original, and the attestations, which I procured from the two surgeons
who had treated the several cases. The superior-general thus
introduces the mention of these two cures:--"This is not all, my very
dear Sisters. At a time when, perhaps, yet greater trials are in store
for the Church and for us, and when, perhaps, likewise, yet greater
mercies are to reward our faith, God has thought fit to set, as it
were, the seal of His Omnipotence on our confidence, and to show by
prodigies all the power of S. Vincent's protection at the throne of
Divine Goodness. Two astonishing cures have taken place this
year before the shrine of S. Vincent, during the 'neuvaine' of the
translation of his relics. I do not qualify them as miracles, because
the ecclesiastical authority alone has the power so to term them. But
my heart feels the need of bringing to your knowledge the details
concerning them, because I know all the joy and edification which you
will experience in them, and how proper you will esteem them to
encourage you to draw closer the ties which bind you to your holy
calling, and to lead you to appreciate the designs of God for our two
families, if we are faithful in corresponding to them. I shall preface
the account of each healing by the certificate of the medical man,
which sets forth the state of the patient at the moment when it took
place."
"_Attestation du chirurgien sur la maladie de la sœur Marie Javelle._
"Le 2 Mai 1848 j'ai été appelé au couvent de la rue du Bac, n° 132,
pour la sœur Marie Javelle, âgée de 24 ans, que j'ai trouvée
couchée, ayant la tête inclinée sur l'épaule gauche, qu'elle touchait
presque, avec raideur des muscles du cou, impossibilité de la ramener
à sa position naturelle, et douleur vive, augmentée par les moindres
mouvements. On m'apprit que cet état avait été la suite immédiate d'un
coup violent, porté par mégarde sur la tempe droite.
"M. Lenoir, chirurgien de l'hôpital Necker, vit cette malade avec moi
le lendemain 3 Mai. Sans rejeter la possibilité d'un simple torticolis,
nous eûmes, ensemble, la pensée d'un déplacement d'une apophyse
articulaire du côté gauche de l'une des dernières vertèbres cervicales.
"Le danger de la réduction de ces déplacements, que nous fîmes
connaître à la supérieure, l'absence jusqu'ici d'accidents graves,
nous déterminèrent à nous borner à l'application des moyens propres à
calmer la contraction des muscles du cou.
"Les jours suivants, les accidents augmentèrent. Il survint de la
fièvre, la tête s'inclina davantage sur l'épaule; la malade eut de la
peine à boire, ce dont je m'assurai en lui voyant avaler, par saccades
convulsives, quelques gorgées de liquide. Le bras gauche devint
douloureux jusqu'à la main, dont le contact retentissait péniblement
jusqu'au cou; il était dans une extension continuelle, avec raideur
tétanique qui ne me permit point de le changer de place. Le membre
inférieur gauche, d'abord engourdi à sa partie supérieure, présenta
aussi de la raideur.
"La respiration était un peu gênée. Les facultés intellectuelles
conservaient leur pleine intégrité. Les choses étaient dans cet état
le 8 Mai, à sept heures et demie du matin. Nous avions exprimé des
craintes plus graves que les jours précédents. La supérieure
n'avait pas osé permettre des tentatives de réduction dont nous avions
annoncé les conséquences possibles, auxquelles la malade, bien
résignée, se serait prêtée volontiers.
"Le 9 Mai, à sept heures et demie du matin, sans aucune manœuvre
chirurgicale qui soit à ma connaissance, j'ai vu dans le cabinet de la
sœur Buchepot (première directrice du noviciat de la communauté) la
jeune sœur Marie Javelle, debout, marchant facilement, portant sans
effort sa main sur sa tête, celle-ci revenue à sa rectitude naturelle,
le cou ayant repris sa forme, sa souplesse, et exécutant tous les
mouvements.
"Paris, le 10 Mai, 1848."
Having forwarded my copy of the above to M. Hervey de Chegoin, he
returned it to me, with the following attestation, written at the
end:--
"Je certifie cette copie conforme au procès-verbal que j'ai avéré de
la maladie de la sœur Marie Javelle.
"HERVEY DE CHEGOIN,
"Médecin des hôpitaux, &c."
Accompanying it with the following note:--
"Monsieur, j'ai signé bien volontiers la copie que vous m'avez
adressée: elle est aussi exacte que le procès-verbal lui-même est
l'expression de la vérité dans l'exposé des symptômes pendant huit
jours, et de leur disparition subite et complète après la
circonstance qui l'a précédée.
