AN EXTRAORDINARY CURE BY THE WATER OF LOURDES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 300, 31 January 1879, Page 5

AN EXTRAORDINARY CURE BY THE WATER OF LOURDES.

[The following communication, for which we (Aa> Maria ) areunder obligation to the writer, will be read with deep interest. It recounts erne of the most extraordinary cures by means of the water of Lourdes that has ever come to our notice.] Rev. Editor Aye Maria,— ln compliance with your request, dear rev. sir, to make known for the Aye Maria the particulars of an extraIt had not been my intention to publish any of the circumstances connected with this surprising instance of the potency of the water of Lourdes, but having received your letter on this Feast day of the It was during the last clays of August, of 78, and near my summer home ou South Mountain, Maryland, that George Morgan, a labourer, met with a seemingly fatal accident. ™ n M? c *? a - l* eavv wa Sg° n tn *t was laden with a reaping machine of great weight, which was being carried from farm to farm tZ i S • ITVeSl TVeS SeaSOn ' In his fall be was digged under the * e l s .* n * u , <* a wanner that the waggon with its enormous load passed over his body. The wheels glanced as it were up the right leg, then cut across the body, seeming to crush the liver, breaking seven ribs, and then passed over the left lung, breaking the collar bone. „ -in .£ ru soed man," for as such he is still designated, was carried to the hut of a relative a mile distant from the fcene of the accident. lor forty-eight hours he lingered on, in great torture and with every sign of fast approaching cfissolution. At this juncture having only that day heard of the sad occurrence, I met, while driving 2S SlwlT'^ %~^V Vh0 ' amedical student^ had just left the bedside of the dying man. Dr. G s, was a well known surgeon in the Confederate service during the war, and since its close has been in constant practice as physician and surgeon. He is a remarkably intelligent gentleman and has won considerable reputation in his profession. I mention this to show that the doctor is perfectly able to make a correct diagT as he possesses such extensive acquirements andexperienceinhis profession as not to be likely to make any mistake in such a case I stopped the doctor s carriage to ask about the unfortunate man In reply to my inquiries he said he thought the man was dying ; that it wa s° n e°* th e worst cases of mutilation he had known; that seven ribs and the collar-bone were broken, the liver and left lung both crushed, and that traumatic pneumonia had set In. He remarked that he had taken one of bis students to see the case, and had called his attention to the peculiar breathing, commonly spoken of as the destu- rattle. Struck with compassion at the thought that the poor man would leave his family destitute, I involuntarily exclaimed: "Oh, doctor, must he die !' He replied :" I did not say that this man must die madam, but that it is my opinion he will not survive the night." 1 his conversation took place about five in the afternoon and I was about a mile distant in tbe ascent of the mountain from my home ii *™> I P 601 ' 16 who live on the South Mountain are of a sect called Winebreuarians, and do not admit infant baptism. I feared that the sick man might never have been baptised, and, hastening home, I filled a small bottle with pure water, and also took with me a very small vial (homoeopathic in size) half full of the water of Lourdes which had been given me by tbe good Sisters of the Holy Cross in Washington some months previous. Taking the water of Lourdes was an almost mechanical act, for my mind was really only intent on

