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All othsr originsi copiss srs f ilmsd bsginning on ths first psgs with s printsd or iilustrstsd imprss- sion, snd snding on ths Isst psgs with s printsd or iilustrstsd imprsssion. Lss sxsmplsirss originsux dont Is couvsrturs sn pspisr sst imprimis sont filmte sn commsnpsr. psr Is prsmisr pist st sn tsrminsnt soit psr Is dsrniirs psgs qui comports uns smprsints d'imprsssion ou d'illustrstion. soit psr Is sscond pist, sslon Is CSS. Tous lss sutrss sxsmplsirss originsux sont filmto sn commsnpsnt psr Is prsnJ^rs psgs qui comports uns smprsints d'imprsssion ou d'illustrstion st sn tsrminsnt psr Is dsrniArs psgs qui comports uns tsils smprsints. Ths Isst rscordsd frsms on ssch microfichs shsll contsin ths symbol — ^ (mssning "CON- TINUED"), or ths symbol y (mssning "END"), whichsvsr sppiiss. Un dss symboiss suivsnts sppsrsTtrs sur Is dsrnidrs imsgs ds chsqus microfichs, sslon Is ess: Is symbols -~^ signifis "A SUIVRE", Is symbols "7 signifis "FIN". Msps, pistss, chsrts, stc, msy bs filmsd st diffsrsnt rsduction rstios. Thoss too Isrgs to hs sntirsly includsd in ons sxposurs srs filmsd bsginning in ths uppsr Isft hsnd cornsr, Isft to right snd top to bottom, ss msny frsmss ss rsquirsd. Ths following disgrsms illustrsts ths msthod: Lss csrtss, pisnchss, tsbissux, stc, psuvsnt Atrs filmfo d dss tsux ds reduction diffdrsnts. Lorsqus Is documsnt sst trop grsnd pour Atrs rsproduit sn un ssul clich6, il sst filmi A psrtir ds I'sngis supirisur gsuchs, ds gsuchs A droits, st ds hsut sn bss, sn prsnsnt Is nombrs d'imsgss n6cssssirs. Lss disgrsmmss suivsnts illustrsnt Is methods. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 r -6 l' • « '> • Wjf^ai^ riO^i'^^iVl^^tJf'^p^'^lp ¥^' OUR LADY OP m LOFEDES. » : f , '" ". *- •\^. Pautmil : PRISfTED BY JOHN LOWELL, ST. I^ICHOLAS STREET, ' 1872. . . ., 1 r h IMPRIMATUR: MontrSal, 12 Avril, 1872. A. F. TRUTEAU, Vic. Gen. t 1 .<.: 'ft.fi IW * 4r -^ i^ X 1500 f X PEEFACE. Thb works of God always bear the impress of His infinite wisdom and His almighty power. In order to manifest them to mortals, He has no need of those human means, which are only calculated to attract and fascinate. He chooses, in preference, weak instruments to attain His ends, that is to say His greater glory, and the salvation of souls Thus when He wishes to give His chosen people a 8nre guide and a benevolent master, to deliver them from slavery and conduct them to the promised land. He selects an obscure man, whom He invests with His own power, by the gift of miracles. Pharaoh humbles himself, in view of the astonishing prodigies which Moses operates, and the Israelites are saved. When God resolves' on promulgating throughout the earth the new law, the law of grace. He chooses twelve poor Ignorant, uncultivated fishermen, to whom eloquence' I' 'i Iv PREFACE* is utterly unknown. He sends tlicm Ills Divind Spirit and tlicy are transformed, and tlioy operate prodigies of wisdom, virtue and power. The on tiro world J struck with the greatness of this miracle, Gcccpts the law of salvation. When man wishes to succeed he must have recourse to science, strength and wealth. God has no need of these means ; to accomplish His greatest works He most generally makes use of those, which human wisdom rejects, in order to confound the world, and to oblige man, in sight of His stupendous wonders, to exclaim : " The hand of God is surely there." When the Almighty speaks openly to man, by the voice of miracles, Satan exerts then his own peculiar influence. Miracles serve to undermine his empire and to destroy his reign j and, at the sight of those wonders, the demon's fury knows no bounds ; to combat efficaciously against them, he leaves no means untried ; he inspires with his own malice, the entire host of free-thinkers and skeptics; — but how power- less, how vain their efforts. Their sarcasms, their impious exclamations find no echo in the hearts of the pious multitude, who proclaim the merciful goodness of God, and the wonders that this power has wrought in their presence. God ever r *«; If '\\ PREFACE. V triumphs in His own works, and this trinniph appears enhanced with double splendor when it has been most vigorously contested. The wonderful event to which we have alluded took place on the 11th of February, 1858, in tlio Upper Pyrenees, west of the town of Lourdes. Then did the blessed Virgin appear several times to a poor ignorant shepherdess. No sooner was there mention made of this miracle than a violent tempest arose among the impious, who railed at this as superstition, and wrote against it, doinu* all in their power to paralyze the fervor of the faithful ; but this host of incredulous enthusiasts was soon covered with confusion, and reduced to silence, by the wonderful miracles which followed. The Queen of Heaven has triumphed, and her triumph ever redounds to God's glory and the salvation of His children. ^f OUR LADY OP LOURDES. FIRST APPARITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN TO BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS, 4T LOURDES, The eleventli day of February inaugurated in 1858 the week of profane rejoicings which, according to an immemorial usage, precedes the austerities of Lent. It was the Thursday before Lent. It was cold, somewhat cloudy, but very calm. By a par- ticular privilege the feast of St. Genevieve, the illustrious shepherdess of France, was celebrated in the diocese of Tarbes. Eleven o'clock had struck in the old tower of the church of Lourdes. While almost all were preparing for joyful reunions and feasts, a poor family living in a miser- able house in the street of Petits Fosses had not even fuel to cook their scanty meal. The father, still young, was a miller, but on ac- count of his poverty was obliged to work as a day laborer. His name was Frangois Soubirous, and he was married to Louise Cast^rot, a good Chris- tian woman, and the encourager of her husband. 8 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. n Their family consisted of four cliiklren: two- daiiiiliters, the elder of whom was about fourteen ; and two boys, the younger being only three or four years old. The elder daughter had been residing at home only some few weeks previous. This little girl it is who is to hold a prominent place in this narrative of facts, and we have studied with care all the par- ticulars and details of her life. Pier mother was not able on account of sickness to take care of her at her birth, and had placed her to nurse in a neighboring village, called Bartr^s, where the child remained after it was weaned. Louise Soubirous had again become a mother, and the care of two children would have kept her con- fined to the house and prevented her from going out into the field to work by the day, which she could easily do with only one little nursling. For this reason the eldest child was allowed to remain at Bartriis. They paid a small sum monthly for her support. . ♦, uT.tfj •;;■ , . When the little girl was old enough to make her- self useful, her parents thought of bringing her home ; but the good peasants with whom she resided perceived that they had become much attached to her, and that they considered her almost as one of their own children. From that time they took care of her without charge, and employed her to keep watch over their sheep. She thus grew up in f ! i f OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 9 the midst of this family that had adopted her, pass- ing her days in solitude on the bleak hillsides on which lier humble flock was pastured. As to prayers, all she knew was her chaplet. Whether it was that her fostermother had recom- mended this devotion, or that it was a need of that innocent soul, everywhere and at all times, when guarding her sheep, she recited this prayer of the simple. Then she would amuse herself with those naturtJ playthings which Providence gives to the children of the poor, so much more easily satisfied, in this and in all things else, than the children of the rich. She played with the pebbles, erecting little houses; with the plants and flowers, which she plucked here and there as she walked along; with the water of the brooks, into which she threw, and followed with eager gaze, large heaps of grass ; she played with her favorite among the flock con- fided to her care. " Of all my lambs," she said one day, ^' there is one I like more than the others." "Which one?" she was asked. " The one I like is the smallest one.'* She was herself, among children, like that poor little feeble lamb that she liked. Although she was fourteen, she did not seem to be more than eleven or twelve. Though not sickly, she was subject to the asthma, which at times made her suffer a great deal. She bore her pain with patience, and accepted physical sufferings with that tranquil resignation a2 10 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. whicli seems so difficult to the rich, and which the poor seem to find perfectly natural. In this innocent and solitary school the poor little shepherdess learned perhaps what the world does not kiiow: that simplicity which pleases God so much. Far from the contact of anything impure, conversing with the Blessed Virgin, passing her time in crowning her with prayers as she said her beads, she preserved that absolute candor, that bap- tismal purity which the breath of the world tarnishes so soon even with the best. Such was the soul of this child, — limpid and peaceful, like those unknown lakes which lie hidden in the mountain heights, and in which are silently mirrored all the splendors of the heavens. '^ Blessed are the pure of heart," says Holy Writ, " for they shall see God," These great gifts are hidden gifts ; humility, which possesses them, is often unaware of them. The little girl was fourteen years old ; and if all who approached her felt themselves drawn towards her, and secretly charmed, she was not conscious of it. She considered herself the last and most back- ward of all the children of her age. In fact, she did not know how to read or write. She was even a total stranger to the French language, and knew only her poor patois of the Pyrenees. She had never been taught her Catechism. In this also her ignorance was extreme. The "Our Father," the M-- ^►^ i ^1 OXra LADY OF LOURDES. 11 ^> t " Hail Mary," the " Creed," and the " Glory be to the Father," recited as she said her beads, consti- tuted her knowledge of religion. After these details it is useless to add that she had not yet made her first Communion, It was precisely to prepare her for it that her parents, in spite of their poverty, had taken her from the vil- lao-e in which her foster parents lived, and had l)rought her home to Lourdes. She had then been home two weeks. Her mother, aiiixious about the asthma of her daughter, and con- cerned at her appearing so weak and feeble, took particular -care of her. So, while the other children went barefoot in their wooden shoes, she wore stock- ino'S ; and while her sister and brothers went freely out of doors, she was almost constantly employed inside. The child, accustomed to the open air, would have preferred to be out. It was, we have said, Thursday. Eleven o'clock had struck, and these poor people had not wood wherewith to prepare tlieir dinner. .j. «' Go and gather some sticks on the banks of the Gave,* or on the commons," said the mother to , Marie, the younger daughter. As in many other places^ the poor, in the com- mune t of Lourdes, have the right of gathering the 4 I * The name of a river running by the village. t Commune corresponds to^our township. .w> 12 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. dried branches fallen from the trees, and the drift- wood on the banks of the river, Mary put on her sabots. The elder daughter, she of whom we had been speaking, the little shepherdess of Bartr^s, looked at her sister with envious eyes. " Let me go, too," she said to her mother. " I will bring back my little load of wood.'^ " No," replied Louise Soubirous ; '^ you cough,, and you would get worse." A young girl from a neighboring house, Jeanne Abadie, about fifteen years old, just then came in, and made ready to go to gather Wood. Both sister and visitor insisted, and the mother finally con- sented that Bernadette might go. The three children went out of the village, crossed over the bridge, and arrived on the left bank of the Gave. They passed by M. De Lafitte's mill, and on to the island, seeking here and there for sticks of wood. Following the course of the river through the meadow, the weakly child, whom the mother had feared to allow to go out of doors, walked behind the others. Less fortunate than her companions^ she had as yet found nothing, and her apron was empty, while her sister's and Jeanne's began to be pretty well supplied with little branches The three little girls arrived at the lower end of the island, opposite the triple excavation which the ! ^.'. ■ •■' (; ' 't ,• ! " Did you not see anything?" she asked. They tlien first remarked that she seemed deeply moved and troubled. *' No," they replied ; " and thou, — ^hast thou seen somethiii2: ?" '• " ■ . Was the Seer afraid of profaning what filled her soul, by revealing it? Did she wish to savor it in silence ? Was she restrained by timidity ? It may have been she obeyed that instinctive feeling of humble souls that prompts them to hide, as treasures, the special graces with which they are favored by God. .« . \i ' .; ^' If you have seen nothing, I have nothing to tell you," she replied. ' • >':i •>' The little fagots were all gathered. The three children took the road back to Lourdes. But Ber- nadette could not dissemble her trouble. On the way, Marie and Jeanne tormented her to find out what she had seen. The little shepherdess yielded at last to their importunity and their promise of keeping what she told a secret » I - ' n OUR I/ADY OP LOURDKS. 21 **I S.1W somcthin2: dressed in white." And then fehe described, in her own language, the wonderful Vision. '^ There is what I saw," she said on ter* minuting her account; ^' but do not say anything about it." Marie and Jeanne did not doubt. The soul in its first purity and innocence is naturally believing, and doubt is not an evil belonging to candid child- hood. Moreover, Bernadette's lively and sincere accent, still agitated, still impregnated with what she had just seen, irresistibly convinced them. Marie and Jeanne did not doubt, — but they were frightened. The children of the poor are always fearful. This is but too easily explained ; suffering comes to them from every side. ' -. ' " Perhaps it is something that will hurt us. Do not go there any more, Bernadette." No sooner had they gained the house than the keepers of Bernadette's secret could no longer withhold it. Marie told all to her mother. " This is mere childishness," said the mother. *' What is this that thy sisters tell me?" con- tinued she, questioning Bernadette. ' ' ^ ' And Bernadette recommenced her recital. Mother Soubirous shrugged her shoulders : , " Thou art mistaken. It was nothing at all. Thou hast believed thou sawest something, and thou sawest nothing at all. It is all fancy, and childishness." ;^ ;^'):- mJ t I - I ; i . I ■ i M: i f rJ'i ttm I 22 OUR LADY OP L0URDE3. 