable mul
titude repaired to the Grotto, which was suddenly
264 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
filled with flowers and illuminated. Only, in order
to obviate the seizure of the tapers by the Police,
should they come for that purpose, every one held
his own in his hand, and, on his return, carried it
back to his own house.
The next day much sensation was caused among
the people by the occurrence of two events.
The girl, who had lent M. Jacomet the cart and
horse, fell from the top of a hay-loft and broke one
of her ribs.
The same day, the man who had lent the Com
missary the axe for the destruction of the balustrade
at the Grotto, had both his feet crushed by the fall
of a beam which he wished to place on his bench.
To the eyes of the Free-thinkers this appeared to
be an irritating and untoward coincidence. The
multitude regarded the double accident as a punish
ment from Heaven.
XVIII.
THESE trifling incidents caused but little annoy
ance to the Prefect. He had as little faith in mala
dies as he had in cures proceeding from Heaven.
The attitude assumed by the Abbe Peyramale -
which though not menacing was inflexible and
his determination to take a personal part in protect
ing Bernadette against the projected arrest, troubled
Baron Massy much more than any signs of heavenly
wrath. God, in a word, made him less uneasy than
the Cure.
The refusal of M. Lacade to proceed to that
violent measure; his offer of resignation a most
singular circumstance on the part of so timid a
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 26$
functionary the visible dissatisfaction of the May
ors of the canton, with the speech made at the
Council of Revision ; the symptoms of serious effer
vescence with which the removal of the ex-votos
from the Grotto had been received ; the incertitude
as to whether the Gendarmes and soldiers, who, as
regarded Bernadette, participated in the general
enthusiasm and veneration, would passively obey
the orders they might receive all this supplied
the Prefect with food for reflection. He plainly
saw that, in the midst of so many unpleasant con
junctures, the incarceration of the youthful Seer
might be attended with the most disastrous conse
quences.
It was not that he would not willingly have
braved an outbreak. Some of the details we have
given would lead us to imagine that such had been
the object of his secret wishes. But a general ris
ing of the population, preceded by the resignation
of the Mayor, complicated by the personal interfer
ence of one of the most universally respected Priests
in the Diocese, followed, in all probability by a
complaint to the Council of State of arbitrary se
questration, and accompanied by energetic protesta
tions from the Catholic, or simply independent
portion of the Press, assumed a serious character
which could not fail of forcibly striking a man of
so much intelligence and attachment to the duties
of his office as Baron Massy.
It was, however, a bitter trial to the proud Pre
fect to pause in the execution of this radical meas
ure, which he had so publicly announced on the
eve of the Council of Revision ; and assuredly he
could not have brought himself to it, if the report
12
2 66 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
furnished by the medical men had certified the
madness or hallucination of the youthful Seer, in
stead of adducing a simple and hesitating hypothe
sis. Had Bernadette really been suffering from an
attack of mental alienation, nothing would have
been easier for the Prefect than to have ordered a
second examination ; nothing more easy tha to
have the child s cerebral disease attested by two
other doctors chosen from among the scientific no
tabilities of the place, and with sufficient authority,
as men of learning, to impose their decision on pub
lic opinion. But M. Massy, being fully acquainted
with the interrogatories to which Bernadette had
been submitted, was aware that it was impossible to
find any medical man in his right senses who would
not acknowledge and declare, as every one else did,
the child s perfect possession of reason, her upright
ness of mind and entire good faith. Before the
evidence of such a situation, in presence of the
moral and almost material impossibilities which
unexpectedly stood up before him, the wary Pre
fect, notwithstanding his notorious obstinacy, found
himself obliged to pause and proceed no further.
The force of circumstances condemned him to in
action. As to entirely retracing his steps and re
voking the measure which had already been put
into execution publicly by Jacomet at the Rocks of
Massabielle, such a solution of the difficulty could
never once enter Baron Massy s mind. The remo
val of the various objects from the Grotto having
been accomplished, was persisted in. But the youth
ful Seer remained free, and doubtless wholly uncon
scious, between the time of her morning and night
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES. 267
prayers, of the storm which had passed over her
head, but which had not burst.
The civil authority, by this abortive and never
repeated attempt, certified, itself, the absolute im
possibility of proving Bernadette to be laboring
under the slightest cerebral derangement. By leav
ing the youthful Seer at large, after having attempt
ed to shut her up, official power, in spite of itself,
paid public homage to the entire soundness of her
reason and her intelligence. By these badly aimed
blows, Unbelief wounded herself by her own weap
ons, and served the very cause she claimed to at
tack. Let us not, however, accuse her of clumsi
ness. It must be difficult to struggle against evi
dence, and in a combat of such a nature the gross
est blunders are inevitable.
However, if M. Massy modified in some respects
the outline of his projects, he persisted invincibly
in the ultimate object of his designs. The only
concession he would sometimes make to the course
of events was to abandon a means acknowledged
to be useless and dangerous, in order to adopt one
apparently more adapted to his purpose, and to
outflank the difficulties it was impossible for him to
crush or break through. In a word, if he changed
his tactics, his resolutions remained unchanged.
He did not retreat, he endeavored to out-manceuvre
his foe.
Now the incarceration of Bernadette was but a
means. The important principle and ultimate ob
ject was the radical overthrow of Superstition, and
the final defeat of the Supernatural.
M. Massy by no means ceased to hope. He had
the "full assurance," he loftily observed, of shortly
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
coming to an end of the increasing difficulties of his
situation. That he, a Prefect of the Empire, a
Baron, a Massy should be vanquished by the nur
sery tales of a childish shepherd-girl, and confound
ed by the phantom of a chimerical Apparition,
would have been insupportable to his pride, and
appeared impossible to his genius.
If he was therefore compelled to give up the
idea of having poor Bernadette shut up on the
plea of insanity, in spite of the speech he delivered
on the 4th of May, he was only the more on that
account determined to put a stop somehow or other
to the progress and encroachments of Fanaticism.
The doctrines and explanations which, for the last
few days, had become the favorite theme of the
Free-thinkers of those southern regions, suggested
to his mind, which was already in a state of embar
rassment, a new method which appeared to him
truly decisive.
In order to understand how the Prefect came m
a certain way to change his plan of attack, it would
be well for us to glance at what was passing at that
moment in the camp of those whose minds were
opposed to Christianity.
SIXTH BOOK.
I.
enemies of Superstition had lost consider-
able ground in their desperate struggle against
the events, which, for the last eleven or twelve
weeks had brought their philosophy to bay. As it
was impossible to deny the existence of the Spring,
whose limpid waters were flowing magnificently
before the eyes of the astonished people, so it was
becoming impossible longer to deny the reality of
the cures which were effected, every hour and every
where, by the use of this mysterious water.
At first they had shrugged their shoulders at the
earliest cures, confining themselves to denying
them purely and simply, and to refusing, with their
usual prejudice, to submit them to any kind of in
vestigation. But the spirit of Incredulity had been
very soon outflanked by the multiplicity of those
admirable cures, of which we have only been able
to relate or point out the smallest number. Facts
obtruded themselves on their attention. They be
came so numerous and striking that it was neces
sary, at all cost, either to yield to the Miracle, or
discover some natural way of accounting for these
extrordinary phenomena.
(269)
270 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The Free-thinkers then plainly saw that unless
they surrendered their arms or rejected the clear
est evidence, it was urgent upon them to initiate
some rapid evolutions and to contrive some differ
ent tactics.
The most intelligent among this little band found
that they were already somewhat late in the field,
and reproached themselves with the gross blunder
they had originally committed in denying prema
turely and without investigation, facts which had
since become patent and perfectly established, such
as the gushing-forth of the Spring and the cures of
many who had been notoriously pronounced in
curable, but who were now to be seen by every
one, going about the streets of the town in perfect
health. What made the evil almost irreparable
was, that these unfortunate denials of facts, since
amply verified, were authentically and officially cer
tified in all the journals of the Department.
II.
THE great majority of cures effected by the
water of Massabielle, were characterized by a rapid
ity, nay suddenness, which plainly indicated the
immediate agency of sovereign power. There were,
howevei, some which did not present this typical
and undeniably supernatural character. They were
effected in a slow and progressive manner, owing
to the more or less frequent applications of draughts
or lotions, and keeping pace with the ordinary
march of natural cures however miraculous they
might be in their original principle.
At Gez, a village in the neighborhood of Lourdes,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 71
a little boy, seven years of age, had been a remark
able instance of one of these mixed cures, which
any one, according to the bent of his mind, might
attribute to a special grace proceeding from God,
or to the sole efforts of Nature. This child, who
was called Lasbareilles, was born completely de
formed with a double curvature of the back and
breast bone.
His legs, which were excessively slender and al
most withered, were paralyzed, owing to their ex
treme weakness. The unfortunate little creature
had never been able to walk. He was always either
lying or sitting down. Whenever it was necessary
to change his position, his mother carried him in
her arms. Sometimes, however, the child, resting
himself on the edge of the table, or supported by
his mother s hand, succeeded in standing upright
and taking a few steps at the cost of violent efforts
and immense fatigue. The medical man of the
place had declared his inability to cure him ; and
seeing that the little fellow suffered from essentially
organic rachitis, no remedy had been applied to his
case.
The parents of the unfortunate child, having
heard the miracles at Lourdes mentioned in the
course of conversation, had procured some of the
water from the Grotto; and during the space of
fifteen days, they had, in three several instances,
applied lotions to the body of the child, without
any favorable result.
Their faith was not, however, on that account dis
couraged : if hope were banished from the world, it
would truly be found again in the hearts of moth-
ers. The fourth lotion was applied on Holy Thurs-
272 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
day, that is to say, the first of April, 1858. On that
day the child had taken a few steps alone.
These lotions had become more and more effica
cious, and the child s state underwent a progressive
amelioration. He had come, at the end of three or
four weeks, to walk almost as well as any body.
We use the expression " almost" as he retained in
his movements an awkwardness of gait which seem
ed to be a kind of reminiscence of his original in
firmity. The emaciation of his legs had disappear
ed by degrees with his weakness, and his chest was
almost entirely straightened. All the inhabitants
of Gez, who well knew the former state of the
child, attributed this recovery to a Miracle. Were
they right or wrong in so doing? Whatever our
own opinion may be on the subject, there is cer
tainly much to be said on both sides of the ques
tion.
Another child, Denys Bouchet, from the market-
town of Lamarque, in the canton of Ossun, had been
also cured of a general paralysis in very much the
same way. A young man, twenty-five years of age,
Jean Louis Amare, who was epileptic, had found his
terrible malady yield entirely, but only by degrees,
to applications of the water of Massabielle.
Some other analogous cases had occurred.
III.
WERE we not acquainted with the Avonderfully va
ried forms of supernatural cures which have taken
place since the establishment of Christianity, we
might, perhaps, be tempted to believe, that things
were thus disposed at this moment by Providence for
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the very purpose of causing the proud philosophy of
man to catch itself in its own nets and commit sui
cide with its own hands. But here, let us believe,
there was no divine snare. God does not lay an
ambush for any of his creatures. By its own innate
strength and by means of its normal and regular
developments, the logic of which is unknown to hu
man philosophers, Truth is an eternal snare in the
path of Error.
However this may be, the scientific men and the
medical men of the place, were eager to discover
in these various cures of uncertain and doubtful
complexion which were, however, perfectly estab
lished as regarded their reality and progressive
character an admirable opportunity and happy
pretext for bringing into operation a change of tac
tics and dexterity of manaeuvres which the increas
ing evidence of facts rendered absolutely neces
sary.
Ceasing, then, to endeavor to account for these
cures by bringing forward the thread-bare theory
of the effect of imagination, they boldly attributed
them to the natural virtues which this singular water,
lately gushed forth by the merest chance, indubitably
possessed.
To offer such an explanation, was to acknowledge
the reality of the cures.
Let the reader recall to his mind the commence
ment of this divine history, when a little shepherd-
girl, going to collect fragments of dead-wood, had
claimed to have seen a luminous Apparition start up
before her. Let him remember the sneering of the
strong-minded of Lourdes, the shruggings of shoul
ders at the Club, the ineffable contempt with which
274 U R LADY OF LOURDES.
all these powerful minds received those childish sto
ries as nonsense and folly. H ow many steps forward
had the supernatural affirmation made how many
steps to the rear had incredulity, science and philoso
phy taken since the first events which so suddenly
took place at the lonely Grotto on the bank of the
Gave !
The Miracle if we may venture to use the ex
pression had assumed the offensive. The Free
thinkers, formerly so fierce in their attack, now
pursued by the force of facts, were reduced to an
attitude of self-defence.
The representatives of Philosophy and Science
were not, however, on this account less bold in their
assertions, nor did they display less contempt for
popular superstition.
" Well, then, be it so," they observed, affecting a
good-humored tone and the semblance of sincerity.
" We allow that the water of the Grotto cures cer
tain maladies." What can be more simple ? What
need is there of Miracles, supernatural graces, and
divine intervention, to explain an agency which, if
not identical with, is analogous to, that of a thou
sand Springs, which from Vichy or Baden-Baden to
Luchon, act so efficaciously on the human system?
The water of Massabielle, in point of fact, possesses
certain very potent mineral qualities similar to those
of the Baths of Bareges or Cautarets, a few leagues
higher up in the mountains. The Grotto of Lourdes
has no connection with Religion, it is in the juris
diction of medical science.
A letter, which we take at random from among
our documents, gives a better idea than we could,
ourselves, furnish, of the position assumed by men
OUE LADY OF LOURDES.
of science with regard to the marvelous operations
of the water of Massabieile. This letter, from the
pen of a very honorable physician in the neighbor
hood, Doctor Lary, who had not the slightest faith
in any miraculous interpretation, is addressed to a
member of the Faculty :
" OSSUN, April 28th, 1858.
" I take the earliest opportunity, my dear friend,
of sending you the details you ask for, regarding the
woman called Galop, of our commune.
This woman, in consequence of rheumatism in
her left hand, had lost the power of holding any
thing with it. For instance, if she wished to wash
or remove a glass, she most frequently let it fall ;
and if she wished to draw water, she was forced to
give up the idea, as she was unable with her left
hand to tighten the rope of the well. It was more
than eight months since she had made her bed ; and
during that time, she had been obliged to relinquish
spinning altogether.
Now, since her single journey to Lourdes, where
she made use of the water of the Grotto, she spins
with considerable facility ; she makes her bed, is able
to draw water from the well, washes and carries about
glasses and plates at table, and, in a word, uses this
hand almost as well as the other one.
" The movements of her left hand are not yet quite
so free as they were before her illness, but, compared
with what they were before she used the water of
the Grotto at Lourdes, there is a difference of 90 per
cent.
" The woman proposes .going again to the Grotto,
and I shall make her promise to pay you a visit that
276 OUR LADY OF LOURDE3.
you may convince yourself of the truth of what 1
now write you.
" You will find, on examining the patient, an in
complete anchylosis of the lower joint of the fore
finger this is all that remains of her complaint. If
this morbid state yields to the reiterated use of the
water of the Grotto, this fact will be an additional
proof of the water being impregnated with alkali.
" I must now close. Believe me,
" Yours, very faithfully,
" LARY, M. D."
This explanation having been once admitted, and
held a priori as certain, the medical men displayed
less reluctance in acknowledging the cures effected
by the water of the Grotto, and, from that moment,
they betook themselves to generalizing their thesis
and to applying it almost indiscriminately to all
cases, even to those which had an almost bewilder
ing character of suddenness a character, however,
not easily reconcilable with the ordinary action of
mineral waters. The learned personages of the
place extricated themselves from this difficulty by
attributing to the water of the Grotto extremely
powerful qualities, such as had not been met with up
to that period. It mattered little to them that they
upset with their theories all the ordinary laws of
nature, provided heaven was excluded from any
share in the profits. They willingly admitted the
extra-natural, in order to rid themselves of the super
natural.
There were to be found among the class of be
lievers, certain persons of badly organized and pro
voking minds, who troubled with their importunate
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 2 77
reflections, the grave explanations and transcenden
tal theories of this learned coterie.
" Ho\v comes it," they objected, " that this min
eral spring-, gifted with such exceptional power of
effecting sudden cures, should have been discovered
by Bernadette precisely at the time she was in a
state of ecstacy, in the train of asserted heavenly
visions, and, as it were, the proof of these superna
tural Apparitions? How did it come to pass, that
this Spring gushed forth just at the moment when
Bernadette believed she heard the divine Voice
commanding her to drink and to wash herself? And
how is the fact to be accounted for, that this Spring,
which rose suddenly before the eyes of the whole
population under such astonishing circumstances,
does not give water of an ordinary description, but
a kind of water, which, by your own confession, has
already cured so many laboring under desperate
maladies, who had recourse to it, not by the advice
of their medical attendants, but from simple feelings
of religious faith ? "
These objections, repeated in a thousand different
forms, irritated the Free-thinkers, Philosophers, and
Savants, beyond measure. They endeavored to par
ry them by answers, so truly pitiable and wretched,
that they could hardly be supposed to be deceived
,by them themselves; but, to find any better adap
ted to their purpose was, truly, a difficult task.
" After all," they said, " coffee was discovered
accidentally by a goat. A herdsman found out by
chance the baths of Luchon, and again a peasant,
while digging accidentally, stumbled on the ruins of
Pompeii. What is there so astonishing in the fact
that this little girl, amusing herself in scooping out
278 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
the earth during her state of hallucination, should
have caused a spring to gush forth, and that this
spring should turn out to be mineral and impreg
nated with alkali ? That at that very moment she
fancied she saw the Blessed Virgin and heard a
voice declaring the existence of the spring, is
a merely fortuitous coincidence which Superstition
would glady convert into a Miracle. That day, as
has always been the case, chance did everything
and was the sole revealer.
Those who believed, however, did not suffer
themselves to be staggered by such logic. They
had bad taste enough to consider that to explain
all these things by referring them to purely acci
dental coincidences, was to do violence to reason
under pretext of undertaking its defence. This
served to exasperate the Free-thinkers, who, while
acknowledging somewhat late in the day the reality
of the cures effected, deplored more than ever the
religious and supernatural character which the com
mon people persisted in attributing to these strange
events ; and like persons in a pet, they inclined to
violent measures with the view of stemming the
popular current. " If these waters have mineral
properties," they began to say, " they belong either
to the State or the municipality, and no one should
repair to them without medical prescription. A
bathing establishment there would be a more suit
able erection than a chapel."
The scientific men of Lourdes, obliged to recog
nize facts which could not be gainsayed, had
reached this state of mind and mood of intellect,
when the Prefect s measures relative to the objects
deposited at the Grotto, and the attempt to incar-
OUR LADY OF LOU1WES. 279
cerate Bernadette on the plea of insanity an
attempt rendered abortive by the unexpected inter
ference of the Cure Peyramale suddenly came into
play.
IV.
To all these theses of the medical sect, now at bay,
there was wanting a sure and official point d appui.
M. Massy had already meditated seeking- this point
cTappui in one of the most admirable and incontes
table sciences of the present day Chemistry.
With this object he had addressed himself through
the Mayor of Lourdes to a Chemist of tolerable
celebrity in the Department, M. Latour de Trie.
To have it attested not in detail by the exami
nation of each case, but wholesale and in a mass
that all these cures which were increasing in num
ber and starting up as formidable opponents, were
entirely natural, owing to the innate properties of
this new Spring, appeared to him a master-stroke ;
and he believed that by doing so he should merit
the gratitude of Science and of Philosophy, and, to
omit nothing, of the higher Administration repre
sented in the person of M. Rouland, the Minister.
Perceiving that it was plainly impossible to have
Bernadette arrested as insane, he urged on the
analysis which was to establish officially, in the
very face of the cures, the mineral and therapeutic
properties of the water of the Grotto. He was im
patient to rid himself of this encroaching Super
natural, which after having caused the Spring to
gush forth, was now healing the sick and threatened
to bear down all opposition. A really official analy-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
sis might be productive of great service, even if it
left this accursed Supernatural tolerably strong in
many quarters.
The Chemist of the Prefecture therefore set to
work to make this precious study of the water
which had gushed forth at Massabielle, and per
fectly conscientiously if not completely scientifically
he found at the bottom of his retorts a solution in
exact conformity with the explanations of the medi
cal men, the thesis of the philosophers and the
wishes of the Prefect. Was Truth as well satisfied
with this analysis as the Prefecture, Philosophy and
the Faculty might possibly be ? This is a question
which they did not perhaps think of proposing to
themselves at the time, but which the future was
destined to charge itself with the decision.
However this may be, here is the summary analy
sis which M. Latour de Trie, Chemist to the Admin
istration, addressed officially, on the sixth of May, to
the Mayor of Lourdes, by whom it was immediately
forwarded to Baron Massy :
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. The water of the Grotto
at Lourdes is very limpid, free from any smell and
without any peculiar taste. Its specific gravity is
very nearly that of distilled water. Its temperature
at the Spring is 15 Cent.
It contains the following compounds :
1. Chlorides of sodium, calcium and magnesium
abundantly.
2. Carbonates of sodium, calcium and mag
nesium.
3. Silicates of sodium and aluminium.
4. Oxide of iron.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 28 1
5. Sulphate of sodium and carbonate of sodium.
6. Phosphate : traces.
7. Organic matter : ulmine.
We certify the entire absence of sulphate of cal
cium or selenite in this water.
This peculiarity, which is somewhat remarkable,
is quite in its favor and ought to make us regard it
as being very light, easy of digestion and communi
cating to the animal economy a disposition favorable
to the balance of vital action.
We do not believe we are prejudging in saying,
on taking into consideration the ensemble and the
quality of the substances of which this water is com
posed, that medical science will not be slow in
recognizing in it certain special curative properties
which may lead to its being classed in the number
of waters which form the mineral wealth of our
Department.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,
A. LATOUR DE TRIE.
Discipline is not carried to the same extent in
civil as in military affairs, and in the former, owing
to want of skill, the manoeuvres are sometimes
failures. The Prefect in the midst of his pre-occu-
pations had neglected to issue his instructions to
the editorial department of the Prefectoral organ,
the kre Imperial, the consequence of which was
that while the Chemist of the Prefecture was assert
ing one thing, the Journalist of the Prefecture was
as distinctly affirming the other ; while the former
paid homage to the Spring of Lourdes, as one of the
future therapeutic and mineral riches of the Pyre
nees, the latter alluded to it as dirty water, and in-
282 OUR LADY OF LOUTtDES.
dulged himself in sundry pleasantries at the expense
of the cures effected. " It is unnecessary to say,"
he wrote the very day on which M. Latour de Trie
had sent in his report, the sixth of May, " that this
famous Grotto pours out a perfect flood of miracles
and that our Department is drenched with them. At
the corner of every field you may meet with per
sons, who tell you the thousands of cures effected
by the use of this dirty water. Very soon the doc
tors will have nothing to do, and all who have
hitherto suffered from rheumatism or affections of
the chest, will have disappeared from the Depart
ment."
In spite of these little discrepancies which he
might have avoided, it is only fair to acknowledge
that the Prefect was a man of considerable activity.
On the fourth of May, towards noon, he had made
his speech to the Mayors of the cantons of Lourdes
and issued his orders. On the evening of the same
day the Grotto had been stripped of its offerings
and cx-votos. On the morning of the fifth of May
he had become aware of the utter impossibility of
arresting Bernadette and abandoned the design.
On the evening of the 6th, the analysis furnished by
his Chemist had reached his hands.
Armed with this last and highly important docu
ment he was waiting to see what course things
would take.
What indeed would happen at Lourdes? What
would take place at the Grotto ? Wbat would be
the next step of Bernadette, whose slightest move
ments were narrowly watched by the Argus eyes
of Jacomet and his agents? During the great heats
\vhich were already commencing, would not the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 283
Fountain, as many asserted, be dried up and every
thing be brought to a stand still ? What line of con
duct would be pursued by the population ? Such
were the preoccupations, hopes and disquietudes
which filled the breast of Baron Massy, Prefect of
the Empire.
V.
AT the Grotto, the miraculous Fountain con
tinued to pour forth its limpid and abundant waters
with that character of tranquil perennity remark
able in the beautiful springs which gush from
amid rocks.
The supernatural Apparition ceased not to assert
her claims and prove her existence by the benefits
she conferred.
At one time rapid as the flash of lightning which
rends the clouds, at another slow in its progress as
the light of morning which rises and sheds its rays
gradually over the surface of the earth, the Grace
of God continued to descend visibly and invisibly
on the assembled throngs.
We can only speak of graces which were obvious
to the senses.
About a league and half from Lourdes, at Louba-
jac, there lived an excellent peasant woman,
formerly a hard worker, but who for the last eigh
teen months had been reduced by an accident to
the most pai^ul state of inaction, Her name was
Catharine Latapie-Choust. In October 1856, having
climbed an oak for the purpose of shaking down
the acorns, she lost her balance and had a serious
fall, from the effects of which her right arm and
284 UR LADY OF LOURDES.
hand were dislocated. The necessary operation, as
\ve learn from the report of the case and the official
statement now before us, which was immediately
and successfully performed by a skillful medical
man, had almost brought her arm back to its nor
mal state, without however being able to cure
its extreme weakness. But the stiffness of the three
most important fingers of her hand defied all the
care and attention which were lavished upon her.
The thumb, fore and middle finger remained bent
inwards and entirely paralyzed, so that it was im
possible for her to straighten them, or indeed to
move them in any way. The unfortunate peasant
woman, who was still young, having barely attained
her thirty-eighth year, was unable to sew, spin, knit
or attend to household matters. Her doctor, after
having attended her for a length of time to no pur
pose, had informed her that she was incurable, and
that she must resign herself to the loss of the use of
her hand. Such a sentence from the lips of so com
petent a judge was for this unfortunate creature the
announcement of an irreparable misfortune. To
the poor labor is the only resource, and their being
obliged to do nothing is tantamount to inevitable
destitution.
Catharine had become enceinte nine or ten
months after her accident, and her time was ap
proaching when the divine events at the Grotto of
Massabielle occurred. One night she felt herself
all at once aroused, as it were, by a sudden idea.
"A Spirit within me" she informed the author of this
book " a Spirit within me, said to me, with a kind
of irresistible force, Go to the Grotto ! Go to
the Grotto and you will be cured ! " Who was this
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 285
mysterious being who spoke thus, and whom this
ignorant peasant woman ignorant, at least, as far
as all human knowledge went called " a Spirit ?"
The secret is, doubtless, known to her Guardian-
angel.
It was three o clock in the morning. Catharine
called her two children, who were already well
grown, to accompany her.
" Remain at your work," she said to her husband.
" I am going to the Grotto."
" In your present advanced state, it is impossible,"
he rejoined. " It is a journey of three leagues to
Lourdes there and back."
" Nothing is impossible. I am going to be
cured."
No objections were of avail, and she started with
her two children. It was a lovely moonlight.
The awful silence of night, disturbed, from time to
time, by mysterious noises ; the profound solitude
of the scene, dimly lighted and peopled with indis
tinct forms, terrified the children. They trembled
and paused at every step ; but they were re-assured
by their mother. Catharine had no fear, and felt
that she was advancing towards Life.
She reached Lourdes at day -break. She met
Bernadette. Some one informed her it was the
youthful Seer. Catharine made no reply, but ap
proaching the child so blessed by God and beloved
by Mary, she humbly touched her dress. She then
pursued her way towards the Rocks of Massabielle,
where, notwithstanding the early hour of the morn
ing, a multitude of pilgrims had assembled, and
were devoutly kneeling.
Catharine and her children knelt also and prayed.
2 86 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
After having prayed, Catharine rose and went to
bathe her hand calmly in the marvelous water.
Immediately her fingers were straightened. Im
mediately her fingers became supple and life re
turned to them. The divine Virgin had cured one
pronounced incurable.
How did Catharine take this? She felt no sur
prise. She uttered no cry, but, kneeling down
once more, she offered a prayer of thanksgiving to
Mary and to God.
For the first time, for eighteen months, she pray
ed with joined hands, and clasped her fingers to
gether.
She remained thus a long time absorbed in this
act of gratitude. Such moments are sweet ; the
soul loves to forget itself in them, and it seems as
if Paradise were once more restored to its gaze.
Sudden and violent pains recalled to the mind
of Catharine the consciousness that she was still on
earth, on this earth of sighs and fears, where the
curse originally hurled against the guilty woman,
ancestress of the human race, has not ceased to
weigh on her innumerable posterity. We said that
Catharine was in the last stage of pregnancy. As
this poor woman was still on her knees, she felt
herself suddenly overtaken with the first and ter
rible pangs of child-birth. She trembled as she
reflected that she had not time even to return to
Lourdes, and that she would be delivered before
the throng which surrounded her. She regarded
this crowd for an instant with an anguish of fear.
This terror, however, was of short duration.
Catharine turned herself anew towards that sov
ereign Virgin whom Nature obeys.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 8?
" Good Mother," she said to her with simplicity,
:< Thou who hast just obtained for me so great a
favor, spare me the shame of being delivered be
fore this concourse of people, and grant, at least,
that I may be enabled to return home ere I bring
into the world the babe I bear within me."
^ Immediately all her pangs subsided, and the
Spirit, the Spirit within her of whom she spoke to
us, and whom we believe to have been her Guar
dian-angel, said to her, " Be calm ; go without fear ;
you will reach home without any accident."
" Let us rise now and go," said Catharine to her
two children.
On this she took them by the hand and proceed
ed in the direction of Loubajac, without allowing
any one to suspect the crisis which had threatened
her, and without displaying any uneasiness, not only
to the by-standers but even to the midwife of her
own village, who chanced to be there, and was re
cognized by her in the midst of the pilgrims.
Happier than we can express, she traversed calmly,
and without hastening her pace, the long route and
bad roads which separated her from home. The
two children were no longer afraid, as they had
been during the night : the sun had risen, and their
mother was cured.
On reaching her house, Catharine wished to pray
again, but immediately the pangs of labor came
once more upon her. A quarter of an hour after
wards she was delivered, and became the mother
of a third son.
At the same period, a woman of Lamarque,
Marianne Garrot, had been relieved, in less than
ten clays, by simple lotions of the water from the
288 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Grotto, of a milk-colored eruption, which extended
over the whole of her face, and had resisted every
kind of treatment for upwards of two years. Doc
tor Amadon, of Pontac, her medical adviser, certi
fied the fact, and, at a later period, bore unexcep
tionable testimony to it before the Episcopal Com
mission.
At Borderes, near Nay, Marie Lanou-Domengc,
a widow, eighty years of age, had for the last three
years suffered from a partial paralysis in her left
side. She could not move a step without the as
sistance of others, and was, in consequence of her
infirmity, incapable of any kind of labor.
Doctor Poneymiroo, of Mirepoix, after having in
vain employed certain remedies to restore anima
tion to her atrophied limbs, had ceased to attend
her in his medical capacity, though he continued
to visit her.
Hope, however, quits unwillingly the mind of
the sick. " When shall I get better ?" was the
good woman s question whenever she met Doc
tor Poneymiroo.
" You will get better when such is God s will,"
was the invariable reply of the Doctor, who was
far from thinking, when he thus expressed himself,
that his words were prophetical,
" Why should I not believe this word and ad
dress myself directly to the divine goodness," ob
served the old peasant woman to herself one day,
on hearing the Spring of Massabielle mentioned in
conversation.
She dispatched some one to Lourdes to procure
a small quantity of the healing water at the Spring
itself.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 289
When it was brought to her, she was seized with
great emotion.
" Take me out of my bed," she said, " and hold
me upright."
They raised her and dressed her hastily, almost
in a feverish state of excitement. Both the spec
tators and actors in this scene were troubled.
Two persons raised her and held her standing
upright, supporting her under her shoulders.
They presented her a glass of the water from the
Grotto. Marie stretched her trembling hand to
wards the water of deliverance, and plunged into
it her fingers. She then made the sign of the Cross
upon herself, after which she raised the glass to her
lips and slowly drank its contents, doubtless ab
sorbed in some fervent prayer, which she uttered
in a low tone.
She was pale so pale, that for a moment the by
standers thought she was on the point of fainting.
But while they were exerting themselves to pre
vent her from falling, she held herself erect, trembled
and gazed around her. She uttered a cry, as it
were, of triumphant joy.
" Let me go ! Let me go quickly. I am cured."
Those who were supporting her half withdrew
their arms hesitatingly. Marie immediately darted
forward and began to walk with confidence, as if
she had never been suffering from illness.
Some one, who, in spite of all this, entertained
some fears about her, gave her a cane \vith which
to support herself.
Marie looked at the cane and smiled. She then
took it, and, with a gesture of contempt, threw it
to a distance from her as an article of no further use.
13
290 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
From that day she betook herself once more to
hard work in the fields.
Some visitors having come to see her in order to
ascertain the truth of the fact, asked her if she could
walk in their presence.
" Walk? Gentlemen," she exclaimed, " I am going
to run."
And suiting the action to the words she com
menced to run before them.
This happened in the month of May. In the
month of July following, Marie, the vigorous octo
genarian, was pointed out by one to another as a
phenomenon, who was gallantly reaping the corn,
and was far from being the last in the fatiguing
labor of the harvest.
Her medical man, the highly honorable Doctor
Poneymiroo, praised God for so evident a miracle,
and later on, he signed, with the Commission of In
vestigation, the official report of the extraordinary
events we have just described, with reference to
which he did not hesitate to acknowledge " the
direct and evident agency of divine power."
VI.
THE Press of Paris and of the province began to
occupy themselves with the occurrences at Lourdes ;
and far beyond the range of the Pyrenees, public
attention was being turned by degrees towards the
Grotto of Massabielle.
The Prefect s measures were highly commended
by the organs of the Free-thinkers, and not less
vehemently censured by the Catholic journals. The
latter, while they hazarded no judgment as to the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 Q1
reality of the Apparitions and miracles, claimed
that a question of this nature should be decided
by the ecclesiastical authority and not prema
turely settled by the arbitrary power of the Pre
fect.
The innumerable miracles which were being ac
complished either at the Grotto or at a distance,
attracted a vast concourse of invalids and pilgrims
to Lourdes. The analysis of Latour de Trie and
the pretended mineral properties attributed to the
new Spring by the medical men who supported the
Prefect, added still more to the reputation of the
Grotto, and induced even those to flock there who
reckoned on the resources of Nature only for their
recovery. On the other hand, these polemical dis
cussions, by exciting the minds of all, added to the
multitude of those who believed a multitude of
others who were actuated by feelings of mere curi
osity. All the means employed by the party of un
belief produced an effect diametrically contrary to
the one they had proposed to themselves. Owing
to the irresistible turn events had taken a turn
regarded as fatal by some, as providential by others
-the influx of people, which it had been the wish
of the authorities to check, assumed more and more
considerable proportions. This influx was the
more accelerated and developed owing to the fact
that, as if to give every one a chance, the material
difficulties which were opposed to traveling by the
rigor of winter had gradually disappeared. The
month of May had returned. The lovely weather
of spring seemed to court pilgrims to repair to the
Grotto by all the flowery paths which wind here
and there through woods and across meadows and
292
OUR LADY OF LOUItDER.
vineyards in that land of rugged mountains, verdant
hills and umbrageous valleys.
Out of humor and powerless, the Prefect saw the
gradual increase and extension of this orderly and
prodigious heaving, which bore multitudes of christ-
ians in ever renewed phalanxes, to come and kneel
and drink at the foot of a solitary rock.
The measures already taken had, it is true, de
prived the Grotto of its resemblance to an oratory,
but in reality it remained much as it was before, as
far as the veneration of the people went. Crowds
flocked from every part to the place where the
miracle had taken place.
Contrary to the hope of the Free-thinkers, the
fears of the Faithful and the expectations of all, no
disorder of any description arose from this unheard-
of movement of men, women, children, believers,
unbelievers, and of those who were utterly indiffer
ent on the subject. An invisible hand seemed to
protect these crowds against themselves, when,
without leader or guide, they rushed day by day to
the number of several thousand pilgrims towards
the miraculous Fountain.
The Magistracy, represented by M. Dutour, and
the Police, personified in M. Jacomet, regarded this
strange spectacle with feelings of unbounded as
tonishment. Did it add to their exasperation ? We
cannot tell. Yet, to men of a certain turn of mind,
who push their ideas of authority to extremes, the
sight of a multitude so wonderfully orderly and
peaceful is an almost insulting and perfectly revolu
tionary anomaly. When order is maintained by
itself, all the functionaries who only exist for the
purpose of maintaining order experience a sense of
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
293
vague uneasiness. Accustomed to mix themselves
up in every thing in the name of the Law, to keep
up discipline, issue orders, summon, punish, pardon
and to see every thing and every individual depend
ing upon them either personally or officially, they
experience a feeling bordering on distraction when
they find themselves face to face with a multitude
of men who dispense with them altogether and do
not afford them any pretext for interfering, showing
their importance or encroaching on their liberty.
Order of this kind which ignores them is in their
eyes the height of disorder. If so fatal an example
was generally followed, there would be no necessity
for any Procnreurs Imperianx, the Commissaries of
Police would vanish from the scene, and the stars
of Prefects themselves would begin to pale.
