•* %
* V
MADONNA ENTHRONED
,*i 5
ST, BASIL'S
THE
APPARITIONS AND SHRINES
OF
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QU
In Legend, Poetry and History
FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME
Compiled from Approved Catholic Publications
BY WILLIAM J.WALSH
WITH INTRODUCTION BY
MONSIGNOR BERNARD O'REILLY, D.D
.ILLUSTRATED VOLUME FOUR
ST. BASIL'S SCHOLASTIC
NEW YORK
-.KEY COMPANY
Fifth Avenue
'• £8, LTD.
ST, BASIL'S SCHOLASTICATE
APPARITIONS AND SHRINES
OF
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
In Legend, Poetry and History
FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME
Compiled from Approved Catholic Publications
BY WILLIAM J. WALS H
WITH INTRODUCTION EY
MONSIGNOR BERNARD O'REILLY, D.D.
ILLUSTRATED
EX LIBRIS ST. BASIL'S SCHOLASTIC
NO.
NEW YORK
/ J~/ n
/ J
T. J. CAREY COMPANY
Sixty-three Fifth Avenue
LONDON
BURNS & GATES, LTD.
97 '
Copyright, 1904
By T. J. CAREY COMPANY
Rooney & Otten Printing Co.. 114-120 West goth St., N. Y.
DECLARATION
The Editor and Publishers, in obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII. , protest that for all miraculous events, visions and apparitions ascribed in these columns to certain servants of God, which have not been formally investigated and approved by the Church, they claim no other authority and belief than that which is ordinarily conceded to narratives based upon merely human evidence, and do in no wise presume to pro nounce upon their authenticity or supernatural character. If the appellation of Saint or Blessed is therein applied to any person not canonised or beatified by the Church, it is done only in accordance with the usage and opinion of men.
In view of and in accordance with the above declaration,
the following authorisation to publish is granted. /V
NIHIL OBSTAT,
REMIGIUS LAFORT, S.J.L.,
Censor.
IMPRIMATUR,
JOHN M. FARLEY, D.D.,
Archbishop.
New York, December 8, 1904.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME FOUR
PAGE
MADONNA ENTHRONED Frontispiece
THE GROTTO OF LOURDES 28
VISION OF ST. THERESA 114
ST. CATHERINE IN THE ARMS OF THE NUNS 178
VIRGIN OF THE MIRROR 242
THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN . . 274
CONTENTS
PAGE
Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception i
Churches in America Dedicated to Mary 3
Hymn to Our Lady, A Rev. William P. Treacy 3
Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 5
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Preparation and Realization. .. 10
Garland of Holy Thoughts, A 13
Visit to Our Lady after Holy Communion "Ave Maria." 15
Apparition to Bernadetta Soubirous 17
Miracles of Lourdes, The 25
Pilgrimage at Lourdes, A 28
Ireland's Offerings to Our Lady of Lourdes 32
Irish Lamp at Lourdes, The Eleanor C. Donnelly 33
Prayer 34
Apparition to Francis M. Shanuboga 35
Remarkable Conversion of an East Indian 38
"Mary's Lullaby " Arthur Sherburne Hardy 43
Apparition to Mary Wilson 45
Mother's Secret, A Oliver Wendell Holmes. 55
Apparition to Mary Magdalene Kade 59
To the Blessed Virgin Percy B. Shelley 70
Royal Name of Mary, The Sister M. A. Dominic. 70
Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help 73
Shrine of Our Lady of Zo-Se 87
Virgin Mother Mary Rev. William Livingston. 96
Our Lady of Perpetual Help 96
Apparition to Our Lady of Hope 99
Mary Kept All These Words Lady Georgiana Fullerton. 117
Apparition of Our Lady All Merciful 119
Prayer Composed by Estelle, A 123
Account of the Miraculous Cure of Estelle 123
Sixth Apparition 13°
Seventh Apparition 131
Eighth Apparition 132
Ninth Apparition 133
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
Tenth Apparition 134
Eleventh Apparition 134
Twelfth Apparition 136
Thirteenth Apparition 137
Fourteenth Apparition 138
Fifteenth Apparition 139
Letter from Estelle 143
Arch-Confraternity of Our Lady of Pellevoisin.. .Pope Leo XIII. 144
Our Lady of Pellevoisin Sister M. de Sales 148
Queen of the Rosary Rev. Matthew Russell, S. J. 150
Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation 151
Our Lady of Consolation Very Rev. Edivard Sorin, C. S. C. 154
Veni Creator Spiritus 155
Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs 157
Pilgrimage to Auriesville 171
Our Lady of Martyrs Elizabeth Cross Alexander 1/2
Apparition to Our Lady of Sorrow 173
An Alpine Monument to Mary 179
Passion of Mary, The Francis Thompson 180
Let Us Pray 181
Ejaculatory Prayer 181
Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes 183
Statue, Shrine and Pilgrimage Rer. George O'Conncll, SJ. 188
Holy Name of Mary John Boyle O'Reilly 193
Shrine of Our Lady of Graces 195
Youghal and the Miraculous Statue 198
Miraculous Statue, The 200
Our Lady of Grace Sarah Trainer Smith 202
Apparition of Our Lady of Tilly Re-:'. R. F. Clarke, SJ. 205
Shrine of Our Lady of Melheha. .. .Dom. 'Michael Barrett, O.S.B. 219
Massabielle Francis X. Finegan, SJ. 225
Shrine of Our Lady of Zebrzydowski 229
As Fair as Snow, as Pure and White. .George Frederick Daumer 232
Shrine of Our Lady of the Oaks 235
Guide's Queen Guide's Remi 239
Shrine of the Madonna of the Orphans 241
Ave Maria, The Frederick Bausback 244
Shrine of the Miraculous Madonna 247
Queen Above All Other Women
Ludovica, Baroness Bordcs, nee Brentano 250
Shrine of Our Lady of Copakabana 253
Virgin, The William Wordsworth 255
Prayer for the Conversion of Heretics 256
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
Florence 256
Prayer to Our Lady of Pity Pope Pius IX. 257
Queen Immaculate Rev. William P. Treacy 258
Our Lady of Marpingen "Ave Maria" 263
Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes 269
Our Lady's Statue Kathcrine Tynan 275
Knight of Our Lady of Mercy, The "Ave Maria" 277
Graces Obtained through the Intercession of Blessed Margaret
Mary "Ave Maria" 290
Mother's Hymn, The William Cullen Bryant 296
Monks of the Blessed Virgin 297
Prayer Before a Crucifix Ps. xxi, 17, 18 299
Invocation of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament 300
Fr. De La Colombiere on the Scapular 301
Evenings in Greece Thomas 'Moore 302
Reverence for the Blessed Sacrament 3°3
Our Lady of Dale 3<H
Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Succor 305
Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel 306
Miraculous 3°6
Marianisches Lob-Gesang 3<V
Song of Praise to the Blessed Virgin Marcella Eberlee 308
Pope Celestine 3°9
Holy Picture, The 3°9
Prayer for Peace 310
Holy Family, The Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 310
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin St. Ildefonsus 311
St. Augustine and His Mother 311
Prayer in Honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help 312
Real Treasure of Precious Indulgences of the Rosary, A 312
Te Deum Laudamus of St. Bonaventtire, The. .Marcella Eberlee 313
Mother of Grace, The 314
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin St. Alphonsus 315
Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows 316
Pious Exercise Pope Pius IX. 317
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin St. Bernardine of Siena 317
Prayer for Victory in Temptations 317
Ejaculations 318
Morning Prayer 318
, toirgin mo0t wise! att, SBeitp'j? ?brine! sclim fair pillars, 3lnb table ditinc!
from tfee 0uiTt bicb batft tome on u$ aHt <(Ppempt, in t&etoomb, J^rom tfte taint of tfte faH !
SHRINE
OF
OUR LADY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
1846
Thy chosen child, Lord Baltimore,
Struck off the manacles that bound By tyrant-power the infant shore,
And stamped her soil, true freedom's ground. 'Twas here where Faith — celestial bird —
First flung abroad her carol loud; And thou, fair Star, her matin heard,
That heavenward soaring pierced the cloud.
HE Blessed Virgin was indeed the patroness of the Church throughout the United States, as she was of Canada and Mexico; but the crown had not been formally placed on her brow. This act was the glory of the Council held at Baltimore in 1846, when twenty- two bishops there assembled, chose as Patroness of the United States of America "The Blessed Virgin conceived without sin." The decree is in these words :
Whereas the Most Reverend Archbishop of Baltimore and his suffragan bishops celebrating the sixth provincial Council in the month of May, 1846, respectfully request the Holy See to approve the election made by them in council of the Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without original sin, as the Patroness of the United States of North America, ... the most eminent and reverend fathers in the General Congregation de Propaganda Fide, resolved to beseech Our Most Holy Lord to deign to consent to the most pious wishes of the Council. Our Most Holy Lord Pius IX., by Divine Providence, Pope,
2 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
benignly approved in all the opinion of the Sacred Congrega tion at an audience held February 7, 1847.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December the 8th, was made the Patronal Feast of the United States, and has been made a holiday of obligation.*
"Devotion to the Blessed Virgin," says the Bishop of Natchez, in his sermon before the second Plenary Council of Baltimore, "may and will be more strong and lively in one person than in another, in one country than in another ; and we can understand how in one age it may grow wider and more intense throughout the whole Church than it was in ages which preceded.
"Now some men of extraordinary holiness and wisdom have foretold that the devotion to the Blessed Virgin should have an immense increase as the world grows older. . . . We can see ourselves, in the signs of the times which are coming on us, good reason for expecting that Our Lord may probably so direct the conduct of His Holy Church and the thoughts and hearts of her faithful children, as to make the devotion to His beloved Mother more intense and more active than it has been before. . . .
"It is a continuance of the old mystery of Bethlehem and Nazareth. Our Lord still vouchsafes to have Mary give Him to the world, and He chooses to grow in our hearts as He grew at Nazareth under the care of Mary.
"You can see it illustrated in the history of religion among yourselves. Some of you can recall when first began to be common the practice of wearing the medal of the Immaculate Conception. And more of you can remember when the devo tions of the month of May were not yet heard of. Now as these devotions have grown, so also have grown the devotions to Jesus in His childhood ; to Jesus on the Cross ; to His Sa cred Heart ; to His Most Precious Blood ; to His five Sacred Wounds; the Way of the Cross; the Visiting of the Blessed Sacrament; the Forty Hours' adoration. . . .
"And as for the country, so far each one of us in our own
*Ii. P.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
hearts, if we desire that Jesus take full possession of them and reign supreme, let us every day more and more magnify His power and love by pouring out our praise and blessing on His mightiest work and His dearest friend, His own blessed and beloved Mother."
CHURCHES IN AMERICA DEDICATED TO MARY
"There are nine churches dedicated to Mary, Help of Chris tians, nine to Mary, Star of the Sea, two to Mary, Refuge of Sinners, seven to the Sacred Heart of Mary, four to Our Lady of the Port. Others are to Our Lady of the Isle, of the Catar act, of the Gulf, of the River, of the Rocks, of the Portage, of the Snows, of the Woods, of the Lake, of the Desert. There is Our Lady of La Salette, of Belen, of Levis, and nine of Guadalupe. Again, we have Our Lady of Light, of Grace, of Good Hope, of Prompt Succor. There are four to Our Lady of Victories, three to Our Lady of Consolation, five to Our Lady of Loretto, seven to Our Lady of Angels, nine of the Rosary, seven of the Good Shepherd, sixteen of Our Lady of Mercy, twenty-one of Sorrows, twenty-two of Carmel, and thirty-one to Our Lady, simply.
"There are three churches of the Mother of God, five of the Purification, eleven of the Nativity, fourteen of the Annuncia tion, sixteen of the Visitation, fifty of the Assumption, one hundred and forty-five of the Immaculate Conception, and three hundred and sixty-seven which are simply called Saint Mary's."
In all there stand in the United States in honor of its Pa troness, more than a thousand churches.
4 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
A HYMN TO OUR LADY
PATRONESS OF THE UNITED STATES
In 1846 the Fathers of the Council of Baltimore elected the Immaculate Mother of God as the special patroness of the United States. In 1904 Pope Pius X. proclaimed a Golden Jubilee of three months' duration in honor of the Immaculate Conception.
The stars on our banners are gleaming for thee, Then, oh, take them, loved Queen, for thy crown;
Clear Star of the Morning, bright star of the Sea, On our star-blazoned banner shine down.
Oh, shed on our tri-colored flag thy mild light,
Let its folds in thy radiance shine; Oh, keep it the symbol of freedom and right,
Tis the flag of our country, 'tis thine.
E'er deep was our love for Columbia's shore,
But now deeper's that love in our breast, She's the Land of Our Lady, now and e'er more,
She's the pure Virgin's Crown of the West.
We'll love and defend her for Mary's dear sake,
For her cause we will willingly die; No foeman a star from her banner dare take,
While we think of our Queen-Star on high.
Our banner is thine, Queen, oh, bless all its stars, And undimmed through all years make them gleam;
With glory illumine its White and Red Bars, On its gemmed field of Blue ever beam.
Rev. William P. Treacy.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
SHRINE
OF
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART ISSOUDUN, FRANCE
1854
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart!
Unlock thy stores to-day, And from those mines of grace impart
That gift for which I pray. Thou knowest the heavy burdens laid
On weary mind and frame; Thou knowest how long I've wept and prayed,
Yet suffered still the same.
Sister M. A. Dominic.
VERY day the Morning Offering goes up from millions of faithful hearts, all the world over, for the interests of the Sacred Heart and for the In tentions of the League; and it is through the Im maculate Heart of Mary that our Associates of the Apostleship of Prayer make the offering of their prayers, work and suffer ings to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This is as it should be. We go through Mary to Jesus, and we go with full and unfaltering confidence, because this is the proper and natural course to follow in the order of things established by our Lord in view of the great mystery of the Incarnation. As His Blessed Mother gave Him to the world and His Sacred Heart was formed from her most pure blood, so, to glorify her, He gave her in return, if we may so express it, all power over His adorable Heart, and made her, as St. Bernard teaches, the dispenser of all Its treasures.
Thus it comes to pass that the true instinct of Catholic love and devotion has given to that peerless Virgin a name and a title that points out her share in the distribution of the bless ings of her Divine Son's Heart, that implies her influence with that loving Heart, which influence and power enable her to
6 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES Off
obtain for her children among men all the graces and blessings they need; and so we style her "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart."
The title of Our Blessed Lady involves a great deal. Lady — in the language of the Church, Domina — means Sovereign, Mistress, Queen, of the Heart of Jesus. It seems hardly neces sary to warn Catholics that there is no question here of an absolute, irresistible power, which no creature can wield over the Creator ; but that intercessory power which some holy Doc tors have styled omnipotentia supplex, an intercession which Our Lord will not reject. The great Commentator on Holy Scripture, Cornelius a Lapide, explains this unique privilege of Our Lady as founded on what he styles the jus maternum, the "Mother's right." When Our Lord chose the Blessed Vir gin to be His Mother, He gave her, with this unexampled dignity, all that it includes.
In 1849, three young students of the Bourges Seminary bound themselves by a vow to the task of honoring in an especial manner the Heart of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. They received Holy Orders and went different ways. In 1854 two of them met at Issoudun as priests attached to the same church. The old idea was found germinating in the minds of both. Their scheme was to found an association of missionaries, but there were difficulties in the way, as they possessed neither money nor influence.
At length an idea occurred to them. It being close upon the time of the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Con ception, they said between themselves : "Let us make a novena to the Blessed Virgin and ask her, as the first fruits of the definition of the dogma of her Immaculate Conception, to let us know whether it be the will of God that our project be car ried out."
The novena was begun. The answrer came on December 8, 1854, at the exact time when the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception was being proclaimed in Rome. In the course of that hour, ever memorable in religious annals, because of what was going on in the capital of Christendom, one of the young
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
priests with whom we have to do was summoned to the pres bytery.
A visitor awaited him there, who said: "Monsier 1'Abbe, a gentleman unknown in these parts, and who wishes to remain so, offers you 20,000 francs for the founding of some good work at Issoudun."
"What good work?" asked the priest.
"Anyone you like," was the answer; "nevertheless, an insti tution of missionaries would best correspond with the donor's wish."
The benefactor in question was Abbe de Champgrand, of Paris, priest of Saint Sulpice.
The young priest, who had just heard what to him was joy ful news, went to seek his fellow priest, and found him pray ing before a statue of the Blessed Virgin.
"Come quickly," he said ; "I have something to tell you."
"And I," said the other, "have something to tell you. The Blessed Virgin has just made me understand that our prayer is answered."
Thus was a new work born — thus was the world to be made acquainted with a fresh form of Marian devotion, that of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, having its seat at Issoudun.
The young priest who had been summoned to the presbytery to receive the visitor, was afterward to be known to the world as the Rev. Pere Chevalier, founder and Superior of the Con gregation of Missionaries of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Issoudun.
The work, which we have just seen so evidently born of prayer, had prospered not only spiritually but materially also, to the extent that, at the time when the foundations of the Church of the National Vow were being laid at Montmartre, it could look on a splendid church of its own, already raised to the dignity of a Roman basilica, with a hundred lamps burn ing before its high altar. Already its missionaries were spread ing in different parts of the world under a single invocation — devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to the Sacred Heart.