13(jrn.'i(lcttc pcrsiHted. ** In any cubc, do uot go there again. I forbid thcc." Thin prohibition grieved Bernadctte's heart, for flinc(5 the Apparition had disappeared her most ar- dent (h.'siro was to see it again. Nevertheless she Bubniitted without reply. Two days, Friday and Saturday, passed away. The extraordinary event was constantly in Berna- dotte's thoughts, and she made it the subject of all her conversations with her sister Mary, with Jeanne, and some other children. Bernadette had in the depth of her soul, and in all its sweetness, the memory of the celestial vision. A passion, if we may bo allowed to use the word to designate so pure a sentiment, was born in the innocent heart of this young girl; an intense desire to see this in- comparable Lady a^ciin. "Lady" was the name which she gave in her rustic language to the Ap- parition. However, when she was asked if the Apparition resembled any of the ladies whom she saw either in the street or in the church, or any of the persons celebrated in that part of the country for their great beauty, she shook her head and sweetly smiled: *' All that gives no idea of her," she would reply. " She is so beautiful that she cannot be described," She desired, then, to see her again. The other ohildreu were divided between fear and curiosity. OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 28 SECOND APPARlTloy OF THE liLESSt:i) VIRGIN TO BEKNADKTTE. On Sunday the sun rose radiant and tlio weather was magnificent. Tliese mild spring days occur frequently in the valleys of the Pyrenees. Returning from church, Bernadetto asked her sis- ter Mary, Jeanne and two or three other cliildren, to coax her mother to allow them to go to the Hocks of Massabielle. ' "Perhaps there is something bad there," said tho children. Bernadette replied she did not believe it, — she had never seen such a beautiful countenance. ** In any case," said the children — who, better instructed than the little shepherdess of Bartr^s, knew something of their catechism — " in any case thou must throw holy water on it. If it is the devil, it will go away. Thou must say to it, " If you como from God, approach j if you come from the demon, get you gone." This was not the precise formula of an exorcism ; but, in truth, the little theologians of Lourdes rea- soned, in this affair, with as much prudence and justness as a Doctor of Sorbonne would have done. It was then decided in this infantine council that they should take holy water along with them. A oertain apprehension had taken possession of Ber- nadette herself; after so much talk. n 24 OXJR LADY OIF LOURDES. Nothing now was wanting but to obtain permis- sion. All the children joined in asking it, after dinner. Mother Soubirous at first maintained her formal prohibition, alleging that as the Gave ran close by the rocks of Massabielle it would be dan- gerous for them to go — that it was nearly Vesper time, and they must not miss Vespers — that it was only childishness. But it is well known what an irresistible pressure there is in the coaxing of chil- dren. All promised to be very prudent, to be in time for Vespers, and very good, and it ended by the mother giving them permission to go. The littlo group first went to the church and prayed a few moments. One of Bernadette's com- panions had brought a bottle, which she filled with holy water. Arrived at the Grotto, nothing extraordinary was seen at first. " Let us pray," said Bernadette, " and recite the beads." ' ^ < • : . And all the children knelt down and began to pray, each one reciting the beads to herself. All at once Bernadette's countenance seemed, and was, in fict, transfigured. An extraordinary emotion was depicted in all her features ; her gaze seemed to imbibe a divine light. Her feet resting upon the rock, clothed as the first time, the Apparition appeared before her eyes. ^' Look," said Bernadette, " there she is I " * ''L'^c-?5?r'''^":'^-^^'^'^^e*'Sf« OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 25 perniis- it, after ned her ave ran 30 clan- Vesper it was vliat an of chil- be in dccl by ch and ^s com- d with iry was iite the igan to Alas ! the sight of the other children was not miraculously freed like hers from the veil of flesh which prevents us from seeing spiritualized bodies. The little girls saw nothing but the bleak rock, and the sweetbrier bush which grew down as far as the base of the mysterious niche in which stood the unknown Being. Then Bernadette, remembering what she had promised, rose up, and shaking the little bottle vio- lently several times, she threw the holy water on the wonderful Lady, who stood with all grace some paces in front of her, in the interior of the niche. "If you come from God, approach," said Berna- dette. At these words the Virgin inclined her head and advanced almost to the brink of the rock. She seemed to smile upon Bernadette and at her weapons of war, and at the sacred name of God her countenance lighted up. ** If you come. from God, approach," said Berna- dette. But, seeing her so beautiful, so dazzling with glory, so brilliant with heavenly goodness, Bernadette felt her heart fail her when she would have added " If you come from the demon, begone." Those words, which had been dictated to her, seemed monstrous in the presence of the incomparable Being. She again threw herself upon her knees and con- tinued to recite the beads, to which the Virgin B 26 OUR LADY OF LOBRDES. I ft ' if- ^ seemed to listen, passing her own beads through her fingers. ' At the end of the chaplet the Apparition vanished. Returning to Lourdes, Bernadette was in great joy. She conned over in her soul those things, so profoundly extraordinary. Her eompanions were frightened, for the trans- fi2:uration of Bernadette's countenance had shown them the reality of the supernatural Apparition. According to their promise, the children went to Vespers. As the people left the church, the fine weather allured them to enjoy the evening, and the recital of Bernadette was spoken of among the dif- ferent groups. It was thus the rumor of the strange event began to be circulated through the village. At first it had agitated only a few humble little peasant girls ; now it rose like a wave, mounting higher, and penetrating every grade of society. The quarrymen, very numerous in that part of the country, the seamstresses, workmen, peasants, ser- vants and all talked of it among themselves — some believing it, others not; some laughing at It, and exaggerating it by adding imaginary incidents tend- ing to bring the Apparition into ridicule. With one or two exceptions, the middle class w ould not take the trouble of entertaining a thought concerning such childish affairs. It is a singular fact, that Bernadette's parents, althouc^h convinced that she was sincere, considered the Apparition to be an illusion. OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 27 through v^anished, ill great hingSj so le trans- d shown >parition. went to the fine and the the dif- } strange village. )le little onnting society, t of the tits, ser- ; — some it, and ts tend- ith one ot take Jerning arents, iidered '' She Is but a child," they said ; "she thought she saw something ; but she did not. It was only the imagination of a little girl." Nevertheless the extraordinary precision of Ber- nadette's recital made them uneasy. At times their unbelief was shaken. And though they did not wish their daughter to go to the grotto, they did not dare to forbid her. She did not go until the following Thursday. PILGRIMAGES IN THE PYRENEES ^ LANDES. Accompanied by two ladies of the congregation, Antoinette Peyret and Madame Millet, she returned to the grotto for the third time on Thursday, Febru- ary 18. Madame Millet severely cautioned Berna- dette against any attempt at imposition. When they reached the heights of Massabielle, Bernadette proceeded so rapidly that her companions found it difficult to keep pace with her ; and when she arrived at the grotto, she exclaimed : "Look, she is there !'* " Take care, little girl," said Madame Millet in a menacing tone, " what you say : if you pretend to see something that you do not see, woe betide you!"^ * " EcoutG, filleule; 8i tu dis que tu vols quelque chose sans rien voir, garei toi!" * 28 OUK LADT OP LOTODKS. 1'^ *^ Oh ! she is there," replied the child : " look at her I"* Upon this the two ladies knelt down at the side of the child, and lighting a blessed taper, which they had brought with them, placed it before the grotto. And this was the inauguration of that sanctuary, which has glowed with the multitudinous lights of innumerable votaries, and which from a lonely sav- age solitude has become one of the most renowned and frequented shrines in Christendom. It was early morning, and the roseate dawn had kindled the mountain peaks with the first radiance of day, to burn with enduring homage for many a distant age to come ! " Go up to her," said these ladies: " ask her her name and condition, why she comes, if she is a soul from purgatory that wants Masses. Ask her to write down what she wants, and tell her that it shall be done.*' Bernadette took the pen, ink, and paper, and advanced towards the Apparition ; but at each step that she made the Vision retired before her, until it gained the niche in the grotto. Her companions at first followed Bernadette, but she motioned them to remain behind. " Ma Dame," said the child, "if you have anything to communicate to me, will you have the goodness to write it down here ?" * •• Oh ! elle 7 est, la voil4 !" UUR LADY OF LOURDES. 29 ook at e side 1 they grotto, uarj, Its of Y sav- wned was idled stant r hep soul T to shall and step mtil ions bein ling lesB But tlie mysterious Lady smiled and said : " There is no need of writins: that which I have to tell you ; it is to ask you to do me the favor to come here during fifteen days" ('' Faites-moi la grace de venir pendant quiuze jours "). She promised, and the Vision added : "I cannot make you happy in this world, but I engage to do so in the next." After a few more words the Vision suddenly disappeared. ^* When the Vision takes place," said Bernadette in her own language, " I see the light first and then the Lady ; but when it ceases, the Lady first disappears and then the light goes."* On her return home Bernadette informed her parents of the promise she had made to the strange Lady to visit the grotto during fifteen consecutive days. Antoinette and Madame Millet, on their part, recounted also what had passed — the wonderful transfiguration of the child during the Apparition, the words of the Lady, and the invitation to repeat her visits for a space of fifteen days. The rumor of so strange an occurrence was not slow to spread, and it naturally excited profound agitation throughout every class in the country. Thursday is the market- day at Lourdcs ; there was the usual throng of peo- ple there on February 18, 1858, so that men took * " Quand la vision a lieu, disait-elle en son langage, je vois la lumieretout d'abordet ensuite la 'Dame;' quand la vision cesse o'est la * Dame' qui disparait la premiere et la lumiGre en second lieu." B* 80 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. s 1j> home with them to the mountains the astounding news ; and Bareges, and Tarbes, and Cauterets, and St. P^, and Nay, began to discuss and become in- quisitive on the subject. The next day, when Ber- nadette arrived, there were about a hundred persons awaiting her at the grotto ; the day after there were from four to five hundred; and on Sunday the crowd exceeded a thousand. * : And yet, what was it that had been seen ? What was it that had been heard ? Nothing more than a little child praying, who said she saw a beautiful Lady who held conversation with her. An elec- tric current, an irresistible influence from which none could protect himself, seemed to have mas- tered the entire population at the word of an illit- erate shepherdess, of a poor child, almost unknown in the town. In the workshop, in the timber yard, in the quarry, at evening parties, at the club, at the ca/(^, in the hotels, on the public squares, in the streets, among the rich, among the poor, in the morning, in the evening, in private as in public, nothing was discussed except this occurrence. Whatever opinion men entertained regarding it, whether hostile or favorable, it preoccupied the thoughts and the conversation of everyone. And then, as may be supposed, even in a town so well regulated as Lourdes, there were discus- sions and doubts and criticisms and sneers. Here is the account thai is given by a *' liberal " journal OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 81 of the time, " Le Lavedan^^ February 18, 1858 : — **We will not relate to-day the thousand versions of this matter that are afloat \ we will only say that the young girl goes every morning to pray at the entrance of the grotto, a taper in her hand, and accompanied by more than five hundred per- sons. There she is seen to pass from a state of the greatest tranquillity into one of absolute ecstasy ; a sweet smile plays over her face, tears fall from her motionless eyes, which remain fixed on the grotto, where she believes that she sees the Blessed Virgin. We shall keep our readers au courant de cette aventure, which every day gains more support- ers:" or, as the writer terms them, " adeptes^ '"'"' The facts were too notorious to be denied even by a " liberal " journal, and therefore the jour- nalist satisfies his conscience by recounting them with a sneer. -'^^ ::* - :^ ..•■« .13-..'. ^,^ . -. *^ Such phenomena are rare,'* said one of the most distinguished physicians of the town, Dr. Dozous. " As for me, I shall not lose the opportunity of '' studying the progress of this one with care. The partisans of the supernatural are too fond of throw- ing these sorts of things in the face of medical sci- ence ; I will scrupulously examine, de visu and by my own experience, the subject which is now pre- sented to us, at our own door." ^^^mti Several gentlemen of the bar — M. Pougat, pres- ident of the Courts j M. Estrade, receiver of indi- 82 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. rect taxes, and others — resolved personally to watch the proceedings at the grotto during the fortnight. The clergy naturally would not have been the last to feel the impression of these extraordinary asser- tions ; but, with laudable tact and prudence, their attitude was cautious and reserved, and they re- solved to examine with great care all the circum- stances that might develop themselves. Up to that time they received the different reports with dis- trust, while they withheld from lightly pronouncing any opinion. The little girl, whose name had got into everyone's mouth so suddenly, was not known to the priest of the town. It is true that she had gone regularly to the catechism since her return from the country ; but the ecclesiastic who had charge of the class had not particularly observed her ; and when he had occasion to call her up for interrogation, he had merely remarked her simpli- city and ignorance upon all matters appertaining to the Christian doctrine. ^ • '" -- « ; -^ ^- »- - - The parish at that time was governed by a re- markable priest, of whom M. Henri Lasserre gives the following characteristic portraiture : *' The Abb^ Peyramale, at that time about fifty years of age, had been for two years the cure-doyen of the town and canton of Lourdes. Nature had made him rough, sometimes even unto violence, in the pursuit of good ; but grace had modified, if not entirely sub- dued, his warmth of character. The fire of his ,* OUR LADT OF L0URDE8. 33 watch night. last asser- their "-it temperament, completely extinguished in all that concerned himself, burned hotly for all that re- garded the Church of God. In the pulpit his lan- guage, always apostolical, was sometimes harsh. He attacked all that was evil; and no abuse, no moral disorder, in whomsoever it was evinced, found him feeble or indifferent. Occasionally society had shrunk under the lash of his scourging words, and protested against his rigor. But, nevertheless, where- ever chastisement was required, he persisted until he had brought the sinner to a sense of his duty. This sort of men — hommes de devoir — sometimes are thought troublesome, and excuse seldom is made for the independence and sincerity of their language. It was, however, pardoned in this good priest when he was seen passing through the streets in his old patched cassock, his large shoes that had been often mended, and his battered three-cornered hat. It was well known, however, that the saving on his toilette fructified for the benefit of the poor. This priest, so austere in his manners and strict in its tenets, had a heart of overflowing charity ; and he expended his income in relieving the wants of others, with as much secrecy as possible. But even his humility could not throw a sufficient veil over his life of sacrifice j the gratitude of the poor had lifted it up, so that he was regarded as an object of universal veneration by his parishioners. It was enough to see the manner in which they doffed 84 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. i. ti nil their caps as he passed, to hear the familiar and afFectionate accents of the poor, as thoy saluted him with " Bon jour, M. le Curi^''^ to understand what a sacred boud united the pastor with his flock. The freethinkers of the town used to say of him : '' He is not always pleasant, but he is charitable and does not think of money. He is the best of men, in spite of the soutane.''^ ^' Full of trustfulness and good nature in private life, never suspecting evil, and sometimes even allowing himself to be deceived by those who traded upon his goodness, in his priestly character he was prudent to a degree wherever the interests of his ministry and of religion were concerned. It was often possible to deceive the man — the priest, never. There are graces especial to every state (7Z y a des graces d'etat), and he eminently possessed those of his. This remarkable priest united to the heart of an apostle rare good sense and firmness of character, which nothing could shake when truth or duty were in question. The events that were occurring at Lourdes brought into full lidit these great qualities. One would say that Providence had placed such a man there, at this epoch, by especial design."