Baron Massy had full power to order the remo
val of all the objects deposited at the Grotto. By
no law, however, was such a deposit regarded as
criminal, and it was impossible to prohibit such
offerings or to punish the donors. In consequence
of this the Grotto was often filled with lighted
tapers, flowers, ex-votos, and even with silver or
gold pieces towards the erection of the building
demanded by the Virgin. The pious faithful wished
by so doing to testify to the Queen of Heaven their
good-will, even though it might be unavailing, to
gether with their zeal and their love. " What does
it matter if the money is taken away. It will at
least have been offered. The taper will have shed
its transient light in honor of our Mother, and the
bouquet will for an instant have perfumed the blessed
rock, on which Her feet rested." Such were the
thoughts of these truly Christian souls.
294 0^ LADY OF LOURDES.
Jacomet and his agents accordingly came to
carry off every thing. Much emboldened since he
had escaped the perils of the fourth of May, the
Commissary affected the most contemptuous and
brutal conduct, sometimes hurling various objects
into the Gave, before the offended eyes of believers.
Sometimes, also, he found himself obliged to pre
serve, in spite of himself, the festal air which marked
those blessed places. It was when, the piety of
believers having scattered the leaves of countless
roses around the Grotto, it was out of the question
for him to pick up the thousand remnants of flowers
and the numberless petals which served to form
this brilliant and fragrant carpet.
The crowds, however, continued to pray on their
knees, without making any reply to his provoking
conduct, and they allowed every thing to be done
with a patience which God alone can give to a
justly excited multitude.
One evening a report was spread that the Em
peror or the Minister had requested the prayers of
Bernadette. M. Dutour uttered a cry of triumph
and made all preparations for saving the State.
Three respectable women, who, as it appeared, had
originated the assertion, were dragged into court
and the Procurcur insisted on the full rigor of the
French law being enforced against them. Not
withstanding his wrath and eloquence the judges
acquitted two and onlv condemned the third to a
fine of five francs. The Procureur protested against
the weakness of the Judges, persisted in his public
accusation, and in his exasperation, or rather desper
ation, appealed from their decision to the Judges
of the Imperial Court at Pau, who, treating his
OUR LADY OF LOUItDES. 295
anger with ridicule, not only confirmed the acquit
tal of the two women, but refused to ratify the
very slight sentence pronounced on the third, dis
missing the case altogether.
This little incident, so utterly insignificant in
itself, only figures in our story to show how anx
iously the officials of the Parquet were on the look
out, how actively they were in search of misdemea
nors and opportunities of displaying severity, since
they were irritated with such miserable trifles, and
employed their time in prosecuting poor simple-
minded women, whose innocence was to be shortly
afterwards publicly proclaimed by the Imperial
Court.
The population remained calm. No pretext was
furnished by them for severities on the plea of main
taining order.
One night, when it was pitch dark, some un
known persons tore up the pipe of the miraculous
Spring and choked its waters under shapeless heaps
of rocks, earth and sand. Who w r as it that raised
this monument of darkness against the divine work ?
What impious and at the same time cowardly hands
committed this sacrilege, while shunning the obser
vation of their fellows ? No one knows. But when
day broke and the profanation became known, a
murmur of indignation, as might have been antici
pated, issued from the crowds who had rushed to
the spot, and on that day the people might be seen
on the roads and in the street moving to and fro
in a state of agitation resembling that of the ocean
when it foams and surges and ^ roars beneath the
blast of a hurricane. The Police, Magistrates and
Ser gents de Ville were on the alert, watching, listen-
296 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ing and reconnoitcring, but were unable to detect an
act of violence or a single cry of sedition. The in
fluence from above, divine in its nature, which pre
served order among these excited crowds, was
plainly invincible. Who then let us repeat the
question had committed this nocturnal deed?
The Parquet and the Police could never discover
who it was, in spite of making the most active
search. There were not wanting, however, some
prejudiced persons bold enough to suspect doubt
less unjustly the Parquet and the Police of having
themselves been the authors of the sacrilege, hop
ing by this means to provoke disorder which might
furnish them with a pretext for having recourse to
severe measures. The municipal authorities pro
tested strongly against the imputation that they
had connived at this scandalous proceeding. The
same night, or early the next morning, the Mayor
ordered the pipe to be replaced, and all the rubbish
with which the new Spring was obstructed to be
swept from off the pavement of the Grotto. It was
the Mayor s policy to avoid any decidedly personal
interference and to allow matters to rest as they
were. He was ready to act, but only as a subordi
nate, when expressly enjoined to do so by the Pre
fect and on the latter s responsibility.
At times, the people, fearing not to have sufficient
control over their agitated feelings, took precau
tions against themselves. The Association of Stone-
hewers, in number four or five hundred, had re
solved to make a grand peaceable demonstration at
the Grotto, repairing to it in procession and sing
ing hymns on the occasion of their patronal feast,
Ascension day, which fell that year on the thirty-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 2 g?
first of May. Feeling-, however, their hearts indig
nant and their hands quivering in presence of the
measures taken by the authorities, they were afraid
of themselves and renounced their project. They
confined themselves to suppressing on that clay,
from a feeling of respect to the Blessed Virgin who
had appeared . at Lourdes, the annual ball which
served to conclude their Feast.
" We do not wish," they said, " that any disorder,
however involuntary, or any amusement not recog
nized by the Church, should afflict the eyes of the
Virgin who has visited us."
VII.
THE Prefect saw more and more the hopelessness
of being able to have recourse to coercive meas
ures, owing to this amazing tranquillity, this calm,
not less irritating" than it was marvelous, which
reigned of its own accord among these countless
multitudes. There was nothing to lay hold of. He
must either retrace his steps, and relinquishing the
path he had hitherto pursuec], leave the population
absolutely free to take their own course, or, by
adopting measures of violence and persecution, op
pose, on some pretext or other, an arbitrary barrier
to the popular movement. He must either beat a
retreat or boldly advance.
On the other hand, the variety and suddenness
of the cures effected, appeared to many persons of
judgment to be but lamely accounted for by the
therapeutic and mineral properties of the new
Spring. The accuracy of the scientific decision
furnished by M. Latour de Trie, was called into
13*
298 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
question. A chemist of the town, M. Thomas
Pujo, asserted that the water was merely ordinary
water, and did not contain any medical properties.
Many very competent professors of chemistry in
the district were of the same opinion. The analy
sis of Latour de Trie was declared by men of
science to be erroneous. These rumors gained so
much ground that the Municipal Council of Lourdes
began to stir in the business. The Mayor could
not well refuse in opposition to the wishes of all
to allow a second examination of the water of the
Spring to be made. Without consulting the Pre
fect, which, as it appeared to him, would have been
useless so deeply convinced was the latter that
M. Latour was correct in his report he got a reso
lution passed by the Municipal Council, authorizing
him to intrust Professor Filhol, one of the greatest
chemists of the present day, with a new and defini
tive analysis. The council voted at the same time
the funds necessary to remunerate the illustrious
savant.
M. Filhol was a man of weight in modern science,
and there would evidently be no appeal against his
verdict.
Of what nature would his analysis prove to be?
The Prefect was not sufficiently versed in chemis
try to know. But we believe, without any fear of
deceiving ourselves on the subject, that he must
have been somewhat uneasy. The verdict pro
nounced by the eminent Professor of Chemistry in
the Faculty of Toulouse might seriously derange
the plans and contrivances of M. Massy. He real
ly had no time to lose. Here again he must beat a
retreat or advance boldlv.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
299
In the midst of so many different party feelings,
and numerous calculations, Bernadette could not
escape being exposed to fresh attempts, but they
proved as useless as the former ones.
She was preparing to make her first communion,
and she made it on the third of June, the feast of
Corpus Christi. It was the same day on which the
Municipal Council of Lourdes commissioned M.
Filhol to analyze the water of the mysterious Spring
which had some time back gushed forth from under
the hand of the youthful Seer, when in her state of
ecstacy. God entering into her child-like and girl
ish heart, was also making the analysis of a pure
wave, and we may well imagine that He could not
but admire and bless, in her virgin soul, the fresh
est of Springs and the most limpid of crystals.
She continued to receive numerous visits not
withstanding her ardent wish for concealment and
retirement. She was always the simple, innocent
child, whose portrait we have attempted to draw.
She fascinated all who approached her by her can
dor, her striking sincerity and delicate perfume of
calm piety.
One day, a lady, after having held a conversa
tion with her, in an impulse of enthusiastic venera
tion which may be easily understood by those who
have known Bernadette, wished to exchange her
chaplet of precious stones for the one ordinarily
used by the child :
" Keep your own, Madam," she replied, showing
her simple auxiliary of prayer. " Here is mine,
and I would not change it. It is poor like myself,
and is, on that account, more befitting my state of
indigence."
300 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
An ecclesiastic endeavored to prevail on her to
accept a piece of silver. She refused, and he urged
her to take it. She refused it again so formally
that any further pressing seemed useless. The
priest, however, would not acknowledge himself
beaten.
" Take it," said he, " it is not for yourself but for
the poor, and you will have the pleasure of giving
alms."
" Do that yourself, Father, in my intention," re
plied the child, " and that will avail more than if I
did it myself."
It was poor Bernadette s intention to serve God
without payment, and to fulfil the mission she
had received from on high without emerging from
her state of noble poverty. And yet, she and her
family were at times in want of bread.
About this time, the Prefect s official salary was
raised to 25,000 francs. M. Jacomet received a do
nation. The Minister of Public Worship, in a let
ter which was communicated to several functiona
ries, assured the Prefect of his perfect satisfaction,
and praising him for all he had hitherto done, he
pressed upon him the adoption of energetic meas
ures, adding that it was necessary at any cost to
make an end of the Grotto and the miracles at
Lourdes.
In this quarter, as in all the rest, the Prefect must
either beat a retreat or advance boldly.
But what could be done?
VIII.
THE plan of the divine work developed itself by
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 301
degrees with all its admirable and powerful logic.
But no one at that moment, and M. Massy less than
any one else, perceived the invisible hand of God
directing all things, however manifestly such was
the case. It is not in the middle of a charge that
one can judge .of the disposition of a battle. The
unfortunate Prefect having left the straight path,
saw nothing in what was passing around him but
an irritating series of vexing incidents, and an in
explicable fatality. Remove God from certain ques
tions and the inexplicable will meet you at every
turn.
The march of events, slow but irresistible, was
upsetting, one by one, all the theses of unbelief,
and forcing the wretched philosophy of man to
beat a retreat and abandon its intrenchments one
after the other.
The Apparitions had taken place. The Free
thinkers had, in the first instance, absolutely denied
their reality, while they accused the youthful Seer
of being a mere tool in the hands of others, and of
engaging in a series of jugglery from mercenary
motives. This theory did not hold good when
brought face to face with the child s examination.
Her veracity made a deep impression on all.
The spirit of incredulity driven out of this, their
first position, had fallen back on hallucination and
catalepsy.
" She fancies she sees ; she does not see. There
is nothing in it."
Providence, however, had assembled from every
quarter of the horizon its thousands and thousands
of witnesses round the child in her state of ecstacy ;
and when the proper moment arrived had solemnly
302 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
attested the truth of Bernadette s narration by
causing a Spring to gush forth publicly, before the
spell-bound eyes of the throng which had flocked
to the spot.
" There is no Spring," the unbelievers had said.
" It is an oozing of water, a pool, a small pond.
Call it what you will, except a Spring."
But while they were solemnly and publicly de
nying its very existence, the Spring was increasing,
almost like a being endowed with life, and assuming
prodigious proportions. More than 25,000 gallons
issued daily from this strange rock.
" It is accidental, it is a singular circumstance,"
Unbelief had stammered out, reduced to despera
tion and recoiling from hour to hour.
And see events following their invincible course
the most striking cures had immediately attested
in every direction the miraculous character of the
Spring, and given a new and decisive proof of the
reality of the all-powerful Apparition, whose ges
ture had sufficed to cause this Fountain of Life to
gush forth from beneath the hand of a mere mor
tal.
The first impulse of the Philosophers had been to
deny the reality of these cures, as they had denied
in the first instance the sincerity of Bernadette, as
they had denied the very existence of the Spring.
Yet suddenly the cures had become so numerous,
so notorious, that the enemy had been obliged to
beat a retreat and admit their reality.
" Well, be it so ! Cures are certainly effected, but
they are owing to the impregnation of mineral sub
stances. The Spring possesses certain therapeutic
virtues," had been the cry of the incredulous, hold-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 303
ing in their hands I know not what semblance of
a chemical analysis. Then the most astounding
cures, which were absolutely inexplicable by a hy
pothesis of this nature, had been multiplied to an
immense extent ; and simultaneously, though from
opposite quarters, several conscientious and enlight
ened men, thoroughly acquainted with the science
of chemistry, had boldly declared that the Spring
of Massabielle did not possess in itself any mineral
virtue, that it was composed of ordinary water, and
that the purely official analysis furnished by M. La-
tour de Trie was solely intended to meet the well-
known views of the Prefect.
Driven thus from all the intrenchments in which,
after successive defeats, they had sought refuge;
pursued by the blasting evidence of facts ; crushed
beneath the weight of their own admissions ; unable
to retract these successive and forced admissions,
which had been publicly registered in their own
journals, what had the Philosophers and Free-think
ers to do ? The Philosophers and Free-thinkers had
but to humbly surrender their arms to Truth. They
had but to bow their heads, to bend their knees, and
to believe ; they had but to do what is done by the
ripe ears of corn, when the wheat, that gift of God,
comes by degrees to fill their grains, as is mentioned
by the author of the Essays. " It has happened,"
says Montaigne, " to really learned persons, as it
happens to spikes of corn. They stand erect and
hold their heads high, as long as they are empty ;
but, when they are full and heavy with ripe grain,
they begin to bow down and lower themselves to
wards the ground. In like manner, men, after hav
ing tried everything and sounded everything, have.
304 U R LADT OF LOURDES.
renounced their presumption and acknowledged
their natural condition."
It may be, the Philosophers of Lourdes did not
possess enough of largeness and strength of mind to
apprehend the good seed of truth. It may be, their
pride rendered* them inflexible and impervious to
the clearest evidence. One thing is certain, that,
with the exception of a few who were happily con
verted, there did not happen to them what happens
" to really learned persons," and they continued " to
hold their heads high," like the empty ears of corn.
Not only did they maintain their attitude of in
credulity ; but impiety, driven with shame and dis
grace from quibble to quibble, from sophism to
sophism, from one falsehood to another, and reduced
to the most absurd shifts, suddenly threw off the
mask, and exposed its full deformity. It passed, we
would say, from the realm of discussion and reason
ing, which it had attempted to usurp, to that of
intolerance and violence, which really belongs to it.
Baron Massy, who was thoroughly acquainted
with the state of the public mind in general, saw
plainly with his unerring coup da>il, that, if he took
arbitrary measures and openly had recourse to per
secution, he would derive considerable moral sup
port from the exasperation of the Free-thinkers,
who were entirely discomfited, humiliated, and con
sequently furious.
He also had been vanquished so far in the analo
gous if not identical struggle into which he had en
tered with the Supernatural. All his efforts had
failed.
Issuing from the inmost recess of a solitary rock,
and announced by the voice of a child, the Super-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 305
natural had commenced its march, overturning all
obstacles, dragging the multitude in its train, and
gaining on its passage the enthusiastic shouts, pray
ers, cries of gratitude, and exclamations of the pop
ular faith.
Once more, what still remained to be done ?
To withstand the clearest evidence, and to take
violent measures against the throng of believers.
IX.
IN the midst of all these strangely varied events,
the question regarding the stables of the Prefecture
was discussed with ever-increasing warmth, and
had worked up the Prefect to the highest pitch of
exasperation. The month of June had arrived.
The bathing-season was commencing, and would
bring to the Pyrenees invalids and tourists from ev
ery part of Europe, who would be witnesses of the
scandal which the Supernatural was creating in the
Department administered by Baron Massy. The
instructions of M. Rouland were of the most urgent
nature, and pressed the interference of the author
ities. On the sixth of June, M. Fould, Minister of
Finance, stopped at Tarbes on his way to his coun
try residence, and had a long conference with M.
Massy. A report circulated that the events at the
Grotto formed the subject of their discussion.
The fact of going to drink at a spring, the road
to which passed through the common lands belong
ing to the town, did not, however, constitute a crim
inal act in the eyes of the law. It was, therefore,
of the highest importance, that the genius of the
enemies of Superstition should discover some pre~
306 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
text for interference. Arbitrary power has not in
France, as in Russia or in Turkey, the rights of citi
zenship, and it requires the mask of legality.
The subtle Prefect had, on this subject, an inspir
ation as ingenious as it was simple. As the Rocks
of Massabielle formed part of the lands belonging
to the commune of Lourdcs, the Mayor, as guard
ian of the interests of the town, had the power of
prohibiting any one from approaching them whether
he might have reasons for so doing or not, in the same
manner as a proprietor prohibits when he likes and
whom he likes to enter his house or trespass on his
estate.
A prohibition of this kind, publicly proclaimed,
exposed every visitor to the charge of a specified
misdemeanor that of the violation of property.
By so crafty a proceeding, an act, absolutely in
nocent in itself, was transformed into one of a criminal
nature, liable to the penalties attached to it by law.
The whole scheme of M. Massy gravitated round
this idea, and this plan having once been hit upon,
he resolved to act and to act despotically.
The next day, the Mayor of Lourdcs received
instructions to issue the following order :
THE MAYOR OF THE TOWN OF LOURDES,
Considering the instructions addressed to him by
the superior authorities,
The laws of the I4th and 22d of December, 1789,
of 1 6th and 24th of August, 1790, of iQth and 22d
of July, 1791, and that of the iSth of July, 1837, on
the Municipal Administration ;
.Considering, that it is important, with a view to
the interests of Religion, to bring to a close the scenes
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 307
so much to be regretted which are taking place at the
Grotto of Massabielle, situate at Lourdes, on the
left bank of the Gave ;
Considering, on the other hand, that it is the duty
of the Mayor to watch over the public health in his lo
cality ;
Considering, that a great number of those in his
jurisdiction, as also of persons strangers to the com
mune, come to draw water at a certain Spring in the
said Grotto ;
Considering that there are serious reasons for
thinking that this water contains mineral ingredi
ents, and that it is prudent before permitting its
use to wait until a scientific analysis should make
known the applications which medical science may
make of it ; that, in addition to this, the Law sub
jects the working of Springs of mineral water
to the preliminary authorization of the Govern
ment ;
ORDERS :
First Article. It is forbidden to take any water
from the said Spring.
Second Article. It is equally forbidden to pass
over the communal lands going by the name of the
" Rive de Massabielle."
Third Article. To prevent access to the Grotto,
a barrier will be placed at its entrance.
Notices will also be posted, as follows, " Persons
are forbidden to trespass on this property."
Fourth Article. All infraction of the present Or
der will be prosecuted according to Law.
Fifth Article. The Commissary of Police, the
Gendarmerie, the Gardes Cham-pet res, and the Au-
303 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
thorities of the commune are charged with the exe
cution of the present Order.
Done at Lourdes, at the Mayorality, 8th of June,
1858.
A. LAC AD E, Mayor.
Seen and approved,
C. MASSY, Prefect
X.
IT was not without some hesitation that M. La-
cade consented to sign an order of this nature, and
to put such a measure into execution. His somewhat
undecided nature, fond of pursuing a middle course
and liking to swim, as they said, with the current,
could not but regard with .considerable alarm such
an act of decided hostility against the strange power
which plainly hovered over all the events of which
the Grotto of Lourdes was the centre. On the
other hand, as should always be the case, the May
or was attached to his official position, and, as the
wags asserted, somewhat in love with his official
scarf. He must, however, become the instrument
of the Prefect s violent courses or resign his hon
ors. The alternative was embarrassing to the first
magistrate of Lourdes, though we cannot term it a
very grave one, without feeling a disposition to
smile at the weakness of poor human nature. M.
Lacadc hoped to get out of the difficulty, by re
questing the Prefect, as the condition of his attach
ing his own signature to the document, to insert at
the beginning of the order, and, as it were, its open
ing sentence, " With reference to instructions address
ed to him by the superior Authorities"
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 309
" By these means," observed the Mayor, " I am
entirely freed from any responsibility as regards the
public or myself. I have not taken the initiative ; I
remain neuter. I do not command ; I am simply
obeying. I do not give this order ; I receive it. I
I do not proclaim this measure ; I merely carry it
into execution. All the responsibility rests on my
immediate superior, the Prefect.
From a private in a regiment of the line, this style
of reasoning would have been unexceptionable.
With his mind thus set at rest, M. Lacade watch
ed over the execution of the Prefect s decree. He
had it published with sound of trumpet, and pla
carded all over the town. At the same time, under
the protection of an armed force, and the directions
of Jacomet, barriers were erected around the Rocks
of Massabielle, so as to entirely prevent all access
to the Grotto and the miraculous Spring, unless by
breaking them down or scaling them. Posts with
notices attached to them were placed here and
there, at all points whereby the people might
penetrate the communal lands with which the ven
erated Rocks were surrounded, absolutely forbid
ding any one to trespass on the grounds belonging
to the commune, under penalty of prosecution before
the tribunals. The Sergents de Ville and Gardes
CJiampctrcs kept watch day and night, relieving each
other every hour, and drawing up official reports
against such as passed the outer posts for the pur
pose of going and kneeling in the vicinity of the
Grotto.
There was a Juge dc Pai.v at Lourdes called Du-
prat. He was as inveterate a foe to Superstition, as
were the Jacomets, Massys, Dutours, and other con-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
stituted authorities. This judge, being unable un
der the circumstances to inflict any but the smallest
possible fines on delinquents, imagined an indirect
way of rendering these fines enormous and really
formidable to the poor folks who came from all di
rections to pray in front of the Grotto and request
at the hands of the Blessed Virgin, one, the recov
ery of health long broken ; a second, the cure of a
much-loved child ; a third, some spiritual grace, or
some consolation in overwhelming sorrow.
M. Duprat, finding them guilty of a misdemeanor,
sentenced the culprits to a fine of five francs each.
But, by a conception worthy of his genius, he com
bined in a single judgment all those who had vio
lated the Prefect s prohibition, whether by forming
part of the same throng, or even, as it appeared, by
repairing to the Grotto in the course of the same
day. When he sentenced them, he made them all
jointly and severally liable for the costs. Con
sequently should one or two hundred persons have
gone to the Rocks of Massabielle, each of them was
made liable to pay, not only for himself, but for all
the rest; or, in other words, to pay out 500 or 1000
francs. And yet, since the individual and original
sentence amounted only to a fine of five francs, this
magistrate s decision could not be appealed from to
a superior court, and there was no means of obtaining
redress. The judge was omnipotent, and this is a
specimen of the way in which he exerted his omnip
otence.
XII.
Tins somewhat brutal interference of the local
Government with the question to which the scenes
OUR LADY OF LOVRDES.
enacted on the banks of the Gave, for some months
past, had given rise, implied on the part of those
who governed not only the denial of anything
supernatural having occurred, but further of its
possibility. In fact had the Administration admitted
for one moment the possibility of the Apparition
they would have adopted very different measures.
In that case their aim would have been to have had
the matter thoroughly sifted, whereas the course
now followed plainly tended to hushing it up.
One fact was absolutely certain : the cures effected.
Whether produced by the mineral and therapeu
tic nature of the water, or by the imagination of the
invalids themselves, or by means of direct miracu
lous agency, these cures were palpable and officially
recognized by the incredulous themselves, who being
unable to reject them, sought only to account for
them in a natural way.
Hundreds and thousands of loyal witnesses
whose testimony was beyond all suspicion affirmed
unhesitatingly that their cure had been effected by
the use of the water at the Grotto. Not one was
to be found to whom it had proved fatal or in
whom it had produced evil consequences. Why then
have recourse to these prohibitive measures, these
lofty barriers, this armed force, menacing personal
liberty, and this system of persecution ? Why, if
such measures were permitted, were they not car
ried to their logical conclusion ? Why not close
every place of pilgrimage where the sick had re
covered their health, every church in which the
faithful owing to their prayers believed they had
received some particular Grace from God ?
Such were the questions asked in every quarter.
312
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" If Bernadettc," observed some, " had simply dis
covered a mineral spring possessing- powerful cura
tive virtues, without alluding to Visions and Appa
ritions, what Authority would have had the bar
barity to prevent invalids repairing to it for the pur
pose of drinking its waters? Under the rule of
Nero such a thing would not have been attempted,
and all governments would have voted a reward to
the child. But here, invalids kneel down before
commencing their prayers, and the understrappers
of office, flaunting cotton, silver or gold lace, who
kiss the dust before their own masters, are not
pleased that others should prostrate themselves
before God. This is the real question. It is prayer
which is the object of their persecution."
" But Superstition ?" observed the Free-thinkers.
" Is not the Church at hand to watch and guard
the faithful against error ? Let her act in her own
province, and do not transform the Council of the
Prefecture into an Ecumenical Council, or a Prefect
or Minister into an infallible Pope. What disorder
has arisen? None. What evil hastaken place which
might justify your measures and prohibitions ?
None. The mysterious Spring has done naught
.but good. Suffer then the believing portion of the
population to resort to it and drink of its water, if
they see right to do so. Leave them the liberty of
believing, praying and of being cured ; the liberty
of turning themselves towards God, and demand
ing from the powers on high some assuagement of
their sorrows. Free-thinkers, tolerate the freedom
of prayer."
- But neither the ariti-christian philosophers nor
the pious Prefect of the Hautes-Pyrenees consented
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
313
to pay any regard to so unanimous a cry, and rigor
ous measures pursued their course.
That intolerance with which the Catholic Church
is so unjustly reproached by the enemies of Chris
tianity, is in reality the dominant passion of the
latter. They are from their very nature tyrants
and persecutors.
SEVENTH BOOK.
I.
rilHE Clergy continued to refrain from repairing
I to the Grotto, and kept themselves studiously
aloof from the movement. The orders of Monseig-
neur Laurence in this matter were rigidly obeyed
throughout the diocese.
The masses of the population, cruelly agitated by
the persecution of the Administration, turned with
anxiety towards the ecclesiastical authorities to
whom God had committed the direction and de
fense of the faithful, and looked forward to an
energetic protest on the part of the Bishop against
the violence done to their own religious liberty.
Their expectations, however, were not realized.
Monseigneur preserved an absolute silence and suf
fered the Prefect to proceed. Further, M. Massy
had it inserted in his journals that he was acting in
concert with the ecclesiastical authorities, and,
to the amazement of all, the Bishop did not con
tradict the assertion. The mind of the people was
troubled.
From the very first, the extreme prudence of the
Clergy had been little understood or appreciated by
the ardent faith of the multitude. At the stage which
(3 4)
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
315
events had now reached, after so many proofs of the
reality of the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin,
after the gushing forth of the Spring, and so many
cures and miracles, this excessive reserve on the
part of the Bishop in presence of the persecutions
adopted by the Authorities appeared to them an in
explicable disloyalty. The respect they entertained
for his character or person did not entirely suffice
to restrain the expression of popular murmurs.
Why not boldly pronounce his judgment at a
time when the elements of certainty were so abun
dantly at hand from all quarters? Why not, at any
rate, issue his orders for an investigation, or have
the question studied and some examination of it
undertaken, so as to guide every one s faith and
prevent misconception. Were not events, which
were sufficient to bewilder the civil power, and
cause the up-heaving of whole populations, worthy
of the Bishop s attention ? Did not the Prelate s
obstinate silence justify the Prefect in acting as he
did? If the Apparition was false, was it not the
duty of the Bishop to enlighten the Faithful on the
subject, and arrest the progress of error at once?
If it was true, was it not his duty to oppose him
self to the persecution undergone by those who
believed, and courageously to defend the work of
God against the malice of men ? Would not a
single step taken by the Bishop, an investigation, for
instance, instituted by him, have hindered the Pre
fect from entering on that course of persecution to
which he had now pledged himself? Were the
Priests and the Bishop then deaf to so many
prayers and exclamations of gratitude Avhich were
rising from the base of this Rock, destined to eternal
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
celebrity, on which the Mother of the crucified
God had rested her virginal foot ? Had the Letter
killed the Spirit ? Were they, like the Pharisai
cal priests mentioned in the Gospel, blind to
the lightning-like splendor of so many miracles?
Were they so occupied in administering the con
cerns of the Church, and so absorbed in their cleri
cal functions, that the almighty hand of God, ap
pearing outside the temple, was either entirely over
looked by them or deemed by them an incident of
no importance. Was it then under such circum
stances, when God was intervening and persecu
tion beginning to rage, that the Bishop should walk
last, as if he were bringing up the rear of a pro
cession ?
This clamor rose from the midst of the assembled
throng and kept increasing. The Clergy were
charged with indifference or hostility, the Bishop
with timidity or weakness.
Owing to the logical course of events and the
natural bent of the human heart, this vast move
ment of men and ideas, so essentially religious in
its commencement, threatened to take an anti-eccle
siastical turn. The masses of the people, full of faith
in the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Trinity, but full
also of discontent irritated against the prolonged
keeping aloof of the Clergy, displayed a tendency
to rush towards the Church in which the divine
strength dwells, and to desert the sacristy, where,
beneath the sacerdotal robes, is found but too often
the feebleness of man.
Monseigneur Laurence continued, however, to
preserve his attitude of reserved inaction. What
were the Prelate s reasons for resisting that voice
OUIi LADY OF LOURDES.
of the people which is sometimes the voice of
Heaven ? Was it prudence inspired by God ? Was
it merely human prudence? Was it shrewdness?
Was it mere weakness?
II.
To believe is no easy matter. In spite of so many
glaring proofs, Monseigneur Laurence had still some
doubts and hesitated to act. His extremely learned
faith, did not get over the ground so rapidly as did
the faith of his simple-minded neighbors. God, who
shows himself, so. to speak, all at once to simple
and ignorant souls, who cannot be enlightened by
human studies, is sometimes pleased to impose a
longer and more patient research on cultivated and
highly-educated persons, who are capable of arriv
ing at truth by the paths of labor, investigation and
reflection. Like the Apostle Thomas, when he re
fused to believe the testimony of the other disciples
and of the Holy Women, Monseigneur Laurence
would have liked to have seen everything with his
eyes and touched everything with his hands. Of a
precise intellect, rather inclined towards the practi
cal than leaning towards the ideal, and naturally
distrustful of popular exaggerations, the Prelate
was one of those who by I know not what peculiar
instinct gave a cold reception to the passionate
feelings of others, and willingly supposed that we are
apt to be led astray by our emotions and deceived
by our enthusiasm. Although, at times, he was
deeply struck by so many extraordinary events, he
was so afraid of affirming on slight grounds that
they resulted from supernatural agency, that he
3 1 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
might perhaps have run the risk of rejecting tne
idea altogether, or of only acknowledging it when
too late, had not the grace of God tempered and
confined within just limits that natural bent of his
mind which we have just pointed out to our reader.
Not only did Monseigneur Laurence hesitate to
pronounce his own judgment, but even to command
an official investigation. A Catholic Bishop, and
deeply imbued with the necessity of keeping up the
external dignity of the Church, he was not without
fears of compromising the gravity of this Mother ot
the human race, by launching her prematurely into
the solemn examination of all these singular facts
with which he had not himself a sufficient personal
acquaintance, and which might, after all, have no
foundation beyond the silly tales of a little shepherd
girl, and the vain illusions of some poor fanatics.
There can be no doubt that the Bishop would
never have advised the measures taken by the civil
authorities, and they met with his decided disap
probation. But since the evil was done, was it not
prudent to derive from it the incidental good which
might be one of its results ? Was it not wise if,
by chance, the popular belief and account were
erroneous to leave this pretended supernatural
fact to its own resources and to allow it to fight
its own battle by itself against the hostile investiga
tion and persecution of M. Massy, the Free-thinkers
and Savants, who had formed a league together to
overturn Superstition ? It would be better, there
fore, to wait and not to be in a hurry to engage in
a conflict with the civil power, which might, per
haps, prove useless. " I deplore the measures now
taken as much as you do," the Bishop was wont to
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 3x9
observe in his own private circle to those who urged
him to interfere ; " but not being charged with the
police department, nor consulted by any of the
authorities, I can but let things take their course.
Every one is responsible for his own acts. I have
had nothing to do up to the present moment with
the acts of the civil authorities as regards the
Grotto, and I congratulate myself on having done
so. Later on, the ecclesiastical authorities will see
if there is anything to be done."
Actuated by this spirit of prudence and for
bearance, the Bishop desired the Clergy of his
diocese to urge the people to remain calm and to
employ their influence to make them submit to the
decree of the Prefect.
It appeared to the. Bishop that the wisest part
would be to avoid all disorder ; not to create new
embarassments ; to favor even, from a feeling of re
spect for the principle of Authority, the execution
of the measures ordered by the local government,
and to see what turn events might take.
Such were the views of Monseigneur Lawrence,
as may be gathered from his correspondence at
that period. Such were the considerations which
determined his attitude and inspired his conduct.
Perhaps he would have reasoned very differently,
had he possessed, at that time, the ardent faith of
the multitude. But it was well that he reasoned
and acted in this way ; it was well that he did not
yet believe. We subjoin some grave reasons.
If Monseigneur Lawrence, with the prudence
required of him as Bishop, regarded the matter
with an eye to the possibility of its being grounded
on error, God, in his infinite clear-sightedness, re-
320 OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
garded it only as connected with the immutable
certainty of His acts and truth of His work. God
willed that this work should undergo the proof of
time, and should affirm its own claims by surmount
ing, without the assistance of any one, the painful
barriers of persecution. Now, if the Churchman,
the Bishop, had from the very first believed in the
reality of so many Apparitions and Miracles, would
he have been able to resist the generous impulses
of his apostolic zeal, or hesitate, for one moment,
to interfere energetically against the persecutions
of the faithful, against the enemies of the work of
God? If he had had entire faith in the fact that the
Mother of God had really appeared in his diocese,
demanding the erection of a temple to her own
glory, and curing such as .were sick, could he
have balanced, for one single moment, between the
will of the eternal Queen of Heaven and Earth and
the paltry opposition of a Massy, a Jacomet or a
Rouland ? Certainly not. With such a faith in his
heart, the Bishop, like St. Ambrose of old at Milan,
could not but have started up, cross in hand and mi
tre on head, in the very teeth of the civil authorities.
Publicly, at the head of the believers, undeterred
by any fear of man, he would have gone to drink
at the divine Spring, to bend his knees before the
blessed Rock which the Virgin had sanctified by
the touch of her feet, and to lay the first stone, in
that wild spot, of a magnificent temple to the Im
maculate Mary.
But in thus defending the work of God in the
Present, the Prelate would infallibly have weakened
it for Futurity. The support which might have
been afforded it in its commencement would have
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
321
compromised it at a more advanced period, and
laid it open to the suspicion of having emanated
not from God but from men. The more the Bishop
kept himself outside the movement and displayed a
repugnance, nay hostility towards the faith of the
people, the more the supernatural work displayed
its strength, in triumphing without any external
assistance, by its own resources, its intrinsic truth
and innate force in defiance of the animosity or
withdrawal of all that, in this world, bears the
name of power.
Providence had resolved that this should be so,
and that the grand fact of the Apparition of the
most blessed Virgin, in the nineteeth century,
should pass, like Christianity in its infancy, through
trials and persecution. It was, therefore, necessary,
to carry out the divine scheme, that the Bishop, far
from taking the initiative, should be one of the
longest I was going to say one of the hardest to
surrender, and should only yield at last, after all
the rest, to the unexceptionable weight of the tes
timony adduced and the irresistible evidence of
facts.
And for this cause was it that God, in His secret
designs, had placed in the episcopal chair of the
diocese of Tarbes the eminent and guarded man
whose portrait we have sketched. For this cause
had it pleased Him to withhold from Monseigneur
Laurence, in the commencement, faith in the reality
of the Apparition, and to keep his mind in a state
of doubt notwithstanding so many astonishing
events. It formed part of His heavenly plan, under
such circumstances, to confirm in the Prelate that
temporizing and prudent spirit with which He had
14*
322 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
so largely endowed him, and to leave to his episco
pal wisdom that character of long hesitation and
extreme deliberation which, in the midst of the
general effervescence, was unintelligible to the multi
tude, though the future was destined to show to
the eyes of all its admirable results and providential
utility.
The people possessed the virtue of Faith, but
their impatient ardor would have willingly urged
the Clergy to interfere prematurely. The Bishop
had the virtue of Patience, but his eyes were not
yet opened to the truth of the supernatural work
which was being accomplished before him, and for
cibly striking every one. Complete wisdom, and all
things duly proportioned, were, as is always the
case, in God alone, who was directing all events,
and whose almighty hand was turning to the fulfill
ment of His object and tending to the immutable
order of His designs the enthusiasm of the multi
tude and the hesitation of the Prelate.
It was the will of God that the Church, in the
person of the Bishop, should abstain from taking
any important part, and, keeping herself constantly
aloof from the struggle, should appear at the last
moment only to close authoritatively this grand de
bate and openly declare the Truth.
III.
THE population, less calm and less patient than
the Bishop, carried away with enthusiasm on seeing
the great things which were being enacted be
fore them, and touched by the miraculous cures
which were daily increasing in number, did not,
OUR LADY OF LOURDE9. 323
however, suffer themselves to be arrested in their
course by the violent measures of the Administra
tion.
