DEATH OF LOUISE LATEAU.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 30, 23 November 1883, Page 9

DEATH OF LOUISE LATEAU.

The following is from the Belgian correspondent of the WeeUy Register : — The little village of Bois d'Haine was in a state of much excitement on Saturday, the feast of good King Louis. Louise Lateau was dying. On the previous morning the administration bell had been rung, and, according to custom, everyone hastened to the door and knelt as the Blessed Sacrament passed along to comfort and and strengthen a departing soul. A presentiment seemed to come over all who heard the tinkling of the little bell. They knew the end was near, and, therefore, they left their work and followed Father Duclos, a Marist, to the humble cottage of Louise. That her death was close at hand, was evident to all ; painful sighs and conghmg testified to the acuteness of her sufferings. At the head of her bed stood her sister Adeline, weeping bitterly, and wiping away the cold drops of perspiration that fell from the pale brow. After receiving the Holy Communion, Louise rallied a little ; she seemed to suffer less, and she listened with marked piety and consolation to the prayers and exhortations of the cure". Towards three o'clock her agony began, and Extreme Unction was administered. The doctor, M. Lecrinier, of Fay, found the pulse at 100, respiration difficult, the left hand greatly swollen, as also the right foot. All Friday night the agony lasted, not a word of complaint passing the lips of the dying woman. Towards six o'clock on Saturday morning, when the village church bells were ringing for Mass, Rosine, the eldest sister, asked leave to go and assist ; but was motioned to stay. Tben, for the first time for three weeks, Louise spoke to her sisters, calmly giving directions for her funeral. It was to be as simple as her.mother's. Delirium shortly afterwards set in, during which she was heard to say, " St. Louis, what a beautiful bouquet ! " Then the sweet name of Jesus wajS uttered, followed by one last long sigh ; and God's favoured child was dead. ' Since death the facs of Louise has preserved the quiet, peaceful, resigned expression so often witnessed during her illness. Her hands and fingers are white and strangely flexible. Around her bed are grouped her favourite objects of piety and the Papal Benediction accorded her by His late Holiness Pius IX. The' grief of the villagers is great and genuine, crowds gathering round the house awaiting in silence and respect their turn for admittance, and reciting in the open air their prayers for the dead. On that last solemn Friday of Louise Lateau's life the stigmata did not appear, for the first time for some twelve years. Writing two months ago of her ecstasies and bleedings, M. Bridet, Cure at Lyon (Guillotiere), said : " Being present at the Eucharistic Congress of Liege, I profited of the occasion to pay a visit to Louise Lateau, this living wonder of the Blessed Sacrament. One Friday I saw her three times— on«e when she communicated in the morning, again daring her ecstasy between two and three in the afternoon, and again later. All that I saw appeared to me to be in perfect harmony wiih what we know of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of His religion, and of His saints. I was struck with the simplicity and uprightness of her character. I was edified aud touched with this \ erfect Christian, this voluntary victim, who seemed to suffer for the salvation of men and the glory of God, and who unites the mo9t angelic humility with heroic obedience. I was witness to the flow of blood from the wounds in her hands. I saw the ecstasy— her eyes, widely opened, seeming to follow the scenes and passages of Our Lord's Passion. In a word, this simple and poor peasant was to me an invincible demonstration of the supernatural." I need not add to this latest account of a visit to Louise any history of her career, which has been already make familiar to the pious reading world by Dr. Lefebvre, of Louvain.