And so they went on. Next came Mademoiselle Eugénie Meunier, cured two
months before of fistula. She had given her certificate into the care of
her _curé_, who could not at this moment be found--naturally enough, as
she had made no appointment with him!--but she was allowed to tell her
story, and to show a copy of her parish magazine in which her story was
given. She had had in her body one wound of ten centimetres in size.
After bathing one evening she had experienced relief; by the next
morning the wound, which had flowed for six months, was completely
closed, and had remained so. Her strength and appetite had returned.
This cure had taken place in her own lodging, since her state was such
that she was forbidden to go to the Grotto.
The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered
provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk,
but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to
the _piscines_, and ordered to report again later.
The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of
a terrible disease of the bone three years before. Until that time he
was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the _piscines_.
He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And
now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the
door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had
running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified.
The next was an oldish man, who came accompanied by his tall,
black-bearded son, to report on his continued good health since his
recovery, eight years previously, from neurasthenia and insanity. He had
had the illusion of being persecuted, with suicidal tendencies; he had
been told he could not travel twenty miles, and he had travelled over
eight hundred kilometres, after four years' isolation. He had stayed a
few months in Lourdes, bathing in the _piscines_, and the obsession had
left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and
dismissed.
There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured
eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen. She had been sitting
in one of the churches, I think, when there was a sudden discharge of
matter, and a sense of relief. On the morrow, after another bath, the
sense of discomfort had finally disappeared. During Madame Simonet's
examination, as the crowd was great, several persons were dismissed till
a later hour.
There followed another old patient to report. She had been cured two
years before of myelitis and an enormous tumour that, after twenty-two
years of suffering, had been declared "incurable" in her certificate.
The cure had taken place during the procession, in the course of which
she suddenly felt herself, she said, impelled to rise from her litter.
Her appetite had returned and she had enjoyed admirable health ever
since. Her name was looked up, and the details verified.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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