The most intrepid, in defiance of tribunals and
fines, cleared the barriers and betook themselves to
prayer in front of the Grotto, after having thrown
their names to the Gardes who kept watch at the
entrance of the communal lands. Among these
Gardes were several who sympathized with the
faith of the multitude, and these also got into the
habit of kneeling at the entrance of the venerated
place as soon as they reached the spot and before
they were posted as sentinels. Placed, as they
were, between the crust of bread which their
poorly-paid position of Sergent de Ville, or Can-
tonnicr, gave them, and the repugnant employment
imposed upon them, these poor fellows, in their
prayer to the Mother of the weak and indigent,
threw the responsibility of the wretched orders
they executed on the authorities, who forced them
to act. Notwithstanding this, they strictly fulfilled
their task, and duly reported the names of delin
quents.
Although many believers, in the impetuosity of
their zeal, would most willingly have exposed them
selves to danger in order to go and publicly invoke
the Virgin at the place of the Apparition, yet the
style of jurisprudence adopted by M. Duprat was
eminently calculated to fill the multitude with
alarm, as his nominal fine of five francs, as we have
explained, might mount up to an enormous sum.
A sentence of this kind would have been utterly
ruinous to many persons, more especially to the
very poor. The majority of them accordingly
324
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
endeavored to escape the rigorous surveillance of
persecuting power.
Sometimes the Faithful, respecting the barriers
at which the Gardes were stationed on the boundary
of the communal lands, reached the Grotto by
cross-roads. One of the party, left in the rear,
kept a look-out and warned his companions, by a
preconcerted signal, of the arrival of the police. In
this manner invalids were, with considerable diffi
culty, transported to the miraculous Spring. The
official authorities, on being informed of these in
fractions of their orders, doubled the number of
sentinels and cut off all access by these paths.
Some might be seen swimming across the Gave,
in defiance of the swiftness of its current, for the
purpose of coming to pray in front of the Grotto
and drinking at the holy Fountain. The darkness
of night was favorable to these violations of the
law, which daily increased in number, notwith
standing the zeal and activity of the Police agents.
The influence of the Clergy had been diminished,
not to say compromised, by the reasons we have
explained.
In spite of their efforts to conform themselves to
the injunctions of the Bishop, the priests discover
ed their utter inability to calm the agitated minds
of their hearers, and to impress upon them that
even the arbitrary acts of Power were entitled to
respect. "Only what is respectable can claim re
spect," was a revolutionary watchword which found
an echo in every heart. The personal ascendency
of the Cure of Lourdes loved and revered though
he was began to pale before the popular irrita
tion.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
325
Order was menaced by the very measures adopt
ed under pretext of ensuring its maintenance. The
masses, outraged in the belief they held most dear,
oscillated between submission and violence. If, on
the one hand, petitions to the Emperor were uni
versally signed, demanding in the name of liberty
of conscience, the withdrawal of the Prefect s de
cree ; on the other, the boards, with which the
Grotto was closed, were broken night after night
and thrown into the Gave. Jacomet exerted him
self in vain to discover who were the believers,
with so little respect for Authority, as to commit a
misdemeanor hitherto unknown to our codes noc
turnal prayer accompanied with the breaking open
and destruction of fences.
In order to avoid rendering themselves liable to
prosecution, the faithful often went to prostrate
themselves against the posts which marked the ex
terior boundary of the communal lands. It was
a silent protest against the measures of the civil
authority, and, as it were, a silent appeal to the om
nipotence of God.
On the day when the Court of Pau reversed the
sentence pronounced by the Tribunal of Lourdes
against one of the three women prosecuted for some
trifling remarks on the subject of the Grotto, and
confirmed the acquittal of the two others, the crowd
collected in the vicinity of the barrier was immense,
and uttered shouts of victory. They could not
contain themselves and cleared the barrier in com
pact masses, without returning any reply to the
summons and terrified shouts of the agents of Police,
who, disconcerted by the check they had experi
enced at Pau, and feeling alarmed at coming into
326 .OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
collison with so many thousands of men, retired
and suffered the torrent to pass.
The next day orders and remonstrances from the
Prefect came to revive the courage of the Police
and to prescribe a still more strict surveillance. The
force at their disposal was augmented, and dismissal
in case of failure was hinted to the agents. Re
doubled rig6r was the order of the day.
Reports of a sinister nature, absolutely false, but
craftily circulated and easily credited by the multi
tude, threatened the delinquents with imprisonment.
The actual penalties not being sufficient, an attempt
was made to produce a kind of panic in the mind
of the faithful by the employment of imaginary
menaces.
By some means or other, any open infractions of
the law were prevented from being renewed for
some days.
Sometimes, unfortunate creatures, coming from a
distance, suffering from paralysis, blindness or some
one or other of those melancholy infirmities which
medical science leaves to their fate, and which God
alone possesses the secret of curing, went to the
Mayor and besought him with clasped hands to
suffer them to seek their last chance of recovery at
the miraculous Fountain. The Mayor, obstinately
adhering to the Prefect s programme, and display
ing in the execution of the measure adopted that
energy in trifling details with which weak minds
often deceive themselves, refused, in the name of
the higher Authorities, the permission which was
demanded. Inexcusable cruelty, official reports
were drawn up against the sick themselves.
The great majority of such, then repaired to the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 337
right bank of the Gave, immediately opposite the
Grotto. There was collected there on certain days
an innumerable throng, on whom the officials had
no hold ; for the land trampled upon by these mul
titudes belonged to private individuals, who believ
ed they should bring down on themselves the bene
diction of heaven by permitting the pilgrims to
come and kneel down in their meadows and to pray
in them, their eyes turned towards the scene of the
Apparitions and the miraculous Fountain.
About the time when these vast multitudes were
being assembled, poor Bernadette, worn out by her
asthma, and doubtless wearied by the visits of so
many strangers, fell sick.
In his extreme anxiety to calm the public mind,
and remove to a distance every cause of agitation,
the Bishop availed himself of this circumstance to
advise, indirectly, Bernadette s parents to send her
to the baths of Cauterets, which are not very far
from Lourdes. It would be the means of with
drawing the youthful Seer from those dialogues, in
terrogations and accounts of the Apparitions, which
every one received with avidity, and which served
to feed the popular emotion. The Soubirous, un
easy about Bernadette s state of health, and being
convinced in their own minds that these perpetual
visits were breaking her down, confided her to the
care of one of her aunts, who was herself going to
Cautarets. She offered to take upon herself the
trifling expenses of the child s trip, which would
cost but little at that season of the year, when the
warm-baths are almost deserted. The noble and
the rich do not repair to them till somewhat later
on in the year, and a few poor people from the
328 0KB LADY OF LOURDES.
mountains have Cautarets all to themselves during
the month of May.
Bernadette, out of health, seeking silence and re
pose, and wishing to withdraw herself as much as
possible from public curiosity, remained there drink
ing the waters for two or three weeks.
IV.
IN proportion as the month of June drew to a
close, the great bathing season in the Pyrenees was
commencing.
Bernadette had returned to her father s house at
Lourdes.
The bathing places were soon thronged with in
valids, tourists, travelers, explorers, others attract
ed by simple curiosity, and savants from every
direction, coming by the thousand roads with which
Europe is intersected. These sombre mountains,
so solitary and wild all the rest of the year, were
peopled by degrees by a mass of visitors, belong
ing, for the most part, to the highest circles of so
ciety of the great cities. From July, the Pyrenees
are a faubourg of Paris, London, Rome or Berlin.
French and foreigners meet each other in the re
freshment rooms, elbow each other in the saloons,
walk about in the mountain paths, and take excur
sions on horseback in every direction, along the
banks of babbling streams, on the rugged peaks or
the flowery turf of umbrageous valleys. Ministers,
tired of active business; deputies and senators,
weary of harranguing themselves or listening to
the harangues of others ; bankers, diplomatists, mer
chants, ecclesiastics, magistrates, authors, men of the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 329
world, come to lay in a stock of health, not only at
these widely-famed springs, but in this keen and
pure mountain air, which stirs up the blood to
greater activity and renders the mind I know not
how more sprightly and free to exercise its pow
ers. In this society, so varied ; this throng of cos
mopolites, so essentially fluctuating and diverse,
representatives of every belief and every shade
of unbelief, every school of philosophy grave or
gay, every opinion and every system might have
been found. It was a microcosm ; it was an epi
tome of Europe, which in the natural course of
things and at the appointed hour, Providence was
ushering into the presence of the supernatural
events and miracles which were taking place on
the threshold of the Pyrenees. God was carrying
out His eternal plans. In the same way as of yore,
at Bethlehem, He had shown Himself to the shep
herds long before He showed Himself to the royal
Magi ; so, at Lourdes, He had in the first instance
summoned the lowly, the humble, the inhabitants
of the lonely mountains ; and it was only after these
that He called together the rich and brilliant, the
sovereigns of wealth, intellect and art, to become
spectators of His divine work.
Strangers hurried to Lourdes from Cautarets,
Bareges, Luz, Saint Sauveur, Eaux - Bonnes and
Bagneres-de-Bigorre. The town was alive with
dashing equipages, drawn, as is the custom of the
country, by four stout horses, harnessed and decked
with glaring colors and tinkling bells.
The great majority of pilgrims or travelers did
not take much heed of orders and barriers. They
defied threats of prosecution and repaired to the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Grotto, some from a sentiment of religious faith,
others actuated by a lively feeling of curiosity.
They wished to see, and they did see the persons
who had been cured. Bernadette received innu
merable visits. In all the saloons at the warm-bath
ing establishments, the events we have related form
ed the topic of every conversation. By degrees
public opinion was formed, no longer the opinion of
the little nook of country of forty or fifty leagues
which extends at the base of the Pyrenees from
Bayonne up to Toulouse or Foix, but the opinion
of France and of Europe, which were represented
at that moment in the bosom of the mountains by
visitors of every class, every idea and of every
country.
The violent measures of M. Massy, inasmuch as
they caused as much vexation to the curiosity of
some as they didto the piety of others, were loudly
blamed by all parties. The former declared them
illegal, while the latter deemed them inexpedient ;
all agreed in declaring them utterly powerless to
stem the prodigious movement of which the Grotto
and the miraculous Spring formed the centre. The
absolute certainty of the Prefect s ultimate failure
made even those judge him with severity who par
ticipated in his horror of the Supernatural, and who
in the commencement would willingly have ap
plauded his policy. Men in general, and more
especially in the caste of Free-thinkers, judge the
actions of those in power much more by their visi
ble results than by philosophical principles. Suc
cess is the surest means of obtaining approval.
Failure is a two-fold misfortune, for universal blame
is almost always superaddcd to the public humilia-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 331
tion which attends a want of success. The Baron
was suffering from the attacks of this two-fold mis
fortune.
There were circumstances when the zeal of the
Police and the municipal courage of Jacomet him
self were sorely tried. Illustrious personages some
times transgressed the limits of the enclosure. One
day there was arrested a stranger a man with
marked and expressive features who was advanc
ing towards the potcau, evidently with the intention
of going to the Rocks of Massabielle.
" You cannot pass."
" You will soon see whether I can pass or not,"
replied the stranger as he entered carelessly the
communal lands and directed his steps towards the
place of the Apparition.
" Your name ? I shall make out a report against
you."
"My name is Louis Veuillot," answered the
stranger.
While the report was being drawn up against
that celebrated writer, a lady had passed the boun
dary a few paces behind and had gone to kneel
against the barrier of boarding which closed the
Grotto. From between the openings of the palisade
she was watching the miraculous Spring gushing
forth and was praying. What was she demanding
of God ? Was her soul turning itself towards the
present or the future ? Was she praying for her
self, or for others who were dear to her and with
whose destiny she was charged ? Was she implor
ing the blessings and protection of Heaven for an
individual or a family ? No matter.
This woman engaged in prayer had not escaped
332 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the vigilant eyes which represented the policy of
the Prefect, the Magistracy and the Police.
The Argus quitted M. Veuillot and rushed to
wards the kneeling woman.
" Madame," said he, " nobody is permitted to
pray here. You are taken in the very act ; you will
have to answer for this before the Juge de Paix,
presiding over the Correctional Tribunal, and with
out appeal. Your name?"
" .Willingly," said the lady. " I am the wife of
Admiral Bruat, and Governess of His Highness,
the Prince Imperial."
No one in the world had a higher respect for the
social hierarchy and established authorities than the
formidable Jacomet. He dropped his accusation.
Scenes of this nature were often renewed. To
prosecute certain persons was alarming to the
agents of the Prefect and might have caused some
uneasiness to that high functionary himself. It was
a deplorable state of things. The powerful dis
obeyed the decree with impunity, while the weak
were treated with the utmost severity.
The weights and measures used varied according
to circumstances.
V.
THE question, however, raised by these super
natural events, by the Apparitions, true or false, of
the Virgin, by the gushing forth of the Spring, by
the miraculous cures, genuine or counterfeit, could
not, as all agreed, remain for ever in suspense. It
was absolutely necessary that all these things should
be submitted to a proper and severe investigation.
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 333
Strangers, who had not been in these districts ex
cept for a short season, had not been present at the
commencement of these extraordinary events, and
who had not been able, like the people of the
country, to come to any reasonable conviction,
were unanimous in the midst of the different
accounts and various appreciation they heard on all
sides in expressing their astonishment at the
complete silence and apparent indifference of the
ecclesiastical authorities. Much as they blamed
the interference of the civil power, they did not less
condemn the extent to which the religious power
personified in the Bishop had kept aloof.
The Free-thinkers, interpreting the long hesita
tions and present attitude of the Prelate to their
own liking, thought themselves sure of his verdict.
The friends of M. Massy began to cry loudly that
Monseigneur Laurence agreed with the Prefect in
his appreciation of what had taken place. They
threw on the Bishop the entire responsibility of the
violent measures which had been adopted. " The
Bishop," they said, " might arrest the progress of
Superstition by a single word. The only thing re
quired was that he should boldly pronounce his
judgment. The civil authorities have only been
forced to act in his default."
The believers, taking into consideration the evi
dence adduced of the miraculous facts, looked upon
themselves as equally certain of a solemn decision
in favor of their faith.
Others and among these a great number of
strangers had not come to any conviction or de
cided views on the question, and sought to be re
lieved trom their state of uncertainty by some defi-
334
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
nitive investigation. " Of what use are the religious
authorities," they observed, " if it is not to decide
questions of this nature and to settle the faith of
such as owing to distance, want of documents, or
any other cause, are unable to examine and decide
for themselves."
The Bishop s palace was beseiged with com
plaints of this kind. To the murmur of the multi
tude was joined the voice of the classes usually
termed enlightened, though frequently the little
lights of earth made them lose sight of the Great
Light of Heaven. An investigation was demanded
from all quarters.
The supernatural cures continued to be effected.
From a hundred sources official reports of these
cures, signed by numerous witnesses, were for
warded to the residence of Monseigneur Laurence.
On the sixteenth of July, the feast of Our Lady
of Mount Carmel, Bernadette had heard within her
the voice which had for some months been silent,
and which now no longer summoned her to the
Rocks of Massabielle, then closed and guarded, but
to the right bank of the Gave, into those meadows
where the multitude used to assemble to pray, safe
from prosecutions and the vexatious proceedings
of the Police. It Was about eight o clock in the
evening. Scarcely had the child knelt down and
commenced the recitation of her chaplet, when the
Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ appeared to her.
The Gave, which separated her from the Grotto,
had almost vanished from her sight as soon as the
ecstacy came over her. She saw naught before her
but the blessed Rock to which she seemed to be
as near as on former occasions and the Immacu-
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
late Virgin, who smiled sweetly upon her as if to
confirm all the past and shed light on all the future.
Not a word proceeded from her divine lips. At a
certain moment She bowed Her head towards the
child as if to tell her, " We shall meet again at some
very distant period," or to bid her a last farewell.
After this She disappeared and re-entered Heaven.
This was the eighteenth Apparition and it was the
last.
In a different or entirely opposite sense, some
strange events happened which it is of importance
to point out. Three or four different times some
women and children asserted that they had had
visions like those of Bernadette.
Were these visions true ? Was the Devil trying
to mix up his mysteries with those of God in order
to trouble them ? Or were these singular phenom
ena attributable only to derangement of mind, ill-
regulated enthusiasm, or the perverse and mischiev
ous tricks of some naughty children? Or must
we seek for some hostile hands, concealing them
selves treacherously in the back-ground, who were
pushing these visionaries to the front with the object
of throwing discredit on the miraculous events at
the Grotto ? We cannot tell.
The multitude, with their thousands of eyes fixed
on all these details, with their intuitive perception
and the necessity they felt" of coming to some con
clusion, were less reserved in their judgments than
we are ourselves.
The hypothesis that these self-styled visionaries
were incited by underhand manoeuvres on the part
of the Police assumed immediately, right or wrong,
a very serious hold on the mind of the public, which
336 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
had had become deeply imbued with distrust. The
two or three children who claimed to have seen
Apparitions mixed up all kinds of absurdities with
their story, which was in other respects sufficiently
incoherent. One day they clambered over the bar
rier formed of boards which inclosed the Grotto,
and under pretence of offering their services to the
pilgrims, drawing some of the water for them, and
of sanctifying their chaplets by contact with the
blessed Rock, they received from them and appro
priated to themselves sundry presents. Jacomet,
who might so easily have arrested them, suffered
them to remain unmolested. He sometimes affected
to be unconscious of these strange scenes, ecstacies,
and infringement of the Prefect s orders, sometimes
to be absent at the time they occurred. From
these surprising proceedings on the part of the
very crafty and sharp-sighted Commissary, every
one concluded that it was one of those dark under
hand pieces of roguery, of which men connected
with the Police, and even with the Administration,
are too frequently, perhaps considered capable.
" Baron Massy," they said, " finding himself de
serted by public opinion, and being convinced by
experience of the impossibility of putting a stop to
what was going on by the assistance of violence, is
attempting to dishonor the miracles by fomenting
false visionaries, of whom he will afterwards make
a great fuss in the newspapers and with the govern
ment. Is fecit cui prodest"
Whatever might be the value of these suspicions
and most probably they were unjust such scenes
might disturb the public mind. The Cure of
Lourdes, roused by these scandals, lost no time in
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 337
dismissing with disgrace the youthful visionaries
from the catechism class, and declared that if any
thing of the kind occurred again, he would himself
take care to institute a severe investigation and dis
cover the real instigators.
The attitude and threats of the Cure produced a
sudden and radical effect. The pretended visions
ceased there and then, and nothing more was heard
of them. They had only lasted four or five days.
The Abbe Peyramale made the Bishop acquaint
ed with this incident. As for M. Jacomet he on his
part forwarded to the proper authorities, a report,
couched in hyperbolical and romantic language, of
which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
This audacious attempt of those hostile to the
movement, to dishonor it and alter its nature, added
weight to the already very sufficient reasons with
which the Bishop was urged to act. Everything
combined to show that the moment for interference
had arrived, and that the religious authorities
should no longer delay their investigation and final
judgment.
Some men of the highest consideration in the
Christian world, such as Monseigneur de Salinis,
Archbishop of Auch ; Monseigneur Thibaud, Bish
op of Montpellier; Monseigneur de Garsignies,
Bishop of Soissons; M. Louis Veuillot, chief editor
of the Univers ; some personages less known, but
of tolerable notoriety, Monseigneur de Resscgnier,
formerly deputy ; M. Vene, Chief Engineer of the
Mines and Inspector-General of the Pyrenean warm-
baths, and a great number of eminent Catholics
happened to be in the district at the time. All of
them had studied the extraordinary events which
15
OUR LADY OF LOVRDES.
form the subject of our history ; all of them had
visited and interrogated Bernadette, and all of them
had either believed or were inclined to believe in
the truth of her story. One of the most revered of
our Bishops was said to have been unable to re
strain his emotion on hearing the youthful Seer
repeat her tale, so purely simple and bearing so
strongly the impress of truth. On contemplating
this little girl, on whose brow the gaze of the in
effable Mother of God had rested, the Prelate had
not been able to resist the first impulse of his melted
heart. He, a prince of the Church, had prostrated
himself before the majesty of this lowly peasant-
girl.
" Pray for me, bless me and my flock," said he to
her with a voice choking with emotion, and so
agitated that his knees almost refused to perform
their office.
" Rise, Monseigneur. It is for you to bless this
child," exclaimed the Cure of Lourdes, who was
present at the scene, seizing the Bishop eagerly by
the hand to assist him in rising.
However suddenly and rapid was the movement
of the Priest, Bernadette had anticipated it ; and
full of confusion in her humility she bowed her head
low beneath the Prelate s hand. The Bishop blessed
her, but not without shedding tears.
VI.
THE clear and sagacious mind of the Bishop of
Tarbes could not fail of being deeply struck by
the combination of events, the testimony of so many
serious men, and the knowledge of their conviction
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 339
after mature examination. Monseigneur Lawrence
judged that the time for speaking had arrived, and
he at length broke silence. On the 28th of July, he
issued the following mandate, which was immediate
ly known throughout the diocese and produced an
immense sensation ; for every one felt that the ex
traordinary state of things which had engrossed
public attention for so many months was at length
approaching a settlement.
MANDATE of Monseigneur the Bishop of Tarbes,
constituting a Commission charged with furnish
ing an official report on the authenticity and na
ture of events which have occurred, about six months
ago, on the occasion of an Appariation, true or pre
tended, of the Blessed Virgin, in a Grotto, situated
to the west of the town of Lourdes.
Bertrand Severe-Laurence, by the divine mercy
and the favor of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of
Tarbes.
To the Clergy and Faithful of our diocese,
health and the benediction in Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Facts of grave import connected with Religion,
which agitate the diocese, and are re-echoed far
and wide, have occurred since the eleventh of last
February.
Bernadette Soubirous, a young girl of Lourdes,
aged fourteen years, is said to have had visions in
the Grotto of Massabielle, situated west of the said
town ; the Immaculate Virgin is said to have ap
peared to her. A Fountain is said to have risen
there. The water of this Fountain either used as a
drink or applied as a lotion is said to have effected
340
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
a great number of cures, which cures are said to be
miraculous. People have come and still come both
from our own and the neighboring dioceses, seeking
the cure of their different maladies by the use of
this water, invoking at the same time the Immacu
late Virgin.
The civil Authorities have bestirred themselves
in the matter.
From every quarter, since the month of March
last, the ecclesiastical Authorities have been re
quested to explain their views touching this extem
poraneous pilgrimage.
We at first thought that the time had not come
for us to stir with any useful results in this matter;
that, in order to establish firmly the judgment
expected from us, it behoved us to proceed with
sage deliberation, to distrust the first impulse of
enthusiasm, to allow the public mind to calm itself,
to afford due time for reflection and to beseech en
lightenment for an attentive and satisfactory investi
gation.
Three classes of persons appealed to our de
cision, but from entirely different points of view.
The first consists of such as, refusing to enter
into any examination of the question in point, see
nothing in the occurrences at the Grotto, and the
cures attributed to the water of the Fountain, but
superstition, jugglery and means of duping others.
It is evident we cannot embrace their opinion a
priori and without serious investigation. Their
organs talked at first and that very loudly of
superstition, trickery and insincerity ; they affirmed
that the occurrences at the Grotto were grounded
on sordid self-interest and culpable cupidity, and
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 34 T
thus wounded the moral sense of our Christian
population. To deny everything and to impugn
the intentions of others is the easiest way, we allow,
of solving difficulties ; but, to say nothing of its not
being very honest, it is unreasonable and more cal
culated to produce irritation than conviction in the
minds of others. To deny the possibility of super
natural intervention is to become the disciples of a
superannuated school, to abjure the Christian religion
and to follow blindly the track of the infidel philo
sophy of the last century. As Catholics we cannot,
in circumstances like the present, either take the
advice of persons who deny that God has the
power of making exceptions to the general laws
which He has established for the government of
the world, the work of his hands, nor can we enter
into any discussion with them in order to ascertain
whether such or such a fact is supernatural, inas
much as they proclaim beforehand that the Super
natural is impossible. Is this as much as to say
that, with regard to the question in point, we reject
a full, sincere and conscientious discussion, en
lightened by science and the progress it has made ?
Certainly not : on the contrary we challenge it. It
is our wish that these facts should be first submitted
to the severe rules of certitude which are admitted
by sound philosophy, and that afterwards in order
to decide whether such facts are supernatural and
divine, there should be summoned to the discussions
of these grave and difficult questions men who have
devoted themselves to and are well versed in the
science of mystic theology, medicine, natural philo
sophy, chemistry, geology, etc., etc. ; in fact, that
Science may be heard and pronounce its judgment.
342 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
Above all things it is our wish that no means of
arriving at the truth be omitted.
There is a second class of persons who neither
approve nor blame, but suspend their judgment ;
before pledging themselves to any opinion, they
desire to know the decision of the competent
authorities and are most anxious to have it pro
nounced.
There is lastly, a third and very numerous class
of persons who have already formed their convic
tions, though somewhat prematurely, regarding the
matter which engrosses us. They are waiting with
the greatest impatience for the Bishop of the diocese
to pronounce his judgment on an affair of so much
gravity. Although they expect our decision to be
favorable to their pious sentiments, we know suffi
ciently well their submission to the Church to feel
assured that they will accept our judgment, of
whatever nature it may be, as soon as it is made
known to them.
It is therefore, with the object of enlightening
the religion and piety of so many thousands of the
faithful, of satisfying a want of the public, of fixing
uncertainty, and of calming the minds of all, that
we yield to-day to the pressure which has long been
brought to bear on us from so many quarters, and
endeavor to throw light on occurrences of the
deepest interest to the Faithful, as affecting the
worship of Mary and religion itself. We have
resolved, for this purpose, to institute in the diocese
a permanent Commission for collecting and authen
ticating any facts which may have already taken
place or may arise hereafter in the Grotto of
Lourdes, or in connection with it, for making them
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 343
known to us and apprizing us of their character, and
thus furnishing us with the elements which are in
dispensable to enable us to arrive at a solution of
the question.
FOR THESE REASONS :
Having invoked the holy name of God, we have
commanded and do command as follows :
Article i. A Commission is instituted in the dio
cese of Tarbes with the object of ascertaining :
ist. Whether cures have been effected by the use
of the water of the Grotto of Lourdes, whether by
drinking it or in lotions, and whether these cures
can be accounted for naturally, or should be attrib
uted to -a supernatural cause.
2d. Whether the Visions which the child, Berna-
dette Soubirous, claims to have had in the Grotto
are real, and, in that case, whether they can be ac
counted for naturally, or are of a divine and super
natural character.
3d. Whether the object which appeared demand
ed anything from the child or manifested any inten
tions to her? Whether the latter was charged with
the communication of them, and to whom? And
what was the precise nature of the demands, or in
tentions manifested?
4th. Whether the Fountain, flowing at present in
the Grotto, was in existence before the date of the
Vision which Bernadette Soubirous claims to have
had.
Article 2. The Commission will bring to our no
tice only such facts as are established by conclusive
evidence; it will forward to us circumstantial re
ports on such facts, accompanied with its own opin
ion regarding them.
344 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Article 3. The deans of the diocese will be the
principal correspondents of the Commission : they
are requested to make known to it :
ist. The facts which shall have taken place in
their respective deaneries.
2d. The persons who may be able to bear testi
mony relative to the existence of the above facts.
3d. Those who, from their scientific knowledge,
may be able to enlighten the Commission.
4th. The medical men who attended the sick per
sons before their cure.
Article 4. After previous inquiries, the Commis
sion will proceed to an investigation. The evidence
will be taken on oath. Two members, at least, of
the Commission, will go to the place where an inves
tigation takes place.
Article 5. We earnestly recommend the Commis
sion often to summon to its sittings men versed in
the sciences of medicine, natural philosophy, chem
istry, geology, etc., in order to hear them discuss
the difficulties which may be, in certain points of
view, in their line, and to learn their opinion. The
Commission ought to neglect nothing, to avail it
self of every possible source of information, and
to arrive i the truth of whatever nature it may
be.
Article 6. The Commission will be composed of
nine members of our Cathedral-Chapter, the Supe
riors of the Grand and Little Seminaries, the Supe
rior of the Missionaries of our Diocese, the Curd of
Lourdes, and of the Professors of Dogmatic The
ology, Morality, and Natural Philosophy of our
Seminary. The Professor of Chemistry of our Lit
tle Seminary will be frequently consulted.
OUR LADY OF LOTJRDES. 345
Article 7. M. Nogaro, Canon-archpriest, is named
President of the Commission. Canons Tabaries
and Soule are named Vice-presidents, The Com
mission will name a secretary and two vice-secreta
ries taken out of its number.
Article 8. The Commission will commence its
labors immediately, and meet as often as it may
judge necessary.
Given at Tarbes, in our episcopal palace, under
our signature, seal, and the counter-signature of our
Secretary, 28th of July, 1858.
! BERTRAND SEVRE,
Bishop of Tarbes.
By command,
FOURCADE, Canon-Secretary.
Monseigneur Laurence had scarcely issued this
order, when a letter from M. Rouland, Minister of
Public Worship, reached the Palace.
To understand well the terms in which this letter
was couched, we will premise :
It is impossible to know beyond all doubt whether
the Police or the Administration had instigated the
false visionaries, or whether they were the innocent
victims of universal suspicion, and it would be still
more difficult to establish this point by regular doc
uments. In such cases, the proofs, when any are in
existence, are always destroyed by interested hands.
To arrive then at the truth, there remains only the
general complexion of events, and the unanimous
feeling of a contemporary public a feeling some
times certainly very just, but often also imbued with
passion and stained with error. In presence of such
incomplete elements, of this shade mingled with
IS*
346 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
light, and this light mingled with shade, a historian
has only to recount authentic facts, to express his
doubts, uneasiness and scruples, with regard to the
rest, and to leave the reader to decide the question
and determine in his own mind on which side the
greater probability rests.
Whatever, therefore, was the reason, or the un
known hand which had instigated two or three
street-boys to play the part of Visionaries, M. Ja-
comet, M. Massy, and their friends, displayed the
greatest eagerness in exaggerating these childish
tricks and turning them to the best advantage.
They exerted themselves to the utmost to invite the
attention of the multitude to this quarter, and to
divert it from the really grave events, such as the
divine ecstacies of Bernadette, the gushing forth of
the Spring, and the cures of those that were sick,
which had captivated the faith of the people. When
the battle is lost on one point, eminent strategists
endeavor, by some well-contrived feint, to lure the
enemy towards a portion of the field full of ambus
cades, and mines ready to explode as soon as they
reach it. This is what they term, " making a diver
sion."
The sudden disappearance of the false visions and
false Visionaries before the aroused attention and
far-seeing threats of the Abbe Peyramale, blasted,
from the very first day, the hopes which had been
conceived by the profound tacticians of the free-
thinking party.
The good sense of the public remained firm on
the true ground of the question, and did not allow
itself to be deceived. This was not the case with
the high-reasoning powers of the Minister, M. Rou-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
347
land. Let us see how it happened that his strong
mind was led astray.
Attempting one more desperate effort against the
triumphant and irresistible force of circumstances,
and employing the last resources of their genius to
produce at all cost out of these paltry incidents a
last chance of resisting defeat and of resuming the
offensive, the Prefect and Jacomet had forwarded
to the Minister of Public Worship, the most hyper
bolical and fantastic picture of these childish scenes.
Now, owing to an illusion scarcely conceivable in a
statesman who had had experience of official life
in these, our days, M. Rouland placed the blindest
confidence in official reports. Faith is never lost,
whatever may be said to the contrary, but it is of
ten misplaced. Rouland, the philosopher, had no
faith in our Lady of Lourdes, proving her claims by
cures and miracles, but he had faith in the Prefect
and Jacomet. These two gentlemen then made him
believe, that, under the shade of the Rocks of Mas-
sabielle, children had the audacity to play the part
of priests, and that the people, represented by crea
tures of impure life, crowned them with laurels, or
with flowers, etc., etc. They did not disguise to
him the utter impotency of violent measures
against the general agitation of the public mind.
According to them, material force was vanquished
and the civil authority at bay. The religious au
thority alone could save the situation by energetic
action against the popular belief. Driven to des
peration and knowing little of what became the
dignity of a Christian Bishop, they dared to ima
gine, that a pressure from the higher authorities ju
diciously brought to bear on Monseigneur Lau-
34 8 OUB LADY OF LOURDES.
rence, might determine him to condemn what was
passing, and act according to their own views. For
this reason they suggested to the Minister a per
sonal appeal to the Bishop, as the best means of ex
trication from the present difficulties.
This was to urge his Excellency in the direction
towards which he naturally inclined. M. Rouland
was well-known to have a tendency to mix himself
up with religious questions, and he experienced
much pleasure in drawing up programmes for the
guidance of the successors of the Apostles.
The Minister, notwithstanding his having been
formerly Procur cur -General, never once thought of
asking himself the question why if the reports he
had received were correct the Parquet had not
prosecuted before the tribunals the authors of the
profanations brought to his notice. This strange
inaction of the Magistracy with regard to these
asserted disorders never once excited his sus
picions.
Accepting then with a candor more than minis
terial the romances of the Police and the Prefect and
fancying that he saw his way clearly in the busi
ness ; deeming himself a theologian of the first
water and something more than an Archbishop,
seeing that he was the Minister of Public Worship,
M. Rouland, from the interior of his cabinet, formed
a peremptory judgment on the actual state of things,
and wrote to the Bishop of Tarbes a letter, which
was in all respects a worthy counterpart of the one
he addressed at the commencement of the affair to
the Prefect and which we have already quoted. It
was from beginning to end impregnated with the
same official piety. On re-perusing it to-day, by
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 349
the light of historical truth, it is impossible to avoid
smiling- sadly at the manner sometimes so mon
strously barefaced in which those who govern are
at times deceived we might almost say impu
dently mocked and held up to derision by the
inferior agents of their administration. We cannot
in fact regard without a melancholy irony of mind
the following letter written by the very Minister
who at no very distant period of time was to affix
his signature to a paper authorizing the erection of
a spacious church on the Rocks of Massabielle, in
eternal memory of the Apparitions of the Most
Blessed Virgin Mary.
MONSEIGNEUR, The latest intelligence I have
received touching the affair of Lourdes appears to
me to be of a nature calculated to cause deep sor
row to all sincerely religious men. These benedic
tions of chaplets by mere children, these mani
festations in which may be remarked women of
doubtful morality, these crowns placed on the
heads of visionaries, these grotesque ceremonies,
mere parodies of religious ones, could not fail
of giving free scope to the attacks of protestant
and other journals, if the central authority did not
interfere to moderate the ardor of their discussions
t on religious subjects. These scandalous scenes do
not throw less discredit on Religion in the eyes of
the population, and I think it my duty, Monseig-
neur, to call anew your most serious attention to
wards these facts
These much to be regretted manifestations seem
to me also to be of a nature to induce the Clergy to
break through the reserve they have hitherto main-
350 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
tained. I can but make a pressing appeal on this
subject to all your prudence and firmness, and ask
you whether you do not think it advisable to re
prove in the most public manner profanations of
the kind.
Accept, etc.,
ROULAND,
Minister of Public Instruction and Public Worship,
IX.
THIS missive reached Monseigneur Laurence
precisely at the moment he had issued the Order
with which the reader is acquainted, and had con
stituted a Commission of Inquiry regarding the ex
traordinary events which the all-powerful hand of
God had brought to pass.
Although the Bishop could not but be extremely
astonished and indignant at the extravagant stories
which the Minister gave out as if they were truth
itself, he replied in a tone of moderation to his Ex
cellency s letter. Without giving his own opinion
on the matter in debate as he did not wish from
prudential motives to bring on a premature decision
he re-established the exact nature of the facts
which had been so disgracefully travestied. He
explained with equal clearness and frankness the
line of conduct which he had followed himself and
prescribed to his Clergy, until the increasing im
portance of the events around him had obliged him
to interfere and to appoint a Commission of Inquiry.
To the Minister, who, without knowing any thing
or examining any thing, urged him to condemn, he
replied that he was engaged in investigation.
OUR LADY OF LOUHDES. $$1
MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE, I read your despatch
with great astonishment. I am also informed of
what is passing at Lourdes, and, |is Bishop, deeply
interested in reprobating whatever is calculated to
cause sorrow to Religion and the faithful. I am,
therefore, enabled to inform you that the scenes
you mention in your letter have never existed such
as they have been described to you, and that if
some things to be regretted have occurred they
were of a very transient nature and have left no
traces behind them.
The occurrences to which your Excellency al
ludes must have taken place since the closing of the
Grotto and the first week in July. Two or three
children of Lourdes took it into their heads to play
the part of Visionaries and perform sundry antics
in the streets. The Grotto, as I observed, being
then closed, they found means of entering it and of
offering their services to visitors, who had been
stopped at the barriers, to bless their chaplets in
the interior of the Grotto and to receive their offer
ings, for the purpose of appropriating them to
themselves. One of them, who made himself most
remarkable by his eccentricities sometimes highly
improper was attached to the parish church at
Lourdes, as chorister. The Cure gave him a severe
reprimand, expelled him from the catechism class
and excluded him from the service of the Church.
This disorder was only transient. The public saw
nothing in it beyond the frolics of certain children,
which a few threats soon put an end to. Such are
the facts which some too zealous persons have magni
fied in their reports into permanent scenes.
I should be glad, Monsieur, for you to obtain in-
352 OUR LADY OF LOVRDES.
formation as to what is passing at Lourdes from
persons of birth and education who have stopped in
that town in order to see the places for themselves,
to converse with the inhabitants and with the child
who has seen the Vision, such as the Bishops of
Montpellier and Soissons, the Archbishop of Audi,
M. Vtine, Inspector of the Mineral Waters, Madame
Bruat, wife of the Admiral, M. Louis Veuillot, etc.,
etc.