"J'ai l'honneur d'être,
"Monsieur,
"Votre très obéissant serviteur,
"HERVEY DE CHEGOIN.
"31 Juillet, 1848."
The relation of the cure itself is as follows:--
"_Detailed relation of the healing of the Sister Marie Javelle._
"The Sister Marie Javelle, twenty-four years of age, after having
proposed three months at S. Stephen, entered into the community of the
Daughters of Charity, Feb. 17. 1848. Having been appointed to nurse in
one of the infirmaries on the night of 30th April to 1st May, in
supporting a patient who fell back on her head, she twisted her neck,
and so considerable a derangement took place, that it continued in
that position. The next day inflammation ensued, and the surgeons
called in were themselves alarmed at the gravity of the accident.
Before attempting an operation as dangerous as the injury, and which,
touching the spinal marrow, might cause instant death, all remedies
were tried, but to no purpose. The nerves contracted, the head became
stiffly fixed on the shoulders, presently the arm and left leg
became paralysed, and the pains so violent, that at times the patient
feared not being able to bear them. All her hope was in God: she
begged of him courage, resigned herself to His will, and besought much
the Blessed Virgin, whom she tenderly loves, and who has already given
her special marks of protection. At length came Sunday, 7th May, day
on which commenced the 'neuvaine' of the translation of S. Vincent de
Paul. That day she had the consolation of communicating in bed, with a
morsel of the Host, for her throat being twisted, she joined to her
other sufferings that of not being able to swallow more than some
drops of water, and that with incredible effort and pain. She
expressed a desire to make, in union with the Seminary, a 'neuvaine'
to S. Vincent to obtain a cure. On Monday the surgeon declared, that
he had no hope but in the success of the operation, and dangerous as
it was he pressed it. It was thought requisite to speak plainly to the
patient, and tell her, that she would either be healed by means of the
operation, or remain an invalid all her life, asking her which she
preferred. I shall be composed, she replied, in doing the will of my
Superiors, being assured that I am doing that of God. However, it was
resolved to finish the 'neuvaine' before attempting anything. Sister
Mazin, our most honoured mother, had sent her before a morsel of the
waistcoat of our blessed Father S. Vincent. In the night of the
7th to 8th May the patient had the strange fancy to swallow a morsel
of this. Not venturing to do it without speaking, she waited till the
morning, when, by help of a little water, she swallowed some threads.
Scarcely had she done so, when she felt the most perfect conviction
that she should not die, and that she should obtain her cure by the
intercession of S. Vincent. At one in the afternoon, seeing near her
one of the directresses of the seminary, she told her, that could she
see the Saint's shrine, and touch it, she should be immediately cured.
It was observed to her that this latter was impossible; but she so
urged the former, that we were touched by it, and endeavoured from
that time to find means to satisfy her keen desire. With the consent
of our excellent superiors, a litter was procured; it was arranged as
well as we could: and after passing a whole hour in dressing her
suitably, at four in the morning on Tuesday, 9th May, she was put on
the litter, and the dangerous passage from our house to the chapel of
S. Vincent de Paul was undertaken. She was accompanied by the Sister
Azais, Sister Girardot, second and third directresses of the seminary,
Sister Martha Velay, formerly mother of the seminary, Sister
Boscredon, employed in the seminary, Sister Bonneau, third infirmière,
who had herself attended on the young patient, by Dominic Belyn,
called Louis, and John Scipio, called Baptist, both servants of
the house, who carried the litter. During the passage the patient
suffered much. In spite of herself complaints escaped her, and
especially when the litter was set down in the church she felt so keen
a pain that a cry burst from her. The moment she perceived the Saint's
shrine, she looked at it with the most lively confidence, and felt an
extraordinary movement in her person. At the beginning of Mass she
felt inclined to join her hands; in fact, her left arm recovered the
necessary strength, and her hand reached the other again. At the
Gospel a movement like her first caused her to take her head with her
hands, and turn it without difficulty to the other side. At the
elevation of the Mass, Sister Azais, who was near her, told her to try
and rise; she made the attempt, but was unable, and answered, that it
was not yet time. She had continued to suffer much up to this point.
At length the Communion was brought her. Her throat was so closed,
that she felt a great pain, but this was the last. Some minutes
afterwards she came down readily from the litter, unassisted by any
one. After this Mass she heard, as a thanksgiving, that of M. Etienne,
our superior general,--came back on foot, and from that day, far from
preserving the least feeling of her injury, she is better than she
ever was. This is attested by the sister on whom the miracle has taken
effect, who has signed the present act, as have the witnesses
named above.
