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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18729-0.txt b/18729-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41a42de --- /dev/null +++ b/18729-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2368 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lourdes + +Author: Robert Hugh Benson + +Release Date: July 1, 2006 [EBook #18729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + + + + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + LOURDES + + BY + + THE VERY REV. MONSIGNOR + ROBERT HUGH BENSON + + + WITH EIGHT FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + ST. LOUIS MO.: + B. HERDER, PUBLISHER + 17, S. BROADWAY + + LONDON: + MANRESA PRESS + ROEHAMPTON, S.W. + + 1914 + + + + +Nihil Obstat: + + S. GEORGIUS KIERAN HYLAND, S.T.D., + CENSOR DEPUTATUS + +Imprimatur: + + GULIELMUS F. BROWN, + VICARIUS GENERALIS, + SOUTHWARCENSI. + +_15 Maii, 1914._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Since writing the following pages six years ago, I have had the +privilege of meeting a famous French scientist--to whom we owe one of +the greatest discoveries of recent years--who has made a special study +of Lourdes and its phenomena, and of hearing him comment upon what takes +place there. He is, himself, at present, not a practising Catholic; and +this fact lends peculiar interest to his opinions. His conclusions, so +far as he has formulated them, are as follows: + +(1) That no scientific hypothesis up to the present accounts +satisfactorily for the phenomena. Upon his saying this to me I breathed +the word "suggestion"; and his answer was to laugh in my face, and to +tell me, practically, that this is the most ludicrous hypothesis of all. + +(2) That, so far as he can see, the one thing necessary for such cures +as he himself has witnessed or verified, is the atmosphere of prayer. +Where this rises to intensity the number of cures rises with it; where +this sinks, the cures sink too. + +(3) That he is inclined to think that there is a transference of +vitalizing force either from the energetic faith of the sufferer, or +from that of the bystanders. He instanced an example in which his wife, +herself a qualified physician, took part. She held in her arms a child, +aged two and a half years, blind from birth, during the procession of +the Blessed Sacrament. As the monstrance came opposite, tears began to +stream from the child's eyes, hitherto closed. When it had passed, the +child's eyes were open and seeing. This Mme. ---- tested by dangling her +bracelet before the child, who immediately clutched at it, but, from the +fact that she had never learned to calculate distance, at first failed +to seize it. At the close of the procession Mme. ----, who herself +related to me the story, was conscious of an extraordinary exhaustion +for which there was no ordinary explanation. I give this suggestion as +the scientist gave it to me--the suggestion of some kind of +_transference_ of vitality; and make no comment upon it, beyond saying +that, superficially at any rate, it does not appear to me to conflict +with the various accounts of miracles given in the Gospel in which the +faith of the bystanders, as well as of sufferers, appeared to be as +integral an element in the miracle as the virtue which worked it. + +Owing to the time that has elapsed since the following pages were +written for the _Ave Maria_--by the kindness of whose editor they are +reprinted now--it is impossible for me to verify the spelling of all the +names that occur in the course of the narrative. I made notes while at +Lourdes, and from those notes wrote my account; it is therefore +extremely probable that small errors of spelling may have crept in, +which I am now unable to correct. + + ROBERT HUGH BENSON. + + _Church of our Lady of Lourdes, + New York, + Lent, 1914_ + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW _Frontispiece_ + + DR. BOISSARIE _to face p._ 16 + + BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS " 26 + + THE GROTTO IN 1858 " 36 + + THE GROTTO IN 1914 " 46 + + THE BLESSING OF THE SICK " 56 + + THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW " 66 + + BERNADETTE " 78 + + + + +I. + + +The first sign of our approach to Lourdes was a vast wooden cross, +crowning a pointed hill. We had been travelling all day, through the +August sunlight, humming along the straight French roads beneath the +endless avenues; now across a rich plain, with the road banked on either +side to avert the spring torrents from the Pyrenees; now again mounting +and descending a sudden shoulder of hill. A few minutes ago we had +passed into Tarbes, the cathedral city of the diocese in which Lourdes +lies; and there, owing to a little accident, we had been obliged to +halt, while the wheels of the car were lifted, with incredible +ingenuity, from the deep gutter into which the chauffeur had, with the +best intentions, steered them. It was here, in the black eyes, the +dominant profiles, the bright colours, the absorbed childish interest of +the crowd, in their comments, their laughter, their seriousness, and +their accent, that the South showed itself almost unmixed. It was +market-day in Tarbes; and when once more we were on our way, we still +went slowly; passing, almost all the way into Lourdes itself, a +long-drawn procession--carts and foot passengers, oxen, horses, dogs, +and children--drawing nearer every minute toward that ring of solemn +blue hills that barred the view to Spain. + +It is difficult to describe with what sensations I came to Lourdes. As a +Christian man, I did not dare to deny that miracles happened; as a +reasonably humble man, I did not dare to deny that they happened at +Lourdes; yet, I suppose, my attitude even up to now had been that of a +reverent agnostic--the attitude, in fact, of a majority of Christians on +this particular point--Christians, that is, who resemble the Apostle +Thomas in his less agreeable aspect. I had heard and read a good deal +about psychology, about the effect of mind on matter and of nerves on +tissue; I had reflected upon the infection of an ardent crowd; I had +read Zola's dishonest book;[1] and these things, coupled with the +extreme difficulty which the imagination finds in realizing what it has +never experienced--since, after all, miracles are confessedly +miraculous, and therefore unusual--the effect of all this was to render +my mental state a singularly detached one. I believed? Yes, I suppose +so; but it was a halting act of faith pure and simple; it was not yet +either sight or real conviction. + +The cross, then, was the first glimpse of Lourdes' presence; and ten +minutes later we were in the town itself. + +Lourdes is not beautiful, though it must once have been. It was once a +little Franco-Spanish town, set in the lap of the hills, with a swift, +broad, shallow stream, the Gave, flowing beneath it. It is now +cosmopolitan, and therefore undistinguished. As we passed slowly through +the crowded streets--for the National Pilgrimage was but now +arriving--we saw endless rows of shops and booths sheltering beneath +tall white blank houses, as correct and as expressionless as a +brainless, well-bred man. Here and there we passed a great hotel. The +crowd about our wheels was almost as cosmopolitan as a Roman crowd. It +was largely French, as that is largely Italian; but the Spaniards were +there, vivid-faced men and women, severe Britons, solemn Teutons; and, I +have no doubt, Italians, Belgians, Flemish and Austrians as well. At +least I heard during my three days' stay all the languages that I could +recognize, and many that I could not. There were many motor-cars there +besides our own, carriages, carts, bell-clanging trams, and the litters +of the sick. Presently we dismounted in a side street, and set out to +walk to the Grotto, through the hot evening sunshine. + +The first sign of sanctity that we saw, as we came out at the end of a +street, was the mass of churches built on the rising ground above the +river. Imagine first a great oval of open ground, perhaps two hundred by +three hundred yards in area, crowded now with groups as busy as ants, +partly embraced by two long white curving arms of masonry rising +steadily to their junction; at the point on this side where the ends +should meet if they were prolonged, stands a white stone image of Our +Lady upon a pedestal, crowned, and half surrounded from beneath by some +kind of metallic garland arching upward. At the farther end the two +curves of masonry of which I have spoken, rising all the way by steps, +meet upon a terrace. This terrace is, so to speak, the centre of gravity +of the whole. + +For just above it stands the flattened dome of the Rosary Church, of +which the doors are beneath the terrace, placed upon broad flights of +steps. Immediately above the dome is the entrance to the crypt of the +basilica; and, above that again, reached by further flights of steps, +are the doors of the basilica; and, above it, the roof of the church +itself, with its soaring white spire high over all. + +Let me be frank. These buildings are not really beautiful. They are +enormous, but they are not impressive; they are elaborate and fine and +white, but they are not graceful. I am not sure what is the matter with +them; but I think it is that they appear to be turned out of a machine. +They are too trim; they are like a well-dressed man who is not quite a +gentleman; they are like a wedding guest; they are _haute-bourgeoise_, +they are not the nobility. It is a terrible pity, but I suppose it could +not be helped, since they were allowed so little time to grow. There is +no sense of reflectiveness about them, no patient growth of character, +as in those glorious cathedrals, Amiens, Chartres, Beauvais, which I had +so lately seen. There is nothing in reserve; they say everything, they +suggest nothing. They have no imaginative vista. + +We said not one word to one another. We threaded our way across the +ground, diagonally, seeing as we went the Bureau de Constatations (or +the office where the doctors sit), contrived near the left arm of the +terraced steps; and passed out under the archway, to find ourselves with +the churches on our left, and on our right the flowing Gave, confined on +this side by a terraced walk, with broad fields beyond the stream. + +The first thing I noticed were the three roofs of the _piscines_, on the +left side of the road, built under the cliff on which the churches +stand. I shall have more to say of them presently, but now it is enough +to remark that they resemble three little chapels, joined in one, each +with its own doorway; an open paved space lies across the entrances, +where the doctors and the priests attend upon the sick. This open space +is fenced in all about, to keep out the crowd that perpetually seethes +there. We went a few steps farther, worked our way in among the people, +and fell on our knees. + +Overhead, the cliff towered up, bare hanging rock beneath, grass and +soaring trees above; and at the foot of the cliff a tall, irregular +cave. There are two openings of this cave; the one, the larger, is like +a cage of railings, with the gleam of an altar in the gloom beyond, a +hundred burning candles, and sheaves and stacks of crutches clinging to +the broken roofs of rock; the other, and smaller, and that farther from +us, is an opening in the cliff, shaped somewhat like a _vesica_. The +grass still grows there, with ferns and the famous climbing shrub; and +within the entrance, framed in it, stands Mary, in white and blue, as +she stood fifty years ago, raised perhaps twenty feet above the ground. + +Ah, that image!... I said, "As she stood there!" Yet it could not have +been so; for surely even simple Bernadette would not have fallen on her +knees. It is too white, it is too blue; it is, like the three churches, +placed magnificently, yet not impressive; fine and slender, yet not +graceful. + +But we knelt there without unreality, with the river running swift +behind us; for we knelt where a holy child had once knelt before a +radiant vision, and with even more reason; for even if the one, as some +say, had been an hallucination, were those sick folk an hallucination? +Was Pierre de Rudder's mended leg an hallucination, or the healed wounds +of Marie Borel? Or were those hundreds upon hundreds of disused crutches +an illusion? Did subjectivity create all these? If so, what greater +miracle can be demanded? + +And there was more than that. For when later, at Argelès, I looked over +the day, I was able to formulate for the first time the extraordinary +impressions that Lourdes had given me. There was everything hostile to +my peace--an incalculable crowd, an oppressive heat, dust, noise, +weariness; there was the disappointment of the churches and the image; +there was the sour unfamiliarity of the place and the experience; and +yet I was neither troubled nor depressed nor irritated nor disappointed. +It appeared to me as if some great benign influence were abroad, +soothing and satisfying; lying like a great summer air over all, to +quiet and to stimulate. I cannot describe this further; I can only say +that it never really left me during those three days, I saw sights that +would have saddened me elsewhere--apparent injustices, certain +disappointments, dashed hopes that would almost have broken my heart; +and yet that great Power was over all, to reconcile, to quiet and to +reassure. To leave Lourdes at the end was like leaving home. + +After a few minutes before the Grotto, we climbed the hill behind, made +an appointment for my Mass on the morrow; and, taking the car again, +moved slowly through the crowded streets, and swiftly along the country +roads, up to Argelès, nearly a dozen miles away. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The epithet is deliberate. He relates in his book, "Lourdes," the +story of an imaginary case of a girl, suffering from tuberculosis, who +goes to Lourdes as a pilgrim, and is, apparently, cured of her disease. +It breaks out, however, again during her return home; and the case would +appear therefore to be one of those in which, owing to fierce excitement +and the mere power of suggestion, there is a temporary amelioration, but +no permanent, or supernatural, cure. Will it be believed that the +details of this story, all of which are related with great +particularity, and observed by Zola himself, were taken from an actual +case that occurred during one of his visits--all the details except the +relapse? There was no relapse: the cure was complete and permanent. When +Dr. Boissarie later questioned the author as to the honesty of this +literary device, saying that he had understood him to have stated that +he had come to Lourdes for the purpose of an impartial investigation, +Zola answered that the characters in the book were his own, and that he +could make them do what he liked. It is on these principles that the +book is constructed. It must be added that Zola followed up the case, +and had communications with the _miraculée_ long after her cure had been +shown to be permanent, and before his book appeared. + + + + +II. + + +We were in Lourdes again next morning a little after six o'clock; and +already it might have been high noon, for the streets were one moving +mass of pilgrims. From every corner came gusts of singing; and here and +there through the crowd already moved the _brancardiers_--men of every +nation with shoulder-straps and cross--bearing the litters with their +piteous burdens. + +I was to say Mass in the crypt; and when I arrived there at last, the +church was full from end to end. The interior was not so disappointing +as I had feared. It had a certain solid catacombic gloom beneath its low +curved roof, which, if it had not been for the colours and some of the +details, might very nearly have come from the hand of a good architect. +The arrangements for the pilgrims were as bad as possible; there was no +order, no marshalling; they moved crowd against crowd like herds of +bewildered sheep. Some were for Communion, some for Mass only, some for +confession; and they pushed patiently this way and that in every +direction. It was a struggle before I got my vestments; I produced a +letter from the Bishop of Rodez, with whom I had lunched a few days +before; I argued, I deprecated, I persuaded, I quoted. Everything once +more was against my peace of mind; yet I have seldom said Mass with more +consolations than in that tiny sanctuary of the high Altar.... An +ecclesiastic served, and an old priest knelt devoutly at a prie-Dieu. + +When the time for Communion came, I turned about and saw but one sea of +faces stretching from the altar rail into as much of the darkness as I +could discern. For a quarter of an hour I gave Communion rapidly; then, +as soon as another priest could force his way through the crowd, I +continued Mass; he had not nearly finished giving Communion when I had +ended my thanksgiving. This, too, was the same everywhere--in the crypt, +in the basilica, in the Rosary Church, and above all in the Grotto. The +average number of Communions every day throughout the year in Lourdes +is, I am told, four thousand. In that year of Jubilee, however, Dr. +Boissarie informed me, in round numbers, one million Communions were +made, sixty thousand Masses were said, with two thousand Communions at +each midnight Mass.... Does Jesus Christ go out when Mary comes in? We +are told so by non-Catholics. Rather, it seems as if, like the Wise Men +of old, men still find the Child with Mary His Mother. + +At the close of my Mass, the old priest rose from his place and began to +prepare the vessels and arrange the Missal. As soon as I took off the +vestments he put them on. I assented passively, supposing him to be the +next on the list; I even answered his _Kyrie_. But at the Collect a +frantic sacristan burst through the crowd; and from remarks made to the +devout old priest and myself, I learned that the next on the list was +still waiting in the sacristy, and that this old man was an adroit +though pious interloper who had determined not to take "No" for an +answer. He finished his Mass. I forbear from comment. + +For a while afterward we stood on the terrace above the _piscines_; and, +indeed, after breakfast I returned here again alone, and remained during +all the morning. It was an extraordinary sight. From the terrace, the +cliff fell straight away down to the roofs of the three chapel-like +buildings, fifty or sixty feet beneath. Beyond that I could see the +paved space, sprinkled with a few moving figures; and, beyond the +barrier, the crowd stretching across the roadway and far on either side. +Behind them was the clean river and the green meadows, all delicious in +the early sunlight. + +During that morning I must have seen many hundreds of the sick carried +into the baths; for there were almost two thousand sick in Lourdes on +that day. I could even watch their faces, white and drawn with pain, or +horribly scarred, as they lay directly beneath me, "waiting for some man +to put them into the water." I saw men and women of all nations and all +ranks attending upon them, carrying them tenderly, fanning their faces, +wiping their lips, giving them to drink of the Grotto water. A murmur of +thousands of footsteps came up from beneath (this National Pilgrimage of +France numbered between eighty and an hundred thousand persons); and +loud above the footsteps came the cries of the priests, as they stood in +a long row facing the people, with arms extended in the form of a cross. +Now and again came a far-off roar of singing from the Grotto to my left, +where Masses were said continuously by bishops and favoured priests; or +from my right, from the great oval space beneath the steps; and then, on +a sudden a great chorus of sound from beneath, as the _Gloria Patri_ +burst out when the end of some decade was reached. All about us was the +wheeling earth, the Pyrenees behind, the meadows in front; and over us +heaven, with Mary looking down. + +Once from beneath during that long morning I heard terrible shrieks, as +of a demoniac, that died into moans and ceased. And once I saw a little +procession go past from the Grotto, with the Blessed Sacrament in the +midst. There was no sensation, no singing. The Lord of all went simply +by on some errand of mercy, and men fell on their knees and crossed +themselves as He went. + +After _déjeûner_ at the Hotel Moderne, where now it was decided that we +should stay until the Monday, we went down to the Bureau. At first there +were difficulties made, as the doctors were not come; and I occupied a +little while in watching the litters unloaded from the wagonettes that +brought them gently down to within a hundred yards of the Grotto. Once +indeed I was happy to be able to fit a _brancardier's_ straps into the +poles that supported a sick woman. It was all most terrible and most +beautiful. Figure after figure was passed along the seats--living +crucifixes of pain--and lowered tenderly to the ground, to lie there a +moment or two, with the body horribly flat and, as it seemed, almost +non-existent beneath the coverlet; and the white face with blazing eyes +of anguish, or passive and half dead, to show alone that a human +creature lay there. Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently +down to the gate of the _piscines_. + +At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting +a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came +out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted. I passed through a barrier, +through a couple of rooms, and found myself in the Holy Place of +Science, as the Grotto is the Holy Place of Grace. + +It is a little room in which perhaps twenty persons can stand with +comfort. Again and again I saw more than sixty there. Down one side runs +a table, at one end of which sits Dr. Cox; in the centre, facing the +room, is the presiding doctor's chair, where, as a rule, Dr. Boissarie +is to be found. Dr. Cox set me between him and the president, and I +began to observe. + +At the farther end of the room is a long glazed case of photographs hung +against the wall. Here are photographs of many of the most famous +patients. The wounds of Marie Borel are shown there; Marie Borel herself +had been present in the Bureau that morning to report upon her excellent +health. (She was cured last year instantaneously, in the _piscine_, of a +number of running wounds, so deep that they penetrated the intestines.) +On the table lay some curious brass objects, which I learned later were +models of the bones of Pierre de Rudder's legs. (This man had for eight +years suffered from a broken leg and two running wounds--one at the +fracture, the other on the foot. These were gangrenous. The ends of the +broken bones were seen immediately before the cure, which took place +instantaneously at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostacker. +Pierre lived rather over twenty years after his sudden and complete +restoration to health). For the rest, the room is simple enough. There +are a few chairs. Another door leads into a little compartment where the +sick can be examined privately; a third and a fourth lead into the open +air on either side. There are two windows, looking out respectively on +this side and that. + +Now I spent a great deal of my time in the Bureau. (I was given +presently a "doctor's cross" to wear--consisting of a kind of cardboard +with a white upright and red cross-bar--so that I could pass in and out +as I wished). I may as well, then, sum up once and for all the +impressions I received from observing the methods of the doctors. There +were all kinds of doctors there continually--Catholics and +free-thinkers, old, young, middle-aged. The cases were discussed with +the utmost freedom. Any could ask questions of the _miraculés_ or of the +other doctors. The certificates of the sick were read aloud. I may +observe, too, that if there was any doubt as to the certificates, if +there was any question of a merely nervous malady, any conceivable +possibility of a mistake, the case was dismissed abruptly. These +certificates, then, given by the doctor attending the sick person, dated +and signed, are of the utmost importance; for without them no cure is +registered. Yet, in spite of these demands, I saw again and again sixty +or seventy men, dead silent, staring, listening with all their ears, +while some poor uneducated man or woman, smiling radiantly, gave a +little history or answered the abrupt kindly questions of the presiding +doctor. + +Again, and again, too, it seemed to me that all this had been enacted +before. There was once upon a time a man born blind who received his +sight, and round him there gathered keen-eyed doctors of another kind. +They tried to pose him with questions. It was unheard of, they cried, +that a man born blind should receive his sight; at least it could not +have been as he said. Yet there stood the man in the midst, seeing them +as they saw him, and giving his witness. "This," he said, "was the way +it was done. Such and such is the name of the Man who cured me. And look +for yourselves! I was blind; now I see." + +After I had looked and made notes and asked questions of Dr. Cox, Dr. +Boissarie came in. I was made known to him; and presently he took me +aside, with a Scottish priest (who all through my stay showed me great +kindness), and began to ask me questions. It seemed that, since there +was no physical _miraculé_ present just now, a spiritual _miraculé_ +would do as well; for he asked me a hundred questions as to my +conversion and its causes, and what part prayer played in it; and the +doctors crowded round and listened to my halting French. + +"It was the need of a divine Leader--an authority--then, that brought +you in?" + +"Yes, it was that; it was the position of St. Peter in the Scriptures +and in history; it was the supernatural unity of the Church. It is +impossible to say exactly which argument predominated." + +"It was, in fact, the grace of God," smiled the Doctor. + +Dr. Boissarie, as also Dr. Cox, was extremely good to me. He is an +oldish man, with a keen, clever, wrinkled face; he is of middle-size, +and walks very slowly and deliberately; he is a fervent Catholic. He is +very sharp and businesslike, but there is an air of wonderful goodness +and kindness about him; he takes one by the arm in a very pleasant +manner; I have seen dilatory, rambling patients called to their senses +in an instant, yet never frightened. + +Dr. Cox, who has been at Lourdes for fourteen years, is a typical +Englishman, ruddy, with a white moustache. His part is mostly +secretarial, it seems; though he too asks questions now and again. It +was he who gave me the "doctor's cross," and who later obtained for me +an even more exceptional favour, of which I shall speak in the proper +place. I heard a tale that he himself had been cured of some illness at +Lourdes, but I cannot vouch for it as true. I did not like to ask him +outright. + +Presently from outside came the sound of organized singing, and the room +began to empty. The afternoon procession was coming. I ran to the window +that looks toward the Grotto; and there, sitting by an Assumptionist +Father--one of that Order who once had, officially, charge of the +Grotto, and now unofficially assists at it--I saw the procession go +past. + +I have no idea of its numbers. I saw only beyond the single line of +heads outside the window, an interminable double stream of men go past, +each bearing a burning taper and singing as he came. There were persons +of every kind in that stream--groups of boys and young men, with their +priest beating time in the midst; middle-aged men and old men. I saw +again and again that kind of face which a foolish Briton is accustomed +to regard as absurd--a military, musketeer profile, immense moustaches +and imperial, and hair _en brosse_. Yet indeed there was nothing absurd. +It was terribly moving, and a lump rose in my throat, as I watched such +a sanguine bristling face as one of these, all alight with passion and +adoration. Such a man might be a grocer, or a local mayor, or a duke; it +was all one; he was a child of Mary; and he loved her with all his +heart, and Gabriel's salute was on his lips. Then the priests began to +come; long lines of them in black; then white cottas; then gleams of +purple; then a pectoral cross or two; and last the great canopy swaying +with all its bells and tassels. + + + + +III. + + +Now, it is at the close of the afternoon procession that the sick more +usually are healed. I crossed the Bureau to the other window that looks +on to what I will call the square, and began to watch for the +reappearance of the procession on that side. In front of me was a dense +crowd of heads, growing more dense every step up to the barriers that +enclose the open space in the midst. It was beyond those barriers, as I +knew, that the sick were laid ready for the passing by of Jesus of +Nazareth. On the right rose the wide sweep of steps and terraces leading +up to the basilica, and every line of stone was crowned with heads. Even +on the cliffs beyond, I could see figures coming and going and watching. +In all, about eighty thousand persons were present. + +Presently the singing grew loud again; the procession had turned the +corner and entered the square; and I could see the canopy moving quickly +down the middle toward the Rosary Church, for its work was done. The +Blessed Sacrament was now to be carried round the lines of the sick, +beneath an _ombrellino_. + +I shall describe all this later, and more in detail; it is enough just +now to say that the Blessed Sacrament went round, that It was carried at +last to the steps of the Rosary Church, and that, after the singing of +the _Tantum Ergo_ by that enormous crowd, Benediction was given. Then +the Bureau began to fill, and I turned round for the scientific aspect +of the affair. + +The first thing that I saw was a little girl, seeming eight or nine +years old, who walked in and stood at the other side of the table, to be +examined. Her name was Marguerite Vandenabeele--so I read on the +certificate--and she had suffered since birth from infantile paralysis, +with such a result that she was unable to put her heels to the ground. +That morning in the _piscine_ she had found herself able to walk +properly though her heels were tender from disuse. We looked at her--the +doctors who had begun again to fill the room, and myself, with three or +four more amateurs. There she stood, very quiet and unexcited, with a +slightly flushed face. Some elder person in charge of her gave in the +certificate and answered the questions. Then she went away.[2] + +Now, I must premise that the cures that took place while I was at +Lourdes that August cannot yet be regarded as finally established, since +not sufficient time has elapsed for their test and verification.[3] +Occasionally there is a relapse soon after the apparent cure, in the +case of certain diseases that may be more or less affected by a nervous +condition; occasionally claimants are found not to be cured at all. For +scientific certainty, therefore, it is better to rely upon cures that +have taken place a year, or at least some months previously, in which +the restored health is preserved. There are, of course a large number of +such cases; I shall come to them presently.[4] + +The next patient to enter the room was one Mlle. Bardou. I learned later +from her lips that she was a secularized Carmelite nun, expelled from +her convent by the French Government. There was the further pathos in +her case in the fact that her cure, when I left Lourdes, was believed to +be at least doubtful. But now she took her seat, with a radiantly happy +face, to hand in her certificate and answer the questions. She had +suffered from renal tuberculosis; her certificate proved that. She was +here herself, without pain or discomfort, to prove that she no longer +suffered. Relief had come during the procession. A question or two was +put to her; an arrangement was made for her return after examination; +and she went out. + +The room was rapidly filling now; there were forty or fifty persons +present. There was a sudden stir; those who sat rose up; and there came +into the room three bishops in purple--from St. Paul in Brazil, the +Bishop of Beauvais, and the famous orator, Monseigneur Touchet, of +Orléans--all of whom had taken part in the procession. These sat down, +and the examination went on. + +The next to enter was Juliette Gosset, aged twenty-five, from Paris. She +had a darkish plain face, and was of middle size. She answered the +questions quietly enough, though there was evident a suppressed +excitement beneath. She had been cured during the procession, she said; +she had stood up and walked. And her illness? She showed a certificate, +dated in the previous March, asserting that she suffered gravely from +tuberculosis, especially in the right lung; she added herself that hip +disease had developed since that time, that one leg had become seven +centimetres shorter than the other, and that she had been for some +months unable to sit or kneel. Yet here she walked and sat without the +smallest apparent discomfort. When she had finished her tale, a doctor +pointed out that the certificate said nothing of any hip disease. She +assented, explaining again the reason; but added that the hospital where +she lodged in Lourdes would corroborate what she said. Then she +disappeared into the little private room to be examined. + +There followed a nun, pale and black-eyed, who made gestures as she +stood by Dr. Boissarie and told her story. She spoke very rapidly. I +learned that she had been suffering from a severe internal malady, and +that she had been cured instantaneously in the _piscine_. She handed in +her certificate, and then she, too, vanished. + +After a few minutes there returned the doctor who had examined Juliette +Gosset. Now, I think it should impress the incredulous that this case +was pronounced unsatisfactory, and will not, probably, appear upon the +registers. It was perfectly true that the girl had had tuberculosis, and +that now nothing was to be detected except the very faintest symptom--so +faint as to be negligible--in the right lung. It appeared to be true +also that she had had hip disease, since there were upon her body +certain marks of treatment by burning; and that her legs were now of an +exactly equal length. But, firstly, the certificate was five months old, +secondly, it made no mention of hip disease; thirdly, seven centimetres +was almost too large a measure to be believed. The case then was +referred back for further investigation; and there it stood when I left +Lourdes. The doctors shook their heads considerably over the seven +centimetres. + +There followed next one of the most curious instances of all. It was an +old _miraculée_ who came back to report; her case is reported at length +in Dr. Boissarie's _Å’uvre de Lourdes_, on pages 299-308.[5] Her name +was Marie Cools, and she came from Anvers, suffering apparently from +_mal de Pott_, and paralysis and anæsthesia of the legs. This state had +lasted for about three years. The doctors consulted differed as to her +case: two diagnosing it as mentioned above, two as hysteria. For ten +months she had suffered, moreover, from constant feverishness; she was +continually sick, and the work of digestion was painful and difficult. +There was a marked lateral deviation of the spinal column, with atrophy +of the leg muscles. At the second bath she began to improve, and the +pains in the back ceased; at the fourth bath the paralysis vanished, her +appetite came steadily back, and the sickness ceased. Now she came in to +announce her continued good health. + +There are a number of interesting facts as to this case; and the first +is the witness of the infidel doctor who sent her to Lourdes, since it +seemed to him that "religious suggestion," was the only hope left. He, +by the way, had diagnosed her case as one of hysteria. "It had a +result," he writes, "which I, though an unbeliever, can characterize +only as marvellous. Marie Cools returned completely, absolutely cured. +No trace of paralysis or anæsthesia. She is actually on her feet; and, +two hospital servants having been stricken by typhoid, she is taking the +place of one of them." Another interesting fact is that a positive storm +raged at Anvers over her cure, and that Dr. Van de Vorst was at the +ensuing election dismissed from the hospital, with at least a suspicion +that the cause of his dismissal lay in his having advised the girl to go +to Lourdes at all. + +Dr. Boissarie makes an interesting comment or two on the case, allowing +that it may perhaps have been hysteria, though this is not at all +certain. "When we have to do with nervous maladies, we must always +remember the rules of Benedict XIV.: 'The miracle cannot consist in the +cessation of the crises, but in the cessation of the nervous state which +produces them.'" It is this that has been accomplished in the case of +Marie Cools. And again: "Either Marie Cools is not cured, or there is in +her cure something other than suggestion, even religious. It is high time +to leave that tale alone, and to cease to class under the title of +religious suggestion two orders of facts completely distinct--superficial +and momentary modifications, and constitutional modifications so profound +that science cannot explain them. I repeat: to make of an hysterical +patient one whose equilibrium is perfect ... is a thing more difficult +than the cure of a wound." + +So he wrote at the time of her apparent cure, hesitating still as to its +permanence. And here, before my eyes and his, she stood again, healthy +and well. + +And so at last I went back to dinner. A very different scene followed. +For a couple of hours we had been materialists, concerning ourselves not +with what Mary had done by grace--at least not in that aspect--but with +what nature showed to have been done, by whatever agency, in itself. Now +once more we turned to Mary. + +It was dark when we arrived at the square, but the whole place was alive +with earthly lights. High up to our left hung the church, outlined in +fire--tawdry, I dare say, with its fairy lights of electricity, yet +speaking to three-quarters of this crowd in the highest language they +knew. Light, after all, is the most heavenly thing we possess. Does it +matter so very much if it is decked out and arranged in what to superior +persons appears a finikin fashion? + +The crowd itself had become a serpent of fire, writhing here below in +endlessly intricate coils; up there along the steps and parapets, a +long-drawn, slow-moving line; and from the whole incalculable number +came gusts and roars of singing, for each carried a burning torch and +sang with his group. The music was of all kinds. Now and again came the +_Laudate Mariam_ from one company, following to some degree the general +movement of the procession, and singing from little paper-books which +each read by the light of his wind-blown lantern; now the _Gloria +Patri_, as a band came past reciting the Rosary; but above all pealed +the ballad of Bernadette, describing how the little child went one day +by the banks of the Gave, how she heard the thunderous sound, and, +turning, saw the Lady, with all the rest of the sweet story, each stanza +ending with that + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +that I think will ring in my ears till I die. + +It was an astounding sight to see that crowd and to hear that singing, +and to watch each group as it came past--now girls, now boys, now +stalwart young men, now old veteran pilgrims, now a bent old woman; each +face illumined by the soft paper-shrouded candle, and each mouth singing +to Mary. Hardly one in a thousand of those came to be cured of any +sickness; perhaps not one in five hundred had any friend among the +patients; yet here they were, drawn across miles of hot France, to give, +not to get. Can France, then, be so rotten? + +As I dropped off to sleep that night, the last sound of which I was +conscious was, still that cannon-like chorus, coming from the direction +of the square: + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] _La Voix de Lourdes_, a semi-official paper, gives the following +account of her, in its issue of the 23rd: "... Marguerite Vandenabeele, +10 ans, de Nieurlet, hameau de Hedezeele, (Nord), est arrivée avec un +des trains de Paris, portant un certificat du Docteur Dantois, daté de +St. Momeleu (Nord) le 25 mai, 1908, la déclarant atteinte _d'atrophie de +la jambe gauche_ avec _pied-bot équin_. Elle ne marchait que très +difficilement et très péniblement. A la sortie de la piscine, vendredi +soir, elle a pu marcher facilement. Amenée au Bureau Médical, on l'a +débarrassée de l'appareil dans lequel était enfermé son pied. Depuis, +elle marche bien, et parait guérie." + +[3] This was written in the autumn of the year 1908, in which this visit +of mine took place. + +[4] Since 1888 the registered cures are estimated as follows: '88, 57; +'89, 44; '90, 80; '91, 53; '92, 99; '93, 91; '94, 127; '95, 163; '96, +145; '97, 163; '98, 243; '99, 174; 1900, 160; '01, 171; '02, 164; '03, +161; '04, 140; '05, 157; '06, 148; '07, 109. + +[5] My notes are rather illegible at this point, but I make no doubt +that this was Marie Cools. + + + + +IV. + + +I awoke to that singing again, in my room above the door of the hotel; +and went down presently to say my Mass in the Rosary Church, where, by +the kindness of the Scottish priest of whom I have spoken, an altar had +been reserved for me. The Rosary Church is tolerably fine within. It has +an immense flattened dome, beyond which stands the high altar; and round +about are fifteen chapels dedicated to the Fifteen Mysteries, which are +painted above their respective altars. + +But I was to say Mass in a little temporary chapel to the left of the +entrance, formed, I suppose, out of what usually serves as some kind of +a sacristy. The place was hardly forty feet long; its high altar, at +which I both vested and said Mass, was at the farther end; but each +side, too, was occupied by three priests, celebrating simultaneously +upon altar-stones laid on long, continuous boards that ran the length of +the chapel. The whole of the rest of the space was crammed to +overflowing; indeed it had been scarcely possible to get entrance to the +chapel at all, so vast was the crowd in the great church outside. + +After breakfast I went down to the Bureau once more, and found business +already begun. The first case, which was proceeding as I entered, was +that of a woman (whose name I could not catch) who had been cured of +consumption in the previous year, and who now came back to report a +state of continued good health. Her brother-in-law came with her, and +she remarked with pleasure that the whole family was now returning to +the practice of religion. During this investigation I noticed also +Juliette Gosset seated at the table, apparently in robust health. + +There followed Natalie Audivin, a young woman who declared that she had +been cured in the previous year, and that she supposed her case had been +entered in the books; but at the moment, at any rate, her name could not +be found, and for the present the case was dismissed. + +I now saw a Capuchin priest in the room--a small, rosy, bearded man--and +supposed that he was present merely as a spectator; but a minute or two +later Dr. Boissarie caught sight of him, and presently was showing him +off to me, much to his smiling embarrassment. He had caught consumption +of the intestines, it seemed, some years before, from attending upon two +of his dying brethren, and had come to Lourdes almost at his last gasp +in the year 1900 A. D. Here he stood, smiling and rosy. + +There followed Mademoiselle Madeleine Laure, cured of severe internal +troubles (I did not catch the details) in the previous year. + +Presently the Bishop of Dalmatia came in, and sat in his chair opposite +me, while we heard the account of Miss Noemie Nightingale, of Upper +Norwood, cured in the previous June of deafness, rising, in the case of +one ear at least, from a perforation of the drum. She was present at the +_piscines_, when on a sudden she had felt excruciating pains in the +ears. The next she knew was that she heard the _Magnificat_ being sung +in honour of her cure. + +Mademoiselle Marie Bardou came in about this time, and passed through to +the inner room to be examined; while we received from a doctor a report +of the lame child whom we had seen on the previous day. All was as had +been said. She could now put her heels to the ground and walk. It seemed +she had been conscious of a sensation of hammering in her feet at the +moment of the cure, followed by a feeling of relief. + +And so they went on. Next came Mademoiselle Eugénie Meunier, cured two +months before of fistula. She had given her certificate into the care of +her _curé_, who could not at this moment be found--naturally enough, as +she had made no appointment with him!--but she was allowed to tell her +story, and to show a copy of her parish magazine in which her story was +given. She had had in her body one wound of ten centimetres in size. +After bathing one evening she had experienced relief; by the next +morning the wound, which had flowed for six months, was completely +closed, and had remained so. Her strength and appetite had returned. +This cure had taken place in her own lodging, since her state was such +that she was forbidden to go to the Grotto. + +The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered +provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk, +but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to +the _piscines_, and ordered to report again later. + +The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of +a terrible disease of the bone three years before. Until that time he +was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the _piscines_. +He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And +now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the +door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had +running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified. + +The next was an oldish man, who came accompanied by his tall, +black-bearded son, to report on his continued good health since his +recovery, eight years previously, from neurasthenia and insanity. He had +had the illusion of being persecuted, with suicidal tendencies; he had +been told he could not travel twenty miles, and he had travelled over +eight hundred kilometres, after four years' isolation. He had stayed a +few months in Lourdes, bathing in the _piscines_, and the obsession had +left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and +dismissed. + +There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured +eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen. She had been sitting +in one of the churches, I think, when there was a sudden discharge of +matter, and a sense of relief. On the morrow, after another bath, the +sense of discomfort had finally disappeared. During Madame Simonet's +examination, as the crowd was great, several persons were dismissed till +a later hour. + +There followed another old patient to report. She had been cured two +years before of myelitis and an enormous tumour that, after twenty-two +years of suffering, had been declared "incurable" in her certificate. +The cure had taken place during the procession, in the course of which +she suddenly felt herself, she said, impelled to rise from her litter. +Her appetite had returned and she had enjoyed admirable health ever +since. Her name was looked up, and the details verified. + +There followed Madame François and some doctor's evidence. Nine years +ago she had been cured of fistula in the arm. She had been operated upon +five times; finally, as her arm measured a circumference of seventy-two +centimetres, amputation had been declared necessary. She had refused, +and had come to Lourdes. Her cure occupied three days, at the end of +which her arm had resumed its normal size of twenty-five centimetres. +She showed her arm, with faint scars visible upon it; it was again +measured and found normal. + +It was an amazing morning. Here I had sat for nearly three hours, seeing +with my own eyes persons of all ages and both sexes, suffering from +every variety of disease, present themselves before sixty or seventy +doctors, saying that they had been cured miraculously by the Mother of +God. Various periods had elapsed since their cures--a day, two or three +months, one year, eight years, nine years. These persons had been +operated upon, treated, subjected to agonizing remedies; one or two had +been declared actually incurable; and then, either in an instant, or +during the lapse of two or three days, or two or three months, had been +restored to health by prayer and the application of a little water in +no way remarkable for physical qualities. + +What do the doctors say to this? Some confess frankly that it is +miraculous in the literal sense of the term, and join with the patients +in praising Mary and her Divine Son. Some say nothing; some are content +to say that science at its present stage cannot account for it all, but +that in a few years, no doubt ... and the rest of it. I did not hear any +say that: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils"; +but that is accounted for by the fact that those who might wish to say +it do not believe in Beelzebub. + +But will science ever account for it all? That I leave to God. All that +I can say is that, if so, it is surely as wonderful as any miracle, that +the Church should have hit upon a secret that the scientists have +missed. But is there not a simpler way of accounting for it? For read +and consider the human evidence as regards Bernadette--her age, her +simplicity, her appearance of ecstasy. She said that she saw this Lady +eighteen times; on one of these occasions, in the presence of +bystanders. She was bidden, she said, to go to the water. She turned to +go down to the Gave, but was recalled and bidden to dig in the earth of +the Grotto. She did so, and a little muddy water appeared where no soul +in the village knew that there was water. Hour by hour this water waxed +in volume; to-day it pours out in an endless stream, is conducted +through the _piscines_; and it is after washing in this water that +bodies are healed in a fashion for which "science cannot account." +Perhaps it cannot. Perhaps it is not intended. But there are things +besides science, and one of them is religion. Is not the evidence +tolerably strong? Or is it a series of coincidences that the child had +an hallucination, devised some trick with the water, and that this water +happens to be an occasion of healing people declared incurable by known +means? + +What is the good of these miracles? If so many are cured, why are not +all? Are the _miraculés_ especially distinguished for piety? Is it +to be expected that unbelievers will be convinced? Is it claimed that the +evidence is irresistible? Let us go back to the Gospels. It used to be +said by doubters that the "miraculous element" must have been added +later by the piety of the disciples, because all the world knew now that +"miracles" did not happen. That _a priori_ argument is surely +silenced by Lourdes. "Miracles" in that sense undoubtedly do happen, if +present-day evidence is worth anything whatever. What, then, is the +Christian theory? + +It is this. Our Blessed Lord appears to have worked miracles of such a +nature that their significance was not, historically speaking, +absolutely evident to those who, for other reasons, did not "believe in +Him." It is known how some asked for a "sign from heaven" and were +refused it; how He Himself said that even if one rose from the dead, +they would not believe; yet, further, how He begged them to believe Him +even for His work's sake, if for nothing else. We know, finally, how, +when confronted with one particular miracle, His enemies cried out that +it must have been done by diabolical agency. + +Very good, then. It would seem that the miracles of Our Lord were of a +nature that strongly disposed to belief those that witnessed them, and +helped vastly in the confirmation of the faith of those who already +believed; but that miracles, as such, cannot absolutely compel the +belief of those who for moral reasons refuse it. If they could, faith +would cease to be faith. + +Now, this seems precisely the state of affairs at Lourdes. Even +unbelieving scientists are bound to admit that science at present cannot +account for the facts, which is surely the modern equivalent for the +Beelzebub theory. We have seen, too, how severely scientific persons +such as Dr. Boissarie and Dr. Cox--if they will permit me to quote their +names--knowing as well as anyone what medicine and surgery and hypnotism +and suggestion can and cannot do, corroborate this evidence, and see in +the facts a simple illustration of the truth of that Catholic Faith +which they both hold and practise. + +Is not the parallel a fair one? What more, then, do the adversaries +want? There is no arguing with people who say that, since there is +nothing but Nature, no process can be other than natural. There is no +sign, even from heaven, that could break down the intellectual prejudice +of such people. If they saw Jesus Christ Himself in glory, they could +always say that "at present science cannot account for the phenomenon of +a luminous body apparently seated upon a throne, but no doubt it will do +so in the course of time." If they saw a dead and corrupting man rise +from the grave, they could always argue that he could not have been dead +and corrupting, or he could not have risen from the grave. Nothing but +the Last Judgment could convince such persons. Even when the trumpet +sounds, I believe that some of them, when they have recovered from their +first astonishment, will make remarks about aural phenomena. + +But for the rest of us, who believe in God and His Son and the Mother of +God on quite other grounds--because our intellect is satisfied, our +heart kindled, our will braced by the belief; and because without that +belief all life falls into chaos, and human evidence is nullified, and +all noble motive and emotion cease--for us, who have received the gift +of faith, in however small a measure, Lourdes is enough. Christ and His +Mother are with us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. Is not that, after all, the simplest theory? + + + + +V. + + +After _déjeûner_ I set out again to find the Scottish priest, who hoped +to be able to take me to a certain window in the Rosary Church, where +only a few were admitted, from which we might view the procession and +the Blessing of the Sick. But we were disappointed; and, after a certain +amount of scheming, we managed to get a position at the back of the +crowd on the top of the church steps. I was able to climb up a few +inches above the others, and secured a very tolerable view of the whole +scene. + +The crowd was beyond describing. Here about us was a vast concourse of +men; and as far as the eye could reach down the huge oval, and far away +beyond the crowned statue, and on either side back to the Bureau on the +left, and on the slopes on the right, stretched an inconceivable +pavement of heads. Above us, too, on every terrace and step, back to the +doors of the great basilica, we knew very well, was one seething, +singing mob. A great space was kept open on the level ground beneath +us--I should say one hundred by two hundred yards in area--and the +inside fringe of this was composed of the sick, in litters, in chairs, +standing, sitting, lying and kneeling. It was at the farther end that +the procession would enter. + +After perhaps half an hour's waiting, during which one incessant gust of +singing rolled this way and that through the crowd, the leaders of the +procession appeared far away--little white or black figures, small as +dolls--and the singing became general. But as the endless files rolled +out, the singing ceased, and a moment later a priest, standing solitary +in the great space began to pray aloud in a voice like a silver trumpet. + +I have never heard such passion in my life. I began to watch presently, +almost mechanically, the little group beneath the _ombrellino_, in white +and gold, and the movements of the monstrance blessing the sick; but +again and again my eyes wandered back to the little figure in the midst, +and I cried out with the crowd, sentence after sentence, following that +passionate voice: + +"_Seigneur, nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur,_" came the huge response, "_nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" answered the people. + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!_" + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!_" + +"_Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!_" + +"_Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!_" + +Then with a surge rose up the plainsong melody. + +"_Parce, Domine!_" sang the people. "_Parce populo tuo! Ne in aeternum +irascaris nobis._" + +Again: + +"_Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto._" + +"_Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. +Amen._" + +Then again the single voice and the multitudinous answer: + +"_Vous êtes la Résurrection et la Vie!_" + +And then an adjuration to her whom He gave to be our Mother. + +"_Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_" + +Then once more the singing; then the cry, more touching than all: + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" + +Then the kindling shout that brought the blood to ten thousand faces: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" (I shook to hear it). + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest, rising from his knees with arms flung +wide. + +"_Hosanna!_" roared the people, swift as an echo. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna!_" crashed out again and again, like great +artillery. + +Yet there was no movement among those piteous prostrate lines. The +Bishop, the _ombrellino_ over him, passed on slowly round the circle; +and the people cried to Him whom he bore, as they cried two thousand +years ago on the road to the city of David. Surely He will be pitiful +upon this day--the Jubilee Year of His Mother's graciousness, the octave +of her assumption to sit with Him on His throne! + +"_Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Jésus, vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +Yet there was no movement. + +If ever "suggestion" could work a miracle, it must work it now. "We +expect the miracles during the procession to-morrow and on Sunday," a +priest had said to me on the previous day. And there I stood, one of a +hundred thousand, confident in expectation, thrilled by that voice, +nothing doubting or fearing; there were the sick beneath me, answering +weakly and wildly to the crying of the priest; and yet there was no +movement, no sudden leap of a sick man from his bed as Jesus went by, no +vibrating scream of joy--"_Je suis guéri! Je suis guéri!_"--no +tumultuous rush to the place, and the roar of the _Magnificat_, as we +had been led to expect. + +The end was coming near now. The monstrance had reached the image once +again, and was advancing down the middle. The voice of the priest grew +more passionate still, as he tossed his arms and cried for mercy + +"_Jésus, ayez pitié de nous!--ayez pitié[Transcriber's Note: original +had "pitiê"] de nous!_" + +And the people, frantic with ardour and desire, answered him in a voice +of thunder: + +"_Ayez pitié de nous!--ayez pitié de nous!_" + +And now up the steps came the grave group to where Jesus would at least +bless His own, though He would not heal them; and the priest in the +midst, with one last cry, gave glory to Him who must be served through +whatever misery: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +Surely that must touch the Sacred Heart! Will not His Mother say one +word? + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest. + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the people. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!..._" + +One articulate roar of disappointed praise, and then--_Tantum ergo +Sacramentum!_ rose in its solemnity. + +When Benediction was over, I went back to the Bureau; but there was +little to be seen there. No, there were no miracles to-day, I was +told--or hardly one. Perhaps one in the morning. It was not known. + +Several Bishops were there again, listening to the talk of the doctors, +and the description of certain cases on previous days. Père Salvator, +the Capuchin, was there again; as also the tall bearded Assumptionist +Father of whom I have spoken. But there was not a great deal of interest +or excitement. I had the pleasure of talking a while with the Bishop of +Tarbes, who introduced me again to the Capuchin, and retold his story. + +But I was a little unhappy. The miracle was that I was not more so. I +had expected so much: I had seen nothing. + +I talked to Dr. Cox also before leaving. + +"No," he told me, "there is hardly one miracle to-day. We are doubtful, +too, about that leg that was seven centimetres too short." + +"And is it true that Mademoiselle Bardou is not cured?" (A doctor had +been giving us certain evidence a few minutes before). + +"I am afraid so. It was probably a case of intense subjective +excitement. But it may be an amelioration. We do not know yet. The real +work of investigating comes afterwards." + +How arbitrary it all seemed, I thought, as I walked home to dinner. That +morning, on my way from the Bureau, I had seen a great company of white +banners moving together; and, on inquiry, had found that these were the +_miraculés_ chiefly of previous years--about three hundred and fifty in +number.[6] They formed a considerably large procession. I had looked at +their faces: there were many more women than men (as there were upon +Calvary). But as I watched them I could not conceive upon what principle +the Supernatural had suddenly descended on this and not on that. "Two +men in one bed.... Two women grinding at the mill.... One is taken and +the other left." Here were persons of all ages--from six to eighty, I +should guess--of all characters, ranks, experiences; of both sexes. Some +were religious, some grocers, some of the nobility, a retired soldier or +two, and so on. They were not distinguished for holiness, it seemed. I +had heard heartbreaking little stories of the ten lepers over again--one +grateful, nine selfish. One or two of the girls, I heard, had had their +heads turned by flattery and congratulation; they had begun to give +themselves airs. + +And, now again, here was this day, this almost obvious occasion. It was +the Jubilee Year; everything was about on a double scale. And nothing +had happened! Further, five of the sick had actually died at Lourdes +during their first night there. To come so far and to die! + +On what principle, then, did God act? Then I suddenly understood, not +God's principles, but my own; and I went home both ashamed and +comforted. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] The official numbers of those at the afternoon procession were 341. + + + + +VI. + + +I said a midnight Mass that night in the same chapel of the Rosary +Church as on the previous morning. Again the crush was terrific. On the +steps of the church I saw a friar hearing a confession; and on entering +I found High Mass proceeding in the body of the church itself, with a +congregation so large and so worn-out that many were sleeping in +constrained attitudes among the seats. In fact, I was informed, since +the sleeping accommodation of Lourdes could not possibly provide for so +large a pilgrimage, there were many hundreds, at least, who slept where +they could--on the steps of churches, under trees and rocks, and by the +banks of the river. + +I was served at my Mass by a Scottish priest, immediately afterwards I +served his at the same altar. While vesting, I noticed a priest at the +high altar of this little chapel reading out acts of prayer, to which +the congregation responded; and learned that two persons who had been +received into the Church on that day were to make their First Communion. +As midnight struck, simultaneously from the seven altars came seven +voices: + +"_In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen._" + +Once more, on returning home and going to bed a little after one o'clock +in the morning, the last sound that I heard was of the "_Gloria Patri_" +being sung by other pilgrims also returning to their lodging. + +After coffee, a few hours later, I went down again to the square. It was +Sunday, and a Pontifical High Mass was being sung on the steps of the +Rosary Church. As usual, the crowd filled the square, and I could hardly +penetrate for a while beyond the fringe; but it was a new experience to +hear that vast congregation in the open air responding with one giant +voice to the plain-song of the Mass. It was astonishing what expression +showed itself in the singing. The _Sanctus_ was one of the most +impressive peals of worship and adoration that I have ever heard. At the +close of the Mass, all the bishops present near the altar--I counted six +or seven--turned and gave the blessing simultaneously. On the two great +curves that led up to the basilica were grouped the white banners of the +_miraculés_. + +Soon after arriving at the Bureau a very strange and quiet little +incident happened. A woman with a yellowish face, to which the colour +was slowly returning, came in and sat down to give her evidence. She +declared to us that during the procession yesterday she had been cured +of a tumour on the liver. She had suddenly experienced an overwhelming +sense of relief, and had walked home completely restored to health. On +being asked why she did not present herself at the Bureau, she answered +that she did not think of it: she had just gone home. I have not yet +heard whether this was a true cure or not; all I can say at present is I +was as much impressed by her simple and natural bearing, her entire +self-possession, and the absence of excitement, as by anything I saw at +Lourdes. I cannot conceive such a woman suffering from an illusion. + +A few minutes later Dr. Cox called to me, and writing on a card, handed +it to me, telling me it would admit me to the _piscines_ for a bath. I +had asked for this previously; but had been told it was not certain, +owing to the crush of patients, whether it could be granted. I set out +immediately to the _piscines_. + +There are, as I have said, three compartments in the building called the +_piscines_. That on the left is for women; in the middle, for children +and for those who do not undergo complete immersion; on the right, for +men. It was into this last, then, that I went, when I had forced my way +through the crowd, and passed the open court where the priests prayed. +It was a little paved place like a chapel, with a curtain hung +immediately before the door. When I had passed this, I saw at the +farther end, three or four yards away, was a deepish trough, wide and +long enough to hold one person. Steps went down on either side of it, +for the attendants. Immediately above the bath, on the wall, was a +statue of Our Lady; and beneath it a placard of prayers, large enough to +be read at a little distance. + +There were about half a dozen people in the place--two or three priests +and three or four patients. One of the priests, I was relieved to see, +was the Scotsman whose Mass I had served the previous midnight. He was +in his soutane, with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He gave me my +directions, and while I made ready I watched the patients. There was one +lame man, just beside me, beginning to dress; two tiny boys, and a young +man who touched me more than I can say. He was standing by the head of +the bath, holding a basin in one hand and a little image of our Lady in +the other, and was splashing water ingeniously with his fingers into his +eyes; these were horribly inflamed, and I could see that he was blind. I +cannot describe the passion with which he did this, seeming to stare all +the while towards the image he held, and whispering out prayers in a +quick undertone--hoping, no doubt, that his first sight would be the +image of his Mother. Then I looked at the boys. One of them had horribly +prolonged and thin legs; I could not see what was wrong with the other, +except that he looked ill and worn out. Close beside me, on the wet, +muddy paving, lay an indescribable bandage that had been unrolled from +the lame man's leg. + +When my turn came, I went wrapped in a soaking apron, down a step or so +into the water; and then, with a priest holding either hand, lay down at +full length so that my head only emerged. That water had better not be +described. It is enough to say that people suffering from most of the +diseases known to man had bathed in it without ceasing for at least five +or six hours. Yet I can say, with entire sincerity, that I did not have +even the faintest physical repulsion, though commonly I hate dirt at +least as much as sin. It is said, too, that never in the history of +Lourdes has there been one case of disease traceable to infection from +the baths. The water was cold, but not unpleasantly. I lay there, I +suppose, about one minute, while the two priests and myself repeated off +the placard the prayers inscribed there. These were, for the most part, +petitions to Mary to pray. "_O Marie,_" they ended, "_conçue sans péché, +priez pour nous qui avons recours a vous!_" + +As I dressed again after the bath, I had one more sight of the young +man. He was being led out by a kindly attendant, but his face was all +distorted with crying, and from his blind eyes ran down a stream of +terrible tears. It is unnecessary to say that I said a "Hail Mary" for +his soul at least. + +As soon as I was ready, I went out and sat down for a while among the +recently bathed, and began to remind myself why _I_ had bathed. +Certainly I was not suffering from anything except a negligible ailment +or two. Neither did I do it out of curiosity, because I could have seen +without difficulty all the details without descending into that +appalling trough. I suppose it was just an act of devotion. Here was +water with a history behind it; water that was as undoubtedly used by +Almighty God for giving benefits to man as was the clay laid upon blind +eyes long ago near Siloe, or the water of Bethesda itself. And it is a +natural instinct to come as close as possible to things used by the +heavenly powers. I was extraordinarily glad I had bathed, and I have +been equally glad ever since. I am afraid it is of no use as evidence to +say that until I came to Lourdes I was tired out, body and mind; and +that since my return I have been unusually robust. Yet that is a fact, +and I leave it there. + +As I sat there a procession went past to the Grotto, and I walked to +the railings to look at it. I do not know at all what it was all about, +but it was as impressive as all things are in Lourdes. The _miraculés_ +came first with their banners--file after file of them--then a number of +prelates, then _brancardiers_ with their shoulder-harness, then nuns, +then more _brancardiers_. I think perhaps they may have been taking a +recent _miraculé_ to give thanks; for when I arrived presently at the +Bureau again, I heard that, after all, several appeared to have been +cured at the procession on the previous day. + +I was sitting in the hall of the hotel a few minutes later when I heard +the roar of the _Magnificat_ from the street, and ran out to see what +was forward. As I came to the door, the heart of the procession went by. +A group of _brancardiers_ formed an irregular square, holding cords to +keep back the crowd; and in the middle walked a group of three, followed +by an empty litter. The three were a white-haired man on this side, a +stalwart _brancardier_ on the other, and between them a girl with a +radiant face, singing with all her heart. She had been carried down from +her lodging that morning to the _piscines_; she was returning on her own +feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and +go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to +the hotel. + + + + +VII. + + +In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place +to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before. But the +crowd was so great that we could not find him, so presently we dispersed +as best we could. Two other priests and myself went completely round the +outside of the churches, in order, if possible, to join in the +procession, since to cross the square was a simple impossibility. In the +terrible crush near the Bureau, I became separated from the others, and +fought my way back, and into the Bureau, as the best place open to me +now for seeing the Blessing of the Sick. + +It was now at last that I had my supreme wish. Within a minute or two of +my coming to look through the window, the Blessed Sacrament entered the +reserved space among the countless litters. The crowd between me and the +open space was simply one pack of heads; but I could observe the +movements of what was going forward by the white top of the _ombrellino_ +as it passed slowly down the farther side of the square. + +The crowd was very still, answering as before the passionate voice in +the midst; but watching, watching, as I watched. Beside me sat Dr. Cox, +and our Rosaries were in our hands. The white spot moved on and on, and +all else was motionless. I knew that beyond it lay the sick. "Lord, if +it be possible--if it be possible! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine +be done." It had reached now the end of the first line. + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" answered the people. + +"_Vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +And then on a sudden it came. + +Overhead lay the quiet summer air, charged with the Supernatural as a +cloud with thunder--electric, vibrating with power. Here beneath lay +souls thirsting for its touch of fire--patient, desirous, infinitely +pathetic; and in the midst that Power, incarnate for us men and our +salvation. Then it descended, swift and mighty. + +I saw a sudden swirl in the crowd of heads beneath the church steps, and +then a great shaking ran through the crowd; but there for a few instants +it boiled like a pot. A sudden cry had broken out, and it ran through +the whole space; waxing in volume as it ran, till the heads beneath my +window shook with it also; hands clapped, voices shouted: "_Un miracle! +Un miracle!_" + +I was on my feet, staring and crying out. Then quietly the shaking +ceased, and the shouting died to a murmur; and the _ombrellino_ moved +on; and again the voice of the priest thrilled thin and clear, with a +touch of triumphant thankfulness: "_Vous êtes la Résurrection et la +Vie!_" And again, with entreaty once more--since there still were two +thousand sick untouched by that Power, and time pressed--that infinitely +moving plea: "_Seigneur, celui qui vous aime est malade!_" And: +"_Seigneur, faites que je marche! Seigneur, faites que j'entende!_" + +And then again the finger of God flashed down, and again and again; and +each time a sick and broken body sprang from its bed of pain and stood +upright; and the crowd smiled and roared and sobbed. Five times I saw +that swirl and rush; the last when the _Te Deum_ pealed out from the +church steps as Jesus in His Sacrament came home again. And there were +two that I did not see. There were seven in all that afternoon. + +Now, is it of any use to comment on all this? I am not sure; and yet, +for my own satisfaction if for no one else's, I wish to set down some of +the thoughts that came to me both then and after I had sat at the window +and seen God's loving-kindness with my own eyes. + +The first overwhelming impression that remained with me is this--that I +had been present, in my own body, in the twentieth century, and seen +Jesus pass along by the sick folk, as He passed two thousand years +before. That, in a word, is the supreme fact of Lourdes. More than once +as I sat there that afternoon I contrasted the manner in which I was +spending it with that in which the average believing Christian spends +Sunday afternoon. As a child, I used to walk with my father, and he used +to read and talk on religious subjects; on our return we used to have a +short Bible-class in his study. As an Anglican clergyman, I used to +teach in Sunday schools or preach to children. As a Catholic priest, I +used occasionally to attend at catechism. At all these times the +miraculous seemed singularly far away; we looked at it across twenty +centuries; it was something from which lessons might be drawn, upon +which the imagination might feed, but it was a state of affairs as +remote as the life of prehistoric man; one assented to it, and that was +all. And here at Lourdes it was a present, vivid event. I sat at an +ordinary glass window, in a soutane made by an English tailor, with +another Englishman beside me, and saw the miraculous happen. Time and +space disappeared; the centuries shrank and vanished; and behold we saw +that which "prophets and kings have desired to see and have not seen!" + +Of course "scientific" arguments, of the sort which I have related, can +be brought forward in an attempt to explain Lourdes; but they are the +same arguments that can be, and are, brought forward against the +miracles of Jesus Christ Himself. I say nothing to those here; I leave +that to scientists such as Dr. Boissarie; but what I cannot understand +is that professing Christians are able to bring _a priori_ arguments +against the fact that Our Lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever--the same in Galilee and in France. "These signs shall follow them +that believe," He said Himself; and the history of the Catholic Church +is an exact fulfilment of the words. It was so, St. Augustine tells us, +at the tombs of the martyrs; five hundred miracles were reported at +Canterbury within a few years of St. Thomas' martyrdom. And now here is +Lourdes, as it has been for fifty years, in this little corner of poor +France! + +I have been asked since my return: "Why cannot miracles be done in +England?" My answer is, firstly, that they are done in England, in +Liverpool, and at Holywell, for example; secondly, I answer by another +question as to why Jesus Christ was not born in Rome; and if He had been +born in Rome, why not in Nineveh and Jerusalem? Thirdly, I answer that +perhaps more would be done in England, if there were more faith there. +It is surely a little unreasonable to ask that, in a country which +three hundred and fifty years ago deliberately repudiated Christ's +Revelation of Himself, banished the Blessed Sacrament and tore down +Mary's shrines, Christ and His Mother should cooperate supernaturally in +marvels that are rather the rewards of the faithful. "It is not meet to +take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs"--these are the +words of our Lord Himself. If London is not yet tolerant enough to allow +an Eucharistic Procession in her streets, she is scarcely justified in +demanding that our Eucharistic Lord should manifest His power. "He could +do no mighty work there," says the Evangelist, of Capharnaum, "because +of their unbelief." + +This, then, is the supreme fact of Lourdes: that Jesus Christ in His +Sacrament passes along that open square, with the sick laid in beds on +either side; and that at His word the lame walk and lepers are cleansed +and deaf hear--that they are seen leaping and dancing for joy. + +Even now, writing within ten days of my return, all seems like a dream; +and yet I know that I saw it. For over thirty years I had been +accustomed to repeat the silly formula that "the age of miracles is +past"; that they were necessary for the establishment of Christianity, +but that they are no longer necessary now, except on extremely rare +occasions perhaps; and in my heart I knew my foolishness. Why, for those +thirty years Lourdes had been in existence! And if I spoke of it at all, +I spoke only of hysteria and auto-suggestion and French imaginativeness, +and the rest of the nonsense. It is impossible for a Christian who has +been at Lourdes to speak like that again. + +And as for the unreality, that does not trouble me. I have no doubt that +those who saw the bandages torn from the leper's limbs and the sound +flesh shown beneath, or the once blind man, his eyes now dripping with +water of Siloe, looking on Him who had made him whole, or heard the +marvellous talk of "men like trees walking," and the rest--I have no +doubt that ten days later they sat themselves with unseeing eyes, and +wondered whether it was indeed they who had witnessed those things. +Human nature, like a Leyden jar, cannot hold beyond a fixed quantity; +and this human nature, with experience, instincts, education, common +talk, public opinion, and all the rest of it, echoing round it; the +assumption that miracles _do not happen_; that laws are laws; in other +words, that Deism is the best that can be hoped--well, it is little +wonder that the visible contradiction of all this conventionalism finds +but little room in the soul. + +Then there is another point that I should like to make in the presence +of "Evangelical" Christians who shake their heads over Mary's part in +the matter. It is this--that for every miracle that takes place in the +_piscines_, I should guess that a dozen take place while That which we +believe to be Jesus Christ goes by. Catholics, naturally, need no such +reassurance; they know well enough from interior experience that when +Mary comes forward Jesus does not retire! But for those who think as +some Christians do, it is necessary to point out the facts. And again. I +have before me as I write the little card of ejaculations that are used +in the procession. There are twenty-four in all. Of these, twenty-one +are addressed to Jesus Christ; in two more we ask the "Mother of the +Saviour" and the "Health of the Sick" to pray for us; in the last we ask +her to "show herself a Mother." If people will talk of "proportion" in a +matter in which there is no such thing--since there can be no +comparison, without grave irreverence, between the Creator and a +creature--I would ask, Is there "disproportion" here? + +In fact, Lourdes, as a whole, is an excellent little compendium of +Catholic theology and Gospel-truth. There was once a marriage feast, and +the Mother of Jesus was there with her Son. There was no wine. She told +her Son what He already knew; He seemed to deprecate her words; but He +obeyed them, and the water became wine. + +There is at Lourdes not a marriage feast, but something very like a +deathbed. The Mother of Jesus is there with her Son. It is she again who +takes the initiative. "Here is water," she seems to say; "dig, +Bernadette, and you will find it." But it is no more than water. Then +she turns to her Son. "They have water," she says, "but no more." And +then He comes forth in His power. "Draw out now from all the sick beds +of the world and bear them to the Governor of the Feast. Use the +commonest things in the world--physical pain and common water. Bring +them together, and wait until I pass by." Then Jesus of Nazareth passes +by; and the sick leap from their beds, and the blind see, and the lepers +are cleansed, and devils are cast out. + +Oh, yes! the parallel halts; but is it not near enough? + +_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_ + +_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_ + + + + +VIII. + + +The moment Benediction was given, the room began rapidly to fill; but I +still watched the singing crowd outside. Among others I noticed a woman, +placid and happy--such a woman as you would see a hundred times a day in +London streets, with jet ornaments in her hat, middle-aged, almost +startlingly commonplace. No, nothing dramatic happened to her; that was +the point. But there she was, taking it all for granted, joining in the +_Magnificat_ with a roving eye, pleased as she would have been pleased +at a circus; interrupting herself to talk to her neighbour; and all the +while gripping in a capable hand, on which shone a wedding ring, the +bars of the Bureau window behind which I sat, that she might make the +best of both worlds--Grace without and Science within. She, as I, had +seen what God had done; now she proposed to see what the doctors would +make of it all; and have, besides, a good view of the _miraculés_ when +they appeared. + +I suppose it was her astonishing ordinariness that impressed me. It was +surprising to see such a one during such a scene; it was as incongruous +as a man riding a bicycle on the judgment Day. Yet she, too, served to +make it all real. She was like the real tree in the foreground of a +panorama. She served the same purpose as the _Voix de Lourdes_, a +briskly written French newspaper that gives the lists of the miracles. + +When I turned round at last, the room was full. Among the people present +I remember an Hungarian canon, and the Brazilian Bishop with six others. +Dr. Deschamps, late of Lille, now of Paris, was in the chair; and I sat +next him. + +The first patient to enter was Euphrasie Bosc, a dark girl of +twenty-seven. She rolled a little in her walk as she came in; then she +sat down and described the "white swellings" on her knee, with other +details; she told how she had been impelled to rise during the +procession just now. She was made to walk round the room to show her +state, and was then sent off, and told to return at another time. + +Next came Emma Sansen, a pale girl of twenty-five. She had suffered from +endo-pericarditis for five years, as her certificate showed; she had +been confined to her room for two years. She told her story quickly and +went out. + +There followed Sister Marguérite Emilie, an Assumptionist, aged +thirty-nine, a brisk, brown-faced, tall woman, in her religious habit. +Her malady had been _mal de Pott_, a severe spinal affliction, +accompanied by abscesses and other horrors. She, too, appeared in the +best of health. + +We began then to hear a doctor give news of a certain Irish Religious, +cured that morning in the _piscines_; but we were interrupted by the +entry of Emile Lansman, a solid artisan of twenty-five who came in +walking cheerfully, carrying a crutch and a stick which he no longer +needed. Paralysis of the right leg and traumatism of the spine had been +his, up to that day. Now he carried his crutch. + +He was followed by another man whose name I did not catch, and on whose +case I wrote so rapidly that I am scarcely able to read all my notes. +His story, in brief, was as follows. He had had some while ago a severe +accident, which involved a kind of appalling disembowelment. For the +last year or two he had had gastric troubles of all kinds, including +complete loss of appetite. His certificate showed too, that he suffered +from partial paralysis (he himself showed us how little he had been able +to open his fingers), and anæsthesia of the right arm. (I looked over +Dr. Deschamps' shoulder and read on the paper the words _lésion +incurable_). It was certified further that he was incapable of manual +work. Then he described to us how yesterday in the _piscine_, upon +coming out of the bath, he had been aware of a curious sensation of +warmth in the stomach; he had then found that, for the first time for +many months, he wished for food; he was given it, and he enjoyed it. He +moved his fingers in a normal manner, raised his arm and let it fall. + +Then for the first time in the Bureau I heard a sharp controversy. One +doctor suddenly broke out, saying that there was no actual proof that it +was not all "hysterical simulation." Another answered him; an appeal was +made to the certificate. Then the first doctor delivered a little +speech, in excellent taste, though casting doubt upon the case; and the +matter was then set aside for investigation with the rest. I heard Dr. +Boissarie afterwards thank him for his admirable little discourse. + +Finally, though it was getting late, Honorie Gras, aged thirty-five, +came in to give her evidence. She had suffered till to-day from +"purulent arthritis" and "white swellings" on the left knee. To-day she +walked. Her certificate confirmed her, and she was dismissed. + +It was all very matter-of-fact. There is no reason to fear that Lourdes +is all hymn-singing and adjurations. It is a pleasure to think that, on +the right of the Rosary Church, and within a hundred yards of the +Grotto, there is this little room, filled with keen-eyed doctors from +every school of faith and science, who have only to present their cards +and be made free of all that Lourdes has to show. They are keen-brained +as well as keen-eyed. I heard one of them say quietly that if the Mother +of God, as it appeared, cured incurable cases, it was hard to deny to +her the power of curing curable cases also. It does not prove, that is +to say, that a cure is not miraculous, if it might have been cured by +human aid. And it is interesting and suggestive to remember that of such +cases one hears little or nothing. For every startling miracle that is +verified in the Bureau, I wonder how many persons go home quietly, freed +from some maddening little illness by the mercy of Mary--some illness +that is worthless as a "case" in scientific eyes, yet none the less as +real as is its cure? + +Of course one element that tends to keep from the grasp of the +imagination all the miracles of the place is all this scientific +phraseology. In the simple story of the Gospel, it seems almost +supernaturally natural that a man should have "lain with an infirmity +for forty years," and should, at the word of Jesus Christ, have taken up +his bed and walked; or that, as in the "Acts," another's "feet and +ankle-bones should receive strength" by the power of the Holy Name. But +when we come to tuberculosis and _mal de Pott_ and _lésion incurable_ +and "hysterical simulation," in some manner we seem to find ourselves in +rather a breathless and stuffy room, where the white flower of the +supernatural appears strangely languid to the eye of the imagination. + +That, however, is all as it should be. We are bound to have these +things. Perhaps the most startling miracle of all is that the Bureau and +the Grotto stand side by side, and that neither stifles the other. Is it +possible that here at last Science and Religion will come to terms, and +each confess with wonder the capacities of the other, and, with awe, +that divine power that makes them what they are, and has "set them their +bounds which they shall not pass?" It would be remarkable if France, of +all countries, should be the scene of that reconciliation between these +estranged sisters. + +That night, after dinner, I went out once more to see the procession +with torches; and this time my friend and I each took a candle, that we +might join in that act of worship. First, however, I went down to the +_robinets_--the taps which flow between the Grotto and the +_piscines_--and, after a heartcrushing struggle, succeeded in filling my +bottle with the holy water. It was astonishing how selfish one felt +while still in the battle, and how magnanimous when one had gained the +victory. I filled also the bottle of a voluble French priest, who +despairingly extended it toward me as he still fought in the turmoil. +"_Eh, bien!_" cried a stalwart Frenchwoman at my side, who had filled +her bottle and could not extricate herself. "If you will not permit me +to depart, I remain!" The argument was irresistible; the crowd laughed +childishly and let her out. + +Now, I regret to say that once more the churches were outlined in fairy +electric lamps, that the metallic garlands round our Mother's statue +blazed with them; that, even worse, the old castle on the hill and the +far away Calvary were also illuminated; and, worst of all, that the +procession concluded with fireworks--rockets and bombs. Miracles in the +afternoon; fireworks in the evening! + +Yet the more I think of it, the less am I displeased. When one reflects +that more than half of the enormous crowd came, probably, from tiny +villages in France--where a rocket is as rare as an angelic visitation; +and, on the carnal side, as beautiful in their eyes--it seems a very +narrow-minded thing to object. It is true that you and I connect +fireworks with Mafeking night or Queen Victoria's Jubilee; and that they +seem therefore incongruous when used to celebrate a visitation of God. +But it is not so with these people. For them it is a natural and +beautiful way of telling the glory of Him who is the Dayspring from on +high, who is the Light to lighten the Gentiles, whose Mother is the +_Stella Matutina_, whose people once walked in darkness and now have +seen a great Light. It is their answer--the reflection in the depths of +their sea--to the myriad lights of that heaven which shines over +Lourdes. Therefore let us leave the fireworks in peace. + +It was a very moving thing to walk in that procession, with a candle in +one hand and a little paper book in the other, and help to sing the +story of Bernadette, with the unforgettable _Aves_ at the end of each +verse, and the _Laudate Mariam_, and the Nicene Creed. _Credo in ... +unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam._ My heart leaped at +that. For where else but in the Catholic Church do such things happen as +these that I had seen? Imagine, if you please, miracles in Manchester! +Certainly they might happen there, if there were sufficient Catholics +gathered in His Name; but put for Manchester, Exeter Hall or St. Paul's +Cathedral! The thought is blindingly absurd. No; the Christianity of +Jesus Christ lives only in the Catholic Church. + +There alone in the whole round world do you find that combination of +lofty doctrine, magnificent moral teaching, the frank recognition of the +Cross; sacramentalism logically carried out, yet gripping the heart as +no amateur mysticism can do; and miracles. "Mercy and Truth have met +together." "These signs shall follow them that believe.... Faith can +remove mountains.... All things are possible to him that believes.... +Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name.... Where two or three +are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." +There alone, where souls are built upon Peter, do these things really +happen. + +I have been asked lately whether I am "happy" in the Catholic Church. +Happy! What can one say to a question like that? Does one ask a man who +wakes up from a foolish dream to sunshine in his room, and to life and +reality, whether he is happy? Of course many non-Catholics are happy. I +was happy myself as an Anglican; but as a Catholic one does not use the +word; one does not think about it. The whole of life is different; that +is all that can be said. Faith is faith, not hope; God is Light, not +twilight; eternity, heaven, hell, purgatory, sin and its +consequences--these things are facts, not guesses and conjectures and +suspicions desperately clung to. "How hard it is to be a Christian!" +moans the persevering non-Catholic. "How impossible it is to be anything +else!" cries the Catholic. + +We went round, then, singing. The procession was so huge that it seemed +to have no head and no tail. It involved itself a hundred times over; it +swirled in the square, it humped itself over the Rosary Church; it +elongated itself half a mile away up beyond our Mother's garlanded +statue; it eddied round the Grotto. It was one immense pool and river of +lights and song. Each group sang by itself till it was overpowered by +another; men and women and children strolled along patiently singing and +walking, knowing nothing of where they went, nothing of what they would +be singing five minutes hence. It depended on the voice-power of their +neighbours. + +For myself, I found myself in a dozen groups, before, at last, after an +hour or so, I fell out of the procession and went home. Now I walked +cheek by jowl with a retired officer; now with an artisan; once there +came swiftly up behind a company of "Noelites"--those vast organizations +of boys and girls in France--singing the _Laudate Mariam_ to my _Ave +Maria_; now in the middle of a group of shop-girls who exchanged remarks +with one another whenever they could fetch breath. I think it was all +the most joyous and the most spontaneous (as it was certainly the +largest) human function in which I have ever taken part. I have no idea +whether there were any organizers of it all--at least I saw none. Once +or twice a solitary priest in the midst, walking backward and waving +his arms, attempted to reconcile conflicting melodies; once a very old +priest; with a voice like the tuba stop on the organ, turned a +humorously furious face over his shoulder to quell some mistake--from +his mouth, the while issuing this amazingly pungent volume of sound. But +I think these were the only attempts at organization that I saw. + +And so at last I dropped out and went home, hoarse but very well +content. I had walked for more than an hour--from the statue, over the +lower church and down again, up the long avenue, and back again to the +statue. The fireworks were over, the illuminations died, and the day was +done; yet still the crowds went round and the voice of conflicting +melody went up without cessation. As I went home the sound was still in +my ears. As I dropped off to sleep, I still heard it. + + + + +IX. + + +Next morning I awoke with a heavy heart, for we were to leave in the +motor at half-past eight, I had still a few errands to do, and had made +no arrangements for saying Mass; so I went out quickly, a little after +seven, and up to the Rosary Church to get some pious objects blessed. It +was useless: I could not find the priest of whom I had been told, whose +business it is perpetually to bless such things. I went to the basilica, +then round by the hill-path down to the Grotto, where I became wedged +suddenly and inextricably into a silent crowd. + +For a while I did not understand what they were doing beyond hearing +Mass; for I knew that, of course, a Mass was proceeding just round the +corner in the cave. But presently I perceived that these were intending +communicants. So I made what preparation I could, standing there; and +thanked God and His Mother for this unexpected opportunity of saying +good-bye in the best way--for I was as sad as a school-boy going the +rounds of the house on Black Monday--and after a quarter of an hour or +so I was kneeling at the grill, beneath the very image of Mary. After +making my thanksgiving, still standing on the other side, I blessed the +objects myself--strictly against all rules, I imagine--and came home to +breakfast; and before nine we were on our way. + +We were all silent as we progressed slowly and carefully through the +crowded streets, seeing once more the patient _brancardiers_ and the +pitiful litters on their way to the _piscines_. I could not have +believed that I could have become so much attached to a place in three +summer days. As I have said before, everything was against it. There was +no leisure, no room to move, no silence, no sense of familiarity. All +was hot and noisy and crowded and dusty and unknown. Yet I felt that it +was such a home of the soul as I never visited before--of course it is a +home, for it is the Mother that makes the home. + +We saw no more of the Grotto nor the churches nor the square nor the +statue. Our road led out in such a direction that, after leaving the +hotel, we had only commonplace streets, white houses, shops, hotels and +crowds; and soon we had passed from the very outskirts of the town, and +were beginning with quickening speed to move out along one of those +endless straight roads that are the glory of France's locomotion. + +Yet I turned round in my seat, sick at heart, and pulled the blind that +hung over the rear window of the car. No, Lourdes was gone! There was +the ring of the eternal hills, blue against the blue summer sky, with +their shades of green beneath sloping to the valleys, and the rounded +bastions that hold them up. The Gave was gone, the churches gone, the +Grotto--all was gone. Lourdes might be a dream of the night. + +No, Lourdes was not gone. For there, high on a hill, above where the +holy city lay, stood the cross we had seen first upon our entrance, +telling us that if health is a gift of God, it is not the greatest; that +the Physician of souls, who healed the sick, and without whom not one +sparrow falls to the ground, and not one pang is suffered, Himself had +not where to lay His head, and died in pain upon the Tree. + +And even as I looked we wheeled a corner, and the cross was gone. + + * * * * * + +How is it possible to end such a story without bathos? I think it is not +possible, yet I must end it. An old French priest said one day at +Lourdes, to one of those with whom I travelled, that he feared that in +these times the pilgrims did not pray so much as they once did, and that +this was a bad sign. He spoke also of France as a whole, and its fall. +My friend said to him that, in her opinion, if these pilgrims could but +be led as an army to Paris--an army, that is, with no weapons except +their Rosaries--the country could be retaken in a day. + +Now, I do not know whether the pilgrims once prayed more than they do +now; I only know that I never saw any one pray so much; and I cannot +help agreeing with my friend that, if this power could be organized, we +should hear little more of the apostasy of France. Even as it is, I +cannot understand the superior attitude that Christian Englishmen take +up with regard to France. It is true that in many districts religion is +on a downward course, that the churches are neglected, and that even +infidelity is becoming a fashion;[7] but I wonder very much whether, on +the whole, taking Lourdes into account, the average piety of France, is +not on a very much higher level than the piety of England. The +government, as all the world now knows, is not in the least +representative of the country; but, sad to relate, the Frenchman is apt +to extend his respect for the law into an assumption of its morality. +When a law is passed, there is an end of it. + +Yet, judging by the intensity of faith and love and resignation that is +evident at Lourdes, and indeed by the numbers of those present, it +would seem as if Mary, driven from the towns with her Divine Son, has +chosen Lourdes--the very farthest point from Paris--as her earthly home, +and draws her children after her, standing there with her back to the +wall. I do not think this is fanciful. That which is beyond time and +space must communicate with us in those terms; and we can only speak of +these things in the same terms. Huysmans expresses the same thing in +other words. Even if Bernadette were deceived, he says, at any rate +these pilgrims are not; even if Mary did not come in 1858 to the banks +of the Gave, she has certainly come there since, drawn by the thousands +of souls that have gone to seek her there. + +This, then, is the last thing I can say about Lourdes. It is quite +useless as evidence--indeed it would be almost impertinent to dare to +offer further evidence at all--yet I may as well hand it in as my +contribution. It is this, _that Lourdes is soaked, saturated and kindled +by the all but sensible presence of the Mother of God_. I am quite aware +of all that can be said about subjectivity and auto-suggestion, and the +rest; but there comes a point in all arguments when nothing is worth +anything except an assertion of a personal conviction. Such, then, is +mine. + +First, it was borne in upon me what a mutilated Christianity that is +which practically takes no account of Mary. This fragmentary, lopsided +faith was that in which I myself had been brought up, and which to-day +still is the faith of the majority of my fellow-countrymen. The Mother +of God--the Second Eve, the Immaculate Maiden Mother, who, as if to +balance Eve at the Tree of Death, stood by the Tree of Life--in popular +non-Catholic theology is banished, with the rest of those who have +passed away, to a position of complete insignificance. This arrangement, +I had become accustomed to believe, was that of Primitive Christianity +and of the Christianity of all sensible men: Romanism had added to the +simple Gospel, and had treated the Mother of God with an honour which +she would have been the first to deprecate. + +Well, I think that at Lourdes the startling contrast between facts and +human inventions was, in this respect, first made vivid to my +imagination. I understood how puzzling it must be for "old Catholics," +to whom Mary is as real and active as her Divine Son, to understand the +sincerity of those to whom she is no more than a phantom, and who yet +profess and call themselves Christians. Why, at Lourdes Mary is seen to +stand, to all but outward eyes, in exactly that position in which at +Nazareth, at Cana, in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Catacombs, and +in the whole history of Christendom, true lovers of her Son have always +seen her--a Mother of God and man, tender, authoritative, silent, and +effective! + +Yet, strangely enough, it is not at all the ordinary and conventional +character of a merely tender mother that reveals itself at Lourdes--one +who is simply desirous of relieving pain and giving what is asked. There +comes upon one instead the sense of a tremendous personage--_Regina +CÅ“li_ as well as _Consolatrix Afflictorum_--one who says "No" as well +as "Yes," and with the same serenity; yet with the "No" gives strength +to receive it. I have heard it said that the greatest miracle of all at +Lourdes is the peace and resignation, even the happiness, of those who, +after expectation has been wrought to the highest, go disappointed away, +as sick as they came. Certainly that is an amazing fact. The tears of +the young man in the _piscine_ were the only tears of sorrow I saw at +Lourdes. + +Mary, then, has appeared to me in a new light since I have visited +Lourdes. I shall in future not only hate to offend her, but fear it +also. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of that Mother who +allows the broken sufferer to crawl across France to her feet--and then +to crawl back again. She is one of the Maries of Chartres, that reveals +herself here, dark, mighty, dominant, and all but inexorable; not the +Mary of an ecclesiastical shop, who dwells amid tinsel and tuberoses. +She is _Sedes Sapientiæ_, _Turris Eburnea_, _Virgo Paritura_, strong and +tall and glorious, pierced by seven swords, yet serene as she looks to +her Son. + +Yet, at the same time, the tenderness of her great heart shows itself at +Lourdes almost beyond bearing. She is so great and so loving! It affects +those to whom one speaks--the quiet doctors, even those who, through +some confusion of mind or some sin, find it hard to believe; the strong +_brancardiers_, who carry their quivering burdens with such infinite +care; the very sick themselves, coming back from the _piscines_ in +agony, yet with the faces of those who come down from the altar after +Holy Communion. The whole place is alive with Mary and the love of +God--from the inadequate statue at the Grotto to the brazen garlands in +the square, even as far as the illuminated castle and the rockets that +burst and bang against the steady stars. If I were sick of some deadly +disease, and it were revealed to me that I must die, yet none the less I +should go to Lourdes; for if I should not be healed by Mary, I could at +least learn how to suffer as a Christian ought. God has chosen this +place--He only knows why, as He, too, alone chooses which man shall +suffer and which be glad--He has chosen this place to show His power; +and therefore has sent His Mother there, that we may look through her to +Him. + +Is this, then, all subjectivity and romantic dreaming? Well, but there +are the miracles! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] It must be remembered that this was written six years ago, and is no +longer true. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + +***** This file should be named 18729-0.txt or 18729-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/2/18729/ + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/18729-0.zip b/18729-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..238f169 --- /dev/null +++ b/18729-0.zip diff --git a/18729-8.txt b/18729-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee9fabf --- /dev/null +++ b/18729-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2368 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lourdes + +Author: Robert Hugh Benson + +Release Date: July 1, 2006 [EBook #18729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + + + + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + LOURDES + + BY + + THE VERY REV. MONSIGNOR + ROBERT HUGH BENSON + + + WITH EIGHT FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + ST. LOUIS MO.: + B. HERDER, PUBLISHER + 17, S. BROADWAY + + LONDON: + MANRESA PRESS + ROEHAMPTON, S.W. + + 1914 + + + + +Nihil Obstat: + + S. GEORGIUS KIERAN HYLAND, S.T.D., + CENSOR DEPUTATUS + +Imprimatur: + + GULIELMUS F. BROWN, + VICARIUS GENERALIS, + SOUTHWARCENSI. + +_15 Maii, 1914._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Since writing the following pages six years ago, I have had the +privilege of meeting a famous French scientist--to whom we owe one of +the greatest discoveries of recent years--who has made a special study +of Lourdes and its phenomena, and of hearing him comment upon what takes +place there. He is, himself, at present, not a practising Catholic; and +this fact lends peculiar interest to his opinions. His conclusions, so +far as he has formulated them, are as follows: + +(1) That no scientific hypothesis up to the present accounts +satisfactorily for the phenomena. Upon his saying this to me I breathed +the word "suggestion"; and his answer was to laugh in my face, and to +tell me, practically, that this is the most ludicrous hypothesis of all. + +(2) That, so far as he can see, the one thing necessary for such cures +as he himself has witnessed or verified, is the atmosphere of prayer. +Where this rises to intensity the number of cures rises with it; where +this sinks, the cures sink too. + +(3) That he is inclined to think that there is a transference of +vitalizing force either from the energetic faith of the sufferer, or +from that of the bystanders. He instanced an example in which his wife, +herself a qualified physician, took part. She held in her arms a child, +aged two and a half years, blind from birth, during the procession of +the Blessed Sacrament. As the monstrance came opposite, tears began to +stream from the child's eyes, hitherto closed. When it had passed, the +child's eyes were open and seeing. This Mme. ---- tested by dangling her +bracelet before the child, who immediately clutched at it, but, from the +fact that she had never learned to calculate distance, at first failed +to seize it. At the close of the procession Mme. ----, who herself +related to me the story, was conscious of an extraordinary exhaustion +for which there was no ordinary explanation. I give this suggestion as +the scientist gave it to me--the suggestion of some kind of +_transference_ of vitality; and make no comment upon it, beyond saying +that, superficially at any rate, it does not appear to me to conflict +with the various accounts of miracles given in the Gospel in which the +faith of the bystanders, as well as of sufferers, appeared to be as +integral an element in the miracle as the virtue which worked it. + +Owing to the time that has elapsed since the following pages were +written for the _Ave Maria_--by the kindness of whose editor they are +reprinted now--it is impossible for me to verify the spelling of all the +names that occur in the course of the narrative. I made notes while at +Lourdes, and from those notes wrote my account; it is therefore +extremely probable that small errors of spelling may have crept in, +which I am now unable to correct. + + ROBERT HUGH BENSON. + + _Church of our Lady of Lourdes, + New York, + Lent, 1914_ + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW _Frontispiece_ + + DR. BOISSARIE _to face p._ 16 + + BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS " 26 + + THE GROTTO IN 1858 " 36 + + THE GROTTO IN 1914 " 46 + + THE BLESSING OF THE SICK " 56 + + THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW " 66 + + BERNADETTE " 78 + + + + +I. + + +The first sign of our approach to Lourdes was a vast wooden cross, +crowning a pointed hill. We had been travelling all day, through the +August sunlight, humming along the straight French roads beneath the +endless avenues; now across a rich plain, with the road banked on either +side to avert the spring torrents from the Pyrenees; now again mounting +and descending a sudden shoulder of hill. A few minutes ago we had +passed into Tarbes, the cathedral city of the diocese in which Lourdes +lies; and there, owing to a little accident, we had been obliged to +halt, while the wheels of the car were lifted, with incredible +ingenuity, from the deep gutter into which the chauffeur had, with the +best intentions, steered them. It was here, in the black eyes, the +dominant profiles, the bright colours, the absorbed childish interest of +the crowd, in their comments, their laughter, their seriousness, and +their accent, that the South showed itself almost unmixed. It was +market-day in Tarbes; and when once more we were on our way, we still +went slowly; passing, almost all the way into Lourdes itself, a +long-drawn procession--carts and foot passengers, oxen, horses, dogs, +and children--drawing nearer every minute toward that ring of solemn +blue hills that barred the view to Spain. + +It is difficult to describe with what sensations I came to Lourdes. As a +Christian man, I did not dare to deny that miracles happened; as a +reasonably humble man, I did not dare to deny that they happened at +Lourdes; yet, I suppose, my attitude even up to now had been that of a +reverent agnostic--the attitude, in fact, of a majority of Christians on +this particular point--Christians, that is, who resemble the Apostle +Thomas in his less agreeable aspect. I had heard and read a good deal +about psychology, about the effect of mind on matter and of nerves on +tissue; I had reflected upon the infection of an ardent crowd; I had +read Zola's dishonest book;[1] and these things, coupled with the +extreme difficulty which the imagination finds in realizing what it has +never experienced--since, after all, miracles are confessedly +miraculous, and therefore unusual--the effect of all this was to render +my mental state a singularly detached one. I believed? Yes, I suppose +so; but it was a halting act of faith pure and simple; it was not yet +either sight or real conviction. + +The cross, then, was the first glimpse of Lourdes' presence; and ten +minutes later we were in the town itself. + +Lourdes is not beautiful, though it must once have been. It was once a +little Franco-Spanish town, set in the lap of the hills, with a swift, +broad, shallow stream, the Gave, flowing beneath it. It is now +cosmopolitan, and therefore undistinguished. As we passed slowly through +the crowded streets--for the National Pilgrimage was but now +arriving--we saw endless rows of shops and booths sheltering beneath +tall white blank houses, as correct and as expressionless as a +brainless, well-bred man. Here and there we passed a great hotel. The +crowd about our wheels was almost as cosmopolitan as a Roman crowd. It +was largely French, as that is largely Italian; but the Spaniards were +there, vivid-faced men and women, severe Britons, solemn Teutons; and, I +have no doubt, Italians, Belgians, Flemish and Austrians as well. At +least I heard during my three days' stay all the languages that I could +recognize, and many that I could not. There were many motor-cars there +besides our own, carriages, carts, bell-clanging trams, and the litters +of the sick. Presently we dismounted in a side street, and set out to +walk to the Grotto, through the hot evening sunshine. + +The first sign of sanctity that we saw, as we came out at the end of a +street, was the mass of churches built on the rising ground above the +river. Imagine first a great oval of open ground, perhaps two hundred by +three hundred yards in area, crowded now with groups as busy as ants, +partly embraced by two long white curving arms of masonry rising +steadily to their junction; at the point on this side where the ends +should meet if they were prolonged, stands a white stone image of Our +Lady upon a pedestal, crowned, and half surrounded from beneath by some +kind of metallic garland arching upward. At the farther end the two +curves of masonry of which I have spoken, rising all the way by steps, +meet upon a terrace. This terrace is, so to speak, the centre of gravity +of the whole. + +For just above it stands the flattened dome of the Rosary Church, of +which the doors are beneath the terrace, placed upon broad flights of +steps. Immediately above the dome is the entrance to the crypt of the +basilica; and, above that again, reached by further flights of steps, +are the doors of the basilica; and, above it, the roof of the church +itself, with its soaring white spire high over all. + +Let me be frank. These buildings are not really beautiful. They are +enormous, but they are not impressive; they are elaborate and fine and +white, but they are not graceful. I am not sure what is the matter with +them; but I think it is that they appear to be turned out of a machine. +They are too trim; they are like a well-dressed man who is not quite a +gentleman; they are like a wedding guest; they are _haute-bourgeoise_, +they are not the nobility. It is a terrible pity, but I suppose it could +not be helped, since they were allowed so little time to grow. There is +no sense of reflectiveness about them, no patient growth of character, +as in those glorious cathedrals, Amiens, Chartres, Beauvais, which I had +so lately seen. There is nothing in reserve; they say everything, they +suggest nothing. They have no imaginative vista. + +We said not one word to one another. We threaded our way across the +ground, diagonally, seeing as we went the Bureau de Constatations (or +the office where the doctors sit), contrived near the left arm of the +terraced steps; and passed out under the archway, to find ourselves with +the churches on our left, and on our right the flowing Gave, confined on +this side by a terraced walk, with broad fields beyond the stream. + +The first thing I noticed were the three roofs of the _piscines_, on the +left side of the road, built under the cliff on which the churches +stand. I shall have more to say of them presently, but now it is enough +to remark that they resemble three little chapels, joined in one, each +with its own doorway; an open paved space lies across the entrances, +where the doctors and the priests attend upon the sick. This open space +is fenced in all about, to keep out the crowd that perpetually seethes +there. We went a few steps farther, worked our way in among the people, +and fell on our knees. + +Overhead, the cliff towered up, bare hanging rock beneath, grass and +soaring trees above; and at the foot of the cliff a tall, irregular +cave. There are two openings of this cave; the one, the larger, is like +a cage of railings, with the gleam of an altar in the gloom beyond, a +hundred burning candles, and sheaves and stacks of crutches clinging to +the broken roofs of rock; the other, and smaller, and that farther from +us, is an opening in the cliff, shaped somewhat like a _vesica_. The +grass still grows there, with ferns and the famous climbing shrub; and +within the entrance, framed in it, stands Mary, in white and blue, as +she stood fifty years ago, raised perhaps twenty feet above the ground. + +Ah, that image!... I said, "As she stood there!" Yet it could not have +been so; for surely even simple Bernadette would not have fallen on her +knees. It is too white, it is too blue; it is, like the three churches, +placed magnificently, yet not impressive; fine and slender, yet not +graceful. + +But we knelt there without unreality, with the river running swift +behind us; for we knelt where a holy child had once knelt before a +radiant vision, and with even more reason; for even if the one, as some +say, had been an hallucination, were those sick folk an hallucination? +Was Pierre de Rudder's mended leg an hallucination, or the healed wounds +of Marie Borel? Or were those hundreds upon hundreds of disused crutches +an illusion? Did subjectivity create all these? If so, what greater +miracle can be demanded? + +And there was more than that. For when later, at Argelès, I looked over +the day, I was able to formulate for the first time the extraordinary +impressions that Lourdes had given me. There was everything hostile to +my peace--an incalculable crowd, an oppressive heat, dust, noise, +weariness; there was the disappointment of the churches and the image; +there was the sour unfamiliarity of the place and the experience; and +yet I was neither troubled nor depressed nor irritated nor disappointed. +It appeared to me as if some great benign influence were abroad, +soothing and satisfying; lying like a great summer air over all, to +quiet and to stimulate. I cannot describe this further; I can only say +that it never really left me during those three days, I saw sights that +would have saddened me elsewhere--apparent injustices, certain +disappointments, dashed hopes that would almost have broken my heart; +and yet that great Power was over all, to reconcile, to quiet and to +reassure. To leave Lourdes at the end was like leaving home. + +After a few minutes before the Grotto, we climbed the hill behind, made +an appointment for my Mass on the morrow; and, taking the car again, +moved slowly through the crowded streets, and swiftly along the country +roads, up to Argelès, nearly a dozen miles away. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The epithet is deliberate. He relates in his book, "Lourdes," the +story of an imaginary case of a girl, suffering from tuberculosis, who +goes to Lourdes as a pilgrim, and is, apparently, cured of her disease. +It breaks out, however, again during her return home; and the case would +appear therefore to be one of those in which, owing to fierce excitement +and the mere power of suggestion, there is a temporary amelioration, but +no permanent, or supernatural, cure. Will it be believed that the +details of this story, all of which are related with great +particularity, and observed by Zola himself, were taken from an actual +case that occurred during one of his visits--all the details except the +relapse? There was no relapse: the cure was complete and permanent. When +Dr. Boissarie later questioned the author as to the honesty of this +literary device, saying that he had understood him to have stated that +he had come to Lourdes for the purpose of an impartial investigation, +Zola answered that the characters in the book were his own, and that he +could make them do what he liked. It is on these principles that the +book is constructed. It must be added that Zola followed up the case, +and had communications with the _miraculée_ long after her cure had been +shown to be permanent, and before his book appeared. + + + + +II. + + +We were in Lourdes again next morning a little after six o'clock; and +already it might have been high noon, for the streets were one moving +mass of pilgrims. From every corner came gusts of singing; and here and +there through the crowd already moved the _brancardiers_--men of every +nation with shoulder-straps and cross--bearing the litters with their +piteous burdens. + +I was to say Mass in the crypt; and when I arrived there at last, the +church was full from end to end. The interior was not so disappointing +as I had feared. It had a certain solid catacombic gloom beneath its low +curved roof, which, if it had not been for the colours and some of the +details, might very nearly have come from the hand of a good architect. +The arrangements for the pilgrims were as bad as possible; there was no +order, no marshalling; they moved crowd against crowd like herds of +bewildered sheep. Some were for Communion, some for Mass only, some for +confession; and they pushed patiently this way and that in every +direction. It was a struggle before I got my vestments; I produced a +letter from the Bishop of Rodez, with whom I had lunched a few days +before; I argued, I deprecated, I persuaded, I quoted. Everything once +more was against my peace of mind; yet I have seldom said Mass with more +consolations than in that tiny sanctuary of the high Altar.... An +ecclesiastic served, and an old priest knelt devoutly at a prie-Dieu. + +When the time for Communion came, I turned about and saw but one sea of +faces stretching from the altar rail into as much of the darkness as I +could discern. For a quarter of an hour I gave Communion rapidly; then, +as soon as another priest could force his way through the crowd, I +continued Mass; he had not nearly finished giving Communion when I had +ended my thanksgiving. This, too, was the same everywhere--in the crypt, +in the basilica, in the Rosary Church, and above all in the Grotto. The +average number of Communions every day throughout the year in Lourdes +is, I am told, four thousand. In that year of Jubilee, however, Dr. +Boissarie informed me, in round numbers, one million Communions were +made, sixty thousand Masses were said, with two thousand Communions at +each midnight Mass.... Does Jesus Christ go out when Mary comes in? We +are told so by non-Catholics. Rather, it seems as if, like the Wise Men +of old, men still find the Child with Mary His Mother. + +At the close of my Mass, the old priest rose from his place and began to +prepare the vessels and arrange the Missal. As soon as I took off the +vestments he put them on. I assented passively, supposing him to be the +next on the list; I even answered his _Kyrie_. But at the Collect a +frantic sacristan burst through the crowd; and from remarks made to the +devout old priest and myself, I learned that the next on the list was +still waiting in the sacristy, and that this old man was an adroit +though pious interloper who had determined not to take "No" for an +answer. He finished his Mass. I forbear from comment. + +For a while afterward we stood on the terrace above the _piscines_; and, +indeed, after breakfast I returned here again alone, and remained during +all the morning. It was an extraordinary sight. From the terrace, the +cliff fell straight away down to the roofs of the three chapel-like +buildings, fifty or sixty feet beneath. Beyond that I could see the +paved space, sprinkled with a few moving figures; and, beyond the +barrier, the crowd stretching across the roadway and far on either side. +Behind them was the clean river and the green meadows, all delicious in +the early sunlight. + +During that morning I must have seen many hundreds of the sick carried +into the baths; for there were almost two thousand sick in Lourdes on +that day. I could even watch their faces, white and drawn with pain, or +horribly scarred, as they lay directly beneath me, "waiting for some man +to put them into the water." I saw men and women of all nations and all +ranks attending upon them, carrying them tenderly, fanning their faces, +wiping their lips, giving them to drink of the Grotto water. A murmur of +thousands of footsteps came up from beneath (this National Pilgrimage of +France numbered between eighty and an hundred thousand persons); and +loud above the footsteps came the cries of the priests, as they stood in +a long row facing the people, with arms extended in the form of a cross. +Now and again came a far-off roar of singing from the Grotto to my left, +where Masses were said continuously by bishops and favoured priests; or +from my right, from the great oval space beneath the steps; and then, on +a sudden a great chorus of sound from beneath, as the _Gloria Patri_ +burst out when the end of some decade was reached. All about us was the +wheeling earth, the Pyrenees behind, the meadows in front; and over us +heaven, with Mary looking down. + +Once from beneath during that long morning I heard terrible shrieks, as +of a demoniac, that died into moans and ceased. And once I saw a little +procession go past from the Grotto, with the Blessed Sacrament in the +midst. There was no sensation, no singing. The Lord of all went simply +by on some errand of mercy, and men fell on their knees and crossed +themselves as He went. + +After _déjeûner_ at the Hotel Moderne, where now it was decided that we +should stay until the Monday, we went down to the Bureau. At first there +were difficulties made, as the doctors were not come; and I occupied a +little while in watching the litters unloaded from the wagonettes that +brought them gently down to within a hundred yards of the Grotto. Once +indeed I was happy to be able to fit a _brancardier's_ straps into the +poles that supported a sick woman. It was all most terrible and most +beautiful. Figure after figure was passed along the seats--living +crucifixes of pain--and lowered tenderly to the ground, to lie there a +moment or two, with the body horribly flat and, as it seemed, almost +non-existent beneath the coverlet; and the white face with blazing eyes +of anguish, or passive and half dead, to show alone that a human +creature lay there. Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently +down to the gate of the _piscines_. + +At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting +a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came +out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted. I passed through a barrier, +through a couple of rooms, and found myself in the Holy Place of +Science, as the Grotto is the Holy Place of Grace. + +It is a little room in which perhaps twenty persons can stand with +comfort. Again and again I saw more than sixty there. Down one side runs +a table, at one end of which sits Dr. Cox; in the centre, facing the +room, is the presiding doctor's chair, where, as a rule, Dr. Boissarie +is to be found. Dr. Cox set me between him and the president, and I +began to observe. + +At the farther end of the room is a long glazed case of photographs hung +against the wall. Here are photographs of many of the most famous +patients. The wounds of Marie Borel are shown there; Marie Borel herself +had been present in the Bureau that morning to report upon her excellent +health. (She was cured last year instantaneously, in the _piscine_, of a +number of running wounds, so deep that they penetrated the intestines.) +On the table lay some curious brass objects, which I learned later were +models of the bones of Pierre de Rudder's legs. (This man had for eight +years suffered from a broken leg and two running wounds--one at the +fracture, the other on the foot. These were gangrenous. The ends of the +broken bones were seen immediately before the cure, which took place +instantaneously at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostacker. +Pierre lived rather over twenty years after his sudden and complete +restoration to health). For the rest, the room is simple enough. There +are a few chairs. Another door leads into a little compartment where the +sick can be examined privately; a third and a fourth lead into the open +air on either side. There are two windows, looking out respectively on +this side and that. + +Now I spent a great deal of my time in the Bureau. (I was given +presently a "doctor's cross" to wear--consisting of a kind of cardboard +with a white upright and red cross-bar--so that I could pass in and out +as I wished). I may as well, then, sum up once and for all the +impressions I received from observing the methods of the doctors. There +were all kinds of doctors there continually--Catholics and +free-thinkers, old, young, middle-aged. The cases were discussed with +the utmost freedom. Any could ask questions of the _miraculés_ or of the +other doctors. The certificates of the sick were read aloud. I may +observe, too, that if there was any doubt as to the certificates, if +there was any question of a merely nervous malady, any conceivable +possibility of a mistake, the case was dismissed abruptly. These +certificates, then, given by the doctor attending the sick person, dated +and signed, are of the utmost importance; for without them no cure is +registered. Yet, in spite of these demands, I saw again and again sixty +or seventy men, dead silent, staring, listening with all their ears, +while some poor uneducated man or woman, smiling radiantly, gave a +little history or answered the abrupt kindly questions of the presiding +doctor. + +Again, and again, too, it seemed to me that all this had been enacted +before. There was once upon a time a man born blind who received his +sight, and round him there gathered keen-eyed doctors of another kind. +They tried to pose him with questions. It was unheard of, they cried, +that a man born blind should receive his sight; at least it could not +have been as he said. Yet there stood the man in the midst, seeing them +as they saw him, and giving his witness. "This," he said, "was the way +it was done. Such and such is the name of the Man who cured me. And look +for yourselves! I was blind; now I see." + +After I had looked and made notes and asked questions of Dr. Cox, Dr. +Boissarie came in. I was made known to him; and presently he took me +aside, with a Scottish priest (who all through my stay showed me great +kindness), and began to ask me questions. It seemed that, since there +was no physical _miraculé_ present just now, a spiritual _miraculé_ +would do as well; for he asked me a hundred questions as to my +conversion and its causes, and what part prayer played in it; and the +doctors crowded round and listened to my halting French. + +"It was the need of a divine Leader--an authority--then, that brought +you in?" + +"Yes, it was that; it was the position of St. Peter in the Scriptures +and in history; it was the supernatural unity of the Church. It is +impossible to say exactly which argument predominated." + +"It was, in fact, the grace of God," smiled the Doctor. + +Dr. Boissarie, as also Dr. Cox, was extremely good to me. He is an +oldish man, with a keen, clever, wrinkled face; he is of middle-size, +and walks very slowly and deliberately; he is a fervent Catholic. He is +very sharp and businesslike, but there is an air of wonderful goodness +and kindness about him; he takes one by the arm in a very pleasant +manner; I have seen dilatory, rambling patients called to their senses +in an instant, yet never frightened. + +Dr. Cox, who has been at Lourdes for fourteen years, is a typical +Englishman, ruddy, with a white moustache. His part is mostly +secretarial, it seems; though he too asks questions now and again. It +was he who gave me the "doctor's cross," and who later obtained for me +an even more exceptional favour, of which I shall speak in the proper +place. I heard a tale that he himself had been cured of some illness at +Lourdes, but I cannot vouch for it as true. I did not like to ask him +outright. + +Presently from outside came the sound of organized singing, and the room +began to empty. The afternoon procession was coming. I ran to the window +that looks toward the Grotto; and there, sitting by an Assumptionist +Father--one of that Order who once had, officially, charge of the +Grotto, and now unofficially assists at it--I saw the procession go +past. + +I have no idea of its numbers. I saw only beyond the single line of +heads outside the window, an interminable double stream of men go past, +each bearing a burning taper and singing as he came. There were persons +of every kind in that stream--groups of boys and young men, with their +priest beating time in the midst; middle-aged men and old men. I saw +again and again that kind of face which a foolish Briton is accustomed +to regard as absurd--a military, musketeer profile, immense moustaches +and imperial, and hair _en brosse_. Yet indeed there was nothing absurd. +It was terribly moving, and a lump rose in my throat, as I watched such +a sanguine bristling face as one of these, all alight with passion and +adoration. Such a man might be a grocer, or a local mayor, or a duke; it +was all one; he was a child of Mary; and he loved her with all his +heart, and Gabriel's salute was on his lips. Then the priests began to +come; long lines of them in black; then white cottas; then gleams of +purple; then a pectoral cross or two; and last the great canopy swaying +with all its bells and tassels. + + + + +III. + + +Now, it is at the close of the afternoon procession that the sick more +usually are healed. I crossed the Bureau to the other window that looks +on to what I will call the square, and began to watch for the +reappearance of the procession on that side. In front of me was a dense +crowd of heads, growing more dense every step up to the barriers that +enclose the open space in the midst. It was beyond those barriers, as I +knew, that the sick were laid ready for the passing by of Jesus of +Nazareth. On the right rose the wide sweep of steps and terraces leading +up to the basilica, and every line of stone was crowned with heads. Even +on the cliffs beyond, I could see figures coming and going and watching. +In all, about eighty thousand persons were present. + +Presently the singing grew loud again; the procession had turned the +corner and entered the square; and I could see the canopy moving quickly +down the middle toward the Rosary Church, for its work was done. The +Blessed Sacrament was now to be carried round the lines of the sick, +beneath an _ombrellino_. + +I shall describe all this later, and more in detail; it is enough just +now to say that the Blessed Sacrament went round, that It was carried at +last to the steps of the Rosary Church, and that, after the singing of +the _Tantum Ergo_ by that enormous crowd, Benediction was given. Then +the Bureau began to fill, and I turned round for the scientific aspect +of the affair. + +The first thing that I saw was a little girl, seeming eight or nine +years old, who walked in and stood at the other side of the table, to be +examined. Her name was Marguerite Vandenabeele--so I read on the +certificate--and she had suffered since birth from infantile paralysis, +with such a result that she was unable to put her heels to the ground. +That morning in the _piscine_ she had found herself able to walk +properly though her heels were tender from disuse. We looked at her--the +doctors who had begun again to fill the room, and myself, with three or +four more amateurs. There she stood, very quiet and unexcited, with a +slightly flushed face. Some elder person in charge of her gave in the +certificate and answered the questions. Then she went away.[2] + +Now, I must premise that the cures that took place while I was at +Lourdes that August cannot yet be regarded as finally established, since +not sufficient time has elapsed for their test and verification.[3] +Occasionally there is a relapse soon after the apparent cure, in the +case of certain diseases that may be more or less affected by a nervous +condition; occasionally claimants are found not to be cured at all. For +scientific certainty, therefore, it is better to rely upon cures that +have taken place a year, or at least some months previously, in which +the restored health is preserved. There are, of course a large number of +such cases; I shall come to them presently.[4] + +The next patient to enter the room was one Mlle. Bardou. I learned later +from her lips that she was a secularized Carmelite nun, expelled from +her convent by the French Government. There was the further pathos in +her case in the fact that her cure, when I left Lourdes, was believed to +be at least doubtful. But now she took her seat, with a radiantly happy +face, to hand in her certificate and answer the questions. She had +suffered from renal tuberculosis; her certificate proved that. She was +here herself, without pain or discomfort, to prove that she no longer +suffered. Relief had come during the procession. A question or two was +put to her; an arrangement was made for her return after examination; +and she went out. + +The room was rapidly filling now; there were forty or fifty persons +present. There was a sudden stir; those who sat rose up; and there came +into the room three bishops in purple--from St. Paul in Brazil, the +Bishop of Beauvais, and the famous orator, Monseigneur Touchet, of +Orléans--all of whom had taken part in the procession. These sat down, +and the examination went on. + +The next to enter was Juliette Gosset, aged twenty-five, from Paris. She +had a darkish plain face, and was of middle size. She answered the +questions quietly enough, though there was evident a suppressed +excitement beneath. She had been cured during the procession, she said; +she had stood up and walked. And her illness? She showed a certificate, +dated in the previous March, asserting that she suffered gravely from +tuberculosis, especially in the right lung; she added herself that hip +disease had developed since that time, that one leg had become seven +centimetres shorter than the other, and that she had been for some +months unable to sit or kneel. Yet here she walked and sat without the +smallest apparent discomfort. When she had finished her tale, a doctor +pointed out that the certificate said nothing of any hip disease. She +assented, explaining again the reason; but added that the hospital where +she lodged in Lourdes would corroborate what she said. Then she +disappeared into the little private room to be examined. + +There followed a nun, pale and black-eyed, who made gestures as she +stood by Dr. Boissarie and told her story. She spoke very rapidly. I +learned that she had been suffering from a severe internal malady, and +that she had been cured instantaneously in the _piscine_. She handed in +her certificate, and then she, too, vanished. + +After a few minutes there returned the doctor who had examined Juliette +Gosset. Now, I think it should impress the incredulous that this case +was pronounced unsatisfactory, and will not, probably, appear upon the +registers. It was perfectly true that the girl had had tuberculosis, and +that now nothing was to be detected except the very faintest symptom--so +faint as to be negligible--in the right lung. It appeared to be true +also that she had had hip disease, since there were upon her body +certain marks of treatment by burning; and that her legs were now of an +exactly equal length. But, firstly, the certificate was five months old, +secondly, it made no mention of hip disease; thirdly, seven centimetres +was almost too large a measure to be believed. The case then was +referred back for further investigation; and there it stood when I left +Lourdes. The doctors shook their heads considerably over the seven +centimetres. + +There followed next one of the most curious instances of all. It was an +old _miraculée_ who came back to report; her case is reported at length +in Dr. Boissarie's _OEuvre de Lourdes_, on pages 299-308.[5] Her name +was Marie Cools, and she came from Anvers, suffering apparently from +_mal de Pott_, and paralysis and anæsthesia of the legs. This state had +lasted for about three years. The doctors consulted differed as to her +case: two diagnosing it as mentioned above, two as hysteria. For ten +months she had suffered, moreover, from constant feverishness; she was +continually sick, and the work of digestion was painful and difficult. +There was a marked lateral deviation of the spinal column, with atrophy +of the leg muscles. At the second bath she began to improve, and the +pains in the back ceased; at the fourth bath the paralysis vanished, her +appetite came steadily back, and the sickness ceased. Now she came in to +announce her continued good health. + +There are a number of interesting facts as to this case; and the first +is the witness of the infidel doctor who sent her to Lourdes, since it +seemed to him that "religious suggestion," was the only hope left. He, +by the way, had diagnosed her case as one of hysteria. "It had a +result," he writes, "which I, though an unbeliever, can characterize +only as marvellous. Marie Cools returned completely, absolutely cured. +No trace of paralysis or anæsthesia. She is actually on her feet; and, +two hospital servants having been stricken by typhoid, she is taking the +place of one of them." Another interesting fact is that a positive storm +raged at Anvers over her cure, and that Dr. Van de Vorst was at the +ensuing election dismissed from the hospital, with at least a suspicion +that the cause of his dismissal lay in his having advised the girl to go +to Lourdes at all. + +Dr. Boissarie makes an interesting comment or two on the case, allowing +that it may perhaps have been hysteria, though this is not at all +certain. "When we have to do with nervous maladies, we must always +remember the rules of Benedict XIV.: 'The miracle cannot consist in the +cessation of the crises, but in the cessation of the nervous state which +produces them.'" It is this that has been accomplished in the case of +Marie Cools. And again: "Either Marie Cools is not cured, or there is in +her cure something other than suggestion, even religious. It is high time +to leave that tale alone, and to cease to class under the title of +religious suggestion two orders of facts completely distinct--superficial +and momentary modifications, and constitutional modifications so profound +that science cannot explain them. I repeat: to make of an hysterical +patient one whose equilibrium is perfect ... is a thing more difficult +than the cure of a wound." + +So he wrote at the time of her apparent cure, hesitating still as to its +permanence. And here, before my eyes and his, she stood again, healthy +and well. + +And so at last I went back to dinner. A very different scene followed. +For a couple of hours we had been materialists, concerning ourselves not +with what Mary had done by grace--at least not in that aspect--but with +what nature showed to have been done, by whatever agency, in itself. Now +once more we turned to Mary. + +It was dark when we arrived at the square, but the whole place was alive +with earthly lights. High up to our left hung the church, outlined in +fire--tawdry, I dare say, with its fairy lights of electricity, yet +speaking to three-quarters of this crowd in the highest language they +knew. Light, after all, is the most heavenly thing we possess. Does it +matter so very much if it is decked out and arranged in what to superior +persons appears a finikin fashion? + +The crowd itself had become a serpent of fire, writhing here below in +endlessly intricate coils; up there along the steps and parapets, a +long-drawn, slow-moving line; and from the whole incalculable number +came gusts and roars of singing, for each carried a burning torch and +sang with his group. The music was of all kinds. Now and again came the +_Laudate Mariam_ from one company, following to some degree the general +movement of the procession, and singing from little paper-books which +each read by the light of his wind-blown lantern; now the _Gloria +Patri_, as a band came past reciting the Rosary; but above all pealed +the ballad of Bernadette, describing how the little child went one day +by the banks of the Gave, how she heard the thunderous sound, and, +turning, saw the Lady, with all the rest of the sweet story, each stanza +ending with that + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +that I think will ring in my ears till I die. + +It was an astounding sight to see that crowd and to hear that singing, +and to watch each group as it came past--now girls, now boys, now +stalwart young men, now old veteran pilgrims, now a bent old woman; each +face illumined by the soft paper-shrouded candle, and each mouth singing +to Mary. Hardly one in a thousand of those came to be cured of any +sickness; perhaps not one in five hundred had any friend among the +patients; yet here they were, drawn across miles of hot France, to give, +not to get. Can France, then, be so rotten? + +As I dropped off to sleep that night, the last sound of which I was +conscious was, still that cannon-like chorus, coming from the direction +of the square: + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] _La Voix de Lourdes_, a semi-official paper, gives the following +account of her, in its issue of the 23rd: "... Marguerite Vandenabeele, +10 ans, de Nieurlet, hameau de Hedezeele, (Nord), est arrivée avec un +des trains de Paris, portant un certificat du Docteur Dantois, daté de +St. Momeleu (Nord) le 25 mai, 1908, la déclarant atteinte _d'atrophie de +la jambe gauche_ avec _pied-bot équin_. Elle ne marchait que très +difficilement et très péniblement. A la sortie de la piscine, vendredi +soir, elle a pu marcher facilement. Amenée au Bureau Médical, on l'a +débarrassée de l'appareil dans lequel était enfermé son pied. Depuis, +elle marche bien, et parait guérie." + +[3] This was written in the autumn of the year 1908, in which this visit +of mine took place. + +[4] Since 1888 the registered cures are estimated as follows: '88, 57; +'89, 44; '90, 80; '91, 53; '92, 99; '93, 91; '94, 127; '95, 163; '96, +145; '97, 163; '98, 243; '99, 174; 1900, 160; '01, 171; '02, 164; '03, +161; '04, 140; '05, 157; '06, 148; '07, 109. + +[5] My notes are rather illegible at this point, but I make no doubt +that this was Marie Cools. + + + + +IV. + + +I awoke to that singing again, in my room above the door of the hotel; +and went down presently to say my Mass in the Rosary Church, where, by +the kindness of the Scottish priest of whom I have spoken, an altar had +been reserved for me. The Rosary Church is tolerably fine within. It has +an immense flattened dome, beyond which stands the high altar; and round +about are fifteen chapels dedicated to the Fifteen Mysteries, which are +painted above their respective altars. + +But I was to say Mass in a little temporary chapel to the left of the +entrance, formed, I suppose, out of what usually serves as some kind of +a sacristy. The place was hardly forty feet long; its high altar, at +which I both vested and said Mass, was at the farther end; but each +side, too, was occupied by three priests, celebrating simultaneously +upon altar-stones laid on long, continuous boards that ran the length of +the chapel. The whole of the rest of the space was crammed to +overflowing; indeed it had been scarcely possible to get entrance to the +chapel at all, so vast was the crowd in the great church outside. + +After breakfast I went down to the Bureau once more, and found business +already begun. The first case, which was proceeding as I entered, was +that of a woman (whose name I could not catch) who had been cured of +consumption in the previous year, and who now came back to report a +state of continued good health. Her brother-in-law came with her, and +she remarked with pleasure that the whole family was now returning to +the practice of religion. During this investigation I noticed also +Juliette Gosset seated at the table, apparently in robust health. + +There followed Natalie Audivin, a young woman who declared that she had +been cured in the previous year, and that she supposed her case had been +entered in the books; but at the moment, at any rate, her name could not +be found, and for the present the case was dismissed. + +I now saw a Capuchin priest in the room--a small, rosy, bearded man--and +supposed that he was present merely as a spectator; but a minute or two +later Dr. Boissarie caught sight of him, and presently was showing him +off to me, much to his smiling embarrassment. He had caught consumption +of the intestines, it seemed, some years before, from attending upon two +of his dying brethren, and had come to Lourdes almost at his last gasp +in the year 1900 A. D. Here he stood, smiling and rosy. + +There followed Mademoiselle Madeleine Laure, cured of severe internal +troubles (I did not catch the details) in the previous year. + +Presently the Bishop of Dalmatia came in, and sat in his chair opposite +me, while we heard the account of Miss Noemie Nightingale, of Upper +Norwood, cured in the previous June of deafness, rising, in the case of +one ear at least, from a perforation of the drum. She was present at the +_piscines_, when on a sudden she had felt excruciating pains in the +ears. The next she knew was that she heard the _Magnificat_ being sung +in honour of her cure. + +Mademoiselle Marie Bardou came in about this time, and passed through to +the inner room to be examined; while we received from a doctor a report +of the lame child whom we had seen on the previous day. All was as had +been said. She could now put her heels to the ground and walk. It seemed +she had been conscious of a sensation of hammering in her feet at the +moment of the cure, followed by a feeling of relief. + +And so they went on. Next came Mademoiselle Eugénie Meunier, cured two +months before of fistula. She had given her certificate into the care of +her _curé_, who could not at this moment be found--naturally enough, as +she had made no appointment with him!--but she was allowed to tell her +story, and to show a copy of her parish magazine in which her story was +given. She had had in her body one wound of ten centimetres in size. +After bathing one evening she had experienced relief; by the next +morning the wound, which had flowed for six months, was completely +closed, and had remained so. Her strength and appetite had returned. +This cure had taken place in her own lodging, since her state was such +that she was forbidden to go to the Grotto. + +The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered +provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk, +but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to +the _piscines_, and ordered to report again later. + +The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of +a terrible disease of the bone three years before. Until that time he +was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the _piscines_. +He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And +now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the +door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had +running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified. + +The next was an oldish man, who came accompanied by his tall, +black-bearded son, to report on his continued good health since his +recovery, eight years previously, from neurasthenia and insanity. He had +had the illusion of being persecuted, with suicidal tendencies; he had +been told he could not travel twenty miles, and he had travelled over +eight hundred kilometres, after four years' isolation. He had stayed a +few months in Lourdes, bathing in the _piscines_, and the obsession had +left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and +dismissed. + +There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured +eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen. She had been sitting +in one of the churches, I think, when there was a sudden discharge of +matter, and a sense of relief. On the morrow, after another bath, the +sense of discomfort had finally disappeared. During Madame Simonet's +examination, as the crowd was great, several persons were dismissed till +a later hour. + +There followed another old patient to report. She had been cured two +years before of myelitis and an enormous tumour that, after twenty-two +years of suffering, had been declared "incurable" in her certificate. +The cure had taken place during the procession, in the course of which +she suddenly felt herself, she said, impelled to rise from her litter. +Her appetite had returned and she had enjoyed admirable health ever +since. Her name was looked up, and the details verified. + +There followed Madame François and some doctor's evidence. Nine years +ago she had been cured of fistula in the arm. She had been operated upon +five times; finally, as her arm measured a circumference of seventy-two +centimetres, amputation had been declared necessary. She had refused, +and had come to Lourdes. Her cure occupied three days, at the end of +which her arm had resumed its normal size of twenty-five centimetres. +She showed her arm, with faint scars visible upon it; it was again +measured and found normal. + +It was an amazing morning. Here I had sat for nearly three hours, seeing +with my own eyes persons of all ages and both sexes, suffering from +every variety of disease, present themselves before sixty or seventy +doctors, saying that they had been cured miraculously by the Mother of +God. Various periods had elapsed since their cures--a day, two or three +months, one year, eight years, nine years. These persons had been +operated upon, treated, subjected to agonizing remedies; one or two had +been declared actually incurable; and then, either in an instant, or +during the lapse of two or three days, or two or three months, had been +restored to health by prayer and the application of a little water in +no way remarkable for physical qualities. + +What do the doctors say to this? Some confess frankly that it is +miraculous in the literal sense of the term, and join with the patients +in praising Mary and her Divine Son. Some say nothing; some are content +to say that science at its present stage cannot account for it all, but +that in a few years, no doubt ... and the rest of it. I did not hear any +say that: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils"; +but that is accounted for by the fact that those who might wish to say +it do not believe in Beelzebub. + +But will science ever account for it all? That I leave to God. All that +I can say is that, if so, it is surely as wonderful as any miracle, that +the Church should have hit upon a secret that the scientists have +missed. But is there not a simpler way of accounting for it? For read +and consider the human evidence as regards Bernadette--her age, her +simplicity, her appearance of ecstasy. She said that she saw this Lady +eighteen times; on one of these occasions, in the presence of +bystanders. She was bidden, she said, to go to the water. She turned to +go down to the Gave, but was recalled and bidden to dig in the earth of +the Grotto. She did so, and a little muddy water appeared where no soul +in the village knew that there was water. Hour by hour this water waxed +in volume; to-day it pours out in an endless stream, is conducted +through the _piscines_; and it is after washing in this water that +bodies are healed in a fashion for which "science cannot account." +Perhaps it cannot. Perhaps it is not intended. But there are things +besides science, and one of them is religion. Is not the evidence +tolerably strong? Or is it a series of coincidences that the child had +an hallucination, devised some trick with the water, and that this water +happens to be an occasion of healing people declared incurable by known +means? + +What is the good of these miracles? If so many are cured, why are not +all? Are the _miraculés_ especially distinguished for piety? Is it +to be expected that unbelievers will be convinced? Is it claimed that the +evidence is irresistible? Let us go back to the Gospels. It used to be +said by doubters that the "miraculous element" must have been added +later by the piety of the disciples, because all the world knew now that +"miracles" did not happen. That _a priori_ argument is surely +silenced by Lourdes. "Miracles" in that sense undoubtedly do happen, if +present-day evidence is worth anything whatever. What, then, is the +Christian theory? + +It is this. Our Blessed Lord appears to have worked miracles of such a +nature that their significance was not, historically speaking, +absolutely evident to those who, for other reasons, did not "believe in +Him." It is known how some asked for a "sign from heaven" and were +refused it; how He Himself said that even if one rose from the dead, +they would not believe; yet, further, how He begged them to believe Him +even for His work's sake, if for nothing else. We know, finally, how, +when confronted with one particular miracle, His enemies cried out that +it must have been done by diabolical agency. + +Very good, then. It would seem that the miracles of Our Lord were of a +nature that strongly disposed to belief those that witnessed them, and +helped vastly in the confirmation of the faith of those who already +believed; but that miracles, as such, cannot absolutely compel the +belief of those who for moral reasons refuse it. If they could, faith +would cease to be faith. + +Now, this seems precisely the state of affairs at Lourdes. Even +unbelieving scientists are bound to admit that science at present cannot +account for the facts, which is surely the modern equivalent for the +Beelzebub theory. We have seen, too, how severely scientific persons +such as Dr. Boissarie and Dr. Cox--if they will permit me to quote their +names--knowing as well as anyone what medicine and surgery and hypnotism +and suggestion can and cannot do, corroborate this evidence, and see in +the facts a simple illustration of the truth of that Catholic Faith +which they both hold and practise. + +Is not the parallel a fair one? What more, then, do the adversaries +want? There is no arguing with people who say that, since there is +nothing but Nature, no process can be other than natural. There is no +sign, even from heaven, that could break down the intellectual prejudice +of such people. If they saw Jesus Christ Himself in glory, they could +always say that "at present science cannot account for the phenomenon of +a luminous body apparently seated upon a throne, but no doubt it will do +so in the course of time." If they saw a dead and corrupting man rise +from the grave, they could always argue that he could not have been dead +and corrupting, or he could not have risen from the grave. Nothing but +the Last Judgment could convince such persons. Even when the trumpet +sounds, I believe that some of them, when they have recovered from their +first astonishment, will make remarks about aural phenomena. + +But for the rest of us, who believe in God and His Son and the Mother of +God on quite other grounds--because our intellect is satisfied, our +heart kindled, our will braced by the belief; and because without that +belief all life falls into chaos, and human evidence is nullified, and +all noble motive and emotion cease--for us, who have received the gift +of faith, in however small a measure, Lourdes is enough. Christ and His +Mother are with us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. Is not that, after all, the simplest theory? + + + + +V. + + +After _déjeûner_ I set out again to find the Scottish priest, who hoped +to be able to take me to a certain window in the Rosary Church, where +only a few were admitted, from which we might view the procession and +the Blessing of the Sick. But we were disappointed; and, after a certain +amount of scheming, we managed to get a position at the back of the +crowd on the top of the church steps. I was able to climb up a few +inches above the others, and secured a very tolerable view of the whole +scene. + +The crowd was beyond describing. Here about us was a vast concourse of +men; and as far as the eye could reach down the huge oval, and far away +beyond the crowned statue, and on either side back to the Bureau on the +left, and on the slopes on the right, stretched an inconceivable +pavement of heads. Above us, too, on every terrace and step, back to the +doors of the great basilica, we knew very well, was one seething, +singing mob. A great space was kept open on the level ground beneath +us--I should say one hundred by two hundred yards in area--and the +inside fringe of this was composed of the sick, in litters, in chairs, +standing, sitting, lying and kneeling. It was at the farther end that +the procession would enter. + +After perhaps half an hour's waiting, during which one incessant gust of +singing rolled this way and that through the crowd, the leaders of the +procession appeared far away--little white or black figures, small as +dolls--and the singing became general. But as the endless files rolled +out, the singing ceased, and a moment later a priest, standing solitary +in the great space began to pray aloud in a voice like a silver trumpet. + +I have never heard such passion in my life. I began to watch presently, +almost mechanically, the little group beneath the _ombrellino_, in white +and gold, and the movements of the monstrance blessing the sick; but +again and again my eyes wandered back to the little figure in the midst, +and I cried out with the crowd, sentence after sentence, following that +passionate voice: + +"_Seigneur, nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur,_" came the huge response, "_nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" answered the people. + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!_" + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!_" + +"_Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!_" + +"_Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!_" + +Then with a surge rose up the plainsong melody. + +"_Parce, Domine!_" sang the people. "_Parce populo tuo! Ne in aeternum +irascaris nobis._" + +Again: + +"_Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto._" + +"_Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. +Amen._" + +Then again the single voice and the multitudinous answer: + +"_Vous êtes la Résurrection et la Vie!_" + +And then an adjuration to her whom He gave to be our Mother. + +"_Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_" + +Then once more the singing; then the cry, more touching than all: + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" + +Then the kindling shout that brought the blood to ten thousand faces: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" (I shook to hear it). + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest, rising from his knees with arms flung +wide. + +"_Hosanna!_" roared the people, swift as an echo. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna!_" crashed out again and again, like great +artillery. + +Yet there was no movement among those piteous prostrate lines. The +Bishop, the _ombrellino_ over him, passed on slowly round the circle; +and the people cried to Him whom he bore, as they cried two thousand +years ago on the road to the city of David. Surely He will be pitiful +upon this day--the Jubilee Year of His Mother's graciousness, the octave +of her assumption to sit with Him on His throne! + +"_Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Jésus, vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +Yet there was no movement. + +If ever "suggestion" could work a miracle, it must work it now. "We +expect the miracles during the procession to-morrow and on Sunday," a +priest had said to me on the previous day. And there I stood, one of a +hundred thousand, confident in expectation, thrilled by that voice, +nothing doubting or fearing; there were the sick beneath me, answering +weakly and wildly to the crying of the priest; and yet there was no +movement, no sudden leap of a sick man from his bed as Jesus went by, no +vibrating scream of joy--"_Je suis guéri! Je suis guéri!_"--no +tumultuous rush to the place, and the roar of the _Magnificat_, as we +had been led to expect. + +The end was coming near now. The monstrance had reached the image once +again, and was advancing down the middle. The voice of the priest grew +more passionate still, as he tossed his arms and cried for mercy + +"_Jésus, ayez pitié de nous!--ayez pitié[Transcriber's Note: original +had "pitiê"] de nous!_" + +And the people, frantic with ardour and desire, answered him in a voice +of thunder: + +"_Ayez pitié de nous!--ayez pitié de nous!_" + +And now up the steps came the grave group to where Jesus would at least +bless His own, though He would not heal them; and the priest in the +midst, with one last cry, gave glory to Him who must be served through +whatever misery: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +Surely that must touch the Sacred Heart! Will not His Mother say one +word? + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest. + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the people. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!..._" + +One articulate roar of disappointed praise, and then--_Tantum ergo +Sacramentum!