The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-11-09
Miraculous Preservation.

a n EYEWITNESS gives in the cur
/ n rent issue of the Catholic World
Magazine a vivid description OF
the opening of a holy woman's coffin
after twenty-six years of death. II
was that of the Venerable Mother
Chappuis, of the Visitation, a French
religious, the process of whose canon
ization wass recently begun at Rome,
The writer says:
The coffin is placed upon a large
table. The crowd retires, while only
some specially privileged ones remain.
The leaden coffin is found intact ex-
cept one place where the solder had
given way. The oaken coffin is reached.
| Dampness has affected several places.
! NJ. Felix Sonnet, whose hand trem-
! bled a little with emotion, loosens the
| screws of the lid. then he raises it,
and all press round and lean over,
| anxious to see. This was a mo-
ment of piercing and painful emotion.
A dense white mould covered all. I'm
der it could clearly be distinguished
| the form of the Servant of God; the
veil covering the head, the sleeves
| concealing the hands; and below the
feet, the poor feet covered with a
white moss. suggested the idea of the
feet of a skeleton. Without doubt all
had disappeared in the tomb; some
bones might remain. :. =. God had
not wished, then, to preserve, as we
had hoped. the body of his faithful
servant! And before the particular and
delicate examination which the ply
sicians were to make Bishop Pelacot
requested all to retire, except those
whose presence is essential; the Apos-
tolical commissioners, the physicians,
and the pious ladies charged with the
last toilet, Nine. la Comtesse Golu-
chowska and Nine. Berard, with two
Oblate Sisters, one of the latter being
a great-niece OF the Venerable Mother.
so we retired, with disappointed
hearts to be sure; but we kept very
near the door of the assembly room,
hoping against hope; for had she not
assured us herself that her body would
be found preserved? Yes, but
she died of an internal disease; the
body was so swollen that decomposition
had commenced before the burial. as
we had heard many times How could
we hope for such a favor under such
impossible circumstances? And then
the grace of preservation is not neces-
sary to demonstrate sanctity: multi
tudes of the saints whose bones we
venerate are evident proofs of it. But
it would have been so beautiful! so
consoling. We had hoped for it so
Soon a rumor is circulated, in the
twinkling of an eye: Our good Mother
is preserved! Yes, God has kept
her body from the corruption of the
tomb. Alleluia! And we press forward
to see the confirmation of this happy
news, for some details, but the door
remains ineXorably closed
I'VE, however, learn all in the end.
When they had cut and removed the
clothes, which were in shreds. and
washed off the mould which covered
the body, it was discovered to be Who'll |
ly intact, and admirably preserved. |
Even the poor feet, which caused us
so much emotion, were far from being
the feet of a skeleton, but were COW
cred with flesh, their nails entire I'm !
der the pious hands which had washed |
away the moss-like mould they APP
peared wonderfully preserved, as the !
physicians declared in detail in their