"Marie Azais, Cecile Girardot, Marie Javelle, Marthe Velay, Justine
Boscredon, Josephine Bonneau, Dominique Belyn, and Jean Scipion.
_Note._ "It is well to observe that, on the 2nd of May, the surgeon
of the house, M. Hervé de Chegoin, was called in alone to see Sister
Marie Javelle, and the case appeared to him so grave, that, not liking
the single responsibility of it, he begged to join a colleague, whom
he brought the next day.
"The 8th of May, the last day on which M. Hervé had seen her before
her cure, he had found her so ill that, on the morrow, when he was
told that Sister Javelle had no further need of his services, he asked
if she was dead.
"The young sisters, then composing the seminary, begged that their
names should be joined to this act, to attest its truth, and to put
themselves in a special manner under the protection of S. Vincent.
This writing being to be inclosed in a silver gilt heart joined by a
chain of the same to a head in silver gilt likewise, the whole has
been put into the hands of our most honoured father, M. Etienne, to be
deposed on the shrine of the saint."
The second case is as follows:--
_"Attestation du Médecin sur la Maladie de Madlle. Céleste l'Allemand._
"Je soussigné, médecin, demeurant à Paris, Rue Mouffetard, 94.,
certifie que la nommée Marie Céleste l'Allemand, agée de quatorze ans,
native de Jussy, département de la Haute Saône, résidant actuellement
à Paris, Rue de l'Arbalette, 25., dans l'Ouvroir des Jeunes Economes,
a été traitée par moi, puis par M. Sichel, pendant environ huit mois,
pour une amaurose complète; et que les divers traitements employés,
tant par moi que par mon confrère, n'ont nullement amélioré la
position de cette jeune personne, quoiqu'ils aient varié à l'infini
depuis le mois d'Octobre dernier jusqu'au mois d'Avril, où elle a
cessé tout traitement."
"Signé, FERNET, D. M.
"Paris, 23. Mai, 1848."
"_Relation of the Miraculous cure of a Child of Mary, de l'Ouvroir
des Jeunes Economes._
"We, the undersigned children de l'Ouvroir des Jeunes Economes,
established at Paris, Rue de l'Arbalette, 25., certify the truth of
the following details of the sudden cure of one of our dear
companions, named Céleste l'Allemand, child of Mary, of our ouvroir.
This companion, aged fourteen, had entirely lost her sight from
the month of September, 1847. Six medical men, successively called in
to attend on her, had exhausted all the resources of their art upon
her without obtaining the least result. They had declared that the
optical nerves of our young companion were paralysed, and that she was
struck with a complete amaurosis; consequently all medical treatment
had ceased since last April.
"Painfully affected at this sad state of our companion, we resolved to
consecrate to Mary the month of May, then beginning, in the intention
of obtaining her cure by the intercession of the most holy Virgin.
From the 1st of May our young companion went to pray every day before
the altar of Mary, with the firm confidence that the immaculate Mary
would restore her sight before the end of her favourite month. But on
the 9th of May, the news of the striking cure worked on a young sister
of the seminary of the Daughters of Charity, by the intercession of
S. Vincent de Paul, and before his relics, exposed in the chapel of
the Priests of the Mission on the occasion of the '_neuvaine_,'
celebrated yearly in honour of the translation of his body, suggested
to us the desire to recommend our young companion to this great saint.
Permission was granted to Céleste l'Allemand to go to pray before the
relics of S. Vincent de Paul. It was Friday, 12th May, on which she
went to the chapel of the Lazarists, Rue de Sèvres, 95., accompanied
by two of our mistresses, Sister Dumargat and Sister Desbré. We were
all fully convinced that she would obtain her cure by the intercession
of Mary, our good [mother], and S. Vincent. Not being able to
accompany Céleste to the chapel of S. Vincent, we heard the holy Mass
in the chapel of our house, uniting ourselves to her in heart and
spirit. As to our companion, she heard a Mass celebrated at a
quarter-past-six, before the altar of the holy Virgin in the chapel of
the Lazarists, and received there the Holy Communion. At the moment
she received our Lord, her sight was suddenly restored to her; and a
violent pain in the head, which she had felt from the moment of her
loss of sight, disappeared at the same time. The sister who
accompanied her, ignorant of what had taken place in her, took her by
the hand again, after the Holy Communion, to reconduct her to her
place. Our young companion, fearing to disturb her in her
thanksgiving, let her do so without informing her what had happened to
her. But a quarter of an hour afterwards she made known to her her
happiness; and to prove to her the reality of her complete cure, she
changed her position herself, and named to her different surrounding
objects, which she perfectly distinguished. After having heard a Mass
of thanksgiving, she hastened to return to us, to make known to us her
happiness. Though we expected to see her return healed, on account of
the greatness and simplicity of her faith, a lively joy and gladness
broke forth not the less in all the house on her arrival. It was who
should see her first, to congratulate her on the signal favour of
which she had just become the object. After this first explosion of
our gladness, we assembled to chant in choir the Magnificat, during
which tears of joy streamed from our eyes: then we went to the chapel
to sing the Te Deum and the Regina Cœli. Immediately after, Céleste
wrote with her own hand a letter to her parents to inform them of her
miraculous cure.
