The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-11-06
Louise Lateau, the Fasting Girl.

The German papers have for some months
been discussing the case of Louise Lateau.
thu fasting girl, who has been declared to
possess miraculous gifts by a number of the
Roman Catholic newspapers. A correspond;
ent, writing from Jena, gives the following
information about her: F z
At the meeting of German naturalists and
physicians recently held in Breslau, Professor
Virchow delivered a speech on subject
which has made no small sensation in many
parts of Germany. Some three years ago
book appeared, entitled "Louise Lateau, sa
Vie, ses Extases, ct ses Stigmates." Not
much notice was at first taken of it. This
year, however, a pamphlet was published by
Professor Rohling, of the Academy in Mum
ster, entitled "Louise Lateau, die Stigma
tisitte Won Bois d'Haine." The work has
reached its ninth edition, and $4,000 copies
have passed into circulation. 1t states that
the young woman to which it refers was born
in Bois d'Haine, in the diocese of Journals; ;
Waloon district of Belgium. In her child
hood she suffered much from illness, and
showed extraordinary zeal in the perform
ance of her religious duties. In 1867 she be-
came subject to ecstasies, of which we shall
afterward speak, and two years later, on the
21st of April, 1868, on Friday, just at the
in third Order of Saint Francis of Assist,
stigmata-that is to say, marks representing
the wounds of Christ-made their appear
ance on her body. They were received by
her Just as similar signs were by Saint Fran
els and other saints. They first appeared
as red places on the skin, out of which after
wards blood issued. On the first Friday
there were bleedings (Blutumgen) on her left
side; the following Friday there were similar
hIao Isv,<rc fsnv,, hnr footo md frNrp1 10 ndS
Eventually, on the 25th of September, spots
appeared on her brow which one could recog-
nize as decidedly similar to those crown of
thorns would produce. We have stated that
she had become subject to ecstasies. gener-
ally occurring on Fridays, and these still con-
tinue. While under these influences she
loses all sensibility for the outer world. 1t is
stated that she cannot even feel electric
shocks. She has extraordinary visions.
More recently she has found sleep and food
unnecessary to existence, and we are in
formed that for the last three years she has
only eaten q wafer daily and drunk two
spoonfuls of water weekly. During all this
time she has never slept. Such are the facts
which have been gravely recorded in the
pamphlet, and the fact that it is written by
''a professor" who declares himself unable
to explain the phenomena, has brought the
story under the notice of class of persons
who are not likely to attach importance to
contemporary miracles. Professor Rolling
did not feel satisfied with the success of his
pamphlet. He wrote to Professor Virchow
as to great Psychologist, to ask him his
opinion about this very remarkable phenom-
enon. In his letter he remarked that the
Catholic Apologetics lay down the principle
that phenomenon may only thus be treated
as a miracle when science has proved unable
to explain it according to fixed incontroverti-
BILE laws. The Guardian, a leading paper of
the extreme Roman Catholic party, is so con-
vinced that mirable has occurred that it
also appeals to Professor Virchow. 1t asks
him why he does not make the phenomena
the subject of careful study, and tells him he
would find an occupation in the examina-
ton of this case as likely to promote the in
terests of science as anything he could do in
Sweden or Norway, referring, no doubt, to
his presence at an Archaeological Congress at
Stockholm. This, however, is not Professor
VirchOW's opinion. He treats the case as
one of a class familiar to him. He does not
think it would be of so much service as the
GermGniG believes to visit Bois fHaine.
He has been sixteen or seventeen years ply.
sician to the department for sick prisoners at
Berlin, and knows very many kinds OF simu-
lation. One case has come under his notice
of ceasing to take nourishment, in which the
whole supply of food was consumed, in an
extraordinary manner. "It has given him,
he saws, s'the greatest trouble, even perfectly
organized as his hospital is, to trace out the
tricks and shifts TO which such persons as
Louise Lateau resort" Still despite all the
annoyances likely to result, he said he would
not object to receive the girl into his estab-
lishment, and that he would look carefully
into her case, which he admits has become of
serious Importance now that the colportdge
is still carrying thousands of pamphlets on
the subject into every village of the Rhine,
and great part of the country is in fer
ment about it.