^ ,^^ ^ r ^. - ; > a^ * - r * In a note M. Lasserre makes the following apoloj?y for thus putting' the character of his friend before the public, and 1 take leave to adopt it for myself:—" Du plus profond de mon cojur je demande pardon k M. I'abb6 Peyramale du Men que je dis ici de lui, et dont rexpression, je le sals, le fera souffrir oruellemeut. OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 85 by M Concerning his natural impatience, or, as M. Lasscrro terms it, " sa peu expcctante nature,'* the Abbt^' Peyramale determined to wait until events should take some clear and positive course, or until higher ecclesiastical authority sliould pro- nounce upon them, before he or his clergy should take any part in the occurrences at the grotto. At the sumo time he commissioned some intelligent layman, in whom he placed confidence, to watch the proceedings, and report to him daily. ''Let them alone" (Laissons faire), he used to say to those who urged him to take some action; "if, on the one hand, duty obliges us rigorously to examine all that is now passing, on the other prudence forbids us to mingle with the crowd that frequents the grotto, or join in their hymns. We will remain away, and thus avoid either giving the sanction of our presence to that which may be only an illusion or opposing by an attitude of hostility that which may be the work of Grod. To go there as simple spectators would be impossible as long as we wear our clerical habit. The people, as soon as they saw a priest among them, would urge him to place himself Pour imposer cette souffVance a son humility il a fallu, non-seule- ment I'interet speculatifde Iav6rit6, mais encore la n6cessit6 oill je suis, en Ut DO ained ichool they idded thing, ween ision The le at liked ibe^ enoe to her parents and her promise to the mysterious Lady. The church clock was striking the Angelus. At that instant a sudden power took strong posses- sion of her, acting not on her mind but on her body, and, as if with a giant's arm, drove her from her homeward road and carried her irresistibly to the path that led to the grotto. She was no longer mistress of her movements ; it was as if the wind had caught up an autumnal leaf from the ground and blew it wherever it listed. Bernadette inwardly rejoiced as she found herself, in her own despite, once more in front of the grotto. There were many people still waiting for her arrival, and she quietly placed herself in her usual position and began to recite the Rosary. A long interval elapsed, and Bernadette was fervent in her prayer, but the Vision did not present itself, and she withdrew, ^mortified and disappointed. *' Why have you left me ?" said the child to herself. *' Am I not here according to my promise ? Why have you left me ?"* There was much congratulation in the precincts of police authority when this disappointment became known : and the philosophers of the town felicitated Jacomet on the success with which he'had suppressed the phantom and banished the miracle. De par le roi, defense k Dieu ^ . > ' De faire miracle en ce lieu. , , \\:. ' . , -..■^ » " Fourqnoi avez-vous dispanie ?" pensait I'enfant. *'Ne suis- je pas venue suivaut ma promesse? Pourquoi m'avcz-yous aban 88 OUR LADY OF LOURDBS, ■A w !| 111 Ill, ''Where have you come from ?" said her father to her as she entered. She told him all that bad happened; and, after reflecting a little time, he said " You hav3 never told me a lie, and, since you say that some invincible force dragged you to the grotto, I withdraw my prohibition and leave you free to go as you like." And the soul of Berna- dette was filled with joy. . : On the next morning, the 23rd, when Berradette arrived before day-break, the usual crowd was assembled at the grotto. Her calm simplicity had not undergone any alteration in consequence either of the hostility of some or of the veneration of others ; but the uneasiness experienced during the last day had left some slight traces upon her fea- tures. She knelt down in her accustomed manner, with the lighted taper and he beads. Scarcely had iier prayers begun to ascend to heaven when the ineffable Vision presented itself to her, and address- * I r-. i'.^'^^h ing her by name, said : "Bernadette!" ^ ^ > ^ ' '* I am here" (" Me voici"), answered the child. " I have to tell you a secret," she went on, " which concerns yourself alone. Will you promise never to repeat it to any person in the world ?" "I promise," said Bemadette; and then took place a dialogue, the import of which it is not allow- , able nor possible for us to investigate. *. ' ^,J.' tell the priest that I wish that a chapel should be erected to me here;"* and, having pronounced these words, she disappeared into shp.de, as the earth at evening when the sun withdraws its vivi- fying rays. ; . .,,.,,. The crowd gathered round her, anxious to know what had passed between her and the Vision ; for every one comprehended that this time she had not been disappointed. ,, ,; i^-^'^i^ri ix' >> " What did she say to you ?" was the universal question. ^^ She told me two things : one of them for myself alone, and the other for the priests, and I will go at once to tell it to them." She expressed her aston- ishment that they, the bystanders, had not heard it also, and she betook herself with all speed to the house of the curcS, to deliver her message.^! Although fully recognizing the possibility of a supernatural apparition, even in these days, the Abb^ Peyramale had some difficulty in crediting, upon the word of a child, the reality of the extraor- dinary vision which was said to have manifested itself on the banks of the Grave. Had he seen Ber- nadette in ecstatic prayer, his scepticism might have been removed ; but he had heard the story only from others, and therefore gravely doubted both the fact of the apparition and its divine char- ^ " Et maintenant, ma fille, allez dire aux pr^tres que je veox qae I'onm'^ldveiciune chapelle." H 40 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. ;ii!l acter. He kaew that the Spirit of Darkness som jr- times is allowed to clothe himself in the form of an? angel of light; and, fearing such an allusion, he received Bernadette with distrust and almost with severity. *^ Are you not Bernadette, the daughter of Sou- birous, the miller ?" he said to her, with much aus- terity, as she came to him across his garden. " What do you want with me ?" "Yes, it is I, Monsieur le Cur^," she humbly answered ; " and I come on the part of the Lady ("La Dame") who appears to me at the grotto of Massabielle." "Oh! yes," said the priest, interrupting her; " you pretend to have visions, and you circulate your stories throughout the country. What is all this about? What are all these extraordinary things that you boast, and which there is nothing to prove?" Bernadette was both pained and surprised at this reception; however, concealing the confusion which she inwardly felt, she -told her story with a simplicity and conviction that went far to attest its truth. The man of God rose superior to his fore- gone prejudices, and in the limpid eyes, the pure countenance, and the earnest tones of the peasant girl he discerned the importance and the reality of her mission. Notwithstanding, he considered it to be his duty to subject her to a searching examination. OUR LADY OP LODRDBS. 41 of an on, he t with mgs ^' Don't you know even the name of this Lady ?" lie said, looking at her sternly. '' No," replied Bernadette ; "she has not told me who she is." * -^ • • v - m ;• .. " Those who credit you,'* said the priest, " imagine that she is the Blessed Virgin ; but don't you well know," he added, with a grave and menacing tone of voice, " that if you falsely pretend to have seen her in that grotto, you are taking the sure means never to see her in heaven ? Now, you alone say that you see her ; if you tell a lie here below, there will be others who will see her there above, and for your falsehood you will be sent for ever far away from her, down into hell" (" k jamais dans I'enfet"). '' I do not know if it is the Blessed Virgin, M. le Cur^," replied the child ; " but I see the vision as plainly as I see you, and she speaks to me as you speak ; and I have come to tell you on her part that she wishes that a chapel should be erected to her at the rocks of Massabielle, where she appears to me." The good priest looked at her for some time with wonder, and, remaining silent and thoughtful, he said at last: ''After all, it is possible" ("Apr^s tout, c'est possible"). The idea that the Mother of God should send to him, an humble priest, a direct message, filled him with agitation and trouble. Among those whom a transcendent contempt for superstition had withheld hitherto from joining the •1 *v 42 OCR LADY OF LOURDBS. i 4" ,/-■' ■:!ilii multitude in their visits to the grotto was M. Es- trade, receiver of indirect taxes, whom we have already mentioned as present at the interrogator j of Bernadette by Jacomet. He now determined to go and see, that he might exercise his own judg- ment upon the occurrences that were daily attract- ing the crowd. He had been greatly Btruck, at her examination, by her accent of sincerity, and was -*- disposed to attribute her story to certain hallucina- CJtiwis of her mind rather than to any deceit. Being inclined to scepticism on all subjects appertaining to '■' ^ tiie aujerniatural, he repaired to the grotto in a ? , frame «if mind little formed for accepting a fraud. "^^ -Hi^Jbas given the following narrative of what he ^-•witnessed: — ^v.- .;j ■:-• ■^.^ >^--h/ :s-Wi' : "I arrived at the grotto determined to examine attentively, and, to say the truth, not unwilling to criticise and ridicule, as I expected to be present at the exhibition of some grotesque comedy. An immense crowd became masked by degrees about and around those wild rocks. I wondered within myself at the simplicity of so many dupes, and I laughed at the credulity of a parcel of good women who were gaping, on their knees, before the grotto. We got there very early, and, thanks to my broad .shoulders, I was able to push to the foremost rank, and thus I got close to Bernadette, who arrived at the usual hour, about sunrise. I remarked in her infantine countenance the same character of sweet- ■i;i» OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 43 ■m ness, innocence, and tranquillity which had struck me so much when I saw her a few days before with the commissary of police. • She knelt down natu- rally, without ostentation or embarrassment, and without taking any notice of the crowd about her, just as if she were in a church, or in a desert, far from human eye. She took out her beads and be- gan to pray ; whereupon her countenance suddenly seemed to receive and reflect an unseen light. She became motionless, wonder-struck, as if charmed, and beaming with happiness, while she kept her eye intently fixed upon the opening of the grotto, I looked at it also ; but I saw nothing, absolutely nothing, except the naked branches of the wild rose. And yet — shall I acknowledge it ? — in pres- ence of that child's transfiguration, all my former prejudices, all my philosophical objections, all my preconceived disbelief faded away, and gave place to an inexplicable sentiment which became master of me in my despite. I felt certain, as it were by irresistible intuition, that a mysterious being was truly there. I did not see her with my eyes ; but my soul, and that of the innumerable spectators about me at that solemn moment, saw her with the light of an interior conviction strong as any human evidence. Beyond all doubt a divine being was there. (" Qui, je I'atteste, un toe divin ^tait 1^.") Suddenly and completely transfigured, it was no longer Bemadette. She seemed an angel of light, con- w n 44 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. iiiiiiii I :*•;'. Ill sumed in unspeakable rapture. She had no longer the same visage ; another intelligence, another life, and, I was going to say, another soul was depicted upon it. She had not the least resemblance to her- self, and seemed as if she was altogether another person. Her attitudes, her smallest movement, the manner, for example, in which she made the sign of the cross, had a nobleness, dignity, and grandeur that was more than human. She opened her large eyes as if they could not be satisfied with what she gazed upon ; it seemed as if she feared to bend her lids lest she should lose for an instant the ravishing object which she was contemplating. She smiled occasionally in a manner which conveyed the idea of ecstatic beatitude. ** All the spectators were affected in the same manner that I was. Like them I held my breath, expecting to hear the colloquy which evidently was being carried on between the Vision and the child. She was listening with an expression of the most profound respect, or, to convey myself more pro- perly, of absolute adoration mingled with illimitable love and melting delight. Sometimes, however, a shade of sadness passed over her face; but its habitual expression was that of great joy. I ob- served that at times she scarcely breathed. During ^ all this time she held her beads in her hand, some- ;a times motionless, as if lost in the abyss of that divine vision; at another tme she passed them f.r. OUR LADY OF LOCRDKS. 45 :■% irregularly over her fingers as her countenancje varied in its expression of admiration or of delight or of prayer. Occasionally she made the sign of the cross in that devout, noble, commanding fashion of which I have already spoken. If, indeed, thej make the sign of the cross in heaven, it must be like that made by Bernadette in ecstasy. The action with her in some sort seemed to embrace the Infinite."* t/ ■ < V During this interview Bernadette was seen to move upon her knees from the place on the bank of the Gave where she was praying to the bottom of the grotto. The distance was about fifty feet. While she was thus mounting that abrupt ascent, the persons near her heard her distinctly say the words, *^ Penance! Penance! Penance!" ; ^' A few minutes after her ecstasy was over," M. Estrade continues, " she got up and returned quietly to the town. She was no longer anything but a poor girl in tatters, whom nobody could have sup- posed to have taken part in any extraordinary transaction." -^ *.:;.:»» The crowd, as generally happened after each apparition, examined the grotto from top to bottom and M. Estrade himself carefully explored it. Every one expected to find in it something unusual j * This narrative was published by Louis Veuillot in the Univerg of July 28th, 1858; and ten years later was repeated by IC. Estrade viva voce to M. Lasserre, from whom I have taken it. C* 46 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. *i,:l' but it wa8 only an ordinary cave in a hard rock, with a dry bottom, where there was not anything uncommon to be discovered. In reporting the occurrences of this day to the cur^, Bernadette said : ■' • : ■"■ ■ ^ --'^^*-. -.. . • . .^ . ^ . " She told me to pray for sinners and to mount up to the end of the grotto; and she cried out three times the word * Penance I' which I repeated as I dragged myself upward on my knees. Then she told me a second secret, which is for myself alone, and disappeared." i^ - f * ? . <>.; mi, r, »..;{, i " And what did you find at the end of the grotto?" - . "After she disappeared (for while she is there I pay attention only to her, and she absorbs me quite) I looked about, and I saw nothing but the rock, and on the ground some blades of grass, which were growing in the dust." - ■^ The cur^ remained thoughtful for a space, and said "We must wait" (" Attendons.'*) And now, whenever Bernadette casually passed along the streets a crowd always gathered and fol- lowed her. Some persons, among whom was M. Dufo, an advocate and one of the leading men of the country, sent for her and questioned her mi- nutely. Having spoken with her, they became con- vinced of the truth of the vision, as M. Estrade had been on seeing her at the grotto. Many persons visited her parents' house, that they might hear I OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 47 'd rock, nything ing the •nadette mount ed out (peated Then myself 3f the here I >s me It the grsLSs, 7 and issed fol- 3M. n of mi- con- had ions tear the story from her own lips. In a corner of the room where she sat there was a little oratory, adorned with flowers, medals, pious pictures, and surmounted by a statuette of the Virgin. It pre- sented an appearance of devotional luxury but little in keeping with the rest of the apartment, which was miserably furnished. A truckle bed (grahat)y a few old chairs, a broken-legged table, constituted the entire furniture. Their visitors could not fail to be struck at the sight of this great poverty, and few could resist the desire of leaving some donation. But every offering was refused, however delicately tendered. / One afternoon, when the throng of the day had subsided, and only a poor neighbor was seated at the fireside, a strange gentleman entered. He ques- tioned Bernadette at much length, sought to be informed on every detail, and testified great interest in her story. He felicitated her on the favor which she had received from Heaven, and manifested his compassion at the apparent wretchedness of her worldly condition. .. c. y,^ . .i.. " I am rich," he said, " allow me to help you ;" and he placed on the table a purse half opened, which was full of gold. m^^ A blush of indignation suffused the cheek of Ber- imdette, and she replied with some excitement, " I desire nothing. Monsieur ; take that back " ( " ap- prenez cela,") at the same time pushing the purse towards the unknown. 