The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-04-20

but when they left the church 1t had
vanished This strange occurrence
brought a larger congregation on the
succeeding evening and though the
missionary was feeling weary and
dispirited he entered the pulpit to be-
gin the usual prayers. He had pre-
viously exposed the Blessed Sacra-
ment upon the altar.
The dusk was just beginning to fall
and the few candles on the altar had
hardly dispelled the shadows when
the church was suddenly filed with an
extraordinary brilliancy and the
voice OF a tiny child of six in the con-
gregation was heard distinctly to ex-
claim: ST see the little Child" The
missionary commanded all to fall on
their knees and then without any
effort of his own, his listlessness, and
the hoarseness which had oppressed
him suddenly departed, and he preach
ed in high clear voice as he had
never preached before, from the text
of Isaias: 81 have spread forth my
hands all day to an unbelieving people
who walk in way that Is not good,
after their own thoughts" Afterwards,
he said he could not remember one
of the words he had uttered. While
he spoke, all those present saw first
the head, then the whole form OF
little Child of heavenly beauty emerge
as it were from the monstrance and
stand with arms outstretched towards
the people; the Babes garment was
white, woven with purple flowers, and
from the tiny hands and feet blood
appeared to flow. The missionary
asked the parish priest to beg the
Christ Child to pardon his unworthy
people. The priest flung himself. pros
trate before the altar and all the peo-
pie followed his example. Then in a
voice broken with sobs, he begged his
people to forgive any faults he had
been guilty Of towards them and they
in turn asked his forgiveness. The
children then rose to their feet and
stretching out their little hands in
ecstasy towards the Divine Infant ask
ed pardon for their parents. Then as
the missionary requested the parish
priest to give the Benediction the fig
ure of the Divine Child disappeared.
But the poor priest trembled so, when
he endeavoured to replace the mira
culous Host in the Ciborium after he
had blessed the people, that he could
not touch It. Then his assistants on
the altar saw the Host rise of itself
and enter the sacred vessel. For a
long time the people would not leave
the church and when they did so they
walked backwards keeping their eyes
on the altar. Moreover, each made his
way to the house of friend to &C
quaint him with the wonderful occur
renee or to the house of an enemy to
make peace. The following night the
whole Of the inhabitants gathered in
and about the church. First, they had
visited the parish priest in body and
falling on their knees before him be-
sought his forgiveness and begged
him to return and once more minister
amongst them. For the two follow
ing days they beseiged the confess
SIGNALS and by the closing night Of the
mission everyone had made his peace
with God and with his neighbour. On
that last night the Blessed Sacrament
was exposed as before and just as the
first words of the TIE Deum burst
forth in jubilation, the Divine Infant,
now under the guise of lovely child
Of five or six years, appeared again
standing before the monstrance, but
on this occasion, His garment was
white and shining and His hands and
feet were without the cruel wounds.
ALI saw this marvellous sight, and in
commemoration of it the figure OF a
little child of seven years appears on
the mission cross in place of the cru
CITED Christ. Very soon San Martin
will become a place of great pilgrim
age. It is only now, when the Bishop
| of Astorgo and his clergy have salts
fed themselves, by the examinaLon
of the witnesses on oath, that the mar
rative is real and beyond the posi-
bilities of a mere hallucination, that
the full facts of this marvellous occur
renee are beginning to be known. Per.
haps the greatest proof of the reality
is to be found in the changed lives of
the people. They all belong to Con-
fraternity Of the Blessed Sacrament
which practices perpetual alteration
and no happier community exists in
Spain.