We purposely dwell here on this particular form of devotion
8 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
to Mary, because the same seems to us to have an especial place in the great devotional movement of the time. Moreover, judging from subsequent events, it seems to us to point in the direction of a more concrete and tangible expression of its own great leading idea. Up to that time it had familiarized the Catholic world with an invocation, that of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which embodies more perfectly than does any other the idea of Mary's empire over the Heart of Jesus, and which consequently may be said to express better than does any other the spirit of the Church's teaching respecting the inter cessory power of the Blessed Virgin.
As Our Lord's mother, then, Mary had all a mother's rights over the Son who so loved us that He chose, for our advan tage, to become like to us in all things save sin. He was true man, as well as true God ; and as He did all things perfectly He was a perfect Son to His chosen mother. This implies a mother's authority and jurisdiction, her sacred and incontest able right; and this right was exceptionally great in her case, more complete than in any other mother that ever lived, since to her alone Our Lord bore all the natural relation of child to parent.
This right of Our Lady was recognized by Our Lord in His voluntary subjection to His mother, not through necessity, but through His love for us and because He chose, as St. Paul expresses it, to "annihilate" Himself, or to empty Himself of His glory and supremacy, as man, for us. And so, at the age of twelve years, He made a public profession of His subjection by returning with His mother from Jerusalem to Nazareth and "He was subject unto them," and so He remained during the thirty years of His life at Nazareth. The Gospel mentions an other striking example of Our Lady's intercessory power over the Sacred Heart, in the miracle wrought at Cana of Galilee, at her request, though Our Lord had just said "His hour was not yet come," an expression which emphasizes the efficacy of the mother's word.
The Fathers and Doctors of the Church abound in passages which express this truth in many forms. Father Eudes sums
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
them all up, in his work on the holy Heart of Mary, in these words : "May we not say with perfect truth that a heart which can do everything with the Heart of a God, has sovereign power ? Now who can doubt that the Heart of the Mother of Jesus has all power with the Heart of Him who chose to be her Son and to give her all a mother's authority over Him ? Will He deprive her of what He has given her with so much love? Never. Jesus will always be Mary's Son, and Mary will ever be the mother of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of that holy Mother will forever exercise a mother's power and authority over the Sacred Heart of that best of sons/'
This is very much like what St. Augustine says of Our Lord's constancy in His love : "Our Lord Jesus does not love and then forsake." It follows, therefore, that whatever the love of Our Lord for His Blessed Mother moved Him to do for the honor of her motherhood on earth, will be done all the more in heaven where love is perfect. And if a mother's love has such power over the heart of a Son as even we know it to have here among men, what when that mother is Mary, the holiest, the most tender, the perfect one of all mothers, and that Son is Jesus, the most powerful, the most generous, the most loving of sons ? Surely there can be no limit to His defer ence to her intercession when she pleads in our favor.
It was this consideration that moved some zealous priests at Issoudun, in the diocese of Bourges, in France, to form an association intended to give glory to the Blessed Virgin in the relation of ineffable love that exists between her Immacu late Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Moreover, since Mary, according to St. Ephrem, is the hope of those who are in desperate straits, this association is to plead with her for her powerful intercession especially in difficult and hopeless cases, both in the spiritual and in the temporal order. As the asso ciation purposed to reach the merciful Heart of Jesus through the intercession of Mary, its founders gave it the title of "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart."
The association was canonically erected on the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, January 29, 1864, and in the month of
IQ APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
June, of the same year, Pius IX. gave it his approbation and granted to it various indulgences. It was soon after raised to the dignity of an archconfraternity, the statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, at Issoudun, was solemnly crowned by the Archbishop of Bourges, in the name of the Sovereign Pontiff, the church of the Missionary Fathers of the Sacred Heart, in which the statue stands, was enriched with the indulgences of the Portiuncula, and other favors have since been conferred upon the association which has its church also in Rome.
Many confraternities have been affiliated to it in all parts of the world. The members of this pious association may gain an indulgence of a hundred days, once a day, by reciting, morning and evening, the invocation : "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us." The feast of the society is celebrated on the 3ist of May. As the Immaculate Heart of Mary is so closely connected with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart may well be cultivated with especial fervor by the Associates of the Holy League.
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART IN PREPARA TION AND REALIZATION
When the graceful-flowered nenuphar, having struck its roots deep in the bed of a stream or lake, reaches the waters surface in its upward growth, forthwith it spreads its large round leaves and, supported by its native element, proceeds to unfold its white corol to the golden rays of a summer sun. So Mary rose through the waves of her Son's Passion to open her virginal soul to the effusions of the divine prodigality.
From all eternity God saw His future Mother issue forth from the Precious Blood of Jesus. He loved as such her whom He already cherished as His Daughter, and He showed Him self accordingly lavish of His gifts. "My Daughter and Mother/' we fancy him lovingly addressing her, "what is Mine is thine. Mine is a virtue most high : it will overshadow thee. My divinity, incommunicable of its nature, I cannot give to thee, nor canst thou be mother thereunto, yet will I make thee
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN fi
Mother of a God. My Holy Spirit shall descend upon thee as into a sanctuary. The world, I its Creator and Master give unto thee — be thou its worthy Queen. With the sun, My handiwork, I clothe thee. The luminary of night shall be thy soft footstool. The stars will dispute the honor of being among the twelve jewels of thy crown. I have cedars on Le banon and cypresses on Mount Zion : thou will surpass them in grandeur. Than My palm-trees that sway their feathery fans in the deserts of Cades, thou wilt be more majestic. My roses bloom bright and fragrant in the gardens of Jerico, but more exquisite will be thy perfumes. The aroma of the bal samic cinnamon and the unctious myrrh shall be as nought in comparison with thine.
If salvation is vouchsafed to Mary so abundantly, if hers are so many graces, her beauty and greatness so transcendental, it is all in view of her maternity. She could not, strictly speak ing, deserve that honor by actual worthiness, but she would by absolute fitness. Wherefore God prepared her to be the worthy tabernacle of His Son. [S. Thomas III. q. 27.] As Mother of God, Mary in a manner possesses infinite dignity. [S. Thorn. I. Distinct. 44. q. i.] "She alone attains to the confines of divinity," says Cajetan. This is why she stands at the source of salvation even as she will, later, near the Heart of her Saviour Son on Calvary. Jesus being hers as veritable Son, has placed this life-giving fountain in her hands as in a channel. ,
But whence springs this source? From the Heart of God Himself, from which it passes (never to leave It) into the Heart of Jesus Christ. And who gave Jesus that Heart ? Mary formed It with her most pure blood. That Heart therefore belongs to her as the heart of every son belongs to his mother. She loves it and is loved by it. In it her words are sure of a hearing ; her requests, of a favorable answer ; her tears, of in finite compassion. Jesus will not resist the maternal power of Mary over His Heart. It has never been heard — non audituni a seculo — that He did, nor shall it ever be, because it is against nature.
12 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
In view of all this, how fitting is the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and how consoling! How well it emphasizes the fact that Mary is our Mediatrix near that Heart, Its mor ally indispensable aqueduct. To deny this fact is to gainsay all the ordinary economy of grace, refuse Mary the power of the most ordinary mother over the heart of her child, wound Jesus' most divinely delicate feelings, and give the lie to the history of all ages.
Yes, O Mary, the Heart of Jesus belongs to thee. Thou dispensest the salvation and graces It contains. Thou art, in short, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart ! This beautiful title tells nothing new. It only rehearses, in a summary way, all the eulogiums that heaven and earth have ever decreed to thee, from the Ave of Gabriel to the Bull Ineffabilis of Pius IX. If thou art not full of grace, not immaculate, not Mother of God, if God has not through thee, willed to come to us and to call us to Himself, thou hast then nothing above other creatures to commend thee to the Heart of Jesus ; (my spirit shrinks from the thought, my lips tremble to say it) thou art not Our Lady of the Sacred Heart ; thou mayest not sing more : "My soul hath rejoiced in Jesus, my Saviour." But if, on the con trary it is all true, if Jesus is thy son, and the most loving and obedient of sons, if His goodness renders thine nigh infinite, [Albertus Magnus Sup. Missus est 9, 197. torn. 20.] if grace, instead of destroying nature, perfects it, if, in fine, glory and divinity ennoble and immortalize what they touch, then joy fully do I unite mine with the countless voices that cry : "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us."
The favors which Mary lavishes on those who invoke her under the above title are a guarantee of its efficiency. It was in this sense that our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII. wrote twenty years ago : "We can attribute only to the most powerful favor of the Blessed Virgin the astonishing abundance of prodigies with which Heaven has rewarded the confidence of the faithful who have implored the help of God by invoking His Mother under the title of Our Ladv of the Sacred Heart."
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 13
A GARLAND OF HOLY THOUGHTS FOR THE MOST PURE HEART OF MARY
ist Day. — It is those nearest to Mary who are most quickly, most potently drawn. Rev. G. Tyrrell, SJ.
2. Let us always have recourse to this most sweet Queen.
St. Alphonsus.
3. The soul of Mary is the image of the soul of Jesus.
Dr. Ullathorne.
4. To those who recite my Psalter I promise my special protection.
Words of the Blessed Virgin
5. The whitest whiteness of the Alpine snows, Beside thy stainless spirit dusky grows.
E. C. Donnelly.
6. Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Pray to Jesus for me.
St. Philip Neri.
7. This fair and pure Virgin-Mother renders all her servants chaste and pure. St. Alphonsus.
8. "Virgin of all virgins, to thy shelter take us !
Gentlest of the gentle, chaste and gentle make us."
9. No female saint ever uttered a doubt as to Mary's sinless purity.
Dr. Ullathorne.
10. The more entirely you give yourself to the Blessed Virgin, the more she will give herself to you. Your confidence will be the measure of her bounty. Pere Cestae.
11. Jesus bore the weight of the sins of men, Mary the weight of their sorrows. Madame Swetchine.
12. In union with the perfect confidence and hope that the Holy and Blessed Virgin placed in Thee, do I hope O Lord. St. Pius V .
13. Confidence in the Blessed Virgin is the sure sign of predestination.
Mgr. de Segur.
14. The virtues that belong exclusively to Mary, like silence, and gentleness, in no way exclude strength and energy.
Madame Swetchine.
15. "See the Virgin-Mother rise, Angels bear her to the skies."
14 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
16. I love our Blessed Mother with singular tenderness. I can never hear her name mentioned without being so moved as with difficulty to restrain my tears.
17. She alone is the Mother of God, . . And preserved Immacu late. D'. Ullathorne.
18. Let us be proud of our devotion to Mary. Rev. C. Perraud.
ig. "Salve Regina !" when our souls are weary
We find in thy dear love a soothing balm. E. de M.
20. Mary's soul is a lily from the spotlessness of its purity, the fragrance of its charity, the grace and delicacy of its form.
Father Tyrrell.
21. Mary was ever the dear child of God. Dr. Ullathorne.
22. She occupies the first of the "many mansions" which her Son went up to Heaven to prepare. Ibid.
23. If we call her "our life, our sweetness and our hope," these epithets carry us but a short way toward what she truly is.
Dr. Hedley.
24. "0 Mother of Mercy," cries St. Bernard, "the restless and un stable world is under thy feet."
25. O Mary, be thou with me, now and always, as my adviser, my hope, my Lady, my Queen. Rev. B. F. Clarke, S.I.
26. Virgin and Mother, make me always to remember thee.
St. Philip Neri.
27. "Sancta Maria !" Star for ever bright !
Guard us and watch o'er us by day and night
M. Q. N.
28. Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon; let him implore Mary. Pope Innocent III.
30. Glorious in thy royal crowning;
Thou art robed as with the sun.
Ah ! look down upon thy children,
From the Kingdom thou hast won. E. de M.
31. Day by day, hour by hour, she is praying for us, obtaining graces for us . . showering down blessings on us. Father Clarke.
"Look at the Star . . Call on Mary." St. Bernard.
Culled by "Enfant de Marie/'
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 15
VISIT TO OUR LADY AFTER HOLY COMMUNION
Mother, upon my lips to-day,
Christ's precious Blood was laid; That Blood which centuries ago,
Was for my ranson paid. And half in love, and half in fear
I seek for aid from thee, Lest what I worship, rapt in awe,
Should be profaned by me.
Wilt thou vouchsafe, as Portress dear,
To guard those lips to-day? Lessen my words of idle worth
And govern all I say; Keep back the sharp and quick retort
That rise to easily; Soften my speech, with gentle art,
To sweetest charity.
Check thou the laugh or careless jest,
That others harsh may find ; Teach me the thoughtful words of love,
That soothe the anxious mind. Put far from me all proud replies,
And each deceitful tone, So that my words at length may be
Faint echoes of thine own.
O Mother, thou art mine to-day,
By more than double right; A soul where Christ reposed must be
Most precious in thy sight. And thou canst hardly think of me
From thy dear Son apart; Then give me from myself and sin
A refuge in thy heart.
'Ave Maria.
APPARITION TO
BERNADETTA SOUBIROUS
LOURDES, FRANCE
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 17
APPARITION
TO
BERNADETTA SOUBIROUS LOURDES, FRANCE
1858
O Bernadetta, thou favored soul,
What called her ' . thy sight, From her fair, enrapturing vision,
In realms so pure and bright? The little ones are chosen
To confound the wise on earth, The shepherds, not the rich, were called,
When angels sung Christ's birth.
May White.
OURDES is a small town in the south of France, at the common entrance to several deep gorges in the Pyrenees. Near the town is an almost per pendicular cliff, known as Massabielle, which means, in the dialect of the country, 'The old rocks." In this cliff is a natural grotto, about twelve feet high and twelve feet deep, within which is a sort of niche about six feet high, of almost an oval shape. It was in this niche that on the nth of February, 1858, the Virgin Mother of God appeared to the little shepherdess, Bernadetta Soubirous.
Although it is a dear and familiar sight to thousands, yet not all its glories are as well known as they might and should be, for Our Blessed Mother's sake. To no one can the story become too familiar. Lourdes has been the scene of such thrilling miracles, such inspiring graces, these forty-six years, that its name now ranks with Loretto and Paray-le-Monial. So, "let us now speak of Lourdes," while countless bands of pilgrims are hastening to kneel on its blessed soil.
A very poor place, indeed, was that mountain hamlet, in the year of grace 1858. Though it bore the title of "key of the Pyrenees," it had become a rusty and lockless old key ; though
i8 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
its strong castle or "Chateau-Fort" still made, and makes to day, an imposing feature in the picturesque landscape, the little mountain town had become only a halting place for tourists, to Cauterets or Gavarni.
Bascle de Lagreze tells fascinating tales of the ancient glories of the place; its enviable situation at the mouth of the Seven Valleys of Lavedan, its resistance to the feudal barons, to the English invaders who conquered it, and held the Chateau-Fort for long years, and its brave but futile resistance to the Albigensian heretics. The ruins of the churches and sanctuaries of the Seven Valleys tell the same tale in stones overthrown and moss-grown. In the year 1858, there was no such thing as commerce or manufacture, but there was still Faith in God. Even the great French Revolution had not de stroyed that. Though the watchman on the tower had ceased to call out on the stroke of midnight, as had been the custom for ages, "awake, ye who sleep, and pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory!" yet at day-dawn, and long before it, as well as at the sunset hour, the old Parish Church (a thousand years old it is), was filled with worshippers, and among them we shall find, little Bernadette Soubirous, the chosen child of Mary, who, at the age of fourteen was brought back from the neighboring hamlet of Bartres, where her parents had kept her from early childhood, in the vain hope that she might develop into a healthy and robust woman.
They brought her back from her light labor of tending a scanty flock, to prepare for her first Communion.
She was a pious little girl and very familiar with her rosary, reciting it as it is recited in that country ; that is, by meditating on the fruits of the fifteen mysteries, as well as on the mysteries themselves, and at each decade humbly asking for some special grace.
So when on the morning of Thursday, February n, 1858, she stooped before the Grotto to remove her shoes and stockings, in order, without wetting them, to follow her sister Marie and their companion, Jeanne Abaclie, into its recesses, that she, too, might bear home her share of the much-needed drift-wood for
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 19
the hearth fire, it is not surprising that she should have instantly fallen upon her knees and drawn forth her precious beads, when the voice, silent to all other ears, had stirred her senses, and, looking up, she had beheld the Vision.
The air was still — yet the leaves in the tree tops rustled. She looked up — for there was something peculiar in the sound. She saw nothing. That first murmur was only to prepare her. A second stir of the leaves, as if they were saluting the heav enly visitor. This time the eyes of Bernadette were blessed.
The sight that blessed the eyes of Bernadette has become dear to us all. The radiant Lady stood in shining white robe, with blue girdle falling to her feet, and ample sweeping veil, golden roses on the feet which rested so lightly on the eglan tine that embowered the moss-grown stones. That day and hour marks an epoch in the nineteenth century. Again the supernatural spoke to the world, by the voice of an untutored child. Blessed are they that hear the voice of Mary !
