The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-13 00:00:00

THE PARAY-LE-MONIAL PILGRIMAGE.

The following extracts are from an Interesting dwacription
of the Pilgrimage, by the Special Curteepoudent of l'As

PARLY.L.E.MONIAL, Thursday, 5 am.
. At last, soon after ten o'clock, after pasting and
stopping at half a dozen stations on the new branch
, line which goes from Moulins towards Macon, we
sighted friendly lights, and as our train drew near the
station the voioes of a large crowd which had come to
greet us assured us that we were at Paray at last.
Before entering the station we were " boarded " by
members of the committee of gentlemen appointed to
receive us, and each presented with a ticket billeting us
on the several house. in the town, where we should find
beds, the ladles being all provided for first. The bishop
of the diocese (Autun), attended by, I should imagine,
half or more of his clergy, came down to meet us at the
station, in his Episcopal robes, with his mitre on his
head. As soon as he had saluted his brother Bishop of
Salford, a procession was formed, and our banners
having been all unfurled, we speedily were on our way
towards the town and church of the little place which
has now earnt so world.wide a nem,. The banner-
bearers and leaders of the expedition walked first, the
Duke of Norfolk leading; the ladies came next, all of
them four abreast, and the male pilgrims after them,
the rear being closed by our English clergy to the
number of abut a hundred and fifty. It was a bright
moonlight night, but we had no need of the moon to
Ind our way, for the whole town from end to
end was one blase of light, not only the private
houses but the tower of the old pariah church, and
even the Hotel de Ville being lit up with thousands
of wax candles and lamps of all aorta, sizes, and
patterns. In fact, the place was en fête, and thoroughly
so. The inhabitants of the town, and, I should fancy,
of the neighbourhood too, lined the streets on either
side of us, all with lighted tapers in their hands. As
the route from the station to the church and convent
Is some three-quarters of a mile, your readers may
guess, though I can hardly describe, the coup trail
which presented itself to us as we slowly wended our
way. As we marched slowly on at Intervals, all carry-
ing tapers in our hands, the pilgrims sang in chorus
some of Father Faber', English hymns, the "Ave
Mans Stella," the "Hymn of the Sacred Heart," and
the "Pilgrim's Hymxr of Lady G. Fullerton • the
native clergy as they walked ahead or alined
of us chanting the Latin Magnifica and the
Psalm of Darld in which occur the words,
" Ecce quoin 60111101, fratres, habitare in noun."
We were also greeted on every side by cries of
" Vivent lea Anglais I" "Vi-ce Angleterre Caholique."
Just before reaching the convent and parish church
we passed the csmparatively new Chapel of the
Visitation, erected either on, or, at all events, close
to the actual scene of the wonderful revelations and
appearances of Oar Lord to Marguerite Marie
Alscoque. The chapel ilzelf will hold only about 200,
and we were allowed only to glance in thr nigh the
open doors as we went up the street. I had time,
however, to see that it was one blaze of light, and
covered with votive offerings; and every pilgrim
knelt in the road an he gszed in and hastily permed
on. On reaching CAE+ church we found triumphal
arches erected, and s sort of bazaar going on of
pictures, prints, tapers, statuettes, &c., all bearing
more or less reference te the especial devotion of
Paray.
On entering we found ourselves in a handsome and
lofty Norman cruciform building, consisting of nave,
transepts, and chencel, at the further end of which was
the high altar, richly decorated and one blaze of light.
Tapers were burning also on half-a-dozen other altars
In the side aisle.; and as every one who entered still
carried his lighted candle in his hand, the church was
almost as bright as in mid.day. As soon as all the
pilgrims had entered, the Bishop of Salford, Monsignor
Capel, and the other clergy grouped themselves around
the high altar, the banner- bearer, coming up at the same
time presenting their flags as offerings to the Church,
and placing them against the pillars of the chaneeL I
cannot undertake at this moment to say how many
flags and banners were thus presented, but I saw one
from England, one from Scotland, one from the Knights
of St. John, a very magnificent one from Sheffield, and
one from the diocese of Salford, every one of which
was exquisitely worked in gold and other colours, and
rich with embroidery and fringe, and bore the figure of
the Sacred Heart of our Lord represented in some
form or other. Borne along with them was a handsome
new "Union Jack."