48 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. ** It is not for you, my child," he added, " it is for your parents who are in want, and whom you should not prevent me from relieving. " Neither Bernadette nor we desire anything,'* exclaimed the father and mother together. • • - " You are poor, " continued the stranger with per- sistence. " I feel much interest in you. I fear it must be through a false pride that you refuse." ** No, Monsieur; we positively will not receive anything ; take back your gold," was the answer j and the stranger left them, disconcerted and aston- ished at their refusal. There were persons who thought that this generous visitor was in the pay of Jacomet, and sent by him to see how far the family Soubirous were disposed to make traffic of the as- sertions of their daughter. - f ? We have now come to February 25, which was the first Thursday in Lent, and Bernadette is kneel- ing before the rock of Massabielle. An innumera- ble multitude had preceded and were pressing around her. Although there were many incredu- lous among them, and several who had come to indulge idle curiosity, a religious silence pervaded them as soon as she was seen to approach. All, unbelieving as well as believing, by a common in- stinct uncovered their heads, and most of them knelt down when she knelt. At the same moment the Apparition manifested itself to Bernadette, and she was transported in ecstasy. As usual the lumi- is for \ould Pg; »» per- ir it OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. 49 nous Lady appeared iu the oval excavation of the rock, her feet touchin<^ the wild rosebush. Berna- dette's features beamed with an expression of un- fathomable love, a sweet and profound sentiment inundating her soul with delight. '< My daughter," said the Vision, " I wish to tell you for yourself j-lone another secret, which you must not reveal to anyone." And having spoken to her in her soft, low, melodious voice, she con- tinued : '^ Now, go and drink, and wash yourself in the fountain, and eat of the grass which is growing at its side." * Bernadette looked about for the fountain, but not seeing any streamlet there, she was proceeding to the Gave, when the Vision made a gesture to stop her, and said : ' ' ' ** Don't go there. I did not tell you to drink in the Gave ; go to the fountain, it is here." (" N'allez point 1^. Je n'ai point dit de boire au Gave ; allez a la fontaine, elle est ici.") ' " And stretching out her hand, she pointed with her finger to the right side of the grotto, where Bernadette had ascended on her knees on the pre- ceding morning. Having reached the spot, she saw nothing like a fountain ; there were merely some scattered tufts of a kind of grass called la Dorinej a species of saxifrage that grows about * " Et maintenant, allez boire et vous laver 4 la fontaine, et mangez I'herbe qui^pousse k c6t^." 50 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. ;:i*J If I ■ ■■is rooks. In the mean time, the spectators, who heard nothing of this conversation, were much puzzled by her movements, especially when they saw her stoop down and scrape the earth with her little hands. Under this operation the earth became moist, until issuing as if from some unknown depths a myste- rious stream began to trickle drop by drop on the hands of Bernadette, and fill the hollow that she had made. At first it seemed to be nothing but mud, and Bernadette had some repugnance to taste it ; but this she overcame, drank it, washed herself, and ate a morsel of the wild grass that was growing at the foot of the rocks. It then flowed downward in a small thread, and wound its tiny course vly to the river. When Bernadette had fulfilled the directions that I have described, the Apparition looked at her approvingly and vanished. The emotion of the people at witnessing this prodigy was extreme, and as soon as Bernadette had recovered from her ecstasy, they precipitated themselves into the grotto ; each one wishing to see the hollow from which the stream flowed and to taste its waters. It was at seven in the morning that this occurred ; and being market-day at Tarbes, the news was conveyed thither by several who had been eye-witnesses. This gave further develop- ment to the impressions produced by the events which had been taking place at Massabielle during the week. A great many strangers came to Lourdes OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 51 heard led by stoop hands. until nyste- )n the t she : but taste rseJf, •wing ward vlj I the itioQ this lette ited : to I to ing >es, lad 3p. Its eg over night and slept there, that they might be at the grotto early in the morning. Others travelled all night for the same purpose ; and on the day after the bursting forth of the fountain, from five to six thousand persons encamped on the rocks and the rising ground about and in face of the grotto. When she appeared they all hailed her, crying out, " Here comes the saint ! " ('' Voil^ la sainte ! ") ; and many of them sought to touch her garments as sacred. On that day the Vision dit not reveal itself, as if she feared the eiFect of so much favor upon Berna- dette's mind. She prayed for a long time ; but in vain — no ray of celesti;' light passed over her, and no supernatural transfiguration gave evidence of her intercourse with the invisible. She rose sadly from her knees, and answered gravely to those who addressed her, telling them that the Vision had not appeared ( '' la Vision d'en haut n'dtait point ap- parue.") After a few days it was found that the waters of this fountain had a curative virtue ; and a sudden recovery effected in the person of Louis Bourriette, a poor cripple of Lourdes, proclaimed their miracu- lous powers. I will not, however, interrupt my nar- rative here, but will reserve the details of this and other miracles for the close of this account. The exultation of the people had now reached its height ; numbers daily visited the wonder-working fountain ; and when night came on, the pious visitors lit up If 1 .1: nil m^ o^ OUR LADY OF LOURDES. the grotto with numerous tapers. Rich and poor, children and adults, brought their candles, illumi- nating the grotto as if it was a consecrated altar. And yet there was neither priest nor pontiff to di- rect them — the clergy still holding aloof. The pil- grims sang cantiques and the Litany of Loretto ; and it was beautiful in the stillness of the night to hear that enthusiastic multitude, with one voice, chant to the stars the praises of Mary : Mater Admirahilis^ Sedes sapientioe, Causa nostra letitice^ ora pro nobis! -^ .^^^ <- ,- :■■ -h ■. -■ - .- ■ ^'.- - At the hour when, in the social enjoyment of evening, men frequent the caf^s and public resorts, and when the wise men of the world discuss poli- tics, sometimes even religion, these occurrences were nightly criticized ; and among this class of sages at Lourdes there was now much uncertainty and dismay. One of their strongest minds was pleased to observe that " it was notorious that there never had been any water or spring in that place : that it must be a pool produced by some accidental infiltration, just at the moment that this Bernadette was scratching there." " No doubt, it is evidently so," they all re-echoed; and thus the wisdom of the Sandhedrim directed ^he opinion of the liberals of the little town. . The law was not to be baffled, and Bernadette was again summoned before the tribunal. This time she had to answer the interrogatories of the ■m OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 53 3tte 1% aJs crown prosecutor ; but her replies were as simple and consistent as they had been to Jacomet, and the authorities could find no excuse to take any penal steps against her. Thereupon the enemies of superstition, as they naively called themselves, went so far as to urge the Mayor of Lourdes, M. Lacad^, to forbid the assemblage of the people on the lands at Massabielle, inasmuch as the ground was the pro- perty of the municipality. But this worthy magis- trate did not yield to their importunities. " I know not," he said, ''in the midst of so much clamor, where is truth ; it is not my province to pronounce for or against. I must allow things to take their course, so long as there is no public disorder. It belongs to the bishop to decide the religious ques- tions J it belongs to the prefet to decide upon the measures which appertain to the civil power. As for me, I wish to keep out of the business ; and as mayor I will not interfere except under the express orders of ih^ prefety So said the mayor. .? - ' *' Let us wait," said the our^ again : " in human things it is enough to be prudent ; in the things of Ood prudence should be tenfold." ("Attendons, Dans les choses humaines c'est assez d'etre une fois prudent. II faut I'^tre dix fois dans les choses de Dieu.") • \, .,. , Notwithstanding the immense concourse of peo- ple which daily frequented the grotto, there had not been the slighest disturbance of public order. The 54 OUR LADY OF LODRDES. ;li ;i ,1", p'; I I 1 1, general sentiment had invaded even the soldiers of the garrison, and they obtained permission from the commandant to pay their devotion in common with the civilians. They went so far as to form a volun- teer guard along the way, to preserve discipline and order, and prevent the crowd from venturing too near to the banks of the river, which were sometimes dangerous. ^ ^ ^ -^ - ^ On March 2, Bernadette again called on the cur^, and renewed the request, on the part of the Appa- rition, to have a chapel built in her honor at Mas- sabielle. Matters had wonderfully progressed dur- ing the short period that had elapsed since her first visit to him ; the fountain had sprung up, miracu- lous cures had been effected by its waters, testifying, as it were, to the truth of her narration. The good priest for himself needed no further proof; his own conviction was established ; but, notwithstand- ing the enthusiasm which secretly filled his heart, he restrained the premature expression of his opinion, and said, in reply to Bernadette : " I fully believe all that you say, but it does not depend upon me to do what you ask in the name of the Apparition. That is the duty of the bishop, whom I already have informed of all that has taken place. I will tell him of your renewed message ; he alone can act." .. .... Monseigneur Bertrand-S^v^re Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, was essentially the child of the diocese* I'ii! 'i OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. 55 iers of >m the with ie and Ig too [times Mas- dur- first racu- ying, good ; his and- 3art, his ^^I end the oni tee. me t m He had been born and bred in it, and his distin- guished merits had placed him rapidly in its highest ecclesiastical positions. He had been successively Superior of the Seminary (Petit-S^minaire) at Saint-P^, of which he was the founder, and of the Great Seminary, and subsequently vicar-general of the diocese. All the priests of the diocese, with few exceptions, had been his pupils and disciples ; he had been their master before being their bishop, and under one title or the other had governed and directed them for more than forty years. Whether professor or bishop, he loved them as his children, and was beloved by them as a parent. He could well say with his divine Master, " I know my sheep, and my sheep know me." This profound harmony, this perfect unity of mind and spirit between the old Superior of the Seminary and the clergy whom he had formed, was one of the causes which procured his elevation to the episcopacy. Twelve years before this time, when the See of Tarbes became vacant by the death of Mgr. Double, the name of the Abb^ Laurence was in every one's mouth as in every one's heart. The entire diocese was moved with the same hope and desire, and accordingly a petition was presented praying for his nomination. As was the case in the primitive ages of the Church, the bishop was pointed out and selected by the acclamation of the flock. It is enough to state these things to show that Mgr. Laurence and his clergy formed ona Hllilll 56 OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. iim ill it great Christian family. Whenever a priest had any difficulty to be solved, whenever there was any question too hard for his head or too heavy for his heart, he took his stick and went to the bishop's palace, from which he was sure to return enlightened and consoled. .;..... The full warmth of his nature was concentrated in his patient and excellent heart, which, like that of the Apostle, made itself all things to all men. By a remarkable contrast his head was pre-eminently cool, and he decided upon all matters solely according to reason and judgment. His intellect had an essentially practical turn : he was mistrust- ful of all exaggerated or impassioned^characters, and there was nobody less accessible to the illusions of imagination or the influences of headlong enthusiasm. Ill-considered or hasty argument had no effect with him; if feeling governed his heart, reason alr^ne ruled his head. Before taking action in any matter he gravely weighed the act, not only as regarded itself but as regarded all its possible consequences. And from this arose a certain slowness in his pro- ceedings, resembling that of the Court of Rome, based, not upon indecision of character, but upon that mature wisdom which hesitates to pronounce until it has acquired the fullest information. Know- ing that truth is eternal, and will infallibly triumph, he exercised in an eminent degree the virtue of patience, and knew how to await events. (" Mgr. i OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. 5T ad any IS any or his shop's itened bratad 3 that n. By lently solely iellect trust- 3, and )ns of liasm. with al^ne latter irded nces. pro- ome, ipon iince lOW- iph, of IgT. m Laurence savait attendre.") If he took time before he advanced, he never r jceded, and his decision once made was irrevocalle, as might be expected from the deliberation witi. which he formed and pronounced it. -^^ ''^'' - - -* « ^'"^^ ^ - ^^^ Gifted with rare power of observation, Mgr. Laurence understood men, and possessed in a high degree the difficult art of managing and directing them. Unless religion was in question, and some particular case called for energy, he sedulously avoided disagreement and conflict with the civil power. He was slow to hurt susceptibilities ; for he knew that if the bishop made enemies, his enemies, through the weakness of human nature, generally became the enemies of religion, of his order, and the Church. Imbued deeply with the sense of his responsibility, he directed the bark of Peter with consummate prudence, constantly looking into the depths of the water that he might discern and avoid the hidden rocks. In a word, his wisdom was practical — that is to say, worldly pru- dence united to ascetic virtue. Remarkable as an administrator, above all a man of order and disci- pline, uniting, according to the evangelical precept^ the simplicity of the dove with the wisdom of the serpent, he was held in high estimation by all governments from that of Louis-Philippe to the Empire. When he made a demand it was never refused, for the authorities knew that he would not \n 1'.;,; iliklh ill U! % 58 OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. ask for what was not just and necessary. He invari- ably cultivated the best terms with the civil power, without compromising his own position ; and thus the spiritual and temporal authorities at Lourdes 'were living in the most amicable accord when the extraordinary events of which I am writing took place in its vicinity.* - ... . -The Abb^ Peyramale laid before the bishop a detailed account of the wonderful facts of which the grotto at Massabielle had been the scene during a period of three weeks, the visions and ecstacies of Bernadette, the messages of the Apparition, the sudden appearance of the fountain, the supernatural cures, and the universal emotion of the people. The bishop applied his habitual sagacity and prudence to the examination of these marvels, and replied : " The time has not yet come for episcopal authority to occupy itself with this matter. To pronounce such a judgment as might be expected from us we must proceed with caution; we must distrust the enthusiasm of first impressions, take the necessary time for reflection, and seek information in attentive and enlightened observation." The bishop renewed his prohibition to the clergy to show themselves at the grotto: but he took measures to produce daily a reliable report of all that passed there. In conse- quence of this reserve on the part of the bishop and Jiis clergy, the public were left to exercise their owa * M. Henri Lasaerre, Nortre-Dame de l^aurdes. * -^- '>S: M «!^ m OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 59 mvan- power, thus ourdes en the g took shop a ch the ring a 3ies of D, the aturai . The idence plied : hority lounce us we it the 3ssary intlve lewed ;^es at daily onse- ) and rown fit a intelligence upon these occurrences. If either fraud or error could be found connected with them, the liberals had full opportunity of acquiring the proof and denouncing the imposition to the world. If, on the other part, the hand of Heaven directs them, unaided they would triumph over every obstacle, and assert their divinity in the teeth of all opposi- tion. While matters were in this state as regarded the clergy, the civil authorities began to feel them- selves much perplexed. " Baron Massy at this period was the prefect of the Upper Pyrenees, a sincere but independent Catholic — we know what in all countries it is to be "an independent Catholic " — and, as such, conscientious- ly disliking anything that could be nicknamed " superstition." He professed, as a good Christian might do, to believe the miracles recorded in Scrip- ture, but outside these " official" prodigies he was slow to credit the supernatural. He accepted the earlier miracles of the Church as indispensable to its foundation ; but, according to his view^ God was bound to stop there, and place a limit to His power of alterlnpj the laws of nature in the future. The part of the Almighty, in the eyes of this personage, was laid down in the creed, supplemented by varioua concordats, and was, it almost might be said, codi- fied and reduced to articles of law as well as to articles of faith. It was not the province of the Almighty to derange that code or disturb the con- "!