_ rose in its solemnity. + +When Benediction was over, I went back to the Bureau; but there was +little to be seen there. No, there were no miracles to-day, I was +told--or hardly one. Perhaps one in the morning. It was not known. + +Several Bishops were there again, listening to the talk of the doctors, +and the description of certain cases on previous days. Père Salvator, +the Capuchin, was there again; as also the tall bearded Assumptionist +Father of whom I have spoken. But there was not a great deal of interest +or excitement. I had the pleasure of talking a while with the Bishop of +Tarbes, who introduced me again to the Capuchin, and retold his story. + +But I was a little unhappy. The miracle was that I was not more so. I +had expected so much: I had seen nothing. + +I talked to Dr. Cox also before leaving. + +"No," he told me, "there is hardly one miracle to-day. We are doubtful, +too, about that leg that was seven centimetres too short." + +"And is it true that Mademoiselle Bardou is not cured?" (A doctor had +been giving us certain evidence a few minutes before). + +"I am afraid so. It was probably a case of intense subjective +excitement. But it may be an amelioration. We do not know yet. The real +work of investigating comes afterwards." + +How arbitrary it all seemed, I thought, as I walked home to dinner. That +morning, on my way from the Bureau, I had seen a great company of white +banners moving together; and, on inquiry, had found that these were the +_miraculés_ chiefly of previous years--about three hundred and fifty in +number.[6] They formed a considerably large procession. I had looked at +their faces: there were many more women than men (as there were upon +Calvary). But as I watched them I could not conceive upon what principle +the Supernatural had suddenly descended on this and not on that. "Two +men in one bed.... Two women grinding at the mill.... One is taken and +the other left." Here were persons of all ages--from six to eighty, I +should guess--of all characters, ranks, experiences; of both sexes. Some +were religious, some grocers, some of the nobility, a retired soldier or +two, and so on. They were not distinguished for holiness, it seemed. I +had heard heartbreaking little stories of the ten lepers over again--one +grateful, nine selfish. One or two of the girls, I heard, had had their +heads turned by flattery and congratulation; they had begun to give +themselves airs. + +And, now again, here was this day, this almost obvious occasion. It was +the Jubilee Year; everything was about on a double scale. And nothing +had happened! Further, five of the sick had actually died at Lourdes +during their first night there. To come so far and to die! + +On what principle, then, did God act? Then I suddenly understood, not +God's principles, but my own; and I went home both ashamed and +comforted. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] The official numbers of those at the afternoon procession were 341. + + + + +VI. + + +I said a midnight Mass that night in the same chapel of the Rosary +Church as on the previous morning. Again the crush was terrific. On the +steps of the church I saw a friar hearing a confession; and on entering +I found High Mass proceeding in the body of the church itself, with a +congregation so large and so worn-out that many were sleeping in +constrained attitudes among the seats. In fact, I was informed, since +the sleeping accommodation of Lourdes could not possibly provide for so +large a pilgrimage, there were many hundreds, at least, who slept where +they could--on the steps of churches, under trees and rocks, and by the +banks of the river. + +I was served at my Mass by a Scottish priest, immediately afterwards I +served his at the same altar. While vesting, I noticed a priest at the +high altar of this little chapel reading out acts of prayer, to which +the congregation responded; and learned that two persons who had been +received into the Church on that day were to make their First Communion. +As midnight struck, simultaneously from the seven altars came seven +voices: + +"_In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen._" + +Once more, on returning home and going to bed a little after one o'clock +in the morning, the last sound that I heard was of the "_Gloria Patri_" +being sung by other pilgrims also returning to their lodging. + +After coffee, a few hours later, I went down again to the square. It was +Sunday, and a Pontifical High Mass was being sung on the steps of the +Rosary Church. As usual, the crowd filled the square, and I could hardly +penetrate for a while beyond the fringe; but it was a new experience to +hear that vast congregation in the open air responding with one giant +voice to the plain-song of the Mass. It was astonishing what expression +showed itself in the singing. The _Sanctus_ was one of the most +impressive peals of worship and adoration that I have ever heard. At the +close of the Mass, all the bishops present near the altar--I counted six +or seven--turned and gave the blessing simultaneously. On the two great +curves that led up to the basilica were grouped the white banners of the +_miraculés_. + +Soon after arriving at the Bureau a very strange and quiet little +incident happened. A woman with a yellowish face, to which the colour +was slowly returning, came in and sat down to give her evidence. She +declared to us that during the procession yesterday she had been cured +of a tumour on the liver. She had suddenly experienced an overwhelming +sense of relief, and had walked home completely restored to health. On +being asked why she did not present herself at the Bureau, she answered +that she did not think of it: she had just gone home. I have not yet +heard whether this was a true cure or not; all I can say at present is I +was as much impressed by her simple and natural bearing, her entire +self-possession, and the absence of excitement, as by anything I saw at +Lourdes. I cannot conceive such a woman suffering from an illusion. + +A few minutes later Dr. Cox called to me, and writing on a card, handed +it to me, telling me it would admit me to the _piscines_ for a bath. I +had asked for this previously; but had been told it was not certain, +owing to the crush of patients, whether it could be granted. I set out +immediately to the _piscines_. + +There are, as I have said, three compartments in the building called the +_piscines_. That on the left is for women; in the middle, for children +and for those who do not undergo complete immersion; on the right, for +men. It was into this last, then, that I went, when I had forced my way +through the crowd, and passed the open court where the priests prayed. +It was a little paved place like a chapel, with a curtain hung +immediately before the door. When I had passed this, I saw at the +farther end, three or four yards away, was a deepish trough, wide and +long enough to hold one person. Steps went down on either side of it, +for the attendants. Immediately above the bath, on the wall, was a +statue of Our Lady; and beneath it a placard of prayers, large enough to +be read at a little distance. + +There were about half a dozen people in the place--two or three priests +and three or four patients. One of the priests, I was relieved to see, +was the Scotsman whose Mass I had served the previous midnight. He was +in his soutane, with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He gave me my +directions, and while I made ready I watched the patients. There was one +lame man, just beside me, beginning to dress; two tiny boys, and a young +man who touched me more than I can say. He was standing by the head of +the bath, holding a basin in one hand and a little image of our Lady in +the other, and was splashing water ingeniously with his fingers into his +eyes; these were horribly inflamed, and I could see that he was blind. I +cannot describe the passion with which he did this, seeming to stare all +the while towards the image he held, and whispering out prayers in a +quick undertone--hoping, no doubt, that his first sight would be the +image of his Mother. Then I looked at the boys. One of them had horribly +prolonged and thin legs; I could not see what was wrong with the other, +except that he looked ill and worn out. Close beside me, on the wet, +muddy paving, lay an indescribable bandage that had been unrolled from +the lame man's leg. + +When my turn came, I went wrapped in a soaking apron, down a step or so +into the water; and then, with a priest holding either hand, lay down at +full length so that my head only emerged. That water had better not be +described. It is enough to say that people suffering from most of the +diseases known to man had bathed in it without ceasing for at least five +or six hours. Yet I can say, with entire sincerity, that I did not have +even the faintest physical repulsion, though commonly I hate dirt at +least as much as sin. It is said, too, that never in the history of +Lourdes has there been one case of disease traceable to infection from +the baths. The water was cold, but not unpleasantly. I lay there, I +suppose, about one minute, while the two priests and myself repeated off +the placard the prayers inscribed there. These were, for the most part, +petitions to Mary to pray. "_O Marie,_" they ended, "_conçue sans péché, +priez pour nous qui avons recours a vous!_" + +As I dressed again after the bath, I had one more sight of the young +man. He was being led out by a kindly attendant, but his face was all +distorted with crying, and from his blind eyes ran down a stream of +terrible tears. It is unnecessary to say that I said a "Hail Mary" for +his soul at least. + +As soon as I was ready, I went out and sat down for a while among the +recently bathed, and began to remind myself why _I_ had bathed. +Certainly I was not suffering from anything except a negligible ailment +or two. Neither did I do it out of curiosity, because I could have seen +without difficulty all the details without descending into that +appalling trough. I suppose it was just an act of devotion. Here was +water with a history behind it; water that was as undoubtedly used by +Almighty God for giving benefits to man as was the clay laid upon blind +eyes long ago near Siloe, or the water of Bethesda itself. And it is a +natural instinct to come as close as possible to things used by the +heavenly powers. I was extraordinarily glad I had bathed, and I have +been equally glad ever since. I am afraid it is of no use as evidence to +say that until I came to Lourdes I was tired out, body and mind; and +that since my return I have been unusually robust. Yet that is a fact, +and I leave it there. + +As I sat there a procession went past to the Grotto, and I walked to +the railings to look at it. I do not know at all what it was all about, +but it was as impressive as all things are in Lourdes. The _miraculés_ +came first with their banners--file after file of them--then a number of +prelates, then _brancardiers_ with their shoulder-harness, then nuns, +then more _brancardiers_. I think perhaps they may have been taking a +recent _miraculé_ to give thanks; for when I arrived presently at the +Bureau again, I heard that, after all, several appeared to have been +cured at the procession on the previous day. + +I was sitting in the hall of the hotel a few minutes later when I heard +the roar of the _Magnificat_ from the street, and ran out to see what +was forward. As I came to the door, the heart of the procession went by. +A group of _brancardiers_ formed an irregular square, holding cords to +keep back the crowd; and in the middle walked a group of three, followed +by an empty litter. The three were a white-haired man on this side, a +stalwart _brancardier_ on the other, and between them a girl with a +radiant face, singing with all her heart. She had been carried down from +her lodging that morning to the _piscines_; she was returning on her own +feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and +go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to +the hotel. + + + + +VII. + + +In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place +to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before. But the +crowd was so great that we could not find him, so presently we dispersed +as best we could. Two other priests and myself went completely round the +outside of the churches, in order, if possible, to join in the +procession, since to cross the square was a simple impossibility. In the +terrible crush near the Bureau, I became separated from the others, and +fought my way back, and into the Bureau, as the best place open to me +now for seeing the Blessing of the Sick. + +It was now at last that I had my supreme wish. Within a minute or two of +my coming to look through the window, the Blessed Sacrament entered the +reserved space among the countless litters. The crowd between me and the +open space was simply one pack of heads; but I could observe the +movements of what was going forward by the white top of the _ombrellino_ +as it passed slowly down the farther side of the square. + +The crowd was very still, answering as before the passionate voice in +the midst; but watching, watching, as I watched. Beside me sat Dr. Cox, +and our Rosaries were in our hands. The white spot moved on and on, and +all else was motionless. I knew that beyond it lay the sick. "Lord, if +it be possible--if it be possible! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine +be done." It had reached now the end of the first line. + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_" answered the people. + +"_Vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +And then on a sudden it came. + +Overhead lay the quiet summer air, charged with the Supernatural as a +cloud with thunder--electric, vibrating with power. Here beneath lay +souls thirsting for its touch of fire--patient, desirous, infinitely +pathetic; and in the midst that Power, incarnate for us men and our +salvation. Then it descended, swift and mighty. + +I saw a sudden swirl in the crowd of heads beneath the church steps, and +then a great shaking ran through the crowd; but there for a few instants +it boiled like a pot. A sudden cry had broken out, and it ran through +the whole space; waxing in volume as it ran, till the heads beneath my +window shook with it also; hands clapped, voices shouted: "_Un miracle! +Un miracle!_" + +I was on my feet, staring and crying out. Then quietly the shaking +ceased, and the shouting died to a murmur; and the _ombrellino_ moved +on; and again the voice of the priest thrilled thin and clear, with a +touch of triumphant thankfulness: "_Vous êtes la Résurrection et la +Vie!_" And again, with entreaty once more--since there still were two +thousand sick untouched by that Power, and time pressed--that infinitely +moving plea: "_Seigneur, celui qui vous aime est malade!_" And: +"_Seigneur, faites que je marche! Seigneur, faites que j'entende!_" + +And then again the finger of God flashed down, and again and again; and +each time a sick and broken body sprang from its bed of pain and stood +upright; and the crowd smiled and roared and sobbed. Five times I saw +that swirl and rush; the last when the _Te Deum_ pealed out from the +church steps as Jesus in His Sacrament came home again. And there were +two that I did not see. There were seven in all that afternoon. + +Now, is it of any use to comment on all this? I am not sure; and yet, +for my own satisfaction if for no one else's, I wish to set down some of +the thoughts that came to me both then and after I had sat at the window +and seen God's loving-kindness with my own eyes. + +The first overwhelming impression that remained with me is this--that I +had been present, in my own body, in the twentieth century, and seen +Jesus pass along by the sick folk, as He passed two thousand years +before. That, in a word, is the supreme fact of Lourdes. More than once +as I sat there that afternoon I contrasted the manner in which I was +spending it with that in which the average believing Christian spends +Sunday afternoon. As a child, I used to walk with my father, and he used +to read and talk on religious subjects; on our return we used to have a +short Bible-class in his study. As an Anglican clergyman, I used to +teach in Sunday schools or preach to children. As a Catholic priest, I +used occasionally to attend at catechism. At all these times the +miraculous seemed singularly far away; we looked at it across twenty +centuries; it was something from which lessons might be drawn, upon +which the imagination might feed, but it was a state of affairs as +remote as the life of prehistoric man; one assented to it, and that was +all. And here at Lourdes it was a present, vivid event. I sat at an +ordinary glass window, in a soutane made by an English tailor, with +another Englishman beside me, and saw the miraculous happen. Time and +space disappeared; the centuries shrank and vanished; and behold we saw +that which "prophets and kings have desired to see and have not seen!" + +Of course "scientific" arguments, of the sort which I have related, can +be brought forward in an attempt to explain Lourdes; but they are the +same arguments that can be, and are, brought forward against the +miracles of Jesus Christ Himself. I say nothing to those here; I leave +that to scientists such as Dr. Boissarie; but what I cannot understand +is that professing Christians are able to bring _a priori_ arguments +against the fact that Our Lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever--the same in Galilee and in France. "These signs shall follow them +that believe," He said Himself; and the history of the Catholic Church +is an exact fulfilment of the words. It was so, St. Augustine tells us, +at the tombs of the martyrs; five hundred miracles were reported at +Canterbury within a few years of St. Thomas' martyrdom. And now here is +Lourdes, as it has been for fifty years, in this little corner of poor +France! + +I have been asked since my return: "Why cannot miracles be done in +England?" My answer is, firstly, that they are done in England, in +Liverpool, and at Holywell, for example; secondly, I answer by another +question as to why Jesus Christ was not born in Rome; and if He had been +born in Rome, why not in Nineveh and Jerusalem? Thirdly, I answer that +perhaps more would be done in England, if there were more faith there. +It is surely a little unreasonable to ask that, in a country which +three hundred and fifty years ago deliberately repudiated Christ's +Revelation of Himself, banished the Blessed Sacrament and tore down +Mary's shrines, Christ and His Mother should cooperate supernaturally in +marvels that are rather the rewards of the faithful. "It is not meet to +take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs"--these are the +words of our Lord Himself. If London is not yet tolerant enough to allow +an Eucharistic Procession in her streets, she is scarcely justified in +demanding that our Eucharistic Lord should manifest His power. "He could +do no mighty work there," says the Evangelist, of Capharnaum, "because +of their unbelief." + +This, then, is the supreme fact of Lourdes: that Jesus Christ in His +Sacrament passes along that open square, with the sick laid in beds on +either side; and that at His word the lame walk and lepers are cleansed +and deaf hear--that they are seen leaping and dancing for joy. + +Even now, writing within ten days of my return, all seems like a dream; +and yet I know that I saw it. For over thirty years I had been +accustomed to repeat the silly formula that "the age of miracles is +past"; that they were necessary for the establishment of Christianity, +but that they are no longer necessary now, except on extremely rare +occasions perhaps; and in my heart I knew my foolishness. Why, for those +thirty years Lourdes had been in existence! And if I spoke of it at all, +I spoke only of hysteria and auto-suggestion and French imaginativeness, +and the rest of the nonsense. It is impossible for a Christian who has +been at Lourdes to speak like that again. + +And as for the unreality, that does not trouble me. I have no doubt that +those who saw the bandages torn from the leper's limbs and the sound +flesh shown beneath, or the once blind man, his eyes now dripping with +water of Siloe, looking on Him who had made him whole, or heard the +marvellous talk of "men like trees walking," and the rest--I have no +doubt that ten days later they sat themselves with unseeing eyes, and +wondered whether it was indeed they who had witnessed those things. +Human nature, like a Leyden jar, cannot hold beyond a fixed quantity; +and this human nature, with experience, instincts, education, common +talk, public opinion, and all the rest of it, echoing round it; the +assumption that miracles _do not happen_; that laws are laws; in other +words, that Deism is the best that can be hoped--well, it is little +wonder that the visible contradiction of all this conventionalism finds +but little room in the soul. + +Then there is another point that I should like to make in the presence +of "Evangelical" Christians who shake their heads over Mary's part in +the matter. It is this--that for every miracle that takes place in the +_piscines_, I should guess that a dozen take place while That which we +believe to be Jesus Christ goes by. Catholics, naturally, need no such +reassurance; they know well enough from interior experience that when +Mary comes forward Jesus does not retire! But for those who think as +some Christians do, it is necessary to point out the facts. And again. I +have before me as I write the little card of ejaculations that are used +in the procession. There are twenty-four in all. Of these, twenty-one +are addressed to Jesus Christ; in two more we ask the "Mother of the +Saviour" and the "Health of the Sick" to pray for us; in the last we ask +her to "show herself a Mother." If people will talk of "proportion" in a +matter in which there is no such thing--since there can be no +comparison, without grave irreverence, between the Creator and a +creature--I would ask, Is there "disproportion" here? + +In fact, Lourdes, as a whole, is an excellent little compendium of +Catholic theology and Gospel-truth. There was once a marriage feast, and +the Mother of Jesus was there with her Son. There was no wine. She told +her Son what He already knew; He seemed to deprecate her words; but He +obeyed them, and the water became wine. + +There is at Lourdes not a marriage feast, but something very like a +deathbed. The Mother of Jesus is there with her Son. It is she again who +takes the initiative. "Here is water," she seems to say; "dig, +Bernadette, and you will find it." But it is no more than water. Then +she turns to her Son. "They have water," she says, "but no more." And +then He comes forth in His power. "Draw out now from all the sick beds +of the world and bear them to the Governor of the Feast. Use the +commonest things in the world--physical pain and common water. Bring +them together, and wait until I pass by." Then Jesus of Nazareth passes +by; and the sick leap from their beds, and the blind see, and the lepers +are cleansed, and devils are cast out. + +Oh, yes! the parallel halts; but is it not near enough? + +_Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!_ + +_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_ + + + + +VIII. + + +The moment Benediction was given, the room began rapidly to fill; but I +still watched the singing crowd outside. Among others I noticed a woman, +placid and happy--such a woman as you would see a hundred times a day in +London streets, with jet ornaments in her hat, middle-aged, almost +startlingly commonplace. No, nothing dramatic happened to her; that was +the point. But there she was, taking it all for granted, joining in the +_Magnificat_ with a roving eye, pleased as she would have been pleased +at a circus; interrupting herself to talk to her neighbour; and all the +while gripping in a capable hand, on which shone a wedding ring, the +bars of the Bureau window behind which I sat, that she might make the +best of both worlds--Grace without and Science within. She, as I, had +seen what God had done; now she proposed to see what the doctors would +make of it all; and have, besides, a good view of the _miraculés_ when +they appeared. + +I suppose it was her astonishing ordinariness that impressed me. It was +surprising to see such a one during such a scene; it was as incongruous +as a man riding a bicycle on the judgment Day. Yet she, too, served to +make it all real. She was like the real tree in the foreground of a +panorama. She served the same purpose as the _Voix de Lourdes_, a +briskly written French newspaper that gives the lists of the miracles. + +When I turned round at last, the room was full. Among the people present +I remember an Hungarian canon, and the Brazilian Bishop with six others. +Dr. Deschamps, late of Lille, now of Paris, was in the chair; and I sat +next him. + +The first patient to enter was Euphrasie Bosc, a dark girl of +twenty-seven. She rolled a little in her walk as she came in; then she +sat down and described the "white swellings" on her knee, with other +details; she told how she had been impelled to rise during the +procession just now. She was made to walk round the room to show her +state, and was then sent off, and told to return at another time. + +Next came Emma Sansen, a pale girl of twenty-five. She had suffered from +endo-pericarditis for five years, as her certificate showed; she had +been confined to her room for two years. She told her story quickly and +went out. + +There followed Sister Marguérite Emilie, an Assumptionist, aged +thirty-nine, a brisk, brown-faced, tall woman, in her religious habit. +Her malady had been _mal de Pott_, a severe spinal affliction, +accompanied by abscesses and other horrors. She, too, appeared in the +best of health. + +We began then to hear a doctor give news of a certain Irish Religious, +cured that morning in the _piscines_; but we were interrupted by the +entry of Emile Lansman, a solid artisan of twenty-five who came in +walking cheerfully, carrying a crutch and a stick which he no longer +needed. Paralysis of the right leg and traumatism of the spine had been +his, up to that day. Now he carried his crutch. + +He was followed by another man whose name I did not catch, and on whose +case I wrote so rapidly that I am scarcely able to read all my notes. +His story, in brief, was as follows. He had had some while ago a severe +accident, which involved a kind of appalling disembowelment. For the +last year or two he had had gastric troubles of all kinds, including +complete loss of appetite. His certificate showed too, that he suffered +from partial paralysis (he himself showed us how little he had been able +to open his fingers), and anæsthesia of the right arm. (I looked over +Dr. Deschamps' shoulder and read on the paper the words _lésion +incurable_). It was certified further that he was incapable of manual +work. Then he described to us how yesterday in the _piscine_, upon +coming out of the bath, he had been aware of a curious sensation of +warmth in the stomach; he had then found that, for the first time for +many months, he wished for food; he was given it, and he enjoyed it. He +moved his fingers in a normal manner, raised his arm and let it fall. + +Then for the first time in the Bureau I heard a sharp controversy. One +doctor suddenly broke out, saying that there was no actual proof that it +was not all "hysterical simulation." Another answered him; an appeal was +made to the certificate. Then the first doctor delivered a little +speech, in excellent taste, though casting doubt upon the case; and the +matter was then set aside for investigation with the rest. I heard Dr. +Boissarie afterwards thank him for his admirable little discourse. + +Finally, though it was getting late, Honorie Gras, aged thirty-five, +came in to give her evidence. She had suffered till to-day from +"purulent arthritis" and "white swellings" on the left knee. To-day she +walked. Her certificate confirmed her, and she was dismissed. + +It was all very matter-of-fact. There is no reason to fear that Lourdes +is all hymn-singing and adjurations. It is a pleasure to think that, on +the right of the Rosary Church, and within a hundred yards of the +Grotto, there is this little room, filled with keen-eyed doctors from +every school of faith and science, who have only to present their cards +and be made free of all that Lourdes has to show. They are keen-brained +as well as keen-eyed. I heard one of them say quietly that if the Mother +of God, as it appeared, cured incurable cases, it was hard to deny to +her the power of curing curable cases also. It does not prove, that is +to say, that a cure is not miraculous, if it might have been cured by +human aid. And it is interesting and suggestive to remember that of such +cases one hears little or nothing. For every startling miracle that is +verified in the Bureau, I wonder how many persons go home quietly, freed +from some maddening little illness by the mercy of Mary--some illness +that is worthless as a "case" in scientific eyes, yet none the less as +real as is its cure? + +Of course one element that tends to keep from the grasp of the +imagination all the miracles of the place is all this scientific +phraseology. In the simple story of the Gospel, it seems almost +supernaturally natural that a man should have "lain with an infirmity +for forty years," and should, at the word of Jesus Christ, have taken up +his bed and walked; or that, as in the "Acts," another's "feet and +ankle-bones should receive strength" by the power of the Holy Name. But +when we come to tuberculosis and _mal de Pott_ and _lésion incurable_ +and "hysterical simulation," in some manner we seem to find ourselves in +rather a breathless and stuffy room, where the white flower of the +supernatural appears strangely languid to the eye of the imagination. + +That, however, is all as it should be. We are bound to have these +things. Perhaps the most startling miracle of all is that the Bureau and +the Grotto stand side by side, and that neither stifles the other. Is it +possible that here at last Science and Religion will come to terms, and +each confess with wonder the capacities of the other, and, with awe, +that divine power that makes them what they are, and has "set them their +bounds which they shall not pass?" It would be remarkable if France, of +all countries, should be the scene of that reconciliation between these +estranged sisters. + +That night, after dinner, I went out once more to see the procession +with torches; and this time my friend and I each took a candle, that we +might join in that act of worship. First, however, I went down to the +_robinets_--the taps which flow between the Grotto and the +_piscines_--and, after a heartcrushing struggle, succeeded in filling my +bottle with the holy water. It was astonishing how selfish one felt +while still in the battle, and how magnanimous when one had gained the +victory. I filled also the bottle of a voluble French priest, who +despairingly extended it toward me as he still fought in the turmoil. +"_Eh, bien!_" cried a stalwart Frenchwoman at my side, who had filled +her bottle and could not extricate herself. "If you will not permit me +to depart, I remain!" The argument was irresistible; the crowd laughed +childishly and let her out. + +Now, I regret to say that once more the churches were outlined in fairy +electric lamps, that the metallic garlands round our Mother's statue +blazed with them; that, even worse, the old castle on the hill and the +far away Calvary were also illuminated; and, worst of all, that the +procession concluded with fireworks--rockets and bombs. Miracles in the +afternoon; fireworks in the evening! + +Yet the more I think of it, the less am I displeased. When one reflects +that more than half of the enormous crowd came, probably, from tiny +villages in France--where a rocket is as rare as an angelic visitation; +and, on the carnal side, as beautiful in their eyes--it seems a very +narrow-minded thing to object. It is true that you and I connect +fireworks with Mafeking night or Queen Victoria's Jubilee; and that they +seem therefore incongruous when used to celebrate a visitation of God. +But it is not so with these people. For them it is a natural and +beautiful way of telling the glory of Him who is the Dayspring from on +high, who is the Light to lighten the Gentiles, whose Mother is the +_Stella Matutina_, whose people once walked in darkness and now have +seen a great Light. It is their answer--the reflection in the depths of +their sea--to the myriad lights of that heaven which shines over +Lourdes. Therefore let us leave the fireworks in peace. + +It was a very moving thing to walk in that procession, with a candle in +one hand and a little paper book in the other, and help to sing the +story of Bernadette, with the unforgettable _Aves_ at the end of each +verse, and the _Laudate Mariam_, and the Nicene Creed. _Credo in ... +unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam._ My heart leaped at +that. For where else but in the Catholic Church do such things happen as +these that I had seen? Imagine, if you please, miracles in Manchester! +Certainly they might happen there, if there were sufficient Catholics +gathered in His Name; but put for Manchester, Exeter Hall or St. Paul's +Cathedral! The thought is blindingly absurd. No; the Christianity of +Jesus Christ lives only in the Catholic Church. + +There alone in the whole round world do you find that combination of +lofty doctrine, magnificent moral teaching, the frank recognition of the +Cross; sacramentalism logically carried out, yet gripping the heart as +no amateur mysticism can do; and miracles. "Mercy and Truth have met +together." "These signs shall follow them that believe.... Faith can +remove mountains.... All things are possible to him that believes.... +Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name.... Where two or three +are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." +There alone, where souls are built upon Peter, do these things really +happen. + +I have been asked lately whether I am "happy" in the Catholic Church. +Happy! What can one say to a question like that? Does one ask a man who +wakes up from a foolish dream to sunshine in his room, and to life and +reality, whether he is happy? Of course many non-Catholics are happy. I +was happy myself as an Anglican; but as a Catholic one does not use the +word; one does not think about it. The whole of life is different; that +is all that can be said. Faith is faith, not hope; God is Light, not +twilight; eternity, heaven, hell, purgatory, sin and its +consequences--these things are facts, not guesses and conjectures and +suspicions desperately clung to. "How hard it is to be a Christian!" +moans the persevering non-Catholic. "How impossible it is to be anything +else!" cries the Catholic. + +We went round, then, singing. The procession was so huge that it seemed +to have no head and no tail. It involved itself a hundred times over; it +swirled in the square, it humped itself over the Rosary Church; it +elongated itself half a mile away up beyond our Mother's garlanded +statue; it eddied round the Grotto. It was one immense pool and river of +lights and song. Each group sang by itself till it was overpowered by +another; men and women and children strolled along patiently singing and +walking, knowing nothing of where they went, nothing of what they would +be singing five minutes hence. It depended on the voice-power of their +neighbours. + +For myself, I found myself in a dozen groups, before, at last, after an +hour or so, I fell out of the procession and went home. Now I walked +cheek by jowl with a retired officer; now with an artisan; once there +came swiftly up behind a company of "Noelites"--those vast organizations +of boys and girls in France--singing the _Laudate Mariam_ to my _Ave +Maria_; now in the middle of a group of shop-girls who exchanged remarks +with one another whenever they could fetch breath. I think it was all +the most joyous and the most spontaneous (as it was certainly the +largest) human function in which I have ever taken part. I have no idea +whether there were any organizers of it all--at least I saw none. Once +or twice a solitary priest in the midst, walking backward and waving +his arms, attempted to reconcile conflicting melodies; once a very old +priest; with a voice like the tuba stop on the organ, turned a +humorously furious face over his shoulder to quell some mistake--from +his mouth, the while issuing this amazingly pungent volume of sound. But +I think these were the only attempts at organization that I saw. + +And so at last I dropped out and went home, hoarse but very well +content. I had walked for more than an hour--from the statue, over the +lower church and down again, up the long avenue, and back again to the +statue. The fireworks were over, the illuminations died, and the day was +done; yet still the crowds went round and the voice of conflicting +melody went up without cessation. As I went home the sound was still in +my ears. As I dropped off to sleep, I still heard it. + + + + +IX. + + +Next morning I awoke with a heavy heart, for we were to leave in the +motor at half-past eight, I had still a few errands to do, and had made +no arrangements for saying Mass; so I went out quickly, a little after +seven, and up to the Rosary Church to get some pious objects blessed. It +was useless: I could not find the priest of whom I had been told, whose +business it is perpetually to bless such things. I went to the basilica, +then round by the hill-path down to the Grotto, where I became wedged +suddenly and inextricably into a silent crowd. + +For a while I did not understand what they were doing beyond hearing +Mass; for I knew that, of course, a Mass was proceeding just round the +corner in the cave. But presently I perceived that these were intending +communicants. So I made what preparation I could, standing there; and +thanked God and His Mother for this unexpected opportunity of saying +good-bye in the best way--for I was as sad as a school-boy going the +rounds of the house on Black Monday--and after a quarter of an hour or +so I was kneeling at the grill, beneath the very image of Mary. After +making my thanksgiving, still standing on the other side, I blessed the +objects myself--strictly against all rules, I imagine--and came home to +breakfast; and before nine we were on our way. + +We were all silent as we progressed slowly and carefully through the +crowded streets, seeing once more the patient _brancardiers_ and the +pitiful litters on their way to the _piscines_. I could not have +believed that I could have become so much attached to a place in three +summer days. As I have said before, everything was against it. There was +no leisure, no room to move, no silence, no sense of familiarity. All +was hot and noisy and crowded and dusty and unknown. Yet I felt that it +was such a home of the soul as I never visited before--of course it is a +home, for it is the Mother that makes the home. + +We saw no more of the Grotto nor the churches nor the square nor the +statue. Our road led out in such a direction that, after leaving the +hotel, we had only commonplace streets, white houses, shops, hotels and +crowds; and soon we had passed from the very outskirts of the town, and +were beginning with quickening speed to move out along one of those +endless straight roads that are the glory of France's locomotion. + +Yet I turned round in my seat, sick at heart, and pulled the blind that +hung over the rear window of the car. No, Lourdes was gone! There was +the ring of the eternal hills, blue against the blue summer sky, with +their shades of green beneath sloping to the valleys, and the rounded +bastions that hold them up. The Gave was gone, the churches gone, the +Grotto--all was gone. Lourdes might be a dream of the night. + +No, Lourdes was not gone. For there, high on a hill, above where the +holy city lay, stood the cross we had seen first upon our entrance, +telling us that if health is a gift of God, it is not the greatest; that +the Physician of souls, who healed the sick, and without whom not one +sparrow falls to the ground, and not one pang is suffered, Himself had +not where to lay His head, and died in pain upon the Tree. + +And even as I looked we wheeled a corner, and the cross was gone. + + * * * * * + +How is it possible to end such a story without bathos? I think it is not +possible, yet I must end it. An old French priest said one day at +Lourdes, to one of those with whom I travelled, that he feared that in +these times the pilgrims did not pray so much as they once did, and that +this was a bad sign. He spoke also of France as a whole, and its fall. +My friend said to him that, in her opinion, if these pilgrims could but +be led as an army to Paris--an army, that is, with no weapons except +their Rosaries--the country could be retaken in a day. + +Now, I do not know whether the pilgrims once prayed more than they do +now; I only know that I never saw any one pray so much; and I cannot +help agreeing with my friend that, if this power could be organized, we +should hear little more of the apostasy of France. Even as it is, I +cannot understand the superior attitude that Christian Englishmen take +up with regard to France. It is true that in many districts religion is +on a downward course, that the churches are neglected, and that even +infidelity is becoming a fashion;[7] but I wonder very much whether, on +the whole, taking Lourdes into account, the average piety of France, is +not on a very much higher level than the piety of England. The +government, as all the world now knows, is not in the least +representative of the country; but, sad to relate, the Frenchman is apt +to extend his respect for the law into an assumption of its morality. +When a law is passed, there is an end of it. + +Yet, judging by the intensity of faith and love and resignation that is +evident at Lourdes, and indeed by the numbers of those present, it +would seem as if Mary, driven from the towns with her Divine Son, has +chosen Lourdes--the very farthest point from Paris--as her earthly home, +and draws her children after her, standing there with her back to the +wall. I do not think this is fanciful. That which is beyond time and +space must communicate with us in those terms; and we can only speak of +these things in the same terms. Huysmans expresses the same thing in +other words. Even if Bernadette were deceived, he says, at any rate +these pilgrims are not; even if Mary did not come in 1858 to the banks +of the Gave, she has certainly come there since, drawn by the thousands +of souls that have gone to seek her there. + +This, then, is the last thing I can say about Lourdes. It is quite +useless as evidence--indeed it would be almost impertinent to dare to +offer further evidence at all--yet I may as well hand it in as my +contribution. It is this, _that Lourdes is soaked, saturated and kindled +by the all but sensible presence of the Mother of God_. I am quite aware +of all that can be said about subjectivity and auto-suggestion, and the +rest; but there comes a point in all arguments when nothing is worth +anything except an assertion of a personal conviction. Such, then, is +mine. + +First, it was borne in upon me what a mutilated Christianity that is +which practically takes no account of Mary. This fragmentary, lopsided +faith was that in which I myself had been brought up, and which to-day +still is the faith of the majority of my fellow-countrymen. The Mother +of God--the Second Eve, the Immaculate Maiden Mother, who, as if to +balance Eve at the Tree of Death, stood by the Tree of Life--in popular +non-Catholic theology is banished, with the rest of those who have +passed away, to a position of complete insignificance. This arrangement, +I had become accustomed to believe, was that of Primitive Christianity +and of the Christianity of all sensible men: Romanism had added to the +simple Gospel, and had treated the Mother of God with an honour which +she would have been the first to deprecate. + +Well, I think that at Lourdes the startling contrast between facts and +human inventions was, in this respect, first made vivid to my +imagination. I understood how puzzling it must be for "old Catholics," +to whom Mary is as real and active as her Divine Son, to understand the +sincerity of those to whom she is no more than a phantom, and who yet +profess and call themselves Christians. Why, at Lourdes Mary is seen to +stand, to all but outward eyes, in exactly that position in which at +Nazareth, at Cana, in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Catacombs, and +in the whole history of Christendom, true lovers of her Son have always +seen her--a Mother of God and man, tender, authoritative, silent, and +effective! + +Yet, strangely enough, it is not at all the ordinary and conventional +character of a merely tender mother that reveals itself at Lourdes--one +who is simply desirous of relieving pain and giving what is asked. There +comes upon one instead the sense of a tremendous personage--_Regina +Coeli_ as well as _Consolatrix Afflictorum_--one who says "No" as well +as "Yes," and with the same serenity; yet with the "No" gives strength +to receive it. I have heard it said that the greatest miracle of all at +Lourdes is the peace and resignation, even the happiness, of those who, +after expectation has been wrought to the highest, go disappointed away, +as sick as they came. Certainly that is an amazing fact. The tears of +the young man in the _piscine_ were the only tears of sorrow I saw at +Lourdes. + +Mary, then, has appeared to me in a new light since I have visited +Lourdes. I shall in future not only hate to offend her, but fear it +also. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of that Mother who +allows the broken sufferer to crawl across France to her feet--and then +to crawl back again. She is one of the Maries of Chartres, that reveals +herself here, dark, mighty, dominant, and all but inexorable; not the +Mary of an ecclesiastical shop, who dwells amid tinsel and tuberoses. +She is _Sedes Sapientiæ_, _Turris Eburnea_, _Virgo Paritura_, strong and +tall and glorious, pierced by seven swords, yet serene as she looks to +her Son. + +Yet, at the same time, the tenderness of her great heart shows itself at +Lourdes almost beyond bearing. She is so great and so loving! It affects +those to whom one speaks--the quiet doctors, even those who, through +some confusion of mind or some sin, find it hard to believe; the strong +_brancardiers_, who carry their quivering burdens with such infinite +care; the very sick themselves, coming back from the _piscines_ in +agony, yet with the faces of those who come down from the altar after +Holy Communion. The whole place is alive with Mary and the love of +God--from the inadequate statue at the Grotto to the brazen garlands in +the square, even as far as the illuminated castle and the rockets that +burst and bang against the steady stars. If I were sick of some deadly +disease, and it were revealed to me that I must die, yet none the less I +should go to Lourdes; for if I should not be healed by Mary, I could at +least learn how to suffer as a Christian ought. God has chosen this +place--He only knows why, as He, too, alone chooses which man shall +suffer and which be glad--He has chosen this place to show His power; +and therefore has sent His Mother there, that we may look through her to +Him. + +Is this, then, all subjectivity and romantic dreaming? Well, but there +are the miracles! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] It must be remembered that this was written six years ago, and is no +longer true. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + +***** This file should be named 18729-8.txt or 18729-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/2/18729/ + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lourdes + +Author: Robert Hugh Benson + +Release Date: July 1, 2006 [EBook #18729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + + + + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<!-- Remove this line for table of contents +<ul class="TOC"> +<li><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></li> +<li><a href="#I">I.</a></li> +<li><a href="#II">II.</a></li> +<li><a href="#III">III.</a></li> +<li><a href="#IV">IV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#V">V.</a></li> +<li><a href="#VI">VI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#VII">VII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#IX">IX.</a></li> +</ul> +Remove this line for table of contents --> + + + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image1" id="image1"></a> + <a href="images/image1.jpg" > + <img src="images/image1-th.jpg" + alt="THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW" + title="THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW" + width="400" height="237" /> + </a> +</div> + + + + +<h1>LOURDES</h1> + +<div style="height: 1em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h3>THE VERY REV. MONSIGNOR</h3> +<h2>ROBERT HUGH BENSON</h2> + +<div style="height: 1em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center smaller">WITH EIGHT FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS</p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div style="width: 100%; padding: 0em; margin: 0em; margin-left: 10%;"> + +<div style="float: left; width: 40%; border-right: thin solid black; padding: 0em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;"> +<span class="smaller">ST. LOUIS MO.:</span><br /> +B. HERDER, PUBLISHER<br /> +<span class="smaller">17, S. BROADWAY</span> +</div> + +<div style="float: left; width: 40%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;"> +<span class="smaller">LONDON:</span><br /> +MANRESA PRESS<br /> +<span class="smaller">ROEHAMPTON, S.W.</span> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class="center" style="clear: both;">1914</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div style="margin-left: 20%;"> +<p><b>Nihil Obstat:</b></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">S. GEORGIUS KIERAN HYLAND, S.T.D.,<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: smaller; margin-left: 8em;">CENSOR DEPUTATUS</span></p> + +<p><b>Imprimatur:</b></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">GULIELMUS F. BROWN,<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: smaller; margin-left: 6em;">VICARIUS GENERALIS,<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: smaller; margin-left: 8em;">SOUTHWARCENSI.</span></p> + +<p><i>15 Maii, 1914.</i></p> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page v"> </span><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>Since writing the following pages six years ago, I have had the +privilege of meeting a famous French scientist—to whom we owe one of +the greatest discoveries of recent years—who has made a special study +of Lourdes and its phenomena, and of hearing him comment upon what takes +place there. He is, himself, at present, not a practising Catholic; and +this fact lends peculiar interest to his opinions. His conclusions, so +far as he has formulated them, are as follows:</p> + +<p>(1) That no scientific hypothesis up to the present accounts +satisfactorily for the phenomena. Upon his saying this to me I breathed +the word "suggestion"; and his answer was to laugh in my face, and to +tell me, practically, that this is the most ludicrous hypothesis of all.</p> + +<p>(2) That, so far as he can see, the one thing necessary for such cures +as he himself has witnessed or verified, is the atmosphere of prayer. +Where this rises to intensity the number of cures rises with it; where +this sinks, the cures sink too.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page vi"> </span><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></a></p><p>(3) That he is inclined to think that there is a transference of +vitalizing force either from the energetic faith of the sufferer, or +from that of the bystanders. He instanced an example in which his wife, +herself a qualified physician, took part. She held in her arms a child, +aged two and a half years, blind from birth, during the procession of +the Blessed Sacrament. As the monstrance came opposite, tears began to +stream from the child's eyes, hitherto closed. When it had passed, the +child's eyes were open and seeing. This Mme. —— tested by dangling her +bracelet before the child, who immediately clutched at it, but, from the +fact that she had never learned to calculate distance, at first failed +to seize it. At the close of the procession Mme. ——, who herself +related to me the story, was conscious of an extraordinary exhaustion +for which there was no ordinary explanation. I give this suggestion as +the scientist gave it to me—the suggestion of some kind of +<i>transference</i> of vitality; and make no comment upon it, beyond saying +that, superficially at any rate, it does not appear to me to conflict +with the various accounts of miracles given in the Gospel in which the +faith of the bystanders, as well as of sufferers, appeared to be as +integral an element in the miracle as the virtue which worked it.</p> + +<p>Owing to the time that has elapsed since the<span class="pagenum" title="Page vii"> </span><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"></a> following pages were +written for the <i>Ave Maria</i>—by the kindness of whose editor they are +reprinted now—it is impossible for me to verify the spelling of all the +names that occur in the course of the narrative. I made notes while at +Lourdes, and from those notes wrote my account; it is therefore +extremely probable that small errors of spelling may have crept in, +which I am now unable to correct.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;">Robert Hugh Benson.</p> +<p> +<i>Church of our Lady of Lourdes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">New York,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">Lent, 1914</span></i> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page viii"> </span><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></a></p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0"> +<tr><td><a href="#image1">THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW</a></td><td colspan="2" align="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image2">DR. BOISSARIE</a></td><td align="center"><i>to face p.</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image3">BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image4">THE GROTTO IN 1858</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image5">THE GROTTO IN 1914</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image6">THE BLESSING OF THE SICK</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image7">THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#image8">BERNADETTE</a></td><td align="center"> " </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 1"> </span><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + + +<p>The first sign of our approach to Lourdes was a vast wooden cross, +crowning a pointed hill. We had been travelling all day, through the +August sunlight, humming along the straight French roads beneath the +endless avenues; now across a rich plain, with the road banked on either +side to avert the spring torrents from the Pyrenees; now again mounting +and descending a sudden shoulder of hill. A few minutes ago we had +passed into Tarbes, the cathedral city of the diocese in which Lourdes +lies; and there, owing to a little accident, we had been obliged to +halt, while the wheels of the car were lifted, with incredible +ingenuity, from the deep gutter into which the chauffeur had, with the +best intentions, steered them. It was here, in the black eyes, the +dominant profiles, the bright colours, the absorbed childish interest of +the crowd, in their comments, their laughter, their seriousness, and +their accent, that the South showed itself almost unmixed. It was +market-day in Tarbes; and when once more we were on our way, we still +went slowly; passing, almost all the way into Lourdes itself, a +long-drawn procession—carts and foot<span class="pagenum" title="Page 2"> </span><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> passengers, oxen, horses, dogs, +and children—drawing nearer every minute toward that ring of solemn +blue hills that barred the view to Spain.