The Clergy have up to the present time kept
altogether aloof, on the occasion of the affairs at the
Grotto. The Clergy of the town have displayed
admirable prudence, never going to the Grotto, in
order to avoid giving credit to the Pilgrimage, but
on the contrary favoring the measures taken by the
authorities. And yet they have been reported to
you as favoring Superstition. I do not accuse the
first magistrate of the Department as his intentions
have always been upright ; but in this affair he has
placed too much confidence in his subordinates.
In my letter in answer to the Prefect, bearing
date April i ith, a letter which has been submitted to
you, I offered that magistrate my sincere co-opera
tion to bring this affair to a happy termination. But
it was impossible for me to accede to his wishes by
stigmatizing, from the Christian pulpit, without
enquiry or investigation, those who were in the
habit of going to pray at the Grotto, nor could I
prohibit them from going there, more especially as
no disorder of any kind was reported, though on cer
tain days the visitors might have been counted by
thousands. Besides the fact that the Church always
assigns specific reaaons for her prohibitions, and the
information I had received on the subject was insuf-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 353
ficient, I was also morally certain, that my words
would not have been listened to at a moment when
the minds of all were in a state of the highest ex-
o
citement.
The Prefect, being at the Council of Revision at
Lourdes, on the 4th of May, had the religious ob
jects which were in the Grotto removed by the
Commissary of Police at Lourdes, and, in a speech
which he addressed to the Mayors of the canton,
he said that he had taken that measure with the
consent and approval of the Bishop of the Diocese
an assertion which was repeated some days later
by the organ of the Prefecture. I was informed
of this step by the journals, and by the Cure of
Lourdes. I lost no time in writing to the latter
desiring that the orders of the Prefect might be
respected. I never complained either at the time
or since that I appeared to have shared in a mea
sure of which I was entirely ignorant. Although
numerous letters have reached me begging me to
enter my protest, I have refrained from doing so,
not wishing to add to the embarrassments of the
situation.
The objects of piety being removed from the
Grotto, we might hope that the number of visits to
the spot would gradually decrease and that this
Pilgrimage, which had so unexpectedly sprung into
existence, would be brought to a close. The public
claimed, right or wrong, that the water which
flows in the Grotto effected marvelous cures ; the
crowds became more numerous and people flocked
to the spot from the neighboring departments.
On the eighth of June, the Mayor of Lourdes
issued an Order, forbidding all access to the Grotto.
354 U R LADY OF LOURDES.
This Order was based on the interests of Religion
and the public health. Although Religion had thus
been brought prominently forward, and the Bishop
had not been consulted, the latter did not make any
formal expostulation ; he kept silence for the rea
sons explained above.
You see, Monsieur le Ministre, from these few
details that the reserve of the Clergy in this affair
has not been pushed to extremes. In my opinion
it has only been prudent. When I could, I co
operated with the measures taken by the civil au
thorities, and if they have not always been success
ful, it is not the Bishop who must incur the blame.
Now, yielding to the expostulations addressed to
me from all quarters, I thought the time had ar
rived for me to occupy myself usefully with this
affair. I have named a Commission for the purpose
of seeking for and collecting the elements necessary
to form a decision as far as I am concerned on
a question which keeps the country in agitation,
and which, to judge from the information which
reaches me, seems to interest the whole of France.
I am confident that the Faithful will receive my
decision with submission, as they know well that I
shall have neglected no means of arriving at truth.
This Commission has been in operation for some
days. I am determined to give every publicity to
my Order by means of the Press, in the hope that
it may contribute to calm the public mind while
waiting for the promulgation of the decision. I
shall do myself the honor of forwarding your Excel
lency a copy of it within a few days.
I am, etc., etc.,
B. S., BISHOP OF TARBES.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
355
Such was the letter of Monseigneur Laurence to
M. Rouland. It was clear, it was conclusive, and
it was unanswerable. The Minister of Public Wor
ship did not reply to it. He resumed his former
silence, in which he showed his wisdom. Perhaps
he would have displayed still greater wisdom if he
had never broken it.
X.
AT the time when Monseigneur had just com
manded, in the name of Religion, an investigation
relative to those extraordinary facts which the civil
authorities had condemned, persecuted, and wished
to suppress a priori, without deigning even to study
or discuss them ; on the very same day, when the
Prelate s letter to the Minister of Public Worship
was despatched, M. Filhol, the illustrious Professor
of Chemistry in the Faculty of Toulouse, returned
the decisive verdict of Science on the water of the
Grotto at Lourdes. The conscientious and most
complete labor of the great chemist annihilated the
official analysis of M. Latour de Trie, that savant
of the Prefecture, who had been so much cried up
by the Prefect.
The undersigned, Professor of Chemistry to
the Faculty of Science at Toulouse, Professor of
Pharmacy and Toxicology at the School of Medi
cine in the same town, Chevalier of the Legion
of Honor, certifies to having analyzed a certain
water coming from a Spring, which has gushed forth
in the environs of Lourdes. . . .
The result of this analysis it, that the water of
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the Grotto at Lourdes may be considered from its
component parts to be a water fit for drinking
purpose, analogous to the majority of those which
are met with on mountains whose soil is rich in
lime-stone.
The extraordinary effects which arc positively at
tributed to the use of this water, cannot at least in
the present state of science be explained by the nature
of the salts, whose existence is revealed by this analysis.
This li ater does not contain any active substance ca
pable of endowing it with marked therapeutic virtues.
It may be drunk without inconvenience.
(Signed) FlLHOL.
TOULOUSE, August ;th, 1858.
Thus when confronted with the examination of
the celebrated chemist, all the pseudo- scientific
scaffolding on which the Free-thinkers, Savants and
the Prefect had with so much pains constructed
their theory of extraordinary cures, fell to the
ground. According to the verdict returned by
true science, the water of the Grotto was not min
eral, nor did it possess any curative virtues. And
yet it effected cures. There remained nothing for
those, who had audaciously put prominently for
ward false explanations, except the confusion at
tending their attempt and the impossibility from
that time forth of withdrawing the public acknowl
edgment they had made of the cures accomplished.
Falsehood and error were taken in their own nets.
EIGHTH BOOK.
I.
THE mandate of the Bishop instituting a Com
mission of Inquiry, coupled with the analysis
furnished by M. Filhol, took away from Baron
Massy, M. Rouland and M. Jacomet, all pretext for
persevering in violent measures as well as for main
taining round the Grotto rigorous prohibitions,
barriers and sentinels.
In justification of the prohibition of trespass on
the communal grounds they had said, " Consider
ing that it is important, in the interests of Religion,
to put a stop to the deplorable scenes at the Grotto
of Massabielle." Now, the Bishop by declaring
the state of things to be sufficiently grave to war
rant his interference, and by taking in hand the
investigation of whatever regarded the " interests
of Religion," disarmed the civil power of this motive,
which it had so loftily invoked.
In justification of the prohibition of going to
drink water at the Spring which had gushed forth
from beneath the hands of Bernadette when in a
state of ecstacy, they had said, " Considering that it
is the duty of the Mayor to watch over the public
health ; considering that there are serious reasons
(35?)
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
for believing that this water contains mineral com
pounds, and that it is prudent before permitting
it s U se to wait until a scientific analysis shall
make known the manner in which it may be applied
by the science of medicine. . . ." Now by declar
ing that the water did not contain any mineral com
pound, and by establishing that it might be drunk
with impunity, M. Filhol demolished, in the name
of Science and Medicine, this pretended reason,
" the public health."
If then the civil power had alleged these motives
as straightforward reasons, and not as specious pre
texts ; if it had acted " in the interests of Religion
and of the public health," and not under the influ
ence of evil passions and intolerance ; if, in a word,
it had been sincere, and not actuated by hypocrisy,
it would, in the present stage of events, have had
nothing to do but to cancel its prohibitions and
remove its barriers ; it would have had nothing
to do but to leave the people absolutely free
to drink at the Fountain, whose perfect harm-
lessness had been proclaimed by Science ; it would
have had nothing to do but to acknowledge their
right to go and kneel at the foot of those mysteri
ous Rocks, where from henceforth the Church kept
watch.
It did nothing of the kind.
To this solution of the question, so clearly point
ed out by logical reasoning and conscience, there
was one potent obstacle Pride. Pride bore the
sway from the bottom to the top of the ladder, from
Jacomet up to Rouland, including, of course, the
Baron, and all their philosophizing Sect. It seemed
hard to them to recoil and surrender their arms.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 359
Pride never submits. It would rather boldly in
trench itself in the illogical than bow to the author
ity of Reason. Furious, beside itself, driven to the
most absurd shifts, it raises itself to its full height
against evidence. It says, " Non serviam" like the
Satan of holy writ. It resists, refuses to give way
and becomes inflexible until all at once the crash
comes and it is contemptuously shivered into
atoms.
II.
To the official and officious enemies of Supersti
tion, there remained one last weapon to be employ
ed, one final struggle to be attempted. If the bat
tle seemed to be definitely lost in the Pyrenees,
they might possibly reconquer their position at
Paris, and make themselves masters of public opin
ion in France and in Europe, before the cosmopo
lite band of tourists and bathers, on their return to
their own firesides, should have spread every where
their vexatious impressions and severe judgments.
A formidable campaign was organized by the irre
ligious press of Paris, the province and foreign
countries, against the events at Lourdes and the
Bishop s pastoral letter.
While the generals of Free-thought were engaged
in the decisive combat on this vast battle-field, the
Prefect of the Hautes-Pyrenees, like Kellermann at
Valmy, received instructions to maintain his line of
operations come what might not to give way an
inch and not to capitulate, at any price, in face of
the enemy. The} well knew Baron Massy s intre
pidity, and were aware that neither arguments, nor
360 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
reason, nor moral considerations, nor the spectacle
of the most astounding Miracles would triumph
over his invincible firmness. He would hold his
ground even though it were crumbling beneath his
feet. Even the absurdity of their position would
be ably defended by him.
The Journal des Debats, the Siecle, the Prcsse, the
Indipendance Bclgc, and several foreign journals
struck the blow simultaneously, and rushed to the
attack with violence. The most insignificant jour
nals of the most insignificant countries, deemed it
an honor to figure in this muster of shields against
the Supernatural. We find, in fact, among those
which took part in the struggle, even a paltry lit
tle newspaper of Amsterdam, the Amsterdaamsche
Courant.
Some, as the Presse for instance, by the pen of
M. Gueroult, or the Siecle by that of M. M. Benard
and Jourdan, attacked Miracles in their very prin
ciple, declaring that they had had their day, that
they did not enter into any discussion with them,
and that in a question already judged a priori by
the great lights of philosophy, to examine was in
consistent with the dignity of Free Examination.
" Miracles," observed M. Gueroult, " belong to a
series of civilization which is fast disappearing. If
God does not change, the idea which mankind forms
of Him changes from epoch to epoch in propor
tion to the degree of light and morality they have
attained. Ignorant people, who have no suspicion
of the important harmony of the laws of the uni
verse, see every where those laws reversed. From
day to day God appears to them, talks to them,
converses with them and sends angels to them.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 361
In proportion as Societies are enlightened, men
become educated, and the sciences of observation
come to counterbalance the flights of the imagina
tion, all this mythology vanishes. Man is not less
religious on this account ; he is in reality more so,
but it is after another fashion. He sees no longer
face to face gods or goddesses, angels or demons.
He strives to decipher the divine will written in the
laws of the world. Miracles, which at certain
epochs, might be the conditions of faith and serve
as exterior coverings of deep truths, have become
in our days the bugbears of all serious convic
tions." M. Gueroult declared that if he were told
of a most striking supernatural fact as being in the
process of accomplishment in his immediate neigh
borhood, on the Place de la Concorde, " he would
not go out of his way to see it. If such adven
tures can take their place for an instant in the super
stitious baggage of the ignorant masses, they do
but provoke in men of enlightenment in those,
whose opinion, in process of time, becomes that of
the world the repulsion of distrust and the smile
of disdain." Other journals devoted themselves
gallantly to the disfigurement of facts. At the
same time that it attacked the very principle of
miracles, the Siccle, in spite of the evidence adduced,
and the vast body of water which the Spring pro
duced daily, still stuck, in its capacity of a very ad
vanced journal, to the hackneyed theory of halluci
nation and oozing. " It seems to us a matter
of difficulty," observed M. Benard, with all the
pomp of learning, " how they managed to manufac
ture a miracle out of the hallucination, true or
false, of a miserable little girl of fourteen years
16
362 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
of age, and the oozing of some pure water in a
Grotto."
As to the miraculous cures they disposed of
them by a single word. " The hydropathists also
pretend to effect the most brilliant cures with pure
water, but they have not yet proclaimed from the
house-tops that they work Miracles."
But the most curious specimen of the good faith
of the Free-thinkers, or of their sagacious investi
gation of this matter, is to be found in the Dutch
journal we named above, the grave narration of
which was re-produced in the French papers. This
friend of enlightenment instructed the world and re
counted the events which had occurred as follows :
"A new manifestation, destined to rouse and
nourish the ardor of the faithful for the worship of
the Blessed Virgin, was imminent. The delibera
tions of the Bishops on this point resulted in the
preparation of the famous Miracle of Lourdes.
Every one knows that the Bishop of Tarbes has
appointed a Commission charged with investigating
the fact. The so-called conclusions of the Report
of the Commission, which is composed of ecclesias
tics and individuals paid by the Clergy, were pre
pared long before the first meeting. The pretended
shepherd-girl Bcrnadette is not an innocent shepherd-
girl, but a young girl belonging to the city, of highly
cultivated mind and crafty intellect, who has passed
several months in a nunnery -where she has been duly
tutored in the part she was to play. There, before a
small number of confederates, trial-representations
were given long before she was brougJit on the public
scene. As we see, nothing was wanting to this
comedy, not even rehearsals. If at any time there
OUR LADY OF LOUBDE8. 363
happens to be a dearth of dramatists at Paris, per
sons may be found among the superior Clergy who
will fill up the gap in the most superior style. Be
sides, the liberal press has turned the whole affair
into ridicule from beginning to end, and it is very
possible that the Clergy, for their own interest, will
recognize the necessity of being prudent." The in
formation obtained by the journalists could only be
compared with that which had captivated the sim
ple faith of his Excellency, M. Rouland. The public,
as we see, were not treated more respectfully than
a Minister. In this manner is not unfrequently
formed the opinion of those who are termed by M.
Gueroult, in his article, " enlightened men," doubt
less in allusion to the torrent of light which the
press throws upon them.
III.
OUTSIDE the events themselves and the Miracle,
the mandate of the Bishop of Tarbes was the center
of attack. Philosophy, in virtue of the infallibility
of its dogmas, was indignant at the idea of investi
gation, scientific study and experiments. " When
an individual, laboring under hallucination, sends a
paper on perpetual motion or squaring the circle to
the Academy of Sciences, the Academy passes to
the order of the day without losing its time in
examining lucubrations of the kind. There is no
place for investigation when Miracles are in ques
tion ; in the name of reason, Philosophy passes to the
order of the day. To examine supernatural facts,
would be to admit their possibility and by so doing
repudiate our own principles. In such matters
364 OUR LADY OF LOUEDES.
proofs and evidence go for nothing. We do not
enter into discussions on what is impossible, we
shrug our shoulders and there is nothing to be
said." Such was the theme on which turned in
a thousand different forms the ardent and exaspe
rated polemical discussion of the irreligious portion
of the press. In vain did it obstinately persist in
denials and misrepresentations ; it dreaded any in
vestigation. False theories delight in resting on the
fleeting waves and indistinct mists of pure specula
tion. By I know not what instinct of self-preserva
tion, they shrink from broad day-light and dare not
descend with firm step on the broad plain of experi
mental method. They have a foreboding that defeat
awaits them there.
In this desperate struggle againt the evidence of
facts and the rights of reason, the skin-deep liberal
ism of the Journal des Debats peeled off and fell, like
theatrical varnish, leaving visible, with scarcely any
attempt at concealment, the ground-work of furious
intolerance which is concealed beneath the stately
phrases of philosophy. The Journal dcs Debats,
in an article from the pen of M. Prevost-Paradol, dis
played its alarm beforehand at the immense range
which the Report of the Commission and the ver
dict of the Bishop would infallibly have, and he
made that his starting-point to appeal to the secular
arm and to conjure Caesar to put a stop to the whole
matter. " It is evident," said he, " that a striking
manifestation of the divinity in favor of a certain
form of worship is a high testimony to its peculiar
truth, its superiority to all the rest, and to its incon-
testible right to the government of souls. It is
therefore an event of a nature calculated to bring in
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 365
its train numerous adhesions, whether as regards
dissenters or unbelievers ; in a word, it is an instru
ment of proselytism." He put in a strong light the
political importance of the result of the inquiry.
" If this decision is favorable to the Miracle, it
tends to a certain point, to break in that part of
France the balance between the religious and the
civil power. The Ministers of a form of worship in
favor of which such prodigies are authenticated
are vastly different personages from those antici
pated, organized and placed under certain regula
tions by the terms of the Concordat. They have
an influence of quite another nature over the popu
lation, and in case of any collection they dispose
of it with an authority totally different from that of
the Council of State and of the Prefect.
" We have sufficiently proved," continued the
writer in the Debats, " the importance which, in
several points of view, the decision of the Episco
pal Commission of Tarbes must necessarily have.
Now, there is here a truth which we should bear in
mind, and of which M. de Morny has just re
minded the Council-General of Puy de Dome with
justifiable urgency. It is that nothing of impor
tance can be legally done in France without the
previous authorization of the Administration. If a
stone cannot be moved, as M. de Morny well re
marked, or a well dug without the consent of the
Administration, how much more necessary must its
consent be in order to establish a Miracle or found a
Pilgrimage. Any one who is conversant with reli
gious matters, and particularly with the opening of
temples, or of schools of dissenting communes,
knows perfectly well that the administrative au-
366 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
thority has not one plea, but ten ; not one article of
the law, but twenty or thirty which confer on it
supreme power in such matters. The meeting of
the Commission of the Diocese of Tarbes may be
prevented or dissolved in a hundred ways by the
Concordat, by the penal Code, by the law of 1824,
by the decree of February 1952, by the central
authority, by the municipal authority, by all the
authorities possible. Further than this, the decision
of this Commission when promulgated may be an
nulled in reality by the legal opposition of the ad
ministrative authority to the erection of a chapel or
to the licensed use of the marvelous water. The
same authority has the power of prohibiting and
dispersing all assemblages of persons, and of prose
cuting their instigators, etc." Having reached this
point, having warned Caesar, and cried out lustily
his caveant consults, the crafty writer resumed for
form s sake his mantle of liberalism. " What are
we aiming at," he observed hypocritically, " in es
tablishing this preventive right of the Administra
tion ? Is it to exhort it to avail itself of it? God
forbid ? " And he thus rejoined, by a back door,
the ranks of the friends of liberty,
In the departments, the journals tamely re
echoed those of Paris. The battle was commenced
everywhere and by all. The sergeants, corporals,
the rank and file of literature stepped to the front
in the wake of the Marshals of Free-thought. At.
Tarbes, the Ere Imperial f, inspired by the Prefect,
rammed his carbine with arguments fresh from
Paris, and fired close to the muzzle, every second
day, at the Supernatural. The little Lavedan, itself,
had found a few grains of powder terribly
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 367
damped, it it true, by the water of the Grotto
and assisted, it is said, by Jacomet, exerted itself to
level at the Miracle its hebdomadal pistol, which
regularly missed fire once a week.
The Univers, the Union, the majority of the
Catholic journals supported the universal shock
gallantly. Powerful talents placed themselves at the
service of Truth, which was still more powerful.
The Christian press re-established the reality of
History and put to flight the miserable quibbles of
philosophical fanaticism.
" In face of the unexplained occurrences to which
a supernatural character is attributed by the faith
or the credulity of the multitude, the civil author
ity," observed M. Louis Veuillot, " has without in
formation, but also without success decided the
question in the negative. The spiritual authority
is now interfering in its turn ; it is its right and
its duty. Before judging, it seeks information.
It has instituted a Commission, a kind of tribunal of
investigation, in order to discover facts, study their
nature, and to determine their character. If they
are true, and possess a supernatural character, the
Commission will say so. If they are false, or only
produced by natural causes, it will state this. What
more can our adversaries desire from us ? Would
they have the Bishop abstain, at the risk of slight
ing a grace which God might deign to grant to
his diocese, or, in the other case, suffer a supersti
tion to strike its roots deep into the hearts of the
faithful ?
" The Bishop cannot fail to have remarked the
strangeness of this conviction, which is establish
ing itself among a whole people, on the word of a
368 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
poor illiterate little girl. He must have asked him
self the question How came these cures, which are
said to be effected by a few drops of pure water,
either employed as a lotion or drank by the suf
ferers ? And if there were in reality no cures, it is
necessary for us to know why it was so generally
believed that they had taken place. Now, sup
posing that the water is pure, as the chemists say,
and that nevertheless the cures are certain, as has
been affirmed up to the present time by many in
valids and some doctors, we do not see any difficulty
in recognizing in this supernatural and miraculous
agency, with all due deference to the explanations
offered by the Siecle"
This vigorous polemical writer faced all his
enemies at the same time. A stroke of his pen was
sufficient to upset the absurd prejudice of denying
Miracles altogether, and of refusing even an ex
amination of those astounding facts which whole
multitudes saw with their eyes and proclaimed on
their knees. " If M. Gueroult were told that, in
the name of Christ, a great miracle was being per
formed on the Place de la Concorde, he would not
go to see it. He would do well, since he is deter
mined to remain incredulous ; before such a spec
tacle he would not be certain of finding such a
natural explanation as would dispense him from
going to confession. But he would do better to see
the Miracle and believe, yielding to the testimony
which God, in His mercy, might be willing to give
him. In either case, we would have him to under
stand that the crowd would not be much troubled
at his absence, and would experience no uneasi
ness at hearing him declare that what had been
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 369
seen was the simplest thing in the world, and that
the crowd was merely suffering from hallucination.
Things would pass in Paris exactly as at Lourdes.
There would be a general cry that a Miracle had
taken place, and, if it really was a Miracle, the
Miracle would produce its effect ; in other words,
that many men who have not hitherto sought to de
cipher the divine will, or have not succeded in doing
so, would know it and put it in practice ; they
would love God with all their heart and all their
soul and all their mind, and their neighbor as them
selves. Such is the end God would attain by Mir
acles. Woe to those who refuse to profit by them."
" Those who reject the Supernatural," observed
one of the ancients, " sap the foundations of all p hil-
osophy. They do so, in fact, and especially since
the advent of Christianity, because wishing to with
draw God from the world, they are left without any
explanation of the world or of humanity. This
God whom they exclude, some deny His existence,
in order to get rid of Him altogether ; others banish
Him into vacuity, as exacting nothing and having
nothing to exact from mankind, whom he abandons
to chance, after having created them in a freak of
his disdainful power. Some, denying and affirming
His existence at the same time, as if they wished
to glut their ingratitude by a double insult, pretend
to discover Him everywhere, which dispenses
them from acknowledging and adoring Him any
where. However, around them and within them
selves, humanity cries aloud and confesses God.
They answer with sophisms, which do not really
satisfy them, and by sarcasms, the compass of which
they, with difficulty, hide from themselves ; and
3/0 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
lastly, their science and their reason, driven into
absurdities, stop their eyes and their ears. They
sap the foundations of philosophy. Does God, com
passionating the faith of the weak, which these false
Doctors would abuse, show Himself by one of those
unusual strokes of his power, which does not on that
account cease to be one of the laws of the world ?
They reject it. Look ! We do not wish to see !
David has said of the sinner, " He has sworn in his
heart to sin ; he refuses to understand lest he should
be forced to do well."
"Ah ! doubtless," exclaims elsewhere the indignant
logician, " there exists a miserable crowd at whom
all these common-places may be boldly flung ; but
there are also, even at Lourdes, readers whose good
sense rebels and asks what becomes of history, pal
pable facts and right and simple reason in systems
of the kind, with their decision to refuse all ex
amination, and their negation a priori.
" As to preventing the Episcopal Commission per
forming its duties, we doubt if there are laws confer
ring this power on the State ; if there are, the wisdom
of the State should abstain from putting them in
force. On the one hand nothing could be more fa
vorable to the growth of Superstition : popular
credulity would go astray to its heart s content, for
there is no law which can oblige the Bishop to
pronounce his judgment on a fact of which he can
not know anything, and of which he is even forbid
den to know anything. The enemies of Supersti
tion have only one thing to do, which is to institute
a Commission themselves, have a counter-investiga
tion, and publish its result ; provided, of course,
that the Episcopal Commission concluded in favor
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
371
of the Miracle. For, if it came to the conclusion that
the facts were false or only produced by illusion,
there was nothing more to be said on the subject."
In the midst of the great excitement of the pub
lic mind, the Catholic press displayed truly admir
able reserve, in refusing to pronounce any judg
ment regarding what had occurred at the Rocks of
Massabielle and the miraculous cures. It did not
wish to anticipate in any way the decision of the
Episcopal Commission. It confined itself to refut
ing calumnies, gross libels and sophisms, to main
taining the grand historical thesis of the Superna
tural, and to reclaiming, in the name of reason, the
rights of investigation and the liberty of intelli
gence.
" The occurrences at Lourdes," observed the
UniverSj " have not yet been either verified or
stamped with any decided character. They may
arise from miraculous agency, or from a mere illu
sion. The debate will be settled by the Bishop s
decision.
" As regards ourselves, we think we have replied
to whatever has been advanced seriously, or mere
ly speciously, respecting the affair at Lourdes. Here
we shall pause. It was not our part to allow the
press to incrust these facts with all the lies it could
invent ; it would not be our part to reply to the de
rision which it has showered so unsparingly upon
them. Wise men will appreciate the wisdom and
good faith of the Church, and, as is usually the case,
after all this disturbance, Truth will obtain in the
world her little nucleus of adherents, pusillus grex
which is, however, sufficient to maintain the reign
of truth in the world."
372
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
We see that, in this vast polemical war, which was
stirred up on this grand question of Miracles owing
to the events at Lourdes, the two camps were ani
mated with the most opposite spirit.
On the one side, the Catholics appealed for a fair
investigation; on the other, the pseudo-philosophers
dreaded the approach of light. The former said
" Let an inquiry be instituted ; " the latter exclaim
ed, " Let all debates be cut short ! " The motive of
one party was liberty of conscience ; while the oth
er entreated Caesar to suppress by violence this re
ligious movement, and to stifle it, not by force of
argument, but by the brutality of power.
Every one of impartial mind, placed by his ideas
or position outside the melee, could not but perceive
in the clearest point of view, that justice, truth, and
reason, were on the side of the Catholics. For
this, it was sufficient not to be blinded by the fury
of the struggle or the force of prejudice.
Although the Administration, in the person of a
Commissary, a Prefect, and a Minister, had unfor
tunately played a most foolish part in this grave af
fair, there existed one powerful man who had never
acted in it, and who, whatever might be his reli
gious, philosophical, and political ideas, was in a
condition to decide with perfect impartiality. The
fact of the Supernatural having manifested itself or
not at the gates of Lourdes, was a matter of utter
indifference, as far as his schemes and the progress
of his own affairs were concerned. Neither his am
bition, nor his vanity, nor his doctrinal views, nor
his antecedents, were pledged on either side of the
question. Where is the mind, which, in such cir
cumstances, would not deal equitably, and give rea-
OUR LADY OF LOUBDES.
373
son and justice their due ? Men do not violate Jus
tice and outrage Truth, except when they deem it
of utility to trample them under foot, in view of
some powerful interest connected with fortune, am
bition, or pride.
The man of whom we are speaking was called
Napoleon III., and was, by chance, Emperor of the
French.
Impassible as was his wont, mute as the sphinxes
of granite which guard the gates of Thebes, he fol
lowed the polemical combat, watching the fluctua
tions of the battle, and waiting until the conscience
of the public, so to say, dictated to him his deci
sion.
IV.
WHILE God thus left his work to be discussed
by man, He did not cease to grant visible graces
to those humble and believing souls, who repaired
to the miraculous Fountain to implore the sovereign
power of the Virgin Mother.
A child at St. Justin, in the department of Gers,
Jean-Marie Tambourne, had been for some months
entirely disabled in his right leg. He suffered such
excruciating pains in it, that his limbs had been vio
lently twisted out of shape ; and his foot, completely
turned outwards by his attacks of suffering, had
formed a right angle with the other foot. His gen
eral health had been speedily impaired and disor
ganized owing to his state of continual suffering,
which deprived him of sleep as well as of appetite.
His parents, who were in tolerably easy circum
stances, had exhausted, in hopes of effecting his cure,
374 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
all the treatment recommended by the medical men
of the place. Nothing could overcome the poor
child s inveterate infirmity. Recourse had been
had to the waters of Blousson, and to medicinal
baths, but almost everything had failed. Very
slight temporary alleviation of his sufferings con
stantly led to disastrous relapses.
His parents had lost all confidence in any means
recommended by science. Disgusted with the vain
efforts of medical men, they turned their hopes to
wards the Mother of Mercy, who, as it was said,
had appeared at the Rocks of Massabielle. On the
twenty-third of September, 1858, Jean-Marie was
taken by his mother to Lourdes in a public convey
ance. The distance was long, being about fifty
kilometres. On reaching the town, the mother, car
rying her unfortunate son in her arms, repaired to
the Grotto. She bathed him in the miraculous wa
ter, praying at the same time fervently to Her, who
has willed to be called in the Rosary, " Health of
the weak." The child had fallen into a kind of ec
static state. His eyes were wide open and his
mouth half closed. He seemed to be contemplating
some strange spectacle.
"What is the matter with you?" enquired his
mother.
" I see God and the Blessed Virgin," he replied.
The poor woman on hearing these words experi
enced a profound commotion in her heart of hearts.
A strange perspiration stood in beads on her face.
The child had come to himself again.
" Mother," he exclaimed, " my ailment is gone !
I do not feel any more pain. I can walk. I feel as
well as I was long ago ! "
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 375
Jean-Marie spoke the truth. Jean-Marie was
cured. He returned to Lourcles on foot. He dined
and slept there. Simultaneously with the disap
pearance of his infirmity and pain, his appetite and
sleep returned. The next day, his mother returned
to the Grotto to bathe him once more, and had a
mass of thanksgiving celebrated in the parish-
church of Lourdes. Then, both started on their
return homewards, but on foot, and not in any ve
hicle.
When, after having slept en route, they reached
St. Justin, the child perceived his father, who was
on the high-road, looking out, no doubt, for the car
riage which was to bring home his pilgrims. Jean-
Marie recognizing him from afar, let go his mother s
hand and began to run towards him.
The father almost fainted at the sight. But his
dearly-loved child was already in his arms. " Fa
ther," he exclaimed, " the Blessed Virgin has cured
me ! "
The fame of this event spread like wild-fire in the
town, where Jean-Marie was known by every one.
People came to see him in crowds from all quarters.
The sister of a notary at Tarbes, Mademoiselle
Jeanne-Marie Massot-Bordenave, had remained, in
consequence of a long and serious illness, almost en-
; irely deprived of the use of her hands and feet.
She could only walk with the greatest difficulty.
As to her hands, they were constantly swollen, of a
purple color, and causing her pain, and almost en
tirely useless. Her fingers, bent and stiff, could not
be straightened, and were the victims of a complete
paralysis. Having been to see her brother at Tarbes,
she had returned to her own residence at Arras, in
376 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
the canton of Aucun. She was alone in the interi-
eur of the diligence. A flask of wine given to her
by her brother having by accident become uncork
ed and upset, she could neither pick it up nor re
place the cork, owing to the complete weakness of
her fingers.
Lourdes happened to be in her way home. She
stopped there and repaired to the Grotto.
Scarcely had she plunged her hand into the mi
raculous water, when she instantly felt them restored
to life. Her fingers had straightened themselves,
and had suddenly refound their strength and flexi
bility. Delighted, perhaps beyond her fondest
hopes, she plunged her feet also into the miraculous
water, and they were cured in the same way her
hands had been. She fell on her knees. What did
she say to the Virgin ? How did she thank her ?
Such prayers, such bursts of gratitude, may be di
vined, but they cannot be written.
After this, she put on again her stockings and
shoes, and, with a firm step, took the road leading
to the town.
A young girl was walking in the same direction,
who was returning from the wood, and carrying on
her head an enormous fagot. The weather was
warm, and this poor peasant was bathed with per
spiration. Exhausted with fatigue, she sat down on
a large stone at the side of the road, placing at her
feet her burden, which was too heavy for her weak
ness. At that moment, Jeanne-Marie Massot passed
before her, returning active and radiant with joy
from the divine Fountain. A good thought descend
ed into her heart. She drew near to the young
peasant-girl.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 377
" My child," she said to her, " the Lord has just
granted me a most remarkable favor. He has cured
me ; He has removed my burden from me. In my
turn, I should like to assist and relieve you."
Saying these words, Marie Massot raised, with
her hands so recently restored to life, the heavy
fagot thrown on the ground, placed it on her head,
and in this manner re-entered Lourdes from which,
less than an hour before, she had issued infirm and
paralyzed. The first fruits of her restored strength
had been nobly employed they had been consecra
ted to charity. " Freely ye have received freely
give," is a text to be found somewhere in Holy
Writ.
A woman in the decline of life, Marie Capdevielle
of the small town of Livron, in the vicinity of
Lourdes, had been also cured of a most severe
deafness which was beginning to become invete
rate.
"It appears to me," she used to say, "as if I
were in another world, when I hear the church-
bells, which I had not heard for upwards of three
years."
These cures and many others continued to attest,
in a manner not to be gainsaid, the direct inter
vention of God. God manifested his power in re
storing health to the sick ; and, it was clear that, if
He had permitted persecution, it was necessary for
the carrying out of his designs. It depended upon
Him to cause its cessation, and for that purpose to
incline, as was pleasing to Him, the will of the great
ones of earth.
378 OUR LADY OF LOURDE3.
V.
THE polemical discussion of the press on the
subject of the Grotto was exhausted. In France
and in foreign countries, the public conscience had
been enabled to judge, not of the reality of the su
pernatural occurrences, but of the violent oppres
sion which liberty of belief and right of examina
tion were undergoing in a corner of the Empire.
The miserable sophisms of anti-christian fanaticism,
and of intolerance pretending to be philosophical,
had not been able to withstand the forcible logic
of the Catholic journals. The Dcbats, the Siccle, the
Presse, and the vile crowd of irreligious papers were
silent, probably regretting that they had engaged
in so unfortnnate a war, and had given so much pub
licity to such extraordinary facts. They had only
succeeded in propagating and spreading in every
country the fame of so many miracles. From Italy,
Germany, and countries still more distant, persons
wrote to Lourdes begging that a few drops of the
sacred water might be forwarded to them.
At the Ministry of Public Worship, M. Rouland
persisted in wishing to oppose himself to the most
sacred of liberties and in pretending to arrest the
march of events.
At the Grotto, Jacomet and the Gardes persisted
in watching day and night, and in dragging the be
lievers to the bar of the tribunals. M. Duprat was
constantly engaged in condemning delinquents.
Placed between such a Minister to support him
and such agents to execute his wishes, Baron Massy
remained gallantly in his absolutely illogical posi-
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
379
tion and viewed with complacency the omnipotence
of his arbitrary power. More and more exaspe
rated at seeing himself deprived, by the episcopal
inquiry and the analysis of M. Filhol, of the vain
pretexts of religion and public order with which he
had originally sought to veil his intolerance, he
abandoned himself with pride to the bitter joy of
enforcing measures of pure unmitigated tyranny.
He remained deaf to the unanimous cry which
greeted his ears. To every reason adduced, to the
most undeniable evidence, he opposed his own
will: "Such is my good pleasure." It was sweet
to him to be stronger in his individual capacity than
the multitudes, stronger than the Bishop, stroriger
than good common sense, stronger than the mira
cles, stronger than the God of the Grotto. Etiamsi
omnes, ego non.
It was under such circumstances that two emin
ent personages, Mgr. de Salinis, Archbishop of
Auch, and M. de Ressegnier, formerly deputy,
waited upon the Emperor, who was at that moment
at Biarritz. Napoleon III. received at the same
time from different quarters petitions urgently de
manding and claiming in virtue of the most sacred
rights, the withdrawal of the arbitrary and violent
measures of Baron Massy. " Sire," so ran one of
these petitions, " we do not pretend to decide in
any way the question of the Apparitions of the
Virgin, although, on the faith of astounding mira
cles, which they claim to have seen with their own
eyes, almost all, in these districts, believe implicitly
in the realitv of these supernatural manifestations.
What is certain and beyond all dispute, is, that this
Spring, which gushed forth all at once and which
380 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
has been closed to us in spite of the scientific
analysis which proclaimed it to be entirely innocu
ous has not done any harm to any one ; what is
certain is, that, on the contrary, a great number of
persons declare that they have recovered their
health by its means. In the name of the rights of
conscience, which are quite independent of all hu
man power, allow those who believe to go and
pray there, if it suits them to do so. In the name
of mere humanity allow the sick to go there to be
cured, if such is their hope. In the name of intel
lectual liberty, allow those minds which seek for
light from study and investigation to go there to
discover their error or find the truth.".