When this ceremony was over, the church clock was
just about to .talks twelve; and, as the new day com-
mences from that hour, the service of "Benediction"
was omitted, and Dr. Vaughan, the Bishop of Sal-
ford, announced that the Thursday Manses would
commence forthwith, and that they would herder') I both
In the parish church and in the Chapel of the Visita-
tion every hall-hour till mid-day to-day; be added
that all the English clergy had received "special facul-
ties from the Bishop of the diocese to bear confessions
at Para, during the next two day.. The Bishop of
Autun then briefly gave his blearing, and I retired with
a portion of the congregation doubtless as glad an I
was to find my lodgings. I ran located in • comfort-
able house, where I am billeted al ing with in veral
of the leaders of it neli'rinage; and glad indeed was I
to get to my bed, very clean, but the smallest, and in
the smallest chamber,-that 1 ever slept in. In fact it
is • closet made to do duty for something better, under
special circumstmcee and for a special OCAiNiOI) ; and
the humbleness of my room I. more than made up by
the charming kindness and attention of those on whom
I find myself quartered. I wish I could hope that all
the pilgrims were equally well housed. The pilgrim's
badge which I carry is • sufficient passport to the
hearts of my host and his domestics, and insures for
me more than courtesy. . . . .
Let me add a few words about Paray-le-Monial.
Murray's Handbook of France here, I am sorry to say,
fails me, as it mentions Paray only as a small station
on • branch line, and nothing but the name is given.
This defect the editor will have to Ripply henceforth.
A French topographical work which I consulted brfore
leaving England tells me that it is situated on the
river Bourbince, some 230 miles south-south-east of
Paris. Directories tell us besides that it has •
few more than 3,500 inhabitants, • hospital, some
schools ef the Freres Chretiene, and Sisterhoods of
two other Orders besides those of the Visitation.
It enjoys the luxury of • fair nearly every
menth in the year, except, singularly enough, Sep-
tember; so that in all probability this incursion of
us Northmen may help to fill up what otherwise
would be • dull time. It contains also, says the
Dictionnaire diographique de in France, "a church re-
markable for it. dignity and its tine proportions, built,
or, more properly, reconstructed on • reduced plan,
after the Abbey of Cluny, arid belonging to the 12th
century, with two western towers and also a central
octagonal tower, rising at the cross which the tran-
septs make with the nave." The town also—accord-
ing to the same authority, now some five or six years
old—contains • Palais Prioral in ruins, begun
in A.D. 1480, and finished some five or six and
thirty years later by Jacques d'Amboise, and a
Benedictine Convent, as also the Presbytery, the
College, and the Ec,ole Communale. Paray, though it
takes its second name from its ancient monastic esta-
blishments, is not without its secular, and, indeed,
commercial features, as it has in it several tanneries,
potteries, fours a pldere, teinturerie /co., and, no
doubt, henceforth will drive • thriving trade in the
manufactory of rosaries and wax candles. In fact. I
should not wonder if, before long, it should come to be
called "Paray du Sacra Cceur.'

And now a word respecting Marguerite Marie
Alaccque herself.
One of the children of a respectable Frenchman of
the middle clam, who was judge of Terrau and of other
manors in the Diocese of Autun and the Province of
Burgundy, the future founder of the Devotion to the
Sacred Heart, was born either at Terrau or else at
Lauthecourt, July 22, 1647, on the Feast of St. Mary
Magdalen. From her infancy she gave signs of •
vocation for a "religious" life, though a certain
amount of youthful levity and gaiety, which, how-
ever, never paused into anything really culpable,
appears to have marked her childhood, which she
spent in the convent of the Urbanlates at Charolles.
Al she grew up to womanhood her mother wished
her to marry, and good offers were ready foe her ac-
ceptance; but it was found that from early childhood
she had consecrated herself to a single life as a servant
of the Blessed Virgin, among whose daughter', the
"Sisters of the Visitation" at Paray (a branch of the
Carmelite order, who look up to St. Fermis of Sales se
their founder), she was enrolled as a " pcetulant " in
May, 1671. She emu now 22, and the convent at Pam
was henceforth to be her home for life. At this time
the community consisted of 33 choir-sieters three lay-
sisters, and three novices • and it had been fixed at
Perez for just 45 years, through the influence of Paul
de Barry, a Jesuit priest, who desired to establish
there • branch of the Order of the Visitation as a
means of counteracting the Calvanism which was so
rife in the centre and south-east of France.