As the little maid knelt and gazed, she saw that the beautiful vision also held a rosary. Its links shone like gold, and its beads were like alabaster. Bernadette could not have felt afraid after that. While she gazed the vision vanished, smiling.
On the way home she asked the others if they had seen any thing. No, they had not seen anything. Their curiosity was aroused by the question and, before they reached the Rue des Pettis Fosses, where Madame Soubirous was waiting for the drift-wood, that she may prepare their meagre repast, all has been told. When the mother hears it, in her turn, she pru dently says, "you think you saw something, but you saw noth ing." So, perhaps to break off the impression in the child's mind, she permitted her to return to the Grotto on the follow ing Sunday, with some of her companions-
They took the precaution to go first to the parish church and obtain some holy water, for fear the vision might be, after all, something uncanny, in spite of its celestial beauty and heavenly smile.
"Let us say our beads," says Bernadette, when they had reached the spot where she had knelt three days before.
20 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
Hardly had they begun when her face became transfigured. Again the vision dawned upon her sight. "She is there," she softly whispered to her companions. But they saw nothing, and urged her to sprinkle the place with the holy water, and speak to the "Lady." Bernadette timidly obeyed. "If you come from God, approach !" she said, scattering some of the holy water in the direction of the niche, and as the Lady ad vanced a little, smiling the while, Bernadette sank upon her knees and resumed her beads. Through the fingers of the "Vision" the beads also glided, as if in union with the humble shepherdess.
Four days later, on February i8th, a lady of the parish, and a young girl of the sodality of the Blessed Virgin, who had heard of these visions, and doubted them, disapproving also of the excitement they were causing, undertook to accompany Ber nadette to the Grotto, and see for themselves what took place there. They had hardly entered it when it was flooded with a soft light, the Vision appeared and made a sign to Bernadette. "She is there, and beckons me to go nearer," said the child.
"Ask her if our presence is displeasing to her," said one of her companions. Bernadette asked the question and, after a little, whispered that they might remain. They knelt and lii a blessed candle they had brought with them. "Ask her who she is, and if she will write her name on this paper?" (One of her companions placed pencil and paper in Bernadette's hand.)
"What I have to say needs no writing," said the Lady. "But I will ask you to do me a favor : will you come here every day, for a fortnight?"
Bernadette gave the promise, "and I," said the Lady, "prom ise to make you happy ; not in this world, but in the next."
Bernadette imparted this conversation to her companions. "Ask her," said they, "if we may come with you."
"They may come, and not only they, but others ; I desire to see many here."
Now we know from those two unimpeachable witnesses that, from the first sight of Bernadette's face in ecstasy before the
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 21
Vision, it was evident that she was perfectly sincere and truth ful. They came more than doubtful ; they returned convinced of the holy and supernatural nature of what she beheld.
After that day her going and coming was no longer in peace or tranquillity. She was followed by ever-increasing numbers. Those who beheld her face in ecstasy were converted. In order to achieve this, thousands passed the entire night upon the hill side opposite the Grotto, that they might have a good place for the early morning.
On the next visit Our Lady, for there could no longer be any doubt that it was she, imparted to Bernadette, a secret for herself. She also bade her "go and drink at the fountain, wash in it, and eat of the grass that grows beside it."
When she received this command, the obedient little one turned toward the River Gave, but the Vision pointed in the opposite direction, where there was neither spring nor foun tain ; nothing but a little mound in the hollow of the rock, on which a few spare tufts of grass were growing. To their as tonishment the multitude then saw Bernadette stoop, and scrape the earth. Slowly a few drops of muddy water formed in the hollow she had made. Three times she stooped and tried to drink of this, but each time disgust overcame her. The fourth time she succeeded in swallowing a little. She then washed her face in the same muddy water, and ate a few blades of the grass. The radiance that shone upon her face and illumined it, when this was done, must have been a reflection of the look cast upon her by the Queen of Heaven as she vanished from her sight. To-day the visitor to Lourdes sees the women of the place, the little children, too, as well as very many of its Chris tian men, drinking at the fountain in the same way. Their cup is the hollow of their hand. They kiss the ground in mem ory of Our Lady's command, and eat the bitter herbs. Some of them and, especially those who were contemporaries of Ber nadette, seem to be beings of peculiar sanctity, as if still under the spell of Bernadette's face in ecstasy. "As for me/' said one, who is to-day Superior of the Third Order of St. Francis, "I can never forget the beauty and the light of that face, After
22 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
thirty-seven years or more I see it still." Yet Bernadette's features were far from beautiful in themselves.
It was in the fifth day of her visits that the miracle of the candle took place. Someone had given Bernadette a large can dle that would stand alone. She placed it on the ground before her, and began to pray. Unconsciously she joined her hands above it so that the flames passed through between her fingers. For a quarter of an hour one of the spectators held his watch open, looking at her. This was a well-known physician of high standing, Dr. Dozous. He was an infidel. Later he gained the faith, thanks to the sights he witnessed. When the child ceased praying he approached and, as if by accident, touched the flame of the candle to her hand to test her. "O you burn me," she exclaimed. While in ecstasy the flame had respected her pure flesh, — or else the presence of Our Lady rendered the fire harmless.
And now the first miracle is wrought, in open day, before the gathered throng. There is not a foot of ground unoccupied within sight of the Grotto. There are curious spectators even lodged in the trees, like huge birds, to catch a sight of the "visionary" the one who sees, as she comes and goes. They witness the miracle : a dead child restored to life. Though the father sees that the little one is dead, and the neighbors are preparing for its burial, Croisine, the mother, will not believe it. She snatches up the little body and runs with it to the Grotto. There, for a long quarter of an hour, she holds it under the water of the miraculous spring. Public indignation is aroused ; they are ready to stone her for her cruelty to her own child. She is indifferent to their menaces, and carries the child back and puts it into its little cot. "Do you not see that he is dead?" asks the father. "No," replies Croisine, "Our Lady will cure him." And the child awakes; awakes and asks for food, and the next day walks for the first time in his three years of life.
On the 25th of March Our Blessed Lady imparted to Ber nadette her name : "I am the Immaculate Conception." Ber nadette tries hard not to forget it, as she hastens to tell the
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
saintly pastor of the parish. She does not know the meaning of the words, nor does she realize that it does not depend upon her to remember or forget that she is only the messenger, and can not forget if she would.
The Abbe Peyramale needs no explanation. He is convinced. He had asked for a sign, that he might be sure of the child's veracity, and had himself suggested, as one that would be con clusive, that the eglantine blossom in February. Our Lady had only smiled at this poor human precaution. Had the rose-tree blossomed in February, what benefit would it have been to man kind? Our Lady needs no prompting. Though the rose-tree did not blossom in February, miracles of healing began then and there, and have continued till now. The dead came back to life. The deformed have been transformed. Leprosy, moral and physical, has been cured ; and more, and greater far than all these, dead hearts have been awakened ; and the resurrection of a dead heart is more than the animal life coming back to the inanimate clay, or the cleansing of the lepers.
Eighteen times did Our Blessed Lady appear to Bernadette.
The last of the eighteen Apparitions took place on the i6th of July, etaoinoin Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. What Bernadette heard and saw on that day has not been given to the world.
She soon after made her first Communion happily and holily. Her pastor was impressed with the manner in which the Holy Host passed from his fingers, as if of its own volition, to lodge in her heart. She entered the school of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers shortly after; and from there, having joined their Community, she was taken to the Mother-House of their Order. Thence she went to enjoy the happiness promised to her for all eternity, by the lips of her Immaculate Mother.
What Lourdes became through her vision she never saw.
The year 1869 saw the first public manifestation in honor of the Apparitions in which the Church took part. An imposing procession, composed of the people of Lourdes and of four hundred surpliced priests with the bishop at their head, made its way through the town to the Grotto of Massabiello, and there, amid the religious rejoicings of the multitude, a statue
24 APPARITIONS AND "SHRINES OF
of the Blessed Virgin was placed in the niche of the rock which Bernadette had seen illumined eighteen times as with a light not of earth. Thus was the first step taken in the realization of the words of the Lourdes message : "I wish people to come here in procession."
The chapel also asked for in this same Lourdes message was already growing to the proportions of a stately church.
With the beginning of the next ten years a fresh era was to commence at Lourdes. The extraordinary impulse which the pilgrimage movement in France received from events imme diately after the Franco-German war was to find its fullest expression at Lourdes. The year 1873, which saw upwards of 3,000,000 pilgrims at different French Shrines, saw 250,000 at Lourdes alone. It may be safely said that Europe had seen nothing similar to this religious movement since the time of the Crusades.
In this same remarkable year of 1873 the Augustinians of the Assumption who, the year before at La Salette, had been instrumental in forming the Pilgrimage Committee, launched into being the National Pilgrimage to Lourdes. The follow ing year saw a contingent of sick pilgrims forming part of the National Pilgrimage. These pilgrims being for the most part poor, the means of thus conveying them to the Grotto of Mas- sabiello was the result of charitable contributions. The sick contingent of the beginning has, with time, grown to something like a thousand destitute, suffering, and sometimes dying per sons, who yearly form part of the National Pilgrimage to Lourdes. In those early days the national pilgrims needed but two trains to take them to their destination ; now, thirty years later, they need eighteen.
In July, 1876, the votive church in honor of Notre-Dame de Lourdes was consecrated by Mgr. Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, the Pope having raised the building to the dignity of a Roman basilica. Six archbishops and twenty-one bishops took part in the magnificent ceremony.
The year 1878 saw the death of Bernadette Soubirous. We will glance at Sister Marie-Bernard for a moment before she
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 25
is taken from this world. Retaining to the last her joyous elasticity of spirit, and learning to walk ever more carefully in the way of the Cross, she had become an almost perfect re ligious. This does not mean that her nature had acquired the serenity and self-mastery of the perfect. At times pain wrung from her words of impatience, of which she quickly repented. The Divine words heard by St. Paul are applicable in her case : "Strength is made perfect in weakness."
As Bernadette neared her last home, her eyes became bright and lustrous. The day that was to see her leave this earth saw her on her bed with her arms extended in the form of a cross. This was the Wednesday of Easter week, April 16, 1878; and, as if to render her end still more like that of Him whom one of the most luminous-minded of modern priests calls the "eternal Lover of our souls," she died at three o'clock in the afternoon, while her last words were : "Holy Mary, Mother of God." These died on her lips as her spirit fled. She was buried in the convent cemetery.
THE MIRACLES OF LOURDES
How often have we been asked the question : "But, did you see a miracle ? What was it like ?"
To these questions we might reply by asking another, Ameri can fashion : "Who has ever visited Lourdes without seeing, not one, but many miracles?" "The first and greatest of the miracles of Lourdes, is Lourdes itself" has been well and truly said. A beautiful city sprang up as if by magic, from a de serted hamlet. A once deserted hollow, in the heart of the mountains, became suddenly overflowing with guests from every part of the world. A poor spot, without trade, or manu factures of any kind, now exchanges the currency of every country, in its countless shops and stores. In a word, it has become a great mart.
And for what? you naturally ask. And herein lies the ma terial miracle that you may touch with your ringer. This tre-
26 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
mendous commerce consists of objects of piety, and candles, which are also objects of piety there, if you will. Candles? tons of them ; there is no limit to the demand ; they are being consumed there by hundreds, night and day, these nine-and- thirty years, in honor of the Immaculate Conception. And that light is not likely to be extinguished. Yes, candles ! and beads from the pilgrim's beads, each bead the size of a walnut, with chain almost as heavy as a ship's cable, to the gem of gold and jewels that an empress might covet. And Scapulars — Our Lady's livery, both the blue and brown : Lourdes and Carmel, that is to say. And Our Lady's statue — and lastly, let me say — last, but oh, not least! the water from the miraculous foun tain, which is not sold but given away, though the bottles and the transport make long rows of formidable figures in the yearly budget of the Grotto Fathers. Ah, it is wonderful to contemplate those streets, up hill and down dale, under every house, every arch, in every nook and corner, shops, and again shops of pious objects, and all busy as Nijni-Novgorod in Sep tember, when the merchants of the East and the world there congregate. And, what is more, every visitor dons these ob jects; invests himself or herself with Rosary and Scapular, and the red badge of the Sacred Heart, and triumphs in them. And here the material and the spiritual miracle meet and blend. Be neath that livery and badge, by the power of that mighty Rosary prayer, that has overthrown pagan hosts before now, you know, something is born that will bear fruit for eternity, resist it as one may. That something is the Grace of God.
But tell us of the real miracles, you insist. Well, it is hard to choose individual cures from the volumes of well attested mar velous graces or miracles, as they call them, that lie at hand. But there are marble slabs embedded in the stone floor of the Grotto itself, bearing names that would not be lent to a lie. They tell of the miraculous cure of Mr. Henri Laserre, who, as a thank-offering for his recovery, from what threatened to be total blindness, wrote for the world the whole story of Our Lady of Lourdes. Then stands the name of Marie, Countess of Munster, wife of the German Ambassador to France; and
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 27
that of the young Abbe de Musy. (He is not young now.) You may see him and Mr. Laserre and many others of the "cured" about the feast of the Assumption at the Grotto each year, for, on that day Our Blessed Lady reached out her healing hand to them, and they return faithfully to render thanks for it. From the date of their cure till now there is an unbroken chain of miracles. To quote any one of them in detail would take more space than is at our disposal. It is not possible to sum them up. What boots it to say, though we saw it, that Sister M. was miraculously cured of cancer or paralysis ? That her cure cost her community, her friends, and herself many a Mass and No- vena, to say nothing of the years of suffering, seemingly all in vain, till, like a revelation, it came to her that Our Lady of Lourdes would cure her. How the journey cost more Masses and Novenas and money that was, perhaps, not easy to obtain, besides much more suffering.
It is the little details that require time and space, that make the interest, as well as seal the truth, of cures like hers, that de serve and must have each a volume to themselves to make the story complete, it being the story of one life bound up in many. Mr. Laserre has told them well, because to him it was a labor of love and gratitude, and Our Lady gave him the means to do it. The last cure we saw was that of a little boy of the town of Lourdes itself. He took a heavy cold that settled into rheu matism, and his sufferings were so severe as to bring on heart trouble. He was a good boy, had just made his first Com munion, and was a member of the little band the good pastor calls his Chevaliers de Marie, his "Knights of Mary." Well, the little "Knight of Mary" was dying. Two physicians said so. For two days or more no nourishment, not even a little milk could be taken. He was a real little athlete at his studies and games and, for this reason, it was hard to give him up. He had been so full of life till now. But they were all gathered around his bed. It was the last night of his life, according to the doctors, when he spoke : "Mamma, I want to be taken to the Grotto and plunged in the piscina." They thought he was raving, "We will ask the doctor, my son," said his mother.
28 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
Both doctors agreed that it would be instant death. "But is there any other hope?" asked his parents. There was none, humanly speaking. "Then let him have his wish." They car ried him to the Grotto, not expecting to bring him back alive. It was a terrible ordeal, for the water is icy cold. He bore it, slept after it, took food the next day. Again they carried him to the Grotto, and again he bore to be plunged in the icy bath. Thus, for three days, when he was declared to be out of danger. They would have ceased the baths then, for they were still fear ful of the icy water, and that sudden first shock on entering it, but he told his mother, in confidence, that he had made a prom ise to Our Lady to be plunged nine times if she would cure him. And she did, and he kept his promise. It is a grand thing to be a Knight of Mary.