^ '111 w r mm' I [> Uiil;::;::! II I ■', 11!! " :'!,, 60 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. stitutional order of things by inopportune interven- tion ; it was enough that the constituted authorities of the land should rule, and leave the great Creator to repose forever in the invisible depths of the infinite! * ' ^ , Baron Massy, withal, was very orthodox, but he deprecated any encroachment on the part of the supernatural. He was very religious, but he dis- couraged the intrusion of the clergy in secular affairs. '' Nothing too much" ('' Rien de trop") was his motto. People who have this phrase con- tinually on their lips generally finish by not giving .yrf.\ enough. The summum jus, strict right, is very often not far removed from the summa injuria^ sovereign wrong. A government man, he was essentially official, and of course was a supporter of all estab- lished things because they were established. With him, that which is, is that which ought to be: "Whatever is, is right." With him, that which was legal was lawful and legitimate. If it was said to him, ^^ Dura Zex," he answered, ^^ Sed Zeaj," and his conscience reposed satisfied and tranquil on this dictum. He even went the lengths of thinking that whatever difiered from the ordinary official routine w«,s an attack upon things established, and ought not to be countenanced. With all this, his administra- ,. tive intelligence was remarkable, and he governed his department with su ccess. He hud great quia ^!K" f'.ij OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 61 m 5« «ess of observation united to promptitude in master ing a subject : but he had the defect of not seeing when he had made a mistake, and of never altering a decision, sometimes made precipitately, whether it regarded men or things. M. Massy was a Catho- lic not only in his profession but in his practice. Every one did justice to his moral and domestic vir- tues, which were unimpeachable, and which were appreciated by the bishop. Up to this period they had lived in perfect harmony, and the prefect, upon his side, could not refuse his admiration to the eminent qualities of the prelate.* .... Such was the man to whose wisdom and discre- tion it was confided to control, unravel, and expose the mysteries at Massabielle. He had often been heard to say that if he had been prefect of Is^re at the time of the Apparition of La Salette, he would soon have made short work of it, as he was resolved to do with the pretenders at the grotto, and that he would soon reduce all that phantasmagoria to noth- ingness, f He commenced his proceedings by caus- ing a secret surveillance to be kept day and night on the grotto, in expectation of discovering some trick * M. Henri Lasserre. "- -^^ '■ ^ -'■ • . v-r..- : ..,-.^,.-j.i,--: f " Si j'avais 6t6 prefet de ris6re, lors des pr<^tendues apparitions de La Salette, j'en aurais bien vite eu raison, et il en eat 6t6 de cette pr^tendue apparition comme il va en 6tre de celle de Lourdes. Toute cette fantasmagorie va rentrer dans le n6ant." Was it by a singular retribution that when M. Massy was no longer found to be the right man in the right place at Lourdes, he was transferred to Is^re, where he terminated his official as well as his natural life? D M "5W ■rr/* ■ .1* 62 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. ! ■!l!i lliiii''' .• n I id .:!l" :l']h it or manoeuvre regarding either the Apparition or the fountain, and he ordered the mayor to make a requisition to the commandant of the garrison to place the troops at his disposal, and to station them under arms along the road leading to the grotto and its neighborhood. Notwithstanding the inquietude and offensive attitude of the authorities, the fame of these occur- rences was propagated with electric rapidity. Bigorre and Beam were stirred with increased emotion on hearing of the fountain and the miraculous cures, and the various roads throughoutHhe department swarmed with pilgrims. At all hours and from all sides there arrived at Lourdes vehicles of every description; caliches, cars, char-d-bancs, people on horseback, people on foot. Night did not bring rest to this prodigious movement; it was then that the shepherds came down from their hills by the bright starlight, that they might worship at the grotto with the rising sun. The hotels and private houses were continually filled until accommodation for the strangers became exhausted, and many were obliged to remain the whole night at the rocks, that they might be there when Bernadette (" La Voy- ante") should come and pray at the dawn. Thursday, March 4, was the last day of the eventful fortnight; When morning broke upon the horizon a larger crowd than had assembled upon any previous day was gathered around and about the OUR LADY OF LOUKDES. 63 or the lake a ison to Q them tto and fensive occur- 3igorre ion on cures, rtment rom all every ►pie on ng rest bat the bright grotto private idation y were :s, that a Voy- of the on the on any ut the ■•m >;rotto. An old mountaineer, bowed under the load of years, supported his trembling hands on a heavily-ironed stick ; around him was grouped his entire family ; the grandmother, his aged partner, with her angular features, tanned and furrowed countenance, enveloped with her long black cloak lined with scarlet ; near her, with hands fervently clasped in prayer, and beautiful and sedate as the maidens of the Roman Campagna, the young grand- daughter knelt in devout expectancy. Many ran their fingers over their beads, many silently read their prayer-book. Many had in their hands or at their side an earthen jar in which to carry away the miraculous water, and their figures would often remind the spectator of the biblical portraits of Rebecca or of Rachel. There, too, might be seen the peasant of Gers with his large head, his bull-like neck, and his apoplectic face, not unlike the busts of Vitellius. At his side might be remarked the fine noble features of the B Jamais, still resembling in their character and profile the well-known portraits of Henri le Grand, Of middle height, but seeming tall through his erect carriage, with broad chest, high shoulders, and lithe limbs, stood the Basque, motionless, and as if fixed, like a statue, to the ground. Their ample forehead, sharp prominent chin, their countenance and acute features mark the purity of this race, the most ancient perhaps and the most unmixed in France. Impassable and dig- ill I '^ 84 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. .'t I \.^ .iV \\i Si i nified, several Spaniards stood about; entombed in? the vast folds of their weather-stained cloaks, their eyes turned to the grotto and their lips moving in undistracted prayer, they waited with a tranquillity that was almost sepulchral. Men of every profession, magistrates, shopkeepers, solicitors, barristers, phy- sicians, were mingled with the crowd, while '' dames of high degree," some in bonnets, some in veils, did not fear to encounter the chill air of that early morning in March.* Many of the pilgrims, fatigued by their journeys, or by their night watching, lay stretched upon the ground. There were young children sleeping angelic slumbers on the grass, wrapped up in their mother's capuletj perhaps innocently dreaming of the lovely vision which at that selfsame spot had revealed itself to a little one not unlike themselves. Several people had clambered into the branches of the trees in their eagerness to see over the heads of those before them. Some there were under the rocks who had brought provisions for refreshment, and with par- donable foresight were catering for their creature comforts, while a troop of cavalry from Tarbes were on horseback at a respectful distance from this motley assemblage. The picturesque costumes of the people were illuminated by the rays of the rising sun as it lifted its glowing orb over the summit of Gers. It was a most striking scene when contem- * M. Henri Lasserre. i. OUR LADY OF LOURDES, 65 plated at a distance from the hills of Vizons: the capulets of the women, some snowy white, some fiery red, contrasting]^ with the blue caps of the B^arnais, resembled a parterre of wild flowers — crimson poppies and pretty bluebells ; while the burnished helmets of the dragoons sparkling like a glass house in the exultant beams of the new-born day. There were more than twenty thousand people at the moment I am describing assembled on the banks of the Gave.* The diiferent sentiments of faith or of doubt or of curiosity, might be recog- nized alternating on the countenanc3s of that various multitude in which all shades of society and thought had representatives. Outside this crowd were the gendarmerie and military ; the former were continually in movement, under the direction of their commander, who himself remained stationary. Jacomet and the local crown prosecutor had taken their position on a height in the vicinity, and were watching anxiously the proceedings with latent hope that some disorder might arise which would autho- rize their interposition. At last the accustomed cry was heard, ^' Voila la "* This enumeration was made by several persons who were pre- sent. The picture of the crowd then assembled may strike some readers as imaginative ; but its details are taken from a local jour- nal which was strongly opposed to the story, L'Ere imperial of Tarbes, March 26, 185B. Five or six weeks later, the mayor had an enumeration taken of the numbers who had visited the grotto, on a particular day, April 6, and it was found to have been 9,060 persons. d2 %'' ',.» v , .1 1 fi'''iiii 66 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. m is M sainte ! Q^ The saint is coming !") and instinctively every head was uncovered. A path had been made to facilitate her approach a few days before by the confraternity of quarrymen who worked in that locality; and as she came along, accompanied by her mother, she seemed completely unconscious of the vast crowd that greeted her. Her mind was so entirely absorbed in the Vision which she expected to behold that she could not exhibit either vanity or awkwardness at the respect, amounting to vene- ration, with which she was received. The police advanced and respectfully made way for her through the dense mass, as if that miller's daughter were some royal princess. When Bernadette prostrated herself before the grotto, the multitude with one simultaneous movement, also knelt down. There was universal silence around; no hum of voices stirred the tranquil air ; no sound was heard save the gentle murmuring of the new-born fountain. Almost immediately the transfigured countenance of the child was wrapt in ecstacy, and that super- natural radiance, which has already been described ^ lighting up her entire figure, revealed that she was in the presence of some celestial being. The Appa- rition again commanded her to drink, and to wash herself in the well, and to eat of the herbage, as before ; and repeated the commission to go again to the priests, and to tell them that it was her wish that a chapel should be built on that spot, and that ^9* 'il OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 67 J e e bt processions should commemorate tlie event. Ber- nadette again asked Her to tell her Her name; but the Apparition made no answer to this request ; the moment of its announcement had not yet come. The fortnight was over, the invited visits were at an end, and taking the arm of her aunt, she with- drew in loneliness and sadness of heart. But these visits and .apparitions had produced a great result — the pilgrimage to Lourdes was established. While Bernadette returned to her home, there was much discussion and many commentaries upon the events that had been witnessed during the past fortnight among that motley crowd as it unwill- ingly dispersed. The apparition, addressing itself to a lowly child of earth, and through her probably to all mankind, had ordered Bernadette to leave the river's side, to climb up the rock into the remotest corner of the grotto, to drink the water, to eat the herb, and to wash herself in a fountain that as yet had no existence. She mounted the rugged ascent, she ate the herb, she implicitly obeyed the directions, and the stream burst forth and became a fountain of life, restoring health and vigor to the sick and tiding. What did all this import? ' • 1^ What is the great evil of these our days ? In the order of mind, is it not pride ? In the order of morals, is it not ungovernable sensualism and love of the world ? We live in an age when man. ,1 ^^i''' y <'i IV'.'.J '. 'i' '1 H ;ii 1 I I M ^68 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. i!:; -.'I 1 i' ■ has made a god of himself, and when the busy industry and prodigious activity which surround us have for their chief, if not their only, object pleasure, and self indulgence. In all his labors, in all his pursuits, nothing is sought but physical satisfaction and material amelioration, and all modern progress seems to place its highest end in the things of earth, as if time was eterjial. Religion and the Church are disdainfully contemned, or at best treated only with secondary consideration, although they alone possess the true secret of pros- perity and happiness. May not that wonderful Apparition, that supernatural fountain, whose waters €ured instantaneously the sick and infirm, have been sent by God, in order to arouse and convert many among that multitude, and through it /a greater multitude outside and away ? If we seek a symbolical explanation of these wonderful occurrences, it will not be difficult for the thoughtful Christian to find in them abundant application and instruction ; but I will leave that task to pens more competent than those of a simple layman like myself. If I were inclined to trespass upon such holy ground, it would be unwise in the presence of that beautiful book of reflections on Our Lady of Lourdes, recently published by the Abb^ Boyer, and which I recommend to my readers with all earnestness. * Nor will I stop for the * Notre-Dame de Lourdes ; ou, Reflexions symboliques et OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 69* 4 present to detail the numerous miracles which were daily taking place, as if to impose silence upon the questions and conviction of the doubter. I pass over the sudden cure of Louis Bourriette, the recovery of the almost expiring child of Jean Bouhohorts, that of the deaf widow Crozet, the restoration of the innkeeper Blaise Maumus, that of the cripple Auguste Bordes, and innumerable others, to which I shall have occasion to refer at a. later period of this narrative. These events had caused much disturbance of mind among the incredulous, as well as agitation and displeasure to the police and other function- aries. Their perplexities sought a solution in the suggestion that Bernadette was insane, and that her proper place was an asylum. Is it not ever thus when the world judges ? — God's wisdom is its folly. The mysterious fortnight had ended, but Berna- dette continued to visit the grotto, although she had ceased to feel the strong interior impulsion which had controlled her during that period. On the morning of March 25, her countenance once more beamed with joyful hope, and she felt agaia the inward conviction that she once more was about to behold the Apparition. The snow had melted in the valley, but still lay heavily upon the moun- tain tops ; the weather was fine and clear, and morale sur les Apparitions de la Sainte Vierge d Bernadette Soubirous. Par l'abb6 Eug6ne Boyer. Bayonne, 1868. ; .i ■im I : 70 OUR LBDY OF LOURDES. r<*i' ■iii , i*ii|!'!i -,:iH:»|S 5 . ': ,:vi 14 '■ '•'■:" :lrl^'^ ^;4 '■m there was not a cloud to shadow the azure firma- ment. It was the Feast of the Annunciation, that great day when the archangel Gabriel descended irom heaven and addressed his memorable salu- tation to the blessed Maid of Nazareth.