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to describe with what sensations I came to Lourdes. As a +Christian man, I did not dare to deny that miracles happened; as a +reasonably humble man, I did not dare to deny that they happened at +Lourdes; yet, I suppose, my attitude even up to now had been that of a +reverent agnostic—the attitude, in fact, of a majority of Christians on +this particular point—Christians, that is, who resemble the Apostle +Thomas in his less agreeable aspect. I had heard and read a good deal +about psychology, about the effect of mind on matter and of nerves on +tissue; I had reflected upon the infection of an ardent crowd; I had +read Zola's dishonest book;<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnlabel">1</a> and<span class="pagenum" title="Page 3"> </span><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a> these things, coupled with the +extreme difficulty which the imagination finds in realizing what it has +never experienced—since, after all, miracles are confessedly +miraculous, and therefore unusual—the effect of all this was to render +my mental state a singularly detached one. I believed? Yes, I suppose +so; but it was a halting act of faith pure and simple; it was not yet +either sight or real conviction.</p> + +<p>The cross, then, was the first glimpse of Lourdes' presence; and ten +minutes later we were in the town itself.</p> + +<p>Lourdes is not beautiful, though it must once have been. It was once a +little Franco-Spanish town, set in the lap of the hills, with a swift, +broad, shallow stream, the Gave, flowing beneath it. It is now +cosmopolitan, and therefore undistinguished. As we passed slowly through +the crowded streets—for the National Pilgrimage was but now +arriving—we saw endless rows of shops and booths sheltering beneath +tall white blank houses, as correct and as expressionless as a +brainless, well-<span class="pagenum" title="Page 4"> </span><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>bred man. Here and there we passed a great hotel. The +crowd about our wheels was almost as cosmopolitan as a Roman crowd. It +was largely French, as that is largely Italian; but the Spaniards were +there, vivid-faced men and women, severe Britons, solemn Teutons; and, I +have no doubt, Italians, Belgians, Flemish and Austrians as well. At +least I heard during my three days' stay all the languages that I could +recognize, and many that I could not. There were many motor-cars there +besides our own, carriages, carts, bell-clanging trams, and the litters +of the sick. Presently we dismounted in a side street, and set out to +walk to the Grotto, through the hot evening sunshine.</p> + +<p>The first sign of sanctity that we saw, as we came out at the end of a +street, was the mass of churches built on the rising ground above the +river. Imagine first a great oval of open ground, perhaps two hundred by +three hundred yards in area, crowded now with groups as busy as ants, +partly embraced by two long white curving arms of masonry rising +steadily to their junction; at the point on this side where the ends +should meet if they were prolonged, stands a white stone image of Our +Lady upon a pedestal, crowned, and half surrounded from beneath by some +kind of metallic garland arching upward. At the farther end the two +curves of masonry of which I have spoken,<span class="pagenum" title="Page 5"> </span><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a> rising all the way by steps, +meet upon a terrace. This terrace is, so to speak, the centre of gravity +of the whole.</p> + +<p>For just above it stands the flattened dome of the Rosary Church, of +which the doors are beneath the terrace, placed upon broad flights of +steps. Immediately above the dome is the entrance to the crypt of the +basilica; and, above that again, reached by further flights of steps, +are the doors of the basilica; and, above it, the roof of the church +itself, with its soaring white spire high over all.</p> + +<p>Let me be frank. These buildings are not really beautiful. They are +enormous, but they are not impressive; they are elaborate and fine and +white, but they are not graceful. I am not sure what is the matter with +them; but I think it is that they appear to be turned out of a machine. +They are too trim; they are like a well-dressed man who is not quite a +gentleman; they are like a wedding guest; they are <i>haute-bourgeoise</i>, +they are not the nobility. It is a terrible pity, but I suppose it could +not be helped, since they were allowed so little time to grow. There is +no sense of reflectiveness about them, no patient growth of character, +as in those glorious cathedrals, Amiens, Chartres, Beauvais, which I had +so lately seen. There is nothing in reserve; they say everything, they +suggest nothing. They have no imaginative vista.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 6"> </span><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></p><p>We said not one word to one another. We threaded our way across the +ground, diagonally, seeing as we went the Bureau de Constatations (or +the office where the doctors sit), contrived near the left arm of the +terraced steps; and passed out under the archway, to find ourselves with +the churches on our left, and on our right the flowing Gave, confined on +this side by a terraced walk, with broad fields beyond the stream.</p> + +<p>The first thing I noticed were the three roofs of the <i>piscines</i>, on the +left side of the road, built under the cliff on which the churches +stand. I shall have more to say of them presently, but now it is enough +to remark that they resemble three little chapels, joined in one, each +with its own doorway; an open paved space lies across the entrances, +where the doctors and the priests attend upon the sick. This open space +is fenced in all about, to keep out the crowd that perpetually seethes +there. We went a few steps farther, worked our way in among the people, +and fell on our knees.</p> + +<p>Overhead, the cliff towered up, bare hanging rock beneath, grass and +soaring trees above; and at the foot of the cliff a tall, irregular +cave. There are two openings of this cave; the one, the larger, is like +a cage of railings, with the gleam of an altar in the gloom beyond, a +hundred burning candles, and sheaves and stacks of crutches clinging to +the<span class="pagenum" title="Page 7"> </span><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a> broken roofs of rock; the other, and smaller, and that farther from +us, is an opening in the cliff, shaped somewhat like a <i>vesica</i>. The +grass still grows there, with ferns and the famous climbing shrub; and +within the entrance, framed in it, stands Mary, in white and blue, as +she stood fifty years ago, raised perhaps twenty feet above the ground.</p> + +<p>Ah, that image!... I said, "As she stood there!" Yet it could not have +been so; for surely even simple Bernadette would not have fallen on her +knees. It is too white, it is too blue; it is, like the three churches, +placed magnificently, yet not impressive; fine and slender, yet not +graceful.</p> + +<p>But we knelt there without unreality, with the river running swift +behind us; for we knelt where a holy child had once knelt before a +radiant vision, and with even more reason; for even if the one, as some +say, had been an hallucination, were those sick folk an hallucination? +Was Pierre de Rudder's mended leg an hallucination, or the healed wounds +of Marie Borel? Or were those hundreds upon hundreds of disused crutches +an illusion? Did subjectivity create all these? If so, what greater +miracle can be demanded?</p> + +<p>And there was more than that. For when later, at Argelès, I looked over +the day, I was able to formulate for the first time the extraordinary +im<span class="pagenum" title="Page 8"> </span><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>pressions that Lourdes had given me. There was everything hostile to +my peace—an incalculable crowd, an oppressive heat, dust, noise, +weariness; there was the disappointment of the churches and the image; +there was the sour unfamiliarity of the place and the experience; and +yet I was neither troubled nor depressed nor irritated nor disappointed. +It appeared to me as if some great benign influence were abroad, +soothing and satisfying; lying like a great summer air over all, to +quiet and to stimulate. I cannot describe this further; I can only say +that it never really left me during those three days, I saw sights that +would have saddened me elsewhere—apparent injustices, certain +disappointments, dashed hopes that would almost have broken my heart; +and yet that great Power was over all, to reconcile, to quiet and to +reassure. To leave Lourdes at the end was like leaving home.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes before the Grotto, we climbed the hill behind, made +an appointment for my Mass on the morrow; and, taking the car again, +moved slowly through the crowded streets, and swiftly along the country +roads, up to Argelès, nearly a dozen miles away.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnlabel">1</a> The epithet is deliberate. He relates in his book, +"Lourdes," the story of an imaginary case of a girl, suffering from +tuberculosis, who goes to Lourdes as a pilgrim, and is, apparently, +cured of her disease. It breaks out, however, again during her return +home; and the case would appear therefore to be one of those in which, +owing to fierce excitement and the mere power of suggestion, there is a +temporary amelioration, but no permanent, or supernatural, cure. Will it +be believed that the details of this story, all of which are related +with great particularity, and observed by Zola himself, were taken from +an actual case that occurred during one of his visits—all the details +except the relapse? There was no relapse: the cure was complete and +permanent. When Dr. Boissarie later questioned the author as to the +honesty of this literary device, saying that he had understood him to +have stated that he had come to Lourdes for the purpose of an impartial +investigation, Zola answered that the characters in the book were his +own, and that he could make them do what he liked. It is on these +principles that the book is constructed. It must be added that Zola +followed up the case, and had communications with the <i>miraculée</i> long +after her cure had been shown to be permanent, and before his book +appeared.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 9"> </span><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + + +<p>We were in Lourdes again next morning a little after six o'clock; and +already it might have been high noon, for the streets were one moving +mass of pilgrims. From every corner came gusts of singing; and here and +there through the crowd already moved the <i>brancardiers</i>—men of every +nation with shoulder-straps and cross—bearing the litters with their +piteous burdens.</p> + +<p>I was to say Mass in the crypt; and when I arrived there at last, the +church was full from end to end. The interior was not so disappointing +as I had feared. It had a certain solid catacombic gloom beneath its low +curved roof, which, if it had not been for the colours and some of the +details, might very nearly have come from the hand of a good architect. +The arrangements for the pilgrims were as bad as possible; there was no +order, no marshalling; they moved crowd against crowd like herds of +bewildered sheep. Some were for Communion, some for Mass only, some for +confession; and they pushed patiently this way and that in every +direction. It was a struggle before I got my vestments; I produced a +letter from the Bishop<span class="pagenum" title="Page 10"> </span><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a> of Rodez, with whom I had lunched a few days +before; I argued, I deprecated, I persuaded, I quoted. Everything once +more was against my peace of mind; yet I have seldom said Mass with more +consolations than in that tiny sanctuary of the high Altar.... An +ecclesiastic served, and an old priest knelt devoutly at a prie-Dieu.</p> + +<p>When the time for Communion came, I turned about and saw but one sea of +faces stretching from the altar rail into as much of the darkness as I +could discern. For a quarter of an hour I gave Communion rapidly; then, +as soon as another priest could force his way through the crowd, I +continued Mass; he had not nearly finished giving Communion when I had +ended my thanksgiving. This, too, was the same everywhere—in the crypt, +in the basilica, in the Rosary Church, and above all in the Grotto. The +average number of Communions every day throughout the year in Lourdes +is, I am told, four thousand. In that year of Jubilee, however, Dr. +Boissarie informed me, in round numbers, one million Communions were +made, sixty thousand Masses were said, with two thousand Communions at +each midnight Mass.... Does Jesus Christ go out when Mary comes in? We +are told so by non-Catholics. Rather, it seems as if, like the Wise Men +of old, men still find the Child with Mary His Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 11"> </span><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a></p><p>At the close of my Mass, the old priest rose from his place and began to +prepare the vessels and arrange the Missal. As soon as I took off the +vestments he put them on. I assented passively, supposing him to be the +next on the list; I even answered his <i>Kyrie</i>. But at the Collect a +frantic sacristan burst through the crowd; and from remarks made to the +devout old priest and myself, I learned that the next on the list was +still waiting in the sacristy, and that this old man was an adroit +though pious interloper who had determined not to take "No" for an +answer. He finished his Mass. I forbear from comment.</p> + +<p>For a while afterward we stood on the terrace above the <i>piscines</i>; and, +indeed, after breakfast I returned here again alone, and remained during +all the morning. It was an extraordinary sight. From the terrace, the +cliff fell straight away down to the roofs of the three chapel-like +buildings, fifty or sixty feet beneath. Beyond that I could see the +paved space, sprinkled with a few moving figures; and, beyond the +barrier, the crowd stretching across the roadway and far on either side. +Behind them was the clean river and the green meadows, all delicious in +the early sunlight.</p> + +<p>During that morning I must have seen many hundreds of the sick carried +into the baths; for there were almost two thousand sick in Lourdes on<span class="pagenum" title="Page 12"> </span><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a> +that day. I could even watch their faces, white and drawn with pain, or +horribly scarred, as they lay directly beneath me, "waiting for some man +to put them into the water." I saw men and women of all nations and all +ranks attending upon them, carrying them tenderly, fanning their faces, +wiping their lips, giving them to drink of the Grotto water. A murmur of +thousands of footsteps came up from beneath (this National Pilgrimage of +France numbered between eighty and an hundred thousand persons); and +loud above the footsteps came the cries of the priests, as they stood in +a long row facing the people, with arms extended in the form of a cross. +Now and again came a far-off roar of singing from the Grotto to my left, +where Masses were said continuously by bishops and favoured priests; or +from my right, from the great oval space beneath the steps; and then, on +a sudden a great chorus of sound from beneath, as the <i>Gloria Patri</i> +burst out when the end of some decade was reached. All about us was the +wheeling earth, the Pyrenees behind, the meadows in front; and over us +heaven, with Mary looking down.</p> + +<p>Once from beneath during that long morning I heard terrible shrieks, as +of a demoniac, that died into moans and ceased. And once I saw a little +procession go past from the Grotto, with the Blessed Sacrament in the +midst. There was no<span class="pagenum" title="Page 13"> </span><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a> sensation, no singing. The Lord of all went simply +by on some errand of mercy, and men fell on their knees and crossed +themselves as He went.</p> + +<p>After <i>déjeûner</i> at the Hotel Moderne, where now it was decided that we +should stay until the Monday, we went down to the Bureau. At first there +were difficulties made, as the doctors were not come; and I occupied a +little while in watching the litters unloaded from the wagonettes that +brought them gently down to within a hundred yards of the Grotto. Once +indeed I was happy to be able to fit a <i>brancardier's</i> straps into the +poles that supported a sick woman. It was all most terrible and most +beautiful. Figure after figure was passed along the seats—living +crucifixes of pain—and lowered tenderly to the ground, to lie there a +moment or two, with the body horribly flat and, as it seemed, almost +non-existent beneath the coverlet; and the white face with blazing eyes +of anguish, or passive and half dead, to show alone that a human +creature lay there. Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently +down to the gate of the <i>piscines</i>.</p> + +<p>At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting +a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came +out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted. I passed through a barrier, +through a couple of<span class="pagenum" title="Page 14"> </span><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a> rooms, and found myself in the Holy Place of +Science, as the Grotto is the Holy Place of Grace.</p> + +<p>It is a little room in which perhaps twenty persons can stand with +comfort. Again and again I saw more than sixty there. Down one side runs +a table, at one end of which sits Dr. Cox; in the centre, facing the +room, is the presiding doctor's chair, where, as a rule, Dr. Boissarie +is to be found. Dr. Cox set me between him and the president, and I +began to observe.</p> + +<p>At the farther end of the room is a long glazed case of photographs hung +against the wall. Here are photographs of many of the most famous +patients. The wounds of Marie Borel are shown there; Marie Borel herself +had been present in the Bureau that morning to report upon her excellent +health. (She was cured last year instantaneously, in the <i>piscine</i>, of a +number of running wounds, so deep that they penetrated the intestines.) +On the table lay some curious brass objects, which I learned later were +models of the bones of Pierre de Rudder's legs. (This man had for eight +years suffered from a broken leg and two running wounds—one at the +fracture, the other on the foot. These were gangrenous. The ends of the +broken bones were seen immediately before the cure, which took place +instantaneously at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostacker. +Pierre lived rather<span class="pagenum" title="Page 15"> </span><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a> over twenty years after his sudden and complete +restoration to health). For the rest, the room is simple enough. There +are a few chairs. Another door leads into a little compartment where the +sick can be examined privately; a third and a fourth lead into the open +air on either side. There are two windows, looking out respectively on +this side and that.</p> + +<p>Now I spent a great deal of my time in the Bureau. (I was given +presently a "doctor's cross" to wear—consisting of a kind of cardboard +with a white upright and red cross-bar—so that I could pass in and out +as I wished). I may as well, then, sum up once and for all the +impressions I received from observing the methods of the doctors. There +were all kinds of doctors there continually—Catholics and +free-thinkers, old, young, middle-aged. The cases were discussed with +the utmost freedom. Any could ask questions of the <i>miraculés</i> or of the +other doctors. The certificates of the sick were read aloud. I may +observe, too, that if there was any doubt as to the certificates, if +there was any question of a merely nervous malady, any conceivable +possibility of a mistake, the case was dismissed abruptly. These +certificates, then, given by the doctor attending the sick person, dated +and signed, are of the utmost importance; for without them no cure is +registered. Yet, in spite of these<span class="pagenum" title="Page 16"> </span><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a> demands, I saw again and again sixty +or seventy men, dead silent, staring, listening with all their ears, +while some poor uneducated man or woman, smiling radiantly, gave a +little history or answered the abrupt kindly questions of the presiding +doctor.</p> + +<p>Again, and again, too, it seemed to me that all this had been enacted +before. There was once upon a time a man born blind who received his +sight, and round him there gathered keen-eyed doctors of another kind. +They tried to pose him with questions. It was unheard of, they cried, +that a man born blind should receive his sight; at least it could not +have been as he said. Yet there stood the man in the midst, seeing them +as they saw him, and giving his witness. "This," he said, "was the way +it was done. Such and such is the name of the Man who cured me. And look +for yourselves! I was blind; now I see."</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image2" id="image2"></a> + <a href="images/image2.jpg" > + <img src="images/image2-th.jpg" + alt="DR. BOISSARIE" + title="DR. BOISSARIE" + width="278" height="400" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">DR. BOISSARIE</p> +</div> + +<p>After I had looked and made notes and asked questions of Dr. Cox, Dr. +Boissarie came in. I was made known to him; and presently he took me +aside, with a Scottish priest (who all through my stay showed me great +kindness), and began to ask me questions. It seemed that, since there +was no physical <i>miraculé</i> present just now, a spiritual <i>miraculé</i> +would do as well; for he asked me a hundred questions as to my +conversion and its causes, and what part prayer played in it; and the<span class="pagenum" title="Page 17"> </span><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a> +doctors crowded round and listened to my halting French.</p> + +<p>"It was the need of a divine Leader—an authority—then, that brought +you in?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was that; it was the position of St. Peter in the Scriptures +and in history; it was the supernatural unity of the Church. It is +impossible to say exactly which argument predominated."</p> + +<p>"It was, in fact, the grace of God," smiled the Doctor.</p> + +<p>Dr. Boissarie, as also Dr. Cox, was extremely good to me. He is an +oldish man, with a keen, clever, wrinkled face; he is of middle-size, +and walks very slowly and deliberately; he is a fervent Catholic. He is +very sharp and businesslike, but there is an air of wonderful goodness +and kindness about him; he takes one by the arm in a very pleasant +manner; I have seen dilatory, rambling patients called to their senses +in an instant, yet never frightened.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cox, who has been at Lourdes for fourteen years, is a typical +Englishman, ruddy, with a white moustache. His part is mostly +secretarial, it seems; though he too asks questions now and again. It +was he who gave me the "doctor's cross," and who later obtained for me +an even more exceptional favour, of which I shall speak in the proper +place. I heard a tale that he himself had been cured of<span class="pagenum" title="Page 18"> </span><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a> some illness at +Lourdes, but I cannot vouch for it as true. I did not like to ask him +outright.</p> + +<p>Presently from outside came the sound of organized singing, and the room +began to empty. The afternoon procession was coming. I ran to the window +that looks toward the Grotto; and there, sitting by an Assumptionist +Father—one of that Order who once had, officially, charge of the +Grotto, and now unofficially assists at it—I saw the procession go +past.</p> + +<p>I have no idea of its numbers. I saw only beyond the single line of +heads outside the window, an interminable double stream of men go past, +each bearing a burning taper and singing as he came. There were persons +of every kind in that stream—groups of boys and young men, with their +priest beating time in the midst; middle-aged men and old men. I saw +again and again that kind of face which a foolish Briton is accustomed +to regard as absurd—a military, musketeer profile, immense moustaches +and imperial, and hair <i>en brosse</i>. Yet indeed there was nothing absurd. +It was terribly moving, and a lump rose in my throat, as I watched such +a sanguine bristling face as one of these, all alight with passion and +adoration. Such a man might be a grocer, or a local mayor, or a duke; it +was all one; he was a child of Mary; and he loved her with all his +heart, and Gabriel's salute<span class="pagenum" title="Page 19"> </span><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a> was on his lips. Then the priests began to +come; long lines of them in black; then white cottas; then gleams of +purple; then a pectoral cross or two; and last the great canopy swaying +with all its bells and tassels.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 20"> </span><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + + +<p>Now, it is at the close of the afternoon procession that the sick more +usually are healed. I crossed the Bureau to the other window that looks +on to what I will call the square, and began to watch for the +reappearance of the procession on that side. In front of me was a dense +crowd of heads, growing more dense every step up to the barriers that +enclose the open space in the midst. It was beyond those barriers, as I +knew, that the sick were laid ready for the passing by of Jesus of +Nazareth. On the right rose the wide sweep of steps and terraces leading +up to the basilica, and every line of stone was crowned with heads. Even +on the cliffs beyond, I could see figures coming and going and watching. +In all, about eighty thousand persons were present.</p> + +<p>Presently the singing grew loud again; the procession had turned the +corner and entered the square; and I could see the canopy moving quickly +down the middle toward the Rosary Church, for its work was done. The +Blessed Sacrament was now to be carried round the lines of the sick, +beneath an <i>ombrellino</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 21"> </span><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a></p><p>I shall describe all this later, and more in detail; it is enough just +now to say that the Blessed Sacrament went round, that It was carried at +last to the steps of the Rosary Church, and that, after the singing of +the <i>Tantum Ergo</i> by that enormous crowd, Benediction was given. Then +the Bureau began to fill, and I turned round for the scientific aspect +of the affair.</p> + +<p>The first thing that I saw was a little girl, seeming eight or nine +years old, who walked in and stood at the other side of the table, to be +examined. Her name was Marguerite Vandenabeele—so I read on the +certificate—and she had suffered since birth from infantile paralysis, +with such a result that she was unable to put her heels to the ground. +That morning in the <i>piscine</i> she had found herself able to walk +properly though her heels were tender from disuse. We looked at her—the +doctors who had begun again to fill the room, and myself, with three or +four more amateurs. There she stood, very quiet and unexcited, with a +slightly flushed face. Some elder person in charge of her gave in the +certificate and answered the questions. Then she went away.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnlabel">2</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 22"> </span><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a></p><p>Now, I must premise that the cures that took place while I was at +Lourdes that August cannot yet be regarded as finally established, since +not sufficient time has elapsed for their test and verification.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnlabel">3</a> +Occasionally there is a relapse soon after the apparent cure, in the +case of certain diseases that may be more or less affected by a nervous +condition; occasionally claimants are found not to be cured at all. For +scientific certainty, therefore, it is better to rely upon cures that +have taken place a year, or at least some months previously, in which +the restored health is preserved. There are, of course a large number of +such cases; I shall come to them presently.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnlabel">4</a></p> + +<p>The next patient to enter the room was one Mlle. Bardou. I learned later +from her lips that she was a secularized Carmelite nun, expelled from +her convent by the French Government. There was <span class="pagenum" title="Page 23"> </span><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>the further pathos in +her case in the fact that her cure, when I left Lourdes, was believed to +be at least doubtful. But now she took her seat, with a radiantly happy +face, to hand in her certificate and answer the questions. She had +suffered from renal tuberculosis; her certificate proved that. She was +here herself, without pain or discomfort, to prove that she no longer +suffered. Relief had come during the procession. A question or two was +put to her; an arrangement was made for her return after examination; +and she went out.</p> + +<p>The room was rapidly filling now; there were forty or fifty persons +present. There was a sudden stir; those who sat rose up; and there came +into the room three bishops in purple—from St. Paul in Brazil, the +Bishop of Beauvais, and the famous orator, Monseigneur Touchet, of +Orléans—all of whom had taken part in the procession. These sat down, +and the examination went on.</p> + +<p>The next to enter was Juliette Gosset, aged twenty-five, from Paris. She +had a darkish plain face, and was of middle size. She answered the +questions quietly enough, though there was evident a suppressed +excitement beneath. She had been cured during the procession, she said; +she had stood up and walked. And her illness? She showed a certificate, +dated in the previous March, asserting that she suffered gravely from +tubercu<span class="pagenum" title="Page 24"> </span><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>losis, especially in the right lung; she added herself that hip +disease had developed since that time, that one leg had become seven +centimetres shorter than the other, and that she had been for some +months unable to sit or kneel. Yet here she walked and sat without the +smallest apparent discomfort. When she had finished her tale, a doctor +pointed out that the certificate said nothing of any hip disease. She +assented, explaining again the reason; but added that the hospital where +she lodged in Lourdes would corroborate what she said. Then she +disappeared into the little private room to be examined.</p> + +<p>There followed a nun, pale and black-eyed, who made gestures as she +stood by Dr. Boissarie and told her story. She spoke very rapidly. I +learned that she had been suffering from a severe internal malady, and +that she had been cured instantaneously in the <i>piscine</i>. She handed in +her certificate, and then she, too, vanished.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes there returned the doctor who had examined Juliette +Gosset. Now, I think it should impress the incredulous that this case +was pronounced unsatisfactory, and will not, probably, appear upon the +registers. It was perfectly true that the girl had had tuberculosis, and +that now nothing was to be detected except the very faintest symptom—so +faint as to be negligible—in the right<span class="pagenum" title="Page 25"> </span><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a> lung. It appeared to be true +also that she had had hip disease, since there were upon her body +certain marks of treatment by burning; and that her legs were now of an +exactly equal length. But, firstly, the certificate was five months old, +secondly, it made no mention of hip disease; thirdly, seven centimetres +was almost too large a measure to be believed. The case then was +referred back for further investigation; and there it stood when I left +Lourdes. The doctors shook their heads considerably over the seven +centimetres.</p> + +<p>There followed next one of the most curious instances of all. It was an +old <i>miraculée</i> who came back to report; her case is reported at length +in Dr. Boissarie's <i>œuvre de Lourdes</i>, on pages 299-308.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnlabel">5</a> Her name +was Marie Cools, and she came from Anvers, suffering apparently from +<i>mal de Pott</i>, and paralysis and anæsthesia of the legs. This state had +lasted for about three years. The doctors consulted differed as to her +case: two diagnosing it as mentioned above, two as hysteria. For ten +months she had suffered, moreover, from constant feverishness; she was +continually sick, and the work of digestion was painful and difficult. +There was a marked lateral deviation of the spinal column, with atrophy +of the leg muscles. At the<span class="pagenum" title="Page 26"> </span><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a> second bath she began to improve, and the +pains in the back ceased; at the fourth bath the paralysis vanished, her +appetite came steadily back, and the sickness ceased. Now she came in to +announce her continued good health.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image3" id="image3"></a> + <a href="images/image3.jpg" > + <img src="images/image3-th.jpg" + alt="BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS" + title="BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS" + width="400" height="237" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS</p> +</div> + +<p>There are a number of interesting facts as to this case; and the first +is the witness of the infidel doctor who sent her to Lourdes, since it +seemed to him that "religious suggestion," was the only hope left. He, +by the way, had diagnosed her case as one of hysteria. "It had a +result," he writes, "which I, though an unbeliever, can characterize +only as marvellous. Marie Cools returned completely, absolutely cured. +No trace of paralysis or anæsthesia. She is actually on her feet; and, +two hospital servants having been stricken by typhoid, she is taking the +place of one of them." Another interesting fact is that a positive storm +raged at Anvers over her cure, and that Dr. Van de Vorst was at the +ensuing election dismissed from the hospital, with at least a suspicion +that the cause of his dismissal lay in his having advised the girl to go +to Lourdes at all.</p> + +<p>Dr. Boissarie makes an interesting comment or two on the case, allowing +that it may perhaps have been hysteria, though this is not at all +certain. "When we have to do with nervous maladies, we must always +remember the rules of Benedict XIV.:<span class="pagenum" title="Page 27"> </span><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a> 'The miracle cannot consist in the +cessation of the crises, but in the cessation of the nervous state which +produces them.'" It is this that has been accomplished in the case of +Marie Cools. And again: "Either Marie Cools is not cured, or there is in +her cure something other than suggestion, even religious. It is high time +to leave that tale alone, and to cease to class under the title of +religious suggestion two orders of facts completely distinct—superficial +and momentary modifications, and constitutional modifications so profound +that science cannot explain them. I repeat: to make of an hysterical +patient one whose equilibrium is perfect ... is a thing more difficult +than the cure of a wound."</p> + +<p>So he wrote at the time of her apparent cure, hesitating still as to its +permanence. And here, before my eyes and his, she stood again, healthy +and well.</p> + +<p>And so at last I went back to dinner. A very different scene followed. +For a couple of hours we had been materialists, concerning ourselves not +with what Mary had done by grace—at least not in that aspect—but with +what nature showed to have been done, by whatever agency, in itself. Now +once more we turned to Mary.</p> + +<p>It was dark when we arrived at the square, but the whole place was alive +with earthly lights. High<span class="pagenum" title="Page 28"> </span><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a> up to our left hung the church, outlined in +fire—tawdry, I dare say, with its fairy lights of electricity, yet +speaking to three-quarters of this crowd in the highest language they +knew. Light, after all, is the most heavenly thing we possess. Does it +matter so very much if it is decked out and arranged in what to superior +persons appears a finikin fashion?</p> + +<p>The crowd itself had become a serpent of fire, writhing here below in +endlessly intricate coils; up there along the steps and parapets, a +long-drawn, slow-moving line; and from the whole incalculable number +came gusts and roars of singing, for each carried a burning torch and +sang with his group. The music was of all kinds. Now and again came the +<i>Laudate Mariam</i> from one company, following to some degree the general +movement of the procession, and singing from little paper-books which +each read by the light of his wind-blown lantern; now the <i>Gloria +Patri</i>, as a band came past reciting the Rosary; but above all pealed +the ballad of Bernadette, describing how the little child went one day +by the banks of the Gave, how she heard the thunderous sound, and, +turning, saw the Lady, with all the rest of the sweet story, each stanza +ending with that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Ave, Ave, Ave Maria!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">that I think will ring in my ears till I die.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 29"> </span><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a></p><p>It was an astounding sight to see that crowd and to hear that singing, +and to watch each group as it came past—now girls, now boys, now +stalwart young men, now old veteran pilgrims, now a bent old woman; each +face illumined by the soft paper-shrouded candle, and each mouth singing +to Mary. Hardly one in a thousand of those came to be cured of any +sickness; perhaps not one in five hundred had any friend among the +patients; yet here they were, drawn across miles of hot France, to give, +not to get. Can France, then, be so rotten?</p> + +<p>As I dropped off to sleep that night, the last sound of which I was +conscious was, still that cannon-like chorus, coming from the direction +of the square:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Ave, Ave, Ave Maria!<br /></span> +<span>Ave, Ave, Ave Maria!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnlabel">2</a> <i>La Voix de Lourdes</i>, a semi-official paper, gives the +following account of her, in its issue of the 23rd: "... Marguerite +Vandenabeele, 10 ans, de Nieurlet, hameau de Hedezeele, (Nord), est +arrivée avec un des trains de Paris, portant un certificat du Docteur +Dantois, daté de St. Momeleu (Nord) le 25 mai, 1908, la déclarant +atteinte <i>d'atrophie de la jambe gauche</i> avec <i>pied-bot équin</i>. Elle ne +marchait que très difficilement et très péniblement. A la sortie de la +piscine, vendredi soir, elle a pu marcher facilement. Amenée au Bureau +Médical, on l'a débarrassée de l'appareil dans lequel était enfermé son +pied. Depuis, elle marche bien, et parait guérie."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnlabel">3</a> This was written in the autumn of the year 1908, in which +this visit of mine took place.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnlabel">4</a> Since 1888 the registered cures are estimated as follows: +'88, 57; '89, 44; '90, 80; '91, 53; '92, 99; '93, 91; '94, 127; '95, +163; '96, 145; '97, 163; '98, 243; '99, 174; 1900, 160; '01, 171; '02, +164; '03, 161; '04, 140; '05, 157; '06, 148; '07, 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnlabel">5</a> My notes are rather illegible at this point, but I make no +doubt that this was Marie Cools.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 30"> </span><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + + +<p>I awoke to that singing again, in my room above the door of the hotel; +and went down presently to say my Mass in the Rosary Church, where, by +the kindness of the Scottish priest of whom I have spoken, an altar had +been reserved for me. The Rosary Church is tolerably fine within. It has +an immense flattened dome, beyond which stands the high altar; and round +about are fifteen chapels dedicated to the Fifteen Mysteries, which are +painted above their respective altars.</p> + +<p>But I was to say Mass in a little temporary chapel to the left of the +entrance, formed, I suppose, out of what usually serves as some kind of +a sacristy. The place was hardly forty feet long; its high altar, at +which I both vested and said Mass, was at the farther end; but each +side, too, was occupied by three priests, celebrating simultaneously +upon altar-stones laid on long, continuous boards that ran the length of +the chapel. The whole of the rest of the space was crammed to +overflowing; indeed it had been scarcely possible to get entrance to the +chapel at all, so vast was the crowd in the great church outside.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 31"> </span><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></p><p>After breakfast I went down to the Bureau once more, and found business +already begun. The first case, which was proceeding as I entered, was +that of a woman (whose name I could not catch) who had been cured of +consumption in the previous year, and who now came back to report a +state of continued good health. Her brother-in-law came with her, and +she remarked with pleasure that the whole family was now returning to +the practice of religion. During this investigation I noticed also +Juliette Gosset seated at the table, apparently in robust health.</p> + +<p>There followed Natalie Audivin, a young woman who declared that she had +been cured in the previous year, and that she supposed her case had been +entered in the books; but at the moment, at any rate, her name could not +be found, and for the present the case was dismissed.</p> + +<p>I now saw a Capuchin priest in the room—a small, rosy, bearded man—and +supposed that he was present merely as a spectator; but a minute or two +later Dr. Boissarie caught sight of him, and presently was showing him +off to me, much to his smiling embarrassment. He had caught consumption +of the intestines, it seemed, some years before, from attending upon two +of his dying brethren, and had come to Lourdes almost at his last gasp +in the year 1900 A. D. Here he stood, smiling and rosy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 32"> </span><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a></p><p>There followed Mademoiselle Madeleine Laure, cured of severe internal +troubles (I did not catch the details) in the previous year.</p> + +<p>Presently the Bishop of Dalmatia came in, and sat in his chair opposite +me, while we heard the account of Miss Noemie Nightingale, of Upper +Norwood, cured in the previous June of deafness, rising, in the case of +one ear at least, from a perforation of the drum. She was present at the +<i>piscines</i>, when on a sudden she had felt excruciating pains in the +ears. The next she knew was that she heard the <i>Magnificat</i> being sung +in honour of her cure.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Marie Bardou came in about this time, and passed through to +the inner room to be examined; while we received from a doctor a report +of the lame child whom we had seen on the previous day. All was as had +been said. She could now put her heels to the ground and walk. It seemed +she had been conscious of a sensation of hammering in her feet at the +moment of the cure, followed by a feeling of relief.</p> + +<p>And so they went on. Next came Mademoiselle Eugénie Meunier, cured two +months before of fistula. She had given her certificate into the care of +her <i>curé</i>, who could not at this moment be found—naturally enough, as +she had made no appointment with him!—but she was allowed to tell her<span class="pagenum" title="Page 33"> </span><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a> +story, and to show a copy of her parish magazine in which her story was +given. She had had in her body one wound of ten centimetres in size. +After bathing one evening she had experienced relief; by the next +morning the wound, which had flowed for six months, was completely +closed, and had remained so. Her strength and appetite had returned. +This cure had taken place in her own lodging, since her state was such +that she was forbidden to go to the Grotto.</p> + +<p>The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered +provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk, +but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to +the <i>piscines</i>, and ordered to report again later.</p> + +<p>The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of +a terrible disease of the bone three years before. Until that time he +was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the <i>piscines</i>. +He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And +now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the +door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had +running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified.</p> + +<p>The next was an oldish man, who came accom<span class="pagenum" title="Page 34"> </span><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>panied by his tall, +black-bearded son, to report on his continued good health since his +recovery, eight years previously, from neurasthenia and insanity. He had +had the illusion of being persecuted, with suicidal tendencies; he had +been told he could not travel twenty miles, and he had travelled over +eight hundred kilometres, after four years' isolation. He had stayed a +few months in Lourdes, bathing in the <i>piscines</i>, and the obsession had +left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and +dismissed.</p> + +<p>There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured +eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen. She had been sitting +in one of the churches, I think, when there was a sudden discharge of +matter, and a sense of relief. On the morrow, after another bath, the +sense of discomfort had finally disappeared. During Madame Simonet's +examination, as the crowd was great, several persons were dismissed till +a later hour.</p> + +<p>There followed another old patient to report. She had been cured two +years before of myelitis and an enormous tumour that, after twenty-two +years of suffering, had been declared "incurable" in her certificate. +The cure had taken place during the procession, in the course of which +she suddenly felt herself, she said, impelled to rise from her<span class="pagenum" title="Page 35"> </span><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> litter. +Her appetite had returned and she had enjoyed admirable health ever +since. Her name was looked up, and the details verified.</p> + +<p>There followed Madame François and some doctor's evidence. Nine years +ago she had been cured of fistula in the arm. She had been operated upon +five times; finally, as her arm measured a circumference of seventy-two +centimetres, amputation had been declared necessary. She had refused, +and had come to Lourdes. Her cure occupied three days, at the end of +which her arm had resumed its normal size of twenty-five centimetres. +She showed her arm, with faint scars visible upon it; it was again +measured and found normal.</p> + +<p>It was an amazing morning. Here I had sat for nearly three hours, seeing +with my own eyes persons of all ages and both sexes, suffering from +every variety of disease, present themselves before sixty or seventy +doctors, saying that they had been cured miraculously by the Mother of +God. Various periods had elapsed since their cures—a day, two or three +months, one year, eight years, nine years. These persons had been +operated upon, treated, subjected to agonizing remedies; one or two had +been declared actually incurable; and then, either in an instant, or +during the lapse of two or three days, or two or three months, had been +restored to health by prayer and the application of a little<span class="pagenum" title="Page 36"> </span><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a> water in +no way remarkable for physical qualities.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image4" id="image4"></a> + <a href="images/image4.jpg" > + <img src="images/image4-th.jpg" + alt="THE GROTTO IN 1858" + title="THE GROTTO IN 1858" + width="400" height="264" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">THE GROTTO IN 1858</p> +</div> + +<p>What do the doctors say to this? Some confess frankly that it is +miraculous in the literal sense of the term, and join with the patients +in praising Mary and her Divine Son. Some say nothing; some are content +to say that science at its present stage cannot account for it all, but +that in a few years, no doubt ... and the rest of it. I did not hear any +say that: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils"; +but that is accounted for by the fact that those who might wish to say +it do not believe in Beelzebub.</p> + +<p>But will science ever account for it all? That I leave to God. All that +I can say is that, if so, it is surely as wonderful as any miracle, that +the Church should have hit upon a secret that the scientists have +missed. But is there not a simpler way of accounting for it? For read +and consider the human evidence as regards Bernadette—her age, her +simplicity, her appearance of ecstasy. She said that she saw this Lady +eighteen times; on one of these occasions, in the presence of +bystanders. She was bidden, she said, to go to the water. She turned to +go down to the Gave, but was recalled and bidden to dig in the earth of +the Grotto. She did so, and a little muddy water appeared where no soul +in the village knew that there was water. Hour by hour this water waxed +in volume; to-day<span class="pagenum" title="Page 37"> </span><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a> it pours out in an endless stream, is conducted +through the <i>piscines</i>; and it is after washing in this water that +bodies are healed in a fashion for which "science cannot account." +Perhaps it cannot. Perhaps it is not intended. But there are things +besides science, and one of them is religion. Is not the evidence +tolerably strong? Or is it a series of coincidences that the child had +an hallucination, devised some trick with the water, and that this water +happens to be an occasion of healing people declared incurable by known +means?</p> + +<p>What is the good of these miracles? If so many are cured, why are not +all? Are the <i>miraculés</i> especially distinguished for piety? Is it +to be expected that unbelievers will be convinced? Is it claimed that the +evidence is irresistible? Let us go back to the Gospels. It used to be +said by doubters that the "miraculous element" must have been added +later by the piety of the disciples, because all the world knew now that +"miracles" did not happen. That <i>a priori</i> argument is surely +silenced by Lourdes. "Miracles" in that sense undoubtedly do happen, if +present-day evidence is worth anything whatever. What, then, is the +Christian theory?</p> + +<p>It is this. Our Blessed Lord appears to have worked miracles of such a +nature that their signi<span class="pagenum" title="Page 38"> </span><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>ficance was not, historically speaking, +absolutely evident to those who, for other reasons, did not "believe in +Him." It is known how some asked for a "sign from heaven" and were +refused it; how He Himself said that even if one rose from the dead, +they would not believe; yet, further, how He begged them to believe Him +even for His work's sake, if for nothing else. We know, finally, how, +when confronted with one particular miracle, His enemies cried out that +it must have been done by diabolical agency.</p> + +<p>Very good, then. It would seem that the miracles of Our Lord were of a +nature that strongly disposed to belief those that witnessed them, and +helped vastly in the confirmation of the faith of those who already +believed; but that miracles, as such, cannot absolutely compel the +belief of those who for moral reasons refuse it. If they could, faith +would cease to be faith.</p> + +<p>Now, this seems precisely the state of affairs at Lourdes. Even +unbelieving scientists are bound to admit that science at present cannot +account for the facts, which is surely the modern equivalent for the +Beelzebub theory. We have seen, too, how severely scientific persons +such as Dr. Boissarie and Dr. Cox—if they will permit me to quote their +names—knowing as well as anyone what medicine and surgery and hypnotism +and suggestion can and<span class="pagenum" title="Page 39"> </span><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a> cannot do, corroborate this evidence, and see in +the facts a simple illustration of the truth of that Catholic Faith +which they both hold and practise.</p> + +<p>Is not the parallel a fair one? What more, then, do the adversaries +want? There is no arguing with people who say that, since there is +nothing but Nature, no process can be other than natural. There is no +sign, even from heaven, that could break down the intellectual prejudice +of such people. If they saw Jesus Christ Himself in glory, they could +always say that "at present science cannot account for the phenomenon of +a luminous body apparently seated upon a throne, but no doubt it will do +so in the course of time." If they saw a dead and corrupting man rise +from the grave, they could always argue that he could not have been dead +and corrupting, or he could not have risen from the grave. Nothing but +the Last Judgment could convince such persons. Even when the trumpet +sounds, I believe that some of them, when they have recovered from their +first astonishment, will make remarks about aural phenomena.</p> + +<p>But for the rest of us, who believe in God and His Son and the Mother of +God on quite other grounds—because our intellect is satisfied, our +heart kindled, our will braced by the belief; and because without that +belief all life falls into chaos, and human evidence is nullified, and +all noble mo<span class="pagenum" title="Page 40"> </span><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>tive and emotion cease—for us, who have received the gift +of faith, in however small a measure, Lourdes is enough. Christ and His +Mother are with us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. Is not that, after all, the simplest theory?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 41"> </span><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + + +<p>After <i>déjeûner</i> I set out again to find the Scottish priest, who hoped +to be able to take me to a certain window in the Rosary Church, where +only a few were admitted, from which we might view the procession and +the Blessing of the Sick. But we were disappointed; and, after a certain +amount of scheming, we managed to get a position at the back of the +crowd on the top of the church steps. I was able to climb up a few +inches above the others, and secured a very tolerable view of the whole +scene.