A PILGRIMAGE AT LOURDES
France has again become accustomed to them, thank God! They formed the most splendid pageants of her early history, even kings and queens disdaining not to join their ranks. History has repeated itself again. Few crowned heads are there to-day that have not openly or in secret knelt before the Grotto. A royal princess has walked barefoot to it from her hotel to obtain a grace from the Immaculate Virgin, and there is no member of the royal family, of France at least, that has not worshipped publicly at its Shrine and walked in its pro cessions. It is more than thirty years now since the first regular pilgrimages were organized, and there are parishes that can boast of never having misssed a year, their faithful clergy giv ing themselves no end of trouble to lead their flocks at fixed epochs to Mary's feet. How much France has gained by this is evident. The infidel and scoffer calls it "the new breath," this breath of fervor and reawakening piety that is blowing over all the land to-day. The Holy Ghost had breathed again upon the land and brought it back from utter desolation. The Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate are asserting their rights, and ob-
•• --no or L
APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
Both doctors agreed that > it would be instani
ke^l 1":
But is
for the w the next <!: I he bore t
ster, and that n other, in con;
to be plungt^ •id he kepi hi;--
Mary.
v carried mm
. i-cd in the icy bath. • .j r.o be out of danger. -.>f they were still fear- : shock on entering it, : He had made a prom- M she would cure him. It is a grand thing to
A PILGRIM
r LOCRDES
as again becom ed the most spit
and queens d;>. s repeated i:«.i v that have not
royal princess r aiti a grace fror }>CT of the royal ppcd publicly at t is more than thi - «nere orani ;•:«;;
to them, than of 'her early 1 to join their
to join their n ins. Few crowned heads are r in secret knelt before the -a'k*:r! barefoot to it from her ink: Virgin, and there *>t France at least, that has -\;ie and walked in its pro- •-•^ars row since the first regular •rrre are parishes that can • >f :U"Ycf baring miss -. their faithful clergy giv-
'.•»eTi selves- no end of \ ?.-- lead their flocks at fixed
*:;h^ to M.iry'* feet. Tiow France has gained by this
TV tnfklel and ^ •;-.tJU it "the new breath," this
of ferif^r and reawn swety that is blowing over all
tli*1 hint' ro-'.Uy. The Ho \vl breathed again upon the
land arvi brought it b«TC -rter desolatitin. The Sacred
Hmrt and Mary Immaculate are asserting their rights, and ob-
Copyright P. J . Kenedy
GROTTO OF LOURDtS
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 29
taining them. Deo Gratias ! But this is a digression. We were speaking of the pilgrimages. A little town (Benac) sent seven hundred of its nine hundred inhabitants to the feet of Our Lady of Lourdes one of these recent days. To the people of France and Belgium and, indeed, all European Catholic countries, a pil grimage is not what it was in the early ages, a pilgrimage that is not an excursion, not an outing, or trip for pleasure or curi osity or to pass the holidays. They organize it in order to gain great things. They may be temporal as well as spiritual. Is it not God who gives both ? Therefore, the pilgrim prepares for the great event by a Novena of fasting and prayers. His first act, on reaching the Shrine, is to prepare for Holy Communion, and that Communion keeps him at the Shrine, a tireless wor shipper, all the time his group remain. It is not easy to tempt him away from the Grotto and the Calvary above it, even for the necessary purchases he came prepared to make. As for his meals they are of little or no importance. He takes them when and how he can do so, at least sacrifice of time from his Blessed Mother's Shrine. Was it not St. Francis of Sales who said : "Each time I enter a sanctuary of Mary, I feel by the beating of my heart, that I am in my mother's house. So with the pilgrims of this place, at least. They feel that it is their own mother's (their heavenly mother's) house, and they love and honor it. They have prepared their sacred canticles to chant in her honor ; their best robes to adorn themselves for her sake. Look at them as they march from the station to the Grotto. A crowd of white surpliced priests leads them, Their beautiful silken banner is unfurled, Mary's image smiles from it upon them. Rank and file how modest, how recollected ! Their maidens are enveloped from head to feet in snowy gos samer veils, like so many brides. They have spent their mid night hours in preparing them. They are not hampered with any bag or bundle whatsoever. All these have been carefully put away that they might be free to lift their hard and toil-worn hands in prayer.
It is really worth while to mount to the parapet of the Cha teau-Fort and look down upon the panorama of pilgrimages
30 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
gathered there, as well as the aspect of the place in general Come, it is worth while ! All Lourdes is now spread out before us. We face the beautiful Basilica, "the marble wonder." Its great doors are wide open, its matchless chimes sounding, to welcome the advancing host. Glance in; does it not look for all the world, like a museum of art-treasures? Silk gold-em broidered banners hang in rich profusion from groined roof and fretted arch and each one of its encircling altars. They hang richest and thickest in and around the sanctuary. They are gifts from emperors and kings, from principalities and states, from cities and towns and villages, from communities and churches, from private individuals, and they vie with each other in costliness of workmanship. With them are mingled ex-votos, in the shape of swords and epaulettes and golden spurs, crowns and garlands and golden hearts. As if this was not enough, the walls are written over in blue and gold letters on white marble ground with the story of each individual grace. Day and date and name are there set down, in grateful homage, as it should be. Beneath the Basilica the huge portals of the Rosary Church stand open, too. Its roof and walls tell the same story of marvelous cures and graces. But it is not with the adornment of the sacred edifices that we have to do, not withstanding their eloquence, but with the ever gathering throng. There are many pilgrimages uniting now, for a proces sion of the Blessed Sacrament. You know how beautiful a thing that is, a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, what a charming picture they make anywhere. But here we have all France, so to speak, and a thousand Belgians besides, and hundreds from Italy and Holland and some from Poland. There, too, are the Stars and Stripes carried by a goodly group. They take up the line of march from the Grotto itself. At times a cardinal carries the Ostensorium; Archbishops and bishops and canons surround him, with perhaps mitred abbots near the dais, too, and not rarely hundreds of surpliced priests follow as escort to the Lord of Hosts. After them a double file of men bearing tall lighted tapers. Long before the canopy that covers the Blessed Sacrament comes in sight, you have
HEAVEISTS BRIGHT QUEEN
seen the choristers, the white capuleted orphans of Nevers, Bernadette's order. They always form part of the procession, and lend their sweet voices to chant their mother's praise.
After the men, come the pilgrims, in double and triple file, in perfect order, marshalled by the members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Lourdes. What a sight! There is not a va cant spot on all the land about. Those who are not in the pro cession, or part of it, kneel and adore the Lord of Hosts as He passes by. They all have something to ask for themselves or for others. Even the daughter of the Emperor of Brazil, who has left her work of bathing the sick, to worship for a little space, and that Orleans princess near her — all have need of Him. The procession has turned around the Breton Cross, and is now facing the Rosary Church and the Basilica. The sick are ranged along the esplanade. Their friends kneel close to their litters or little carriages. Those who can, kneel or stand supported by the strong arms of the brancardiers, the volunteer nurses, nobles of France many of them, many, too, seminarians. The cry of the multitude reaches us even here. (It mounts to Heaven, and is it wonderful that it should come thus far.) "Jesus, Son of David, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me whole !" No words can depict what passes as the Blessed Sacrament reaches that open-air infirmary. Weeping and wailing and piercing cries, such as the lepers are said to utter, mingle with the sacred hymns. They are softened by the sound of soft weeping; sharpened a thousand times are they, by the agon ized looks of those who kneel and plead in speechless anguish. If the Lord were not really there, the place would be a tophet, but He is there, and it is one of the gates of paradise ; He who is not cured, learns to love his malady. He whose prayer is not answered favorably receives the gift of resignation. It is a sublime moment, when, from the Rosary steps, or the parapet above it, the Holy Host is raised to bless the throng. These are moments worth a life-time of suffering one would say. To see these processions by moonlight under the brilliance of the illuminations, to join in their prayers and hymns, is a surpassing grace.
32 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
There is a moment, too, when all spectacular beauty is as nothing. When the human heart and conscience is lifted far above everything sublunary, no matter how imposing, and reaches up and up, to grasp the infinite. When, for example, under the light of Heaven's lamps, the multitude is gathered before the Rosary, and a voice intones the Credo in unum Deum, and its sublime cadences awake the echoes of the moun tain peaks. Then, when every head is bowed, and every knee is bent for a solemn moment, the sublime declaration, et Homo factus est, is reverently, deeply, profoundly uttered by adoring hearts and lips. Ah, that is a sublime moment, and as the deep melody rises, and proceeds fuller and more triumphant, it really seems as if men grew in stature, as well as in grace. There is something so ennobling in an open profession of faiu.
Such is the impression left by the Credo, as heard there, in the open air, uttered by more than twenty thousand voices, in the stillness of the August nights.
Thank God, we can all go to Our Lady of Lourdes in spirit ! all sing the "Credo" in our inmost heart, till summoned to join the greatest of all pilgrimages, till we reach the sanctuary of Heaven itself. May Mary our Immaculate Mother welcome us there !
Till that hour, Union of prayer in the Sacred Heart of Jesus ; and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, will keep us safe.
IRELAND'S OFFERINGS TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES
Sunday, September 10, 1876. A band of the Sons of Noble and Catholic Ireland had come to represent their country at the Grotto. For a long time they had the pious desire of offering to Our Lady of Lourdes a lamp which should burn day and night in her holy sanctuary for their beloved country. A thou sand subscribers sent in their names, and many more contrib uted to the gift. Cardinal Cullen, the illustrious Archbishop of Dublin, encouraged the idea, and gave the work his blessing.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 33
Mr. W. Thompson, of Dublin, received the commission to carry the lamp to Lourdes. He arrived, proud of his glorious charge, and offered, with the lamp, a beautiful banner of green silk, richly embroidered and bearing the figure of St. Patrick, the Apostle and Patron of Ireland.
The offering was solemnly presented before the Mass, which was celebrated for the Irish at the Grotto. The Rev. F. Cud- dihy, of the diocese of Dublin, made a short address, expressing the sentiments of the Irish people. The superior of the mis sionaries replied, thanking the Irish people for their gift, so precious in every respect, and congratulated them on their faith, charity, and self-devotion.
THE IRISH LAMP AT LOURDES
Where the lamps like jewels blaze
In our Queen's basilic blest, 'Mid those circling lights, thy rays
Are the brightest far, and best.
Glorious lamp from Ireland, Brilliant star from Erin's Isle,
Gilding all the altar grand With the splendor of thy smile !
Whose a dearer right than thine
To illume Our Lady's brow? Who hath better right to shine
At Her virgin feet than thouf —
Thou the boon, the symbol bright
Of old Erin's zeal and love ; Of her faith, through Sorrow's night,
Flaming up to Heaven above!
Of her fond devotion's fire,
Fed with oil from Mary's name,
Mounting higher still and higher, Through long years of grief and shame.
34 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
Queen and Mother, bending low,
Bless this daystar from the West; Other lamps may round Thee glow —
This is bravest far, and best.
Like St. Bride's immortal light,
That Kildare once joyed to see, Bid it shine forever bright,
Type of Erin's hopes and — Thee !
Eleanor C. Donnelly.
PRAYER
O Mother All-Merciful, thou hast come to us with out stretched hands, overflowing with graces, in order to attract us to thyself and to load us with favors. We hasten, therefore, to follow the odor of thy perfumes, sweeter far than that of roses. Gird us with the cord of purity and penance, cover us with the veil of modesty, bind us to thy service with the links of a faithful love, and lay upon our breasts the blessed Scapular of the Heart of thy Divine Son. May it be for us henceforth the pledge of thy most powerful protection until the day when we shall rest at last in the bosom of God for all eternity.— Amen. [40 days' Indulgence.}
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. [ 100 days' Indul gence.]
Mother All-Merciful, pray for us. [40 days' Indulgence.]
WITH THE APPROBATION OF HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF SOURCES-
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
35
APPARITION
TO
FRANCIS M. SHANUBOGA DASSAPORE, INDIA
1861
But Mary's love, her plentiful love, Lives not in earthly mother; 'Twill show us at last, When the strife is past, Our merciful God is our Brother, Our merciful God is our Brother?
Rev. F. W. Faber.
HE Christians of Dassapore, having established a school some years ago, chose for teacher a young pagan Brahmin, the son of "Shanuboga," tax- gatherer of the village. He was to teach not only reading and writing in Canarese, but also the prayers in com mon use among Christians. It was in the fulfilment of this latter duty that he heard the first call of grace. The beautiful language in which the Christians addressed themselves to God pleased him much. In order to understand it better he asked for books of explanation, in perusing which he was inflamed with the desire of becoming a Catholic. Meanwhile, without revealing his intention to anyone, he recited the Christian pray ers morning and evening, and several times a day the "Hail Mary," for which he had an especial attraction. In her turn the Mother of God did not forget her young pagan client : one night she appeared to him, sleeping or waking he could not say, and encouraged him to persevere in the resolution of be coming a Christian.
Having seen the Bishop on one occasion at Dassapore, he tried to find out where he lived. But he dared not say a word
From a letter of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Coadou, Bishop of Mysore, India, to the Annales de la Ste. Enfance.
36 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
about his determination to his family, who would not have failed to put him to death rather than let him embrace Chris tianity.
A fortnight after the first Apparition the Blessed Virgin ap peared to him again, this time chiding him on account of his delay, indecision and fear, and directing him to set out at once. "To what place?" asked the grieved young man. "To Banga lore," was the answer.
Setting out on the morrow at daybreak, he met a poor pariah Christian, and asked if he knew the road to Bangalore. "Yes, sir," said the beggar. — "Do you wish to go with me?" — "Yes, sir." — "Well, follow me, or rather lead me, and tell no one whither we are bound."
After twelve days' journey, the two travellers reached Ban galore. The beggar led the Brahmin to our church, the native vicar of which, Father Shanta by name, was known to the young aspirant. The priest, after having heard with great pleasure all that the young man had to say, encouraged him and sent him to me. The Brahmin, in accosting me, asked for Baptism. I told him he should first learn the prayers and be instructed in Christian doctrine. "I know the prayers," said he, and repeated them. He then recounted to me the two Ap paritions of the Blessed Virgin, and again begged to be bap tized. Seeing his great frankness and simplicity, 1 made up my mind to send him to our seminary, there to prepare himself for baptism. Though evidently disappointed at the delay, he expressed his willingness to go.
Now the trials began for him. In the seminary it was a regular, monotonous and secluded life. Overcome by tedious- ness, he yielded to discouragement ; and, leaving the seminary, went to Father Shanta to borrow money in order to return to his village. Remonstrance, encouragement, reproaches, were all to no purpose. He wept and kept repeating : "They do not want to baptize me; I am going away." Father Shanta told him to wait a few moments. The poor Brahmin sat under the porch of the church and began to sob.
Father Correc, then a young missionary, who was in a room
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 37
adjoining that of Father Shanta at the time, moved by the sob bing of the young man, began to say his beads for him, en treating the Blessed Virgin to retain him whom she had mirac ulously condescended to bring to us. He had not finished the first decade when, as if moved by a supernatural force, the poor fellow, his face beaming with joy, threw himself at the feet of Father Shanta, exclaiming: "I am resolved to return to the seminary ! I do not want to go away." He did return indeed, and from that day began to make himself at home there.
His relations, however, who had been seeking for him, soon came to know that he had gone to Bangalore to embrace the Catholic religion. His father arrived here, and in a threatening tone demanded back his son. "Your son," said I to him, "may go with you if he likes ; I did not send for him, nor will I send him back. But if he shows himself constant in his determina tion of becoming a Catholic, I will confer Baptism upon him." "We shall see," replied the grumbling father, who betook him self to the seminary. There he reproached his son with dis honoring the family by embracing a religion that was meant for a low caste of people, conjured him to return to his home, threatened to curse him and deliver him over to the police, etc. The young aspirant bore the assault with the greatest calmness,, but declined to comply with the wishes of his father, who there upon brought the police. But he behaved toward them with the same firmness, and, with that irony which Indians know so well how to use, said to them : "I thank you, sirs, for your visit ; I am going to make a declaration, and you will be my witnesses. I came here of my own accord, and I wish to become a Cath olic. I am eighteen years old, and, according to the law, I am my own master." The policemen then went their way. The father, enraged and disappointed, also took his departure.
Shortly afterward, on the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the catechumen received Baptism and was named Maria Francis. For the past two years he has been teaching at the school of Sattihally. The rank he holds among the Christians, along with his marriage to a Brahmin girl, also a neophyte, saves the honor of his caste ; and his family, hitherto so opposed to him,
38 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
are now quite content. It is even said that some of his rela tives are disposed to follow his example.
May the Blessed Virgin, whose motherly intervention shines out in his story, deign to continue her protection to the follower of her Son !
REMARKABLE CONVERSION OF AN EAST INDIAN
A Catholic chaplain attached to one of the prisons in Madras gives the following account of the recent conversion of a Hindoo. It seems to furnish another instance of the power ful patronage of the Blessed Virgin:
Whenever I visited the prison, I observed a tall Hindoo, with a countenance full of intelligence and life, but pale and worn by disease. He sometimes accompanied the Catholic In dians that came to see me, but he never presumed to speak. However, one day, when I entered the yard of the prison, dressed in a wide, white robe, with a red girdle, my head veiled from the sun, and an immense red turban mounted above the veil, my Hindoo friend advanced towards me, kneeling respect fully, and passing his hand many times before his mouth, that his breath might not pollute the air which had just touched the white vesture of the sepami.
The tall prisoner used to watch the Christian convicts who came, one after the other, to confess their sins ; he remained at a distance, for it is strictly forbidden in the prison for the Chris tians and pagans to mingle. Each convict's name and creed are registered on his entrance, and all proselytizing is prohibited under the severest penalties. Emboldened on this occasion by the pious joy that he had observed on the countenances of his companions, he accosted me, saying softly : "Sepami, I want to be baptized." I gave him no answer, well aware of the conse quences if I conversed with the poor heathen; for, like the greater number of his countrymen, he wore ostensibly the tokens of demon worship.
However, I made careful inquiries among my Christian con victs as to who that distinguished-looking man might be. I
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 3$
was answered that all they knew with certainty about him was that he was continually saying he desired to receive Holy Bap tism from the sepami, and that he would receive it. I repaired to the governor of the prison, with whom I am on very good terms, and told him about this man, in order to obtain permis sion to interrogate him. But the officer, with a vigorous though narrow-minded fidelity to the instructions he had received, re fused rather harshly, and threatened to separate the Hindoo from the other convicts. He reiterated the formal prohibition about making proselytes, and said that the observance of the ordinance would be enforced on all the employes and all the convicts within the prison walls.
A few days later I again saw the tall Hindoo at a distance, and on this occasion I noticed for the first time that he was evidently suffering from an incurable disease. The Christians told me that he was particularly well informed in regard to the mysteries of our holy religion, but refused to tell who had instructed him, and always ended his conversation with begj ging to be baptized.
"Baptize him, then, yourselves," said I to them.
"No ; he will not accept the Sacrament except from the mis sionary."