* The presentiment which Bernadette had felt was not deceived, for no sooner had she knelt down than the Apparition stood before her. As usual, an ineffable light, like that of the aurora, beamed around her ; its splendor seemed inexhaustible, its loveliness infinite, like that of eternal glory. As usual, her veil and garments were snowy white, her girdle was blue as an Indian sky, and two tiny rosebuds shed sweet odors at her feet. Bernadette cried out in ecstasy, " Lady, have the goodness to tell me who you are and what is your name ?"f The Apparition smiled but did not answer. She might have addressed her in the language used by the Church in her offices in the morning, " Holy and Immaculate Virgin ! what praise can I give thee ? In truth I know not ; for thou hast borne, shut up in thy womb. Him whom the heavens could not contain "J But this expressive language was unknown to the miller's ignorant daughter, and * Breviarium Romanum, 25 Martii, 1 Nocturne. t " O ma Dame, veuillez avoir la bont^ de me dire que yous fites et quel est votre nom ?" t " Sancta et immaculata Virginitas, quibus te laudlbus efferam, fiescio; quia quern cobU capere hob poterant, tuo gremio coutu- ^istV*— Breviarium Bomanum, 25 Martii, 2o Nocturne. ■I: OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 71 she spoke only that of her throbbing heart. Again she repeated her question, but again there was not any reply; and once more, for the third time, "with increased earnestness and supplication, Bernadette asked to know the name and condition of the vision. The Apparition held its hands joined, as if in prayer, but upon this entreaty being urged for the' third time, she unfolded them, passed her alabaster beads over her right arm, opened wide both her arms, and bending downwards slowly said . — '^Je suis l'ImmaculeM Conception." (I am THE Immaculate Conception.") -; ; Having pronounced these words she vanished ; the illumination passed away from the countenance of Bernadette, and she found hersetf as if alone in the midst of the crowd and in front of the deserted grotto. But the fountain was flowing, with its low, silver murmur, at her side, aud the Church was in- toning the magnificent hymn. _ , ,, _ O Gloriosa Virginum, . : ; Sublimis inter sidera ! Qui te creavit, parvulum • ' . Lactente nutris ubere. And in this apt combination of time and place was revealed the name and the purpose of that mysterious Apparition which had for so many days excited the wonder of the crowd, and which was to be seen but once more by that favored child. There is much to observe in that brief announce- '■jr trn.: f-V\U '^^P^ 12 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 1 1', '■"ii r ra'tr; '.'<' i :i-'-!a ment of the Apparition ; but one thing has espe- cially attracted attention. She did not say, "I am Mary Immaculate ;" her words were, " I am the Immaculate Conception ;" as if thereby she marked with an absolute character, and proclaimed by her own miraculous presence, the truth of that great dogma which the. Church so recently had declared to be an article of faith. This was the first time that Bernadette had heard the words " Immaculate Conception," and, not comprehending their mean- ing, she made great efi'orts, as she returned to Lourdes, to retain them in her memory. "I kept repeating them to myself all along the road, lest I should loose them," she once said to M. Lasserre, " and as I went to the presbytery I was saying ^Immaculate Conception! Immaculate Con- ception r at every step I took, because I wanted to bring to the cur^ the very words of the Vision, in order that the chapel might be built."* It was this vision of Mary, announcing herself as the Immaculate Conception, that imprinted itself the most deeply on the memory of Bernadette. She sometimes would describe the scene to her friends, imitating with her hands, her head, and * '" Je les r6p6tai8 en moi-m6me tout le long du chemin pour ne point les perdre," nous disait-elle un jour, "et jusqu'au presbytSre ou j'allais, Je disais: Immaculie Conception, Imma' cuUe Conception, k chaque pas que je fasais, parce que je voulaia porter i M. le Cut6 les paroles de la Vision, afin que la chapelle Me bSltit.' ** —Notre-Dame de Lourdes, p. 196. >ll/ii OUR LADY OF LOURDBS- 73 countenance the movements of the Virgin. In the simple action of lifting; her hands and crossing them upon her breast there was so much nobleness, dignity, and grace ; when she turned her face upward to heaven there was so divine an expression upon it, that those who saw her on those occasions could not repress their admiration and respect. A man of the world who once witnessed her repre- sentation of the Vision was so struck by it that he exclaimed : ** This is enough for me. I believe. I am convinced that this child has seen our Lady. She never could invent that which she has described to us. I have seen the most celebrated actors, and not one of them could have exhibited so much simplicity combined with so much grandeur. It is evident that what she has seen and imitates belongs to another world."* The civil authorities had become seriously uneasy at the hold which these events had taken on the public mind. M. Rouland was Minister of Public Instruction, and being unable to admit for a single instant that there could be any truth in the visions and miracles attributed to the grotto and fountain near Lourdes, he addressed the following letter to ♦ " Pour moi ceci suffit. Je crois. Cette enfant a vu: elle ne pouvait jamais trouver seule ce qu'elle fait 14. J'ai suivi lea acteurs lesplus c616bre3. aucun n'aurait mis dans ce geste tant de simplicity et de grandeur ensemble. Ce qu'elle a vu est d'un autre Tuonde.*'— Annates de Lourdes, No. 9, p. 137. £ >;; ill I '■■l^ H :>l Viitiiil m m "I . 74 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. M. Massey, the prefect, bearing date April 12, 1858: '' M. le Pr^fet, — I have examined the two reports which you have addressed to me on the 12th and 26th of March respectively, regarding a pretended apparition of the Virgin, said to have taken place at a grotto in the neighborhood of the city of Lourdes. It is important, i i my opinion, that an end should be put to acts which may compromise the true interests of Catholicism and weaken religious feeling in the people. No one has the right to establish an oratory or place for public worship without the double authorization of the civil and ecclesiastical powers. Therefore, according to strict principles, we should be justified in closing up the grotto im- mediately, inasmuch as it has been transformed into a kind of chapel. But some danger might arise if we were to exercise this power injudiciously (hrus- quement). It will be enough if you prevent this visiouary young girl from going to the grotto, and take measures gradually to divert the attention of the public and diminish their visits. It is unneces- sary for me, M. le Pr^fet, at this moment to give you more precise instructions. This is a matter which, above everything, requires tact, prudence, and firmness, and in these respects any recommen- dation from me to you is unnecessary. It is, more- - over, indispensable that your measures shall be takeii in concert with the clergy, and I cannot too much ^^ OUR LADY OF LOURDBS. 76 urge you to consult upon this delicate business directly with Mgr. the Bishop of Tarbes, and I authorize you to tell him, in my name, that it is my opinion that too free a course should not be allowed to a state of things which connot fail to serve as a pretext for new attacks upon the clergy and religion." _ .. , We have seen that Mgr. Laurence was still in doubt as to the judgment he should pronounce upon the occurrences at Massabielle. He had not visited the spot, he had not witnessed any of the miracles ; and the reports he had received of them were from parties who had gathered their information at second-hand from others, so that he was unable to form a positive opinion, and reserved his decision for further examination and proof. He felt, how- ever, that a formal prohibition upon his part to Bernadette to visit the grotto would attack the most sacred liberty of her mind, which he was bound to respect. But he liad not the same objection to employ the language of advice, and he directed the cur^ of Lourdes to use his gentle influence with her to dissuade her from continuing these visits. The bishop, with his quick discernment, saw through the mind of the astute minister, and it was evident to him that ulterior measures, perhaps even the use of the public force, were in contemplation. He desired, as much as in him lay, to obviate such a ficandal. - '!;■ ■:;4 ' is i f-, -Vi i!% ,T " (II \vj 76 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. Easter Sunday had come. Notwithstanding the apprehensions of the Minister of Public Worship^ the popuhir sentiment for religion had not been weakened by the wonders performed at Massubiello. Many conversions from sin had taken place ; the con%sionals were besieged from morning until night ; the faithful thronged round the holy table ; usurers and thieves made restitution, and certain scandals ceased to disedify the community, while the affluence of pilgrims daily increased. On Easter Monday, April 5, the day on which the prefect, in obedience to the letter of the minis- ter, had an interview with the bishop, the miller's daughter, moved by an irresistible inspiration, went to the grotto. Once more the heavens opened before her, and permitted her to gaze upon the Vir- gin Mary in all her glory. An extraordinary inci- dent occurred upon this occasion. The taper or wax candle which Bernadette had brought with her was very large, and when she knelt down she placed it near her upon the ground, having her fingers close to the end to support it. When, on beholding the Blessed Virgin, she fell into ecstasy, she gradually advanced her fingers until they touched the flame of the burning-candle. The flame was seen to pass through her half open fingers and play about them as the breeze fanned it hither and thither. The crowd looked on in amaze- ment; but Bernadette remained motionless, and ODR LADY OP LOURDES. 77 Bcemod insensible to all externjil feeling. The peo- ple pressed forward that they might see more closely the incident. More than one hundred per- sons witnessed this unexampled event ; among them was Dr. Dozous, who certified by his watch that her fingers remained enveloped in the flame, as if burn- ing, for a space of more than a quarter of an hour. When the Vision had vanished, and her ecstasy was over, she regained her normal condition j nor did her fingers exhibit any mark of injury. One of the spectators, desirous to test the matter, took the taper, which was still burning, and without being perceived by her, applied it to her hand, when she turned round in a fright and cried out, ** You are burning me, sir!" ("Oh! monsieur, vous me brulez.") There were nearly ten thousand persons at the grotto on that day.* •' . ■ ii The old pathway from Lourdes had been enlarged and improved, but not by the administration. It was the pious custom of certain quarrymen of the vicinity to devote an hour, after their day's work, to this good purpose, and in a little time a suitable road was constructed by the gratuitous toil of these devout laborers. The grotto also by degrees, had •The mayor sent his agents to the different roads and approaches to the grotto to take the census of the visitors on that day. According to the report made up for him that evening, there ha(f been 9,03) persons present:— 4,822 inhabitants of Lourdes, and 4,233 strangers. See Les Archives de la Mairie de Zourdes, n: ,.. ,4 ' :ii.<, ■• ■' II I 78 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. assurtied a new anpect. Hitherto pious oflferings had been limited to wax candles and tapers, which were continually burning btjforo the niche, but now the faithful began to place flower vases, statuettes of the Virgin, and various ex-votoSj in testimony of their devotion. Several persons who had received especial graces through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes, offered gold crosses and chains, which lay exposed without other protection than that of the public piety, in obedience to which the confraternity of carpenters made a small balustrade before the grotto to keep off the crowd. It was now generally understood that the directions of the Apparition should be obeyed, and a chapel built, and with this feeling it became the custom to throw pieces of money into the grotto as voluntary con- tributions, by which, it was hoped, an important sum might be realized. This custom still prevailed at the period of ray visits, and it was curious to sec the floor of the cavern strewed with coins of every valuci Considerable sums, amounting to thousands of francs, were left scattered about through the night as well as the day, and such was the respect inspired by the place that not a single coin was ever abstracted. At present there is a large grating and gate in front of the grotto which protect the offer- ings that are continually flung at the feet of the Statue that has been placed in the venerated niche. Bernadette had now become the object of frequent ■J OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 79 visits from strangers brought by piety or by curiosity to Lourdes. No one who heard her story from her own lips deemed it eith'^r an invention or a frund, and while discussions on the subject were warm and constant, every one who listened to her was filled with reverence if not with conviction. Although possessed only of the most ordinary intelligence upon all other things, she was eloquent and clever when she spoke of the Apparition, and her replies to those who sought to puzzle her were always appropriate and ready. M. de Ress^guier, coun- sellor of the Courts at Pau, said to her one day, among other things : " Was the vision as handsome as these ladies you see here ?" Having examined them for a short time (and they were such in beauty and in fashion as might well have attracted a peasant girl's admiration), she said, with a slight movement of disdain : " It was a very different thing from all these.'* (^' Oh ! c'^tait bien autre chose que tout cela I") " Tout cela'* was the Uite of the first circles of Pau! ' Bernadette continued to attend the schools of the nuns as she had previously done. There was much difl&culty in teaching her to read and write, and she considered herself to be the greatest dunce in the school. She joined willingly in the infantine sports of her companions ; hide-and-go-seek, skip-rope, and » it^i * ,' 1 w • ^ 1 1 ,1 i 9 .! 1 1 .4 1 • 1 y 80 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. other such amusements of children. The Mother of God, in selecting Bernadette as a witness to the supernatural, and thus rendering her an object of curiosity and veneration to thousands, enabled her to preserve her childlike simplicity and innocence in all their freshness. The news having got circulation that the Appa- rition had told its name to Bernadette, it seemed to the prefect that a favorable opportunity had opened, and that the time for action was come. Accord- ingly he sent a Commission, composed of two phy- sicians, to her father's house, with instructions to examine her as to her sanity. These learned doctors, one of whom was the particular friend of the Pro- cureur imperial^ or Crown Prosecutor, exhausted themselves during three weeks in the most profound study and investigation. But, after a close exam- ination, they could not certify that they had dis- covered any mental or cerebral defect in Berna- dette; and, having regard to their professional character, they could not venture further than to say that possibly she might be subject to hallu- cinations ("Elle pourrait bien etre hallucinde.") This, however, was sufficient for the prefect, and in virtue of the law of June 30, 1838, he resolved to have Bernadette arrested, placed provisionally in the hospital at Tarbes, and thence transferred in due time to the lunatic asylum. It would not be enough to strike down the child ; a barrier must be opposed OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 81 to the increasing movement among the people, and, as M. Eouland had insinuated in his letter to the prefect, that might be done under cover of strict legality. He had only to shut up the grotto as an unprivileged chapel, and carry away the offerings and eX'Votos. A squadron of dragoons would be held in readiness at Tarbes, in case of any oppo- sition on the part of the people. " The prefect," says an illustrious writer, speak- ing of these proceedings, *^had imposed that day upon his officials a very difficult task, inaugurated in a very revolting fashion. He might have com- prehended, if he so desired, that some freedom ia our sources of consolation is necessary to compen- sate for the sacrifices which society imposes. The liberty to pray in certain places, to burn a taper before an image, to taste a drop of water from a certain fountain, to deposit an offering on an altar, cannot be very onerous to the State nor fatal to public order ; nor can it offend the privileges or the delicacy of any one. And yet in all these things there is a deep consolation for those who believe and practice them. Do, then, let faith have a little life. In the midst of your occupations, with your power, with your wealth, do remember that the great mass of those whom you govern has need to ask its daily bread from God, and often obtains it only by a kind of miracle. To have faith is almost to have food. It helps us to digest our stale black e2 »i 1 , .'^t 1 82 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. HI V '««i., ■jl!!^ morsel, and, when even that fails, it helps us to have patience. And when God vouchsafes to open to us one of these sacred depositories whence grace flows with more abundance, and faith grows more ener- getic, do not endeavor to close it. You yourselves are the first who may find its utility. It will enable you to make reductions in your budget, and dispense with your prisons and hospitals."