The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-10-17
Our Lady of Lourdss.

In the southwest of France, in the hiily re-
giOn of the department of the Upper Fyrenees,
n little to the southeast of the weil"knowh
town of Pau, is the hamlet of Lourdes, whose
name, uuheard of in the world n dozen years
ago, is now familiar to the ear of niiions--a
household word 10 the children of Mary: IN
this age of revolutions are prepared Tor |
great changes, and are not much SURPRISED hp
them our only thought and wish Is to learn
the circumstances that have Drought them
about. What then, it will Ire asked has nap
ucucd ut Lonrdes since 1858 to give 1T III 1902
! n Worldwide renown'l a remarkable work
has lately appeared in France, similar TO our
! own beautiful ''Fabiola )" masterpiece OF its
| kind; written i'll the form of II novel, with all
| the exciting interest of novel. anu nllerng
from one only III being narrative OF f'tctS iti-
stead of fiction; pOssessihg all the best quail
lies of t|Fabiola,o and in some respects sur
passing them. This work is the production OF
N. Henri Lassere, who had previously distr-
nuished himself French Catholic author,
and it is precisely the very work, Doth as 70
matter and manner, that is most needed at the
present day. The great event that mas so
. ! eed l hurdles lis the Apparitl0n OF 6h9 1nl-
a mncufatc Mother of God iH-thef aleoVe OF
rock near that hamlet, and the object OF the
: learned and indefatigable writer, Is 10 prove
, beyond the shadow OF doubt the reality OF
!, ! that npparition. The characteristic OF ieli-
gious error in this century is ITS denylbS5or
: ignoring altogether the existence OF the super
: natural, and it is because the Catholic Church
is the representative Garth of the supernat-
{ ural, that so fierce war is nowadays waged
4 against it. This being the case we may rea,
sonably expect that the supernatural should
i | Mt the present time vindicate itself by giring
manifest proofs of it's Gxis teTIee' eucfI a matt
: Hesitation is said to have occurred at LouIdet
in the early part of the year 1855. NJ IL. Las
@ sere took upon himself the task of thoroughly
o Investigating the entire history of that mani
It festation, and of all its attendant circulh
stances and in his work lately published, HI
y gives to the world the result of his laeors
e He visited the locality of the aPparition; III
h questioned and cross-questioned all the princl
IL bal witnesses who have in any way been con
"a cerned in the matter; their number is consid
eraLle and most of them are still living n
Ia examined every one of the many document
n bearing on this subject; he gives the name
a and addresses of all the witnesses, and In
~ titles and locality of all the documents, and
le defies contradiction of any statemenS made
ia him. That he has effected his purpose evor
W one must acknowledge who reads with an III
hfassed mind the recital of his investigation
q. which establish the following facts A youn
o. girl about Ia years old, quite an ordinAr
is child destitute of all human learning, an
SO speaking only the dialect of her native piac
n was along with two other young girls, IN
m meadow close to Lourdes, on st. Scholasticts
Day, in 1858; her name was Bernadette s6ub
,ir rons her parents extremely poor, anu 81
,gt had from her early years, been employed
M guarding sheep ON the mountains. Ihroug
NO | the meadow in which she was with She 9th
two girls flows the river Gave, and near u
nd river rises a high perpendcular rock, in Il
al, | MINER part of which there is an alcnVe,
,m crotto. On their way home from the meade
Az. the two girls elected from Berradette Iii