Another woman, known in the country for years as being paralytic, could
not ascend the mountain but with the greatest difficulty, and with the
aid of crutches. On the first day of the neuvane, that of her arrival,
she felt a sensation as if life was coming into her legs, which had been
for so long time dead. This feeling went on increasing, and the last day
of the neuvane, after having received the communion, she went, without
any assistance, to the cross of the assumption, where she hung up her
crutches. She also was cured.
"Bishop Lucon must have known that this was mere imposition; yet, so far
from exposing a fraud so base, he not only permits his people to believe
it, but he lends his whole influence to support and circulate the
falsehood. And why? Ah! a church was to be erected; and it was necessary
to get up a little enthusiasm among the people in order to induce them
to fill his exhausted coffers, and build the church. In proof of this,
we have only to quote a few extracts from the 'Pastoral' which he issued
on this occasion.
"'And now," he says, "Mary has deigned to appear on the summit of a
lofty mountain to two young shepherds, revealing to them the secrets
of heaven. But who attests the truth of the narrative of these Alpine
pastors? No other than the men themselves, and they are believed. They
declare what they have seen, they repeat what they have heard, they
retain what they have received commandment to keep secret.
"A few words of the incomparable Mother of God have transformed them
into new men. Incapable of concerting aught between themselves, or of
imagining anything similar to what they relate, each is the witness to a
vision which has not found him unbelieving; each is its historian. These
two shepherds, dull as they were, have at once understood and received
the lesson which was vouchsafed to them, and it is ineffaceably engraven
on their hearts. They add nothing to it, they take nothing from it, they
modify it in nowise, they deliver the oracle of Heaven just as they have
received it.
"An admirable constancy enabled them to guard the secret, a singular
sagacity made them discern all the snares laid for them, a rare prudence
suggested to them a thousand responses, not one of which betrayed their
secret; and when at length the time came when it was their duty to make
it known to the common Father of the Faithful, they wrote correctly, as
if reading a book placed under their eyes. Their recital drew to this
blessed mountain thousands of pilgrims.
"They proclaimed that 'on Saturday, the 19th of September, 1846, Mary
manifested herself to them; and the anniversary of this glorious day is
henceforth and forever dear to Christian piety. Will not every pilgrim
who repairs to this holy mountain add his testimony to the truthfulness
of these young shepherds? Mary halted near a fountain; she communicated
to it a celestial virtue, a divine efficacy. From being intermittent,
this spring, today so celebrated, became perennial.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account