"Our young companion having been presented to M. Aladel, our good
director, was named by him Marie Vincent, in gratitude for her cure,
obtained at the altar of the Most Holy Virgin, in the chapel of
S. Vincent, before his relics exposed.
"From the day of her cure, Céleste has resumed all her ordinary
occupations, which she had been forced to interrupt during nine
months: she reads, writes, and works at her needle with the same ease
as she did before her eyes were attacked.
"Paris, 30. May, 1848."
M. Fernet attached to this paper, which I gave him to read, the
following:--
"Je soussigné, Docteur Médecin, demeurant Rue Mouffetard, 94.,
certifie la jeune Marie Céleste L'Allemand a été revue par moi
quelques jours après la guérison, et que je me suis assuré que la vue
était entièrement rétablie.
"FERNET.
"Paris, ce 1ᵉʳ Août, 1848."
After giving these two accounts, the Superior General, M. Etienne,
thus continues his pastoral letter:--
"In presence of these facts, my very dear sisters, I am induced to
remind you, that S. Vincent considered as a visible sign of the
protection of heaven over your company the altogether wonderful manner
in which one of his first daughters came out safe and sound from the
midst of the ruins of a house in which she was, and which, in falling,
had buried forty persons, who there perished. This fact was, in his
eyes, a sensible proof that God had taken pleasure in his rising work,
and reserved for it a comfortable future. It seems to me that if he
were to speak to you himself to-day of the two cures which I have just
been relating to you, he would not fail to point them out to you as
testimonies of the designs of divine providence with regard to you,
and as motives which should reassure you against all the fears that
the disturbances of social order may inspire. Would he not say to you,
as he said then, that your company being the work of God, in like
manner as He has known how to raise it up in His compassion for
the poor, so will He well know how to sustain it in the moment of
trial, and to preserve it from every unfortunate event which might
threaten its existence. I confess to you that at the sight of these
signs of his protection, at a time which has so many points of
resemblance with that in which he lived, I cannot avoid seeing the
same career of charity which he so gloriously passed through open
afresh before you. * *
"As a thanksgiving for the two miraculous cures worked on the 9th and
12th of last May before the shrine of S. Vincent, a general communion
shall take place in each house on the day fixed by the Sister serving
it."
In concluding this subject I must add that I by no means sought for
such facts as these cures--they came in my way while engaged in other
inquiries: I did not think it fit or honest to turn away from them so
coming, but endeavoured to ascertain the truth by every means in my
power. I now set them forth with the evidence which I was able to
collect about them. I am also bound to say that, since I have come to
the knowledge of these cures, I have been informed, on the best
authority, of two results, approaching at least to the same miraculous
character, following immediately from the reception of our Lord in the
Holy Eucharist. These occurred very lately in the Anglican communion.