</p> + +<p>The crowd was beyond describing. Here about us was a vast concourse of +men; and as far as the eye could reach down the huge oval, and far away +beyond the crowned statue, and on either side back to the Bureau on the +left, and on the slopes on the right, stretched an inconceivable +pavement of heads. Above us, too, on every terrace and step, back to the +doors of the great basilica, we knew very well, was one seething, +singing mob. A great space was kept open on the level ground beneath +us—I should say one hundred by two hundred yards in area—and the +inside fringe of this was<span class="pagenum" title="Page 42"> </span><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a> composed of the sick, in litters, in chairs, +standing, sitting, lying and kneeling. It was at the farther end that +the procession would enter.</p> + +<p>After perhaps half an hour's waiting, during which one incessant gust of +singing rolled this way and that through the crowd, the leaders of the +procession appeared far away—little white or black figures, small as +dolls—and the singing became general. But as the endless files rolled +out, the singing ceased, and a moment later a priest, standing solitary +in the great space began to pray aloud in a voice like a silver trumpet.</p> + +<p>I have never heard such passion in my life. I began to watch presently, +almost mechanically, the little group beneath the <i>ombrellino</i>, in white +and gold, and the movements of the monstrance blessing the sick; but +again and again my eyes wandered back to the little figure in the midst, +and I cried out with the crowd, sentence after sentence, following that +passionate voice:</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, nous vous adorons!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur,</i>" came the huge response, "<i>nous vous adorons!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, nous vous aimons!</i>" cried the priest.</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, nous vous aimons!</i>" answered the people.</p> + +<p>"<i>Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sauvez-nous, Jésus; nous périssons!</i>"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 43"> </span><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a></p><p>"<i>Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Jésus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitié de nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>Then with a surge rose up the plainsong melody.</p> + +<p>"<i>Parce, Domine!</i>" sang the people. "<i>Parce populo tuo! Ne in aeternum +irascaris nobis.</i>"</p> + +<p>Again:</p> + +<p>"<i>Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. +Amen.</i>"</p> + +<p>Then again the single voice and the multitudinous answer:</p> + +<p>"<i>Vous êtes la Résurrection et la Vie!</i>"</p> + +<p>And then an adjuration to her whom He gave to be our Mother.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>Then once more the singing; then the cry, more touching than all:</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!</i>"</p> + +<p>Then the kindling shout that brought the blood to ten thousand faces:</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!</i>" (I shook to hear it).</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna!</i>" cried the priest, rising from his knees with arms flung +wide.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna!</i>" roared the people, swift as an echo.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna! Hosanna!</i>" crashed out again and again, like great +artillery.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 44"> </span><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></p><p>Yet there was no movement among those piteous prostrate lines. The +Bishop, the <i>ombrellino</i> over him, passed on slowly round the circle; +and the people cried to Him whom he bore, as they cried two thousand +years ago on the road to the city of David. Surely He will be pitiful +upon this day—the Jubilee Year of His Mother's graciousness, the octave +of her assumption to sit with Him on His throne!</p> + +<p>"<i>Mère du Sauveur, priez pour nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Jésus, vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!</i>"</p> + +<p>Yet there was no movement.</p> + +<p>If ever "suggestion" could work a miracle, it must work it now. "We +expect the miracles during the procession to-morrow and on Sunday," a +priest had said to me on the previous day. And there I stood, one of a +hundred thousand, confident in expectation, thrilled by that voice, +nothing doubting or fearing; there were the sick beneath me, answering +weakly and wildly to the crying of the priest; and yet there was no +movement, no sudden leap of a sick man from his bed as Jesus went by, no +vibrating scream of joy—"<i>Je suis guéri! Je suis guéri!</i>"—no +tumultuous rush to the place, and the roar of the <i>Magnificat</i>, as we +had been led to expect.</p> + +<p>The end was coming near now. The monstrance had reached the image once +again, and was ad<span class="pagenum" title="Page 45"> </span><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>vancing down the middle. The voice of the priest grew +more passionate still, as he tossed his arms and cried for mercy</p> + +<p>"<i>Jésus, ayez pitié de nous!—ayez <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: Original had "pitiê"">pitié</ins> +de nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>And the people, frantic with ardour and desire, answered him in a voice +of thunder:</p> + +<p>"<i>Ayez pitié de nous!—ayez pitié de nous!</i>"</p> + +<p>And now up the steps came the grave group to where Jesus would at least +bless His own, though He would not heal them; and the priest in the +midst, with one last cry, gave glory to Him who must be served through +whatever misery:</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!</i>"</p> + +<p>Surely that must touch the Sacred Heart! Will not His Mother say one +word?</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna!</i>" cried the priest.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna!</i>" cried the people.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!...</i>"</p> + +<p>One articulate roar of disappointed praise, and then—<i>Tantum ergo +Sacramentum!</i> rose in its solemnity.</p> + +<p>When Benediction was over, I went back to the Bureau; but there was +little to be seen there. No, there were no miracles to-day, I was +told—or hardly one. Perhaps one in the morning. It was not known.</p> + +<p>Several Bishops were there again, listening to<span class="pagenum" title="Page 46"> </span><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a> the talk of the doctors, +and the description of certain cases on previous days. Père Salvator, +the Capuchin, was there again; as also the tall bearded Assumptionist +Father of whom I have spoken. But there was not a great deal of interest +or excitement. I had the pleasure of talking a while with the Bishop of +Tarbes, who introduced me again to the Capuchin, and retold his story.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image5" id="image5"></a> + <a href="images/image5.jpg" > + <img src="images/image5-th.jpg" + alt="THE GROTTO IN 1914" + title="THE GROTTO IN 1914" + width="400" height="238" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">THE GROTTO IN 1914</p> +</div> + +<p>But I was a little unhappy. The miracle was that I was not more so. I +had expected so much: I had seen nothing.</p> + +<p>I talked to Dr. Cox also before leaving.</p> + +<p>"No," he told me, "there is hardly one miracle to-day. We are doubtful, +too, about that leg that was seven centimetres too short."</p> + +<p>"And is it true that Mademoiselle Bardou is not cured?" (A doctor had +been giving us certain evidence a few minutes before).</p> + +<p>"I am afraid so. It was probably a case of intense subjective +excitement. But it may be an amelioration. We do not know yet. The real +work of investigating comes afterwards."</p> + +<p>How arbitrary it all seemed, I thought, as I walked home to dinner. That +morning, on my way from the Bureau, I had seen a great company of white +banners moving together; and, on inquiry, had found that these were the +<i>miraculés</i> chiefly of previous years—about three hundred and fifty<span class="pagenum" title="Page 47"> </span><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a> in +number.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnlabel">6</a> They formed a considerably large procession. I had looked at +their faces: there were many more women than men (as there were upon +Calvary). But as I watched them I could not conceive upon what principle +the Supernatural had suddenly descended on this and not on that. "Two +men in one bed.... Two women grinding at the mill.... One is taken and +the other left." Here were persons of all ages—from six to eighty, I +should guess—of all characters, ranks, experiences; of both sexes. Some +were religious, some grocers, some of the nobility, a retired soldier or +two, and so on. They were not distinguished for holiness, it seemed. I +had heard heartbreaking little stories of the ten lepers over again—one +grateful, nine selfish. One or two of the girls, I heard, had had their +heads turned by flattery and congratulation; they had begun to give +themselves airs.</p> + +<p>And, now again, here was this day, this almost obvious occasion. It was +the Jubilee Year; everything was about on a double scale. And nothing +had happened! Further, five of the sick had actually died at Lourdes +during their first night there. To come so far and to die!</p> + +<p>On what principle, then, did God act? Then I suddenly understood, not +God's principles, but my own; and I went home both ashamed and +comforted.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnlabel">6</a> The official numbers of those at the afternoon procession +were 341.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 48"> </span><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + + +<p>I said a midnight Mass that night in the same chapel of the Rosary +Church as on the previous morning. Again the crush was terrific. On the +steps of the church I saw a friar hearing a confession; and on entering +I found High Mass proceeding in the body of the church itself, with a +congregation so large and so worn-out that many were sleeping in +constrained attitudes among the seats. In fact, I was informed, since +the sleeping accommodation of Lourdes could not possibly provide for so +large a pilgrimage, there were many hundreds, at least, who slept where +they could—on the steps of churches, under trees and rocks, and by the +banks of the river.</p> + +<p>I was served at my Mass by a Scottish priest, immediately afterwards I +served his at the same altar. While vesting, I noticed a priest at the +high altar of this little chapel reading out acts of prayer, to which +the congregation responded; and learned that two persons who had been +received into the Church on that day were to make their First Communion. +As midnight struck, simultaneously from the seven altars came seven +voices:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 49"> </span><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a></p><p>"<i>In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.</i>"</p> + +<p>Once more, on returning home and going to bed a little after one o'clock +in the morning, the last sound that I heard was of the "<i>Gloria Patri</i>" +being sung by other pilgrims also returning to their lodging.</p> + +<p>After coffee, a few hours later, I went down again to the square. It was +Sunday, and a Pontifical High Mass was being sung on the steps of the +Rosary Church. As usual, the crowd filled the square, and I could hardly +penetrate for a while beyond the fringe; but it was a new experience to +hear that vast congregation in the open air responding with one giant +voice to the plain-song of the Mass. It was astonishing what expression +showed itself in the singing. The <i>Sanctus</i> was one of the most +impressive peals of worship and adoration that I have ever heard. At the +close of the Mass, all the bishops present near the altar—I counted six +or seven—turned and gave the blessing simultaneously. On the two great +curves that led up to the basilica were grouped the white banners of the +<i>miraculés</i>.</p> + +<p>Soon after arriving at the Bureau a very strange and quiet little +incident happened. A woman with a yellowish face, to which the colour +was slowly returning, came in and sat down to give her evi<span class="pagenum" title="Page 50"> </span><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>dence. She +declared to us that during the procession yesterday she had been cured +of a tumour on the liver. She had suddenly experienced an overwhelming +sense of relief, and had walked home completely restored to health. On +being asked why she did not present herself at the Bureau, she answered +that she did not think of it: she had just gone home. I have not yet +heard whether this was a true cure or not; all I can say at present is I +was as much impressed by her simple and natural bearing, her entire +self-possession, and the absence of excitement, as by anything I saw at +Lourdes. I cannot conceive such a woman suffering from an illusion.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Dr. Cox called to me, and writing on a card, handed +it to me, telling me it would admit me to the <i>piscines</i> for a bath. I +had asked for this previously; but had been told it was not certain, +owing to the crush of patients, whether it could be granted. I set out +immediately to the <i>piscines</i>.</p> + +<p>There are, as I have said, three compartments in the building called the +<i>piscines</i>. That on the left is for women; in the middle, for children +and for those who do not undergo complete immersion; on the right, for +men. It was into this last, then, that I went, when I had forced my way +through the crowd, and passed the open court where the<span class="pagenum" title="Page 51"> </span><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> priests prayed. +It was a little paved place like a chapel, with a curtain hung +immediately before the door. When I had passed this, I saw at the +farther end, three or four yards away, was a deepish trough, wide and +long enough to hold one person. Steps went down on either side of it, +for the attendants. Immediately above the bath, on the wall, was a +statue of Our Lady; and beneath it a placard of prayers, large enough to +be read at a little distance.</p> + +<p>There were about half a dozen people in the place—two or three priests +and three or four patients. One of the priests, I was relieved to see, +was the Scotsman whose Mass I had served the previous midnight. He was +in his soutane, with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He gave me my +directions, and while I made ready I watched the patients. There was one +lame man, just beside me, beginning to dress; two tiny boys, and a young +man who touched me more than I can say. He was standing by the head of +the bath, holding a basin in one hand and a little image of our Lady in +the other, and was splashing water ingeniously with his fingers into his +eyes; these were horribly inflamed, and I could see that he was blind. I +cannot describe the passion with which he did this, seeming to stare all +the while towards the image he held, and whispering out prayers in a +quick<span class="pagenum" title="Page 52"> </span><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a> undertone—hoping, no doubt, that his first sight would be the +image of his Mother. Then I looked at the boys. One of them had horribly +prolonged and thin legs; I could not see what was wrong with the other, +except that he looked ill and worn out. Close beside me, on the wet, +muddy paving, lay an indescribable bandage that had been unrolled from +the lame man's leg.</p> + +<p>When my turn came, I went wrapped in a soaking apron, down a step or so +into the water; and then, with a priest holding either hand, lay down at +full length so that my head only emerged. That water had better not be +described. It is enough to say that people suffering from most of the +diseases known to man had bathed in it without ceasing for at least five +or six hours. Yet I can say, with entire sincerity, that I did not have +even the faintest physical repulsion, though commonly I hate dirt at +least as much as sin. It is said, too, that never in the history of +Lourdes has there been one case of disease traceable to infection from +the baths. The water was cold, but not unpleasantly. I lay there, I +suppose, about one minute, while the two priests and myself repeated off +the placard the prayers inscribed there. These were, for the most part, +petitions to Mary to pray. "<i>O Marie,</i>" they ended, "<i>conçue sans péché, +priez pour nous qui avons recours a vous!</i>"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 53"> </span><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a></p><p>As I dressed again after the bath, I had one more sight of the young +man. He was being led out by a kindly attendant, but his face was all +distorted with crying, and from his blind eyes ran down a stream of +terrible tears. It is unnecessary to say that I said a "Hail Mary" for +his soul at least.</p> + +<p>As soon as I was ready, I went out and sat down for a while among the +recently bathed, and began to remind myself why <i>I</i> had bathed. +Certainly I was not suffering from anything except a negligible ailment +or two. Neither did I do it out of curiosity, because I could have seen +without difficulty all the details without descending into that +appalling trough. I suppose it was just an act of devotion. Here was +water with a history behind it; water that was as undoubtedly used by +Almighty God for giving benefits to man as was the clay laid upon blind +eyes long ago near Siloe, or the water of Bethesda itself. And it is a +natural instinct to come as close as possible to things used by the +heavenly powers. I was extraordinarily glad I had bathed, and I have +been equally glad ever since. I am afraid it is of no use as evidence to +say that until I came to Lourdes I was tired out, body and mind; and +that since my return I have been unusually robust. Yet that is a fact, +and I leave it there.</p> + +<p>As I sat there a procession went past to the<span class="pagenum" title="Page 54"> </span><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a> Grotto, and I walked to +the railings to look at it. I do not know at all what it was all about, +but it was as impressive as all things are in Lourdes. The <i>miraculés</i> +came first with their banners—file after file of them—then a number of +prelates, then <i>brancardiers</i> with their shoulder-harness, then nuns, +then more <i>brancardiers</i>. I think perhaps they may have been taking a +recent <i>miraculé</i> to give thanks; for when I arrived presently at the +Bureau again, I heard that, after all, several appeared to have been +cured at the procession on the previous day.</p> + +<p>I was sitting in the hall of the hotel a few minutes later when I heard +the roar of the <i>Magnificat</i> from the street, and ran out to see what +was forward. As I came to the door, the heart of the procession went by. +A group of <i>brancardiers</i> formed an irregular square, holding cords to +keep back the crowd; and in the middle walked a group of three, followed +by an empty litter. The three were a white-haired man on this side, a +stalwart <i>brancardier</i> on the other, and between them a girl with a +radiant face, singing with all her heart. She had been carried down from +her lodging that morning to the <i>piscines</i>; she was returning on her own +feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and +go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to +the hotel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 55"> </span><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + + +<p>In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place +to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before. But the +crowd was so great that we could not find him, so presently we dispersed +as best we could. Two other priests and myself went completely round the +outside of the churches, in order, if possible, to join in the +procession, since to cross the square was a simple impossibility. In the +terrible crush near the Bureau, I became separated from the others, and +fought my way back, and into the Bureau, as the best place open to me +now for seeing the Blessing of the Sick.</p> + +<p>It was now at last that I had my supreme wish. Within a minute or two of +my coming to look through the window, the Blessed Sacrament entered the +reserved space among the countless litters. The crowd between me and the +open space was simply one pack of heads; but I could observe the +movements of what was going forward by the white top of the <i>ombrellino</i> +as it passed slowly down the farther side of the square.</p> + +<p>The crowd was very still, answering as before<span class="pagenum" title="Page 56"> </span><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a> the passionate voice in +the midst; but watching, watching, as I watched. Beside me sat Dr. Cox, +and our Rosaries were in our hands. The white spot moved on and on, and +all else was motionless. I knew that beyond it lay the sick. "Lord, if +it be possible—if it be possible! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine +be done." It had reached now the end of the first line.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image6" id="image6"></a> + <a href="images/image6.jpg" > + <img src="images/image6-th.jpg" + alt="THE BLESSING OF THE SICK" + title="THE BLESSING OF THE SICK" + width="400" height="212" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">THE BLESSING OF THE SICK</p> +</div> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!</i>" cried the priest.</p> + +<p>"<i>Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!</i>" answered the people.</p> + +<p>"<i>Vous êtes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!</i>"</p> + +<p>And then on a sudden it came.</p> + +<p>Overhead lay the quiet summer air, charged with the Supernatural as a +cloud with thunder—electric, vibrating with power. Here beneath lay +souls thirsting for its touch of fire—patient, desirous, infinitely +pathetic; and in the midst that Power, incarnate for us men and our +salvation. Then it descended, swift and mighty.</p> + +<p>I saw a sudden swirl in the crowd of heads beneath the church steps, and +then a great shaking ran through the crowd; but there for a few instants +it boiled like a pot. A sudden cry had broken out, and it ran through +the whole space; waxing in volume as it ran, till the heads beneath my +window shook with it also; hands clapped, voices shouted: "<i>Un miracle! +Un miracle!</i>"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 57"> </span><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p><p>I was on my feet, staring and crying out. Then quietly the shaking +ceased, and the shouting died to a murmur; and the <i>ombrellino</i> moved +on; and again the voice of the priest thrilled thin and clear, with a +touch of triumphant thankfulness: "<i>Vous êtes la Résurrection et la +Vie!</i>" And again, with entreaty once more—since there still were two +thousand sick untouched by that Power, and time pressed—that infinitely +moving plea: "<i>Seigneur, celui qui vous aime est malade!</i>" And: +"<i>Seigneur, faites que je marche! Seigneur, faites que j'entende!</i>"</p> + +<p>And then again the finger of God flashed down, and again and again; and +each time a sick and broken body sprang from its bed of pain and stood +upright; and the crowd smiled and roared and sobbed. Five times I saw +that swirl and rush; the last when the <i>Te Deum</i> pealed out from the +church steps as Jesus in His Sacrament came home again. And there were +two that I did not see. There were seven in all that afternoon.</p> + +<p>Now, is it of any use to comment on all this? I am not sure; and yet, +for my own satisfaction if for no one else's, I wish to set down some of +the thoughts that came to me both then and after I had sat at the window +and seen God's loving-kindness with my own eyes.</p> + +<p>The first overwhelming impression that remained<span class="pagenum" title="Page 58"> </span><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a> with me is this—that I +had been present, in my own body, in the twentieth century, and seen +Jesus pass along by the sick folk, as He passed two thousand years +before. That, in a word, is the supreme fact of Lourdes. More than once +as I sat there that afternoon I contrasted the manner in which I was +spending it with that in which the average believing Christian spends +Sunday afternoon. As a child, I used to walk with my father, and he used +to read and talk on religious subjects; on our return we used to have a +short Bible-class in his study. As an Anglican clergyman, I used to +teach in Sunday schools or preach to children. As a Catholic priest, I +used occasionally to attend at catechism. At all these times the +miraculous seemed singularly far away; we looked at it across twenty +centuries; it was something from which lessons might be drawn, upon +which the imagination might feed, but it was a state of affairs as +remote as the life of prehistoric man; one assented to it, and that was +all. And here at Lourdes it was a present, vivid event. I sat at an +ordinary glass window, in a soutane made by an English tailor, with +another Englishman beside me, and saw the miraculous happen. Time and +space disappeared; the centuries shrank and vanished; and behold we saw +that which "prophets and kings have desired to see and have not seen!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 59"> </span><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a></p><p>Of course "scientific" arguments, of the sort which I have related, can +be brought forward in an attempt to explain Lourdes; but they are the +same arguments that can be, and are, brought forward against the +miracles of Jesus Christ Himself. I say nothing to those here; I leave +that to scientists such as Dr. Boissarie; but what I cannot understand +is that professing Christians are able to bring <i>a priori</i> arguments +against the fact that Our Lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever—the same in Galilee and in France. "These signs shall follow them +that believe," He said Himself; and the history of the Catholic Church +is an exact fulfilment of the words. It was so, St. Augustine tells us, +at the tombs of the martyrs; five hundred miracles were reported at +Canterbury within a few years of St. Thomas' martyrdom. And now here is +Lourdes, as it has been for fifty years, in this little corner of poor +France!</p> + +<p>I have been asked since my return: "Why cannot miracles be done in +England?" My answer is, firstly, that they are done in England, in +Liverpool, and at Holywell, for example; secondly, I answer by another +question as to why Jesus Christ was not born in Rome; and if He had been +born in Rome, why not in Nineveh and Jerusalem? Thirdly, I answer that +perhaps more would be done in England, if there were more faith there. +It is<span class="pagenum" title="Page 60"> </span><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a> surely a little unreasonable to ask that, in a country which +three hundred and fifty years ago deliberately repudiated Christ's +Revelation of Himself, banished the Blessed Sacrament and tore down +Mary's shrines, Christ and His Mother should cooperate supernaturally in +marvels that are rather the rewards of the faithful. "It is not meet to +take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs"—these are the +words of our Lord Himself. If London is not yet tolerant enough to allow +an Eucharistic Procession in her streets, she is scarcely justified in +demanding that our Eucharistic Lord should manifest His power. "He could +do no mighty work there," says the Evangelist, of Capharnaum, "because +of their unbelief."</p> + +<p>This, then, is the supreme fact of Lourdes: that Jesus Christ in His +Sacrament passes along that open square, with the sick laid in beds on +either side; and that at His word the lame walk and lepers are cleansed +and deaf hear—that they are seen leaping and dancing for joy.</p> + +<p>Even now, writing within ten days of my return, all seems like a dream; +and yet I know that I saw it. For over thirty years I had been +accustomed to repeat the silly formula that "the age of miracles is +past"; that they were necessary for the establishment of Christianity, +but that they are no longer necessary now, except on extremely rare<span class="pagenum" title="Page 61"> </span><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a> +occasions perhaps; and in my heart I knew my foolishness. Why, for those +thirty years Lourdes had been in existence! And if I spoke of it at all, +I spoke only of hysteria and auto-suggestion and French imaginativeness, +and the rest of the nonsense. It is impossible for a Christian who has +been at Lourdes to speak like that again.</p> + +<p>And as for the unreality, that does not trouble me. I have no doubt that +those who saw the bandages torn from the leper's limbs and the sound +flesh shown beneath, or the once blind man, his eyes now dripping with +water of Siloe, looking on Him who had made him whole, or heard the +marvellous talk of "men like trees walking," and the rest—I have no +doubt that ten days later they sat themselves with unseeing eyes, and +wondered whether it was indeed they who had witnessed those things. +Human nature, like a Leyden jar, cannot hold beyond a fixed quantity; +and this human nature, with experience, instincts, education, common +talk, public opinion, and all the rest of it, echoing round it; the +assumption that miracles <i>do not happen</i>; that laws are laws; in other +words, that Deism is the best that can be hoped—well, it is little +wonder that the visible contradiction of all this conventionalism finds +but little room in the soul.</p> + +<p>Then there is another point that I should like to<span class="pagenum" title="Page 62"> </span><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a> make in the presence +of "Evangelical" Christians who shake their heads over Mary's part in +the matter. It is this—that for every miracle that takes place in the +<i>piscines</i>, I should guess that a dozen take place while That which we +believe to be Jesus Christ goes by. Catholics, naturally, need no such +reassurance; they know well enough from interior experience that when +Mary comes forward Jesus does not retire! But for those who think as +some Christians do, it is necessary to point out the facts. And again. I +have before me as I write the little card of ejaculations that are used +in the procession. There are twenty-four in all. Of these, twenty-one +are addressed to Jesus Christ; in two more we ask the "Mother of the +Saviour" and the "Health of the Sick" to pray for us; in the last we ask +her to "show herself a Mother." If people will talk of "proportion" in a +matter in which there is no such thing—since there can be no +comparison, without grave irreverence, between the Creator and a +creature—I would ask, Is there "disproportion" here?</p> + +<p>In fact, Lourdes, as a whole, is an excellent little compendium of +Catholic theology and Gospel-truth. There was once a marriage feast, and +the Mother of Jesus was there with her Son. There was no wine. She told +her Son what He already knew; He seemed to deprecate her words; but He +obeyed them, and the water became wine.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 63"> </span><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></p><p>There is at Lourdes not a marriage feast, but something very like a +deathbed. The Mother of Jesus is there with her Son. It is she again who +takes the initiative. "Here is water," she seems to say; "dig, +Bernadette, and you will find it." But it is no more than water. Then +she turns to her Son. "They have water," she says, "but no more." And +then He comes forth in His power. "Draw out now from all the sick beds +of the world and bear them to the Governor of the Feast. Use the +commonest things in the world—physical pain and common water. Bring +them together, and wait until I pass by." Then Jesus of Nazareth passes +by; and the sick leap from their beds, and the blind see, and the lepers +are cleansed, and devils are cast out.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes! the parallel halts; but is it not near enough?</p> + +<p><i>Seigneur, guérissez nos malades!</i></p> + +<p><i>Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 64"> </span><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + + +<p>The moment Benediction was given, the room began rapidly to fill; but I +still watched the singing crowd outside. Among others I noticed a woman, +placid and happy—such a woman as you would see a hundred times a day in +London streets, with jet ornaments in her hat, middle-aged, almost +startlingly commonplace. No, nothing dramatic happened to her; that was +the point. But there she was, taking it all for granted, joining in the +<i>Magnificat</i> with a roving eye, pleased as she would have been pleased +at a circus; interrupting herself to talk to her neighbour; and all the +while gripping in a capable hand, on which shone a wedding ring, the +bars of the Bureau window behind which I sat, that she might make the +best of both worlds—Grace without and Science within. She, as I, had +seen what God had done; now she proposed to see what the doctors would +make of it all; and have, besides, a good view of the <i>miraculés</i> when +they appeared.</p> + +<p>I suppose it was her astonishing ordinariness that impressed me. It was +surprising to see such a one during such a scene; it was as incongruous<span class="pagenum" title="Page 65"> </span><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a> +as a man riding a bicycle on the judgment Day. Yet she, too, served to +make it all real. She was like the real tree in the foreground of a +panorama. She served the same purpose as the <i>Voix de Lourdes</i>, a +briskly written French newspaper that gives the lists of the miracles.</p> + +<p>When I turned round at last, the room was full. Among the people present +I remember an Hungarian canon, and the Brazilian Bishop with six others. +Dr. Deschamps, late of Lille, now of Paris, was in the chair; and I sat +next him.</p> + +<p>The first patient to enter was Euphrasie Bosc, a dark girl of +twenty-seven. She rolled a little in her walk as she came in; then she +sat down and described the "white swellings" on her knee, with other +details; she told how she had been impelled to rise during the +procession just now. She was made to walk round the room to show her +state, and was then sent off, and told to return at another time.</p> + +<p>Next came Emma Sansen, a pale girl of twenty-five. She had suffered from +endo-pericarditis for five years, as her certificate showed; she had +been confined to her room for two years. She told her story quickly and +went out.</p> + +<p>There followed Sister Marguérite Emilie, an Assumptionist, aged +thirty-nine, a brisk, brown-faced, tall woman, in her religious habit. +Her<span class="pagenum" title="Page 66"> </span><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a> malady had been <i>mal de Pott</i>, a severe spinal affliction, +accompanied by abscesses and other horrors. She, too, appeared in the +best of health.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image7" id="image7"></a> + <a href="images/image7.jpg" > + <img src="images/image7-th.jpg" + alt="THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW" + title="THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW" + width="400" height="239" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW</p> +</div> + +<p>We began then to hear a doctor give news of a certain Irish Religious, +cured that morning in the <i>piscines</i>; but we were interrupted by the +entry of Emile Lansman, a solid artisan of twenty-five who came in +walking cheerfully, carrying a crutch and a stick which he no longer +needed. Paralysis of the right leg and traumatism of the spine had been +his, up to that day. Now he carried his crutch.</p> + +<p>He was followed by another man whose name I did not catch, and on whose +case I wrote so rapidly that I am scarcely able to read all my notes. +His story, in brief, was as follows. He had had some while ago a severe +accident, which involved a kind of appalling disembowelment. For the +last year or two he had had gastric troubles of all kinds, including +complete loss of appetite. His certificate showed too, that he suffered +from partial paralysis (he himself showed us how little he had been able +to open his fingers), and anæsthesia of the right arm. (I looked over +Dr. Deschamps' shoulder and read on the paper the words <i>lésion +incurable</i>). It was certified further that he was incapable of manual +work. Then he described to us how yesterday in the <i>piscine</i>, upon<span class="pagenum" title="Page 67"> </span><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a> +coming out of the bath, he had been aware of a curious sensation of +warmth in the stomach; he had then found that, for the first time for +many months, he wished for food; he was given it, and he enjoyed it. He +moved his fingers in a normal manner, raised his arm and let it fall.</p> + +<p>Then for the first time in the Bureau I heard a sharp controversy. One +doctor suddenly broke out, saying that there was no actual proof that it +was not all "hysterical simulation." Another answered him; an appeal was +made to the certificate. Then the first doctor delivered a little +speech, in excellent taste, though casting doubt upon the case; and the +matter was then set aside for investigation with the rest. I heard Dr. +Boissarie afterwards thank him for his admirable little discourse.</p> + +<p>Finally, though it was getting late, Honorie Gras, aged thirty-five, +came in to give her evidence. She had suffered till to-day from +"purulent arthritis" and "white swellings" on the left knee. To-day she +walked. Her certificate confirmed her, and she was dismissed.</p> + +<p>It was all very matter-of-fact. There is no reason to fear that Lourdes +is all hymn-singing and adjurations. It is a pleasure to think that, on +the right of the Rosary Church, and within a hundred yards of the +Grotto, there is this little room, filled with keen-eyed doctors from +every<span class="pagenum" title="Page 68"> </span><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a> school of faith and science, who have only to present their cards +and be made free of all that Lourdes has to show. They are keen-brained +as well as keen-eyed. I heard one of them say quietly that if the Mother +of God, as it appeared, cured incurable cases, it was hard to deny to +her the power of curing curable cases also. It does not prove, that is +to say, that a cure is not miraculous, if it might have been cured by +human aid. And it is interesting and suggestive to remember that of such +cases one hears little or nothing. For every startling miracle that is +verified in the Bureau, I wonder how many persons go home quietly, freed +from some maddening little illness by the mercy of Mary—some illness +that is worthless as a "case" in scientific eyes, yet none the less as +real as is its cure?</p> + +<p>Of course one element that tends to keep from the grasp of the +imagination all the miracles of the place is all this scientific +phraseology. In the simple story of the Gospel, it seems almost +supernaturally natural that a man should have "lain with an infirmity +for forty years," and should, at the word of Jesus Christ, have taken up +his bed and walked; or that, as in the "Acts," another's "feet and +ankle-bones should receive strength" by the power of the Holy Name. But +when we come to tuberculosis and <i>mal de Pott</i> and <i>lésion<span class="pagenum" title="Page 69"> </span><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a> incurable</i> +and "hysterical simulation," in some manner we seem to find ourselves in +rather a breathless and stuffy room, where the white flower of the +supernatural appears strangely languid to the eye of the imagination.</p> + +<p>That, however, is all as it should be. We are bound to have these +things. Perhaps the most startling miracle of all is that the Bureau and +the Grotto stand side by side, and that neither stifles the other. Is it +possible that here at last Science and Religion will come to terms, and +each confess with wonder the capacities of the other, and, with awe, +that divine power that makes them what they are, and has "set them their +bounds which they shall not pass?" It would be remarkable if France, of +all countries, should be the scene of that reconciliation between these +estranged sisters.</p> + +<p>That night, after dinner, I went out once more to see the procession +with torches; and this time my friend and I each took a candle, that we +might join in that act of worship. First, however, I went down to the +<i>robinets</i>—the taps which flow between the Grotto and the +<i>piscines</i>—and, after a heartcrushing struggle, succeeded in filling my +bottle with the holy water. It was astonishing how selfish one felt +while still in the battle, and how magnanimous when one had gained the +victory. I filled also the bottle of a voluble French priest,<span class="pagenum" title="Page 70"> </span><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a> who +despairingly extended it toward me as he still fought in the turmoil. +"<i>Eh, bien!</i>" cried a stalwart Frenchwoman at my side, who had filled +her bottle and could not extricate herself. "If you will not permit me +to depart, I remain!" The argument was irresistible; the crowd laughed +childishly and let her out.</p> + +<p>Now, I regret to say that once more the churches were outlined in fairy +electric lamps, that the metallic garlands round our Mother's statue +blazed with them; that, even worse, the old castle on the hill and the +far away Calvary were also illuminated; and, worst of all, that the +procession concluded with fireworks—rockets and bombs. Miracles in the +afternoon; fireworks in the evening!</p> + +<p>Yet the more I think of it, the less am I displeased. When one reflects +that more than half of the enormous crowd came, probably, from tiny +villages in France—where a rocket is as rare as an angelic visitation; +and, on the carnal side, as beautiful in their eyes—it seems a very +narrow-minded thing to object. It is true that you and I connect +fireworks with Mafeking night or Queen Victoria's Jubilee; and that they +seem therefore incongruous when used to celebrate a visitation of God. +But it is not so with these people. For them it is a natural and +beautiful way of telling<span class="pagenum" title="Page 71"> </span><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a> the glory of Him who is the Dayspring from on +high, who is the Light to lighten the Gentiles, whose Mother is the +<i>Stella Matutina</i>, whose people once walked in darkness and now have +seen a great Light. It is their answer—the reflection in the depths of +their sea—to the myriad lights of that heaven which shines over +Lourdes. Therefore let us leave the fireworks in peace.</p> + +<p>It was a very moving thing to walk in that procession, with a candle in +one hand and a little paper book in the other, and help to sing the +story of Bernadette, with the unforgettable <i>Aves</i> at the end of each +verse, and the <i>Laudate Mariam</i>, and the Nicene Creed. <i>Credo in ... +unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam.</i> My heart leaped at +that. For where else but in the Catholic Church do such things happen as +these that I had seen? Imagine, if you please, miracles in Manchester! +Certainly they might happen there, if there were sufficient Catholics +gathered in His Name; but put for Manchester, Exeter Hall or St. Paul's +Cathedral! The thought is blindingly absurd. No; the Christianity of +Jesus Christ lives only in the Catholic Church.</p> + +<p>There alone in the whole round world do you find that combination of +lofty doctrine, magnificent moral teaching, the frank recognition of the +Cross; sacramentalism logically carried out, yet<span class="pagenum" title="Page 72"> </span><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a> gripping the heart as +no amateur mysticism can do; and miracles. "Mercy and Truth have met +together." "These signs shall follow them that believe.... Faith can +remove mountains.... All things are possible to him that believes.... +Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name.... Where two or three +are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." +There alone, where souls are built upon Peter, do these things really +happen.</p> + +<p>I have been asked lately whether I am "happy" in the Catholic Church. +Happy! What can one say to a question like that? Does one ask a man who +wakes up from a foolish dream to sunshine in his room, and to life and +reality, whether he is happy? Of course many non-Catholics are happy. I +was happy myself as an Anglican; but as a Catholic one does not use the +word; one does not think about it. The whole of life is different; that +is all that can be said. Faith is faith, not hope; God is Light, not +twilight; eternity, heaven, hell, purgatory, sin and its +consequences—these things are facts, not guesses and conjectures and +suspicions desperately clung to. "How hard it is to be a Christian!" +moans the persevering non-Catholic. "How impossible it is to be anything +else!" cries the Catholic.</p> + +<p>We went round, then, singing. The procession<span class="pagenum" title="Page 73"> </span><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a> was so huge that it seemed +to have no head and no tail. It involved itself a hundred times over; it +swirled in the square, it humped itself over the Rosary Church; it +elongated itself half a mile away up beyond our Mother's garlanded +statue; it eddied round the Grotto. It was one immense pool and river of +lights and song. Each group sang by itself till it was overpowered by +another; men and women and children strolled along patiently singing and +walking, knowing nothing of where they went, nothing of what they would +be singing five minutes hence. It depended on the voice-power of their +neighbours.</p> + +<p>For myself, I found myself in a dozen groups, before, at last, after an +hour or so, I fell out of the procession and went home. Now I walked +cheek by jowl with a retired officer; now with an artisan; once there +came swiftly up behind a company of "Noelites"—those vast organizations +of boys and girls in France—singing the <i>Laudate Mariam</i> to my <i>Ave +Maria</i>; now in the middle of a group of shop-girls who exchanged remarks +with one another whenever they could fetch breath. I think it was all +the most joyous and the most spontaneous (as it was certainly the +largest) human function in which I have ever taken part. I have no idea +whether there were any organizers of it all—at least I saw none. Once +or twice a solitary priest<span class="pagenum" title="Page 74"> </span><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a> in the midst, walking backward and waving +his arms, attempted to reconcile conflicting melodies; once a very old +priest; with a voice like the tuba stop on the organ, turned a +humorously furious face over his shoulder to quell some mistake—from +his mouth, the while issuing this amazingly pungent volume of sound. But +I think these were the only attempts at organization that I saw.</p> + +<p>And so at last I dropped out and went home, hoarse but very well +content. I had walked for more than an hour—from the statue, over the +lower church and down again, up the long avenue, and back again to the +statue. The fireworks were over, the illuminations died, and the day was +done; yet still the crowds went round and the voice of conflicting +melody went up without cessation. As I went home the sound was still in +my ears. As I dropped off to sleep, I still heard it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum" title="Page 75"> </span><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + + +<p>Next morning I awoke with a heavy heart, for we were to leave in the +motor at half-past eight, I had still a few errands to do, and had made +no arrangements for saying Mass; so I went out quickly, a little after +seven, and up to the Rosary Church to get some pious objects blessed. It +was useless: I could not find the priest of whom I had been told, whose +business it is perpetually to bless such things. I went to the basilica, +then round by the hill-path down to the Grotto, where I became wedged +suddenly and inextricably into a silent crowd.</p> + +<p>For a while I did not understand what they were doing beyond hearing +Mass; for I knew that, of course, a Mass was proceeding just round the +corner in the cave. But presently I perceived that these were intending +communicants. So I made what preparation I could, standing there; and +thanked God and His Mother for this unexpected opportunity of saying +good-bye in the best way—for I was as sad as a school-boy going the +rounds of the house on Black Monday—and after a quarter of an hour or +so I was kneeling at the grill, be<span class="pagenum" title="Page 76"> </span><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>neath the very image of Mary. After +making my thanksgiving, still standing on the other side, I blessed the +objects myself—strictly against all rules, I imagine—and came home to +breakfast; and before nine we were on our way.</p> + +<p>We were all silent as we progressed slowly and carefully through the +crowded streets, seeing once more the patient <i>brancardiers</i> and the +pitiful litters on their way to the <i>piscines</i>. I could not have +believed that I could have become so much attached to a place in three +summer days. As I have said before, everything was against it. There was +no leisure, no room to move, no silence, no sense of familiarity. All +was hot and noisy and crowded and dusty and unknown. Yet I felt that it +was such a home of the soul as I never visited before—of course it is a +home, for it is the Mother that makes the home.</p> + +<p>We saw no more of the Grotto nor the churches nor the square nor the +statue. Our road led out in such a direction that, after leaving the +hotel, we had only commonplace streets, white houses, shops, hotels and +crowds; and soon we had passed from the very outskirts of the town, and +were beginning with quickening speed to move out along one of those +endless straight roads that are the glory of France's locomotion.</p> + +<p>Yet I turned round in my seat, sick at heart, and pulled the blind that +hung over the rear<span class="pagenum" title="Page 77"> </span><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a> window of the car. No, Lourdes was gone! There was +the ring of the eternal hills, blue against the blue summer sky, with +their shades of green beneath sloping to the valleys, and the rounded +bastions that hold them up. The Gave was gone, the churches gone, the +Grotto—all was gone. Lourdes might be a dream of the night.</p> + +<p>No, Lourdes was not gone. For there, high on a hill, above where the +holy city lay, stood the cross we had seen first upon our entrance, +telling us that if health is a gift of God, it is not the greatest; that +the Physician of souls, who healed the sick, and without whom not one +sparrow falls to the ground, and not one pang is suffered, Himself had +not where to lay His head, and died in pain upon the Tree.</p> + +<p>And even as I looked we wheeled a corner, and the cross was gone.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>How is it possible to end such a story without bathos? I think it is not +possible, yet I must end it. An old French priest said one day at +Lourdes, to one of those with whom I travelled, that he feared that in +these times the pilgrims did not pray so much as they once did, and that +this was a bad sign. He spoke also of France as a whole, and its fall. +My friend said to him that, in her<span class="pagenum" title="Page 78"> </span><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a> opinion, if these pilgrims could but +be led as an army to Paris—an army, that is, with no weapons except +their Rosaries—the country could be retaken in a day.</p> + +<div class="center"> + <a name="image8" id="image8"></a> + <a href="images/image8.jpg" > + <img src="images/image8-th.jpg" + alt="BERNADETTE" + title="BERNADETTE" + width="275" height="400" /> + </a> + <p class="caption">BERNADETTE</p> +</div> + +<p>Now, I do not know whether the pilgrims once prayed more than they do +now; I only know that I never saw any one pray so much; and I cannot +help agreeing with my friend that, if this power could be organized, we +should hear little more of the apostasy of France. Even as it is, I +cannot understand the superior attitude that Christian Englishmen take +up with regard to France. It is true that in many districts religion is +on a downward course, that the churches are neglected, and that even +infidelity is becoming a fashion;<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnlabel">7</a> but I wonder very much whether, on +the whole, taking Lourdes into account, the average piety of France, is +not on a very much higher level than the piety of England. The +government, as all the world now knows, is not in the least +representative of the country; but, sad to relate, the Frenchman is apt +to extend his respect for the law into an assumption of its morality. +When a law is passed, there is an end of it.</p> + +<p>Yet, judging by the intensity of faith and love and resignation that is +evident at Lourdes, and<span class="pagenum" title="Page 79"> </span><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a> indeed by the numbers of those present, it +would seem as if Mary, driven from the towns with her Divine Son, has +chosen Lourdes—the very farthest point from Paris—as her earthly home, +and draws her children after her, standing there with her back to the +wall. I do not think this is fanciful. That which is beyond time and +space must communicate with us in those terms; and we can only speak of +these things in the same terms. Huysmans expresses the same thing in +other words. Even if Bernadette were deceived, he says, at any rate +these pilgrims are not; even if Mary did not come in 1858 to the banks +of the Gave, she has certainly come there since, drawn by the thousands +of souls that have gone to seek her there.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the last thing I can say about Lourdes. It is quite +useless as evidence—indeed it would be almost impertinent to dare to +offer further evidence at all—yet I may as well hand it in as my +contribution. It is this, <i>that Lourdes is soaked, saturated and kindled +by the all but sensible presence of the Mother of God</i>. I am quite aware +of all that can be said about subjectivity and auto-suggestion, and the +rest; but there comes a point in all arguments when nothing is worth +anything except an assertion of a personal conviction. Such, then, is +mine.</p> + +<p>First, it was borne in upon me what a mutilated<span class="pagenum" title="Page 80"> </span><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a> Christianity that is +which practically takes no account of Mary. This fragmentary, lopsided +faith was that in which I myself had been brought up, and which to-day +still is the faith of the majority of my fellow-countrymen. The Mother +of God—the Second Eve, the Immaculate Maiden Mother, who, as if to +balance Eve at the Tree of Death, stood by the Tree of Life—in popular +non-Catholic theology is banished, with the rest of those who have +passed away, to a position of complete insignificance. This arrangement, +I had become accustomed to believe, was that of Primitive Christianity +and of the Christianity of all sensible men: Romanism had added to the +simple Gospel, and had treated the Mother of God with an honour which +she would have been the first to deprecate.