The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-07-28
Human Side
of News
By Edwin c. Hill

in all the world is beginning
the most famous and the most
pathetic. From all over the
Christian world, the lame, the
halt and the blind, lifted up by
faith, take their slow and pain
full way to the town Of miracles
-Lourdes, in the south Of
France.
More than 100 official and
national pilgrimages take place
in July and August. The
largest group Of all goes from
Brooklyn-the Brooklyn Di-
ocesan Pilgrimage-and every
year it celebrates American
Day at the far-famed shrine.
At least one million Sorely
afflicted human beings are be-
ginning that journey of faith
and devotion, in the firm con-
viction that st. Bernadette
Soubirous will intercede for
them with the Virgin Mary and
give them back their health.
They go to Lourdes on stretch
erS, in wheel chairs, on crutches
or borne UP on the arms Of
relatives or friendS-a pitiful
host living in darkness or in
pain.
Apparition Seen
By Young Girl
The story Of Lourdes is
strange indeed. Bernadette
Soubirous IVES the child Of q
peasant family, very poor and
devout. On the icy morning
of February IL; 1858, there was
no fuel or food in the home.
The child's father was i'll in
bed, cold and hungry
Bernadette was suffering
from asthma and had been told
not to get her feet wet. But,
with her young sister, Toinette,
and another girl, she went to
look for driftwood on the banks
of a stream nearby. The other
little girls took off their shoes
and stockings to wade in the
cold stream. Finally, as
Bernadette started to take
off a stocking, she heard q
great noise, like thunder. AS
she put one foot in the icy
water, there was a second clap
of thunder. And suddenly she
saw in a little cave by the
stream the apparition of a
beautiful young woman with
blue eyes and golden hair, clad
in flowing white.
She was smiling, this lovely
creature. Her arms were out
stretched, veil floating about
her head. On the instep of
each bare foot was a golden
rose. A blue belt was drawn
around her white robe, its ends
falling to her feet. Over her
right arm was a chaplet, with
chain and cross of gold. Berna.
dette fell to her knees as the
vision faded. But as the months
and years passed, it came back
to her again and again.
For many years few people be-
lieved the strange story told by
this peasant girl, but as time
passed so many cures were re-
ported that. in 1878, the Basilica
was built and, in 1889, the
Church of the Rosary. Every
year this pocket in the Pyrenees
is visited by no less than one
million persons, and, of these,
ten thousand are badly crippled,
blind, deaf or desperately i'll.
List of Believers
Long and Imposing
Every year $50 persons pro-
fess themselves to be cured, but
only about 10 in every $50 are
recognized as actually cured by
the medical bureau. Some Of
the reported miraculous cures
are now world-famous. There
is the case Of Nine. Augustine
Augault, who went to LourdeS
suffering from an enormous
tumor. She was carried on a
stretcher in the Procession Of
the Blessed Sacrament.
On the following day, 80 doc
tors, Catholics and non-Catho-
lies from various parts of the
world, examined Nine. Augault
and discovered to their amaze
ment that the growth had en-
tirely disappeared,
The list of believers is long
and imposing, even outside the