* But these were not the sentiments of Baron Massy. The period for the meeting of the Council of Revision had come round, and thus gave to the prefect the opportunity of consulting the assembled mayors of the canton upon what he was pleased to consider the crisis. He explained to them officially that the scenes which had been witnessed at Massa- bielle— the gathering of the people, and the allegation of supernatural visions — were unfavorable to religion and dangerous to good order; and he impressed upon them that the fact of the erection of an ora- tory at the grotto was proved by the offerings made and the tapers constantly burning before it; that this was a violation of the law and an inroad upon authority, ecclesiastical and civil, which should be repressed with vigor. He proceeded to inform them that he had instructed the commissary of police to bring away and transport to the mayoralty all the offerings that had been deposited at the grotto, and that he would cause to be arrested and treated a3 * Louis Venuillot, LUnivers, August 18, 1868. OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 83 1' I , t insane all visionary persons who should propagate absurd and improbable fictions. This was on May 2, and this was the invocation with which JVE. Massy inaugurated his devotions for ** le mois de Marie." The mayor and the commis sary of police received orders to execute these instructions forthwith. The mayor, M. Lacad^, who had not been insensible to the prodigies that were passing under his eyes, felt regret at finding himself and his convictions placed in some perplexity by this order. He felt also some apprehension as to the attitude which the people might assume in the matter ; and, consulting M. Dutour, the crown prosecutor, they determined to advise with the cur(5. Accordingly they called upon the Abb^ Peyramale, explained to him their instructions, with the assurance that the prefect was acting within the strict limits of the law. The good priest could not repress his indignation at the cruel iniquity of such law, and cried out : " This child is innocent, and the proof of it is that you, the crown prosecutor, in spite of all kinds of cross-questioning, have not been able to find the least pretext, as a magistrate, for her prosecution. You know that there is not a tribunal in France which would not recognize her innocence to be as clear as the sun, and that there is not a crown pros- ecutor who would not declare that there is no ground for an action against her, and that to arrest her would be monstrous." :' ' -A I.I Wtd*^' ■ i^ I '>!»■', ■ft ■••Rig ■""-, Di* ■:l .fi,:,,, 84 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. ** But the authorities are not bringing any prose- cution against her," replied M. Dutour. " The prefect, upon the report of the physicians, will cause her to be shut up as being slightly deranged, and this will be for her own interest, that she may be cured. It is simply an administrative menace which does not touch religion, because neither the bishop nor the clergy have pronounced any opinion upon these transactions." "Such a manace," replied the priest, becoming more and more animated, ** would be the most odious persecution ; the more odious because it assumes the mask of hypocrisy. Under the mantle of the law it aiFects to protect while it intends to crush a poor helpless young creature. Although the bishop and the clergy, including myself, prudently await some further manifestation before we pronounce definitively our judgment, we have seen sufficient to justify our opinion as to the good faith of Berna- dette and the soundness of her faculties and intel- lect. Inasmuch as your physicians have failed to detect any mental defect, how far are they more competent to judge of her good sense or foolishness than the thousand visitors who have interrogated her, and all of whom have acknowledged themselves astonished by the lucidity of her answers and the steadiness of her intelligence ? These very doctors themselves have not ventured to affirm to the con- trary, and have been obliged to conclude their M 'Ji OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 85 report by a lame hypothesis. There are no grounds upon which the prefect can order the arrest of Ber- nadette. " But it is legal." (" C'est l^gal.") • ^ " It is unlawful (ilUgitime). As pastor of the city of Lourdes, I belong to all, but especially to the weak. If I were to see an armed man attuck a child, I would defend the child at the peril of my life, for I know the duty that is imposed upon the good shepherd. Be assured that I would do the same if that man happened to be the prefect, and that he was even armed with the bad clauses of a bad law. Go, then, and tell the prefect that his gendarmes will find me on the threshold of the door, and that they shall pass over my body and trample me under foot before they shall touch a hair of the head of this little girl." ^ .-■ " However" (" Cependant") " There is no ^however.' You are free to exam- ine and make full inquiry ; that is the wish of every one. But if, instead of doing this, your intention is to persecute and strike the innocent, be assured that before you can hurt the smallest and least among my flock, you must begin with myself." This is noble language on the part of a great priest, which deserves unlimited admiration. As he spoke, his lofty stature, his fine head, and his marked features expressed a spirit of resolution and emotion that forbade remonstrance or reply. ^ ; »■«'. -^h i I i I ■:;4 : m " y>' " ' <- : r 'l^T'7 ***' %y- i:t )#'!.'. 88 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. eucli an amount that it was impossible to remoye them without a cart. Jacomet went to M. Bariosse, the post-master, to hire a cart and horses for the purpose. ** I do not let my horses for such things/' replied the post-maister. " But you cannot refuse '^our horses to anyone who will pay," retorted Jacomet. " My horses are intended for the service of the post, and not for this kind of business," rejoined Bariosse. " I do not wish to have anything to do in the act which you are going to commit. Bring an action against me, if that suits you ; but I refuse my horses." Thus baffled, the commissary went to several other places, for, being the passage to many of the Pyrenean watering-places, Lourdes abounds with public vehicles and horses of all kinds; but he met the same refusal everywhere, from private as well as from public individuals, the populace following him from house to house with jeers and execrations. At last, he offered thirty francs to anyone who would do the job ; the people imme- diately recollected that thirty pieces of silver was the price of the direst piece of treachery that ever darkened the human heart, and they heaped their reproaches tenfold upon the head of the perplexed Jacomet. At last he found the daughter of a smith who, for that historic sum, was induced to let her ;IU OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 89 cart. When the multitude saw that he had pro- cured the cart, their indignation against the person who had given it was very loud, the more so as she was well off in her circumstances, while many indigent persons had refused the bribe. Jacomet proceeded towards the grotto, and the police led the horse and cart, followed by an immense, crowd, silent, sombre, unquiet, as if brooding a terrible outbreak. Arrived at the rocks of Massabielle, they had to leave the cart at some distance, as the passage did not admit the approach of vehicles. Under the vault of the grotto numerous wax candles were burning, placed in chandeliers adorned with ribbons and green moss. Crucifixes, statuettes of the Virgin, devotional pictures, rosaries, beads, necklaces, jewels, lay scattered on the ground or in the nooks of the rock. Bits of carpeting in some places were spread under the images of our Lady; pious hands had brought innumerable bouquets, and this rustic sanctuary was perfumed with the fresh garlands of the floral month of May. There were several thousand francs, in silver and copper, lying upon the floor, upon which no thief had ever dared to place his sacrilegious hand, notwithstanding the facility for a midnight depredation presented by the unguarded loneliness of the spot. This crime was reserved for the myrmidons of the government. Jacomet stepped over the balustrade, which had been constructed by the confraternity of carpenters, ,/ Ml i'M n ■j/ti ^' u (*!''1! V I ■' ■ ■■ il «l 90 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. and entered the grotto. He seemed somewhat con- fused at his own temerity. The sergents-de-viUe were at his back ; the crowd that had followed him looked on, without tumult, but there was something ominous in their repose. The commissary began his work by making sure of the money. He then extinguished the tapers one by one, collected the beads, crosses, and other valuables with which the grotto was filled, and handed them to the constables to carry to the cart. These men seemed to perform their share of the business with sulky reluctance. As the cart was at some distance, a good deal of time was necessary for this part of the proceedings. In his hurry, the commissary called a little boy, and told him to carry one of the pious pictures to the cart, but as the child unconsciously stretched out his hand to take it, another little boy near him cried out, " Wretched fellow ! what are you going to do? God will punish you," * and he instantly drew back. The commissioner now was evidently alarmed ; there was something convulsive in his movements. When he picked up the first bouquet, thinking that it was of no value, he was about to throw it into the Gave, until an indistinct murmur through the people warned him how little was needed to provoke an outburst, and he placed the bouquet with the other articles in the cart ; shortly afterwards a statuette fell to pieces in the hands of the commis- * •* Malheureux ! que vas-tu faire? Le bon Dieu te punirait.'* OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 91 sary, and this little incident produced a threatening movement in the crowd. When the grotto had been thoroughly despoiled, Jacomet proceeded to remove the balustrade ; for this a hatchet was necessaiy. He applied to several people who were working in a saw-mill in the neighborhood, but they succes- sively refused to lend it, until some one, more timid or less religious than the rest, was found to comply. Jacomet' himself was obli' # '^ r*^ N' ^\ O^ ^ K° ^ 4 92 OUR LADY OP LOURDES, was no breach of the peace. The commissary and his bailiffs did not meet with any obstacle on their road with the cart to the mayoralty, where they deposited the things which they had found in the grotto. The money they placed in the hands of the mayor himself. As a protest against the measures of the prefect, an immense crowd assembled in the evening at the grotto and decorated it profusely with flowers and garlands ; and as every person bore a lighted taper, a brilliant illumination irradiated the desecrated sanctuary. The next day two events took place which did not fail to produce great im- pression upon the people : The girl who had let a cart to Jacomet fell from the top of a hayloft and broke her ribs. On the same day, the man who had lent his hatchet had both his legs smashed by the fall of a very heavy plank which he was endea- voring to place upon his work-bench. These acci- dents may have been fortuitous, but the coincidence is remarkable. The freethinkers regarded them as irritating and unfortunate, but the people received them as the manifest judgment of God. Consequent upon these proceedings, a prohibition to the public to. enter the precincts of Massabielle was issued, and a board was placed before the grotto, vols forc6 de I'ex^cuter. J'agis d'apr^s lea ordres de M. le Pr^fet. 11 faut que j'ob^isse, quoi qu'il m'en coute, ^ I'autorit^ sup^rieure. Je ne suis point responsable, et il ne faut pas s'en prendre a moi. Desvoix dans la foule s'^cri^rent: < Demeurons calmes ; pasde violence. Laissons tout & la main de Dleu.' " ■J OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 93 having on it the words : " Defense d'entrer sur cette propridte '* (" All trespass upon these grounds prohibited"). The police were active in enforcing this prohibition, and several persons were brought before the courts and fined for its infraction. Not- withstanding official vigilance, the zeal of the people continually eluded the strictness of authority and frustrated its prosecutions. Some poor laboring women were condemned by the tribunals for circu- lation of false intelligence, by speaking of the Apparition ; but this sentence was reversed by the court of appeal at Pau, and the decision was regarded by the people as a triumph of right. A feeling of excessive irritation had been created among them by these vexatious measures, and they were restrain- ed from an outbreak solely by the influence of the cur^ and his priests. The arrival of pilgrims was not checked to any perceptible degree ; and when prevented from entering the neighborhood of tha grotto, they used to assemble at the opposite side of the Gave, and kneeling often on the half-dried bed of the river, offer up their prayers with unabated fervor and faith. Upon more than one occasion, persons of high distinction disputed the orders of the police, and to their embarrassment, stepped over the barrier and defied their interdict. One day they arrested, rather rudely, a stranger with a strongly marked countenance, who approached the barrier with the m •r! ifc 94 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. h evident intention of crossing it, and passing on to the rocks. ** You can't pass" (" On ne passe pas"), said the constahle. " You shall see whether I can pass or not," warmly replied the unknown, and entered upon the forbidden ground without paying further attention to the inhibition. *' Your name? " called out the constable, *' that I may direct a prosecution '* ( " Que je vous dresse proc^s-verbal"). ** I am called " (" Je me nomroe ") " Louis Veuil- lot," answered the stranger. While the authorities were engaged drawing up the plaint against this distinguished writer and publicist, a lady had passed the limits, and had knelt down before the grotto. No sooner had the policeman beheld this second infraction, than he <)uitted Veuillot, and hastened towards the fair intruder, saying : '* Madame, it is forbidden to pray here. You are «aught in the act — flagrante delicto* In the name of the law, I arrest you. Your name ?" " I will tell you very willingly," replied the lady ; "**! am Madame Bruat, wife of the admiral, and governess of His Royal Highness the Prince Imperial." ^ ^ < The terrible Jacomet, whose respect for those placed in high position was profound, bent humbly f OUR LADY OF LOURDES. 