The Emperor, as we have stated above, was quite
disinterested in the question, or rather he was in
terested in not employing his strength in a sterile
opposition to the progress of events. He was inter
ested in listening to the cry of souls demanding the
liberty of their faith, to the cry of intellect demand
ing the liberty of studying and seeing for itself. He
was interested in being just, and in not galling by
a gratuitous exercise of arbitrary power and a plain
refusal of justice, those who believed what they had
seen with their own eyes, as well as those, who
though not yet convinced, claimed the right of in
vestigating publicly the mysterious occurrences
which were exciting the attention of the whole of
France.
We have seen what impossible fictions the worthy
Minister Rouland had accepted as incontestable
truths. The information forwarded to the Emperor
by his Excellency was by no means calculated to
enlighten the former on the subject. The polemical
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 381
discussions in the journals, although they had tri
umphantly displayed the rights of one party and
the intolerance of the other, had not succeeded in
giving him any very clear idea of the actual state
of things. It was only at Biarritz that it was pre
sented to him as a whole, and that he was made ac
quainted with all its details.
Napoleon III. was by no means demonstrative,
and it rarely happened that his thoughts were ex
pressed by words. They were to be inferred from
his actions. On learning the absurd measures of
violence by which the Minister, the Prefect and
their subordinates were bringing discredit on the
supreme power by following their own caprice, a
flash of cold anger, it is said, lighted up his jaded
eye ; he shrugged his shoulders convulsively, and a
cloud of deep displeasure passed over his brow. He
rang the bell violently.
" Take this to the telegraph," he said.
It was a laconic dispatch for the Prefect of the
Hautes Pyrenees, ordering, on the part of the Em
peror, the immediate withdrawal of the Decree re
garding the Grotto of Lourdes, and directing that
for the future the people should be allowed perfect
freedom of action.
VI.
EVERY one knows the theories of Science on that
marvelous electric spark, which the iron threads,
with which the earth is covered as with a network,
transport from one pole to the other with the
rapidity of lightning. Telegraphic communication,
say the Savants, is nothing more nor less than a
382 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
thunder-bolt. On that day Baron Massy coincided
in opinion with the Savants. The imperial telegram,
bursting upon him all at once, struck him suddenly
dumb, and bewildered him as completely as the
sudden fall of a thunder-bolt on his house would
have done. He could not believe in its reality.
The more he thought of it the less possible did it
appear to him to retrace his steps, condemn his
previous measures, and retreat from his present
position before the public gaze. He must, how
ever, either swallow the bitter draught, or send
in his resignation and bid a sad adieu to the
sweets of office. Fatal alternative. The hearts of
functionaries are sometimes a prey to bitter an
guish.
When we are overtaken by a sudden catastrophe,
we experience some difficulty in accepting it as
final, and we struggle against it even when all is
lost. Baron Massy did not escape an illusion of
this nature. He had some vague hope that the
Emperor would think better of his decision. Under
this idea, he took upon himself the responsibility of
keeping the despatch secret for some days and
of not obeying its injunctions. He wrote to the
Emperor, and in addition to this employed M.
Rouland, the Minister who was less publicly but
as completely crushed as himself by the unex
pected order from Biarritz to influence the Sover
eign.
Napoleon TIL paid as little attention to the ob
jections of the Minister as he had done to the en
treaties and supplications of the Prefect. The
judgment he had pronounced was based on the
evidence which had been laid before him, and was
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 383
irrevocable. The steps which had been taken
only served to apprise his Majesty, that the Prefect
had dared to neglect his orders and defer their exe
cution. A second despatch was sent from Biarritz.
It was so worded as to render further observations
or delay out of the question.
Baron Massy had only to choose between his
pride and his position as Prefect. He made this
melancholy choice, and his humility induced him to
retain office.
The Head of the Department therefore resigned
himself to the virtue of obedience. However, not
withstanding the imperious dispatches of his Mas
ter, he still endeavored, not to protract the struggle
for that was no longer possible but to mask
his retreat and to avoid the public surrender of his
arms.
Owing to some little indiscretions in the Bureau,
perhaps also from something which dropped from
those who had gone as embassadors to the Emperor,
the purport of the orders from Biarritz had trans
pired to a certain extent. They formed the topic
of conversation every where. These rumors were
neither confirmed nor contradicted by the Prefect.
He ordered Jacomet and his subordinates to sus
pend all prosecutions and to discontinue all surveil
lance. Such moderation following immediately on
the reports in circulation with regard to the Emper
or s instructions, would, in his opinion, be sufficient
to cause things to go on in their usual course, and
the Decree might fall into desuetude without the
necessity of its being publicly withdrawn. It was
even probable that the people of the district, on re
covering their full liberty of action, would hasten
384 OUR LADY OF LOURDES,
to tear up and throw into the Gave the posts bear
ing the notices forbidding any trespass on the lands
of the commune, as well as the barriers which pre
vented all access to the Grotto.
M. Massy was deceived in his calculations, plau
sible as they were. In spite of the forbearance of
the Police, and the reports in circulation which
had not been officially contradicted perhaps for
these very reasons the people feared some snare.
They continued to go and pray on the opposite
bank of the Gave. The infractions of the law
were, as formerly, only isolated instances. No
one touched the posts or the barriers. Instead of
falling of its own accord, as the Prefect had fondly
hoped, the statu quo maintained itself obstinately un
changed.
The character of Napoleon III. and the precise
nature of the orders transmitted from Biarritz duly
considered, a situation of this nature was perilous
for the Prefect. Baron Massy was too intelligent
not to appreciate this. Every moment he had
cause to fear that the Emperor might be apprised
all at once of the manner in which he was attempt
ing to tack. Every hour, doubtless, he dreaded to
receive some terrible missive, which would crush
him for ever and banish him into nothingness, that
is to say, out of the luminous sphere of government,
into that external darkness, where the unfortunate
non-official world wears out its fretful existence.
The end of September had arrived.
It happened that, during these perplexities, M.
Fould had occasion once more to visit Tarbes, and
even to take Lourdes on his way. Did he increase
the Prefect s terror when speaking to him of his
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 385
Master? Did the Baron receive some new telegram
couched in still more alarming language than the
other two ? We cannot tell. One thing is certain,
that on the third of October, owing to some cause
unknown, M. Massy became as supple as a reed
trampled under the foot of a passer-by, and his
arrogant stiffness seemed to give way to a sudden
and complete prostration.
The next day, in the name of the Emperor, he
issued an order to the Mayor of Lourdes to rescind
the Decree publicly, and to have the posts and bar
riers removed by Jacomet.
VII.
M. LACADE did not share in the hesitation of M.
Massy. A decision of this nature relieved him from
the heavy onus which his complex desire of steer
ing cautiously between the Prefect and the masses,
the powers of heaven and those of man, had im
posed upon him. By an illusion not uncommon in
undecided characters, he imagined that he had al
ways sided with the prevailing party, and he drew
up a proclamation to that effect.
" Inhabitants of the town of Lourdes, the day
we have so longed for has at length arrived ; we
have gained it by our wisdom, our perseverance,
our faith and by our courage."
Such was the import and tone of his proclamation,
of which, unfortunately, the text has not reached us.
The proclamation was read with the sound of
drums and trumpets in every quarter of the town.
At the same time the following placard was posted
up on all the walls :
17
3 86 OUR LADT OF LOURDES.
THE MAYOR OF THE TOWN OF LOURDES,
Considering the instructions, addressed to him,
DECREES :
The decree issued by him June 8th, 1858, is re
voked.
Done at Lourdes, in the Hotel of the Mayoralty,
October 5th, 1858. . A. LACADE, Mayor.
During this time, Jacomet and the Sergcnts de
Ville repared to the Grotto to remove the barriers
and posts.
The crowd had already arrived there, and was
visibly increasing. Some were praying on their
knees and, striving to prevent themselves from being
distracted by the external noises, thanked God for
having brought to a close the scandal and persecu
tion which had prevailed. Others remained stand
ing, talking in low tones and waiting, not without
emotion, to see what was about to occur. Women
in great number were telling their beads. Many
held a flask in their hands, wishing to fill it at the
very spot whence the Spring was gushing forth.
Flowers were thrown over the barriers into the in
terior of the Grotto. As to the barriers them
selves, no one touched them. Those who had
erected them publicly, in opposition to the power
of God, must come and remove them publicly, in
deference to the will of a man.
Jacomet arrived. Although, in spite of himself,
he betrayed a certain degree of embarrassment and
excitement of manner, and his deep humiliation
might be guessed from the pallor of his counte
nance, he did not present, as was generally expect-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 387
ed, the sad aspect of one who had been vanquished
in the struggle. Escorted by his subordinates, fur
nished with axes and mattocks, he advanced boldly
towards the scene of action. With an affectation
which appeared singular under the circumstances,
he wore the official costume appropriated to state
occasions. His broad tricolored scarf girded his
loins and floated over his full-dress sword. He
passed through the crowd and stepped close up to
the barriers. A vague tumultuous noise, a low
murmur, and a few solitary cries proceeded from
the multitude. The Commissary mounted on a
fragment of rock and made a gesture that he wish
ed to say a few words. Every one listened to him.
" My Friends, it is these barriers, they say, which,
to my great regret, the municipality erected in
obedience to the orders they received, which are
now about to be demolished. Who has suffered
more than myself from this obstacle opposed to
your piety ? I am a religious man myself, and I
share your faith. But a functionary, like a soldier,
has but one watchword, which is the duty often a
very painful one of obedience. The responsibility
does not rest with him. Well, my friends, when I
witnessed your admirable calmness, your respect
for power, and your persevering faith, I notified it
to the superior authorities. I pleaded your cause,
my friends. I said, Why shouldthese harmless peo
ple be hindered from praying at the Grotto, and
from drinkiflg at the Spring? In consequence of
this, every prohibition has been removed, and the
Prefect and myself have resolved to demolish for
ever these barriers which were so annoying to you
and still more so to myself.
388 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The crowd maintained a cold silence. Some
young men whispered together and laughed. Jaco-
met was visibly discomposed at the failure of his
oration. He ordered his subordinates to remove the
palings. It was done with considerable prompti
tude. A heap was made of the boards and debris
near the Grotto, and the Police carried it away as
soon as it was dark.
The town of Lourdes was in a great state of
emotion. During the afternoon, the crowd kept
going to and fro on the road leading to the Grotto.
The faithful, in countless throngs, knelt devoutly
before the Rocks of Massabielle. They sang can
ticles, and recited the litanies of the Virgin. Virgo
potens, ora pro nobis. They quenched their thirst
at the Spring. The believers were free, God had
achieved the victory.
NINTH BOOK.
I.
IN consequence of the events we have already
narrated, the prolonged sojourn of Baron
Massy in that part of the country was an utter im
possibility. The Emperor lost no time in transfer
ring him to the first prefecture which became va
cant in the Empire. By a singular coincidence,
his new prefecture was that of Grenoble. The
Baron left Our Lady of Lourdes behind him, sole
ly, as it would appear, to meet with Our Lady of
Salette.
Jacomet also quitted the district. He was ap
pointed Commissary of Police in another depart
ment. Replaced in his proper sphere, he con
tributed, with rare shrewdness, to the discovery of
the roguery of some dangerous scoundrels who had
foiled the efforts of his predecessors, and the most
active pursuit of the Parquet. The affair in ques
tion was an extensive robbery to the amount of
two or three hundred thousand francs of funds
belonging to a railway company. This was the
starting-point of his fortune in the Police, for which
he had an unmistakable vocation. His remarkable
aptitude for this branch of the public service, which
(389)
3QO OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
was justly appreciated by his superiors, raised him
eventually to a very high position.
The Procureur Imperial, M. Dutour, was, ere
long, transferred to other duties. M. Lacade re
mained in his position as Mayor, and we shall see
his shadowy profile once or twice more in the last
pages of this narration.
Although Monseigneur Laurence had instituted
a Tribunal of Investigation towards the end of
July, it had been his wish to see the effervescence
of the public cool down of its own accord, before
he permitted it to enter on its duties. " To wait,"
he thought, " could never lead to compromising any
thing, when the question regarded the works of
God, who holds time in His own hands." The
event had shown he was right. After the tumul
tuous discussions of the French press, and the vio
lent measures of Baron Massy, the Grotto had be
come free of access, and there was no longer cause
for dreading the scandal of seeing the members of
the Episcopal Commission arrested by an agent of
Police on the road to the Rocks of Massabielle,
when repairing there to accomplish their work and
study, on the very spot where the Apparition had
manifested herself, the traces of the hand of God.
On the i yth of October, the Commissioners be
took themselves to Lourdes. The youthful Seer
was interrogated by them.
" Bernadette,"says the Secretary, in his official re
port, " presented herself before us with great mod
esty, but with remarkable self-composure. She dis
played great calmness and absence of embarrass
ment, in the midst of so numerous an assembly, and
in presence of distinguished ecclesiastics w horn she
OUR LADY OF LOUEDE8. 391
had never seen before, but whose mission had been
explained to her."
The young girl recounted the Apparitions, the
words of the Virgin, the order given by Mary to
have a chapel built on the very spot consecrated to
her worship, the sudden appearance of the Foun
tain and the name of the " Immaculate Conception"
which the Vision had given to herself. She ex
plained, with the grave certitude of a witness sure
of the facts, and with the humble candor of a child,
all that was personal to herself in this supernatural
drama, which had extended over nearly a whole
year. She replied to all the questions put to her,
and left no obscure doubts in the minds of those
who interrogated her, no longer in the name of
men such as Jacomet, the Procureur, or of so many
others, but in that of the Catholic Church, the eter
nal spouse of God. Our readers are already aware
of all the facts to which she bore testimony, as we
have explained those events, in the order in which
they occurred, in different portions of this narrative.
The Commissioners visited the Rocks of Massa-
bielle, and saw for themselves the enormous flow
of the divine Spring. They established, from the
unanimous declaration of persons belonging to the
district, that the Spring was not in existence pre
viously to its having gushed forth before the eyes
of the multitude, from beneath the hand of the
youthful Seer, when in a state of ecstacy.
At Lourdes and at places distant from the town,
the Commissioners investigated most minutely the
extraordinary cures which had been effected by the
use of the water of the Grotto.
There were, in this delicate inquiry, two very dis-
392 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
tinct parts : the facts themselves and their attend
ant circumstances depended on human testimony ;
the examination into the natural or supernatural
character of these facts depended at least to a great
extent on the verdict of medical science. The
method pursued by the tribunal of investigation was
suggested by this double conception.
Making the tour of the dioceses of Tarbes, Auch
and Bayonne, the Commissioners summoned before
them all those who had been pointed out to them
as having been cured in so remarkable a manner ;
they questioned them with the utmost minuteness
on all the details of their malady, and of their re
storation whether sudden or gradual to health.
They employed men of human science to put to
them technical questions, which, perhaps, would
never have occurred to the minds of theologians.
They assembled together, in order to submit these
declarations to the test of cross-examination, the re
latives, friends, and neighbors of those who claimed
to have been cured, including all the witnesses of
the different phases of the event, those who had
seen the invalid, those who had been present at the
cure, etc., etc.
Having once arrived in this manner at an absolute
certainty relative to the facts taken as a whole, and
in their details, the Commissioners submitted them,
in order to ascertain their value, to two eminent and
qualified physicians, whom they had admitted as
colleagues. These physicians were Doctor Verges
medical superintendent of the baths at Bareges and
Fellow-professor of the Faculty of Montpellier, and
Doctor Dozons, who had already studied several of
these strange incidents on his own account.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 393
Each medical man stated in a separate report, his
opinion on the nature of the cure ; sometimes re
jecting the Miracle to attribute the cessation of the
malady in question to natural causes ; sometimes
declaring the fact to be utterly inexplicable, except
by a supernatural action of divine power; and last
ly, sometimes not arriving at any conclusion and re
maining in doubt a doubt, more or less, inclining
to one or other of the above solutions.
Furnished with this double element the entire
knowledge of facts on the one hand, and the conclu
sions arrived at by Science on the other the Com
missioners deliberated and submitted their judg
ment to the Bishop, together with all the documents
connected with the case.
The Commissioners had not and could not have
any preconceived opinions. Believing on principle
in the Supernatural, which is so often met with in
the history of the world, they were at the same time,
aware, that nothing tends so much to discredit true
miracles, proceeding from God, as false prodigies
contrived by man. Equally indisposed to affirm be
forehand or to reject prematurely, and being entirely
unprejudiced either for or against the Miracle, they
confined their task to that of investigation, and truth
was the sole object of their researches. Appealing
in order to throw light on the various facts they
were studying to every kind of information and
ever} - kind of testimony, they acted with entire pub
licity. They opened their sessions to unbelievers,
as well as to those who believed. Firmly resolved
to discard with relentless severity all that was vague
and uncertain, and to accept only such facts as were
precise, well-founded, and incontestable, they reject-
17*
394 U R LADY OF LOURDES.
ed all declarations which were grounded on mere
on-dits and empty reports.
To every witness who appeared before them, the
Commissioners imposed two conditions : the first,
only to depose to what he knew personally and had
seen with his own eyes; the second, to pledge him
self to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, by
the solemn formality of an oath.
With such precautions, and with an organization
so prudent and wise, it was impossible for false mir
acles to succeed in deceiving, even for a moment,
the judgment of the Commissioners. This was,
besides, still more impossible, in the midst of so
many hostile intellects stirred up against the Super
natural, and deeply interested in combating and
upsetting every error, every exaggeration, every
doubtful assertion, and every miraculous fact which
did not admit of the clearest demonstration.
If then, true miracles, incompletely established,
were destined not to receive the sanction of the
Commission of Inquiry, it was at least absolutely
certain that no lying wonders could maintain their
ground before the severity of its examination, or
take their place, in its judgment, among the ad
mirable facts of the divine and supernatural order.
Whoever, wishing to contest the truth of such or
such a miracle, could produce not merely vague
general theories, but precise articulations and a per
sonal knowledge of facts, could publicly demand the
right of presenting himself. Not to do so, was to
submit to the sentence pronounced, and to confess
that he had nothing formal or particular to allege,
and was unable to furnish any counter-evidence.
Forbearance evidently implied this. It is not when
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
395
parties are heated with passion and the ardor of a
long struggle, that they suffer judgment to go by
default. To refuse the combat is to acknowledge a
defeat.
III.
DURING several months the Episcopal Commis
sioners repaired to the houses of those whom pub
lic notoriety and previous information designated to
them as having been the objects of one of those re
markable cures, the character of which it rested
with them to determine.
. The truth of a great number of Miracles was
established. Among these, many have already
found a place in the course of this narration. Two
of them had occurred quite recently, shortly after
the withdrawal of the Prefect s decree and the re
opening of the Grotto. One took place at Nay,
the other at Tarbes. Although the two Christian
women who had been the objects of heavenly favor
were unknown to each other, a mysterious link
seemed to unite these events. Let us narrate them,
one after the other, just as we investigated them
ourselves and committed them to writing under the
impression of the living testimonies we had our
selves heard.
In the town of Nay the same in which, some
months previously, young Henry Busquet had been
miraculously cured a female, already considerably
advanced in years, Mme. Rizan, a widow, was on
the point of death. Her life, at least for the last
twenty-four or twenty-five years, had been one of
perpetual pain. Attacked in 1832 by the cholera,
396 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
she had remained almost entirely paralyzed in her
left side : she was quite lame, and could only move
a few steps in the interior of her house by support
ing herself against the walls or different articles of
furniture. Rarely, twice or three times a year, in
the height of summer, was she able assisted and
almost carried by strangers to repair to the parish
church of Nay, near as it was to her residence, to
hear Mass. It was impossible for her, without as
sistance from others, either to kneel down or to rise
from a kneeling posture. One of her hands was
entirely atrophied. Her general health had suf
fered, not less than her limbs, from this terrible
scourge. She was subject to continual vomitings
of blood. Her stomach was unable to bear any
solid food. A little meat gravy, light soups and
coffee had, however, sufficed, in her deplorable con
dition, to sustain in her the flickering flame of life
a flame ever weak, ever on the point of being ex
tinguished on its mysterious hearth, and powerless
to convey sufficient warmth to her wretched body,
which was often attacked with icy trembling fits.
The poor woman was always cold. Even in the
midst of the heats of July and August she always
begged to see the fire blazing on the hearth, and
requested to have her old invalid -chair wheeled
close to the mantel-piece.
For the last sixteen or eighteen months her state
had changed considerably for the worse, and the
paralysis of her left side had become total ; the
same infirmity commenced to attack her right leg.
Her atrophied limbs were tumefied beyond meas
ure, as is sometimes the case with those of dropsical
patients.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 397
Mme. Rizan had been obliged to quit her arm
chair for her bed. She could not move in it, so
great was her state of infirmity, and those about
her were obliged to turn her from time to time
and to change her position. She wa s nothing more
than a helpless mass. Her sense of feeling was
gone as well as her power of moving. "Where
are my legs?" she used to say sometimes when any
one came to move her from one part of her bed to
another.
Her limbs were, so to say, drawn up together and
bent back on themselves. She kept constantly lying
on her side in the form of a Z-
Two medical men had succcessively attended
her. Doctor Talamon had long since regarded her
as incurable, and, if he continued to visit her fre
quently, it was only as a friend. He refused to pre
scribe any remedies for her, alleging that any treat
ment, no matter of what nature, would be fatally
injurious, and that drugs and medicines could only
weaken the poor invalid and exhaust still more her
system, which had already been so terribly attack
ed. Doctor Subervielle, at the entreaty of Mme.
Rizan, had prescribed some remedies, which were
speedily acknowledged to be useless, and had also
given up all hope.
If her paralyzed limbs had become insensible, the
sufferings experienced by this unfortunate woman
elsewhere, sometimes in her stomach and sometimes
in her head, were of the most fearful description.
Owing to the fact of her being obliged to remain
always in one position, her poor body was afflicted
with two painful, sores one in the hollow of her
chest and the other in her back. On her side, in
398 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
several places, her skin was worn away by long
contact with the bed-clothes, and exposed her
flesh denuded and bleeding. Her death was at
hand.
Mme. Rizan* had two children. Her daughter,
called Lubine, lived with her and attended her
with unceasing devotedness. Her son, M. Remain
Rizan, had a situation in a commercial house at
Bordeaux.
When the last hope was given up, and Doctor
Subervielle had declared that the poor sick woman
had scarcely a few days to live, M. Remain Rizan
was sent for in all haste. He came, embraced his
mother, and received her blessing and last farewell.
Then, being obliged to start on his return imme
diately, in consequence of an order which recalled
him, torn from the foot of this death-bed by the
cruel tyranny of business, he left his mother with
the painful certainty of seeing her no more.
The dying woman had been administered. Her
death-agony was prolonged amid intolerable suf
ferings.
" O God !" she often exclaimed, " be pleased to
put an end to this intolerable pain. Grant that I
may either recover or die !"
She sent to beg the Sisters of the Cross at Izon
her sister-in-law being their Superior to make a
Novena to the most Blessed Virgin in order to
obtain from her power, either her recovery or
death. She also expressed a wish to drink some
of the water of the Grotto. One of her neighbors,
Mme. Nessans, who happened to be going to
Lourdes, promised to bring her some of it on her
return.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 399
For some time past she had been watched day
and night. On Saturday, October 16, a violent
crisis announced the inevitable approach of her last
moments. She was continually spitting blood. A
livid tint spread over her emaciated countenance.
Her eyes became glassy. The poor invalid seldom
spoke except to complain of the acute pain she suf
fered. " Lord !" she often repeated, " Lord Jesus
how I suffer ! Can I not then die ?"
" Her wish will be very shortly granted," observ
ed Doctor Subervielle, as he left her. " She will
die in the course of the night, or, at latest, towards
daybreak. There is no more oil in the lamp."
From time to time the door of the sick-room was
opened to admit friends, neighbors and priests
among the latter the Abbe Dupont and the Abbe
Sanareus, vicaire of Nay who entered silently, and
asked, in a low voice, if the dying woman still
breathed.
At night, when he left her, the Abbe Andre Du
pont, her consoler and friend, could not restrain his
tears.
" Before to-morrow she will be dead," said he,
" and I shall only see her again in Paradise."
Night had come, and, by degrees, the house had
been reduced to a state of solitude. On her knees,
before a statue of the Virgin, Lubine was praying,
all earthly hope having vanished. The deepest
silence reigned around, only disturbed by the pain
ful breathing of the sick woman. It was nearly
midnight.
" Lubine !" exclaimed the dying mother.
Lubine rose hastily from her knees and approach
ed the bed.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" What do you wish, dearest mother?" she said,
taking her by the hand.
" My dear child," said the dying mother to her,
in a strange tone of voice, which seemed to pro
ceed, as it were, from a heavy dream, " go to the
house of our friend Mme. Nessans, who was to
have returned to-night from Lourdes. Beg her to
give you a glass of the water from the Grotto. It
is this water which is to cure me. The Blessed
Virgin so wills it."
" My dearest mother," replied Lubine, it is now
too late to go there. " I cannot leave you alone,
and every one at Mme. Nessans s must be in bed by
this time. To-morrow morning I will go for it as
early as possible."
" Well, let us wait, then."
The sick mother relapsed into silence.
The night passed away long and weary.
At length daybreak was announced by the joyous
Sunday bells. The morning Angclns bore upwards
to Mary the prayers of earth, and celebrated the
eternal memory of her omnipotent maternity. Lu
bine hastened to the house of Mme. Nessans, and
soon returned, bringing with her a bottle of the
water from the Grotto.
. " Here, dearest mother, drink ! and may the
Blessed Virgin come to your assistance."
Mme. Rizan raised the glass to her lips and
swallowed a few mouthfuls.
" O my child, my child, it is Life that I am drink-
in -. There is Life in this water. Bathe my face
with it. Bathe all my body with it.
Trembling from head to foot, and almost beside
herself with emotion, Lubine moistened a piece of
OUR LADT OF LOTTED ES. 401
linen in the miraculous water and washed her
mother s face with it.
" I feel myself cured !" exclaimed the latter, in a
tone of voice which had become clear and strong.
" I feel myself cured !"
Lubine, in the meantime, was bathing with the
moistened linen her poor mother s paralyzed and
swollen limbs. With transports of joy, mingled
with I know not what shudder of terror, she per
ceived the enormous swelling to subside and dis
appear under the rapid movement of her hand, and
the skin, which was violently stretched and shining,
to resume its natural appearance. Suddenly and
entirely, without going through any transition state,
health and life were reviving beneath her fingers.
" It seems to me," said her mother, " as if fiery
pimples were issuing out of every part of my
body."
It was, doubtless, the internal principle of the
malady which was taking to flight from the body
hitherto so racked with pain, and was quitting it
for ever, owing to the agency of a superhuman
will.
All this had been accomplished in a moment. In
one or two minutes the body of Mme. Rizan ap
parently just before in the death-agony had, on
being bathed by her daughter, recovered the pleni
tude of its strength.
" I am cured ! altogether cured !" exclaimed the
happy woman. " How kind the Blessed Virgin is !
How powerful she is !
Then, after this outburst of gratitude to heaven,
the material appetites of earth made themselves
forcibly felt.
402 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
" Lubine, dearest Lubine, I am hungry. I want
something to eat."
" Will you have some coffee, or will you have
some wine or milk?" stammered out the young
girl, troubled at the almost astounding suddenness
of the Miracle.
" I would like to have some bread and meat, my
child," said her mother. " It is now more than
twenty-four years since I have tasted either."
There happened to be some cold meat and a little
wine near at hand. Mme. Rizan partook of both.
"And now," said she, " I wish to rise."
" It is impossible, dearest mother," said Lubine,
hesitating, in spite of herself, to believe her eyes,
and fancying, perhaps, that the cures which pro
ceeded directly from God were subject, like those
of an ordinary nature, to the slow progress and pre
cautions of convalescence.
Mme. Rizan insisted on leaving her bed, and
asked for her clothes. They had been for many
months folded up and put in their place in a ward
robe of an adjoining chamber, under the idea, alas !
that they would be no more required. Lubine left
the room in quest of them. She returned almost
immediately, but on reaching the threshold of the
door, she uttered a loud cry and let fall on the
fl oor _so great was the shock the dress she had in
her hand.
Her mother, during Lubine s short absence, had
sprung out of her bed and had gone to kneel be
fore the mantelpiece, on which there was a statue
of the Virgin. There she was, with clasped hands,
pouring out her gratitude to her powerful deliv
erer.
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 403
Lubine terrified, as if she had beheld one rise
from the dead, -was incapable of assisting her moth
er to dress. The latter picked up her gown, dress
ed herself in a moment without any assistance, and
knelt down once more at the feet of the sacred
image.
It was about seven o clock in the morning, and
those who had attended the first Mass were just com
ing out of Church. Lubine s cry was heard in the
street by persons who were passing under her win
dows.
" Poor girt," they observed, " it is her mother
who has just expired. It was impossible she could
get through the night."
Several persons, either friends or merely neigh
bors, immediately entered the house to console and
support Lubine in her indescribable sorrow. Among
them were two Sisters of the Holy Cross.
" Well, my poor girl," they said, " your excellent
mother is then dead ! You will, however, see her
again in heaven."
They then approached the young woman, whom
they found leaning against the half-opened door,
with a countenance expressive of great consterna
tion.
Lubine could scarcely make them any reply.
" My mother has risen from the dead," said she,
with a voice stifled with such strong emotion, that
she could not bear it without fainting.
" She is raving," thought the Sisters, as they en
tered the apartment, followed by some persons who
had ascended the staircase with them.
What Lubine had said was, however, true. Mme.
Rizan had quitted her bed. She was dressed and
404 UR LADY OF LOURDES.
was praying, prostrate before the image of Mary.
She rose and said :
" I am cured ! Let us offer up a thanksgiving to
the Blessed Virgin. Let all kneel down."
The news of this extraordinary cure spread with
the rapidity of lightning through the town of Nay.
All that and the following day, the house was
crowded with people. The throng, in the highest
degree of emotion and recollectedness, pressed into
the room, through which a ray of the omnipotent
goodness of God had passed. Every one wished
to see Mme. Rizan, to touch her boy which had
been restored to life, to convince himself by the
evidence of his own eyes, and to engrave on his
memory all the details of this supernatural drama.
Doctor Subervielle acknowledged, without any
hesitation, the divine and supernatural character of
this extraordinary cure.
At Bordeaux, in the meanwhile, M. Romain
Rizan, reduced to despair, was expecting, in an
agony of mind, the fatal missive which was to an
nounce to him the death of his mother.
It was a terrible blow for him when one morning,
a letter reached him by post, which was directed
in the well-known handwriting of the Abb Du-
pont.
" I have lost my poor mother!" he observed to a
friend who had come to pay him a visit.
He burst into tears, and had not the courage to
tear open the envelope.
" Do not give way to weakness in your misfor
tune ; have faith," said his friend to him.
He at length broke the seal. The first words
which struck his eyes were the following : " Deo
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 405
gratias, Allehdia. Rejoice, my dear friend. Your
mother is cured, completely cured. It is the Blessed
Virgin who has restored her miraculously to
health." The Abbe Dupont proceeded in his let
ter to relate in what indisputably divine a manner
Mme. Rizan had found, at the end of her agony,
Life in the place of death.
We may easily fancy the joy of the son and of
his friend.
This friend was employed in a printing establish
ment at Bordeaux, where the Messager Catholique
was published.
" Give me that letter," he said to Remain Rizan ;
" the works of God ought to be known and Our
Lady of Lourdes glorified."
Half willingly and half reluctantly, Remain con
fided the letter to his friend. It was published in
the Messager Catholique a few days afterwards.
The happy son returned almost immediately to
Nay. On the arrival of the diligence, a woman was
waiting for him. She ran to him briskly, when he
got out of the carriage and rushed into his arms
weeping with tenderness and joy.
It was his mother.
Ten years afterwards, the author of this work,
in quest of all the details of the truth, went himself
in order to collect materials for this history to
re-open the investigation which had long before
been made by the Episcopal Commission. He paid
a visit to Mme. Rizan, whose perfect health and
green old age excited his admiration. Although
she has reached her seventy-first year, she has none
of the infirmities which advanced age usually brings
in its train. Not a trace remains of so much suffer-
406 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ing. All those who had known her formerly, and
whose testimony we heard, had not recovered from
their astonishment at so miraculous an event.
We desired to see Doctor Soubervielle. He had
been dead several years.
" But," we observed to an ecclesiastic of Nay
who acted as our guide, " Madame Rizan was, if I
am not mistaken, visited by another medical man
of the place, Doctor Talamon?"
" He is a very distinguished man," answered our
companion. " He was in the habit of going con
stantly to the house of Madame Rizan, not in his
medical capacity, but as her friend and neighbor.
Now, immediately after the miraculous cure, he
ceased to visit her, and did not make his re-appear
ance at her house until nine or ten months after
wards."
" Perhaps," we rejoined, " he wished to avoid
being interrogated on the subject, and having to
explain his own views on the extraordinary event,
which was no doubt somewhat opposed to his prin
ciples of medical philosophy."
" I do not know how that was."
" No matter, I should like to see him."
We knocked at his door.
Doctor Talamon is a tall and handsome old man,
with an intelligent and expressive countenance. A
remarkable brow, a crown of white hair, a glance
indicative of very decided opinions, a mouth capa
ble of varied expression, on which the smile of scep
ticism often plays : such are the principal features
you would observe on approaching him for the first
time.
We explained to him the object of our visit.
OUH LADY OF LOURDES. 407
" It is a long time since all that happened," he ob
served to us. " At a distance of ten or twelve
years my memory has but a very dim recollection
of the subject of your conversation, to say nothing
of my not having actually witnessed it myself. I
did not see Mme. Rizan for several months after
wards, and I know not in what state, by what
agents, or in what degree of slowness or rapidity
her cure was effected."
" What, then, sir, had you not the curiosity to
verify, in your individual capacity, the extraordi
nary fact which you must have immediately learn
ed from public rumor, which was widely spread in
this place?"
" To tell you the truth, sir," he replied, directing
his answer to me, " 1 am an old physician. I know
that the laws of nature are never reversed ; and, to
tell you the honest truth, I am no believer in all
these miracles."
" Ah ! Doctor, you sin against the faith," exclaim
ed the Abbe who had introduced me.
" And I, Doctor, do not accuse you of sinning
against the faith, but I accuse you of sinning against
the particular science which you profess ; that of
medicine."
" How and in what ?"
" Medicine is not a speculative science, it is an
experimental science. Experiment is its law. The
observation of facts is its first and fundamental prin
ciple. If you had been told that Mme. Rizan had
been cured in this manner by rubbing herself with
an infusion of such or such a plant recently discov
ered in the mountains, you certainly would not
have failed in going to establish the truth or other-
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
wise of the cure. You would have examined the
plant, and have recorded a discovery which would
perhaps have appeared to you of not less import
ance than that of quinine in the last century. But,
in this case, a water, which had miraculously gush
ed forth, was spoken of, and you did not take the
trouble of going to see it. Forgetting that you
were a physician, or in other words, a humble ob
server of facts, you have refused to bestow on it
even a passing glance, like those academies of
science which rejected steam without condescend
ing to investigate its claims, and which proscribed
quinine in the name of I know not what pretended
medical principles. In medicine, when a fact pre
sents itself which contradicts an established princi
ple, it simply proves that the principle is false.
Experiment is the supreme judge. And here, Doc
tor, allow me to point out to you that if you had
not had some vague consciousness of the truth of
what I am now telling you, you would not have
hesitated in going to ascertain the truth, and you
would have given yourself the pleasure of brand
ing as an imposture a Miracle which was exciting
the whole country. But this would have exposed
you to the necessity of surrendering at discretion,
and you have acted like men attached to a particu
lar party, who will not hear the arguments of their
opponents. You have listened to your philosophi
cal prejudices and you have disobeyed the first law
of medicine, which is to face the study of facts no
matter of what nature in order to derive instruc
tion from them. I allow myself, Doctor, more free
dom in saying these things to you, because I am
aware of your great merit, and I am not ignorant
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 409
that your very superior intellect is capable of listen
ing to truth. Many medical men refuse to certify
facts of this nature from human respect, not daring
to brave either the displeasure of the Faculty or
the railleries of their confreres. As to you, Doctor,
if your philosophy has deceived you, the fear of
man has had nothing to do with your keeping
aloof."
" Certainly not," he said. " But, perhaps, placing
myself in the point of view you have indicated, I
should have done better to have examined the mat
ter in question."
V.
A VERY long time before these events occurred at
Lourdes, and before Bernadette had made her ap
pearance in the world in 1843, m the course of the
month of April, a highly honorable family of Tartas,
in the Landes, was in a state of serious uneasiness.
About a year previously, Mile. Adele de Chanton
had espoused M. Moreau de Sazenay, and was now
approaching the term of her pregnancy.
The crisis of a first maternity is always alarming.
The medical men, summoned in haste on the ap
pearance of preliminary symptoms, declared that
child-birth would be difficult, and they did not con
ceal their opinion that it might be attended with
some danger.
There is no one who does not know or does not
understand the cruel anxiety of situations of this
nature. The most poignant anguish is not for the
poor wife who is groaning on her bed of pain, and
who is almost entirely absorbed in her sense of phy-
18
4io
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
sical suffering. It is for the husband, whose heart
at that moment is a prey to indescribable tortures.