one thought at the time, and that was an ardent desire to administer baptism if possible— and I feared indeed to be too lats. The log cabin was filled with sympathizing friends (whom God gives the poor more freely than the rich), and the sufferer was stretched upon a cot placed before an open door and window for air. His laboured breathing and the cold profuse sweat on his forehead betokened the near approach of man's supreme hour. He was pertcctly sensible, and as bis little child held up a cent that some one La £ given— exclaiming, " Sec! "see!" he said, with tender tone— •My baby ! Knowing by this touching scene that he would understand me, and fearing to lose a minute, 1 said to him : " You are very sick and I would like to baptize you. He replied : " I was baptized. Thinking perhaps he did not understand me, and unwilling to be denied, I ventured again after a short interval (in which I had wiped the death damps from his forehead) to repeat the request. I was denied. Afterwards I learned from him that he had been baptized by a Lutheran minister when an infant. The man was too ill for any words ; he was surrounded by all who were near and dear to him. but only one Catholic was present. Forced to relinquish my one idea ot baptism, I suddenly remembered the little vial, and pouring two or three drops into an iron tea-spoon handed me, I opened his Slosed teeth sufficiently to be quite sure the water rested on his tongue. I extricated the spoon with difficulty. At the same time I made this mental prayer : " Holy Mother of Lourdes, please cure this man ! " and having done this lat once left the house. No one present, except an excellent Irishwoman who accompanied me, had the remotest idea ot what had been done, for not a word had been spoken, nor would the act have been at all understood had it been known. Every one supposed some medicine had been given. So little expectation had I that our dear Blessed Lady would deign to answer, that early the next morning, sending a messenger with beef tea and old cognac to the cabin, I said : "If the crushed man still live, tell them to give this." It was only when the boy returned, saying « that not only was he still alive, but very much better, that I understood that our Lady of Lourdes had brought

The next day he was so surprisingly improved that we had a long conversation. I then explained to him what had been done the evening previous, and asked his consent to repeat the remedy. He said he wished to take the water of Lourdes, and the prayer was then said aloud, and two or three more drops given. The third day succeeding my first visit, and the fifth after the accident, the doctor intermitted his visit, and I called to ask him next day why he had done so. He replied, " Because the man is getting well, and does not need me;" adding, "what have you done to him?" "I! nothing ; Our Lady of Lourdes is curing him." As the doctor is a Protestant this remark required considerable explanation. The third day after taking the water, the man sat up, had an excellent appetite, digested his food well, walked about the cabin, stood in the doorway, and was rapidly recuperating. At times he suttered, however, acute pains, such as might come from the rapid healing of wounds, and people shook their heads and said : "He may seem to be well, but it cannot be ; he will suddenly drop down and die, you will see.' 1 I did not make a note of the exact time, but my impression is, that about two weeks after he had first taken the water of Lourdes— but it might not have been so long a time— he walked down bouth Mountain to the village of Boonsboro, two and a half miles distant, and had the doctor remove all the bandages with which he had swathed, as it were, his body. He bore this walk of five miles, including the tiresome ascent of the mountain, without any complaint. On removing the bandages, it was found that the seven ribs had grown together, but not precisely straight, as in one spot there was an overlapping of perhaps an inch. It was as if our dear Blessed Lady had made a mark over the place ; and it was in her own perfect way that she did so, for some said : " The man could not have been hurt alter all ! " But there, distinctly traced, are the marks. They affirm that he was hurt.

A fortnight after the removal of the bandages, and a month after the accident, observing that the man took long walks without fatigue, but was very unhappy because he had no employment, I offered him work, which he gladly accepted. When I left South Mountain, October 23rd., I paid him money for a month of work— wages fairly earned by labour. I mention this to show that he had continued strength.

I have been thus circumstantial, even to a doubtless tiresome minuteness, because I have desired to give a clear and accurate idea of exactly what was done. The most surprising thing, to .my apprehension, is, not the cure, because we all know that such an act is as nothing for our dear Mother, but that our Blessed Lady would deign to act at all m such a case. Like God's grace, it was indeed a most pure and most gratuitous gift. The man, when asked as to his cure, says he supposes it was the Blessed Virgin; that it was not the doctor ; but he was and is still, not a Catholic, nor did he in the nrst instance know what had been done. It will also be noticed that nothing could have been more imperfect than my own act, which had not even the merit of being accompanied with any expectation of a

I .desire to say, in conclusion, that it is with very great reluctance, but with the thought that your request, rev. sir, makes it a duty, that I write the recital of this cure for the Aye Maria. M. VINTON DAHLGREN.