95 before her, and countermanded the summons pre- pared against the distinguished lady, who extended her mantle to the no less distinguished journalist, and protected him from further inconvenience. Monseigneur de Salinis, Archbishop of Auch ; Mgr. Thibaud, Bishop of Montpellier : Mgr. de Garsignies, Bishop of Soissons, besides many laics of high distinction, visited the grotto during this period. It is recorded that one of the most vener- ated prelates of France could not restrain his tears on listening to the simple but convincing recital of Bernadette. Contemplating that little child, on whose brow the ineffable Mother of God had left her impression, he could not master his emotion, and he knelt down before her — a prince of the Church before a lowly peasant girl — and in a voice that trembled said : '- ** Pray for me ; bless me and my flock " (" Priez pour moi : b^nissez-moi et mon troupeau.") In the meantime, and in unpardonable disregard of police regulations, the fountain continued to flow and numerous cures to be effected miraculously through the agency of its waters. While Jacomet and his satellites persisted in keeping watch day and night, and dragging the devout trespassers before the court, the magistrate, Dupret, was always ready to convict and punish. At last, Mgr. Salinis and M. Resseguier undertook to represent to the Emperor, who was then at Biarritz, the cir- ' W ^ '4 1 i i'iM ■ ' ' 96 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. cumstances and position of the case. At the same time petitions were presented to his Majesty from all sides, protesting against the prohibition, and praying protection from the violence of Baron Massy and his functionaries. *' Sire," said one of the petitions, "we do not pretend to decide in any way upon the truth of the Apparitions of the Virgin, although, upon the faith of astounding miracles witnessed by their own eyes, almost the entire people of this country credit the reality of these supernatural manifestations. That which is certain and beyond all dispute, is that the spring (source) which arose suddenly, and which in spite of the scientific analysis which haa declared it to be innocuous, is now closed to us, has not produced injury to anyone, while a great many affirm that they have recovered their health through its means. In the name of the rights of conscience, which are independent of all human power, let those who believe, go there to pray if they like it. In the name of common humanity, let the sick go there to be cured, if such is their hope. In the name of liberty of thought, let those who seek information through inquiry on the spot go there and discover the fraud if it be one, or find the truth and proclaim it." This was the first time that the Emperor had heard all the circumstances in their full detail from competent and trustworthy informants. He rapidly OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 97 tinrived at a decision with his usual perspicuity. On learning the absurd measures by which the prefect and his agents were bringing authority into discredit, his stern eye is said to have flashed with a ray of anger; he shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and a cloud of profound displeasure passed over his brow. He rang the bell violently, and said to the servant, " Take this to the Tele- graph." It was a laconic message for the prefect at Tarbes, ordering, on the part of the Emperor, the withdrawal of the decree concerning the grotto near Lourdes, and giving liberty to the people to visit it as heretofore. There was some hesitation as well as surprise on the part of Baron Massy in executing this order, and he affected to think that there must have been some misapprehension. This idea waa soon removed by a visit from M. Fould, then minister, and a second message, more imperative than the first, which he could not venture longer to disregard. The news had oozed out among the people that a despatch had come from the Emperor, but its precise import was left to conjecture until they read upon the walls of Lourdes the following notice : — \ " Le Maire de la ville de Lourdes, Vu les instructions k lui adress^es, Abkrte : li'arrfiW pris par lui le 8 juin 1868 est rapport6. ' ' Fait k Lourdes en I'hotel de la Mairie, le 5 octobre 1858. , ^ ! v . ^^ • Le Maire. A. Lacad^. X> ^ .i-i '■ f;, "-^n 6?' r 98 OUR LADY OF LOUKDES. j^4 1 Jacoinet and his myrmidons were despatched at the- same time to the grotto with an order to remove the barriers and take down the prohibitory notice. The people quickly thronged the sacred spot, once more opened to their piety, and were overwhelmed with joyful gratitude. Women knelt down and said the Rosary, young girls scattered flowers and wove garlands, but no one would lay a hand to the barriers. They left that work to the police who had erected them. It was clear, after this result, that Baron Massy was no longer the " right man in the right place." He was transferred to Grenoble, and thus by a strange casuality he left our Lady of Lourdes to cover with his protection our Lady of La Salette. Jacomet also was sent to another department, where he had ample opportunity to develope his capacity as chief of police, for which he was well suited. The crown prosecutor, M. Dutour, likewise was found to be misplaced, and he was promoted to higher functions elsewhere. The mayor, M. Lacad^, was the only official engaged in the prosecution of Bernadette who was allowed to retain his position. ■ v It needs not to be told how sad and aflSicted (oh I quam tristis et afflicta!) was the heart of Berna- dette during this dreary interval. But the malice of the prefect, supported by the subserviency of medical science, was unable to establish any ground for the exercise of his power over her, and he OUR LADY OP L0URDE8. 99 was constrained to leave her as unshackled in person as she was sane In mind. Neither had her patroness deserted her ; and during this same period of trial it was once more permitted to her to gaze upon that ravishing Vision! This time, however, there was no crowd to witness and bear testimony to her ecstacy. She enjoyed the privilege, upon this the last as upon the first occasion, almost alone and in solitude. It was the evening of July 16, the Feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel, when Bernadette felt again within her that mysterious attraction which formerly summoned her to these divine interviews at the grotto. She mentioned it to her family, and a young aunt of hers offered to accompany her. Her aunt informed two other persons of Lourdes who had expressed a strong desire to follow Bernadette, with the hope of seeing her in ecstasy, and all four set off together. The grotto at this time was closed to the public, and to Bernadette more than any other person it was forbidden ground. They there- fore went through the meadows of La Kib^re, which border the opposite bank of the Gave. They knelt down in front of the grotto, at some distance from a ^roup of persons who were praying, and said an Ave Maria on their beads. It was twi- light. ^ - ' '' The clasped hands of Bernadette suddenly opened and dropped downwards, as if under the action of ' i'r *i^t ^.4 '0 '•4 'if! 100 OUR LADY OF LOUBDIS. I Mil a surprise. Her companions at once recognized that she was in ecstasy, and by the waning day- light they could discover her face grow pale and her eyes brighten. At that moment a woman came up, and, ignorant of what was occurring, knelt down near Bernadette, The glare of the taper which she carried was dimmed by the lustre of Bernadette's transfigured countenance. For one instant only could her aunt contemplate that radiant pallor — that halo of beatitude which clothed her visage, absorbed in gazing upon the glorious beauty of that divine Apparition. The two companions looked at her in wondering silence ; while the privileged child, forgetting earth, seemed inebriated by the torrent which flowed from Paradise, and lost in the entrancing vision which Mary presented to her for the eighteenth time. The ecstasy lasted for a quarter of an hour, and Bernadette bade her last farewell to her celestial visitor. When she spoke of this vision, she seemed impressed with unutter- able happiness at the first moment of its appear- ance, everything around her changed its aspect ; the Gave and the barriers no longer seemed to separate her; she seemed again to be at the foot of the rocks, and before her stood the same sweet Lady, with her white garment and veil, her blue girdle, the bright aureole round her head, and her soft and gentle look. Only she seemed more beautiful than ever, and the light that enveloped her was> ^■".-.-1 more mtciise. r i OUR LADY OF LOUllDBS. 101 This Apparition would seem to have been designed alone for the consolation of the child, and therefore it did not become much known nor spoken of among the people. One would almost venture to say that it was right that it should have been so. Bernadette, poor and timid, had fulfilled her mission with a simplicity full of courage, and a devotedness unsubdued by trial. She had fought and suffered for the Lady of the Grotto, and she yet would have to fight and suffer in her cause. But this unexpected visit testified that She was satisfied with her, and recompensed her for the past, while it justified her for the future. It was no undesigned accident that induced the Blessed Virgin to select the Feast of Mount Carniel for her farewell apparition. The characters of that commemoration are not without similitude in the mysteries of Massabielle, and it would look as if Mary desired to associate the devotion of the mountain of Carmel with that of the hills of Lourdes. She would seem to place side by side, at remote intervals of place and time, the holy monk who received the scapular from our Lady of Mount Carmel and the lowly child who, in the name of our Lidy of Lourdes, drew forth the miraculous fountain, and proclaimed to mankind those words so full of hope and joy : " t/e suis VImmvbcuUe Conception^ And herein is presented a new sub- ject of meditation on the symbolism of these appari- f2 »•• • fl •••■ » ¥ V P V 'C 102 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. :f^ ,\ i'i tions, which unfolds to the "eyes of the enlightened heart" (Ephes. i. 18) a large and brilliant horizon, on which, however, I dare not further dwell.* And now we must retrace our steps from that date in October, when the sagacity of the Emperor re-opened the grotto at Lourdes, to the preceding month of July, when, personally impressed by the events which had occurred, and by the faith of the multitude, the prudent Bishop of Tarbes felt that the time had arrived when|;^some action should be taken by the ecclesiastical' authorities. Accord- ingly, on that date he issued the following most important '' mandcment " : — '' Ordinance of Monseigneur the Bishop of Tarbes, constituting a Commission charged with examining the authenticity and nature of the events that have occurred, during six months, consequent upon the xVpparition, whether true or false, of the most Blessed Virii-in in a j>;rotto situated at the west of the city of Lourdes. <' Bertranb Severe-Laurence, by the divine mercy and fiivor of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Tarbes, to the clergy and faithful of our diocese, health and benediction in our Lord Jesus Christ. " Facts of great gravity relating to religion have taken place at Lourdes since the 1 1 th of last Feb- ruary. They have disturbed this diocese and have been rumored at a distance. Bernadette Soubirous, * Acnales de N.-D. de Lourdes, torn. i. p. 161. . if ^-^i OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 103- a young girl of Lourdcs, fourteen years of age, is said to have had visions in the grotto of Massabielle, situated to the west of that city. The Immaculate Virgin is said to have appeared to her; a fountain is said to have burst forth ; the water of this foun- tain, either taken internally or used externally, is said to have operated numerous cures ; these cures have been reputed miraculous; people in great crowds, from neighboring dioceses as well as from our own, have sought at this fountain the cure of their infirmities — through the invocation of Mary Immaculate. The attention of the civil authority has been attracted by these things. On every side, since the month of March last, it has been demanded that ecclesiastical authority should declare itself respecting this unwonted pilgrimage. " We thought at first that the time had not yet come for us to occupy ourselves advantageously with this matter, that ia order to be able to pronounce such a judgment as may be expected from us, we should proceed slowly, distrust the enthusiasm of the first moments, give time to men's minds to grow calm and to reflect, and await the light of attentive and instructed observation. ^' Three classes of persons have appealed to our decision, but each with diflPerent views. First, there are those who, refusing all examination, see nothing in the events at the grotto and in the cures attri- buted to the waters of the fountain but superstition^ lilr ' 1' h, *h r I > ,1 I'i a^i^^ 104 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. B M trickery, and fraud. It is evident that we cannot adopt the opinion of such persons a priori or with- out serious examination. Their journals at once raised the cry of superstition, imposture, and bad faith ; they affirmed that occurrences at the grotto had their origin in sordid interest and culpable cupi- dity, and thus have wounded the moral sense of our Christian population. To deny everything, to throw suspicion on the best intentions, is, we allow, a very easy way to get rid of difficulties. The denial of all supernatural action is but the revival of a super- annuated school, which would end in the abjuration of the Christian religion, and lead men to follow in the wheel-ruts of the infidel philosophy of the last xjentury. We Catholics cannot take counsel with those who deny to the Almighty the power of exceptional interference with the general laws which He has established for the government of the world — the work of his own hands ; nor can we enter into discussion with them upon the supernatural character of particular facts, inasmuch as beforehand they proclaim the impossibility of the supernatural altogether. Does this mean that we refuse a full, sincere, conscientious, and enlightened discussion of these events ? Certainly not. We desire it with all our energy. We wish that these events should be submitted to the severest rules of examination which sound philosophy admits : and in order to pronounce whether these occurrences are supernatu- w OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 105v ral and divine, we desire that men specially versed in the science of mystic theology, of medicine, phy- sics, chemistry, and geology, shall be summoned to their investigation; and we desire, in order to ascertain the truth, that no means of science and learning shall be omitted. " There is a second class of persons who neither approve nor disapprove the facts recounted, and who hold their judgment in suspense. Before deciding for themselves they desire to learn the opinion of competent authority, and ask for it earnestly. There is still a third class, who are very numerous, and who await with impatience the episcopal judgment. Although they hope for a decision favorable to their own pious views, we are well aware of their submis- sion to the Church, and feel sure that they will bow to our judgment, whatever it may be, when once it has been pronounced. ' ^ ^^'^^z " It is, therefore, to enlighten the ''jJietjr many thousand of the faithful, to respond to a^ need to decide doubts (" fixer des incertitudes'*^)*^ y and to calm men's minds, that we yield at last ta f entreaties that have been addressed to us during a long time from all sides. We invoke light upon facts which interest in the highest degree the wor- ship due to Mary and religion itself. For this pur- pose we have determined to institute a permanent Commission, empowered to collect and certify the occurrences which have taken place at the grotto of fflrf V|!, H '^: 1^' :. :T ^i I 106 OUR LADY OP LOURDES. 'ij* 'l!i« ill Lourdes; to report them to us, to specify their char- acter and to furaish us with the elements indispen- sable for a solution. InvokinGr for this cause the holy name of God, we have constituted and do constitute as follows : — " Art. 1. A Commission is instituted in the dio- cese of Tarbes to enquire, first, if any cures' have , been operated by the use of the waters of the grotto of Lourdes by drinking or by washing with it, and whether such cures can be explained naturally or must be attributed to a supernatural cause ? " Secondly. If the visions which the child Berna- dette Soubirous reports that she has seen in the grotto are real, and in that case, whether they can be explained naturally, or possesses a character supernatural and divine? » . *' Thirdly. If the Apparition ('' I'object apparu") has made any demand or manifested any wish to the child ? Whether she has been charged to com- municate any such wishes ? to whom ? and what were the demands or wishes so expressed? " Fourthly. If the fountain which now flows in the grotto existed prior to the visions which Berna- dette Soubirous pretends to have had? ^ r t •* r-i Art. 2. The Commission shall report to us only auch facts as have been established by solid proof, and shall address to us a circumstantial report, with the expression of its own opinion thereon. ^ . " Art. 3. The deans of the diocese will be the Wt'. OUR LADY OF LOURDES. lOT principal correspondents of the Commission. They are requested to inform it of any events which may have occurred in their rv^pective deaneries; to fur- nish the names of the persons who can give evidence as to these events ; of any persons who may be able to assist the Commission by their knowledge ; of the physicians who attended the sick that have been cured previous to their cure. Art. 4. Having taken the necessary preparatory steps, the Commission shall proceed to the enquiry. All witnesses shall be examined upon oath. When it is necessary to examine into a case upon the spot^ two members at least of the Commission shall go thither for that purpose. Art. 5. We recommend earnestly to the Commis- sion to se3k the assistance of men eminent in the sciences of medicine, physics, chemistry, geology, &c., that the difficulties may be discussed and their opinions recorded, so that the Commission may neglect nothing that shall enable them to ascertain the truth, whatever it may be. / . , " Art. 6. The Commission shall be composed of nine members of the chapter of the cathedral, of the Superior of the great and little Seminaries, of the Superior of the missionaries of the diocese, of the Cur^ of Lourdes, the professors of dogma, of morals, and of physics, belonging to the Seminaries. The professor of chemistry also shall attend. ;/ .•. * .f •- 1 " Art. 7. Mr. Nogare, canon arch-priest, is named ,4 f- il. , III 108 OUR LADY OF LOURDES. |w president of the Commission ; the canons TabarieB and Sould are named vice-presidents. The Com- mission will appoint from its own members a secre- tary and two under-secretaries. "Art. 8. The Commission will commence its labors at once, and meet as often as may be neces- sary. ** Given at Tarbes, in our Episcopal Palace, under our hand and seal, the 28th July, 1853. *'^ BertrandSre, Bishop of Tarbes." The Commission, thus carefully constituted, met