Here in due course she "took the veil," In other
words made her solemn vows and " profession." She
soon displayed a love of devotion and religion which
made her remarkable even among her sister Iltll2ll,
with whom she filled for some years the offices of
" Infirmarbn," "Mistress of the Children," and
"Mistress of the Novices." From the first she lived
In a state of devent ecatacy, In which she held, or im-
agined that she held, close conversation not only with
the founder of the order, St. Francis de Sales, but also
with our Lord himself, who, on more than one occasion,
opened to her astonished gaze His Heart, which she
describes as "brighter than the sun and of im-
mense size." She continues, "An atom, as it
were, dark and shapeless, seemed to be attempting
to approach this beauteous light, but in vain.
This loving Heart drew it then into Itself, say-
ing, "Lees thyself in my greatness, and see that thou
never come forth thence ; for if thou leave it thou
shalt never again enter it. Since that time," she adds
" I have found my heart so bound to prayer that it
seems to me as though I had no longer the use of it
otherwise. But this is attended with so much pew,
that I have no other care but to employ my time itt
the exercise of this holy love." At times, indeed, this
prayerful mood would prevent her from joining in the
offices of the choir, even in the re Drum, so intensely
was she absorbed in prayer, and so wholly rapt out of
herself. She professed that in these ecstasies °or
Blessed Lord explained to her how runch he suffered
from the sins of Christians. The writer gays :
" One day Oar Lord presented Himself tome, covered with
wounds, Hts Body all bleeding and Ills Heart torn with grief.
. . . . prostrated myself at Ills feet, filled with awe,
and not dories to speak to /lint. 'See,' lie said, 'the state
to which My ch lien people have reduced Me; those whom I
bad designed for other ends They persecute Me in secres.
If they do not amend. I will amities them severely. I will
withdraw the just sad sacrifice the rest to My lust wrath,
which shall be eaklndled against them."

Then Marguerite records that she proceeded to in-
tercede with her Divine Matter, much in the same
way as we read in "The Bock of Genesis" that
Abraham interceded with the Almighty on behalf of
Sodom and Gomorrah. I should, however, be weary-
ing your readers if I were to enumerate a tithe of
the colloquies which Marguerite Marts Alawque, if
we may strictly interpret her words, held with her
divine Lord in the chapel of the Convent at Panty.
It will be enough to add that on one occasion, in
the Summer of 1675, "on a day within the octave
of Corpus Christi," Jaime Chriet again revealed to
her His Heart, saying to her audibly,—

" See this Hear., whiob has loved men so much that It
has spared nothing even to exhausting Itself In older to
test* it. love ; and In return I receive from most man
only bpsilteds, oonlempli, Irrimasc• and eacelloge. . .

0.1 this account I ask of you that the first Friday alter the
Octave of Corpus Christi be sat apart for • spacial feast In
honour of My Heart by Christians coosmantaatlng on that day
and =en* reparation to Me by • solwan act, to order to
repair the Indignities which that heart has received. .. I
Mao promise that My Heart shall asp ind Itself to shed to
abundance the illfillOMMl of Divine Love on all who shall pay
this honour to It, or canoe It to be paid."

Sister Marguerite, In due course of Hme, made the sub-
stance of this vision known to her friend and corre-
spondent, and a certain Father La Colomblre, who
was living in St. James's Palace as one of the chap-
lains of the Queen of Charles 11. He took up the
matter in earnest, and believing th%t the message came
from • heavenly source, he formally and aolmnly con
serrate i himself to the Sacred Heart, and recommended
hie penitents to follow his example.
The promises made, or said to have been made, by
Jesus Christ on this occasion to Marguerite Marie
Alscoque, are given as follows In the book of •
"Novena "in her honour :
"1. To all pereon who are devout to the Sacred Mead I
will give all graces necessary for their condition in life. 2. I
will send peace Into their families 8. I will console them
In all their suffering,. 4 I will be their sure refuge daring
11 a, and above all at their death. b I will pour out abun-
dant blessing, on all their enterprise.. a. Stoners shall (Ina
to my heart the source and infinite nen of piety. 7. Tepid
souls shall noome fervent. 8. invent coals shall be rapidly
raised to a higher perfection. 9. 1 will bless all houses in
which the Image of my Sacred Heart le it forth and
honoured. 10. I will give priests the power to touch the
moat hardened hewn. 11. Those who spread abroad this
devotion shall have their names written indelibly on my
Heart"