I resolved to go again to the governor, and try to make him relent; but I met with a still more chilling reception than on the previous occasion. The injustice of such a procedure aroused my indignation, and, considering only my imperative duty as missionary, I said to the English officer :
"Sir, you have no right thus to withhold salvation from a soul that begs for it so earnestly. Your power over this man is limited to the laws of human justice ; outside of that you are not responsible for him. The disease from which he is suffer ing is fast bringing him to the grave ; to-morrow he may not be alive, and you will one day be obliged to render to Almighty God an account of your conduct." Thus I continued, giving full vent to all my feelings. He let me go on without once interrupting me. When I ceased speaking, he asked :
"Would you dare to commit to writing all that you have ut-
40 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
tered against the Government of Queen Victoria and against her representative?"
"Certainly, I would !" I exclaimed. And, rising, I went home directly and wrote out a still more ardent petition. Meantime the Indian grew worse.
A few evenings afterwards I heard a loud knocking at my door, and on opening it, an employe of the governor handed me a sealed document, and hurriedly said : "An authorization
is granted to Father to give No. 32 the aids of the
Catholic religion."
Very early next morning I hurried to the prison infirmary. The poor Indian had all the appearance of a dying man ; my presence aroused him, and for the moment he seemed to gain new strength. A friend who had accompanied me urged me to ask the Hindoo to relate his story. Thinking it might bene fit the pagans who had gathered around him, I yielded to the request, and the Indian began :
"I am from Coimbatoor. I was lately a forester in the service of British engineers, who were very kind to me. I was obe dient, orderly, and esteemed by my chiefs. I never wronged anyone, or told many lies, and was quite contended with my position. Every day I put aside a good share of my ration for the prando* — in fact, I never failed to do this. On one occa sion my engineer made me a present of twelve fine eggs from France, which brought me twelve beautiful little chickens, that I led out every morning into the tall grass, where they were sheltered the whole day. I was greatly pleased at seeing them thrive, when one day I discovered that I had only eleven ; the next day there were only ten, and so on. The prando had eaten them all. But what could I do ? Was not the prando the mas ter? However, just as the bird was about to pounce upon the last one, blinded by passion, I seized my gun, and, without waiting to reflect, I fired, and the prando rolled at my feet.
"O Father, rash man that I was ! I had slain my god ! From that moment I had no peace of mind ; I could not eat ; I grew
*A great black eagle, which certain classes among the East Indians consider as a divinity.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 41
thin, and was so wretched that I wandered away, and directed my steps to Nagatam. Here friends received me kindly, and I was forgetting my crime, when suddenly the police laid hands on me, and cast me into prison. A murder had been com mitted in the neighborhood that I had left ; my disappearance at the time aroused suspicion, and I was condemned. Of course, I believed that the prando was punishing me. Once, while I was giving myself up to this thought, I saw, on the wall opposite the bed on which I was seated, a soft, white light. I fancied it was a wax taper burning ; how it got there I could not tell ; it gradually increased in size and brilliancy, like the sunlight, and I could look at it intently without pain. Soon in the midst of this disc appeared the head of a lovely Queen, of such beauty as I had never seen or imagined. — Raika! Raika! how lovely She was !" the sick man exclaimed, and then resumed his narrative :
"After a few moments the whole form of the Queen ap peared. I was not afraid to consider Her attentively, because She looked at me so benignly ; and at last She thus addressed me: 'Man, No. 7' (that used to be my prison number), 'you are grieved because you shot the prando; but that was not your God : it was only a bird, like others of its kind. My Son is the one true God, and Him alone you should adore. I am His creature, but He has made Me His Mother. Because you are an upright man, observing the natural law, He has per mitted Me to come and tell you that you shall be baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You are most fortunate to have seen Me now, and you shall soon join Me in heaven, and see Me always.' O Father, how lovely She was! She continued to look at me with inexpressible sweetness, and told me a great number of things, all of which I understood. Suddenly I darted towards Her to see Her bet ter, and then She disappeared."
The Indian kept repeating his enthusiastic exclamations, which excited the astonishment of all present.
"In what tongue did the beautiful Queen speak, since you understood her so well ?" I asked.
4* APPARITIONS AND SHRINES Off
"She did not use any language," he answered; "she spoke within me, and I learned everything all at once."
"Was She white or black ?" (To this man the type of beauty could not be white.)
"She was composed of light — She was all light," he replied.
It was undoubtedly the Blessed Virgin who had appeared to this child of Adam, redeemed, like all mankind, by the Blood of Her divine Son ; She had indicated the kind of baptism in store for him, so as to prevent his receiving that administered by sectarians.
After some preliminaries, I said in a loud voice, before the large assembly of Indians, who were greatly affected at the recital : "My son, since you have been instructed by the Mother of God Herself, I will give you the baptism which She prom ised you, and you have so long desired. You shall be called after your Queen, your Raika; and I will add to Her name that of the disciple whom Her Son loved best. I will baptize you John Mary." When I had finished speaking, the dying man fell anew into a state of extreme weakness, caused by his dis ease, but he received the Sacrament with the greatest joy.
When I returned to the prison the next morning, John Mary was dead ; he was beholding his Raika, according to Her prom ise, for all eternity.
At the present time, the veneration of Our Blessed Lady is extending, step by step, in the Indies. The Rosary is recited among the Hindoos of the coasts of Malabar, among the Chinese, the Siamese, the people of Tonquin, and Cochin China ; it is the only prayer-book which the Catholics of distant countries possess, and it is the first thing they ask for when they see a European priest. The churches of the Indies often bear the name of Mary; that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, at Pondicherry, is one of the most remarkable. A novena has been established in this church of Malabar, which procures a multitude of conversions, in a country where con versions are so difficult ; it opens by a procession made by night, with great pomp. Repositories, which the faithful of Malabar adorn with vases of flowers, and muslin embroidered with
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 43
gold, receive, each in turn, beneath the globes of fire which light them up, the holy Image of Mary, borne upon a triumphal car. The procession moves along slowly, to the sound of loud music, between two rows of torches. At each Repository, while all is silence, a child's voice sings the praises of the holy Mother of Our Lord; after which the Image of the Blessed Virgin is solemnly carried back to the church, and replaced upon her magnificently illuminated altar.
"MARY'S LULLABY"
O Mary Mother, if the day we trod In converse sweet the Lily-fields of God, From earth afar arose a cry of pain, Would we not weep again? — (Sings) Hush, hush, O baby mine!
Mothers twain are surely thine:
One of earth and One Divine.
O Mary Mother, if the day the air Was sweet with songs celestial, came a prayer From earth afar and mingled with the strain, Would we not pray again? —
Sleep, sleep, my baby dear !
Mothers twain are surely near:
One to pray and One to hear.
O Mary Mother, if as yesternight A bird sought shelter at my casement light, A wounded soul should flutter to thy breast, Wouldst thou refuse it rest? —
Sleep, darling, peacefully! Mary Mother comforts me: Christ, her Son, hath died for thee.
Arthur Sherburne Hardy.
APPARITION TO
MARY WILSON
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 45
APPARITION
TO
MARY WILSON ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
1862
Is thy name Mary, maiden fair?
Such should, methinks, its music be, The sweetest name that mortals bear. And she to whom it once was given, Was half of earth, and half of Heaven.
Oliver W. Holmes
ENERAL was the joy occasioned a few years ago by the canonization of Saint John Berchmans, a favorite patron of our American youth. Few people, however, are aware that one of the three miracles selected as a final test in the cause of the Saint occurred in our own land. Fewer still have ever heard the striking circumstances connected with this special favor, the miraculous cure of a novice in the Sacred Heart Convent, at Grand Coteau, La. Moreover, the novena, which, through Blessed Berchmans' intercession, resulted in so signal a grace, was made in honor of the Sacred Heart. A few extracts, then, from the documents of the Process of Canonization cannot but prove interesting.
According to them, Mary Wilson, who received such signal favor, was born in New London, a town of Western Canada, on the 2Oth" of September, 1846, and was the ninth of eleven children. Her parents were Irish Presbyterians, and belonged to the Orange Party, a fact that will account for their sub sequent treatment of their daughter.
Her youth was spent in her mother's company, which she preferred to that of the children of her own age. It was only in 1862, when already sixteen, that she first left her mother's
46 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
side. That year, her cousin and adopted sister, having mar ried, begged as a special favor that Mary, of whom she was very fond, might be allowed to accompany her to her new home in St. Louis, Missouri, and spend a few weeks with her. It was during her stay there, that Miss Wilson became acquainted with a friend of her cousin, a pious Catholic lady. As both were fond of religious subjects they were soon drawn to each other, and Mrs. N. invited her new Protestant friend to attend some of the impressive services of the Catholic Church.
It chanced, or rather Providence had so disposed, that on the very morning the two companions entered the Jesuit Church, a Requiem was just beginning. The body of one of the Fathers lately deceased lay upon a bier in front of the sanctuary. At the close of the ceremonies, many of the faithful piously drew near to the catafalque and laid a reverent hand upon the pale, placid face of the dead religious. Following the example of Ker Catholic friend, Miss Wilson likewise touched the remains, not without a feeling of awe, as all was so new and strange to her. But the instant her hand rested upon the peaceful features, a sudden change came over her. The antipathy she had ever felt to Catholicism vanished, and left her free from the deep- rooted prejudices in which she had been educated.
Though silent concerning her altered dispositions, Mary Wilson could not conceal the delight she took in the Catholic services she continued to attend. The veneration shown to the Mother of God, had a special attraction for her loving nature and she grew fond of visiting a church in which a beautiful picture of the Madonna was honored. She loved to sit and gaze upon it. One day as she was thus absorbed, her com panion leaned over and whispered:
"Is not our Mother lovely ?"
Miss Wilson, who had never before remarked the sweet name by which Catholics are accustomed to express their love and confidence in the Mother of fair love, replied :
"But she is not my mother, since I am not a Catholic."
True, she was not yet a Catholic, but God, who was guiding
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 47
the child of predilection with more than fatherly tenderness, had instilled into her heart a strong desire to embrace the true faith.
At length Miss Wilson opened her whole heart to her friend. She told her of the change that had come over her feelings on the day of the funeral, and of her growing wish to become a Catholic. Her friend at once took her for instruction to one of the Jesuit Fathers. Let Mary now tell her story in her own words :
"Brought into relations with the Jesuit Father who was to instruct me, I experienced at first extreme terror at meeting a priest, as I had been told such horrible things about them. But I was received with such kindness and paternal interest that I had no doubt that Mary was already interceding for me, so quickly had all fear and disquiet disappeared ! After relating a few particulars concerning my family, I stated to him that I was not baptized. The Father gave me a book to read, and made me promise to return to him at my earliest convenience. I went three times a week for instruction, and after a fortnight asked for baptism. It was administered to me, without objec tion, on May 2, 1862, being the First Friday of the month."
This preparation may seem brief, but her instructor expressed his astonishment at the marvelous facility with which the young neophyte accepted the deep truths of our holy religion, and his joy at finding how keenly she appreciated the happiness and how fully she realized the obligations of a Catholic.
But let us hear Miss Wilson tell of her love for the Queen of Heaven, and of the consolation with which this loved and loving mother favored her during the severe trials which befell her on her conversion.
"I consider it as certain that the Blessed Virgin loved me even before I knew her. Sweet Mother ! how I love her now ! I could think of nothing else but Heaven and Holy Com munion, in which I was to receive Our Blessed Lord on the next Sunday. My happiness was indescribable, and my heart abounded with heavenly joy. Such consolation, however, was but too soon to be followed by great trials.
48 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
"I had written before to my parents that I was going to become a Catholic. To this they gave me no answer. Probably they thought I was joking. In my next letter I informed them that I would be baptized a Catholic by the time their answer would reach me. I received that answer on the very day of my baptism. It is scarcely credible what reproaches they heaped upon me in this letter. '/ was the disgrace of the family. If I dare to take that step they would disown me, and I mutt never presume to enter their house again. They would never permit me to sleep under their roof' etc. This was a hard trial for a girl of sixteen ! What was I to do ? I had no longer any mother on earth to guide me.
"I went to bed that night, but could not sleep. I was at the same time happy and sad. I wept and called for my mother, it seemed as if my heart would break — when I heard a voice say ing to me : 'Weep not ; / will be thy mother.' I thought it was the good lady who had so befriended me, and had stood my god-mother, and I asked her about it. She answered that she had not spoken to me, but had been sleeping, and, in fact, fell asleep again at once. I again heard the same voice : 'Weep not ; 7 will be thy mother!' I turned myself and saw standing near me, at my feet, a noble lady in white, who disappeared soon after. This could not be anyone but the Blessed Virgin herself, be cause these words brought me consolation and peace. I soon fell into a profound sleep under the protection of my new mother."
Thus did the Consoler of the Afflicted soothe the sorrow of her new child, and heal a heart breaking at the coldness and persecution of those who had been its nearest and dearest! The reproaches, threats and harshness of her misguided parents proved vain. The child, strengthened by the Bread of the strong, was resolved to lose all rather than forsake the right path her conscience had pointed out. Nay, more, Mary now felt an unmistakable call to consecrate herself entirely to God by the vows of religion, and so she applied to be received into the community of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. As her constitution had been weakened by the severe trials lately undergone, the superiors thought better to send the young
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 49
candidate to the milder climate of Louisiana. Mary was there fore transferred to St. Michael's, a convent of the Order, beau tifully situated on the Mississippi, some forty miles above New Orleans. She proved a source of edification to her fellow- religious. She had all the qualities requisite in an acceptable candidate but one — her health had not improved. Her kind superiors, loath to lose so interesting and promising a subject, bethought themselves of a fresh expedient.
There was another novitiate at Grand Coteau, an exceedingly healthy locality. Thither was the ailing postulant sent, in the hope that a change of air might prove beneficial. Here again Mary gave fresh proofs of a true vocation. But, far from im proving in health, she grew worse, and on October 19, 1866, she had a violent hemorrhage. Some six days later the attend ing physicians pronounced the case beyond the power of medicine.
Meanwhile the Superior, Reverend Mother Martinez, lav ished all possible care upon the patient, and recommended her to the prayers of the community. Still the malady increased. Finally, having lately read a new Life of Bl. John Berchmans, just then published, on the occasion of his Beatification, the Mother Superior conceived the idea of commencing a solemn novena to the Sacred Heart, through the intercession of the newly Beatified. She was much encouraged by observing that a great number of the miracles related in the life of the holy young Jesuit were wrought in behalf of religious. Her in creased confidence was also shared by the rest of the community and the sick postulant herself. The novena was accordingly begun, with the intention that, in the event of Miss Wilson's cure, the miracle should further the Saint's canonization. Four Masses were likewise promised, three in honor of the Blessed Trinity and one in honor of the Immaculate Conception. To add, moreover, to the solemnity and devotion of the exercises a picture of the Blessed, surrounded with flowers and tapers, was exposed in the novitiate chapel, where all assembled each day to recite the prescribed prayers. At their close the follow ing petition was repeated several times: "Deign, O Lord, to
5Q APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
glorify thy servant Berchmans, by granting some relief to our suffering Sister, and if her entire recovery be to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant it to our prayers, through the intercession of Blessed John, that thereby the cause of his canonization may be furthered."
The novena began on the 6th day of December. Miss Wil son's illness, then, had been increasing for nearly two months. The inflammation, extending from the stomach, the original seat of the disease, had affected the chest and throat. The tongue swelled in consequence to such a degree as almost en tirely to deprive the patient of her speech. Death now seemed only a question of time. In fact, on Wednesday, the I2th, the doctor declared it almost inhuman to oblige the patient to take any remedy or even food, and further ordered that nothing should be given her unless she herself signified a wish for it. He openly avowed his utter inability to better her condition, and continued his usual visits merely to afford the sufferer some slight consolation. Extreme Unction was then administered, and on several occasions when the patient seemed in her agony the prayers for the dying were recited.
The last day of the novena, a Friday, arrived. About 6 o'clock in the morning, Mother Martinez again visited the in firmary. Tears rose to her eyes when she beheld the low and pitiful condition of the sufferer. The hands of the dying novice were cold and contracted, the finger-nails blue, the tongue thick and raw, the lips discolored and the eyes closed; the mouth was in a most revolting condition, with dark-colored blood clotted around the teeth. In this dying state, however, Mary was still perfectly conscious. Her kind Superior, then, moved to pity and desirous of affording her some solace in her extreme sufferings, proposed to her to receive once more, if possible, the Bread of consolation and relief. By signs alone could Mary make known her eagerness for this most precious boon, as well as her fear lest she might not be able to swallow the Sacred Host. It was decided, however, not to deprive her of this last consolation, and the attending priest administered to her the holy Viaticum. He gave her only a very small
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
particle of the sacred species and directed that a few drops of water be given to aid in swallowing it. And yet so intense was the pain caused by the effort that the patient convulsively seized the nurse by the arm and heaved so pitiful a sigh that it sent a shudder through all who were kneeling around her. As the assistants were accompanying the Blessed Sacrament in procession back to the chapel, the nurse, perceiving that the patient was calm and tranquil, left her in her communing with the Source of strength and consolation, and withdrew to visit some sick persons in the adjoining room.
