Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-08-22
CATHEDRAL At LOURDES
Magnificent Roman Catholic Shrine
In Southern France.
ATTRIBUTE OF MIRACULOUS POWERS

ATTRIBUTE OF MIRACULOUS POWERS
Old Priest on Duty Has Been The
Host and Guide of Kings and
Princes; But Says the Greatest oc-
casion the Place Has Ever Known
Was When Three Thousand Ameri-
can Soldiers Came For Blessings.
BY Lewis M. Grist.
Pride of every French village above
everything else is in its church or
cathedral Proud Of his religion above
everything else Is the Frenchman.
Most of the French people are koman
Catholic in their religious BELIZE.
Protestant in religion largely I
guess; because my father is before me
and his father before him and his
before him back to the beginning Of
the tribe reckon, never dreamed a
couple of years ago that would ever
become interested the least bit In
Roman Catholicism and would come
to be thrown with Catholics a great
deal, would visit a Catholic cathedral
and become curiously interested in the
creed.
I am still Protestant and will be all
my life and 1. do not propose to dis
to tell of beautiful church and little
visit to the Spanish border while over
seas.
But before I start that: Before I got
into the army 1 had the idea some
how that Roman Catholics did not be-
lieve in God, that they were a wild,
reckless sinful class Of folks who had
no regard for anything. who believed
that they could commit murder If they
chose, tell the priest about 1t, give him
a dollar and twenty three cents to say
prayers Of forgiveness and go about
their business satisfied that it was
remembered no more against them.
But learned soon after getting into
the army, that taken as a whole, the
Catholics are mighty fine people; GER
tainly the majority of the soldiers Of
Catholic faith with whom I was thrown
in contact, were. There were excep-
tions of course; but there were like
wise as many exceptions among the
Protestants. Yet l found that the
knights of Columbus would hand you
out pack Of cigarettes or piece of
chocolate if you were Protestant and
they knew 1t just as readily as the
"Y" would do IL you were Roman
Catholic and they knew 1t. Most Of
the men in my outfit were Catholics
and 1 could borrow five franks off one
4 them just as easily as could from
one of my Protestant buddies.
But we had started to the Roman
Catholic cathedral: Getting a few days
leave and wanting to go somewhere,
several friends and myself decided to
takesa little trip. over into Spain. We
thought we might run on bull fight
or a bunch Of brigands or something
to break the monotony Of the quiet
little French village in which we were
quartered. So to Spain we started on
one Of those little winky. dink French
trains that run so slowly and are so
very uncomfortable that you wish the
railroads might adopt the Plumb plan
or any old plan that might improve
the service.
Pyranees tho Border.
The beautiful Pyranees mountains
are the border line between France
and Spain. At the foot Of these noun
tains in France lies the pretty village
Of Lourdes, and the only thing that
distinguishes that village from thou
sands of other French villages is its
magnificent cathedral. The erection
commenced more than a thousand
years ago. It is a wonderful structure,
beautiful in its design, perfection in Its
workmanship. 1 don't know its di-
mensions but l do know that all Of the
churches of Yorkville could be put into
it with all their members and then
after an invitation had been extended
to all who do not belong to any church
in Yorkville to come In and had been
accepted, there would be room for a
few more neighboring congregations
and all would have sufficient standing
room.
The numerous windows OF the
cathedral are of beautiful shades Of
stained glass including paintings OF
Bible characters and those who are
famous in the religious history Of the
world since the Christ lived on the
earth.
Saint Peters Foot.
At the entrance to the cathedral
there is bronze statue of Saint Peter.
He is seated, his feet clad in the
sandals that were worn in the time OF
Christ. One foot stands out promin-
emily above the other. The statue Is
regarded as a sacred and holy thing
by Catholics, and 1t Is said that every
Catholic who has visited that famous
cathedral since it's erection has kissed
his foot Thousands, perhaps millions
of kisses have been planted there be-
cause the foot Is growing much worn
as a result thereof.
Hard by the cathedral Is pool, the
waters Of which are said by the Cath