She died on the 17th of October, 1690, In her 42nd
year, and in the 18th of her religious profession; and
It ie interesting to record the fact that the community
of Paray, though temporarily dispersed by the first
Revolution, have regularly been in the habit of visiting
the chapel on the evening of that day at She hour when
she expired, and of reciting prayers and hymn., in
which her name ia mingled with those of the saints.
Her coffin was opened in 1703, And her bones were col-
lected and placed in a case of oak, and remained there
till the expulsion of the Sisterhood in 1792. The con-
stant recourse of the Faithful to the intercession
of Marguerite Marie, and the numerous fa-
vours and cures obtained through it, strengthen-
ing daily the general opinion of her sanctity, the
Bishop of Anton a century ago yielded to the earnest
request of the convent at Paray, and caused an enquiry
to be institutedinto the life and miracles of the " ser-
vant of UocL" The judicial process, carried on during
the lifetime of misty who were her own contemporaries,
forms the bads of all eubeequent proceedings respecting
her; and the original documents relating to it, I am
told are preserved in the archives of the See of Autun
and of the Monastery of Panay. Owing, however, to
the all-abe Jibing questions connected withthe Jangenist
controversy and afterwards to the first Revolution, the
Cause remained for many years "suspended."
Still the devotion continued, and among those who
paid visits to the tomb of Marguerite Marie were the
Cardinal de Bouillon, and in 1750 the Bishop of Autun.
In 1786 the Convent celebrated the centenary of her
death by a solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
In the very chapel where she had so often knelt
absorbed in prayer. On the expulsion of the Nuns in
1792, the precious casket containing the bones of Sister
Alaooque was concealed by one of the religions in her
own home, where it was kept for 30 years, when the
Sisterhood regained possession of the monastery.
The rest of the 'tory may soon be told. In 1819 the
Holy See took in head the matter of Marguerite Marie's
'sanctity," and the Vicar-General was sent to Paray,
instructed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites to in-
stitute the usual preliminary inquiry, with the object
of certifying generally that there was nothing to pre-
vent the Cause being sent to Rome, and that the opinion
of the "heroic virtues" of the Servant of God and of
her "power with God" was sufficiently well-founded in
the minds of the faithful to give a reasonable hope of
the " Cause " succeeding. "The prooia," says Mr.
Tickell, in Ms life of M. M. Abscoque, "was crowned
with complete success; and by a Decree of March 30,
1824, the ' Cause ' being 'introduced' at Rome, Mar-
guerite Marie received the formal title of • The Vener-
able.'"
_

In July, 1830, her tomb being again opened for the
prupose of transferring her relics from the choir to
the cloister, there occurred a wondbrf %LI care of a sister
belonging to the Convent, which warn hold by the
Apostolic Decree to be a true miracle. The Decree
establishing the "heroic" (i. e., supernatural)
character of the virtues of Marguerite Marie, was
prepared in May, 1846, but was delayed by Pope
Gregory's death till the following 23rd of August,
when it was " promulgated " by his present Holi-
ness. Pope Pius at the same time gave proof of
his interest in the matter by issuing orders for the
further prosecution of the cause; and on April 24,
1861, a decree was published establishing the
truth of sundry miracles ascribed to the " Venerable"
Lady and the decree of her beatifieation was published
In the Lattran Basilica on the 24th of June. Her
beatification —which givee her the title not only of the
"Venerable" but the "blessed "—was solemnly cele-
brated both at Rome and at Paray with great re-
joicings in the following September. An oratory OT
small chapel in her honour was commenced in the
following yr, ar, and near its altar were Mut the relics
of the " Blessed " Marguerite Marie. Tole oratory
was supeneded more recently by t be small Gothic chapel
which I have already mentioned, and which was
solemnly blessed and opened by the Bishop of Autun in
June, 1866. The Bishop of Autun, from and after that
time has never ceased in his visits to Rome to urge on and
advance by every means in his power the cause of the
"Blessed" Marguerite Marie In the hopes of seeing her
promoted to the still higher dignity of a "Saint" of the
Church; and in oompliance with numerous requests,
on Setember 6, 1866, His Holiness was pleased to
sign an order for resuming the came, so that "we
have thus," says Mr. Ticket], "a guarantee for look-
ing forward with hope to a time when we may invoke
the 'Blessed Marguerite under the title of' "
THTISDAT NIGHT.