An hour had scarcely elapsed when the Superior returned to her patient. "I entered Mary's room," attests this religious, "and to my amazement, the dear child whom I had so recently left dying, held out her arms to me, saying : 'Mother, I am well ; I can get up !' Perceiving my excessive astonishment, she said again that she was cured, and assured me that she was able to rise immediately. Other members of the community came and with them six novices who the previous evening had asked per mission to bid their Sister a last farewell. All remarked her sparkling eyes, her teeth freed from blood, joy in all her features and ease in her every gesture; not the least sign of disease remained." . . . "At half-past eight, the doctor paid his customary visit to the infirmary, and was greatly sur prised at the change in the patient. He examined her tongue and found it perfectly sound, with no inflammation or swelling or any trace of disease. He said to Mary : 'It is certain that if you are well it is neither I nor my prescriptions that have cured you/ "
A few moments later the young religious rose promptly, crossed the room with a light step and sat beside the fire, con versing all the while with the Sisters who were making her bed. During the course of the day as many as thirty-six mem bers of the community visited the happy novice, congratulating her and sharing in her joy and gratitude. The next morning as soon as permitted, she rose, dressed herself, and hastened to the chapel to return thanks to the God of mercy for her recov ery. She was in perfect health.
5a APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
But what had happened during the hours the patient had been left alone in her room? Had anything strange occurred? Why did Mary's features bespeak such spiritual joy? Ah! she had seen and conversed with Blessed Berchmans. No one knew of it, however, except the Superior, until through obe dience she wrote her attestation, and thus described the heav enly visit : "After having received Our Lord in Holy Com munion, not being able to speak with my lips, I said with my heart: 'Dear Saviour, Thou seest how I am suffering; I en treat Thee through the intercession of Blessed John Berchmans to grant me relief, and, if it be for the salvation of my soul, restoration to health. But if such be not Thy will, grant me patience to suffer to the end; I submit myself entirely to Thy holy will.' And placing over my mouth a picture of Blessed Berchmans, I thus addressed him ; 'If it be true that thou canst work miracles, I humbly implore thee to do something for me, that I may have confidence in thee.' "
"I declare that then I heard a voice whisper to me : 'Open your mouth.' I obeyed as well as I could, and felt something placed on my tongue that gave me relief, then a loud, clear voice said very distinctly : 'Listen, you will get the holy habit you desire, be faithful, have confidence, and do not fear.' I had not yet opened my eyes and did not know who was at my bedside. I turned and exclaimed : 'Why ! I am cured !' Then I saw a person in the habit of a Jesuit, standing near me, with a cup in his hand and surrounded by light. Startled by the sight I closed my eyes and cried out: 'Can this be Blessed Berchmans?' 'Yes,' was the answer, 'I came by the will of God, thy sufferings are over, be not afraid/ Then I opened my eyes, but he had disappeared."
Miss Wilson, now in the full enjoyment of her former health, was without delay allowed to receive the much coveted habit. The sensation created by her miraculous cure gradually sub sided, leaving nothing to distinguish the privileged novice from her companions save the unspeakable peace and joy which lighted up her calm features.
After a little more than a month, on the 27th of January,
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 53
this chosen soul was favored with a second Apparition of her heavenly patron. Let us hear her once more : "Last Sunday, at the moment of Communion, I asked Our Lord to permit His blessed servant to satisfy me on two points, about which I felt a certain anxiety; but it never entered into my mind that the answer would be disclosed to me in the manner in which I will describe. After the evening Office, I went to kneel as usual in the place of the Apparition, and I asked to know with cer tainty whether Blessed Berchmans was pleased with the attesta tions given concerning the cure, and to understand more fully these words : 'Listen, you will receive the holy habit you desire/ God was pleased to favor me with a second Apparition of my beloved protector, who stood on the same spot as on December 14. I was inundated with pious joy. Smiling, he looked upon me and said: 'Are you not afraid?' And then, as if to en courage me, laid his hand upon my head. The remembrance of that moment fills my soul with the peace of heaven. He as sured me that he was pleased with the attestation and recom mended me to observe the rule very strictly. I asked whether I should live long, or die a novice in my first year of noviceship. He replied : 'Yes, you will die a novice, be faithful ; I will see you again and make known to you the time of your death.' "
On the first Friday of June the Sacred Heart seemed to have inspired the privileged novice with a longing for heaven, and while at prayer she earnestly besought her Immaculate Mother to take her to herself, for the Feast of the Assumption or of the Nativity (September 8). The ineffable joy which filled her heart at this moment, betokened that her gracious Mother had heard her prayer. As the days went by, the novice's yearning for heaven likewise increased. We may readily judge, then, of the fervor with which she joined in the novena preparatory for the 1 3th of August, the feast of her beloved protector, as she called Blessed Berchmans. As she rose from bed Sunday morning, just two days before the feast, she felt slightly indis posed. Still, she went to Mass, as usual, and approached the altar-railing with her companions to receive Holy Communion. But scarcely had she returned to her place when she fell back
54 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
in a fainting fit. She was taken out of the chapel and on recov ering, whispered to the Superior, who was kneeling beside her : "This is the first step." On the feast of her holy Patron she communicated for the last time in the chapel. The next morn ing she went to confession with her usual calmness, though fully convinced she was never to approach that sacrament again.
A few hours later the doctor came to pay his customary visit to the inmates of the infirmary. On his round he came to Madame Wilson, but finding her almost entirely well, merely prescribed a simple preservative, and playfully added: "Now don't be sick as you were last year." "It will not be long this time," replied the novice, and pointing to the little picture of St. John Berchmans, she ever kept with her, continued, "here is my doctor, I shall be cured in heaven." This language was a puzzle to the physician, as the present ailment betokened nothing serious. What was his surpise, then, a few hours later when, having been summoned back in all haste, he hurriedly entered the infirmary to find the young religious he had left smiling, horribly disfigured and deprived of her senses by a cerebral congestion. Strong restoratives were at once applied, but without effect. In vain also did her confessor wait for several hours, hoping the patient might have some lucid mo ments to receive the last consolation of the Church. This pain ful condition continued until a few moments before her death on the 1 7th, when, according to the testimony of those who sur rounded her death-bed, her eyes suddenly opened and became bright and fixed as though beholding a vision. Was she not then gazing upon her "Blessed Protector," who, according to his promise, had come to invite her to heaven? Be this as it may, soon afterwards the young religious peacefully breathed forth her pure and well-tried soul. The remains were laid in the convent cemetery, in the very spot she had a few days be fore pointed out to her companions as her chosen resting place. The infirmary, twice hallowed by heavenly visits, was, under the Superior's care, converted into a handsome chapel, in which from time to time Mass is offered. The spot where the Blessed
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 55
stood, is marked by a small basket, which still receives the in tentions recommended to his special intercession.
The report of the wonderful favors obtained by the young Jesuit Saint spread rapidly through the neighboring country. Pictures of "Le Bienheureux" as the Creoles styled him, were procured on all sides, and hundreds of great favors have been obtained by his clients.
A MOTHER'S SECRET
How sweet the sacred legend — if unblamed
In my slight verse such holy things are nam'd,
Of Mary's sweet hours of hidden joy,
Silent, but pondering on her wondrous Boy!
Ave Maria ! Pardon if I wrong
Those heavenly words that shame my earthly song!
The choral host had closed the Angel's strain, Sung to the listening watch on Bethlehem's plain, "Joy, joy to earth! behold the hallowed morn! In David's city Christ, the Lord, is born ! Glory to God ! let angels shout on high ! Good-will to men! the listening earth reply!"
And now the shepherds, hastening on their way,
Sought the still hamlet where the Infant lay.
At last, by forms of earthly semblance led,
They found the crowded Inn, the oxen's shed.
No proof was there, no glory shone around
On the coarse straw, that strewed the reeking ground.
One dim retreat the flickering torch betrayed —
In that poor cell the Lord of Life was laid!
The wandering shepherds told their breathless tale, Of the bright choir that woke the sleeping vale; Told how the shining multitude proclaimed ; They spoke with hurried words and accents wild; Calm in His cradle slept the heavenly Child,
$6 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
No trembling word the Mother's joy revealed, — One sigh of rapture, and her lips were sealed.
So grew the Boy, and now the feast was near When at that Holy Place the tribes appear ; They reached the City, and fulfill the days In solemn feasting and grateful praise. At last they turn, and far Moriah's height Melts in the southern sky and fades from sight; All day the dusty caravan has flowed In devious trails along the winding road; For many a step their homeward path attends, And all the sons of Abraham are friends.
Evening has come, — the hours of rest and joy. Hush! hush! That whisper — "Where is Mary's Boy?" O weary hour! O aching days that passed, Filled with strong fears, each wilder than the last. At last, in desperate mood, they sought once more The Temple's porches, searched in vain before; They found Him seated with the ancient men, — The grim old rufHers of the tongue and pen, — Their gray beards slanting as they turned to hear, Lost in half-envious wonder and surprise That lips so young should utter words so wise.
And Mary said, — as one who, tried too long, Tells all her grief and half her sense of wrong, — "What is this thoughtless thing which Thou hast done? Lo ! we have sought Thee sorrowing, O my Son !" Few words He spoke, and scarce of filial tone, Strange words, their sense a mystery yet unknown: Then turned with them and left the holy hill, To all their mild commands obedient still.
The tale was told to Nazareth's sober men, And Nazareth's matrons told it oft again; The maids retold it at the fountain's side, The youthful shepherds doubted or denied ; It passed around among the listening friends, With all that fancy adds and fiction lends, Till newer marvels dimmed the young renown Of Joseph's son, who talked the Rabbis down.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
57
But Mary, faithful to its lighted word, Kept in her heart the saying she had heard, Till the dread hour that rent the Temple's veil, When suddenly earth confirmed the wondrous tale. Youth fades ; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall ; A Mother's secret hope outlives them all.
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
APPARITION TO
MARY MAGDALENE KADE
PHILIPPSDORF, BOHEMIA
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 59
APPARITION
TO
MARY MAGDALENE KADE PHILIPPSDORF, BOHEMIA
1866
Hear, sweet Mother, hear the weary,
Borne upon life's troubled sea; Gentle guiding Star of Ocean,
Lead thy children home to thee.
Flora Stanfield.
HAT "the hand of the Lord is not shortened," and that He frequently manifests His wonderful power through the intercession of His ever-blessed Mother, Mary, may be seen from the following facts taken from the authentic official inquiries drawn up by Dean Schubert at Philippsdorf, a town on the northern confines of Bohemia, which border upon Saxony.
The true story we are about to relate is not an old legend, but the history of a woman still living, and well known to all the inhabitants of that place.
Her name is Mary Magdalene Kade, and she is the daughter of a very respectable weaver, the late Joseph Kade. She lives now with her married brother, who follows the same trade, at number 63, in the main street of this little town. From her girlhood she was always a simple, straight-forward, honest, and modest young woman, and had a special devotion to Our Blessed Lady, though without any of that exaltation or senti mentality which is sometimes seen in persons of her sex. She was a strong, healthy, child, and no sign of delicacy appeared in her till she was about eighteen or nineteen, when she began to suffer from cramps in the stomach, and then had a severe attack of pleurisy.
6o APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
She recovered from that, but continued delicate, and during the next two years got weaker and weaker, and suffered much from internal pains, for which no one could account. At last a cutaneous eruption broke out all over her body, but settled chiefly on her left breast. Notwithstanding all the skill and care of her doctor,* this place got daily worse, and spread to the shoulder and side, becoming a deep wound full of corrupted matter, which had to be dressed twice a day. The poor girl suffered unspeakably, grew weaker and weaker, and when lifted from her bed by her brother, fainted away and remained un conscious for a long time. So offensive was the smell from the discharge from the wound, that the children and others in the house had to keep away from her sick room, and her good brother, who was devoted to her, could only bear it by smoking all the time he was attending to her.
From the beginning of November she had been altogether confined to her bed, and received more than once the last Sacraments. She was attended by the curate of the parish, the Rev. Francis Storch, who was much edified by her wonder ful sweetness and patience, and her resignation to the will of God. He came on December 21, 1865, and found her so weak and in such agonies of pain, that he thought her last hour was at hand. She fainted during the administration of the Sacra ments and her voice was so feeble as to be inaudible. The doctors (Dr. Joseph Ulbrich, from Georgswalde, and Dr. Griil- lich, from Gersdorf in Saxony) who had been called in for a consultation, and who had hoped to be able to perform an operation to relieve her, found that such a thing was no longer possible, and declared the case to be one of incurable cancer in its most advanced stage.
On the nth and I2th of January her sufferings increased to an agonizing pitch; but she never murmured, and though she could not speak, she showed, by her kisses to the crucifix, her entire submission to the will of God, and her sense of the only source which could enable her to bear her pains in silence.
•This doctor was a famous physician, Dr. Joseph Ulbrich, who afterwards made • deposition on the whole case.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 61
On the morning of the I2th she had her wound dressed, as usual, by her sister-in-law under cover of the bed-curtains, for fear her brother, who could not bear to look at it, should see it. It was worse than ever. Dr. Ulbrich also visited her that day, saying mournfully, as he left her, to her anxious relations, that there was nothing to be done. Her brother lifted her out of bed to have it made, and she fainted away as usual. This same operation had to be performed that night, at midnight, and her brother asserts that when lifting her that time his hand was saturated with the blood and matter which flowed from the wound. After he had got her back to bed, she begged her brother to go away and have a good sleep, as she wanted nothing more. He obeyed her, and went downstairs to his own bedroom. No one, consequently, remained with the sick girl but Veronica Kindermann, an old friend of hers from child hood, who had undertaken to sit up with her that night, and to watch by her bedside. On the table, at a little distance, was a lighted candle. Mary was very weak, but spoke a little to her friend, saying how much she suffered, but that she felt sure Our Lord would not afflict her more than she was able to bear. They both said some prayers together, and the sick girl repeated St. Bernard's prayer, the Memorare, with special fervor.
About three o'clock in the morning the door of the room was flung violently open as if somebody had walked in. They were both wide awake, and Veronica was terrified, but tried to explain it away to the invalid by saying that it must have been one of the lodgers in the house, who wished to see what o'clock it was by the big clock in their room, as she knew he had to go to work very early at the factory. In spite of this fright, after a time Veronica got very sleepy, and as her patient could only talk with difficulty, and was otherwise quiet and recollected in prayer, she lighted a small night lamp, which, for prudence sake, she placed inside a lantern, and blowing out the candle, stretched herself on a bench by her friend's bedside, leaning her head on the bolster, and in that attitude fell fast asleep. An hour later, that is, at four o'clock in the morning, she was
62 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
roused by the sick girl, who was pressing her with her right arm. Veronica woke, started up, and saw her friend trembling and shaking all over, and covering her eyes and sunken cheeks with both her hands. To her still greater amazement, the sick room was illuminated with a light far brighter than the bright est sunshine and which was more than human eyes could bear. The invalid whispered to her hastily : "Kneel down, Veronica. Do you not see ? Our Blessed Lady, Mary, is here !" and then, with a trembling voice, she began repeating the Magnificat: "My soul doth magnify the Lord." When she came to the words, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour," there stood at the foot of her bed a Lady dressed in white, with a bright and beautiful countenance, and a shining crown on her head, who said to her in a loving voice : "My child, from hence forth thou are healed" — mein kind! von jetzt an heilt's — after which she disappeared. For a few moments the room remained full of bright light, which gradually faded away ; and then, once more, nothing remained but the feeble glimmer of the night lamp inside the lantern.
Veronica Kindermann, though present, had neither heard nor seen anything but the bright and extraordinary light; but at the entreaty of the invalid, who was in a great state of ex citement and joy, she ran downstairs to call her brother and his wife, fearing that she was taken worse and was sinking. But before they could come upstairs from the lower room, they heard Mary calling out in a loud voice which, yet was full of emotion: "My dearest brother! the Blessed Virgin has been here ; I am cured !" At first, they thought she was delirous and raving with fever ; but when she had told them all that had passed, and that Veronica had borne witness to the wonderful light, they began to believe in the Apparition. Still more mar velous was the fact that their sister had no more pain ; that when they examined the place where the fearful wound had been, all trace of it had disappeared, and only a slight scar remained, covered with a fresh skin. The flesh around was com pletely healed ; all offensive smell had disappeared, and the spot which was so sensitive before as to cause her agony when
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 63
touched, could now be pressed and squeezed without her feeling it in the least. All present, full of astonishment, thankfulness, and emotion, then repeated the Magnificat together to the end, Mary joining in it in a strong, clear voice. She was so per fectly cured that she was able to get up alone and leave her bed, and at the request of her brother, who could hardly believe his eyes, she walked up and down the room, which she had not been able to do for months, and then got into bed again with out assistance.