_Saturday, August 12._--I had heard so much of the grandeur of
Bourges Cathedral, and the beauty of its windows, that I determined to
judge for myself. So this morning left by the 8 A.M. train for Orléans
and Bourges. Up to Etampes the country is pleasing and broken in
parts. From thence to the forest of Orléans is an immense plain, rich
in produce, but treeless, dull, and flat as a pancake. From Orléans to
Vierzon is another immense plain, desert, sandy, and solitary; after
this the country improves to Bourges. Visited the cathedral at
Orléans: the western front is fine, well arranged, and forming a
somewhat striking unity; but the interior is bare, poor, and most
displeasing to the eye, which is pained at so bad an imitation of
Gothic. As soon as I reached Bourges I went to the cathedral: the west
front, in spite of its five deeply recessed portals, the central one
of which is very beautiful, sadly disappointed me--it is totally
deficient in unity, and will bear no comparison with that of Amiens,
not to mention Reims. The towers are positively ugly; the worst effect
being produced by buttresses, which protrude in the most inelegant
shape, their strength not at all veiled by ornaments. The interior is
very grand: it is peculiar in having no transept, but double aisles
continued throughout, the nearest of which to the centre is of
inordinate height. Round the choir the huge lancet windows, crowned
with roses, are of great beauty; but unfortunately they are not
complete, as at Chartres, with the effect of which I do not think
Bourges will bear a comparison. The pillars, of which there are twelve
on each side from the west front to the apse of the choir, are
cylinders with eight engaged columns; they look lighter than those of
Amiens and Reims, and very lofty from the height of the first aisle,
which must be seventy feet, and has a triforium like the centre.
Grand, however, as Bourges is in some respects, I should not put it in
the first rank of churches, with Amiens, Milan, Cologne, Reims, and
St. Ouen. It is in the first style, like Chartres. The apse has none
of the magic lightness of Amiens, Cologne, or St. Ouen. From the north
tower is an immense view over the country, which has some eminences,
but not strongly marked features.
In the streets nothing but soldiers or national guards are to be seen.
It would appear that the purpose for which men are sent into the world
is to bear arms. There could not be a heavier condemnation of the
Republic than the outward aspect of society. There was, however, a
special cause for this. Three hundred, I believe, of the national
guard at Paris had come to visit their brethren at Bourges, and were
to be entertained at dinner the next day in the garden of the
archevêché, on which the state, with its usual insulting dealing
towards the Church, has laid its hands from the time of the
first revolution. So likewise, it has robbed the church at Bourges of
the grand séminaire, an immense building, and turned it into barracks.
_Sunday, August 13._--Was at a Low Mass and part of the High Mass in
the cathedral. A great number of soldiers, guards, and country people
enter in, and lounge and sit about, without a very religious
demeanour. Called at one at the Séminaire, with a letter for the
Supérieur, M. l'Abbé Ruel. He talked with me some time, and then sent
one of the séminarists and a priest to show me about Bourges. He
inquired of the state of things in England; our studies at Oxford. I
lamented our state of separation: if the religious feeling of England
were united with the Roman Church, the world might be converted. In
any case, the state of separation itself was most disastrous to both
sides; it wasted the life of the Church. If the truth was altogether
with them, as they asserted, then, of course, our loss was fatal
indeed; but even then the Roman Church in the loss of England had
suffered her right hand to be cut off. Whether we were with her or
against her would make all the difference in her conflict with the
world. He assented, and observed that England had been the island of
saints. I afterwards remarked that my attention had been particularly
drawn to the Roman Primacy. He said the disputes as to the
Gallican liberties had fallen to the ground; but I thought he
intimated that the Gallican feeling was not extinct. Whatever the
theory might be, the sway of the Roman See was, in reality, very
gentle. It felt its way beforehand, and only acted according to the
spirit of the Church. I said my great difficulty was, that all history
was for Gallicanism, while the Ultramontane theory was evidently the
only entire and consistent one, which would bear out all the acts of
Rome. I asked if the revolution had produced any change at Bourges. He
said, none at all. Louis Philippe had fallen because he had sunk into
general contempt--he had become esteemed "un homme d'argent." The
priest and séminariste conducted me to the house in which Louis XI. is
said to have been born, but the present walls are evidently of the
Renaissance. It is occupied by a small sisterhood. We went also
through the Hotel de Ville, the house of Jacques Cœur, and to the
cathedral. There is a very fine crypt under the choir and its aisles.
Bourges has little interesting save its Cathedral. The climate is damp
and unhealthy, from the marshes near. I left by the last train in the
evening, at eight o'clock, and slept at Orleans.
_Monday, August 14._--Left Orleans at 7, Paris by 11. Left it at 7
for Amiens: we went through a most violent thunder storm about half
way.
_Tuesday, August 15._--At the cathedral during part of one High Mass,
and the whole of the second, when the bishop officiated pontifically,
and gave afterwards the Papal Benediction. It was nearly full of
people. I never felt the superiority of this building more than
to-day; the interior is pre-eminent for unity, simplicity, and
grandeur. I was sorry to miss the vespers and sermon at three; but I
left to reach Boulogne in time for the packet, and got to Folkstone
shortly after eleven.
CONCLUSION.