This evening, as loon as the 800 and odd pilgrims
who were not otherwise provided for, had lunched or
dined in the Presbytery, vespers were sung, and •
sermon was preached by fdonsignore Capel on the
words, "Many Rings and prophets have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them."
He contrasted at length the happy change with respect
to the Catholic faith which had come over England
with the state of matters under the Penal Laws, when
it was • crime to say mass or even to exercise •
priest's office. He showed that both the members
of the old Roman Catholic families and the "con-
verta" who had come to Paray, • thousand strong
that day, had left their homes on no poli-
tical mission, but simply as having in common the de-
sire to testify to Catholic France their paternal feeling
and their sympathy with the Pope and the deprived
Swiss Bishop (Mgr. Mermillod) and their desire to
spread far and wide the devotion of the Sacred Heart,
which, if it was faithfully taught, would draw men
together by the sweetest bonds of charity, and
would aid in the conversion of England and its
noble and estimable people to the Unity of the
Faith. To help on such an end as this was, indeed,
an object worthy of the journey which his fellow
pilgrims had made, and he felt assured that the
warm and affectionate reception accorded to them at
Paray would serve to excite in England • desire to
show France a like return. In conclnelon, he invited
the whole congregation to join with him in a solemn
act consecrating England and the Ensiled" people as
far as was possible for him so to do, to the Sacred
Heart. This was done from the altar, Bishop Vaughan
reading the form of words—too long to print here—and
the congregation as they knelt in the street outside
repeating them after him in • loud and emphatic tone,
such as showed that they spoke from their hearts.
This done, all the coneregation again lit their tapers,
and just as the sun was setting the procession of the
morning was re formed, the ladies walking first and
the banner' being carried as before, throe of the
Catholic Colleges of Stonyhurst and Beaumont leading
the van. Those who walked in procession all carried
their lighted tapers in their hands, and the men walked
bareheaded; hymns, Psalms, and Litanies were sung
in succession; the Rosary was said aloud as they
marched up the winding streets of the town sad
on into the imburbs to the top of • hill. where
• beautiful little roadside oratory, containing a
statue of the Saviour, formed • halting point.
Bending their way back to the town they were met
by a Belgian contingent and about • thousand pil-
grime from all parts of France, who had come to join
their prayers with those of England on behalf of the
Pope and the Church. The cheers of" Vice la France
" Vice l' A nalelerre," "Vice le Pape," "Vice la Foi
Catholigne, were echoed again and again on the hill-
sideby at least two thousand voices; and the echoes of
our English "Hurrahs I" in response might have been
heard in the stillness of the summer night for two or
three miles up the valley beyond us. The length of
the procession, though both men and women walked
four abreast, could have been little less than • mile.
The goal of the procession, very naturally, was the
parish zhnrch, where many of the banners were de-
posited, the Te Drum was sung, and the Enid benedic-
tion given by one of the Bishops present.

After the service some 400 of the pilgrims repaired
again to the Presbytery to be entertained at sapper,
along with the Bishop biermillod, who addressed the
company in French in eloquent and touching terms,
Monsignor Cape! paying • handsome tribute to the
fahrnees of the English Press in mending correspondents
to report such proceedings as the present.

The weather has remained splendid from first tolast,
neither too hot nor too cold, hi. • fine day in England
In June or July. The spirits and the health of our
party are excellent; nor have I heard of • "ingle
instance of illness. The ladies have borne the fatigues
of the pilgrimage with the courage of English gentle-
women. They do not equal the men in numbers,
but they make up for their numbers by piety and
contentedness. I know that many of them, though
delicately brought up, in spite of the hospitality
and kindness of those on whom they have been
billetted, have had to" rough It" on hard pallets
In uncarpeted rooms, with brick floors and with
no adequate supply of washing appliances and
of otner comfort.; but I have not heard a murmur
nor seen a look of dissatisfaction. It may seem as if
• journey by first•classs from London to Panty was no
very hard thing to perform; but the loni of four n, ghte
rest in enoceesion and a journey of nearly 500 miles by
a steamer and a slow stopping train is a real trial of
both physical strength and temper, and I would not
recommend any One to try it unless with an adequate
object in view. . . . .

POSTAGE PORTRAITII.—The United States'
postage stamps been various profile portraits. The
portrait of benjamm Franklia on the 1-cent stamp,
in imperial ultramarine blue, is after a profile bust by
Hubricht. The head of Andrew Jackson on the 2 cent
stamp, in velvet brown, is from • bust by Hiram
Powers. The Washington head on the green 4 cent
stamp ia after Hondon's celebrated bust. The Lincoln
profile, in red, on the 6 cent stamp is after • bust by
Volk. The 7-cent stamp, in vermilion, gives the head
of Stanton, after • photograph. The head of Jefferson
on the 10-oent stamp, in chocolate, is drawn from a life
else statue by Hiram Powers. Tne portrait of Henry
Clay, in neutral purple, on the 12-cent stamp is after •
bust by Hart. 'T'he head of Webster on the 15-cent
stamp, in orange, Ix alter the Clevinger bust. The
portrait of General Scott on the 24-cent stamp, in
purple, is after a bust by Coffee. The,head of Hamil-
ton on the 30-cent stamp, in black, is after the Cerrachl
bust; and the portrait of Commodore Oliver Hauled
Perry, in carmine, in alter Weicott's statue.