In that same house there were six lodgers, who worked in the factory close by, in Gersdorf, but who came back daily to dinner and to sleep at night. Four of these workmen were from Georgswalde, and all were steady, honest, well-conducted, pious men, who knew perfectly the .state of poor Mary Kade, and had often been to see her and to express their sympathy, both with her and her family. When those men came down stairs that morning and saw her whom they had only known as a helpless sufferer, moaning and groaning with pain, now looking so fresh and well and walking about with the rest, they could not understand what had happened, and wonderingly exclaimed : "Can it be Mary ? or is it someone else ?" When they were told what had happened, they could only marvel at the wonderful miracle God had wrought, and, kneeling down with her and her whole family, they said a Te Deum together. Mary herself shed quiet tears of joy, praising Our Lord for His great mercies, and in her deep humility declaring herself utterly unworthy of so marvelous a grace. When the first ex citement was over, she set to work diligently to assist her sister- in-law in all household duties, choosing the hardest and most laborious employments, without being the least the worse for it. On the contrary, she felt stronger and better than she had ever been in her life. The following Sunday, which was the Feast of the Holy Name (a feast kept with great solemnity through out Austria), she was most anxious to walk to church, which was about half an hour's distance from her house, in order, publicly, to thank Our Lord and His Blessed Mother ; only the weather was so bitter, and so heavy a snowstorm came on, that
64 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
she was persuaded to remain at home. Dr. Ulbrich came that day to see her ; and could only declare that her unexpected and sudden recovery was a real miracle, for that no human skill could have saved her.
On the 2Oth of January, being the octave day of her miracu lous recovery, she caused a High Mass of thanksgiving to be solemnly sung in the church at Georgswalde, at which she her self assisted with her whole family, and received Holy Com munion. The house of God was crowded with people who had flocked together from far and near to be present at this service. Two days before she had gone with her brother to the house of the parish priest, and informed him of all the circumstances regarding her recovery. Not only he, but the whole of Phil- ippsdorf, bore witness to her long and terrible illness, which every doctor had declared to be incurable, and which could only have been so suddenly cured by miracle.
The following year, on the anniversary of this marvelous cure and Apparition of Our Lady, the good folks of Philipps- dorf and the surrounding villages determined to keep a solemn feast on that day, without any initiative on the part of the clergy or the officials of the place. On the evening of the I3th of January, the little home of Mary Kade, and especially the "favored room," were illuminated by hundreds of lamps and transparencies with suitable inscriptions. On the very spot of the Apparition, no less than one hundred and forty lights were burning on a stand prepared for the purpose. Inside and out side, wreaths of evergreens decorated the whole house; but every dwelling in Philippsdorf and Weisenthal was also decked with wreaths ; and lamps were hung from every window, up to the town of Georgswalde, where the illuminations were carried out on a far grander scale. And what was so remarkable was, that there was no official organization, no preconceived plan, but that it all came spontaneously from both rich and poor, each one feeling moved to do his best, and to join heart and soul in the feast. The word was passed from one to another on the Sunday afternoon, and at once the whole population took it up. All the guilds, the children and confraternities of the parish,
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 65
even to the members of the fire brigade at Georgswalde, deter mined unanimously to make this demonstration in Our Lady's honor.
On the Monday morning a long procession was formed, carrying banners of Saints and lighted tapers in their hands, accompanied by two bands of music to lead the hymns which were sung by all the people. They thus reached the parish church, where a High Mass was sung in thanksgiving for all the graces which they had received through the Blessed Vir gin's intercession during the past year. The church was unable to contain a fifth part of the devout multitude, masses of whom were seen kneeling and singing outside the building. Not withstanding the severe cold, upwards of ten thousand people were gathered together on this occasion. When the service was over, the procession was again formed and proceeded, singing hymns and litanies, to what they called the "favored house." In the crowd were a very large number of working- men, both young and old, devoutly joining in this act of public devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. The clergy could not officially join in the procession that first year, lest they should appear prematurely to approve of a miracle which was still under the consideration of the bishops and other high ecclesi astical authorities. But the Rev. Francis Storch appeared at the door of the "favored house" and spoke to the multitude as follows :
"Beloved Brethren : — Before we begin to offer up here a short, but, I trust, a heartfelt prayer, I must say a few words to you all — words which will be no set sermon, but such as will give expression to the earnest convictions I now feel. Surely it is a wonderful thing to see you all gathered together in such numbers round this little house. A year ago this was but a humble home of a family of poor weavers, utterly un known to the world, and this room the place of suffering of a very sick and bed-ridden girl. A year ago, my beloved brethren, which of us would ever have thought of traveling a long way to visit this little house? to pray in this room? to seek here for strength and consolation, or to crave the
66 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
help of Almighty God in our bodily pains and sicknesses through the intercession of His Blessed Mother? — in a word, to come here to obtain heavenly favors? But you have not done this of yourselves, nor have your clergy been the pro moters of this pious pilgrimage. It is the hand of God which has led you to this place and which is here made manifest. I need not tell you of the extraordinary fact which happened here just one year ago; nor speak of the effects of it on hundreds of minds; nor of the favors which many have since received through the mercy of God ; nor of the innumerable number of people who have come hither, even from far-off countries in the course of the year 1866 to recommend themselves to Our Blessed Lady's protection ; nor of the instantaneous cure which took place here very lately of a person who had been hope lessly ill for the last eleven years, and which is a fresh proof of the favors which our dearest, sweetest, heavenly Mother has deigned to grant in this place to those who implore her aid — you all know these things as well as I do. But when I see you all around me here in such vast crowds, I ask myself : 'Where fore are we all drawn here?' And my heart answers, and the same word is doubtless in every other heart here, it is : Grati tude ! Yes. Gratitude is what has brought us all here together to-day to keep the anniversary of a fact so extraordinary and so unheard of before in our neighborhood and even in the whole of our fatherland. When the first anniversary of Our Lady's Apparition at La Salette was held, fifty thousand persons are said to have flocked together. Undoubtedly as many would have been here to-day could we have kept this celebration in summer-time : for even on this bleak and terribly cold winter's day, so many thousands have gathered together from far and near, drawn here by the same faith, the same hope, the same love, the same gratitude. Though the ecclesiastical authorities have, as yet, done nothing to enable us to keep a duly-appointed festival on this day, our courage should not fail for that reason ; nor our hope be less strong that God will continue to show forth here His power and mercy, and will be magnified by the wonders He will work through the intercession of His Blessed
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 67
Mother. I believe the day is not far distant when we shall be able to raise on this spot a building to His own and His Mother's glory : and that His infinite goodness will go on draw ing the hearts of men to this favored place. In this blessed hope and for this intention let us now offer up our prayers to God through the intercession of His Blessed Mother, our great advocate with her Divine Son."
Then the Litany of Our Lady was said by all and the pro cession devoutly returned, praying and singing hymns, to the market-place in Georgswalde. It is a remarkable fact that though there had been such a multitude of people and so great a crush, exactly opposite the "favored house," there was no accident or disorder of any kind.
One thing which had given so great an impulse to this dem onstration of fervor and piety was the instantaneous cure, re ferred to by the parish priest, of a girl from Georgswalde, which had happened only a few days before, and of which we will give here a short account.
Magdalene Langhaus, a young woman of thirty-three, had been laid up for eleven years and three months with spine dis ease and cramp, which caused her such acute suffering that she could not even move in bed, nor turn to the right or left with out assistance. To add to her pains she became so sensitive that she could not bear the least noise or light; she suffered con tinually and often had a flow of blood and matter from her left side. Every year she grew worse in spite of all that medical skill could do ; and to all who saw her she was the very picture of physical misery. Yet she was ever patient and resigned to God's will.
In November, the previous year, she begged to be carried to Philippsdorf to the "favored" house ; but experienced little or no relief. Still she did not lose heart, and was full of confidence that some day she would there obtain her cure. In the midst of all her sufferings she had a marvelous light heart, so that she was often able to give to others a word of hope and encour agement in their trials. In January she entreated her relations to take her once more to Philippsdorf, telling them that three
68 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
nights running 5«he had seen in a dream that great sufferer, St. Lidwina, who told her to be brought again to that house, as Our Blessed Lady had something in store for her there. To please her, therefore, on the morning of the 7th of January they took her, more dead than alive, in the covered sledge to the blessed house, where, however, she remained almost the whole day without consciousness, so that it was determined she should spend the night there. After midnight she was brought into the bed-room where the miracle had before taken place; and the people about her began to say the prayers for the agon izing, as she appeared in a dying state, and even said once her self : "I feel I am going to die ; will you give me a drop of water?" They then began to say the Litany of Our Lady by her bedside and, as they came to the words, "Health of the sick," which they thrice repeated, to their amazement, her feet, which for years had been drawn up to her knees, were suddenly stretched out, she got up alone from bed and said to those around her : "I am quite well ! Our Lady has cured me !" Then with tears of joy she went and knelt on the spot of the Appari tion, kissing it with the greatest devotion; and, after having prayed for some little time, she rose, without the least assist ance, and went down stairs, where three other people were watching. When they saw her come into the room, they could not believe their eyes, and afterwards declared that it was im possible to describe what they felt at that moment which was the most joyful one in their whole lives. From that moment she was without pain of any sort, the wounds in her body were healed, she could take all kinds of food and, though still very emaciated in appearance, she felt quite brisk and well. Her home had been in a house which stands in the market-place of Georgswalde, so that thousands had known her and had come in and out of the house and had seen and pitied her terrible state ; while they admired her submission to God's holy will in the midst of such sufferings. This miracle, therefore, made even more sensation in the country than that of Mary Kade, and one of the principal inhabitants exclaimed : "He who can not see in this woman's case the Almighty hand of God, must
HEAVENS BRIGHT QUEEN 69
indeed have his eyes covered with a thick cloud or the darkest of veils!"*
There only remains to add that, as year by year, more pil grims flocked to Philippsdorf and the same became renowned for more and more miracles wrought by Our Lady, the eccle siastical authorities instituted a thorough judicial inquiry into all the circumstances regarding the Apparition and the mirac ulous cure of Mary Magdalene Kade; and, the whole having been proved beyond all possibility of doubt, they permitted the building of a sanctuary adjoining the Gnaden-Kapelle, or "Chapel of Graces," as the weaver's little house was henceforth called, the local authorities all volunteering to make collections for this purpose. A magnificent church was soon raised, to which even many Protestants from Saxony largely contributed. A house was built alongside for the clergy ; and the Dean, as sisted by a certain number of priests, was busily engaged day by day and especially in summer-time, with processions of pil grims. The work, however, soon became overwhelming; and they found it impossible to attend, at the same time, to their parochial duties ; as, of late, new factories had been erected in that neighborhood and there was a great and rapid increase in the population. Our Lady has evidently blessed this place, even in a temporal sense, and everything that has been started here of late has succeeded. Seeing this, the saintly Bishop of the diocese of Listmeritz offered the new church to the Redemptor- ist Fathers, and it is they who have now the care of this new sanctuary of Our Blessed Lady.
The 1 3th of January, year by year, is kept with special de votion. On the eve the whole of Philippsdorf is illuminated. At four o'clock in the morning, the hour of the Apparition, every bell in the place is set ringing, whilst salvos of petards (crackers) are being fired according to the custom of the place on great festivals. Then Masses and devotions succeed one another in the Gnaden-Kapelle and in the new church ; whilst the chief service of the day is the solemn High Mass of thanks-
*This narrative is almost literally translated from the admirable work of the Rev. George Ott, parish priest of Abensberg, called Marianum (Pustet, 1868).
70 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
giving, which is a foundation made by Mary Magdalene Kade herself, and at which she has never failed up to this year (1887) to attend and communicate. For she still lives and is in good health. Having never married, she remains as she ever was, a pious, humble, simple, straightforward woman, earnestly re ligious, but also hardworking, not less admirable in her humility and simplicity now that God has made use of her to be the in strument of raising a new sanctuary to Our Lady, than she was exemplary in her patience and submission to God's will during her long and trying illness. For it is God alone who gives joy and pain ; and whether we receive at His hands favors or chastisements, to Him alone be all praise and honor and glory and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen.
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
Seraph of Heaven! too gentle to be human,
Veiling beneath that radiant form of woman
All that is insupportable in thee
Of light and love and immortality !
Sweet Benediction in the Eternal curse !
Veiled glory of this lampless universe !
Thou Moon beyond the clouds ! Thou living form
Among the dead ! Thou Star above the Storm,
Thou Wonder, and thou Beauty, and thou Terror!
Thou Harmony of Nature's art! Thou Mirror
In whom, as in the splendor of the sun,
All shapes look glorious which thou gazest on !
See where she stands! a mortal shape endued
With love, and life, and light, and deity;
And motion which may change but cannot die ;
An image of some bright eternity.
Percy B. Shelley.
THE ROYAL NAME OF MARY
Sing for the men whose fearless pen
Was never known to vary, Nor pause to weigh how much 'twould say
In love and praise of Mary.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
They gave her name a world-wide fame,
They raised to Heaven her story. But ne'er could reach what God would teach
If He should tell her glory.
Who dares to say that God must weigh
The gifts of grace He'll render, Lest He should light a thing so bright
As to outshine His splendor?
Who dares to think that He would shrink,
Nor crown, o'er every other, The one whose claim lay in the name
And royal right of Mother ?
Then bless the men whose fearless pen
Was never known to vary, But still to write, in dazzling light,
The Royal name of Mary.
They gave her Name a world-wide fame,
They sketched from Heaven her story, But ne'er could reach what God will teach
When He shall tell her glory.
Sister M, A. Dominic.
SHRINE OF
OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP ST. ALPHONSUS' CHURCH, ROME
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN
SHRINE
OF
OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP ST. ALPHONSUS' CHURCH, ROME
1868
Oh, ever help me, Mary Mother mine, And ask thine Infant Jesus for the grace That I do need! See, with a beaming face He places both His little hands in thine; As, while His eyes with tender mercy shine, He gives all gifts and graces unto thee, That with them thou mayst aid and succor me.
Rev. W. H. Kent, O. S. C.
HE writers who say that the original picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was painted by the Evan gelist St. Luke, give it an antiquity of almost 1,900 years. We are probably nearer the truth in saying that it was not painted by St. Luke, but by some Greek artist of the 1 3th century. But whatever the origin of the picture may be, we know for certain that it was held in the greatest honor more than 400 years ago by at least one man. This devout client of Mary was a wealthy merchant, who lived in Crete.
Crete is an island of the Mediterranean Sea. During the last decade of the I5th century the island was in imminent peril of being invaded by the Turks. Thereupon many of its inhabi tants, knowing the consequences of Turkish invasion, deter mined to seek safety in flight from their native land. At least one band of these exiles set sail for Italy. Amongst them was the pious merchant.
For some days their voyage was favorable, but then there came a great storm. The waves rose mountains high, and dashed over the ship. The poor exiles were filled with fear, and gave themselves up for lost. But there was one amongst them calm and fearless. Whilst the waves were roaring and
»4 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
the winds howling and the exiles despairing, one man was seen going to his cabin. In a few seconds he came out again. It was the pious merchant, and he bore in his hands his image of Mary. Holding aloft Our Lady of Perpetual Help, he ex claimed, "Behold the Star of the Sea ! Let us all invoke her ! She will deliver us!" His noble words gave courage to their sinking hearts. In an instant all were on their knees before the image of Mary. Their fervent, earnest cry, "Save us, O Mother of Perpetual Help! Save us; we perish!" was heard above the raging storm, and reached the ears of Mary in Heaven. From her bright throne she turned her eyes of mercy on her children, commanded the winds and the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, and there came a great calm. This is the first instance, preserved in history, of Our Lady being publicly invoked as "Mother of Perpetual Help." You see, dear reader, she was not invoked in vain, nor will you invoke her in vain under the same glorious title.
The "Star of the Sea" and "Perpetual Help of Men" brought the exiles in safety to the River Tiber. The merchant disem barked at Ostia, and thence proceeded to Rome, bringing his precious picture with him. You have now, dear reader, the brief story of how the picture came to Rome, where it has ever since remained. The pious Cretan was not destined to live long in the Eternal City. Soon after his arrival he got very ill. As death was fast approaching, he resolved to dispose of the pic ture, which was, in very truth, his greatest treasure. It had been so highly favored by Our Blessed Lady that he believed she had great designs in its regard. He felt that, in the provi dence of God, he had come to Rome simply in order that the picture of Mary might become known to the whole world. He seemed to understand that the Blessed Virgin wanted him in Rome that he might leave her picture, not to any particular per son, but to the Church of God, of which Rome was the centre. With this thought fixed in his mind, he called to his bedside the man in whose house he lay dying, and who had been hith erto his faithful friend. The cherished picture hung from the
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 75
wall near the bed. The eyes of the pious merchant were gazing lovingly upon it. "I have always dearly prized that picture," he said to his friend ; ''through it I have received many graces from my Mother Mary ; and now that I am going to die, I seem to hear her saying to me : 'Leave the picture to the Holy Church — I will make it the medium of my perpetual succor to countless souls.' " Then turning to his friend, the merchant said, "It is the will of the Blessed Mary, and it is my last will, that my picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help shall be given to one of the churches of this city of Rome. I now ask you to promise me solemnly that, as soon as I am gone, you will faith fully fulfil this my last will." The man gave his solemn promise.