They are both of an age when the impressions are
vivid ; they have just entered on a new life, the
sweet life of two ; they have tasted the first joys of
a union which God had seemed to bless ; they have
passed some months in discussing together the
hopes of the future ; they have, so to say, sat them
down together in happiness, as they might sit side
by side in a smoothly gliding bark. The stream of
life lulls you to sleep and bears you calmly onward
between banks gay with flowers. And behold, all
at once, in the midst of happiness, the threatening
shadow of death presents itself. The heart of the
husband, which expands itself with the hope of the
babe so soon to be born, finds itself suddenly crush
ed with terror for the wife who may perish. He
hears heart-rending cries. How will the crisis
end ? Is it joy that is approaching, or is it misfor
tune ? What will issue from that chamber ? Will
it be Life or will it be Death? What must we send
for? A cradle or a coffin? Or, alas! horrible con
trast, will both one and the other be necessary ? Or
worse still, may two coffins be required, one for the
mother, the other for the infant ?
Human science is silent and dares not pronounce.
Anguish of this nature is terrible, more especially
for those who seek not their strength and consola
tion in God.
M. Moreau, however, was a Christian. He
knew that the thread of our existence is in the
hands of a supreme Master, to whom we can al
ways appeal from the decision of the doctors of
Science. When man has condemned, the King of
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 41 1
Heaven, like the sovereigns of earth, reserves to
Himself the right of pardoning.
" The Blessed Virgin," thought the unfortunate
husband, " will, perhaps, deign to listen to my
prayer."
On this he addressed himself with confidence to
the Mother of Christ.
The danger which had at first appeared so threat
ening passed away by degrees, like a black cloud,
which, in the highest regions of the atmosphere, is
driven along and dispersed by the blasts of wind.
The horizon became clear and serene, and ere long,
radiant with gleams of sunshine. A little girl had
just been born.
Assuredly, there was nothing extrordinary in this
deliverance. However alarming the case had ap
peared to M. Moreau, the medical men had never
actually despaired of a favorable result. It might,
therefore, have been owing to purely natural causes.
The heart of the husband and father, however, felt
itself penetrated with gratitude towards the Blessed
Virgin. His was not one of those souls which
struggle against the feeling of gratitude, and which
doubt the reality of a benefit received, in order to
dispense themselves from the trouble of return
ing thanks for it.
" What name have you fixed on for your little
girl?" was one of the first questions put to M.
Moreau.
" She shall be called Marie," he replied.
" Marie ? But it is one of the commonest names
possible about here. All the women of the lower
classes, all the servant-girls in the place are called
Marie. And, besides, J/arie.Jfbreau is by no means
412
.OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
euphonious. These two Ms and two rs are insup
portable."
A thousand reasons to the same purpose were
alleged. There was a general outcry on the sub
ject. M. Moreau de Sazenay was of an easy tem
per, very accessible, and habitually showed much
deference to the advice tendered him by others ;
but in this particular instance he resisted every
thing, supplications as well as admonitions ; he
braved the sullenness of all around, and adhered
to his resolution with extraordinary tenacity. He
remembered that, during his recent state of alarm,
he had invoked that sacred name, which was no
other than that of the Queen of Heaven.
" She shall be called Marie. I wish her to have
the Blessed Virgin as her patroness. I tell you the
truth, when I say that this name will bring her hap
piness."
All around him were astonished at his obstinacy,
but he remained firm, as did Zacharias when, as we
are informed in the Gospel, he desired that his son
might be named John.
In vain was he besieged with objections on all
sides. His inflexible will carried the day.
Thus the first born of this family bore the name
of Marie.
Further, the father wished that for three years
she should be devoted to white, the color of the
Virgin.
This was also done.
More than sixteen years had passed away since
the events occurred which we h ave narrated. A sec
ond little girl had been born, who had received the
name of Marthe. Mile. Marie Moreau was receiv-
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 413
ing her education at the Convent of the Sacred
Heart at Bordeaux.
Towards the beginning of January, 1858, she
was attacked with a complaint in her eyes, which
obliged her speedily to relinquish her studies. She
supposed at first that it was a cold, caught by her
having sat in a draught, and that it would soon
pass away ; but she was deceived in her hopes, and
eventually she fell into a state which caused the
greatest uneasiness to those about her. The
medical men who usually attended the establish
ment, deemed it necessary to have a consultation
with M. Bermont, an eminent oculist at Bor
deaux.
It was decided that Mile. Marie was suffering
not from a cold but from amaurosis.
" The case is a very serious one," observed M.
Bermont. " One of her eyes is gone and the other
is in a most critical state."
Her parents were immediately informed of her
state. Her mother hastened to Bordeaux and
brought her daughter home with her, in order
that, in the bosom of her family and with every
care lavished upon her, she might carry out the
treatment which the oculist had prescribed, if not
to cure the eye which was destroyed, at least to
save the one which still remained, and which was
already so severely affected as only to perceive
objects as if enveloped in a confused mist.
Medicines of different kinds, sea-bathing and
everything recommended by science was unavail
ing. Spring and autumn passed away amid these
vain efforts. Her deplorable condition resisted
everything, and was slowly becoming worse and
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
worse. Complete blindness was imminent. M.
and Mme. Moreau resolved to take their daughter
to Paris in order to consult the most eminent ocu
lists of the day.
While they were making hasty preparations for
their journey, dreading that it might be already too
iate to charm away the terrible misfortune which
threatened their child, the postman happened to
bring them the weekly number of a little journal
published at Bordeaux, to which they subscribed,
the Messagcr Catholique.
It was about the commencement of November.
Curiously enough, it was the very number of the
Messagcr Catlioliquc which contained the letter of
the Abbe Dupont and the account of the miracu
lous cure of Mme. Rizan, of Nay, in consequence
of her having used the water from the Grotto.
M. Moreau opened it mechanically, and his glance
fell on that divine history. He grew pale as he
read it.
Hope began to awake in the soul of the discon
solate father, and a ray of light penetrated his
mind, or rather his heart.
" There," said he, " is the gate at which we must
knock. It is evident," he added, with a marvelous
simplicity, of which we like to preserve the verbal
expression, " it is evident that if the Blessed Virgin
has appeared at Lourdes she is interested in operat
ing there miraculous cures, in order to establish and
prove the reality of these Apparitions. And this
is more especially true at the commencement, so
long as this event is not yet universally accredited.
Let us, then, lose no time. There, as everywhere
else, the first come will be first served. My dearest
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 415
wife and child, it is to Our Lady of Lourdes that
we must have recourse."
The sixteen years which had elapsed since the
birth of his daughter, had not, as we see, rendered
the faith of M. Moreau lukewarm.
It was determined to celebrate a Novena, to which
the companions and friends of the young invalid,
who resided in the neighborhood, associated them
selves. By a providential coincidence, one of the
priests of the town had in his house at that moment
a bottle of the water from the Grotto, so that the
Novena was commenced almost immediately.
The parents in case of the cure being accom
plished made a vow to undertake a pilgrimage to
* Lourdes, and to devote their daughter, for one year,
to white and blue, to those colors of the Blessed
Virgin which she had already worn for the space
of three years, when she was quite a little child, on
her first entry into life.
The Novena commenced on Monday evening,
November 8.
Must we confess the truth ! The invalid had but
little faith. Her mother dared not hope. Her
father alone had that tranquil faith which the be
nevolent powers of heaven never resist.
They all joined in prayer, in the apartment of
M. Moreau, before a statue of the Blessed Virgin.
The mother, the young invalid and her little sister
rose from their knees successively with the inten
tion of leaving the room and retiring to rest, but
the father still remained kneeling.
He thought he was alone, and he raised his voice
with such fervor that its accent induced his family
to remain, although on the point of taking their
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
departure. We have heard from them these cir
cumstances, and even now they cannot recall this
solemn moment without quivering with emotion.
" Blessed Virgin !" exclaimed the father ; " Most
Blessed Virgin, it is thy duty to cure my child.
Yes, of a truth, it is thy duty. It is for thee an ob
ligation, and thou canst not refuse me. Remember,
then, O Mary, that it was in spite of all, against
the will of all, that I would choose thee to be her
Patroness. Thou oughtest to remember what strug
gles I had to endure to give her thy sacred name.
Ah! Blessed Virgin, canst thou forget all this?
Canst thou forget how, at that time, I defended
thy name, thy power, thy glory against all the pro
testations and vain reasonings of those who were"
about me ? Canst thou forget that I placed this
child publicly under thy protection, saying and
repeating to all that this name, thy own name, O
Blessed Virgin, would bring her happiness? She
was my child : I have made her thine. Canst thou
forget this ? Art thou not thereby pledged to as
sist me, O Blessed Virgin ? Is not thy honor pledg
ed now that I am wretched, now that we pray
unto thee for our child, for thine to come to our
assistance and to cure her malady ? Wilt thou per
mit her to become blind after I have shown so great
faith in thee ? No ! No ! That is impossible, and
thou wilt heal her."
Such were the feelings which the unhappy father
gave vent to in loud tones, appealing to the heart
of the Blessed Virgin, making his demand, so to
say, in due form of law, and citing her to pay her
debt of gratitude.
It was ten o clock at night.
OUR LADY OF LOUEDE8.
The young- girl, at the moment of retiring to
rest, soaked a linen bandage in the water brought
from Lourdes and placed it on her eyes, tying it in
a knot at the back of her head.
Her soul was agitated. Without having the faith
of M. Moreau, she said to herself, that, after all, it
was not impossible the Blessed Virgin might cure
her ; that soon, perhaps, at the close of the Novena,
she might be restored to the enjoyment of light.
Then her doubts recurred, and it seemed to her
that a Miracle was not intended for one like herself.
All these thoughts constantly revolving in her
mind, it was with great difficulty that she could
get to sleep, and it was very late ere slumber over-
took her.
The next morning, when she awoke, her first
movement a movement of vague hope and uneasy
curiosity was to remove the bandage with which
her eyes were covered.
She uttered a loud cry.
All around her the light of early morning inun
dated her chamber. She saw clearly, plainly, dis
tinctly. The eye which had only been lately at
tacked had entirely recovered its powers of vision ;
the other, which had been dead, was restored to
life.
" Marthe ! Marthe !" she cried to her sister. " I
see ! I see ! I am cured !"
Little Marthe, who slept in the same room with
her sister, leaped from her bed and ran towards
her. She gazed on the eyes of Marie, now entirely
free from their bleeding film her eyes black and
brilliant, in \vhich strength and life were once more
resplendent.
1 8*
4 i 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The little girl s heart turned towards her father
and mother, who were wanting to render her joy
complete.
" Papa ! Mamma !" she cried.
Marie made her a sign to be silent.
" Wait, wait !" she said. " I wish first to know
whether I can read. Give me a book."
The child took one which happened to be lying
on the table.
" Here is one," she said.
Marie opened the book and read from it fluently
and without any effort, like any other person. Her
cure was complete, radical and positive, and the
Blessed Virgin had not done things by halves.
Her father and mother had hastened to her room.^B
" Papa, mamma, I can see, I can read, I am cured !"
How would it be possible for us to paint this inde
scribable scene ? Every one comprehends it, every
one can see it by descending into the depths of his
own heart.
The door of the house had not yet been opened.
The windows were closed and their transparent
panes only suffered the first brightness of morning
to enter. Who then could have entered and min
gled in the joy of this family which had been so
suddenly restored to happiness. And yet these
Christians whose prayers had been so graciously
heard felt instinctively that they were not alone,
and that a powerful and invisible Being was at that
moment in their midst.
The father and mother and little Marthe fell on
their knees. Marie, who was still in bed, clasped
her hands, and from these four bosoms, overpower
ed with emotion and gratitude, there issued as a
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 419
thanksgiving the name of the Mother of God " O
Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes."
What were the other words they uttered ? We
know not. As to their feelings, who does not di
vine them, by placing himself, in imagination, in
presence of this wonderful event, this lightning-
like display of the power of God, traversing all
at once the destiny of an unfortunate family and
changing their sorrow into boundless happiness.
It is scarcely necessary to add that, shortly after
wards, Mile. Marie Moreau went with her parents
to offer up her thanksgivings to Our Lady of
Lourdes at the Grotto of the Apparition. She
deposited her ordinary attire on the altar and re
turned happy and proud to wear them the colors
of the Queen of Virgins.
M. Moreau, whose faith had formerly been so
great, was stupefied with astonishment. " I be
lieved," said he, " that such graces were only grant
ed to saints. How is it that such favors descend
also upon miserable sinners like ourselves ?"
These facts had for witnesses the entire popula
tion of Tartas, which sympathized in the affliction
of this family, one of the most highly respected in
the place. Every one in the town saw and can
attest that this malady, which was despaired of up
to that period, was suddenly cured at the com
mencement of the Novena. The Superior of the
Convent of the Sacred Heart at Bordeaux, the one
hundred and fifty pupils who were the companions
of Mile. Marie Moreau, the medical men of the
above establishment, have established the serious
state to which she was reduced before these events
occurred, and afterwards her entire recovery. She
4 2 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
returned in fact to Bordeaux, where she remained
two years longer to complete her education.
The oculist, M. Bermont, could not recover from
his surprise at this termination of the case so far
beyond the range of his art We have seen his
declaration attesting the state of the invalid and
acknowledging the utter impossibility of such a
cure being made by the ordinary means at the dis
posal of the science of medicine. " A cure," he says,
" which was complete, and is still complete. As to
the instantaneous nature of this cure, as it has been
produced, it is," he adds, " a fact, beyond compari
son, which altogether exceeds the limits of medical
knowledge. In which belief I have attached my _
signature Bermont."
This declaration, dated 8th February, 1859, is de
posited at the Bishop s palace at Tarbes, together
with a great number of letters and attestations from
the inhabitants of Tartas, among which figures that
of M. Desbord, Mayor of the town.
Mile. Marie wore the colors of the Virgin up to
the day of her marriage, which took place soon
after she had completed her education and had left
the Convent of the Sacred Heart. On that day
she repaired to Lourdes, and laid aside her maiden
attire to assume her bridal robe.
It was her wish to present her blue and white
dress to another young girl, beloved like herself by
the Blessed Virgin to Bernadette. Having the
same mother, were they not almost sisters ?
This was the only gift ever accepted by Berna
dette. She wore for many years until in fact it
could be worn no longer that dress, the colors of
which always recalled to her mind the beneficent
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
421
omnipotence of the divine apparition at the Grotto.
Eleven years have elapsed since the occurrence
of these events. The benefit conferred by the
Most Blessed Virgin has not been withdrawn ; the
sight of Mile. Moreau has continued perfectly
good ; there has never been any relapse, not even
the slightest indisposition. Short of suicide I
mean an act of ingratitude or an abuse of grace
what God has resuscitated dies no more. Resur-
gens jam non moritur.
Mile. Marie Moreau is now the wife of M. d Izaru
de Villefort ; she is the mother of two noble chil
dren, who have the finest eyes in the world. Al-
^hough they are both boys, their first baptismal
lame is that of Marie.
VI.
THE miraculous cures were counted by hun
dreds. It was impossible to attempt to establish
the truth of all. The Episcopal Commissioners sub
jected thirty of them to a most minute scrutiny.
They displayed extreme strictness in their investi
gation, and only admitted the Supernatural when
it would have been impossible to have done other
wise. They rejected, for instance, all such cures
as could not claim to have been effected almost in
stantaneously, but had been accomplished by slow
degrees, as also all such as Had been obtained in
union with medical treatment, however unavailing
the latter might have been up to that period. " Al
though the inefficacy of the remedies prescribed by
medical science had been satisfactorily shown,"
we quote from the Report drawn up by the Secre-
422
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
tary of the Commission, " it was not possible, in
that case, strictly and exclusively, to attribute the
cure to the supernatural virtue of the water of the
Grotto, which had been used simultaneously."
Further, there had been pointed out to the Com
missioners, as possessing a miraculous character,
sundry favors of a spiritual nature, singular graces
and unhoped-for conversions. It was difficult to
establish judicially these dramas which were en
acted in the secret recesses of the human soul, and
were therefore not subject to any external control.
Although such occurrences, such changes of heart
are sometimes more marvelous and astonishing
than the straightening of a limb or the cessation
of some physical malady, the Commissioners judged^
wisely that they ought not to be included in the
solemn and public inquiry with which the Bishop
had charged them.
In their report to Monseigneur Laurence, the
Commissioners, in concert with the medical men,
divided into three categories the cures which they
had investigated and of which they had furnished
ample details in their official documents, which
were all signed by the persons cured and by nu
merous witnesses.
The first category comprehended such cures as,
however striking their nature, were susceptible of
a natural explanation. They were in number six,
and comprised those of Jeanne Marie Arque, the
widow of M. Crozat, Blaise Maumus, and of a
child called Laffitte, all three residents at Lourdes;
of a child called Lasbareilles, of Gez ; of Jean Cras-
sus, of Arcizan-Avant, and lastly of Jeanne Pomier,
of Loubajac.
OUR LADY OF LOTTED ES.
423
The second category was composed of cures
with regard to which the Commissioners were in
clined to admit supernatural agency. In this -num
ber we find as follows : Jean Pierre Malon, Jeanne
Marie Daube, wife of a man called Vendome, Ber-
narde Soubies and Pauline Bordeaux, all of Lourdes ;
Jean-Marie Amaru, of Beaucens ; Marcelle Pey-
regne, of Agos ; Jeanne-Marie Massot Bordenave,
of Arras ; Jeanne Gezma and Auguste Bordes, of
Pontacq.
" The majority of these facts " as we learn from
the medical investigation " furnish almost all the
conditions necessary for their admission into the
supernatural order of things. It may be consider
ed that, in rejecting them, we have acted with too
much caution and have pushed our conscientious
ness to extremes. But far from complaining of
being so reproached, we congratulate ourselves on
it, being fully convinced that in matters of this
importance to be strict is to follow the dictates of
prudence."
Under such circumstances, a natural explanation,
however improbable, but still within the range of
possibility, sufficed to prevent the Commissioners
from declaring the Miracle. The fact was then
ranked by them in the category we have just
pointed out.
The third class comprised those cures which
displayed in the most evident and undeniable man
ner the supernatural character. There were fif
teen of them, and we subjoin the names of those
cured : Blaisette Soupenne, Benoite Cazeaux,
Jeanne Crassus, wife of a man called Crozat, Louis
Bourriette, v the child Justin Beauhohorts, Fabien
424
OUR LADY OF LOUBDBS.
and Suzanne Baron, all of Lourdcs ; Mme. Rizan
and Henry Busquet of Nay ; Catherine Latapie, of
Loubajac ; Madame Lanou of Borderes ; Marianne
Garrot and Denys Bouchet of Lamarque ; Jean-
Maria Tambourne of Saint Justin ; Mile. Moreau
de Sazenay of Tartas ; and Paschaline Abbadee of
Rabastens. All these cures were pronounced to
have been incontestably miraculous.
" The maladies by which those who were favored
with such sudden and striking cures had been
attacked were for the most part of very different
natures," as we gather from the report of the Com
mission. They assumed very different characters.
Some of them belonged to internal, others to ex
ternal pathology.
These affections, however, though of such differ
ent kinds have been cured by the use of one and
the same element, sometimes externally, sometimes
internally, and in some cases in both ways simul
taneously.
" Now, in the natural and scientific order, be
sides the fact of each remedy only being applied in
a particular manner, it is clear that it only possesses
one special virtue adapted to such or such a malady,
but which is inefficacious, if not injurious, in all other
cases. It is not, therefore, owing to any peculiar prop
erty inherent in its composition, that the water of
Massabielle has succeeded in producing such num
erous, extraordinary and different cures, and in
suddenly putting to flight so many maladies of dif
ferent and sometimes diametrically opposite na
ture.
" And this is the more remarkable," the report
added, " since Science has authoritatively declared
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 425
on the analysis furnished by the most eminent men,
that this water does not in itself contain any mine
ral or therapeutic properties, and that, chemically
speaking, it is nothing but pure water."
Medical science did not arrive less decidedly at
the same conclusions after a mature and conscien
tious examination of these miraculous cures.
" On glancing at these cures as a whole," said the
medical report, " one is struck at once with the facil
ity, promptitude, and instantaneousness with which
they issue from the bosom of their producing-
cause ; with the violation and utter upsetting of
all therapeutic methods which prevail in their ac
complishment ; with the contradictions which the
precepts and previsions of science meet with ; with
that kind of disdain which makes sport of the long-
continuance, extent and resistance of the malady ;
with the hidden, but at the same time, real care
with which the circumstances are arranged and
combined, in order to show that in the cure which
is being effected there is something going on quite
out of the ordinary course of nature. Such phe
nomena are beyond the range of human intellect
How, in fact, can it comprehend the oppositior
which exists :
" Between the simplicity of the means and the
grandeur of the result ?
" Bet ween the unity of the remedy and the diver
sity of the maladies ?
" Between the short duration of the application of
the curative agent and the slowness of the treat
ment prescribed by art or science ?
" Between the sudden efficacy of the former and
the tedious failure of the latter?
426 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" Between the chronic nature of the disease and
the instantaneousness of the cure ?
" There is in all this a contingent Force superior
to those which have been dispensed to nature and
consequently foreign to the water which it em
ploys for the manifestation of its power."
All these striking facts, so carefully and publicly
verified ; this investigation which had been so com
pletely, conscientiously and minutely pursued by
the Commission, and the declarations and conclu
sions which had been so decidedly pronounced by
men deeply versed in medical and chemical science,
could not fail of producing conviction in the mind
of the bishop. His doubts were entirely cleared up.
However, actuated by that spirit of extreme
prudence which we have often had occasion to
point out to our readers in the course of this nar
ration, Mgr. Laurence, before solemnly pronounc
ing the episcopal verdict on this important ques
tion, wished that a new sanction should be confer
red on these miraculous events the sanction of time.
He suffered three years to elapse without taking
any further steps.
A second investigation was then instituted. The
cures, which we indicated above as supernatural,
still remained in full force. No one came forward
to withdraw his original testimony or to contest
the facts. The works of Him who reigns in eter
nity have nothing to fear from the test of time.
At length, furnished with such a superabundant
series of demonstrations and proofs amounting to
certainty, Mgr. Laurence pronounced the judg
ment which was expected from him. We give a
general summary of it below.
OUR LADT OF LOURDES. 427
VII.
PASTORAL letter of Mgr. the Bishop of Tarbes, pro
nouncing judgment in the case of the Apparition
which took place at the Grotto of Lourdes.
BERTRAND-Severe-Laurence, by the Divine Mer
cy and the favor of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop
of Tarbes, Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, etc.
To the clergy and faithful of our diocese saluta
tion and benediction in Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In all epochs of humanity, Our Beloved Co-op
erators and Very dear Brothers, a marvelous
communication has subsisted between heaven and
earth. At the commencement of the world, the
Lord appeared to our first parents in order to re
proach them with the crime of their disobedience.
In following ages, we find. Him conversing with
the Patriarchs and the Prophets ; and the Old
Testament is often the history of the celestial Ap
paritions with which the children of Israel were
favored.
Such divine favors were not to cease with the
Mosaic dispensation ; on the contrary they were to
be under the law of grace more numerous and
more striking.
In the very cradle of the Church, in those times
of bloody persecution, the Christians were in the
habit of being visited by Jesus Christ or by Angels,
who came, sometimes to reveal to them the secrets
of the future, sometimes to deliver them from their
chains, sometimes to strengthen them for the com
bats they were to endure. It was thus according
428 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
to the idea of a judicious writer that God en
couraged those illustrious Confessors of the faith,
at a time when the mighty of the earth were unit
ing all their efforts to stifle in its germ that doc
trine by which the world was to be saved.
These supernatural manifestations were not ex
clusively confined to the first ages of Christianity.
History attests that they have been perpetuated
from age to age for the greater glory of Religion
and the edification of the Faithful.
In the ranks of celestial Apparitions those of
the Blessed Virgin occupy a prominent place, and
have been an abundant source of blessings for the
world. In traversing the Catholic universe, the
traveler meets with temples consecrated to the
Mother of God, built at no great distance from
each other ; and several of these edifices owe their
origin to an Apparition of the Queen of Heaven.
We have already one of these blessed Sanctuaries
in our part of the country Our Lady of Garaison
founded, four centuries ago, in consequence of a
revelation made to a young shepherd-girl. Thous
ands of pilgrims repair thither every year to kneel
before the throne of the glorious Virgin Mary to
implore her kindness.
Thanks be to the Almighty ! in the infinite treas
ures of his goodness, he has reserved for us a fresh
favor. He wills that in the diocese of Tarbes a
new sanctuary should be elevated to the glory of
"Mary. And what instrument has He employed to
communicate to us His merciful designs. It is one
which would be deemed the weakest in the eyes of the
world, a child aged fourteen years, Bernadette
Soubirous, born of poor parents at Lourdes.
OUR LADY OF LOUEDES. 429
[Mere the Bishop gave a summary of the Appari
tions of the Most Blessed Virgin, with which the
reader is already acquainted. Mgr. Laurence
then proceeded to the discussion of the facts.]
Such is substantially, [continued the Prelate,]
the narration as we gathered it from the lips of
Bernadette, in presence of the Commission, which
had been assembled for the purpose of hearing her
account a second time.
Thus this young girl is said to have- seen and
heard a being styling herself the Immaculate Con
ception, and which, albeit clothed in human form,
is said to have been neither seen nor heard by any
of the numerous spectators who were present at
the scene. It is said, consequently, to have been a
supernatural being. What must we think of all
this?
You are well aware, beloved Brethren, that the
Church exercises a wise deliberation in her appre
ciation of supernatural facts : she demands positive
proofs, before admitting them and proclaiming
them divine. Since the original fall, man, more
especially in matters of this nature, is subject to
many errors. If not lead astray by his reason, now
become so weak, he is liable to be the victim of the
artifices of the Devil. Who does not know that
the Evil one transforms sometimes into an angel of
light in order that we may fall more easily into his
snares. Thus the beloved Disciple recommends us
not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits,
whether they be of God. This trial, dearly be
loved Brethren, we have already made. The
occurrences, of which we are now speaking to you,
430 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
have been a cause of anxiety to us for the last four
years. We have followed them in their different
phases; we have received suggestions from our
Commission, composed of pious, learned and expe
rienced priests, who have interrogated the child,
studied the facts, and examined into and well
weighed everything. We have also called in the
authority of Science, and we have remained firmly
convinced that the Apparition is supernatural and
divine, and, consequently, that what Bernadette
saw, was the Blessed Virgin. Our conviction has
been formed on the testimony of Bernadette, and
more especially so after taking into consideration
the facts which have been produced, and which
admit of no explanation but that of divine inter
vention.
The testimony of the young girl offers all the
guarantees we can possibly desire. There cannot
be the slightest doubt as to her sincerity. Who
does not, when coming in contact with her, admire
her simplicity, modesty and candor? While every
body is discussing the marvels which have been
revealed to her, alone, she remains silent. She
never speaks unless when questions are put to her ;
then she enters into details without the slightest
affectation, and with the most touching ingenuous
ness; and her answers to the numerous questions
addressed to her are given without hesitation ; are
clear, precise, very much to the purpose, and bear
ing the impress of deep conviction.
Subjected to rough trials, she has never been
shaken by threats, and she has declined the most
generous offers with noble disinterestedness. Al
ways d accord avec elle-meme, she has, in the differ-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
431
ent interrogatories to which she has been subjected,
constantly adhered to her first statement, neither
adding to nor taking away from it. Bernadette s
sincerity is therefore incontestable. Let us add
that it has never been contested. Even those who
opposed her, have themselves rendered her this
homage.
But granting that Bernadette had no wish to
deceive others, is it not possible that she was de
ceived herself? For instance, did she not fancy
she saw and heard what she neither saw nor heard ?
Was she not the victim of a hallucination? How
could we believe this for a moment? The Avisdom
of her replies reveals in the child a soundness of
mind, a calmness of imagination, and a fund of
good sense beyond her years. In her the religious
feeling has never displayed any over-excited char
acter ; it has never been proved that she suffered
from any intellectual derangement, oddity of dispo
sition, or morbid affection which might have pre
disposed her to indulge in creations of the imagi
nation. She has had this vision, not once only, but
as often as eighteen times ; she saw it for the first
time suddenly, when nothing could have prepared
her for what was to be accomplished later on ; and
during the Quinzaine, when she expected to see
the vision every day, she saw nothing for two days,
although she was placed in the same way and in
identical circumstances. And then what took place
during the time the Apparitions were before her?
Bernadette was transformed ; her countenance as
sumed a new expression, her eyes kindled, she saw
things which she had never before seen, she heard
language which she had never before heard, the
432
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
sense of which she did not always understand, but
the remembrance of which she did not fail to retain.
These circumstances joined together, preclude the
idea of hallucination. The young girl has there
fore really seen and heard a being styling herself
the Immaculate Conception, and it being impossi-
sible to account for the phenomenon naturally, we
have just ground for believing that the Apparition
was supernatural.
The testimony of Bernadette in itself of con
siderable importance acquires altogether new
strength we might say its complement from the
marvelous occurrences which have taken place
since the first event. If a tree should be judged
by its fruits, we may affirm that the Apparition, as
narrated by the girl, is supernatural and divine, for
it has produced supernatural and divine effects.
What then happened, dearly beloved Brethren ?
The Apparition was scarcely heard of, when the
news spread with the rapidity of lightning ; it was
known that Bernadette was to repair to the Grotto
for the space of fifteen days, and the whole country
was aroused. Crowds of people streamed towards
the place of the Apparition ; they waited for the
solemn hour with religious impatience ; and while
the girl, beside herself with ravishment, was ab
sorbed by the object of her contemplation, the
witnesses of this prodigy, deeply affected and melt
ed to tenderness, were mingled in a common feeling
of admiration and prayer.
The Apparitions have ceased ; but the concourse
of people continues, and pilgrims, arriving from
distant countries as well as from the neighboring
districts, hasten to the Grotto. They arc of all
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
433
ages, all ranks and all conditions. And by what
feeling are these numerous strangers urged to visit
the place ? Ah ! they come to the Grotto in order
to pray and to demand favors of one kind or other
from the Immaculate Mary. They prove, by their
recollected behaviour, that they are sensible as it
were of a divine breath which vivifies this rock,
from henceforth forever celebrated. Souls, already
Christian, have become strengthened in virtue ;
men frozen with indifference have been brought
back to the practices of religion ; obstinate sinners
have been reconciled with God, after Our Lady of
Lourdes had been invoked in their favor. These
marvels of grace, bearing the stamp of universal
ity and duration, can only have God for their
author. Consequently, have they not come for
the express purpose of confirming the truth of the
Apparition ?
If from effects produced for the good of souls,
we pass to those which concern the health of the
body, how many new prodigies have we not to
recount?
Our readers will not have forgotten the gushing
forth of the Spring, from which Bernadette drank
and in which she washed herself, in the presence
of the assembled multitude. It would be super
fluous to repeat here the details.
Persons suffering from sickness, [resumes the
Bishop,] tried the water of the Grotto, and not
without success. Many, whose infirmities had
resisted the most energetic treatment, suddenly
recovered their health. These extraordinary cures
acquired immense notoriety, and their fame soon
spread far and wide.
19
434 OUS LADY OF LQURDE8.
The sick of all countries requested to have some
of the water of Massabielle sent to them, when
they were unable to repair themselves to the
Grotto. How many bowed down with infirmities
have been cured, how many families consoled ! If
we wished to invoke their testimony, innumerable
voices would be raised to proclaim, in accents of
gratitude, the sovereign efficacy of the water of the
Grotto. It would be impossible for us to enumer
ate here all the favors which have been obtained ;
but there is one thing of which we are bound to
inform you, which is, that the water of Massabielle
has cured many who had been given over and
pronounced incurable. These cures have been
effected by the use of a water, which, according to
the report of eminent Chemists who have subjected
it to a minute analysis, is destitute of any curative
properties. They have been effected in some in
stances instantaneously, in others after the repeti
tion of the application of this water two or three
times, either internally or externally. Further,
these cures are permanent. What then is the
power which has produced them ? Is it the power
of the organism ? Scientific men, when consulted
on the subject, have replied in the negative. These
cures are* then the work of God. Now they arc
connected with the Apparition; she it is who is
their starting point; she it was who inspired the
sick with confidence ; consequently there is an inti
mate connection between the cures and the Appa
rition ; the Apparition is divine, since the cures
bear the seal of the divinity. From this it follows
that the Apparition having styled herself the Im
maculate Conception, it was the Most Blessed
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 435
Virgin whom Bernaclette saw and heard ! Let us
then exclaim : The finger of God is here ! Digitus
Dei est Jiic.
How can we but admire, dearly beloved Breth
ren, the economy of divine Providence ! At the
end of the year 1854, the immortal Pius IX. pro
claimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
The words of the Pontiff were re-echoed in the
most distant parts of the world ; Catholic hearts
thrilled with joy, and the glorious privilege of
Mary was everywhere celebrated with fetes, the
souvenir of which will remain forever engraved on
our memory. And behold about three years after
wards, the Blessed Virgin, appearing to a child,
says to her : / am the Immaculate Conception / de
sire that a cJiapcl should be erected here to my honor.
Does she not appear to wish to consecrate by a
monument the infallible oracle of the successor of
St. Peter?
And where does she desire that this monument
should be erected ? It .is at the foot of our Pyre-
nean mountains, a country where numerous for
eigners meet together, coming from every part of
the world in search of health at our warm baths.
May it not be said that she invites the faithful of
all nations to come and honor her in the new tem
ple which shall be erected to her?
Inhabitants of Lourdes, rejoice ! the august
Mary condescends to regard you with her merciful
eyes. It is her will that a sanctuary should be built
to her honor near your town, in which she will
abundantly pour forth her benefactions. Be thank
ful to her for this pledge of predilection which she
gives you, and since she lavishes on you the tender-
436 OUR LADY OF LOURDE9.
ness of a mother, show yourselves to be her de
voted children by the imitation of her virtues and
your unshaken attachment to Religion.
Besides, it is with pleasure we recognize the
fact, that the Apparition has already produced
among you abundant fruits of salvation. Eye wit
nesses of the occurrences at the Grotto and of their
happy results, your confidence has been as great as
your conviction has been strong. We have ever ad
mired your prudence, your docility in following the
advice tendered by us of submission to the civil
authorities, at a time when for the space of several
weeks, you were obliged to cease your visits to
the Grotto, and to compress, in your own hearts, the
sentiments inspired by the spectacle which had so im
pressed you during the Quinzaine of the Apparitions.
And all of you, whether Priests or Laics, in our
diocese, open your hearts to the influence of hope ;
a new era of graces is commencing for you : you
are called upon to reap your share in the benefits
which are promised to us. In your supplications
and canticles, you will henceforth mingle the name
of Our Lady of Lourdes with the blessed names of
Our Lady of Garaison, of Poeylaun, of Heas and
of Pietat.
From above these sacred sanctuaries, the Im
maculate Virgin will watch over you and shield
you with her tutelary protection. Yes, beloved
fellow-laborers, and beloved brothers in Christ, if,
with our hearts full of trust, we keep our eyes
steadily fixed on that " star of the sea," we shall,
without fear of shipwreck, pass through the tem
pests of life, and reach in safety the haven of eter
nal felicity.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 437
FOR THESE REASONS :
After having conferred with our venerable Broth
ers, the Dignitaries, Canons and Chapter of our
Cathedral Church ;
The Holy Name of God being duly* invoked ;
taking for our guidance the rules wisely traced by
Benedict XIV. in his work on the Beatification
and Canonization of Saints for the discernment of
Apparitions true or false ;
Seeing the favorable report which has been pre
sented to us by the Commission charged with ob
taining all information relative to the Apparition at
the Grotto of Lourdes, and its attendant circum
stances ;
Seeing the written testimony of the Physicians
and Surgeons whom we have consulted on the sub
ject of the numerous cures obtained in consequence
of the use of the water of the Grotto ;
Considering, in the first place, that the fact of the
Apparition viewed either with reference to the
young girl who reported it, or more especially with
reference to the extraordinary effects which it has
produced can only be accounted for through the
medium of a supernatural cause ;
Considering, in the second place, that this cause
can but be divine, since the effects produced by it,
being, some, sensible signs of grace, as the conver
sion of sinners, others, deviations from the ordinary
laws of nature, as miraculous cures, can only be re
ferred to the Author of Grace and to the Lord of
nature ;
Considering, in short, that our conviction is
strengthened by the vast and spontaneous concourse
438 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
of the faithful at the Grotto a concourse which
has not ceased since the first Apparitions, having
for its object to request favors, or to return thanks
for those already obtained ;
In order to respond to the legitimate impatience
of our Venerable Chapter, of the clergy, of the
laics of our diocese, and of so many pious souls, who
have long been demanding from the ecclesiastical
Authority a decision which motives of prudence
have induced us to defer ;
Wishing, also, to satisfy the pious wishes of many
of our Colleagues in the Episcopacy, and of a
great number of eminent personages strangers to
our diocese ;
After having invoked the enlightenment of the
Holy Spirit, and the assistance of the Most Blessed
Virgin,
WE HAVE DECLARED AND DO DECLARE AS
FOLLOWS :
Article i. We pronounce judgment that the IM
MACULATE MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, really appear
ed to Bernadette Soubirous, on the eleventh of Feb
ruary, 1858, and following days, to the number of
eighteen, in the Grotto of Massabielle, near the
town of Lourdes ; that this Apparition is invested
with every character of truth, and that the faithful
have good ground for believing it to be certain.
