His mother, a faithful Catholic, was not so quick to give up. When doctors warned her that the little one would live “only a matter of hours,” she rushed him to Massabielle even though the public was prohibited from going there. Onlookers shouted, trying to prevent her from ‘killing her child’ by immersing him in the piercingly-cold waters. She took no heed and submerged the boy in the water for fifteen minutes. When removed from the spring, the child’s body became stiff and blue. However, his mother took him home, confident that Our Lady had cured her child.
Upon arrival, a weak heartbeat was still detectable. The doctors feared that the mother’s act of faith had killed her child, but she continued to confide. The following day, the child woke up entirely healthy. His recovery was quick and complete. Contrary to the doctors’ diagnoses, Justin was able to walk, a prospect declared impossible since his birth.
Thus, the doctors concluded that the cause of the cure was the “almighty power of God,” not a scientific remedy.
- Francis Pascal
The cure of the four-year-old Francis Pascal was another well-documented and remarkable case.
In 1937, the boy contracted a severe case of meningitis, resulting in a fever of 104 degrees that left him blind and paralyzed.
Many doctors were summoned in vain. One physician named Dr. Darde offered constant care for the boy. When his symptoms continued into the following year, Dr. Darde declared the case hopeless and suspended all treatment. The desperate parents decided to take the child to Lourdes and pray that Our Lady would do what medicine could not.
At the miraculous spring, his mother lowered her helpless child into the water, praying to Our Lady the entire time. He cried out loudly, leading some to fear that the frigid water caused a seizure. The child survived the shock but received no immediate cure. The next day, the mother repeated her actions without any instant remedy.
Thinking her efforts had been in vain, the mother carried him back to the hospital. However, her countless prayers were not left unanswered. Within minutes, Francis began to speak, describing the things around him and even pointing to them. By his actions, he showed that both his blindness and paralysis had vanished. Jubilantly, she rushed back to the hospital where his complete cure was confirmed.
Upon returning home, Dr. Darde was surprised to see the once-dying child not only alive, but walking. Writing to the Lourdes Medical Bureau that investigates these cures, he stated that “medically, one cannot explain such a result.”
Fortunately, Francis’ family confided in Our Lady, who is not bound by medical explanations.
- The Prince Imperial, Louis-Napoleon
Perhaps the most prominent person to benefit from the miraculous waters of Lourdes involved a member of the reigning Imperial family of France—the Bonapartes.
Napoleon Bonaparte advanced the cause of liberalism wherever he ruled. His descendants continued his legacy of championing the ignoble cause of liberalism. In fact, the French government under Napoleon III (1852-1870) became known as the “liberal Empire.”
However, the prayers of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, resulted in a cure that forced local officials in Lourdes to open the grotto site that liberals had closed to the public.
Shortly following the apparitions, the two-year-old Prince Imperial Louis-Napoleon contracted tuberculosis, a disease often fatal for its victims at that time. While his father sought aid from the best doctors of France, his mother appealed to Lourdes. She sent the governess of Louis-Napoleon, Madame Bruat, to obtain some water from the miraculous spring of Massabielle.
The governess promptly obeyed and arrived at the grotto. The local liberal government forbade access to the spring and even erected barricades to prevent devotion. Even worse, all trespassers would be prosecuted, even if they prayed to Our Lady from behind the barrier.
However, the governess was intent upon completing the task given to her. She ignored the signs and barriers and knelt in prayer before the grotto, imploring Our Lady’s aid for the child’s recovery. While praying, a guard approached and told her that she would have to face judgment from the Correctional Tribunal for openly defying the law. When asked her name, she replied, “the wife of Admiral Bruat, and the Governess of His Highness, the Prince Imperial.”
Upon hearing this, the guard attempted to drop the charges, but the faithful governess insisted upon facing them with the other victims of the unjust ordinance. When she appeared before the tribunal, she paid for the fines of all those detained for praying at Massabielle.
Following the incident, the governess returned and presented the Empress with the Lourdes water, which succeeded in saving the Prince Imperial from tuberculosis. This act of God compelled Napoleon III to order the reopening of Massabielle to the Faithful of France.
Although this miracle may not have converted the Emperor, it did end the liberal suppression of Our Lady’s grotto.
A Divine Response to Liberalism
The apparitions at Lourdes were Heaven’s response to the errors of the times. When liberalism sought to subject the Catholic Church to science and reason, Our Lady of Lourdes provided ‘unreasonable’ miracles that defied science and confirmed many in their faith.
The anti-Catholic ideas that sprung from the Enlightenment and liberalism are bearing fruit today. Pseudo-science is used to approve horrendous sins such as procured abortion, same-sex ‘marriage,’ ‘transgenderism,’ and euthanasia.
These errors are direct attacks against the divinely-instituted Church. Our Lady answered these attacks by her many miraculous interventions at Lourdes that contradicted the spirit and false ideas of the time.
Lourdes in Our Times: An Indispensable Message
