The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-06-15
AN ITALIAN LOURDES.
Extraordinary Scenes Resulting Fror

Extraordinary Scenes Resulting From Peasant Girls Vision.
 Extraordinary scenes of morbid re- ligious fanaticism are taking place daily near the village of Alice Bel Cole in the Province of Acqui, in Piedmont A peasant girl named Giuseppina Piana aged fourteen, declared on the morning of April 21 that she had seen the Ma donna. After consulting the parish priest she returned to the spot where
 she stated the vision had appeared, and again saw an apparition of the Virgin and Child. The Virgin, according to the girl Piana. repeatedly expressed the wish that a magnificent shrine might be erected to her on the spot A tenn | porary shrine has been constructed, and , now the girl goes every day to the scene of her vision, accompanied by a crowd ] of some five thousand peasants, mostly women, who kneel while the girl Piana entranced. holds conversations in a high voice with the Virgin. Under thess conditions miracles were not long in happening. One man, whose stomach
 was out of order and who had pain in
 his leg, declared himself to be cured as soon as he reached the spot He after ward refused to allow his leg to be ex- amined by the doctor who had previous
 ly attended him. A tradesman who had
 suffered from rheumatism for six
 months picked up a handful of mud on
 the scene of the vision and declared
 himself cured. A peasant woman was
 cured ofa stomachic complaint by swol-
 lowing little of the same mud. In
 view of the importance of the phenomena
 on the Piedmontese newspapers sent
 special correspondents to the scene of
 tn vision.
 One of them describes the crushing,
 swaying crowd of perspiring peasants
 who congregate on the spot, treading
 down and crushing all the vines and
 crops In the nefghborhood. At O.
 clock in the morning the site of the mi-
 racle for radius of more than a kilome-
 Ire was absolutely covered with men,
 women and children. Carabineers did
 their best to keep order, and especially
 to prevent the fanatism of the crowd from overwhelming the girl Piana. At 3:l5 o'clock she made her appearance. escorted by carabineers and walked straight to the spot of the vision. She was lifted to platform prepared for her, and immediately the whole crowd fell on its knees, Aftsr some ten min utes the girl began to shout. "She Is coming! Kneel and receive her bene- diction!' Presently turning to a cara
 bineer, the girl said. "The Madonna assures me that she will protect me even against the police" Here the crowd began to make an ugly movement against the carabineer The girl then took a handful of grass, which was im- mediately clamored and scrambled for by the crowd. Two buckets of water stood near the platform. Dipping her handkerchief in one, the girl placed it on the eye of the carabineer, which ap- peared to be inflamed. The carabineer suppressing smile, turned away. and the girl said that he already felt better
 Immediately the cry was taken up by the vast crowd, "A carabneer has been cured!' and rush of peasants suffer- ing from various maladies was made In the direction of the platform Some were deaf, some were lame, some had children who were ill The girl Piana touched them all one after the other, with the wet handkerchief, and the of miraculous cures rapidly in- Not only had carabineer been cured in public, but people had