We submit, with all humility, our judgment to
the judgment of the Sovereign Pontiff, to whom is
committed the government of the universal Church.
Article 2. We authorize the worship of Our Lady
of the Grotto of Lourdes in our diocese ; but we
prohibit the publication of any particular formula
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
439
of prayers, of any canticle, or of any book of devo
tion bearing on this event, without our approbation
given in writing.
Article 3. In order to conform ourselves to the
will of the Blessed Virgin several times expressed
by the Apparition at that period we propose to
proceed to the erection of a sanctuary on the site
of the Grotto, the proprietorship of which is now
vested in the Bishops of Tarbes for the time being.
This edifice, when we take into consideration the
steep and difficult locality we have to deal with,
will require much labor and relatively a very con
siderable outlay of money. In order, therefore, to
realize our pious scheme, we shall need the co-ope
ration of the priests and the faithful of our diocese,
as well as of the priests and the faithful of France
and of foreign countries. We appeal to their gener
ous hearts, and more especially to all the pious per
sons of all countries, who arc devoted to the wor
ship of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin
Mary.
Article 4. We address ourselves with confidence
to the establishments of both sexes, consecrated
to the education of youth, to the Congregations of
the Children of Mary, to the confreries of the Blessed
Virgin and to the different pious Associations, whe
ther in our own diocese or in the whole of France.
On the Sunday following its reception, this, our
pastoral letter, shall be read and published in all the
parish churches, as also in the chapels and oratories
of the seminaries, colleges and hospitals of our dio
cese.
Given at Tarbes, in our episcopal palace, under
our signature and seal and the counter-signature of
440 OUR LADT OF LOURDES.
our secretary, on the i8th of January, 1862, being
the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome.
i|i BERTRAND SEVERE,
Bishop of Tarbcs.
By order, FOURCADE, Canon-Secretary.
VIII.
IN the name of the see, or, to speak more cor
rectly, in that of the Church, Mgr. Laurence
bought from the town of Lourdes the Grotto, the
portion of land by which it is surrounded, and the
entire group of the Rocks of Massabielle. M. La-
cade was Mayor at the time. He it was who pro
posed to the municipal council, the cession to the
Church, the Spouse of Christ, of those places now
for ever holy, where the Mother of God had ap
peared. His signature was formally attached to
the contract of sale.
This sale was authorized by M. Rouland, as was
also the construction of a churchwin eternal memory
of the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to Berna-
dette Soubirous, of the issuing of the Spring, and
of the countless miracles which were accomplished
in order to attest the reality of the divine visions.
While the vast temple dedicated to the Immacu
late Conception on the rugged rocks of Massabielle
was rising stone by stone from its foundations, Our
Lady of Lourdes continued to pour out her mira
cles and her benefactions on mankind. At Paris
and Bordeaux, in Pcrigord, in Bretagne and in
Anjou, in the most lonely country places, and in
the very heart of thickly inhabited cities, Our Lady
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
441
of. Lourdes was invoked, and every where Our
Lady of Lourdes responded with undeniable signs
of her power and goodness.
Let us still narrate two of these divine histories
ere we close our tale, and give a tableau of the
present state of things. The first forms an episode
in the life of the author of this book which will
never be effaced from his memory. This episode
we subjoin, just as we wrote it nearly seven years
ago.
TENTH BOOK.
1.
^"T^VURING my whole life my sight had been
1 s excellent. I could distinguish objects at
an immense distance, and on the other hand I could
read my book with the greatest ease, however close
it might be to my eyes. I never suffered the least
weariness after passing whole nights in study. I
, was sometimes astonished and delighted at the
strength of my sight, which was at the same time
so powerful and so clear. I was therefore greatly
surprised and cruelly disappointed when, in the
course of June and July, 1862, I found my sight be
coming by degrees weak, incapable of working by
night, and at length so entirely unserviceable th^it
I was obliged to give up reading and writing. If
I attempted to take up a book, at the end of three
or four lines sometimes at the first glance I ex
perienced such a weariness in the upper part of my
eyes as to render further exertion impossible. I
consulted several physicians and more particularly
two eminent men who devoted themselves espe
cially to eye-complaints, M. Desmares and M. Gi-
raud-Teulon.
" The remedies prescribed for me were of little or
(442)
OUR LADY OF LOURDES 443
no avail. After a period of perfect rest, and a regi
men into which iron largely entered, there was at
first a slight improvement in my state, and one day
I could read and write in the afternoon for a con
siderable time ; but the next day all my distressing
symptoms returned. It was then that I tried local
remedies, cold water douches on the eye-ball, cup
ping in the back of the neck, a general system of
hydropathy and alcoholic lotions in the parts ad
joining the eye. Sometimes though very rarely
I felt a momentary alleviation of the excessive
weariness from which I was constantly suffering,
but this only lasted for a few moments, and, in
short, my complaint was insensibly assuming that
chronic type which usually characterizes incurable
infirmities.
" In obedience to the advice of my medical at
tendants, I had given up my eyes to entire rest.
Not content with wearing blue spectacles when
ever I left the house, I had quitted Paris for the
country, and retired to my mother s residence at
Coux, on the banks of the Dordogne. I had taken
with me as my secretary a young person who read
for me the books I required to consult, and wrote
from my dictation.
" September had arrived. This state had lasted
about three months, and it began to cause me the
most serious uneasiness. I suffered dreadful anx
iety, which I did not mention to any one. My re
lations and friends had the same fears, though they
kept them from me. We were almost convinced
that my sight was lost for ever, but each of us tried
to inspire hope we had ceased to have ourselves,
and concealed our mutual feelings of alarm.
444 VR LADY OF LOURDE8.
"I have a very intimate friend a friend of my
earliest infancy to whom I am in the habit of con
fiding my joys and sorrows. From my dictation
my secretary wrote him a letter in which I de
scribed my unhappy situation and my cruel fears
for the future.
" The friend of whom I speak is a Protestant, as
is his wife also, a double circumstance which de
serves being remarked. For certain very sufficient
reasons I cannot give his name here in full; we
will call him M. de .
" He replied to me a few days afterwards. His
letter reached me on the isth of September, and
surprised me greatly. I here give its contents
without changing a single word :
" Your few lines, my dear friend, gave me pleas
ure ; but, as I have already told you, I long to hear
from you in your own handwriting. Within the last
few days, on my return from Cauterets, I stopped
at Lourdes, near Tarbes. I visited the celebrated
Grotto there, and heard such wonderful things re
lating to cures produced by its waters more espe
cially in cases of eye-complaints that I beg you
most seriously to give them a trial. Were I a
Catholic, a believer like you, and suffering, as you
are, from any malady, I should risk the chance
without hesitation. If it is true that the sick have
been suddenly cured, you may hope to swell their
number; and if it is not so, what do you risk by
making the trial? I may add that I am somewhat
personally interested in this experiment. Should
it succeed, what an important fact it would be for
me to record ? I should be brought face to face
QUH LADY OF LOURDES. 445
with a miraculous fact, or at least with an event to
which the principal witness would be above all
suspicion.
" It appears that it is not actually necessary to
go to Lourdes to use this water, as you may just as
well have it forwarded to you. You have but to
write to the Cure of Lourdes on the subject and he
will provide you with it. It is necessary to go
through certain preliminary formalities which I am
unable to point out to you, but the Curd of Lourdes
will furnish you with all particulars. Beg him at
the same time to send you a little pamphlet by the
Vicar-general of Tarbes, which gives an account
of the best established miraculous occurrences.
" This letter of my friend was eminently calcu
lated to fill me with astonishment. His disposition
of mind is clear, positive and mathematical, lofty
in its nature, but at the same time not likely to
yield to the illusions of enthusiasm. Add to this, he
is a Protestant. The advice he gave me so seri
ously and so urgently, amazed me more especially
as coming from him.
" I resolved, however, not to follow it.
" It seems to me, I replied to him, that I am
to-day somewhat better, and if I continue to im
prove I shall not have any occasion to have re
course this time to the extraordinary remedy you
propose, for which, besides, I, perhaps, have not
sufficient faith.
" Here, I must confess, not without blushing, the
secret motives of my resistance.
" Whatever I might have said, I was not wanting
in faith, and though I knew nothing of the water
446 OUR LADT OF LOURDES.
of Lourdes, except from the impertinent strictures
of some ill-thinking journals, I was morally certain
that there, as well as in many other places, the
power of God might manifest itself in cures. I go
further : I had a kind of presentiment that if I tried
this water said to have gushed forth in conse
quence of an Apparition of the Blessed Virgin I
should be cured. But I dreaded, I confess, the
responsibility of so great a favor. If you are cured
by the ordinary routine of medicine, I observed to
myself, you will be quits by paying the doctor.
You will be in the same position as your neighbor.
But if God cures you by a Miracle, by the special
effect of his power and by a direct and personal in
tervention, it will be quite -a different affair for you
and you will be obliged to amend your life and be
come a saint. When God shall in a manner have
given vou for the second time with his own hands
those eyes which are now so little under your con
trol, will you be able to suffer them as you do at
present to stray towards objects which seduce
you or wander over what may cause you sorrow ?
After a miracle exerted in your favor, God will de
mand His recompense, and that will cost you dear
er than the fees of the doctor. It will then be your
duty to overcome this evil habit, to acquire that
virtue. What may you not be obliged to do ? Ah !
it is impossible.
" And my wretched heart, fearing its own weak-r
ness, refused to accept the grace of God.
" Such was my reason for rebelling against the
advice tendered me .of having recourse to this mi
raculous intervention, against this advice which
Providence, always profound in its ways, sent to
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 447
me by two Protestants, by two heretics, outside the
Church. My agitation, however, and my resist
ance were alike in vain. An interior voice was
for ever telling me that the hand of man would be
powerless to cure me, and that the Master, whom
I had so often offended, willed Himself to restore
me my sight, and thus presenting me with a new
life, to prove whether I should be able to employ it
better.
" In the mean time my state of health remained
stationary or become slowly worse.
" Early in October I was obliged to undertake a
journey to Paris.
" By the merest accident M. de happened
to be there at the same time with his wife. The
first visit I made was to them. My friend was stop
ping at the house of his sister, Mme. P , who
resides in Paris with her husband.
" * And how are your" eyes ? asked Mme. de ,
as I entered the drawing-room.
" My eyes are always in the same state, and I
begin to think my sight is lost for ever.
" But why do you not try the remedy we ad
vised you ? said my friend to me. Something or
other gives me hopes that you might be cured.
" Pshaw ! I replied, I will confess to you, that
without proceeding to the length of denial and
open hostility, I have no great faith in all these
waters and pretended apparitions. All that is pos
sible, and I have no positive objection to it ; but
not having studied the question, I am neither for
nor against it ; it is beyond my reach. In short, 1
have no wish to have recourse to the means you
advise me.
448 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" You bring forward no valid objections to such
a step, he replied. According to your religious
principles, you must believe, and you do believe,
in the possibility of such things. Such being the
case, why should you not make the experiment ?
What will it cost you ? As I have told you, the
thing cannot do you any harm, since it is merely
pure water, water of the same chemical composi
tion as the most ordinary water; and since you
believe in miracles, and have faith in your religion,
does it not strike you as extraordinary that you
should be advised so strongly by two Protestants
to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin? I tell you
beforehand, that if you are cured, it will be a terri
ble argument against me.
" Mme. de joined her entreaties to those of
her husband. M. and Mme. P , who are both
Catholics, urged me no less strongly. I was driven
into my last intrenchment.
" Well, I said to them, I am going to confess
the whole truth to you and open to you my whole
heart. I am not wanting in faith, but I have faults,
weaknesses, a thousand little wretchednesses and
all these, alas ! hold firmly to the most sensitive and
vivants fibres of my miserable existence. Now, a
miracle such as the one of which I might possibly
be the object, would impose on me the obligation
of sacrificing everything and of becoming a saint ;
it would be a terrible responsibility, and I am such
a coward that I dread it. If God cures me, what
will He exact from me ? whereas, with a doctor, a
little money and the affair is settled.
" This is disgusting is it not ? But such is the
wretched pusillanimity of my heart. You fancied
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 449
my faith was wavering ! You imagined that I
feared the failure of the miracle ! Undeceive your
selves. My fear is that the miracle may succeed.
" My friends sought to convince me that I ex
aggerated the responsibility of which I spoke-
as much on the one hand as I diminished it on the
other.
" You are not less bound at the present mo
ment to live a virtuous life than you would be, sup
posing the event results as we suppose/ observed
M. de . And, besides, even should your cure
be effected by the hands of a physician, it would
not, on that account, be less a favor from God, and
in that case your scruples would have the same
reasons for protesting against your weaknesses or
your passions.
"All this did not appear to me perfectly correct,
and M. de (a logical mind if ever there was
one) probably owned to himself that his reasoning
was not altogether what it might have been ; but
he wished, as much as possible, to calm the appre
hensions I felt so keenly, and to induce me to de
cide on following the advice he tendered me, even
to the length of recalling to my mind himself the
grave responsibility with regard to which he was
then endeavoring to re-assure me.
" In vain did I attempt to combat the more and
more pressing entreaties of my friend, of his wife,
and of our host and hostess. I ended, weary of
the conflict, by promising to do everything they
wished.
" As soon as I procure a secretary, I told them,
I shall write to Lourdes ; but I only arrived to
day, and have not yet had time to look for one.
450 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" But I will act as your secretary ! exclaimed
my friend.
" Well, be it so ! To-morrow we will breakfast
together at the Cafe de Foy. I will dictate a letter
to you after breakfast.
" Why not do so at once, he said to me,
eagerly. In that case we gain a day.
" Writing materials were produced from the ad
joining apartment. I dictated to my friend a let
ter for the Cure of Lourdes, which was posted the
same evening.
" The next day M. de - - came to my house.
" My good friend/ he said to me, now that the
die is cast and that you have decided to make the
trial, you must do it seriously, and fulfill the condi
tions necessary for its success, without which the
experiment would be utterly useless. Offer up the
necessary prayers, go to confession, bring your
soul into a suitable condition, and go through the
devotional exercises prescribed by your religion.
You understand that all this is of the most vital
importance.
" You are perfectly right, I replied, and I will
do what you tell me. But I must confess you arc
a queer Protestant. A few days since you incul
cated on me faith, now you do the same with regard
to the practices of religion. We have exchanged
parts in a droll manner, and any one overhearing
us you the Protestant and I the Catholic might
well be astonished ; and I confess, alas ! the im
pression produced would not be to my advantage.
" I am a scientific man, replied M. de - . As
we are about to make an experiment, I very nat-
rually wish we should do it according to the pre-
OUR LADY OF LOUItDES. 45!
scribed conditions. I reason on this subject as if I
were reasoning on physical science or chemistry.
"I declare, to my shame, that I did not place
myself in the state of preparation so judiciously
recommended by my friend. I was, at the time,
in a very bad frame of mind ; my natural feelings
were deeply agitated, troubled and inclined to evil.
"I recognized, however, the necessity of going
and throwing myself at the feet of God ; but as I
had not been guilty of any of those gross and ma
terial faults, against which there is a sudden re
action in the mind, I deferred doing so from day to
day. Man rebels more against the sacrament of
penance during a temptation than when the actual
commission of a sin has come to overthrow and
humiliate him. It is, in fact, more difficult to com
bat and resist than to demand pardon after a defeat.
.Who has not experienced this ?
"About a week passed away in this manner. M.
and Mme. de inquired every day whether I
had received any news of the miraculous water, or
any letter from the Cure of Lourdes. The Cure
replied to me at length, informing me that some of
the water of Lourdes had been forwarded by the
railroad, and would shortly reach me.
" We awaited the moment in a state of impa
tience which may easily be conceived ; but, would
you believe it ? I felt less interest in the matter than
my Protestant friends.
" The state of my eyes was always the same. It
was absolutely impossible for me either to read or
write.
"One morning it was Friday, October 10, 1862
.I was waiting for M. de in the Gallery d Or-
452 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
leans at the Palais -Royal. We had breakfasted
together. As I had arrived earlier than the ap
pointed time, I \yas gazing at the different shops in
the gallery, and reading the advertisements of some
new books in front of Dentu s library. This was
enough to weary my eyes excessively. My sight
had become so weak that I could not read even the
largest letters without suffering from invincible
lassitude. This slight circumstance plunged me
into a state of deep dejection, as it afforded me the
means of measuring once more the full extent of my
misfortune.
" In the afternoon, I dictated three letters to M.
de - , and at four o clock I left him and returned
to my own residence. As I was going up-stairs,
my porter called me.
" A small box has been brought here for you
from the railroad, he said to me.
" I entered eagerly the porter s lodge. A small
deal box was, in fact, there, bearing my address and
these words doubtless intended for the octroi
Pure water/
" It was the water from Lourdes.
" I experienced inwardly a violent emotion ; but
I suffered no outward signs of it to escape me.
" Very well, said I to my porter. I will take
it to my apartment presently. I shall return almost
immediately.
" I left the house in a pensive frame of mind,
and walked up and down the street for a few mo
ments.
" The affair is becoming serious, I thought to
myself. De - - is right ; I must prepare myself.
In the state of mind in which I have been for some
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 453
time past, I cannot unless I purify myself ask
God to perform a Miracle in my favor. It is not
with a heart still full of wretchedness of my own
choosing that I can implore so great a favor from
Him. Let me use my own efforts to cure my soul,
before I beseech him to cure my body.
" Revolving these serious considerations in my
mind, I proceeded in the direction of the residence
of my confessor, M. 1 Abbe Ferraud de Missol, who
lives in my immediate neighborhood. Happily I
was certain of meeting with him, as it was Friday,
and he is always at home on that day.
" He was at home ; but several persons were
already in his ante-chamber waiting for him, and
they would naturally see him before my turn came.
In addition to this, one of the members of his
family had arrived unexpectedly on a visit. His
servant informed me of all this, and begged me to
return in the evening after his dinner-hour, towards
seven o clock.
" I resigned myself to this proposal.
" On reaching the street-door I paused for a mo
ment. I hesitated between my wish to pay a visit
I had much at heart, and my thought of returning
to my own house to pray. My fancy urged me
violently in the direction of amusement, while a
grave voice a voice which only appeared to me to
be feeble, because I had usually been deaf to it a
deep and holy voice called me to retirement.
" I hesitated some moments, deliberating in my
own mind.
"At length the good inspiration carried the day,
and I retraced my steps towards the Rue de Seine.
" I took from my porter the little box, which was
454 U R LADY OF LOURDES.
accompanied with a Notice of the Apparitions at
Lourdes, and with hasty steps ascended the stair
case.
" On reaching my apartment I knelt down at the
side of my bed and prayed, altogether unworthy
as I felt myself to turn my eyes towards heaven
and to address myself to God.
" I then rose. On entering my room, I had placed
the little deal box and the pamphlet on the mantel
piece. I glanced every moment at this box which
contained the mysterious water, and it seemed to
me as if something grand was going to take place
in that solitary chamber. I dreaded to touch with
my impure hands the wood which contained the
sacred water, and, on the other hand, I felt myself
strangely tempted to open it, even before making
my confession as I had proposed doing. This
struggle lasted some moments ; it ended in a
prayer.
" Yes, my God, I exclaimed, I am a miserable
sinner, unworthy to raise my voice towards Thee,
and to touch an object which Thou hast blessed.
But it is the very excess of my misery which should
excite thy compassion. My God, I come to Thee
and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of faith and
unreserved confidence ; and from the depth of the
abyss, I cry out unto Thee. To-night I shall con
fess my sins to Thy minister, but my faith cannot
and will not wait. Forgive me, O Lord, and heal
me. And Thou, O Mother of Mercy, come to the
assistance of thy unfortunate child.
" Having thus refreshed myself with prayer, I
summoned courage to open the little box of which
I have spoken. It contained a bottle full of water.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 455
" I removed the cork, poured some of the water
into a cup and took a napkin out of my commode.
These common preparations, which I went through
with a particular attention, were impressed as I
still remember with a secret solemnity, which
struck me myself, as I went to and fro in my cham
ber. In that chamber I was not alone ; it was
manifest that God was there. The Blessed Virgin,
o f
whom I had invoked, was doubtless there also.
" Faith, fervent and ardent, had inflamed my soul.
" When my preparations were all finished, I knelt
down again.
" O Blessed Virgin Mary, I said with a loud
voice, have pity on me and heal my physical and
moral blindness.
" On saying these words, with my heart full of
confidence, I rubbed successively both my eyes
and my forehead with the towel I had just soaked
in the water of Lourdes. What I am now describ
ing did not occupy the space of thirty seconds.
" Judge of my astonishment I had almost said my
horror. Scarcely had I applied this miraculous
water to my eyes and brow when I felt myself all
at once cured, immediately, without any interme
diate state and with a suddenness which I can only
compare in my imperfect language to that of a
flash of lightning.
" Strange contradiction of human nature ! A mo
ment before I believed in my faith, which promised
me my cure ; and now I could not believe my
senses which assured me that the cure was accom
plished.
" No ! I did not believe my senses, and that to
such a degree that in spite of the astounding effect
456 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
already produced, I committed the fault of Moses
and struck the rock twice. In other words, for
some time longer, I continued to pray and moisten
my eyes and my brow, not daring to rise, not dar
ing to test the reality of my cure.
" However, at the expiration of ten minutes, the
strength I continued to feel in my eyes and the en
tire absence of any heaviness in my sight, left no
longer any room for doubt.
" I am cured ! I exclaimed.
" And I ran to take a book no matter what to
read. I stopped all at once. No ! no ! I said to
myself, it is not any kind of book that I can take
up at this moment.
" I went to seek the Notice of the Apparitions
which was lying on the mantel-piece. Certainly,
this was but an act of justice.
I read one hundred and four pages without in
terruption, and without experiencing the slightest
fatigue. .Twenty minutes before I could not have
read three lines.
" And if I did stop at page 104 it was because it
was thirty-five minutes past five in the evening,
and at that hour, towards the middle of October,
it is almost dark at Paris. When I laid aside the
book, the gas was being lighted in the shops of the
street in which I resided.
" In the evening I made my confession and in
formed the Abbe Ferraud of the great favor the
Blessed Virgin had just conferred on me. Al
though far from being prepared, as I have already
said, I was permitted by him to communicate the
next morning, in order to thank God for so special
and extraordinary a benefit, and to fortify the rcso-
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 457
lutions which an event of such a nature could not
fail of giving birth to in my heart.
" M. and Mme. de were as you may easily
imagine singularly affected by this occurrence in
which Providence had caused them to take so di
rect a part. What were their reflections regarding
it ? By what thoughts were they visited ? What
passed in the interior of those two souls? It is
their secret and the secret of God. What little I
succeeded in discovering with regard to their
feelings, I have not been authorized to impart to
others.
" Be this as it may, I knew the nature of my friend.
I left him to his own reflections, without pressing
him to come to any conclusion. I knew, and I
know still, that God has His appointed hour, and
knows His own designs. His agency was so dis
tinctly visible in all that had happened, that I fear
ed to interfere myself, in spite of my great wish
which was well-known to my friends that they
should enter the only Church which contains God
in all His fullness.
" I regret being unable to pause here in order to
contemplate for an instant in my memory those
two beings so dear to me receiving by the re
bound of the Miracle, accomplished in my favor,
the first shocks, which Truth gives to such as she
wishes to conquer. .....
" Seven years have elapsed since my miraculous
cure. My sight is excellent. It is not ever wear
ied by reading, hard work, or sitting up at night.
God grant me grace never to employ it save in the
cause of right."
20
458 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
II.
ANOTHER episode.
There are not unfrequently to be found in civil
life, men who from their outward appearance might
be mistaken for soldiers. Although they have
never lived in camps, all who happen to see them
passing by and are not acquainted with them, in
fallibly take them for old military men. They have
their somewhat stiff carriage, firm bearing, regi
mental look, and also their abrupt good nature.
Men of this stamp are more especially found in
mixed services, such as the Custom-house, Woods
and Forests, etc., which, though purely civil, bor
row from the system adopted in the army, their
gradations of rank and style of employment. On
one hand they have, like men in private life, a fami
ly, a home and a domestic life ; on the other they
are subjected on every side to the multiplied exi
gences of a purely military organization. The re
sult is to be found in those singular physiognomies
of which I am now speaking, and which every one
must have remarked.
If then you have ever seen a gallant cavalry offi
cer dressed in plain clothes, his hair cut short, with
a bristly moustache in which a few gray hairs may
be detected ; if you have remarked, among his
energetic features, those vertical and rectilineal
wrinkles no, they can hardly be called wrinkles
which would seem to be peculiar to these military
countenances ; if you have scanned carefully those
foreheads, entirely unfit for hats, but which appear
to be made expressly for the kepi or the silver-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 459
laced tricorne ; those firm but mild eyes which du
ring the day are habituated to brave danger, and
which at the approach of evening are softened in
the intimacy of the fireside, and love to gaze on
the countenances of children ; if you have any re
collection of this characteristic type, I have no
occasion to sketch for you the portrait of M. Roger
Lacassagne, holding an appointment in the custom
house at Bordeaux ; you know him as well as I do
myself.
When, nearly two years ago, I had the honor of
calling on him at his residence, 6 Rue du Chai des
Farines, at Bordeaux, I was struck at first with his
severe aspect and reserved address.
He enquired from me, with the somewhat abrupt
politeness of men accustomed to discipline, the ob
ject of my visit.
" Sir," I replied, " I have heard of the history of
your journey to the Grotto of Lourdes, and to as
sist me in the investigations I am making just now,
I have come to hear the recital from your own
mouth."
At the words " Grotto of Lourdes " his harsh
countenance had brightened up, and the emotion
of a stirring souvenir had all at once softened the
austere lines of his brow.
" Sit down," said the gallant man, " and excuse
my receiving you in this room in its present state
of disorder. My family start to-day for Arcachon,
and you find us in all the bustle of moving."
" That is of no importance. Kindly relate to me
the events of which I have been informed only in a
somewhat confused manner."
" As for myself," he said, in a tone of voice in
460 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
which I could trace tears, " as for myself, never, as
long as I live, shall I forget a single circumstance."
" Sir," he resumed, after a moment of silence, " I
have only two sons. The youngest is called Jules,
and it is of him only that I shall have occasion to
speak to you. He will be here almost immediately.
You will see how amiable, pure and good he is."
M. Lacassagne did not inform me how tenderly
he loved his youngest son. But the tone of his
voice, which seemed to become soft and caressing
when speaking of him, revealed to me all the depth
of his paternal love. I saw plainly that there, in
this feeling at once so tender and so strong, was
concentrated the manly soul which was opening it
self to me.
" His health," he continued, " had been excellent
up to the age of ten years.
" At that period he was attacked suddenly, and
without any apparent physical cause, with a mala
dy, the serious nature of which I did not at first re
alize. On the 25th of January, 1865, when we
were taking our seats at the table for supper, Jules
complained of there being something the matter
with his throat which prevented his swallowing
any solid food. He could only take a little soup.
" As he remained in the same state the next day,
I called in one of the most eminent medical men of
Toulouse, M. Noguus.
" It proceeds from the nerves, observed the
Doctor, giving me every hope of a speedy recov
ery.
" A few days afterwards, in fact, the child was
able to eat, and I thought he was quite convales
cent, when the malady returned, and continued
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 461
with intermissions, more or less regular, until to
wards the end of the month of April. From that
time, his state remained unchanged. The poor
child was reduced to live exclusively on liquids,
such as milk, gravy from meat, and broth. Even
the broth was obliged to be somewhat thin, for the
orifice in his throat was so narrow that it was abso
lutely impossible for him to swallow even tapioca.
" The poor little fellow, reduced to such misera
ble nourishment, became visibly thinner and was
slowly wasting away.
" The physicians for there were two of them,
as from the first I had begged M. Roques, a man of
great medical celebrity, to act in concert with M.
Nogues astonished at the singularity and obstinacy
of this affection, sought in vain to acquire a clear
idea of its nature in order to fix upon its remedy.
" One day, it was the loth of May I have suffer
ed so much, sir, and thought so much about this un
fortunate malady, that I have remembered all the
dates I perceived Jules in the garden running with
very unusual precipitation, and, as it were, by jerks.
I feared, sir, the least agitation for him.
" Stop, Jules, I exclaimed, going towards him
and seizing him by the hand.
" He made his escape from me immediately.
" Papa, he said, I cannot stop. I must run. It
is stronger than I am.
" I took him on my knees ; his legs twitched con
vulsively. A short time afterwards his head was
attacked with ghastly contortions.
" The true character of his malady was now ap
parent. My unfortunate child was suffering from
chorea. You know doubtless, sir, with what terri-
462 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
ble fits this horrible malady generally discovers it
self "-
" No," I exclaimed, interrupting him, " I do not
even know what a chorea is."
" It is a disease commonly known by the name
of St Vitus dance."
" Ah ! Now I know what it is. Proceed.",
" The principal seat of the disease was in the
oesophagus. The symptoms which had developed
themselves, and which, unfortunately, re-appeared
every hour of the day without cessation, put an
end to the doubts of the medical men.
" However, though they had traced the malady
to its source, they were unable to overcome it.
The utmost they could do after fifteen months of
treatment, was to subdue the external symptoms,
such as the twitchings of the legs and head ; or
rather, to say what I really think, these symptoms
disappeared of their own accord by an effort of na
ture. As to the extreme contraction of the throat,
it had passed into a chronic state, and resisted all
our efforts. Remedies of every kind, country air,
and the baths of Luchon, were successively and
fruitlessly employed for the space of two years.
These different treatments only served to exasper
ate the malady.
" Our last attempt was passing a summer at the
sea-side for the sake of the baths. My wife had
taken our poor invalid to St. Jcan-de-Luz. It is
needless to tell you, that, in the state in which he
was, we were entirely absorbed in attending to his
physical organization. Our grand object was mere
ly to keep him alive. We had from the very first
suspended his studies, and all mental exertion was
O UR LAD Y OF LO ITRDES. 463
prohibited : we treated him as if he were merely
vegetating. Now, as his mind was active and se
rious, this privation of all intellectual exercise great
ly affected his spirits. Besides the poor child was
ashamed of his malady ; he saw others of his own
age in health, and he felt himself to be as it were,
disgraced and accursed. He avoided all "
The Father, quite overcome by these souvenirs,
paused a moment as if to master a sob in his voice.
" He avoided all company," he resumed. " He
was sad. Did he find any book, he read it to dis
tract his thoughts. At St. Jean-de-Luz, he saw
ons day on the table of a lady who resided in the
neighborhood, a little notice of the Apparition at
Lourdes. He read it, and was, as it would appear,
greatly struck with it. In the evening he observed
to his mother, that the Blessed Virgin might easily
cure him ; but she paid no attention to his words,
regarding them as a mere childish fancy.
" When we returned to Bordeaux for, a short
time before this my station had been changed, and
we had come to reside here my poor child s state
was precisely the same.
" This was in the month of August, last year.
As you may well imagine, we were profoundly dis
couraged at seeing the unavailing result of so much
medical skill, and the failure of so much care. By
degrees we ceased applying any kind of remedy,
leaving nature to itself, and resigning ourselves to
the inevitable misfortune with which it had pleased
God to visit us. It seemed to us as if so much
suffering had somehow or other redoubled our
love for the poor child. Jules was attended to by
his mother and myself with equal tenderness and
464 OUE LADY OF LOURDES.
unceasing solicitude. Grief has aged us both many
years. Look at me, sir, I am only forty-six."
I looked at the poor father, and the sight of his
furrowed countenance, on which grief had left un
mistakable traces, touched my heart deeply. I took
his hand and pressed it with cordial sympathy and
profound compassion.
" In the meanwhile," he continued, " the child s
strength was visibly decreasing. For two whole
years, he had not taken any solid food. It was only
at great expense, by means of liquid nourishment,
which we exerted every effort to make as substan
tial as possible, and owing to exceptional care of
him, that we had succeeded in prolonging his days.
He was reduced to a frightful state of emaciation.
He was extremely pale, and seemed to have no
blood under his skin, so much so that he might have
been taken for a wax figure. Death was plainly
approaching with rapid steps. It was more than
certain, it was imminent. In truth, sir, in spite of my
experience of the impotency of medical science, I
could not in my grief prevent myself from knock
ing once more at the same door. It was the only
one I knew anything of.
" I addressed myself to M. Gintrac, Sr., the most
eminent physician in Bordeaux.
" M. Gintrac examined the child s throat, probed
it, and discovered that, besides the extreme con
traction which closed the alimentary canal, there
were rugosities symptomatic of extreme danger.
"He shook his head and gave me but little hope.
He saw my terrible anxiety.
" I do not say that he may not recover, he add-
decl, but he is very ill.
OUR LADY OF LOURDEb. 465
" These were his very words.
" He deemed the employment of local remedies
absolutely necessary ; first injections, and then touch
ing the parts with a rag steeped in ether. But
this treatment entirely upset my poor boy, and such
being the result, M. Sentex, the house-surgeon of
the hospital, advised us himself to discontinue it.
" During one of my visits to Doctor Gintrac, I
informed him of an idea which had occurred to me.
" It appears to me/ I said, that if Jules wished to
swallow, he might do so. It may be that this diffi
culty proceeds only from fear, and perhaps he does
not swallow to-day merely because he was unable
to do so yesterday. In that case, it may be a men
tal malady, which moral means alone can cure.
" The Doctor deprived me of this last illusion.
" You are mistaken, he said. The malady is
in the organs, which are but too really and too deep
ly attacked. I have not confined myself to a mere
ocular examination which might lead us into error
but I have probed the parts, and felt them most
minutely with my fingers. The oesophagus is lined
with rugosities, and the duct is so extremely con
tracted, that it is materially impossible for the child
to take any food except those in a liquid form, which
reduce themselves naturally to the size of the duct,
and pass through the orifice, about as large as the
eye of a needle, which still exists. A very slight
increase in the swelling of the tissues and the inva
lid would be suffocated. The commencement of
the malady, the alternations for better and worse
which have characterized it, and its momentary in
terruptions serve to corroborate my material obser
vations. Your son having been once cured would
20*
466 OUR LADY OF LOURDE8.
have remained always cured, had the evil been one
of the mind. Unfortunately, it is in the organs.
" These observations which had been made to me
already at Toulouse, but which I had wilfully disre
garded, were too conclusive not to produce convic
tion in my mind. I returned home, with the sen
tence of death in my soul.
" What then could be done ? We had sought ad
vice from the most eminent physicians of Toulouse
and Bordeaux, and all had been in vain. The fatal
truth was brought home to me ; our poor child was
condemned, and that without appeal.
" It is difficult, sir, for the heart of a father to be
convinced of so cruel a fact. I still endeavored to
deceive myself. I was always in consultation with
my wife, and began to think of hydropathy.
" Things had reached this desperate and discour
aging state, when Jules addressed his mother in a
tone of voice so full of confidence and absolute cer
tainty, as could not fail to strike her the following
words :
" You see, mamma, neither M. Gintrac nor any
other doctor can do anything for me. It is the
Blessed Virgin who will cure me. Send me to the
Grotto of Lourdes, and you will see I shall be
cured. I am sure of it.
" My wife repeated to me what he had said.
" There is no room for hesitation, I exclaimed.
We must take him to Lourdes and that without
delay.
" It is not, sir, that I had faith. I did not believe
in miracles, and I did not regard such extraordi
nary interventions of the Divinity as possible. But
I was a father, and no chance, however slight it
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 467
might be, appeared to me to be contemptible. Be
sides,- I hoped that, independently of those super
natural events which it was difficult for me to
admit, this might produce a salutary moral effect
on my child. As for a complete cure, you may
easily understand, sir, I did not even think of it.
" The time was winter, about the beginning of
February. The season was a severe one, and I
feared to expose Jules to the least inclemency of
weather. I wished to wait for the first fine day.
" Since my boy had read the little account of the
Apparition at Lourdes eight months previously
at St. Jean-de-Luz the feeling he now expressed
to us had never left him. Having displayed it once
there when it did not meet with any attention
he had never mentioned it again ; but this idea had
remained in his mind and been his constant com
panion while he was submitting with a patience
which you should have seen, sir to the treatment
prescribed by the medical men.
" This faith so full and entire was the more extra
ordinary, as we had not brought up our child in
any exaggerated notions of the duties of religion.
My wife went through her routine of devotion, and
that was all ; and, as for myself, I was imbued, as I
have just told you, with philosophical ideas of
quite another kind.
" On the 1 2th of February the weather promised
to be splendid. We took the train for Tarbes.
" During the whole journey our child was gay,
full of absolute faith in his cure of a faith which
quite upset me.
" I shall be cured, he said to me every moment.
You will see. Many others have been cured ; why
468 OUR LADY OF LOTTED E8.
should not I ? The Blessed Virgin is going to cure
me.
" And I, sir, supported, without partaking in it,
this so great confidence, this confidence which I
should qualify as stupefying, did I not fear to
be wanting in respect to God who inspired him
with it.
" At Tarbes, at the Hotel Dupont, where we
alighted, every one remarked my poor child, so
pale and weak, but at the same time so sweet and
charming in appearance. I had mentioned the ob
ject of my visit, to the proprietors of the hotel. A
happy presentiment seemed to mingle itself with
the kind wishes of these good hearted people, and,
when we started, I saw that they expected our
return with impatience.