</p> + +<p>Well, I think that at Lourdes the startling contrast between facts and +human inventions was, in this respect, first made vivid to my +imagination. I understood how puzzling it must be for "old Catholics," +to whom Mary is as real and active as her Divine Son, to understand the +sincerity of those to whom she is no more than a phantom, and who yet +profess and call themselves Christians. Why, at Lourdes Mary is seen to +stand, to all but outward eyes, in exactly that position in which at +Nazareth, at Cana, in the Acts of the Apostles, in<span class="pagenum" title="Page 81"> </span><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a> the Catacombs, and +in the whole history of Christendom, true lovers of her Son have always +seen her—a Mother of God and man, tender, authoritative, silent, and +effective!</p> + +<p>Yet, strangely enough, it is not at all the ordinary and conventional +character of a merely tender mother that reveals itself at Lourdes—one +who is simply desirous of relieving pain and giving what is asked. There +comes upon one instead the sense of a tremendous personage—<i>Regina +Cœli</i> as well as <i>Consolatrix Afflictorum</i>—one who says "No" as well +as "Yes," and with the same serenity; yet with the "No" gives strength +to receive it. I have heard it said that the greatest miracle of all at +Lourdes is the peace and resignation, even the happiness, of those who, +after expectation has been wrought to the highest, go disappointed away, +as sick as they came. Certainly that is an amazing fact. The tears of +the young man in the <i>piscine</i> were the only tears of sorrow I saw at +Lourdes.</p> + +<p>Mary, then, has appeared to me in a new light since I have visited +Lourdes. I shall in future not only hate to offend her, but fear it +also. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of that Mother who +allows the broken sufferer to crawl across France to her feet—and then +to crawl back again. She is one of the Maries of Chartres, that<span class="pagenum" title="Page 82"> </span><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a> reveals +herself here, dark, mighty, dominant, and all but inexorable; not the +Mary of an ecclesiastical shop, who dwells amid tinsel and tuberoses. +She is <i>Sedes Sapientiæ</i>, <i>Turris Eburnea</i>, <i>Virgo Paritura</i>, strong and +tall and glorious, pierced by seven swords, yet serene as she looks to +her Son.</p> + +<p>Yet, at the same time, the tenderness of her great heart shows itself at +Lourdes almost beyond bearing. She is so great and so loving! It affects +those to whom one speaks—the quiet doctors, even those who, through +some confusion of mind or some sin, find it hard to believe; the strong +<i>brancardiers</i>, who carry their quivering burdens with such infinite +care; the very sick themselves, coming back from the <i>piscines</i> in +agony, yet with the faces of those who come down from the altar after +Holy Communion. The whole place is alive with Mary and the love of +God—from the inadequate statue at the Grotto to the brazen garlands in +the square, even as far as the illuminated castle and the rockets that +burst and bang against the steady stars. If I were sick of some deadly +disease, and it were revealed to me that I must die, yet none the less I +should go to Lourdes; for if I should not be healed by Mary, I could at +least learn how to suffer as a Christian ought. God has chosen this +place—He only knows why, as He, too, alone chooses which man shall +suffer and which be glad<span class="pagenum" title="Page 83"> </span><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>—He has chosen this place to show His power; +and therefore has sent His Mother there, that we may look through her to +Him.</p> + +<p>Is this, then, all subjectivity and romantic dreaming? Well, but there +are the miracles!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnlabel">7</a> It must be remembered that this was written six years ago, +and is no longer true.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + +***** This file should be named 18729-h.htm or 18729-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/2/18729/ + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lourdes + +Author: Robert Hugh Benson + +Release Date: July 1, 2006 [EBook #18729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + + + + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + LOURDES + + BY + + THE VERY REV. MONSIGNOR + ROBERT HUGH BENSON + + + WITH EIGHT FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + ST. LOUIS MO.: + B. HERDER, PUBLISHER + 17, S. BROADWAY + + LONDON: + MANRESA PRESS + ROEHAMPTON, S.W. + + 1914 + + + + +Nihil Obstat: + + S. GEORGIUS KIERAN HYLAND, S.T.D., + CENSOR DEPUTATUS + +Imprimatur: + + GULIELMUS F. BROWN, + VICARIUS GENERALIS, + SOUTHWARCENSI. + +_15 Maii, 1914._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Since writing the following pages six years ago, I have had the +privilege of meeting a famous French scientist--to whom we owe one of +the greatest discoveries of recent years--who has made a special study +of Lourdes and its phenomena, and of hearing him comment upon what takes +place there. He is, himself, at present, not a practising Catholic; and +this fact lends peculiar interest to his opinions. His conclusions, so +far as he has formulated them, are as follows: + +(1) That no scientific hypothesis up to the present accounts +satisfactorily for the phenomena. Upon his saying this to me I breathed +the word "suggestion"; and his answer was to laugh in my face, and to +tell me, practically, that this is the most ludicrous hypothesis of all. + +(2) That, so far as he can see, the one thing necessary for such cures +as he himself has witnessed or verified, is the atmosphere of prayer. +Where this rises to intensity the number of cures rises with it; where +this sinks, the cures sink too. + +(3) That he is inclined to think that there is a transference of +vitalizing force either from the energetic faith of the sufferer, or +from that of the bystanders. He instanced an example in which his wife, +herself a qualified physician, took part. She held in her arms a child, +aged two and a half years, blind from birth, during the procession of +the Blessed Sacrament. As the monstrance came opposite, tears began to +stream from the child's eyes, hitherto closed. When it had passed, the +child's eyes were open and seeing. This Mme. ---- tested by dangling her +bracelet before the child, who immediately clutched at it, but, from the +fact that she had never learned to calculate distance, at first failed +to seize it. At the close of the procession Mme. ----, who herself +related to me the story, was conscious of an extraordinary exhaustion +for which there was no ordinary explanation. I give this suggestion as +the scientist gave it to me--the suggestion of some kind of +_transference_ of vitality; and make no comment upon it, beyond saying +that, superficially at any rate, it does not appear to me to conflict +with the various accounts of miracles given in the Gospel in which the +faith of the bystanders, as well as of sufferers, appeared to be as +integral an element in the miracle as the virtue which worked it. + +Owing to the time that has elapsed since the following pages were +written for the _Ave Maria_--by the kindness of whose editor they are +reprinted now--it is impossible for me to verify the spelling of all the +names that occur in the course of the narrative. I made notes while at +Lourdes, and from those notes wrote my account; it is therefore +extremely probable that small errors of spelling may have crept in, +which I am now unable to correct. + + ROBERT HUGH BENSON. + + _Church of our Lady of Lourdes, + New York, + Lent, 1914_ + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE BASILICA. FRONT VIEW _Frontispiece_ + + DR. BOISSARIE _to face p._ 16 + + BUREAU DES CONSTATATIONS " 26 + + THE GROTTO IN 1858 " 36 + + THE GROTTO IN 1914 " 46 + + THE BLESSING OF THE SICK " 56 + + THE BASILICA. SIDE VIEW " 66 + + BERNADETTE " 78 + + + + +I. + + +The first sign of our approach to Lourdes was a vast wooden cross, +crowning a pointed hill. We had been travelling all day, through the +August sunlight, humming along the straight French roads beneath the +endless avenues; now across a rich plain, with the road banked on either +side to avert the spring torrents from the Pyrenees; now again mounting +and descending a sudden shoulder of hill. A few minutes ago we had +passed into Tarbes, the cathedral city of the diocese in which Lourdes +lies; and there, owing to a little accident, we had been obliged to +halt, while the wheels of the car were lifted, with incredible +ingenuity, from the deep gutter into which the chauffeur had, with the +best intentions, steered them. It was here, in the black eyes, the +dominant profiles, the bright colours, the absorbed childish interest of +the crowd, in their comments, their laughter, their seriousness, and +their accent, that the South showed itself almost unmixed. It was +market-day in Tarbes; and when once more we were on our way, we still +went slowly; passing, almost all the way into Lourdes itself, a +long-drawn procession--carts and foot passengers, oxen, horses, dogs, +and children--drawing nearer every minute toward that ring of solemn +blue hills that barred the view to Spain. + +It is difficult to describe with what sensations I came to Lourdes. As a +Christian man, I did not dare to deny that miracles happened; as a +reasonably humble man, I did not dare to deny that they happened at +Lourdes; yet, I suppose, my attitude even up to now had been that of a +reverent agnostic--the attitude, in fact, of a majority of Christians on +this particular point--Christians, that is, who resemble the Apostle +Thomas in his less agreeable aspect. I had heard and read a good deal +about psychology, about the effect of mind on matter and of nerves on +tissue; I had reflected upon the infection of an ardent crowd; I had +read Zola's dishonest book;[1] and these things, coupled with the +extreme difficulty which the imagination finds in realizing what it has +never experienced--since, after all, miracles are confessedly +miraculous, and therefore unusual--the effect of all this was to render +my mental state a singularly detached one. I believed? Yes, I suppose +so; but it was a halting act of faith pure and simple; it was not yet +either sight or real conviction. + +The cross, then, was the first glimpse of Lourdes' presence; and ten +minutes later we were in the town itself. + +Lourdes is not beautiful, though it must once have been. It was once a +little Franco-Spanish town, set in the lap of the hills, with a swift, +broad, shallow stream, the Gave, flowing beneath it. It is now +cosmopolitan, and therefore undistinguished. As we passed slowly through +the crowded streets--for the National Pilgrimage was but now +arriving--we saw endless rows of shops and booths sheltering beneath +tall white blank houses, as correct and as expressionless as a +brainless, well-bred man. Here and there we passed a great hotel. The +crowd about our wheels was almost as cosmopolitan as a Roman crowd. It +was largely French, as that is largely Italian; but the Spaniards were +there, vivid-faced men and women, severe Britons, solemn Teutons; and, I +have no doubt, Italians, Belgians, Flemish and Austrians as well. At +least I heard during my three days' stay all the languages that I could +recognize, and many that I could not. There were many motor-cars there +besides our own, carriages, carts, bell-clanging trams, and the litters +of the sick. Presently we dismounted in a side street, and set out to +walk to the Grotto, through the hot evening sunshine. + +The first sign of sanctity that we saw, as we came out at the end of a +street, was the mass of churches built on the rising ground above the +river. Imagine first a great oval of open ground, perhaps two hundred by +three hundred yards in area, crowded now with groups as busy as ants, +partly embraced by two long white curving arms of masonry rising +steadily to their junction; at the point on this side where the ends +should meet if they were prolonged, stands a white stone image of Our +Lady upon a pedestal, crowned, and half surrounded from beneath by some +kind of metallic garland arching upward. At the farther end the two +curves of masonry of which I have spoken, rising all the way by steps, +meet upon a terrace. This terrace is, so to speak, the centre of gravity +of the whole. + +For just above it stands the flattened dome of the Rosary Church, of +which the doors are beneath the terrace, placed upon broad flights of +steps. Immediately above the dome is the entrance to the crypt of the +basilica; and, above that again, reached by further flights of steps, +are the doors of the basilica; and, above it, the roof of the church +itself, with its soaring white spire high over all. + +Let me be frank. These buildings are not really beautiful. They are +enormous, but they are not impressive; they are elaborate and fine and +white, but they are not graceful. I am not sure what is the matter with +them; but I think it is that they appear to be turned out of a machine. +They are too trim; they are like a well-dressed man who is not quite a +gentleman; they are like a wedding guest; they are _haute-bourgeoise_, +they are not the nobility. It is a terrible pity, but I suppose it could +not be helped, since they were allowed so little time to grow. There is +no sense of reflectiveness about them, no patient growth of character, +as in those glorious cathedrals, Amiens, Chartres, Beauvais, which I had +so lately seen. There is nothing in reserve; they say everything, they +suggest nothing. They have no imaginative vista. + +We said not one word to one another. We threaded our way across the +ground, diagonally, seeing as we went the Bureau de Constatations (or +the office where the doctors sit), contrived near the left arm of the +terraced steps; and passed out under the archway, to find ourselves with +the churches on our left, and on our right the flowing Gave, confined on +this side by a terraced walk, with broad fields beyond the stream. + +The first thing I noticed were the three roofs of the _piscines_, on the +left side of the road, built under the cliff on which the churches +stand. I shall have more to say of them presently, but now it is enough +to remark that they resemble three little chapels, joined in one, each +with its own doorway; an open paved space lies across the entrances, +where the doctors and the priests attend upon the sick. This open space +is fenced in all about, to keep out the crowd that perpetually seethes +there. We went a few steps farther, worked our way in among the people, +and fell on our knees. + +Overhead, the cliff towered up, bare hanging rock beneath, grass and +soaring trees above; and at the foot of the cliff a tall, irregular +cave. There are two openings of this cave; the one, the larger, is like +a cage of railings, with the gleam of an altar in the gloom beyond, a +hundred burning candles, and sheaves and stacks of crutches clinging to +the broken roofs of rock; the other, and smaller, and that farther from +us, is an opening in the cliff, shaped somewhat like a _vesica_. The +grass still grows there, with ferns and the famous climbing shrub; and +within the entrance, framed in it, stands Mary, in white and blue, as +she stood fifty years ago, raised perhaps twenty feet above the ground. + +Ah, that image!... I said, "As she stood there!" Yet it could not have +been so; for surely even simple Bernadette would not have fallen on her +knees. It is too white, it is too blue; it is, like the three churches, +placed magnificently, yet not impressive; fine and slender, yet not +graceful. + +But we knelt there without unreality, with the river running swift +behind us; for we knelt where a holy child had once knelt before a +radiant vision, and with even more reason; for even if the one, as some +say, had been an hallucination, were those sick folk an hallucination? +Was Pierre de Rudder's mended leg an hallucination, or the healed wounds +of Marie Borel? Or were those hundreds upon hundreds of disused crutches +an illusion? Did subjectivity create all these? If so, what greater +miracle can be demanded? + +And there was more than that. For when later, at Argeles, I looked over +the day, I was able to formulate for the first time the extraordinary +impressions that Lourdes had given me. There was everything hostile to +my peace--an incalculable crowd, an oppressive heat, dust, noise, +weariness; there was the disappointment of the churches and the image; +there was the sour unfamiliarity of the place and the experience; and +yet I was neither troubled nor depressed nor irritated nor disappointed. +It appeared to me as if some great benign influence were abroad, +soothing and satisfying; lying like a great summer air over all, to +quiet and to stimulate. I cannot describe this further; I can only say +that it never really left me during those three days, I saw sights that +would have saddened me elsewhere--apparent injustices, certain +disappointments, dashed hopes that would almost have broken my heart; +and yet that great Power was over all, to reconcile, to quiet and to +reassure. To leave Lourdes at the end was like leaving home. + +After a few minutes before the Grotto, we climbed the hill behind, made +an appointment for my Mass on the morrow; and, taking the car again, +moved slowly through the crowded streets, and swiftly along the country +roads, up to Argeles, nearly a dozen miles away. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The epithet is deliberate. He relates in his book, "Lourdes," the +story of an imaginary case of a girl, suffering from tuberculosis, who +goes to Lourdes as a pilgrim, and is, apparently, cured of her disease. +It breaks out, however, again during her return home; and the case would +appear therefore to be one of those in which, owing to fierce excitement +and the mere power of suggestion, there is a temporary amelioration, but +no permanent, or supernatural, cure. Will it be believed that the +details of this story, all of which are related with great +particularity, and observed by Zola himself, were taken from an actual +case that occurred during one of his visits--all the details except the +relapse? There was no relapse: the cure was complete and permanent. When +Dr. Boissarie later questioned the author as to the honesty of this +literary device, saying that he had understood him to have stated that +he had come to Lourdes for the purpose of an impartial investigation, +Zola answered that the characters in the book were his own, and that he +could make them do what he liked. It is on these principles that the +book is constructed. It must be added that Zola followed up the case, +and had communications with the _miraculee_ long after her cure had been +shown to be permanent, and before his book appeared. + + + + +II. + + +We were in Lourdes again next morning a little after six o'clock; and +already it might have been high noon, for the streets were one moving +mass of pilgrims. From every corner came gusts of singing; and here and +there through the crowd already moved the _brancardiers_--men of every +nation with shoulder-straps and cross--bearing the litters with their +piteous burdens. + +I was to say Mass in the crypt; and when I arrived there at last, the +church was full from end to end. The interior was not so disappointing +as I had feared. It had a certain solid catacombic gloom beneath its low +curved roof, which, if it had not been for the colours and some of the +details, might very nearly have come from the hand of a good architect. +The arrangements for the pilgrims were as bad as possible; there was no +order, no marshalling; they moved crowd against crowd like herds of +bewildered sheep. Some were for Communion, some for Mass only, some for +confession; and they pushed patiently this way and that in every +direction. It was a struggle before I got my vestments; I produced a +letter from the Bishop of Rodez, with whom I had lunched a few days +before; I argued, I deprecated, I persuaded, I quoted. Everything once +more was against my peace of mind; yet I have seldom said Mass with more +consolations than in that tiny sanctuary of the high Altar.... An +ecclesiastic served, and an old priest knelt devoutly at a prie-Dieu. + +When the time for Communion came, I turned about and saw but one sea of +faces stretching from the altar rail into as much of the darkness as I +could discern. For a quarter of an hour I gave Communion rapidly; then, +as soon as another priest could force his way through the crowd, I +continued Mass; he had not nearly finished giving Communion when I had +ended my thanksgiving. This, too, was the same everywhere--in the crypt, +in the basilica, in the Rosary Church, and above all in the Grotto. The +average number of Communions every day throughout the year in Lourdes +is, I am told, four thousand. In that year of Jubilee, however, Dr. +Boissarie informed me, in round numbers, one million Communions were +made, sixty thousand Masses were said, with two thousand Communions at +each midnight Mass.... Does Jesus Christ go out when Mary comes in? We +are told so by non-Catholics. Rather, it seems as if, like the Wise Men +of old, men still find the Child with Mary His Mother. + +At the close of my Mass, the old priest rose from his place and began to +prepare the vessels and arrange the Missal. As soon as I took off the +vestments he put them on. I assented passively, supposing him to be the +next on the list; I even answered his _Kyrie_. But at the Collect a +frantic sacristan burst through the crowd; and from remarks made to the +devout old priest and myself, I learned that the next on the list was +still waiting in the sacristy, and that this old man was an adroit +though pious interloper who had determined not to take "No" for an +answer. He finished his Mass. I forbear from comment. + +For a while afterward we stood on the terrace above the _piscines_; and, +indeed, after breakfast I returned here again alone, and remained during +all the morning. It was an extraordinary sight. From the terrace, the +cliff fell straight away down to the roofs of the three chapel-like +buildings, fifty or sixty feet beneath. Beyond that I could see the +paved space, sprinkled with a few moving figures; and, beyond the +barrier, the crowd stretching across the roadway and far on either side. +Behind them was the clean river and the green meadows, all delicious in +the early sunlight. + +During that morning I must have seen many hundreds of the sick carried +into the baths; for there were almost two thousand sick in Lourdes on +that day. I could even watch their faces, white and drawn with pain, or +horribly scarred, as they lay directly beneath me, "waiting for some man +to put them into the water." I saw men and women of all nations and all +ranks attending upon them, carrying them tenderly, fanning their faces, +wiping their lips, giving them to drink of the Grotto water. A murmur of +thousands of footsteps came up from beneath (this National Pilgrimage of +France numbered between eighty and an hundred thousand persons); and +loud above the footsteps came the cries of the priests, as they stood in +a long row facing the people, with arms extended in the form of a cross. +Now and again came a far-off roar of singing from the Grotto to my left, +where Masses were said continuously by bishops and favoured priests; or +from my right, from the great oval space beneath the steps; and then, on +a sudden a great chorus of sound from beneath, as the _Gloria Patri_ +burst out when the end of some decade was reached. All about us was the +wheeling earth, the Pyrenees behind, the meadows in front; and over us +heaven, with Mary looking down. + +Once from beneath during that long morning I heard terrible shrieks, as +of a demoniac, that died into moans and ceased. And once I saw a little +procession go past from the Grotto, with the Blessed Sacrament in the +midst. There was no sensation, no singing. The Lord of all went simply +by on some errand of mercy, and men fell on their knees and crossed +themselves as He went. + +After _dejeuner_ at the Hotel Moderne, where now it was decided that we +should stay until the Monday, we went down to the Bureau. At first there +were difficulties made, as the doctors were not come; and I occupied a +little while in watching the litters unloaded from the wagonettes that +brought them gently down to within a hundred yards of the Grotto. Once +indeed I was happy to be able to fit a _brancardier's_ straps into the +poles that supported a sick woman. It was all most terrible and most +beautiful. Figure after figure was passed along the seats--living +crucifixes of pain--and lowered tenderly to the ground, to lie there a +moment or two, with the body horribly flat and, as it seemed, almost +non-existent beneath the coverlet; and the white face with blazing eyes +of anguish, or passive and half dead, to show alone that a human +creature lay there. Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently +down to the gate of the _piscines_. + +At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting +a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came +out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted. I passed through a barrier, +through a couple of rooms, and found myself in the Holy Place of +Science, as the Grotto is the Holy Place of Grace. + +It is a little room in which perhaps twenty persons can stand with +comfort. Again and again I saw more than sixty there. Down one side runs +a table, at one end of which sits Dr. Cox; in the centre, facing the +room, is the presiding doctor's chair, where, as a rule, Dr. Boissarie +is to be found. Dr. Cox set me between him and the president, and I +began to observe. + +At the farther end of the room is a long glazed case of photographs hung +against the wall. Here are photographs of many of the most famous +patients. The wounds of Marie Borel are shown there; Marie Borel herself +had been present in the Bureau that morning to report upon her excellent +health. (She was cured last year instantaneously, in the _piscine_, of a +number of running wounds, so deep that they penetrated the intestines.) +On the table lay some curious brass objects, which I learned later were +models of the bones of Pierre de Rudder's legs. (This man had for eight +years suffered from a broken leg and two running wounds--one at the +fracture, the other on the foot. These were gangrenous. The ends of the +broken bones were seen immediately before the cure, which took place +instantaneously at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostacker. +Pierre lived rather over twenty years after his sudden and complete +restoration to health). For the rest, the room is simple enough. There +are a few chairs. Another door leads into a little compartment where the +sick can be examined privately; a third and a fourth lead into the open +air on either side. There are two windows, looking out respectively on +this side and that. + +Now I spent a great deal of my time in the Bureau. (I was given +presently a "doctor's cross" to wear--consisting of a kind of cardboard +with a white upright and red cross-bar--so that I could pass in and out +as I wished). I may as well, then, sum up once and for all the +impressions I received from observing the methods of the doctors. There +were all kinds of doctors there continually--Catholics and +free-thinkers, old, young, middle-aged. The cases were discussed with +the utmost freedom. Any could ask questions of the _miracules_ or of the +other doctors. The certificates of the sick were read aloud. I may +observe, too, that if there was any doubt as to the certificates, if +there was any question of a merely nervous malady, any conceivable +possibility of a mistake, the case was dismissed abruptly. These +certificates, then, given by the doctor attending the sick person, dated +and signed, are of the utmost importance; for without them no cure is +registered. Yet, in spite of these demands, I saw again and again sixty +or seventy men, dead silent, staring, listening with all their ears, +while some poor uneducated man or woman, smiling radiantly, gave a +little history or answered the abrupt kindly questions of the presiding +doctor. + +Again, and again, too, it seemed to me that all this had been enacted +before. There was once upon a time a man born blind who received his +sight, and round him there gathered keen-eyed doctors of another kind. +They tried to pose him with questions. It was unheard of, they cried, +that a man born blind should receive his sight; at least it could not +have been as he said. Yet there stood the man in the midst, seeing them +as they saw him, and giving his witness. "This," he said, "was the way +it was done. Such and such is the name of the Man who cured me. And look +for yourselves! I was blind; now I see." + +After I had looked and made notes and asked questions of Dr. Cox, Dr. +Boissarie came in. I was made known to him; and presently he took me +aside, with a Scottish priest (who all through my stay showed me great +kindness), and began to ask me questions. It seemed that, since there +was no physical _miracule_ present just now, a spiritual _miracule_ +would do as well; for he asked me a hundred questions as to my +conversion and its causes, and what part prayer played in it; and the +doctors crowded round and listened to my halting French. + +"It was the need of a divine Leader--an authority--then, that brought +you in?" + +"Yes, it was that; it was the position of St. Peter in the Scriptures +and in history; it was the supernatural unity of the Church. It is +impossible to say exactly which argument predominated." + +"It was, in fact, the grace of God," smiled the Doctor. + +Dr. Boissarie, as also Dr. Cox, was extremely good to me. He is an +oldish man, with a keen, clever, wrinkled face; he is of middle-size, +and walks very slowly and deliberately; he is a fervent Catholic. He is +very sharp and businesslike, but there is an air of wonderful goodness +and kindness about him; he takes one by the arm in a very pleasant +manner; I have seen dilatory, rambling patients called to their senses +in an instant, yet never frightened. + +Dr. Cox, who has been at Lourdes for fourteen years, is a typical +Englishman, ruddy, with a white moustache. His part is mostly +secretarial, it seems; though he too asks questions now and again. It +was he who gave me the "doctor's cross," and who later obtained for me +an even more exceptional favour, of which I shall speak in the proper +place. I heard a tale that he himself had been cured of some illness at +Lourdes, but I cannot vouch for it as true. I did not like to ask him +outright. + +Presently from outside came the sound of organized singing, and the room +began to empty. The afternoon procession was coming. I ran to the window +that looks toward the Grotto; and there, sitting by an Assumptionist +Father--one of that Order who once had, officially, charge of the +Grotto, and now unofficially assists at it--I saw the procession go +past. + +I have no idea of its numbers. I saw only beyond the single line of +heads outside the window, an interminable double stream of men go past, +each bearing a burning taper and singing as he came. There were persons +of every kind in that stream--groups of boys and young men, with their +priest beating time in the midst; middle-aged men and old men. I saw +again and again that kind of face which a foolish Briton is accustomed +to regard as absurd--a military, musketeer profile, immense moustaches +and imperial, and hair _en brosse_. Yet indeed there was nothing absurd. +It was terribly moving, and a lump rose in my throat, as I watched such +a sanguine bristling face as one of these, all alight with passion and +adoration. Such a man might be a grocer, or a local mayor, or a duke; it +was all one; he was a child of Mary; and he loved her with all his +heart, and Gabriel's salute was on his lips. Then the priests began to +come; long lines of them in black; then white cottas; then gleams of +purple; then a pectoral cross or two; and last the great canopy swaying +with all its bells and tassels. + + + + +III. + + +Now, it is at the close of the afternoon procession that the sick more +usually are healed. I crossed the Bureau to the other window that looks +on to what I will call the square, and began to watch for the +reappearance of the procession on that side. In front of me was a dense +crowd of heads, growing more dense every step up to the barriers that +enclose the open space in the midst. It was beyond those barriers, as I +knew, that the sick were laid ready for the passing by of Jesus of +Nazareth. On the right rose the wide sweep of steps and terraces leading +up to the basilica, and every line of stone was crowned with heads. Even +on the cliffs beyond, I could see figures coming and going and watching. +In all, about eighty thousand persons were present. + +Presently the singing grew loud again; the procession had turned the +corner and entered the square; and I could see the canopy moving quickly +down the middle toward the Rosary Church, for its work was done. The +Blessed Sacrament was now to be carried round the lines of the sick, +beneath an _ombrellino_. + +I shall describe all this later, and more in detail; it is enough just +now to say that the Blessed Sacrament went round, that It was carried at +last to the steps of the Rosary Church, and that, after the singing of +the _Tantum Ergo_ by that enormous crowd, Benediction was given. Then +the Bureau began to fill, and I turned round for the scientific aspect +of the affair. + +The first thing that I saw was a little girl, seeming eight or nine +years old, who walked in and stood at the other side of the table, to be +examined. Her name was Marguerite Vandenabeele--so I read on the +certificate--and she had suffered since birth from infantile paralysis, +with such a result that she was unable to put her heels to the ground. +That morning in the _piscine_ she had found herself able to walk +properly though her heels were tender from disuse. We looked at her--the +doctors who had begun again to fill the room, and myself, with three or +four more amateurs. There she stood, very quiet and unexcited, with a +slightly flushed face. Some elder person in charge of her gave in the +certificate and answered the questions. Then she went away.[2] + +Now, I must premise that the cures that took place while I was at +Lourdes that August cannot yet be regarded as finally established, since +not sufficient time has elapsed for their test and verification.[3] +Occasionally there is a relapse soon after the apparent cure, in the +case of certain diseases that may be more or less affected by a nervous +condition; occasionally claimants are found not to be cured at all. For +scientific certainty, therefore, it is better to rely upon cures that +have taken place a year, or at least some months previously, in which +the restored health is preserved. There are, of course a large number of +such cases; I shall come to them presently.[4] + +The next patient to enter the room was one Mlle. Bardou. I learned later +from her lips that she was a secularized Carmelite nun, expelled from +her convent by the French Government. There was the further pathos in +her case in the fact that her cure, when I left Lourdes, was believed to +be at least doubtful. But now she took her seat, with a radiantly happy +face, to hand in her certificate and answer the questions. She had +suffered from renal tuberculosis; her certificate proved that. She was +here herself, without pain or discomfort, to prove that she no longer +suffered. Relief had come during the procession. A question or two was +put to her; an arrangement was made for her return after examination; +and she went out. + +The room was rapidly filling now; there were forty or fifty persons +present. There was a sudden stir; those who sat rose up; and there came +into the room three bishops in purple--from St. Paul in Brazil, the +Bishop of Beauvais, and the famous orator, Monseigneur Touchet, of +Orleans--all of whom had taken part in the procession. These sat down, +and the examination went on. + +The next to enter was Juliette Gosset, aged twenty-five, from Paris. She +had a darkish plain face, and was of middle size. She answered the +questions quietly enough, though there was evident a suppressed +excitement beneath. She had been cured during the procession, she said; +she had stood up and walked. And her illness? She showed a certificate, +dated in the previous March, asserting that she suffered gravely from +tuberculosis, especially in the right lung; she added herself that hip +disease had developed since that time, that one leg had become seven +centimetres shorter than the other, and that she had been for some +months unable to sit or kneel. Yet here she walked and sat without the +smallest apparent discomfort. When she had finished her tale, a doctor +pointed out that the certificate said nothing of any hip disease. She +assented, explaining again the reason; but added that the hospital where +she lodged in Lourdes would corroborate what she said. Then she +disappeared into the little private room to be examined. + +There followed a nun, pale and black-eyed, who made gestures as she +stood by Dr. Boissarie and told her story. She spoke very rapidly. I +learned that she had been suffering from a severe internal malady, and +that she had been cured instantaneously in the _piscine_. She handed in +her certificate, and then she, too, vanished. + +After a few minutes there returned the doctor who had examined Juliette +Gosset. Now, I think it should impress the incredulous that this case +was pronounced unsatisfactory, and will not, probably, appear upon the +registers. It was perfectly true that the girl had had tuberculosis, and +that now nothing was to be detected except the very faintest symptom--so +faint as to be negligible--in the right lung. It appeared to be true +also that she had had hip disease, since there were upon her body +certain marks of treatment by burning; and that her legs were now of an +exactly equal length. But, firstly, the certificate was five months old, +secondly, it made no mention of hip disease; thirdly, seven centimetres +was almost too large a measure to be believed. The case then was +referred back for further investigation; and there it stood when I left +Lourdes. The doctors shook their heads considerably over the seven +centimetres. + +There followed next one of the most curious instances of all. It was an +old _miraculee_ who came back to report; her case is reported at length +in Dr. Boissarie's _OEuvre de Lourdes_, on pages 299-308.[5] Her name +was Marie Cools, and she came from Anvers, suffering apparently from +_mal de Pott_, and paralysis and anaesthesia of the legs. This state had +lasted for about three years. The doctors consulted differed as to her +case: two diagnosing it as mentioned above, two as hysteria. For ten +months she had suffered, moreover, from constant feverishness; she was +continually sick, and the work of digestion was painful and difficult. +There was a marked lateral deviation of the spinal column, with atrophy +of the leg muscles. At the second bath she began to improve, and the +pains in the back ceased; at the fourth bath the paralysis vanished, her +appetite came steadily back, and the sickness ceased. Now she came in to +announce her continued good health. + +There are a number of interesting facts as to this case; and the first +is the witness of the infidel doctor who sent her to Lourdes, since it +seemed to him that "religious suggestion," was the only hope left. He, +by the way, had diagnosed her case as one of hysteria. "It had a +result," he writes, "which I, though an unbeliever, can characterize +only as marvellous. Marie Cools returned completely, absolutely cured. +No trace of paralysis or anaesthesia. She is actually on her feet; and, +two hospital servants having been stricken by typhoid, she is taking the +place of one of them." Another interesting fact is that a positive storm +raged at Anvers over her cure, and that Dr. Van de Vorst was at the +ensuing election dismissed from the hospital, with at least a suspicion +that the cause of his dismissal lay in his having advised the girl to go +to Lourdes at all. + +Dr. Boissarie makes an interesting comment or two on the case, allowing +that it may perhaps have been hysteria, though this is not at all +certain. "When we have to do with nervous maladies, we must always +remember the rules of Benedict XIV.: 'The miracle cannot consist in the +cessation of the crises, but in the cessation of the nervous state which +produces them.'" It is this that has been accomplished in the case of +Marie Cools. And again: "Either Marie Cools is not cured, or there is in +her cure something other than suggestion, even religious. It is high time +to leave that tale alone, and to cease to class under the title of +religious suggestion two orders of facts completely distinct--superficial +and momentary modifications, and constitutional modifications so profound +that science cannot explain them. I repeat: to make of an hysterical +patient one whose equilibrium is perfect ... is a thing more difficult +than the cure of a wound." + +So he wrote at the time of her apparent cure, hesitating still as to its +permanence. And here, before my eyes and his, she stood again, healthy +and well. + +And so at last I went back to dinner. A very different scene followed. +For a couple of hours we had been materialists, concerning ourselves not +with what Mary had done by grace--at least not in that aspect--but with +what nature showed to have been done, by whatever agency, in itself. Now +once more we turned to Mary. + +It was dark when we arrived at the square, but the whole place was alive +with earthly lights. High up to our left hung the church, outlined in +fire--tawdry, I dare say, with its fairy lights of electricity, yet +speaking to three-quarters of this crowd in the highest language they +knew. Light, after all, is the most heavenly thing we possess. Does it +matter so very much if it is decked out and arranged in what to superior +persons appears a finikin fashion? + +The crowd itself had become a serpent of fire, writhing here below in +endlessly intricate coils; up there along the steps and parapets, a +long-drawn, slow-moving line; and from the whole incalculable number +came gusts and roars of singing, for each carried a burning torch and +sang with his group. The music was of all kinds. Now and again came the +_Laudate Mariam_ from one company, following to some degree the general +movement of the procession, and singing from little paper-books which +each read by the light of his wind-blown lantern; now the _Gloria +Patri_, as a band came past reciting the Rosary; but above all pealed +the ballad of Bernadette, describing how the little child went one day +by the banks of the Gave, how she heard the thunderous sound, and, +turning, saw the Lady, with all the rest of the sweet story, each stanza +ending with that + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +that I think will ring in my ears till I die. + +It was an astounding sight to see that crowd and to hear that singing, +and to watch each group as it came past--now girls, now boys, now +stalwart young men, now old veteran pilgrims, now a bent old woman; each +face illumined by the soft paper-shrouded candle, and each mouth singing +to Mary. Hardly one in a thousand of those came to be cured of any +sickness; perhaps not one in five hundred had any friend among the +patients; yet here they were, drawn across miles of hot France, to give, +not to get. Can France, then, be so rotten? + +As I dropped off to sleep that night, the last sound of which I was +conscious was, still that cannon-like chorus, coming from the direction +of the square: + + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] _La Voix de Lourdes_, a semi-official paper, gives the following +account of her, in its issue of the 23rd: "... Marguerite Vandenabeele, +10 ans, de Nieurlet, hameau de Hedezeele, (Nord), est arrivee avec un +des trains de Paris, portant un certificat du Docteur Dantois, date de +St. Momeleu (Nord) le 25 mai, 1908, la declarant atteinte _d'atrophie de +la jambe gauche_ avec _pied-bot equin_. Elle ne marchait que tres +difficilement et tres peniblement. A la sortie de la piscine, vendredi +soir, elle a pu marcher facilement. Amenee au Bureau Medical, on l'a +debarrassee de l'appareil dans lequel etait enferme son pied. Depuis, +elle marche bien, et parait guerie." + +[3] This was written in the autumn of the year 1908, in which this visit +of mine took place. + +[4] Since 1888 the registered cures are estimated as follows: '88, 57; +'89, 44; '90, 80; '91, 53; '92, 99; '93, 91; '94, 127; '95, 163; '96, +145; '97, 163; '98, 243; '99, 174; 1900, 160; '01, 171; '02, 164; '03, +161; '04, 140; '05, 157; '06, 148; '07, 109. + +[5] My notes are rather illegible at this point, but I make no doubt +that this was Marie Cools. + + + + +IV. + + +I awoke to that singing again, in my room above the door of the hotel; +and went down presently to say my Mass in the Rosary Church, where, by +the kindness of the Scottish priest of whom I have spoken, an altar had +been reserved for me. The Rosary Church is tolerably fine within. It has +an immense flattened dome, beyond which stands the high altar; and round +about are fifteen chapels dedicated to the Fifteen Mysteries, which are +painted above their respective altars. + +But I was to say Mass in a little temporary chapel to the left of the +entrance, formed, I suppose, out of what usually serves as some kind of +a sacristy. The place was hardly forty feet long; its high altar, at +which I both vested and said Mass, was at the farther end; but each +side, too, was occupied by three priests, celebrating simultaneously +upon altar-stones laid on long, continuous boards that ran the length of +the chapel. The whole of the rest of the space was crammed to +overflowing; indeed it had been scarcely possible to get entrance to the +chapel at all, so vast was the crowd in the great church outside. + +After breakfast I went down to the Bureau once more, and found business +already begun. The first case, which was proceeding as I entered, was +that of a woman (whose name I could not catch) who had been cured of +consumption in the previous year, and who now came back to report a +state of continued good health. Her brother-in-law came with her, and +she remarked with pleasure that the whole family was now returning to +the practice of religion. During this investigation I noticed also +Juliette Gosset seated at the table, apparently in robust health. + +There followed Natalie Audivin, a young woman who declared that she had +been cured in the previous year, and that she supposed her case had been +entered in the books; but at the moment, at any rate, her name could not +be found, and for the present the case was dismissed. + +I now saw a Capuchin priest in the room--a small, rosy, bearded man--and +supposed that he was present merely as a spectator; but a minute or two +later Dr. Boissarie caught sight of him, and presently was showing him +off to me, much to his smiling embarrassment. He had caught consumption +of the intestines, it seemed, some years before, from attending upon two +of his dying brethren, and had come to Lourdes almost at his last gasp +in the year 1900 A. D. Here he stood, smiling and rosy. + +There followed Mademoiselle Madeleine Laure, cured of severe internal +troubles (I did not catch the details) in the previous year. + +Presently the Bishop of Dalmatia came in, and sat in his chair opposite +me, while we heard the account of Miss Noemie Nightingale, of Upper +Norwood, cured in the previous June of deafness, rising, in the case of +one ear at least, from a perforation of the drum. She was present at the +_piscines_, when on a sudden she had felt excruciating pains in the +ears. The next she knew was that she heard the _Magnificat_ being sung +in honour of her cure. + +Mademoiselle Marie Bardou came in about this time, and passed through to +the inner room to be examined; while we received from a doctor a report +of the lame child whom we had seen on the previous day. All was as had +been said. She could now put her heels to the ground and walk. It seemed +she had been conscious of a sensation of hammering in her feet at the +moment of the cure, followed by a feeling of relief. + +And so they went on. Next came Mademoiselle Eugenie Meunier, cured two +months before of fistula. She had given her certificate into the care of +her _cure_, who could not at this moment be found--naturally enough, as +she had made no appointment with him!--but she was allowed to tell her +story, and to show a copy of her parish magazine in which her story was +given. She had had in her body one wound of ten centimetres in size. +After bathing one evening she had experienced relief; by the next +morning the wound, which had flowed for six months, was completely +closed, and had remained so. Her strength and appetite had returned. +This cure had taken place in her own lodging, since her state was such +that she was forbidden to go to the Grotto. + +The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered +provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk, +but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to +the _piscines_, and ordered to report again later. + +The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of +a terrible disease of the bone three years before. Until that time he +was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the _piscines_. +He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And +now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the +door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had +running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified. + +The next was an oldish man, who came accompanied by his tall, +black-bearded son, to report on his continued good health since his +recovery, eight years previously, from neurasthenia and insanity. He had +had the illusion of being persecuted, with suicidal tendencies; he had +been told he could not travel twenty miles, and he had travelled over +eight hundred kilometres, after four years' isolation. He had stayed a +few months in Lourdes, bathing in the _piscines_, and the obsession had +left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and +dismissed. + +There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured +eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen. She had been sitting +in one of the churches, I think, when there was a sudden discharge of +matter, and a sense of relief. On the morrow, after another bath, the +sense of discomfort had finally disappeared. During Madame Simonet's +examination, as the crowd was great, several persons were dismissed till +a later hour. + +There followed another old patient to report. She had been cured two +years before of myelitis and an enormous tumour that, after twenty-two +years of suffering, had been declared "incurable" in her certificate. +The cure had taken place during the procession, in the course of which +she suddenly felt herself, she said, impelled to rise from her litter. +Her appetite had returned and she had enjoyed admirable health ever +since. Her name was looked up, and the details verified. + +There followed Madame Francois and some doctor's evidence. Nine years +ago she had been cured of fistula in the arm. She had been operated upon +five times; finally, as her arm measured a circumference of seventy-two +centimetres, amputation had been declared necessary. She had refused, +and had come to Lourdes. Her cure occupied three days, at the end of +which her arm had resumed its normal size of twenty-five centimetres. +She showed her arm, with faint scars visible upon it; it was again +measured and found normal. + +It was an amazing morning. Here I had sat for nearly three hours, seeing +with my own eyes persons of all ages and both sexes, suffering from +every variety of disease, present themselves before sixty or seventy +doctors, saying that they had been cured miraculously by the Mother of +God. Various periods had elapsed since their cures--a day, two or three +months, one year, eight years, nine years. These persons had been +operated upon, treated, subjected to agonizing remedies; one or two had +been declared actually incurable; and then, either in an instant, or +during the lapse of two or three days, or two or three months, had been +restored to health by prayer and the application of a little water in +no way remarkable for physical qualities. + +What do the doctors say to this? Some confess frankly that it is +miraculous in the literal sense of the term, and join with the patients +in praising Mary and her Divine Son. Some say nothing; some are content +to say that science at its present stage cannot account for it all, but +that in a few years, no doubt ... and the rest of it. I did not hear any +say that: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils"; +but that is accounted for by the fact that those who might wish to say +it do not believe in Beelzebub. + +But will science ever account for it all? That I leave to God. All that +I can say is that, if so, it is surely as wonderful as any miracle, that +the Church should have hit upon a secret that the scientists have +missed. But is there not a simpler way of accounting for it? For read +and consider the human evidence as regards Bernadette--her age, her +simplicity, her appearance of ecstasy. She said that she saw this Lady +eighteen times; on one of these occasions, in the presence of +bystanders. She was bidden, she said, to go to the water. She turned to +go down to the Gave, but was recalled and bidden to dig in the earth of +the Grotto. She did so, and a little muddy water appeared where no soul +in the village knew that there was water. Hour by hour this water waxed +in volume; to-day it pours out in an endless stream, is conducted +through the _piscines_; and it is after washing in this water that +bodies are healed in a fashion for which "science cannot account." +Perhaps it cannot. Perhaps it is not intended. But there are things +besides science, and one of them is religion. Is not the evidence +tolerably strong? Or is it a series of coincidences that the child had +an hallucination, devised some trick with the water, and that this water +happens to be an occasion of healing people declared incurable by known +means? + +What is the good of these miracles? If so many are cured, why are not +all? Are the _miracules_ especially distinguished for piety? Is it +to be expected that unbelievers will be convinced? Is it claimed that the +evidence is irresistible? Let us go back to the Gospels. It used to be +said by doubters that the "miraculous element" must have been added +later by the piety of the disciples, because all the world knew now that +"miracles" did not happen. That _a priori_ argument is surely +silenced by Lourdes. "Miracles" in that sense undoubtedly do happen, if +present-day evidence is worth anything whatever. What, then, is the +Christian theory? + +It is this. Our Blessed Lord appears to have worked miracles of such a +nature that their significance was not, historically speaking, +absolutely evident to those who, for other reasons, did not "believe in +Him." It is known how some asked for a "sign from heaven" and were +refused it; how He Himself said that even if one rose from the dead, +they would not believe; yet, further, how He begged them to believe Him +even for His work's sake, if for nothing else. We know, finally, how, +when confronted with one particular miracle, His enemies cried out that +it must have been done by diabolical agency. + +Very good, then. It would seem that the miracles of Our Lord were of a +nature that strongly disposed to belief those that witnessed them, and +helped vastly in the confirmation of the faith of those who already +believed; but that miracles, as such, cannot absolutely compel the +belief of those who for moral reasons refuse it. If they could, faith +would cease to be faith. + +Now, this seems precisely the state of affairs at Lourdes. Even +unbelieving scientists are bound to admit that science at present cannot +account for the facts, which is surely the modern equivalent for the +Beelzebub theory. We have seen, too, how severely scientific persons +such as Dr. Boissarie and Dr. Cox--if they will permit me to quote their +names--knowing as well as anyone what medicine and surgery and hypnotism +and suggestion can and cannot do, corroborate this evidence, and see in +the facts a simple illustration of the truth of that Catholic Faith +which they both hold and practise. + +Is not the parallel a fair one? What more, then, do the adversaries +want? There is no arguing with people who say that, since there is +nothing but Nature, no process can be other than natural. There is no +sign, even from heaven, that could break down the intellectual prejudice +of such people. If they saw Jesus Christ Himself in glory, they could +always say that "at present science cannot account for the phenomenon of +a luminous body apparently seated upon a throne, but no doubt it will do +so in the course of time." If they saw a dead and corrupting man rise +from the grave, they could always argue that he could not have been dead +and corrupting, or he could not have risen from the grave. Nothing but +the Last Judgment could convince such persons. Even when the trumpet +sounds, I believe that some of them, when they have recovered from their +first astonishment, will make remarks about aural phenomena. + +But for the rest of us, who believe in God and His Son and the Mother of +God on quite other grounds--because our intellect is satisfied, our +heart kindled, our will braced by the belief; and because without that +belief all life falls into chaos, and human evidence is nullified, and +all noble motive and emotion cease--for us, who have received the gift +of faith, in however small a measure, Lourdes is enough. Christ and His +Mother are with us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. Is not that, after all, the simplest theory? + + + + +V. + + +After _dejeuner_ I set out again to find the Scottish priest, who hoped +to be able to take me to a certain window in the Rosary Church, where +only a few were admitted, from which we might view the procession and +the Blessing of the Sick. But we were disappointed; and, after a certain +amount of scheming, we managed to get a position at the back of the +crowd on the top of the church steps. I was able to climb up a few +inches above the others, and secured a very tolerable view of the whole +scene. + +The crowd was beyond describing. Here about us was a vast concourse of +men; and as far as the eye could reach down the huge oval, and far away +beyond the crowned statue, and on either side back to the Bureau on the +left, and on the slopes on the right, stretched an inconceivable +pavement of heads. Above us, too, on every terrace and step, back to the +doors of the great basilica, we knew very well, was one seething, +singing mob. A great space was kept open on the level ground beneath +us--I should say one hundred by two hundred yards in area--and the +inside fringe of this was composed of the sick, in litters, in chairs, +standing, sitting, lying and kneeling. It was at the farther end that +the procession would enter. + +After perhaps half an hour's waiting, during which one incessant gust of +singing rolled this way and that through the crowd, the leaders of the +procession appeared far away--little white or black figures, small as +dolls--and the singing became general. But as the endless files rolled +out, the singing ceased, and a moment later a priest, standing solitary +in the great space began to pray aloud in a voice like a silver trumpet. + +I have never heard such passion in my life. I began to watch presently, +almost mechanically, the little group beneath the _ombrellino_, in white +and gold, and the movements of the monstrance blessing the sick; but +again and again my eyes wandered back to the little figure in the midst, +and I cried out with the crowd, sentence after sentence, following that +passionate voice: + +"_Seigneur, nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur,_" came the huge response, "_nous vous adorons!_" + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, nous vous aimons!_" answered the people. + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jesus; nous perissons!_" + +"_Sauvez-nous, Jesus; nous perissons!_" + +"_Jesus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitie de nous!_" + +"_Jesus, Fils de Marie, ayez pitie de nous!_" + +Then with a surge rose up the plainsong melody. + +"_Parce, Domine!_" sang the people. "_Parce populo tuo! Ne in aeternum +irascaris nobis._" + +Again: + +"_Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto._" + +"_Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. +Amen._" + +Then again the single voice and the multitudinous answer: + +"_Vous etes la Resurrection et la Vie!_" + +And then an adjuration to her whom He gave to be our Mother. + +"_Mere du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_" + +Then once more the singing; then the cry, more touching than all: + +"_Seigneur, guerissez nos malades!_" + +"_Seigneur, guerissez nos malades!_" + +Then the kindling shout that brought the blood to ten thousand faces: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" (I shook to hear it). + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest, rising from his knees with arms flung +wide. + +"_Hosanna!_" roared the people, swift as an echo. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna!_" crashed out again and again, like great +artillery. + +Yet there was no movement among those piteous prostrate lines. The +Bishop, the _ombrellino_ over him, passed on slowly round the circle; +and the people cried to Him whom he bore, as they cried two thousand +years ago on the road to the city of David. Surely He will be pitiful +upon this day--the Jubilee Year of His Mother's graciousness, the octave +of her assumption to sit with Him on His throne! + +"_Mere du Sauveur, priez pour nous!_" + +"_Jesus, vous etes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +Yet there was no movement. + +If ever "suggestion" could work a miracle, it must work it now. "We +expect the miracles during the procession to-morrow and on Sunday," a +priest had said to me on the previous day. And there I stood, one of a +hundred thousand, confident in expectation, thrilled by that voice, +nothing doubting or fearing; there were the sick beneath me, answering +weakly and wildly to the crying of the priest; and yet there was no +movement, no sudden leap of a sick man from his bed as Jesus went by, no +vibrating scream of joy--"_Je suis gueri! Je suis gueri!_"--no +tumultuous rush to the place, and the roar of the _Magnificat_, as we +had been led to expect. + +The end was coming near now. The monstrance had reached the image once +again, and was advancing down the middle. The voice of the priest grew +more passionate still, as he tossed his arms and cried for mercy + +"_Jesus, ayez pitie de nous!--ayez pitie[Transcriber's Note: original +had "pitie"] de nous!_" + +And the people, frantic with ardour and desire, answered him in a voice +of thunder: + +"_Ayez pitie de nous!--ayez pitie de nous!_" + +And now up the steps came the grave group to where Jesus would at least +bless His own, though He would not heal them; and the priest in the +midst, with one last cry, gave glory to Him who must be served through +whatever misery: + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +Surely that must touch the Sacred Heart! Will not His Mother say one +word? + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna au Fils de David!_" + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the priest. + +"_Hosanna!_" cried the people. + +"_Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!..._" + +One articulate roar of disappointed praise, and then--_Tantum ergo +Sacramentum!_ rose in its solemnity. + +When Benediction was over, I went back to the Bureau; but there was +little to be seen there. No, there were no miracles to-day, I was +told--or hardly one. Perhaps one in the morning. It was not known. + +Several Bishops were there again, listening to the talk of the doctors, +and the description of certain cases on previous days. Pere Salvator, +the Capuchin, was there again; as also the tall bearded Assumptionist +Father of whom I have spoken. But there was not a great deal of interest +or excitement. I had the pleasure of talking a while with the Bishop of +Tarbes, who introduced me again to the Capuchin, and retold his story. + +But I was a little unhappy. The miracle was that I was not more so. I +had expected so much: I had seen nothing. + +I talked to Dr. Cox also before leaving. + +"No," he told me, "there is hardly one miracle to-day. We are doubtful, +too, about that leg that was seven centimetres too short." + +"And is it true that Mademoiselle Bardou is not cured?" (A doctor had +been giving us certain evidence a few minutes before). + +"I am afraid so. It was probably a case of intense subjective +excitement. But it may be an amelioration. We do not know yet. The real +work of investigating comes afterwards." + +How arbitrary it all seemed, I thought, as I walked home to dinner. That +morning, on my way from the Bureau, I had seen a great company of white +banners moving together; and, on inquiry, had found that these were the +_miracules_ chiefly of previous years--about three hundred and fifty in +number.[6] They formed a considerably large procession. I had looked at +their faces: there were many more women than men (as there were upon +Calvary). But as I watched them I could not conceive upon what principle +the Supernatural had suddenly descended on this and not on that. "Two +men in one bed.... Two women grinding at the mill.... One is taken and +the other left." Here were persons of all ages--from six to eighty, I +should guess--of all characters, ranks, experiences; of both sexes. Some +were religious, some grocers, some of the nobility, a retired soldier or +two, and so on. They were not distinguished for holiness, it seemed. I +had heard heartbreaking little stories of the ten lepers over again--one +grateful, nine selfish. One or two of the girls, I heard, had had their +heads turned by flattery and congratulation; they had begun to give +themselves airs. + +And, now again, here was this day, this almost obvious occasion. It was +the Jubilee Year; everything was about on a double scale. And nothing +had happened! Further, five of the sick had actually died at Lourdes +during their first night there. To come so far and to die! + +On what principle, then, did God act? Then I suddenly understood, not +God's principles, but my own; and I went home both ashamed and +comforted. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] The official numbers of those at the afternoon procession were 341. + + + + +VI. + + +I said a midnight Mass that night in the same chapel of the Rosary +Church as on the previous morning. Again the crush was terrific. On the +steps of the church I saw a friar hearing a confession; and on entering +I found High Mass proceeding in the body of the church itself, with a +congregation so large and so worn-out that many were sleeping in +constrained attitudes among the seats. In fact, I was informed, since +the sleeping accommodation of Lourdes could not possibly provide for so +large a pilgrimage, there were many hundreds, at least, who slept where +they could--on the steps of churches, under trees and rocks, and by the +banks of the river. + +I was served at my Mass by a Scottish priest, immediately afterwards I +served his at the same altar. While vesting, I noticed a priest at the +high altar of this little chapel reading out acts of prayer, to which +the congregation responded; and learned that two persons who had been +received into the Church on that day were to make their First Communion. +As midnight struck, simultaneously from the seven altars came seven +voices: + +"_In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen._" + +Once more, on returning home and going to bed a little after one o'clock +in the morning, the last sound that I heard was of the "_Gloria Patri_" +being sung by other pilgrims also returning to their lodging. + +After coffee, a few hours later, I went down again to the square. It was +Sunday, and a Pontifical High Mass was being sung on the steps of the +Rosary Church. As usual, the crowd filled the square, and I could hardly +penetrate for a while beyond the fringe; but it was a new experience to +hear that vast congregation in the open air responding with one giant +voice to the plain-song of the Mass. It was astonishing what expression +showed itself in the singing. The _Sanctus_ was one of the most +impressive peals of worship and adoration that I have ever heard. At the +close of the Mass, all the bishops present near the altar--I counted six +or seven--turned and gave the blessing simultaneously. On the two great +curves that led up to the basilica were grouped the white banners of the +_miracules_. + +Soon after arriving at the Bureau a very strange and quiet little +incident happened. A woman with a yellowish face, to which the colour +was slowly returning, came in and sat down to give her evidence. She +declared to us that during the procession yesterday she had been cured +of a tumour on the liver. She had suddenly experienced an overwhelming +sense of relief, and had walked home completely restored to health. On +being asked why she did not present herself at the Bureau, she answered +that she did not think of it: she had just gone home. I have not yet +heard whether this was a true cure or not; all I can say at present is I +was as much impressed by her simple and natural bearing, her entire +self-possession, and the absence of excitement, as by anything I saw at +Lourdes. I cannot conceive such a woman suffering from an illusion. + +A few minutes later Dr. Cox called to me, and writing on a card, handed +it to me, telling me it would admit me to the _piscines_ for a bath. I +had asked for this previously; but had been told it was not certain, +owing to the crush of patients, whether it could be granted. I set out +immediately to the _piscines_. + +There are, as I have said, three compartments in the building called the +_piscines_. That on the left is for women; in the middle, for children +and for those who do not undergo complete immersion; on the right, for +men. It was into this last, then, that I went, when I had forced my way +through the crowd, and passed the open court where the priests prayed. +It was a little paved place like a chapel, with a curtain hung +immediately before the door. When I had passed this, I saw at the +farther end, three or four yards away, was a deepish trough, wide and +long enough to hold one person. Steps went down on either side of it, +for the attendants. Immediately above the bath, on the wall, was a +statue of Our Lady; and beneath it a placard of prayers, large enough to +be read at a little distance. + +There were about half a dozen people in the place--two or three priests +and three or four patients. One of the priests, I was relieved to see, +was the Scotsman whose Mass I had served the previous midnight. He was +in his soutane, with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He gave me my +directions, and while I made ready I watched the patients. There was one +lame man, just beside me, beginning to dress; two tiny boys, and a young +man who touched me more than I can say. He was standing by the head of +the bath, holding a basin in one hand and a little image of our Lady in +the other, and was splashing water ingeniously with his fingers into his +eyes; these were horribly inflamed, and I could see that he was blind. I +cannot describe the passion with which he did this, seeming to stare all +the while towards the image he held, and whispering out prayers in a +quick undertone--hoping, no doubt, that his first sight would be the +image of his Mother. Then I looked at the boys. One of them had horribly +prolonged and thin legs; I could not see what was wrong with the other, +except that he looked ill and worn out. Close beside me, on the wet, +muddy paving, lay an indescribable bandage that had been unrolled from +the lame man's leg. + +When my turn came, I went wrapped in a soaking apron, down a step or so +into the water; and then, with a priest holding either hand, lay down at +full length so that my head only emerged. That water had better not be +described. It is enough to say that people suffering from most of the +diseases known to man had bathed in it without ceasing for at least five +or six hours. Yet I can say, with entire sincerity, that I did not have +even the faintest physical repulsion, though commonly I hate dirt at +least as much as sin. It is said, too, that never in the history of +Lourdes has there been one case of disease traceable to infection from +the baths. The water was cold, but not unpleasantly. I lay there, I +suppose, about one minute, while the two priests and myself repeated off +the placard the prayers inscribed there. These were, for the most part, +petitions to Mary to pray. "_O Marie,_" they ended, "_concue sans peche, +priez pour nous qui avons recours a vous!_" + +As I dressed again after the bath, I had one more sight of the young +man. He was being led out by a kindly attendant, but his face was all +distorted with crying, and from his blind eyes ran down a stream of +terrible tears. It is unnecessary to say that I said a "Hail Mary" for +his soul at least. + +As soon as I was ready, I went out and sat down for a while among the +recently bathed, and began to remind myself why _I_ had bathed. +Certainly I was not suffering from anything except a negligible ailment +or two. Neither did I do it out of curiosity, because I could have seen +without difficulty all the details without descending into that +appalling trough. I suppose it was just an act of devotion. Here was +water with a history behind it; water that was as undoubtedly used by +Almighty God for giving benefits to man as was the clay laid upon blind +eyes long ago near Siloe, or the water of Bethesda itself. And it is a +natural instinct to come as close as possible to things used by the +heavenly powers. I was extraordinarily glad I had bathed, and I have +been equally glad ever since. I am afraid it is of no use as evidence to +say that until I came to Lourdes I was tired out, body and mind; and +that since my return I have been unusually robust. Yet that is a fact, +and I leave it there. + +As I sat there a procession went past to the Grotto, and I walked to +the railings to look at it. I do not know at all what it was all about, +but it was as impressive as all things are in Lourdes. The _miracules_ +came first with their banners--file after file of them--then a number of +prelates, then _brancardiers_ with their shoulder-harness, then nuns, +then more _brancardiers_. I think perhaps they may have been taking a +recent _miracule_ to give thanks; for when I arrived presently at the +Bureau again, I heard that, after all, several appeared to have been +cured at the procession on the previous day. + +I was sitting in the hall of the hotel a few minutes later when I heard +the roar of the _Magnificat_ from the street, and ran out to see what +was forward. As I came to the door, the heart of the procession went by. +A group of _brancardiers_ formed an irregular square, holding cords to +keep back the crowd; and in the middle walked a group of three, followed +by an empty litter. The three were a white-haired man on this side, a +stalwart _brancardier_ on the other, and between them a girl with a +radiant face, singing with all her heart. She had been carried down from +her lodging that morning to the _piscines_; she was returning on her own +feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and +go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to +the hotel. + + + + +VII. + + +In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place +to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before. But the +crowd was so great that we could not find him, so presently we dispersed +as best we could. Two other priests and myself went completely round the +outside of the churches, in order, if possible, to join in the +procession, since to cross the square was a simple impossibility. In the +terrible crush near the Bureau, I became separated from the others, and +fought my way back, and into the Bureau, as the best place open to me +now for seeing the Blessing of the Sick. + +It was now at last that I had my supreme wish. Within a minute or two of +my coming to look through the window, the Blessed Sacrament entered the +reserved space among the countless litters. The crowd between me and the +open space was simply one pack of heads; but I could observe the +movements of what was going forward by the white top of the _ombrellino_ +as it passed slowly down the farther side of the square. + +The crowd was very still, answering as before the passionate voice in +the midst; but watching, watching, as I watched. Beside me sat Dr. Cox, +and our Rosaries were in our hands. The white spot moved on and on, and +all else was motionless. I knew that beyond it lay the sick. "Lord, if +it be possible--if it be possible! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine +be done." It had reached now the end of the first line. + +"_Seigneur, guerissez nos malades!_" cried the priest. + +"_Seigneur, guerissez nos malades!_" answered the people. + +"_Vous etes mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!_" + +And then on a sudden it came. + +Overhead lay the quiet summer air, charged with the Supernatural as a +cloud with thunder--electric, vibrating with power. Here beneath lay +souls thirsting for its touch of fire--patient, desirous, infinitely +pathetic; and in the midst that Power, incarnate for us men and our +salvation. Then it descended, swift and mighty. + +I saw a sudden swirl in the crowd of heads beneath the church steps, and +then a great shaking ran through the crowd; but there for a few instants +it boiled like a pot. A sudden cry had broken out, and it ran through +the whole space; waxing in volume as it ran, till the heads beneath my +window shook with it also; hands clapped, voices shouted: "_Un miracle! +Un miracle!_" + +I was on my feet, staring and crying out. Then quietly the shaking +ceased, and the shouting died to a murmur; and the _ombrellino_ moved +on; and again the voice of the priest thrilled thin and clear, with a +touch of triumphant thankfulness: "_Vous etes la Resurrection et la +Vie!_" And again, with entreaty once more--since there still were two +thousand sick untouched by that Power, and time pressed--that infinitely +moving plea: "_Seigneur, celui qui vous aime est malade!_" And: +"_Seigneur, faites que je marche! Seigneur, faites que j'entende!_" + +And then again the finger of God flashed down, and again and again; and +each time a sick and broken body sprang from its bed of pain and stood +upright; and the crowd smiled and roared and sobbed. Five times I saw +that swirl and rush; the last when the _Te Deum_ pealed out from the +church steps as Jesus in His Sacrament came home again. And there were +two that I did not see. There were seven in all that afternoon. + +Now, is it of any use to comment on all this? I am not sure; and yet, +for my own satisfaction if for no one else's, I wish to set down some of +the thoughts that came to me both then and after I had sat at the window +and seen God's loving-kindness with my own eyes. + +The first overwhelming impression that remained with me is this--that I +had been present, in my own body, in the twentieth century, and seen +Jesus pass along by the sick folk, as He passed two thousand years +before. That, in a word, is the supreme fact of Lourdes. More than once +as I sat there that afternoon I contrasted the manner in which I was +spending it with that in which the average believing Christian spends +Sunday afternoon. As a child, I used to walk with my father, and he used +to read and talk on religious subjects; on our return we used to have a +short Bible-class in his study. As an Anglican clergyman, I used to +teach in Sunday schools or preach to children. As a Catholic priest, I +used occasionally to attend at catechism. At all these times the +miraculous seemed singularly far away; we looked at it across twenty +centuries; it was something from which lessons might be drawn, upon +which the imagination might feed, but it was a state of affairs as +remote as the life of prehistoric man; one assented to it, and that was +all. And here at Lourdes it was a present, vivid event. I sat at an +ordinary glass window, in a soutane made by an English tailor, with +another Englishman beside me, and saw the miraculous happen. Time and +space disappeared; the centuries shrank and vanished; and behold we saw +that which "prophets and kings have desired to see and have not seen!" + +Of course "scientific" arguments, of the sort which I have related, can +be brought forward in an attempt to explain Lourdes; but they are the +same arguments that can be, and are, brought forward against the +miracles of Jesus Christ Himself. I say nothing to those here; I leave +that to scientists such as Dr. Boissarie; but what I cannot understand +is that professing Christians are able to bring _a priori_ arguments +against the fact that Our Lord is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever--the same in Galilee and in France. "These signs shall follow them +that believe," He said Himself; and the history of the Catholic Church +is an exact fulfilment of the words. It was so, St. Augustine tells us, +at the tombs of the martyrs; five hundred miracles were reported at +Canterbury within a few years of St. Thomas' martyrdom. And now here is +Lourdes, as it has been for fifty years, in this little corner of poor +France! + +I have been asked since my return: "Why cannot miracles be done in +England?" My answer is, firstly, that they are done in England, in +Liverpool, and at Holywell, for example; secondly, I answer by another +question as to why Jesus Christ was not born in Rome; and if He had been +born in Rome, why not in Nineveh and Jerusalem? Thirdly, I answer that +perhaps more would be done in England, if there were more faith there. +It is surely a little unreasonable to ask that, in a country which +three hundred and fifty years ago deliberately repudiated Christ's +Revelation of Himself, banished the Blessed Sacrament and tore down +Mary's shrines, Christ and His Mother should cooperate supernaturally in +marvels that are rather the rewards of the faithful. "It is not meet to +take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs"--these are the +words of our Lord Himself. If London is not yet tolerant enough to allow +an Eucharistic Procession in her streets, she is scarcely justified in +demanding that our Eucharistic Lord should manifest His power. "He could +do no mighty work there," says the Evangelist, of Capharnaum, "because +of their unbelief." + +This, then, is the supreme fact of Lourdes: that Jesus Christ in His +Sacrament passes along that open square, with the sick laid in beds on +either side; and that at His word the lame walk and lepers are cleansed +and deaf hear--that they are seen leaping and dancing for joy. + +Even now, writing within ten days of my return, all seems like a dream; +and yet I know that I saw it. For over thirty years I had been +accustomed to repeat the silly formula that "the age of miracles is +past"; that they were necessary for the establishment of Christianity, +but that they are no longer necessary now, except on extremely rare +occasions perhaps; and in my heart I knew my foolishness. Why, for those +thirty years Lourdes had been in existence! And if I spoke of it at all, +I spoke only of hysteria and auto-suggestion and French imaginativeness, +and the rest of the nonsense. It is impossible for a Christian who has +been at Lourdes to speak like that again. + +And as for the unreality, that does not trouble me. I have no doubt that +those who saw the bandages torn from the leper's limbs and the sound +flesh shown beneath, or the once blind man, his eyes now dripping with +water of Siloe, looking on Him who had made him whole, or heard the +marvellous talk of "men like trees walking," and the rest--I have no +doubt that ten days later they sat themselves with unseeing eyes, and +wondered whether it was indeed they who had witnessed those things. +Human nature, like a Leyden jar, cannot hold beyond a fixed quantity; +and this human nature, with experience, instincts, education, common +talk, public opinion, and all the rest of it, echoing round it; the +assumption that miracles _do not happen_; that laws are laws; in other +words, that Deism is the best that can be hoped--well, it is little +wonder that the visible contradiction of all this conventionalism finds +but little room in the soul. + +Then there is another point that I should like to make in the presence +of "Evangelical" Christians who shake their heads over Mary's part in +the matter. It is this--that for every miracle that takes place in the +_piscines_, I should guess that a dozen take place while That which we +believe to be Jesus Christ goes by. Catholics, naturally, need no such +reassurance; they know well enough from interior experience that when +Mary comes forward Jesus does not retire! But for those who think as +some Christians do, it is necessary to point out the facts. And again. I +have before me as I write the little card of ejaculations that are used +in the procession. There are twenty-four in all. Of these, twenty-one +are addressed to Jesus Christ; in two more we ask the "Mother of the +Saviour" and the "Health of the Sick" to pray for us; in the last we ask +her to "show herself a Mother." If people will talk of "proportion" in a +matter in which there is no such thing--since there can be no +comparison, without grave irreverence, between the Creator and a +creature--I would ask, Is there "disproportion" here? + +In fact, Lourdes, as a whole, is an excellent little compendium of +Catholic theology and Gospel-truth. There was once a marriage feast, and +the Mother of Jesus was there with her Son. There was no wine. She told +her Son what He already knew; He seemed to deprecate her words; but He +obeyed them, and the water became wine. + +There is at Lourdes not a marriage feast, but something very like a +deathbed. The Mother of Jesus is there with her Son. It is she again who +takes the initiative. "Here is water," she seems to say; "dig, +Bernadette, and you will find it." But it is no more than water. Then +she turns to her Son. "They have water," she says, "but no more." And +then He comes forth in His power. "Draw out now from all the sick beds +of the world and bear them to the Governor of the Feast. Use the +commonest things in the world--physical pain and common water. Bring +them together, and wait until I pass by." Then Jesus of Nazareth passes +by; and the sick leap from their beds, and the blind see, and the lepers +are cleansed, and devils are cast out. + +Oh, yes! the parallel halts; but is it not near enough? + +_Seigneur, guerissez nos malades!_ + +_Salut des Infirmes, priez pour nous!_ + + + + +VIII. + + +The moment Benediction was given, the room began rapidly to fill; but I +still watched the singing crowd outside. Among others I noticed a woman, +placid and happy--such a woman as you would see a hundred times a day in +London streets, with jet ornaments in her hat, middle-aged, almost +startlingly commonplace. No, nothing dramatic happened to her; that was +the point. But there she was, taking it all for granted, joining in the +_Magnificat_ with a roving eye, pleased as she would have been pleased +at a circus; interrupting herself to talk to her neighbour; and all the +while gripping in a capable hand, on which shone a wedding ring, the +bars of the Bureau window behind which I sat, that she might make the +best of both worlds--Grace without and Science within. She, as I, had +seen what God had done; now she proposed to see what the doctors would +make of it all; and have, besides, a good view of the _miracules_ when +they appeared. + +I suppose it was her astonishing ordinariness that impressed me. It was +surprising to see such a one during such a scene; it was as incongruous +as a man riding a bicycle on the judgment Day. Yet she, too, served to +make it all real. She was like the real tree in the foreground of a +panorama. She served the same purpose as the _Voix de Lourdes_, a +briskly written French newspaper that gives the lists of the miracles. + +When I turned round at last, the room was full. Among the people present +I remember an Hungarian canon, and the Brazilian Bishop with six others. +Dr. Deschamps, late of Lille, now of Paris, was in the chair; and I sat +next him. + +The first patient to enter was Euphrasie Bosc, a dark girl of +twenty-seven. She rolled a little in her walk as she came in; then she +sat down and described the "white swellings" on her knee, with other +details; she told how she had been impelled to rise during the +procession just now. She was made to walk round the room to show her +state, and was then sent off, and told to return at another time. + +Next came Emma Sansen, a pale girl of twenty-five. She had suffered from +endo-pericarditis for five years, as her certificate showed; she had +been confined to her room for two years. She told her story quickly and +went out. + +There followed Sister Marguerite Emilie, an Assumptionist, aged +thirty-nine, a brisk, brown-faced, tall woman, in her religious habit. +Her malady had been _mal de Pott_, a severe spinal affliction, +accompanied by abscesses and other horrors. She, too, appeared in the +best of health. + +We began then to hear a doctor give news of a certain Irish Religious, +cured that morning in the _piscines_; but we were interrupted by the +entry of Emile Lansman, a solid artisan of twenty-five who came in +walking cheerfully, carrying a crutch and a stick which he no longer +needed. Paralysis of the right leg and traumatism of the spine had been +his, up to that day. Now he carried his crutch. + +He was followed by another man whose name I did not catch, and on whose +case I wrote so rapidly that I am scarcely able to read all my notes. +His story, in brief, was as follows. He had had some while ago a severe +accident, which involved a kind of appalling disembowelment. For the +last year or two he had had gastric troubles of all kinds, including +complete loss of appetite. His certificate showed too, that he suffered +from partial paralysis (he himself showed us how little he had been able +to open his fingers), and anaesthesia of the right arm. (I looked over +Dr. Deschamps' shoulder and read on the paper the words _lesion +incurable_). It was certified further that he was incapable of manual +work. Then he described to us how yesterday in the _piscine_, upon +coming out of the bath, he had been aware of a curious sensation of +warmth in the stomach; he had then found that, for the first time for +many months, he wished for food; he was given it, and he enjoyed it. He +moved his fingers in a normal manner, raised his arm and let it fall. + +Then for the first time in the Bureau I heard a sharp controversy. One +doctor suddenly broke out, saying that there was no actual proof that it +was not all "hysterical simulation." Another answered him; an appeal was +made to the certificate. Then the first doctor delivered a little +speech, in excellent taste, though casting doubt upon the case; and the +matter was then set aside for investigation with the rest. I heard Dr. +Boissarie afterwards thank him for his admirable little discourse. + +Finally, though it was getting late, Honorie Gras, aged thirty-five, +came in to give her evidence. She had suffered till to-day from +"purulent arthritis" and "white swellings" on the left knee. To-day she +walked. Her certificate confirmed her, and she was dismissed. + +It was all very matter-of-fact. There is no reason to fear that Lourdes +is all hymn-singing and adjurations. It is a pleasure to think that, on +the right of the Rosary Church, and within a hundred yards of the +Grotto, there is this little room, filled with keen-eyed doctors from +every school of faith and science, who have only to present their cards +and be made free of all that Lourdes has to show. They are keen-brained +as well as keen-eyed. I heard one of them say quietly that if the Mother +of God, as it appeared, cured incurable cases, it was hard to deny to +her the power of curing curable cases also. It does not prove, that is +to say, that a cure is not miraculous, if it might have been cured by +human aid. And it is interesting and suggestive to remember that of such +cases one hears little or nothing. For every startling miracle that is +verified in the Bureau, I wonder how many persons go home quietly, freed +from some maddening little illness by the mercy of Mary--some illness +that is worthless as a "case" in scientific eyes, yet none the less as +real as is its cure? + +Of course one element that tends to keep from the grasp of the +imagination all the miracles of the place is all this scientific +phraseology. In the simple story of the Gospel, it seems almost +supernaturally natural that a man should have "lain with an infirmity +for forty years," and should, at the word of Jesus Christ, have taken up +his bed and walked; or that, as in the "Acts," another's "feet and +ankle-bones should receive strength" by the power of the Holy Name. But +when we come to tuberculosis and _mal de Pott_ and _lesion incurable_ +and "hysterical simulation," in some manner we seem to find ourselves in +rather a breathless and stuffy room, where the white flower of the +supernatural appears strangely languid to the eye of the imagination. + +That, however, is all as it should be. We are bound to have these +things. Perhaps the most startling miracle of all is that the Bureau and +the Grotto stand side by side, and that neither stifles the other. Is it +possible that here at last Science and Religion will come to terms, and +each confess with wonder the capacities of the other, and, with awe, +that divine power that makes them what they are, and has "set them their +bounds which they shall not pass?" It would be remarkable if France, of +all countries, should be the scene of that reconciliation between these +estranged sisters. + +That night, after dinner, I went out once more to see the procession +with torches; and this time my friend and I each took a candle, that we +might join in that act of worship. First, however, I went down to the +_robinets_--the taps which flow between the Grotto and the +_piscines_--and, after a heartcrushing struggle, succeeded in filling my +bottle with the holy water. It was astonishing how selfish one felt +while still in the battle, and how magnanimous when one had gained the +victory. I filled also the bottle of a voluble French priest, who +despairingly extended it toward me as he still fought in the turmoil. +"_Eh, bien!_" cried a stalwart Frenchwoman at my side, who had filled +her bottle and could not extricate herself. "If you will not permit me +to depart, I remain!" The argument was irresistible; the crowd laughed +childishly and let her out. + +Now, I regret to say that once more the churches were outlined in fairy +electric lamps, that the metallic garlands round our Mother's statue +blazed with them; that, even worse, the old castle on the hill and the +far away Calvary were also illuminated; and, worst of all, that the +procession concluded with fireworks--rockets and bombs. Miracles in the +afternoon; fireworks in the evening! + +Yet the more I think of it, the less am I displeased. When one reflects +that more than half of the enormous crowd came, probably, from tiny +villages in France--where a rocket is as rare as an angelic visitation; +and, on the carnal side, as beautiful in their eyes--it seems a very +narrow-minded thing to object. It is true that you and I connect +fireworks with Mafeking night or Queen Victoria's Jubilee; and that they +seem therefore incongruous when used to celebrate a visitation of God. +But it is not so with these people. For them it is a natural and +beautiful way of telling the glory of Him who is the Dayspring from on +high, who is the Light to lighten the Gentiles, whose Mother is the +_Stella Matutina_, whose people once walked in darkness and now have +seen a great Light. It is their answer--the reflection in the depths of +their sea--to the myriad lights of that heaven which shines over +Lourdes. Therefore let us leave the fireworks in peace. + +It was a very moving thing to walk in that procession, with a candle in +one hand and a little paper book in the other, and help to sing the +story of Bernadette, with the unforgettable _Aves_ at the end of each +verse, and the _Laudate Mariam_, and the Nicene Creed. _Credo in ... +unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam._ My heart leaped at +that. For where else but in the Catholic Church do such things happen as +these that I had seen? Imagine, if you please, miracles in Manchester! +Certainly they might happen there, if there were sufficient Catholics +gathered in His Name; but put for Manchester, Exeter Hall or St. Paul's +Cathedral! The thought is blindingly absurd. No; the Christianity of +Jesus Christ lives only in the Catholic Church. + +There alone in the whole round world do you find that combination of +lofty doctrine, magnificent moral teaching, the frank recognition of the +Cross; sacramentalism logically carried out, yet gripping the heart as +no amateur mysticism can do; and miracles. "Mercy and Truth have met +together." "These signs shall follow them that believe.... Faith can +remove mountains.... All things are possible to him that believes.... +Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name.... Where two or three +are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." +There alone, where souls are built upon Peter, do these things really +happen. + +I have been asked lately whether I am "happy" in the Catholic Church. +Happy! What can one say to a question like that? Does one ask a man who +wakes up from a foolish dream to sunshine in his room, and to life and +reality, whether he is happy? Of course many non-Catholics are happy. I +was happy myself as an Anglican; but as a Catholic one does not use the +word; one does not think about it. The whole of life is different; that +is all that can be said. Faith is faith, not hope; God is Light, not +twilight; eternity, heaven, hell, purgatory, sin and its +consequences--these things are facts, not guesses and conjectures and +suspicions desperately clung to. "How hard it is to be a Christian!" +moans the persevering non-Catholic. "How impossible it is to be anything +else!" cries the Catholic. + +We went round, then, singing. The procession was so huge that it seemed +to have no head and no tail. It involved itself a hundred times over; it +swirled in the square, it humped itself over the Rosary Church; it +elongated itself half a mile away up beyond our Mother's garlanded +statue; it eddied round the Grotto. It was one immense pool and river of +lights and song. Each group sang by itself till it was overpowered by +another; men and women and children strolled along patiently singing and +walking, knowing nothing of where they went, nothing of what they would +be singing five minutes hence. It depended on the voice-power of their +neighbours. + +For myself, I found myself in a dozen groups, before, at last, after an +hour or so, I fell out of the procession and went home. Now I walked +cheek by jowl with a retired officer; now with an artisan; once there +came swiftly up behind a company of "Noelites"--those vast organizations +of boys and girls in France--singing the _Laudate Mariam_ to my _Ave +Maria_; now in the middle of a group of shop-girls who exchanged remarks +with one another whenever they could fetch breath. I think it was all +the most joyous and the most spontaneous (as it was certainly the +largest) human function in which I have ever taken part. I have no idea +whether there were any organizers of it all--at least I saw none. Once +or twice a solitary priest in the midst, walking backward and waving +his arms, attempted to reconcile conflicting melodies; once a very old +priest; with a voice like the tuba stop on the organ, turned a +humorously furious face over his shoulder to quell some mistake--from +his mouth, the while issuing this amazingly pungent volume of sound. But +I think these were the only attempts at organization that I saw. + +And so at last I dropped out and went home, hoarse but very well +content. I had walked for more than an hour--from the statue, over the +lower church and down again, up the long avenue, and back again to the +statue. The fireworks were over, the illuminations died, and the day was +done; yet still the crowds went round and the voice of conflicting +melody went up without cessation. As I went home the sound was still in +my ears. As I dropped off to sleep, I still heard it. + + + + +IX. + + +Next morning I awoke with a heavy heart, for we were to leave in the +motor at half-past eight, I had still a few errands to do, and had made +no arrangements for saying Mass; so I went out quickly, a little after +seven, and up to the Rosary Church to get some pious objects blessed. It +was useless: I could not find the priest of whom I had been told, whose +business it is perpetually to bless such things. I went to the basilica, +then round by the hill-path down to the Grotto, where I became wedged +suddenly and inextricably into a silent crowd. + +For a while I did not understand what they were doing beyond hearing +Mass; for I knew that, of course, a Mass was proceeding just round the +corner in the cave. But presently I perceived that these were intending +communicants. So I made what preparation I could, standing there; and +thanked God and His Mother for this unexpected opportunity of saying +good-bye in the best way--for I was as sad as a school-boy going the +rounds of the house on Black Monday--and after a quarter of an hour or +so I was kneeling at the grill, beneath the very image of Mary. After +making my thanksgiving, still standing on the other side, I blessed the +objects myself--strictly against all rules, I imagine--and came home to +breakfast; and before nine we were on our way. + +We were all silent as we progressed slowly and carefully through the +crowded streets, seeing once more the patient _brancardiers_ and the +pitiful litters on their way to the _piscines_. I could not have +believed that I could have become so much attached to a place in three +summer days. As I have said before, everything was against it. There was +no leisure, no room to move, no silence, no sense of familiarity. All +was hot and noisy and crowded and dusty and unknown. Yet I felt that it +was such a home of the soul as I never visited before--of course it is a +home, for it is the Mother that makes the home. + +We saw no more of the Grotto nor the churches nor the square nor the +statue. Our road led out in such a direction that, after leaving the +hotel, we had only commonplace streets, white houses, shops, hotels and +crowds; and soon we had passed from the very outskirts of the town, and +were beginning with quickening speed to move out along one of those +endless straight roads that are the glory of France's locomotion. + +Yet I turned round in my seat, sick at heart, and pulled the blind that +hung over the rear window of the car. No, Lourdes was gone! There was +the ring of the eternal hills, blue against the blue summer sky, with +their shades of green beneath sloping to the valleys, and the rounded +bastions that hold them up. The Gave was gone, the churches gone, the +Grotto--all was gone. Lourdes might be a dream of the night. + +No, Lourdes was not gone. For there, high on a hill, above where the +holy city lay, stood the cross we had seen first upon our entrance, +telling us that if health is a gift of God, it is not the greatest; that +the Physician of souls, who healed the sick, and without whom not one +sparrow falls to the ground, and not one pang is suffered, Himself had +not where to lay His head, and died in pain upon the Tree. + +And even as I looked we wheeled a corner, and the cross was gone. + + * * * * * + +How is it possible to end such a story without bathos? I think it is not +possible, yet I must end it. An old French priest said one day at +Lourdes, to one of those with whom I travelled, that he feared that in +these times the pilgrims did not pray so much as they once did, and that +this was a bad sign. He spoke also of France as a whole, and its fall. +My friend said to him that, in her opinion, if these pilgrims could but +be led as an army to Paris--an army, that is, with no weapons except +their Rosaries--the country could be retaken in a day. + +Now, I do not know whether the pilgrims once prayed more than they do +now; I only know that I never saw any one pray so much; and I cannot +help agreeing with my friend that, if this power could be organized, we +should hear little more of the apostasy of France. Even as it is, I +cannot understand the superior attitude that Christian Englishmen take +up with regard to France. It is true that in many districts religion is +on a downward course, that the churches are neglected, and that even +infidelity is becoming a fashion;[7] but I wonder very much whether, on +the whole, taking Lourdes into account, the average piety of France, is +not on a very much higher level than the piety of England. The +government, as all the world now knows, is not in the least +representative of the country; but, sad to relate, the Frenchman is apt +to extend his respect for the law into an assumption of its morality. +When a law is passed, there is an end of it. + +Yet, judging by the intensity of faith and love and resignation that is +evident at Lourdes, and indeed by the numbers of those present, it +would seem as if Mary, driven from the towns with her Divine Son, has +chosen Lourdes--the very farthest point from Paris--as her earthly home, +and draws her children after her, standing there with her back to the +wall. I do not think this is fanciful. That which is beyond time and +space must communicate with us in those terms; and we can only speak of +these things in the same terms. Huysmans expresses the same thing in +other words. Even if Bernadette were deceived, he says, at any rate +these pilgrims are not; even if Mary did not come in 1858 to the banks +of the Gave, she has certainly come there since, drawn by the thousands +of souls that have gone to seek her there. + +This, then, is the last thing I can say about Lourdes. It is quite +useless as evidence--indeed it would be almost impertinent to dare to +offer further evidence at all--yet I may as well hand it in as my +contribution. It is this, _that Lourdes is soaked, saturated and kindled +by the all but sensible presence of the Mother of God_. I am quite aware +of all that can be said about subjectivity and auto-suggestion, and the +rest; but there comes a point in all arguments when nothing is worth +anything except an assertion of a personal conviction. Such, then, is +mine. + +First, it was borne in upon me what a mutilated Christianity that is +which practically takes no account of Mary. This fragmentary, lopsided +faith was that in which I myself had been brought up, and which to-day +still is the faith of the majority of my fellow-countrymen. The Mother +of God--the Second Eve, the Immaculate Maiden Mother, who, as if to +balance Eve at the Tree of Death, stood by the Tree of Life--in popular +non-Catholic theology is banished, with the rest of those who have +passed away, to a position of complete insignificance. This arrangement, +I had become accustomed to believe, was that of Primitive Christianity +and of the Christianity of all sensible men: Romanism had added to the +simple Gospel, and had treated the Mother of God with an honour which +she would have been the first to deprecate. + +Well, I think that at Lourdes the startling contrast between facts and +human inventions was, in this respect, first made vivid to my +imagination. I understood how puzzling it must be for "old Catholics," +to whom Mary is as real and active as her Divine Son, to understand the +sincerity of those to whom she is no more than a phantom, and who yet +profess and call themselves Christians. Why, at Lourdes Mary is seen to +stand, to all but outward eyes, in exactly that position in which at +Nazareth, at Cana, in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Catacombs, and +in the whole history of Christendom, true lovers of her Son have always +seen her--a Mother of God and man, tender, authoritative, silent, and +effective! + +Yet, strangely enough, it is not at all the ordinary and conventional +character of a merely tender mother that reveals itself at Lourdes--one +who is simply desirous of relieving pain and giving what is asked. There +comes upon one instead the sense of a tremendous personage--_Regina +Coeli_ as well as _Consolatrix Afflictorum_--one who says "No" as well +as "Yes," and with the same serenity; yet with the "No" gives strength +to receive it. I have heard it said that the greatest miracle of all at +Lourdes is the peace and resignation, even the happiness, of those who, +after expectation has been wrought to the highest, go disappointed away, +as sick as they came. Certainly that is an amazing fact. The tears of +the young man in the _piscine_ were the only tears of sorrow I saw at +Lourdes. + +Mary, then, has appeared to me in a new light since I have visited +Lourdes. I shall in future not only hate to offend her, but fear it +also. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of that Mother who +allows the broken sufferer to crawl across France to her feet--and then +to crawl back again. She is one of the Maries of Chartres, that reveals +herself here, dark, mighty, dominant, and all but inexorable; not the +Mary of an ecclesiastical shop, who dwells amid tinsel and tuberoses. +She is _Sedes Sapientiae_, _Turris Eburnea_, _Virgo Paritura_, strong and +tall and glorious, pierced by seven swords, yet serene as she looks to +her Son. + +Yet, at the same time, the tenderness of her great heart shows itself at +Lourdes almost beyond bearing. She is so great and so loving! It affects +those to whom one speaks--the quiet doctors, even those who, through +some confusion of mind or some sin, find it hard to believe; the strong +_brancardiers_, who carry their quivering burdens with such infinite +care; the very sick themselves, coming back from the _piscines_ in +agony, yet with the faces of those who come down from the altar after +Holy Communion. The whole place is alive with Mary and the love of +God--from the inadequate statue at the Grotto to the brazen garlands in +the square, even as far as the illuminated castle and the rockets that +burst and bang against the steady stars. If I were sick of some deadly +disease, and it were revealed to me that I must die, yet none the less I +should go to Lourdes; for if I should not be healed by Mary, I could at +least learn how to suffer as a Christian ought. God has chosen this +place--He only knows why, as He, too, alone chooses which man shall +suffer and which be glad--He has chosen this place to show His power; +and therefore has sent His Mother there, that we may look through her to +Him. + +Is this, then, all subjectivity and romantic dreaming? Well, but there +are the miracles! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] It must be remembered that this was written six years ago, and is no +longer true. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lourdes, by Robert Hugh Benson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOURDES *** + +***** This file should be named 18729.txt or 18729.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/2/18729/ + +Produced by Geoff Horton, Karina Aleksandrova and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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