The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

MERCIAL ADVERTISER.

pitals, one for men, under an order of La Salette Monks ;
the other for women, managed by La Salette Nuns.
Many postulants are already on the mountains. One of
these is said to have been raised from death to life ! Her
history is this :—Long afflicted with internal cancer, she
was also covered all over with large boils of twelve months'
standing. In consequence she was bedridden, and so
weakened that her recovery was wholly despaired of.
Convulsive fits and paralysis followed. The last sacra-
ments were administered, and prayers for the agonising
said. Before dying she made-two requests of her mother
—one was to have a mass said for her the morning of her
death ; the other to place in .her hand, after her being
laid out, a small image of Our Lady of La Salette, which
she had devotion to, and that it might be buried with her.
These were her last words. She grew Worse, and died
that night: Her mother sent word to the parish church
to have the mass said, and sat up with others to wake the
corpse. In the course of the night she recollected her
promise, and taking the image out of a press in the same
room, she had no sooner laid it on her daughter's bosom
than, to the astonishment of all present, the corpse gave
a deep sigh, and was heard to articulate, "0, Divine Mere,
si je doffs vivre, c'est pour vous server toute ma vie sur
votre sainte montagne 1" Great was the terror of all
present at this, but greater still did it become when the
corpse gave signs of life by-turning on one side. Sleep
for three hours followed ; and she who had been dead
awoke in perfect health ! she who could not move her-
self in bed sat up, asked for her clothes, walked to church,
and heard the very mass which was to have been said for
the repose of her own soul. One 'of our travellers, Mr.
—, talked long with this person, who seemed to
enjoy perfect health. She has entered the Order of La
Salette, though she does not remember the words uttered
by her as above. Every material for building the church
is carried up the mountain on mules. Mr. met a
loaded mule going up ; he carried one plank and one stone
on each side. The sand and mortar are carried up in the
same way. The labour is excessive, The expense cor-
responds. What costs but one franc in the valley, costs
thirty when it reaches the summit, where the work is
going forward. The total expense will be 40,000 francs ;
but so liberal are the donations that they have already in
hand 40,000 francs.
" Very wisely has the spot where the Blessed Virgin's
thrice-blessed feet have trod been left untouched. The
stations of the cross have been put up along the path by
which she ascended, and a little chapel marks the place
where she disappeared. The church is built about fifty
yards off.
" The miracles wrought by Our Lady of La Salette are
most stupendous and almost inconceivable. Here is one
which occurred to a Nun of the neighbourhood. The
mistress of the work awoke in the middle of the night,
hearing, as she thought with good reason, some robbers
in the workroom, where some very rich vestments then
were. Imagining the robbers would fly if disturbed, she
advanced and opened the door, but they, two in number,
rushed upon her and gave her several severe wounds.
She fell, calling on Our Blessed Lady of La Salette for
protection, and promising, if she obtained it, to make a
pilgrimage to the holy mountain. The robbers escaped ;
she was found to have received no less than twenty-six
wounds, many of which were, by the surgeons, pronounced
mortal. But three days afterwards she was miraculously
cured, no mark whatever remaining on her ! The Bishop
gave her permission to perform the pilgrimage, which she
went through, accompanied by the whole community."
Most of the narratives, of this kind, proceed from Eng-
lish "converts" we suspect, and it is certain that some of
them set a very high value upon this affair of La Salette.
Such are the instruments to effect the ". Conversion" of
England ! Such are the "Saints," and the "Miracles,"
for which we are called to abandon the Catholic and
Apostolic Church of England, and to renounce the Scrip-
tural and Catholic teaching of the masculine minds, and
the example of the holy men and women, with which God
has blessed us in every century since the Reformation,
down to the present hour. It is true that we have had no
"La Salettes"—no " Apparitions" of the Blessed Virgin
—no " secrets" supernaturally conveyed to our shepherd-
boys—no omnibusses full of " pilgrims" going to worry
an aged Priest to hear confessions at midnight—no molten
or carved images of the Blessed Virgin to which we ascribe
the life-giving power of Him who, aleue, is the ResUrrec-
tion and the Life. We have none of these things. The
apostles and the primitive church had none of dem ; and
it will be only when we have abandoned their faith and
practice that we shall seek such things, and find them.
God grant that England may never be brought to such a
"conversion" as this !—English Churchman.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.