" In spite of my doubts, in order to be prepared
for whatever might happen, I took with me a little
box of biscuits.
" When we reached the crypt which is beneath
the Grotto, Mass was being said. Jules prayed
with a faith which was reflected on all his features,
with an ardor which proceeded from heaven. He
was altogether transfigured, poor little angel.
" The Priest remarked his fervor, and when he
had quitted the altar, he came immediately out of
the Sacristy again and approached us. A happy
thought had suggested itself to his mind, on seeing
my poor darling. He informed me of it, and then
turning towards Jules, who was still kneeling
" My child, said he, are you willing that I
should consecrate you to the Blessed Virgin ?
" Oh I yes/ replied Jules.
" The priest proceeded immediately with the
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 469
simple ceremony, and recited the holy formularies
over my son. .
And now/ exclaimed the child, in a tone of
voice which struck me, owing to its perfect confi
dence ; and now, papa, I am going to be cured.
" We went down into the Grotto. Jules knelt
down before the statue of the Virgin and prayed.
I watched him, and I still have before my eyes the
expression of his countenance, his attitude and his
clasped hands.
" He rose and we went in front of the foun
tain.
" That moment was a terrible one.
" He washed his neck and breast, and then taking
the glass drank a few mouthfuls of the miraculous
water.
" He was calm and happy ; nay, more, he was
gay and radiant with confidence.
" For myself, I .trembled and shuddered almost
to fainting at this last trial; but I repressed my
emotion, though it was most difficult for me to do
so. I did not wish to let him see that I still had
doubts.
" Try now to eat, I said to him, handing him a
biscuit.
"He took it and I turned my head aside, not
feeling strength to watch him while making the
effort. It was in fact the question of my child s
life or death which was going to be decided. In
that question, so terrible for a father s heart, I
was playing, so to say, my last card. If I failed,
my beloved Jules was dead. The trial was to be
decisive and I dared not face the sight.
" I was soon relieved from my poignant anguish.
470 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
The voice of Jules a sweet and joyous voice
cried out to me :
" Papa ! I am swallowing the biscuit. I am
able to eat. I was sure of it, for I had faith.
" What a shock, sir. My son, already the victim
of death, was saved, and that suddenly, and I, his
father, was present at this astounding resurrection.
" Well, sir, in order to spare my child s faith any
trouble, I had sufficient control over myself not to
appear astonished.
" Yes, dearest Jules, it was certain and could
not have turned out otherwise, I said to him, in a
tone of voice which all the energy of my will suc
ceeded in rendering calm.
" And yet, sir, a tempest was raging within me.
Had my breast been opened it would have been
found burning as if full of fire.
" We renewed the experiment. He ate a few
more biscuits, not only without difficulty, but with
increasing appetite. I was obliged to check him.
" I felt the necessity of loudly proclaiming my
happiness and of thanking God.
" Wait for me here, I said to Jules, and pray
to the kind Virgin. I am going up into the Chapel.
" Leaving him for a moment kneeling in the
Grotto, I hastened to impart the happy news to
the priest. I was in a kind of bewilderment. Be
sides my happiness, which was rendered terrible
by its suddenness and unexpectedness ; besides the
agitation of my heart, I experienced in my soul
and in my mind an inexpressible trouble. A revo
lution was taking place in my confused, agitated
and tumultuous thoughts. All my philosophical
ideas were tottering or falling to pieces within me.)
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 471
" The priest descended hastily and saw Jules fin
ishing his last biscuit. The Bishop of Tarbes hap
pened to be at the Chapel that very day ; he wished
to see my son. I gave him a full account of the
cruel malady which had just been brought to so
happy a termination. Every one fondled the child
and sympathized with my joy.
" In the mean time my thoughts turned towards
my wife and the happiness she was about to have.
Before returning to my hotel I hurried to the tele
graph office. My telegram consisted of but one
word Cured.
" Scarcely had it been despatched when I should
have liked to have had it back again. Perhaps,
I said to myself, I have been too hasty. Who
knows whether there may not be a relapse ?
" I scarcely dared believe in the happiness which
had overtaken me, and when I did believe in it, it
seemed as if it were going to escape from my grasp.
" As for the child, he was happy ; happy without
the least admixture of uneasiness. He was radiant
in his joy and sense of entire security.
" You see now, papa, he repeated to me every
moment, the Blessed Virgin alone could save me.
When I told you so, I was sure of it.
" At the hotel he dined with an excellent appe
tite. I was never weary of watching him eating.
" He wished to return, and did return on foot
to the Grotto to offer up his thanksgiving to his
Deliverer.
" You will be very grateful to the Blessed Vir
gin, observed a priest to him.
" With a gesture he pointed to the image of the
Blessed Virgin, and afterwards to heaven.
472 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
" Ah ! I shall never forget her, he exclaimed,
in reply.
" At Tarbes we stopped at the same hotel as on
the evening before. We were expected there. The
good people of the house had as I think I have
already told you I know not what happy presenti
ment. Their joy was extraordinary. Groups were
formed around us to see him eat with sensible
pleasure of whatever was served at the table ; one,
who but the evening before, could only swallow a
few spoonsful of liquid. That time seemed already
long ago.
" This malady which had foiled the skill of the
most eminent physicians and which had just been
so miraculously cured, had been of two years and
nineteen days duration.
" We were impatient to see once more the happy
mother, and took the express to Bordeaux. The
child was worn out with the fatigue of his journey,
and I should have said by his emotions also, had I
not observed his constant and peaceful serenity in
presence of his sudden cure, which filled him with
gladness, but which caused him no astonishment.
He desired to go to bed as soon as he arrived. He
was overwhelmed with sleep and did not eat any
supper. When his mother, who was dying with
joy before our arrival, saw him thus oppressed
with weariness and refusing to eat, she was attacked
with a fearful doubt. She was in despair. She ac
cused me of having deceived her, and I had the
greatest difficulty in the world to make her believe
me. How great was her happiness when on the
following day our beloved Jules, seated at our table,
breakfasted with us, and displayed a better appetite
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 473
than we did. It was not till then that she became
tranquil and re-assured."
" And since that time," I asked him, " has there
been no relapse or unfavorable symptoms ? "
" No, sir, nothing of the kind. I cannot say that
the cure progressed or was consolidated, inasmuch
as it had been as complete as it was instantaneous.
The transition of a malady so long seated and obsti
nate to its complete and entire cure, was effected
without the least gradation, as it was without any ap
parent shock to the system. But my son s general
health improved visibly under the influence of a
strengthening diet, of which it was full time for him
to experience the salutary effects."
" And did the medical men attest by their writ
ten declaration the anterior state of your son s
health? This would have been an act of bare
justice."
" I was of the same opinion as yourself, sir, and
I sounded on the subject the doctor of Bordeaux
who had attended Jules in the last instance ; but he
maintained a reserve in the matter which prevented
me from pressing him. As to Doctor Roques, of
Toulouse, to whom I wrote immediately, he has
tened to acknowledge in the plainest terms the
miraculous nature of what had occurred and which
was quite beyond the power of medical skill.
" In presence of this cure desired for such a
length of time and so promptly obtained, he wrote
to me, how can we help leaving the narrow hori
zon of scientific explanations, to open our soul to
gratitude on so strange an event in which Provi
dence seems to act in obedience to the faith of a
child ? He rejected energetically, as a medical
474 OUI * LADT OF LOUItDES.
man, the theories which are infallibly brought for
ward in similar circumstances such as moral ex
citement, effects of the imagination, etc., to
proclaim openly in this event the precise and
positive agency of a superior existence, revealing
itself to and obtruding itself upon the conscience.
Such was the unbiassed opinion of M. Roque,
physician of Toulouse, who was as thoroughly ac
quainted as I was myself with the previous state of
my son s malady. I transcribe the above from his
letter, bearing date 24th February.
" Besides, the things I have just related to you
were so notorious that no one would think for a
moment of disputing them. It is a more than es
tablished fact that medical science was utterly foiled
by the strange malady with which Jules was at
tacked. As to the cause of his recovery, every one
can judge and appreciate it according to the point
of view from which he regards it.
" For myself, who, before the occurrence of this
extraordinary event, believed only in purely natural
agencies, I plainly saw that I must seek for expla
nations in a higher order ; and from day to day I
raise my heart in gratitude to God, who, while
bringing to a close a long and cruel trial in an un
hoped-for manner, touched me in the most vulner
able part in order to make me bow before Him."
" I understand your thoughts and feelings on that
subject, and I agree with you that such was the
plan of God."
After having said these words, I remained for
some moments silent and absorbed in my own re
flections.
Our conversation returned of itself to the child
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 475
who had been miraculously cured. The father s
heart was always turning in that direction as does
the magnetic needle towards the North.
" Since that time," he said to me, " his piety is
angelic. You will shortly see him. The nobleness
of his feelings may be read in his countenance.
He is well disposed, by nature upright and high-
minded. He is incapable of a meanness or of a
falsehood. But his piety has developed to the
highest degree his native qualities. He is study
ing now at a school in the neighborhood, under
M. Conangle, in the Rue du Mirail. The poor
child has soon recovered the time he had lost. He
is fond of study and is at the head of his class. At
the last distribution of prizes, he gained that for
excellent conduct. But above all he is most pru
dent, amiable and good in every respect. He is
beloved by his teachers and comrades. He is our
joy, our consolation."
At that moment the door was opened and Jules
entered the room in which we were, with his
mother. I embraced him with the tenderest emo
tion. His countenance is radiant with the glow of
health. His brow, high and broad, is magnificent,
and in his deportment there is a modesty and mild
self-possession which inspires respect. His eyes,
which are very large and very lively, reflect rare
intelligence, absolute purity and a noble soul.
" You are a happy father," I said to M. Laccas-
saernc
" Yes, sir, very happy. But my poor wife and I
have undergone much suffering."
" Do not complain of it," I said to him as we
moved to a little distance from Jules. " This sor-
476 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
rowful road was the way which led you from dark
ness to light, from death to life, from yourself to
God. At Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin has shown
herself twice the Mother of the living. She has
gi ven to your son temporal life in order to give
you the true Life, the Life which will last for
ever."
I left this family so blessed of G od ; and under
the impression of what I had seen and heard, I
wrote my heart still thrilling with emotion
what I have just narrated.
ELEVENTH BOOK.
I.
LET us return to Lourdes.
Time had proceeded on its course. Human
hands had set to work in good earnest.
The approaches to the Grotto, in which the
Virgin had appeared, were changed in appearance.
Without losing aught of its grandeur, this wild and
stern locality had assumed a graceful, pleasing and
lively aspect. A superb church not yet finished,
but swarming with workmen proudly seated on
the summit of the Rocks of Massabielle, towered
joyously towards Heaven. The great slope, ab
rupt and uncultivated, formerly accessible only with
difficulty even to the practiced feet of mountaineers,
was covered with green turf and planted with
shrubs and flowers. Amidst dahlias and roses,
daisies and violets, beneath the shade of acacias and
cytisuses, a vast path, broad as a road, winded in
graceful curves and lead from the church to the
Grotto.
The Grotto was closed with an iron railing, after
the fashion of a sanctuary. A golden lamp was
suspended from the roof. Under those wild rocks
(477)
478 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
on which the Virgin had trodden with her divine
feet, clusters of tapers burned night and day.
Outside this enclosed portion, the miraculous
Spring fed four massive basins of bronze. A pis
cina, concealed from observation by a small build
ing erected over it, afforded the sick an opportunity
of bathing in the blessed water.
The situation of the mill-stream of Suvy had been
altered, being thrown back up the stream in the
direction of the Gave. The Gave itself had re
treated to afford room for a magnificent road which
led to these Rocks of Massabielle, formerly so to
tally unknown, but now so celebrated. On the
banks of the river us it flowed downwards, the soil
had been levelled, and a broad lawn bordered with
elms and poplars formed a splendid promenade.
All these changes had been effected and were
still being effected in the midst of an immense influx
of believers. The copper coins thrown into the
Grotto by the faith of the people, the grateful ex
votos of so many invalids who had been cured, of so
many hearts which had been consoled, of so many
souls which had been restored as it were from death
to truth and life, sufficed to defray the expenses of
these gigantic labors, the estimate of which was
nearly two millions of francs. When God in his
goodness condescends to call on man to co-operate
directly in any one of his works, he employs neither
soldiers nor gendarmes to collect the sums needful,
and only accepts a purely voluntary assistance from
the hands of his creatures. The Master of the
world repudiates constraint, for He is the God of
free souls, and the only tribute He consents to re
ceive are the spontaneous gifts offered to him from
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
479
a happy heart and entire independence by those by
whom He is loved.
Thus was the church being built ; thus was the
mill-stream and the river diverted into other
courses ; thus were the adjoining lands excavated
or levelled, and roads laid around the celebrated
Rocks where the Mother of Christ had manifested
herself in her glory to the gaze of mortals.
II.
ENCOURAGING the workmen, seeing to every
thing, suggesting ideas, sometimes helping himself
to straighten a stone placed crooked or a tree badly
planted, recalling to the imagination by his inde
fatigable ardor and his holy enthusiasm, the grand
figures of Esdrasor of Nehemiah, occupied, in obed
ience to the commands of God, in constructing the
walls of Jerusalem, a man of lofty stature, with a
broad and strongly marked forehead, seemed to be
everywhere at one and the same time. He attract
ed attention even from a considerable distance by
his powerful frame and his long black cassock. His
name may be easily guessed. It was the pastor of
the town of Lourdes ; it was the Cure Peyramale.
Every hour in the day he was thinking on the
message addressed to him by the Blessed Virgin
through the youthful Seer ; every hour in the day
he was thinking of those prodigious cures which
had accompanied and followed the divine Appari
tion, of those countless miracles which he witnessed
daily. He vowed his life to the execution of the
orders of the mighty Queen of the Universe, and
to the erection of a magnificent monument to her
480 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
glory. Any delay, any slowness, even the loss of
a single moment seemed to him to mark the in
gratitude of men ; and his heart, devoured with zeal
for the house of God, often led to his being indig
nant, and manifested itself in severe admonitions.
His faith was absolute and replete with grandeur.
He regarded with horror the wretched narrowness
of human prudence, and he thundered against it
with the holy disdain of one accustomed to view
things according to the horizon of that sacred
mountain, from whose height the Son of God
preached the nothingness of earth and the reality
of heaven : " Be not troubled. Seek first my king
dom and all the rest shall be added unto you."
One day, just opposite the miraculous Fountain,
in the middle of a group of ecclesiastics and laics,
an architect presented to him a plan and it was
by no means an ungraceful one of a charming
little church which he proposed building over the
Grotto. The Cure Peyramale glanced at it and his
face became flushed ; with a gesture of impatience
he crumpled up and tore the plan and threw the
fragments into the Gave.
" What are you doing ?" exclaimed the astonish
ed architect.
" You see," replied the priest, " I blushed at
what human meanness presumes to offer to the
Mother of my Gocl, and I destroyed the miserable
design. What we must have here in memory of
the great events which have taken place, is not a
little confined village church, but a temple of mar
ble as large as the summit of the Rocks of Massa-
bielle will afford room for, and as magnificent as
your mind can possibly conceive. Now then, sir,
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 481
as an architect let your genius indulge in the most
daring conceptions, let nothing arrest its upward
flight and let it give us a master-piece. Be sure
of one thing, that were you Michael Angelo him
self, it would be strangely unworthy of the Virgin
who has appeared here."
" But, sir," observed every one to the Curd, " it
would take millions to realize what you are speak
ing of."
" He who caused a Spring of living water to
gush forth from this barren rock will have no diffi
culty in rendering the hearts of believers gener
ous," replied the priest. " Go, and have no fears.
Why do you tremble, Christians of little faith ?"
The temple was erected in the proportions de
signed by the man of God.
Often the Cure, considering the different works
in progress, used to say, " When will it be granted
to me to be present, in the midst of Priests and the
faithful, at the first procession which shall come to
inaugurate in these blessed places, the public wor
ship of the Catholic Church. Might I not in such
a moment chant my Nutic Dimittis and expire with
joy at such a feast."
His eyes used to fill with tears at such thoughts,
j fever was any desire more ardent and more fond
ly dwelt on in the depth of a soul than this inno
cent wish of a heart entirely taken up with God.
Occasionally, at times when there were but few
persons at the Rocks of Massabeille, a little girl
came to kneel humbly before the place of the Ap
parition, and to drink at the spring. She was
evidently sprung from the people and was poorly
dressed. There was nothing to distinguish her
21
482 OUR LADT OF LOURDES.
from others, and unless some pilgrim happened to
know her, or to inform others of her name, no one
would have guessed that it was Bernadette. She
who had been so highly privileged by the Lord,
had returned to her primitive state of silence and
obscurity. She continued to attend the schools of
the Sisters, where she was the most simple of the
scholars and would have wished to have been
one of the most in the shade. The countless visits
she received there did not trouble her peaceful
soul, in which the memory of her glimpse of heaven
and the image of the incomparable Virgin lived for
ever. The people, however, thronged to the spot
from every direction, miracles were there accom
plished, and the temple rose by degrees. And
Bernadette, like the saintly Cure of Lourdes, look
ed forward to the day the most fortunate to her
next to those of the Divine visit when she should,
with her own eyes, see the Priests of the true God,
conducting the faithful, headed by the Cross, and
with banners floating in the air, to the Rock of the
Apparition.
In fact, notwithstanding the bishop s pastoral
letter, the Church had not yet taken possession by
any public ceremony of these forever sacred places.
This, however, was solemnly done April 4, 1864,
by the inauguration and benediction of a su
perb statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was placed,
with all the pomp usual on such occasions, in the
rustic niche wreathed with wild roses, where the
Mother of God had made her appearance to the
daughter of man.
The weather was magnificent. The sun of early
spring had risen and was progressing through the
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 483
azure dome of heaven, which was not specked with
a single cloud.
The town of Lourdes was dressed with flowers,
banners, garlands and triumphal arches. From the
high tower of the parish church, from all the chap
els of the town, and from all the churches of the
neighborhood, joyous peals of bells burst forth.
Vast multitudes had assembled to take part in this
grand fete of earth and heaven. A procession such
as never had been seen within the memory of man,
started in order to proceed from the parish church
of Lourdes to the Grotto of the Apparition. Bodies
of troops, in all the splendor of military equipment,
led the way. Immediately following them were
the Brotherhoods of Lourdes, the mutual-aid so
cieties ; all the corporations of the adjoining dis
tricts, bearing their banners and cross ; the Congre
gation of the Children of Mary, whose flowing
robes shone like snow ; the Sisters of Nevers with
their long black veils ; the Sisters of Charity, in
large white caps ; the Sisters of Saint Joseph, en
veloped in their dark cloaks ; the religious orders
of men, Carmelites and teaching Brothers of the
Christian Schools, immense multitudes of pilgrims,
men, women and children, not forgetting old men,
in all, fifty to sixty thousand human beings, ranged in
two interminable files, wound along the road, strew
ed with flowers, leading to the illustrious Rocks of
Massabielle. At intervals, choruses of human voices
and bands of instrumental music made the air re
sound with triumphal marches, canticles, and all
the outbursts of popular enthusiasm. Lastly, bring
ing up the rear of this unheard-of procession, the
most eminent Prelate, Monseigneur Bertrand-
484 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
Sdv^re Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, surrounded
by four hundred priests in full canonicals, by his
grand vicars, and by the dignitaries of the chapter
of his cathedral church, marched with solemn steps,
wearing his mitre and attired in his pontifical robes,
blessing with one hand the assembled people, while
with the other he supported himself on his large
golden crozier.
An indescribable emotion, a kind of intoxication
such as is only known by Christian multitudes as
sembled in the sight of God, filled all hearts. In
fact, the day of solemn triumph had come, after so
many difficulties, so many struggles, so many ob
stacles. Tears of happiness, enthusiasm, and love,
trickled down the cheeks of these masses of people,
agitated by the breath of God.
What ineffable joy must, in the midst of this fete,
have filled the heart of Bernadette, who, doubtless,
marched at the head of the Congregation of the
Children of Mary ! What feelings of overwhelming
felicity must have inundated the soul of the vener
able Cure of Lourdes, as he chanted, without doubt,
at the bishop s side, the Hosanna of the Divine vic
tory ? Both of them having been partakers of the
affliction, the moment -was now come for both of
them to be present at the glory.
Alas ! Bernadette was sought for in vain among
the Children of Mary ; the Cur Peyramale was
sought for in vain among the clergy who surrounded
the Prelate. There are joys too great for earth and
which are reserved for heaven. Here below, God
refuses them even to his dearest sons.
At the very time when everything wore a festal
air and the sun shone- joyously on the triumph of
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 485
the faithful, the Cure of Lourdes, attacked with a
malady which was pronounced mortal, .was the
victim of the most terrible physical sufferings. He
was lying stretched on his bed of pain, at the foot
of which two religieuses connected with the hospi
tal, prayed and watched day and night. He wished
to have been lifted from his bed to have seen the
grand cortege, but his strength failed him, and he
had not even a passing glimpse of all its splendor.
Through the closed curtains of his apartment, the
joyous sound of the silvery bells only reached him
like a funeral knell.
As to Bernadette, God marked His predilection
for her as is His wont to do with His elect by
causing her to pass through the grand trial of pain.
While, presiding over the immense procession of
the faithful, Monseigneur Laurence, Bishop of
Tarbes, was going in the name of the Church to
take possession of the Rocks of Massabielle and
solemnly inaugurate the worship of the Virgin who
had appeared to her, Bernadette, like the eminent
Priest of whom we have just spoken, was brought
low by sickness ; and maternal Providence, fearing
perhaps for her much-loved child the temptation
of vain-glory, deprived her of the sight of those
unheard-of fetes, where she would have heard her
own name re-echoed with acclamation by thous-
sands of voices, and celebrated from the Christian
pulpit by the ardent words of those who preached
on the occasion. Too poor to receive proper at
tention at home, where neither she nor any of her
family had ever wished to receive any pecuniary
aid, Bernadette had been carried to the hospital,
where she lay on the humble pallet of public char-
486 OUR LADY OF LOUXDE8.
ity, in the midst of poor creatures, whom this trans
itory world terms wretched, but whom Jesus Christ
has blessed, by declaring them the inheritors of
His eternal kingdom.
IV.
ELEVEN years have now elapsed since the Appa
ritions of the Blessed Virgin. The vast temple is
nearly finished. It only requires to be roofed, and
for a long time the Holy Sacrifice has been cele
brated at all the altars of the subterranean crypt.
Diocesan Missionaries from the house of Garaison
have been installed by the bishop at a few paces
from the Grotto and the church, in order to dis
tribute to the pilgrims the apostolic word, the sa
craments and the body of our Lord.
The pilgrimages have become developed in pro
portions perhaps unexampled in the universe, for
never, until our own time, had these vast move
ments of popular faith the omnipotent means of
transport invented by modern science at their dis
posal. The railroad of the Pyrenees for which a
line more direct and less costly had been marked
beforehand between Tarbes and Pau has made a
detour in order to have a station at Lourdes, where
it sets down incessantly innumerable travelers,
who come from every point of the horizon to in
voke the Virgin who appeared at the Grotto, and
to seek the cure of their maladies. They throng
there not only from the different provinces of
France, but even from England, Belgium, Spain,
Russia and Germany. From the interior of dis
tant America both north and south pious Chris-
OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 487
tians have started and traversed oceans in order to
repair to the Grotto of Lourdes and kneel before
those celebrated Rocks, which the Mother of God
has sanctified by touching them. Often those who
cannot come themselves, write to the Missionaries
requesting them to forward a little of this miracu
lous water to their homes. It is sent to every part
of the world.
Although Lourdes is but a small town, there is
on the road leading to the Grotto, a perpetual
transit to and fro, a prodigious movement of men,
women, priests, and carriages, as in the streets of
a thickly populous city.
As soon as the fine weather returns and the sun,
having put winter to flight, opens in the midst of
flowers, the azure and golden gates of spring, the
Christians of those districts commence to move in
order to make their pilgrimage to Massabielle, no
longer, as during the winter, singly, but in im
mense caravans. From a circumference of ten,
twelve or fifteen leagues, the hardy people of the
Mountain arrive on foot in troops of a thousand or
two thousand. They start the day before in the
evening, and march through the night by star
light, like the shepherds of Judasa going to the
crib of Bethlehem to adore the birth of the Infant
God. They descend from the lofty mountain-
peaks, toil up the deep valleys, and defile along the
banks of streams and rivers, singing hymns to God.
And as they pass, the sleeping herds of cattle
awake, and the melancholy sound of their sonorous
bells re-echoes through the lonely wastes. At day
break, the pilgrims arrive at Lourdes. They form
themselves into a procession, and unfurl their ban-
OUR LADY OF LOUItDES.
nersand oriflammes to proceed to the Grotto. The
men in blue caps, with coarse nailed shoes cover
ed with the dust of their midnight march, support
themselves on their knotted staves, bearing for the
most part on their shoulders the provisions neces
sary for their journey. The women wear the "white
or red capulet. Some of them are laden with the
sweet burden of their infants. All this multitude
advances slowly in a state of recollection chanting
the litanies of the Blessed Virgin.
o
At Massabielle, they listen to the Mass, kneel at
the holy table and drink at the miraculous Fountain.
Afterwards they disperse in groups, of their own
family or of their friends, on the lawns which sur
round the Grotto, and, spreading on the grass the
provisions they have brought with them, seat them
selves on the verdant carpet of the meadows. Thus,
on the banks of the Gave, beneath the shade of
those blessed rocks, they realize, in their frugal re
past, those fraternal love-feasts of which the Chris-
tians of primitive times have left us the tradition.
Then, after having received the benediction afresh,
and having kneeled down for the last time, they re
sume, with happy hearts, the road homewards.
Thus do the people of the Pyrenees come to the
Grotto. But it is not from that quarter that the
greatest multitudes arrive. From a distance of
sixty to eighty leagues there arrive every day im
mense processions, transported on the swift wings
of steam. We have seen them come from Bayonne,
Peyrehorade, La Teste, Arcachon and Bordeaux!
They will come from Paris. At the request of the
Faithful, the railroad of the South organizes special
trains, devoted exclusively to this vast and pious
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
489
movement of Catholic Faith. On the arrival of
these trains, the bells of Lourdes are pealed. And
from these black cars there issue and arrange them
selves in procession, in the court of the railway-
station, young girls dressed in white, wives, wid
ows, children, men of mature age, as well as those
bent with years, and the Clergy clothed in their
sacred robes. Banners and standards float in the
air. There is seen passing by the Cross of Christ,
the statue of the Virgin, the image of the Saints.
Chaunts to the honor of Mary burst from the lips
of all. The endless procession traverses the town,
which, on those days, presents the appearance of a
holy city, like Rome or Jerusalem. The heart
swells at the sight ; it mounts towards God, and
feels carried, of its own accord, to those sublime
heights where tears come to the eye and where the
soul is deliciously oppressed by the sensible pres
ence of the Lord Jesus. For a moment one be
lieves he has had a Vision of Paradise.
V.
GOD has done His work.
God has said to the flake of snow, motionless and
lost on the solitary peaks, " Thou art about to come
from Myself to Myself. Thou art about to go from
the inaccessible heights of the Mountain to the
unfathomable depths of the Sea." And he has sent
his servant the Sun, with his pencil of rays, to col
lect and to urge, with its broom of diamonds, this
glittering dust, which changes itself immediately
into limpid pearls. Drops of water trickle from the
edge of the snow ; they roll over the brow of the
21*
490 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
mountains ; they bound across the rocks ; they are
broken among the pebbles ; they unite together ;
they form one volume of water, and then they pur
sue their course together, sometimes calmly, some
times rapidly towards the vast ocean striking
image of eternal movement in eternal repose ; and,
at length, they reach the valleys inhabited by the
race of Adam.
" We will arrest this Drop of water," say men, as
proud as they were at Babel.
And they attempt to stem this feeble and tranquil
current which descends calmly among the meadows.
But the current laughs at wooden dykes, masses of
earth and heaps of stones.
" We will arrest this Drop of water," repeat the
fools in their madness.
And what do they ? They join together immense
rocks, cementing them together invincibly. And
yet, despite their efforts, the water filters through
and passes through a thousand fissures. But these
men are numerous ; they outnumber the army of
Darius ; they are possessed of immense force. They
stop up the thousand fissures ; they replace the
fallen stones, and the time comes when the Gave
cannot pass further. The Gave has before it a
bar higher than the Pyramids, thicker than the
celebrated ramparts of Babylon. On this side of
that gigantic wall the pebbles of its gigantic bed
glitter in the sun.
Human pride exults with huzzahs and cries of
triumph.
The wave continues, notwithstanding, to descend
from the eternal heights where the voice of God
has made itself hearcj ; thousands of drops of
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
491
water, arriving one by one, halt before the obstacle
and rise silently before this wall of granite which
men have built.
" Contemplate," say these, " the omnipotence of
our race. Look at this Titanic wall. Cast your
eyes on its formation ; admire its incalculable height.
We have conquered for ever the torrent which is
descending from the heights of the mountain."
At this very moment a slight gush of water passes
this cyclopean bar. Every one rushes to effect a
stoppage. The gush of water has increased. It
becomes a stream, which flows with fury, carrying
before it the highest rocks of wall intended to stop
its progress.
" What is that?" they exclaim, from every part
of the doomed city.
" It is the Drop of water which resumes its
march and passes on its way the Drop of water
to which God has spoken."
To what purpose was your wall of Babel ? What
have your Titanic efforts effected ? You have but
changed a peaceful stream into a formidable cata
ract. You wished to arrest the progress of the
Drop of water ; it resumes its course with the im
petuosity of Niagara.
How humble was this Drop of water, this infan
tine word to which God had said, " Follow thy
course !" How little was this Drop of water, this
shepherd-girl burning a taper at the Grotto, this
poor woman praying and offering a bouquet to the
Virgin, this old peasant humbly kneeling ! How
strong was this wall, how impregnable and invincible
it appeared, after having occupied the attention and
absorbed the labor of a great State, from the com-
492
OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
mon workman up to the overseer, from the agent
of the police up to the Prefect and the Minister.
The child, the good woman, the aged peasant
have resumed their task. Only it is no longer a
taper or a poor bouquet which bears witness to the
popular faith ; it is a magnificent edifice built by
the faithful ; it is proved by the millions contributed
towards the foundations of a temple already illus
trious in Christendom, It had been attempted to
arrest a few isolated believers ; now they come in
crowds, in vast processions, with banners flying,
and singing hymns. It is unheard of pilgrimages
whole populations which arrive, transported on
iron roads by chariots of fire and steam. It is no
longer a small country which believes, it is Europe :
it is the Christian world which hastens to the spot.
The Drop of water which they would have chained
has become a mighty Niagara.
God has done his work. And now, as on the
seventh day, when He entered on His rest, He has
left to man the care of profiting by his work, and
the fearful faculty of developing or compromising
it. He has given them a germ of fruitful graces, as
he has given them a germ of everything, charging
them with its cultivation and development. They
can increase it a hundred-fold if they march humbly
and piously in the order of the divine scheme ; they
can render it sterile if they refuse to enter into it.
Every good thing coming from on high is entrusted
to human free will, as it was at the origin of the
earthly Paradise, which contained everything good,
on the condition of knowing how to work it out
and keep it, ut operaretur et custodiret ilium. Let
us pray to God that mankind may never lose what
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 493
His Providence has done for them, and that, by
earthly ideas or anti-evangelic actions, they may
not break, in their culpable or clumsy hands, the
vessel of divine graces, the sacred vessel which has
been deposited with them.
VI.
THE greater number of persons mentioned in the
course of this long history are still living.
Only a few of them have departed from this
lower world. The Prefect, Baron Massy, the
Judge, M. Duprat, the Mayor, M. Lacade, and the
Minister, M. Fould, are dead.
Many have advanced in their career. M. Rou-
land has left the Ministry of Public Worship
which, it appears, did not altogether suit him
to administer the golden ledgers of the Bank of
France. M. Dutour, Procureur Imperial, has reach
ed a higher position in the Court of Judicature.
M. Jacomet is Chief Commissary of Police in one
of the most important cities of the Empire.
Bourriette, Croisine Beauhohorts and her son,
Mme. Rizan, Henry Busquet, Mile. Moreau de
Sazenay, Mme. Crozat and Jules Lacassagne in
fact, all those whose cures we have narrated are
still in high health and bear witness, by their re
covery and the disappearance of their maladies, to
the omnipotent mere) of the Apparition of the
Grotto.
Doctor Dozens continues to be the most eminent
physician of Lourdes. Doctor Vergez superintends
the baths at Bereges, and can attest to the visitors
of that celebrated resort the miracles authenticated
494 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
by him long ago. M. Estrades, an impartial ob
server, whose impressions we have more than once
referred to, is Receveur dcs Contributions Indirectcs
at Bordeaux. He resides in the Rue Ducan,
No. 14.
Monseigneur Laurence is still Bishop of Tarbes.
The faculties of the Prelate have suffered no dim-
minution from age. He remains precisely as we
have depicted him in this book. He possesses near
the Grotto a house to which he at times retires to
meditate in those places so loved by the Virgin
on the grave duties and grave responsibilities of a
Christian bishop, whose diocese has been the scene
of such a marvelous instance of grace.
The Abbe Peyramale has recovered from the
serious illness to which we referred above. He is
still the venerated pastor of the Christian town of
Lourdes, where he is personally known as ever
being the first to come forward when any good is
to be done. Long, long after his time, when he lies
under the turf in the midst of the generation train
ed by him to the service of God, and the successors
of his successors dwell in his Presbytery and mount
his chair in the Church, the memory of him will
live in the mind of all, and when they repeat the
words, " the Cure of Lourdes," it is to him that
their thoughts will recur.
Louise Soubirous, the mother of Bernadette,
died 8th of December, 1866, the very day of the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In choosing
this day for removing the mother from the misery
of this world, she who had said to her child, " I am
the Immaculate Conception," seems to have wished
to temper, in the minds of the survivors, the bitter-
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 495
ness of such a death, and to show them as a cer
tain pledge of hope and of a happy resurrection
the souvenir of her radiant Apparition.
While millions of francs are appropriated to the
completion of the august temple, Soubirous, the
father of Bernadette, has remained a poor miller,
earning a precarious existence by the labor of his
hands. Marie, the one of his daughters who was
with the youthful seer at the time of the first Appa
rition, is married to an honest peasant, who has
learned the trade of miller, and works with his
father-in-law, Bernadette s other companion on
that occasion is now in service at Bordeaux.
VII.
BERNADETTE is no longer at Lourdes. We have
seen how on several occasions she rejected the
offers of enthusiasm and refused to open to fortune
when it knocked at the humble door of her dwell
ing. She dreamt of riches of a very different kind.
" We shall know some day" the unbelievers had
said originally "how she will be recompensed."
Truly, Bernadette has chosen her recompense and
laid her hand on her treasure. She has become a
Sister of Charity. She has devoted herself to the
care of the poor and the sick received by public
charity in the hospitals.
After having seen the resplendent countenance
of the Mother of the thrice holy God, how could
she do otherwise than become the tender servant
of those of whom the Son of the Virgin has said,
" What ye shall do to the least of these little ones,
ye shall do it unto me."
496 OUR LADY OF LOURDES.
It is with the Sisters of Charity and Christian
Instruction at Nevers that the youthful Seer has
taken the veil. Her name in Religion is Marie-
Bernard. We saw her some time ago in her relig
ious dress at the Mother-house of the Congrega
tion. Although she is now twenty-five years of
age, her countenance still preserves the character
and grace of childhood. She possesses an incom
parable charm a charm which is not of here be
low and which raises the soul towards the regions
of heaven. In her presence the heart feels stirred
up with the best emotions, by I know not what sen
timent of religion, and when you leave her you feel
embalmed with the perfume of her calm innocence.
You can easily understand the love of the Virgin
for her. In other respects there is nothing extra
ordinary about her, nothing to point her out or
make you divine the most important part she has
played between heaven and earth. Her simplicity
has not in the least suffered from the unheard-of
agitation which arose around her. The concourse
of multitudes and the enthusiasm of whole popula
tions have no more troubled her soul, than would
the water of a torrent tarnish the imperishable
purity of a diamond, whether it were subjected an
hour or a century to its waters.
God still visits her, no longer with radiant appa
ritions, but with the sanctified trials of suffering.
She is often ill and her tortures are cruel. She
supports them with a sweet and almost cheerful
patience. Often she has been supposed to be dy
ing. " I shall not die yet," she says, smiling.
Never does she speak of the divine favor she has
received, unless directly questioned on the subject.
OUR LADY OF LOURDE8. 497
She was the witness of the Blessed Virgin. Now
that she has fulfilled her message, she has retired
into the shade of a religious life, full of humility
and seeking to lose herself in the crowd of her
companions.
It is a cause of grief to her when any one from
the World comes to find her out in the bosom of
her retreat, and any circumstance obliges her once
more to come prominently forward. She rejects
whatever might recall to her the celebrity of her
name in the Christian world. Buried in her cell,
or absorbed in the care of the sick, she shuts her
ears to all the tumults of earth ; she turns away
from them her thoughts and her heart to recollect
herself in the peace of her solitude, and in the joys
of charity. She lives in the humility of the Lord,
and is dead to the vanities of this lower world.
This book, which we have just written, and which
speaks so much of Bernadette, will never be read
by Sister Marie-Bernard.