No sooner was the merchant dead than the wife of the man, who had given the solemn promise, removed the picture to her own room. Her husband remonstrated with her, telling her of the solemn pledge he had given to his dying friend to have the picture presented to one of the churches of the city. She merely smiled, and took no further notice of him ; and, as he was unwilling to oppose her, he allowed her to keep the picture, and thus broke his solemn promise. Our Blessed Lady was very displeased with him. She appeared to him in a vision : "I command you," she said, "to keep your promise to my dying client." She might as well speak to stone ; for this weak man was too much afraid of offending his wife to heed the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A second and even a third time Our Lady appeared to him — but in vain. Seeing him so ob stinate, she appeared to him once more and, in a stern tone threatened him with chastisement should he still persist in his sin: "If," she said, "you will not let my picture depart, you will soon have to go hence yourself." Even this threat failed. A few days later, he was borne to his grave.
We have now to record several new wonders. In the first place, there is the inexplicable conduct of the woman whose husband we have just seen stricken by an almost sudden death. Even that tragic event could not induce her to part with the pic-
76 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
ture ; she could not, or rather she would not, get herself to ad mit that his death was a punishment for his sin, and, therefore, she still clung tenaciously to the holy picture. But Our Blessed Lady was just as determined that her will and the last will of the Cretan merchant should be carried out; so she tried new means, which were nothing less than new wonders. The widow had a daughter very young and innocent — too young and inno cent to know that the beautiful image of Mary in her mother's room did not belong to her mother. One day the child was say ing some Hail Marys before the sacred image when the Blessed Virgin appeared to her. "My child," she said, "go tell your mother that Our Lady of Perpetual Help wills to have her image given to one of the churches of Rome." The little child ran and told her mother what she had just seen and heard. Her simple story, taken with all that had recently happened, led the widow to think that, after all, it might be prudent for her to let the picture go. In this frame of mind she sought advice from another woman who lived near her. The advice she got was, "How foolish of you to notice the prattling of an infant! Keep your picture." Very soon the unhappy creature who thus spoke had reason to be sorry for her words. In the very mo ment that she gave her advice, her arm became frightfully black and swollen, and she fell on the ground in agonies of pain. At once she realized that she was being punished for what she had said; and so, repenting of her words, she begged the widow to bring her the picture. When it was brought it was applied to the arm. and instantly the swelling disappeared, all pain ceased, and she was perfectly cured.
And now, at length, the repeated warnings of Our Lady, the sudden death of the husband, the child's vision, and the miracle on the arm overcame the widow's obstinacy. May your will and mine, dear reader, never for an instant resist the sweet will of our dear Lady of Perpetual Help.
The widow was now resolved to part with the picture. But to which of the 300 churches of Rome was it to be given ? To the Church of St. Alphonsus ? No — for St. Alphonsus was not
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 77
even born. Our Blessed Lady soon made known her will by herself determining the church in which she wished to be pub licly honored in Rome. Appearing again to the little child, she said : "Our Lady of Perpetual Help wills to be publicly honored between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran's." Her will could not have been more clearly expressed. Between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran's there was only one road, called Via Merulana. On that road there was only one church — the Augustinian Church of St. Matthew. To this church, therefore, so clearly pointed out by Our Lady, the widow took the picture, and offered it to the Prior, telling him all that had hitherto taken place. With a heart full of gratitude to Mary he accepted the precious treasure, and at once began to prepare a fit place for it in his church.
Before the 27th of March, 1499, Father Prior had everything ready. On that day the picture was borne in solemn procession through the streets of Rome. The whole city seemed to have turned out to honor Mary, and as the multitudes passed along, she marked her progress by miracles. I have space only for one. A poor woman had been long stricken with paralysis. One side of her body, and especially her arm, had been stiff and motionless for years. She had heard of the miracle on the swollen arm — already related — and she rightly thought : "If the Blessed Virgin cured the woman who opposed her, she will not refuse to cure me." When the picture was passing the place where the poor creature stood, she asked the bearers to touch her arm with it. Her request was granted, and the instant she felt the picture's touch she was perfectly cured. When the procession was over, the picture was solemnly placed over the high altar in St. Matthew's Church, and from that chosen sanc tuary for 300 long years, Mary poured out her perpetual succor upon men. There she consoled the sorrowful and relieved the distressed ; there she gave health to the sick and obtained pardon for the sinner; there her children loved to honor her by their pilgrimages and their costly offerings ; and there she poured upon them — people, priests, and even Popes — her
78 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
choicest favors. So numerous were the graces and so striking the miracles obtained at her Shrine that the picture became known in history as "The very miraculous image."
At length, to these 300 years of glory succeeded a long night of oblivion. In the year 1812, during the occupation of Rome by the French army, one of the generals gave orders that the Church and Monastery of St. Matthew should be razed to the ground. Within three days his orders were fully carried out. What became of the picture ? Did it share the same fate as the church and monastery ? Clearly not ; for it still exists. But though not destroyed the picture was lost to the people; and were it not for Mary's providential care, it might have been lost to them still and lost to them forever.
St. Alphonsus Liguori died at Nocera di Pagani in 1787. After his death, his successors — the Superiors-General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer — resided at the same place. In the year 1854, however, Pope Pius IX., wishing the General to be nearer the Holy See, commanded him to change his residence to Rome. After seeking long for a suit able house, Father Douglas purchased the Villa Caserta, and it was transformed into a monastery. Adjoining the house, he erected the Church of St. Alphonsus. This house and church are in the Via Merulana. Little did the Redemptorist Fathers think that their new residence was almost the site of the Mon astery and Church of St. Matthew, which had been destroyed in 1812. Indeed they had not the least idea that any such mon astery or church ever existed, nor did they know of it for years. In January, 1863, that is 51 years after the French had re duced St. Matthew's to a heap of ruins, as the Redemptorist Fathers were making their evening recreation at the Villa Caserta, one of them told the others how he had been reading that day, that where they were living there stood the Church of St. Matthew, famous for a miraculous picture called "Our Lady of Perpetual Help," which had long since been lost, if it had not been destroyed. This remark might not have led to further results but for Father Michael Marchi. Father Michael
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 70
Marchi was a Roman who joined the Redemptorists as a young man in 1855. He had never seen St. Matthew's, and until then he had not known where it had stood ; but he had heard about it and had even seen the celebrated picture of which the other Father spoke. He then related how as a little boy he used to frequent the Augustinian Monastery of St. Mary in Posterula where he became very intimate with one of the lay brothers a very old man named Brother Orsetti, who died in 1853. This old man had lived at St. Matthew's to the very day on which it was destroyed by the French. He never told Michael of the site on which St. Matthew's had stood, but he often told him of its glories and of the wonderful picture of Our Lady, which was there venerated for 300 years. "He used often to take me up stairs," said Father Michael, "and when we were in the ora tory, he used to get me to pray before a beautiful image which hung on the wall, and he used to say: 'Michael, that is the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help which was formerly in such honor in St. Matthew's. When that church was de stroyed we brought the picture here with us.' " And then the old man, as if he had some foreknowledge that the picture would again be restored to its former glory, and that Marchi was to have some part in that restoration, used to repeat again and again : "Michael ! remember the picture we venerated in St. Matthew's. That is the picture."
All this was very interesting to the Redemptorist Fathers; but as Brother Orsetti had not told Michael Marchi of the last will of the Cretan Merchant or the will of the Blessed Virgin, that the picture should be publicly honored in a church between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran's, there was nothing in Father Marchi's story to show that Our Lady now willed to come forth from her hiding-place, and take up her dwelling in the Church of St. Alphonsus. Yet, such was indeed her will ; and the Fathers soon got to know it.
In February, 1863, Father Blosi, S.J., preached in one of the churches in Rome. The subject of his discourse was the long- lost picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He described it
8o APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
as a picture formerly very famous amongst us, but long since lost in oblivion. He told his hearers how, hundreds of years ago, the Blessed Virgin had made known her will that this picture should be publicly honored in a church between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran's, and he begged them to make this fact known, so that whoever should have the picture in his keeping might do the will of Our Lady, and restore her picture to its former place of glory. "Who knows," he ex claimed, "what blessings may come down on the world from the revival of devotion to Mary, under the chosen title of 'Mother of Perpetual Help !' "
This sermon pointed clearly enough to St. Alphonsus' Church as the future home of Our Lady of Perpetual Help ; and so for two years the community of the Villa Caserta offered fervent prayers to Our Dear Lady that if it was her will to choose their Church for her home, she might take the means of ac complishing it. She heard their prayers. On the nth Decem ber, 1865, the Superior-General, Father Mauron, had an audi ence with Pius IX., during which he told his Holiness the his tory of the picture, the will of Mary regarding its place of public honor, its 300 years in St. Matthew's, as well as the fact that St. Alphonsus' Church was on the old site, and that the story of Father Marchi and the sermon of Father Blosi seemed to point to that church as the spot chosen by Our Blessed Lady.
The Pope was deeply impressed by what he heard, and re membering that as a boy he had prayed before the sacred pic ture in St. Matthew's, he took his pen and wrote that it was his will that the Image of the Holy Virgin of Perpetual Help should be restored to its ancient abode between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran's. On the 26th of April, 1866, the will of the Pope and the will of Mary were carried out. On that day, a magnificent procession of the clergy and people of Rome accompanied the Sacred Image through the streets, praising their Dear Lady of Perpetual Help for deigning once more to dwell publicly in their city. As the picture was borne
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 81
along, Mary looked down from Heaven on her loving servants and lavished favors upon them. "Sweet Lady of Perpetual Help, cure my little son," was the cry of one poor woman whose little boy was dying of fever. Mary heard the cry, and instantly the child arose in perfect health. "Mother of Perpet ual Help, have pity on me; my little daughter of eight has been paralysed and unable to move for the last four years," was the fervent prayer of another. Mary heard that prayer, and the child began to walk. Thus the picture of Our Dear Lady became the medium of her perpetual help, as it was borne through the streets of Rome to her loved Via Merulana and the Church of St. Alphonsus. On the 27th of April a Triduum of thanksgiving began; then the month of May was ushered in. So great were the crowds of worshippers to the new Sanctuary of Our Lady, that it was believed that in the five weeks everyone in Rome had visited the Sacred Image. Mary worked wonders during that time. Pius IX., hearing of them, came to her chosen shrine. "I have heard," said he, "that she performs prodigies ; she will not refuse to succor the poor Pope."
So numerous and striking were the graces received and miracles wrought by Our Lady of Perpetual Help that the Holy See decreed a new honor for her sacred image. You may have seen some pictures of Our Lady of Perpetual Help with out a crown on the head of Mary or on the head of Jesus. Such pictures show you what the original picture was like until June, 1867. Till then it was uncrowned. On the 23rd of June in that year, which was the Sunday before the Feast of St. John Baptist, two gold crowns were solemnly placed on the heads of Jesus and Mary by the Dean of the Vatican Chapter, in presence of Bishops and priests from all parts of the world who had come to Rome for the i8th Centenary of the Martyr dom of SS. Peter and Paul. These crowns are the Church's seal on the sacred picture, and are the best proof possible that it is indeed a "very miraculous image."
The great Pope of Mary Immaculate cultivated a very special
$2 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He asked for a fac simile copy of the picture, and he hung it up in his private oratory ; it was the first of its kind ever painted. Later on, in the year 1876, when the devotion had become more widespread, his Holiness established the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and — in memory of the solemn coronation — ordered the Feast, with special office and Mass, to be celebrated every year in June on the Sunday immediately preceding the Feast of St. John Baptist. Besides this, he erected "The Arch-Confra ternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Alphonsus," and had himself enrolled the first member.
Dear reader, this great Pope gives you an example of devo tion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Would you not do well to imitate him by having her picture, praying before it, keep ing her Feast every year, and by being a member of her Arch- Confraternity ?
In this chapter I will give some explanations which, I think, will interest you and serve to increase your devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Looking at the sacred image you will remark several capital letters on five different parts of the holy picture. These are Greek characters. Directly above some of them you see marks or strokes ; these simply indicate that the letters are contractions for longer words. Just as in English "Pk." is a contraction for "Patrick," so the first two letters near the face of the Divine Child are the Greek contractions for "Jesus," and the other two for "Christ ;" the four letters, therefore, mean "Jesus Christ." The first two letters over each of the angels are the same, and are contractions for "archangel." The last letter over the angel nearest to Jesus is the Greek letter "G," and it stands for "Gabriel." The last letter over the angel at the other side is "M," and it stands for "Michael.' Of the four largest letters on the top of the picture, the first two are contractions for "Mother," and the opposite two, for "of God;" so that, taking these four letters together, they mean "Mother of God." On the picture, therefore, four persons are represented ; namely,
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 83
Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, the Archangel Michael and the Archangel Gabriel.
The archangels look as if they had taken flight from their heavenly home and had come with speed into the presence of Jesus and Mary. In their hands are the cross, and lance and reed and sponge — the cruel instruments of the death that Jesus was one day to undergo and Mary to witness. The child in her arms seems startled. He who, when grown up, fell to the ground through fear in the Garden of Gethsemane, from the same cause almost falls from His Mother's arms, whilst yet a child. But Mary does not let Him fall. She "the strong woman," His Mother, who will remain standing beneath His Cross on Calvary, keeps Him up. In His fear at the terrible vision of His passion, His body trembles all over and His little feet strike against each other, causing the sandal or shoe of the right foot to fall down. But He does not fall Himself, for His Mother supports Him on her left arm ; and with her right hands she holds the two quivering hands of her little Jesus, who clasps hers for succor. And all the time that she holds Him with her strong hand, she is sadly, sweetly, steadily look ing not upon Him or the instruments of His death, but upon you. Little Jesus, also, is not looking on her, but His eyes are turned towards the cross, and He seems to be fixing them upon it or upon something beyond it and not represented on the picture at all.
The picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a great teacher; it gives us more lessons than many a large book. It reminds us of several great truths. In the first place, it reminds us of our Divine Lord's perpetual and dreadful vision. From the first moment of His human life, Jesus saw clearly and dis tinctly His passion and death and every sin that had been com mitted, or that would be committed. This vision is shown on our loved picture. We see there Jesus looking at the instru ments of His death, and also gazing out beyond the picture upon all the sins of the world.
It was from this twofold vision in the Garden of Geth-
84 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
semane, on the night before His death, that Our Lord's agony of fear and sorrow sprang ; from the same vision His soul was filled with sadness at every moment of His life ; so that in very truth He was what His prophet foretold — "A man of Sorrows" (Isaiah liii, 3), who alone could say: "My sorrow is always before me," (Ps. xxxvii, 18). Our picture, therefore, also re minds us of the perpetual sorrows of Jesus. Again, from the picture we learn that Mary was to Jesus a Mother of Perpetual Help, so that the picture well deserves the glorious title which she herself has chosen for it. Moreover, the Sacred Image reminds us of Mary's perpetual sorrows. The perpetual suf ferings of Jesus made Her a Mother of Perpetual Sorrow. She was in perpetual sorrow from the moment that Simeon told her that a sword should pierce her heart. The picture shows her as this Mother of Perpetual Sorrow — but as the "strong" Mother. She was strong all her life ; she was strong even at the foot of the Cross when her Jesus was actually dy ing. The picture represents her so strong that in spite of the sorrows of Jesus and her own, she is able to succor the Son of God. The evil of sin is another thing that Our Blessed Lady silently teaches us from her Image. "Behold," she seems to say, "behold Jesus and me in perpetual sorrows caused by sin alone ; and learn from Our distress what a grievous thing it is to offend God." She also teaches repentance through pity for Jesus and herself. As she looks upon us from her image, can not we almost hear her say : "My child ! pity me — and pity Jesus — cease offending him — cease crucifying Him. Repent of those sins which have put my Child in the misery in which you behold Him." Lastly, she teaches us that she will be your Mother of Perpetual Help if only you have perpetual recourse to her. "Behold," she says, "my eyes of mercy ever turned towards your miseries ; behold my hand ever ready to keep you from dangers, to strengthen your weakness, to raise you up if you have fallen. As I succored Jesus, so I will succor you ; but on one condition — you must act like Jesus. As He clung to me with His hands, so must you cling to me by prayer. The
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 85
one condition of my help is your calling on my name. I must keep the rule laid down by God, Who says to you : 'Ask and you shall receive' (John xvi, 24). He makes your asking the con dition of your receiving. Ask me perpetually, and I will help you perpetually. Have perpetual recourse to me, and I will have perpetual help for you."
From what you have just read, you will be able to understand easily the special providence by which Our Lady chose the Redemptorist Fathers as the guardians of her picture and the apostles of the devotion to her as "Mother of Perpetual Help." You will also be able to understand the marvelous spread of this devotion.
SHRINE OF
OUR LADY OF ZO-SE
SONG-KIANG, CHINA
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 87
SHRINE
OF
OUR LADY OF ZO-SE SONG-KIANG, CHINA
1870
A chaplet, when I feel distressed,
Means all the world to me: My Queen's rose-wreath, I love it best —
'Tis Mary's Rosary.
Clifford Westmore Lake.
HERE is Zo-se? Who has ever heard of Our Lady of Zo-se? It may not be quite satisfactory to the reader to answer the first question by stating that Zo-se is a hill of porphyric rock, about twelve miles north of Song-kiang, in the old delta plain of the Yang- tse-kiang. For though this river will be recognized as the noble stream of central China, the name of Song-kiang may not be so familiar. Yet there was a time when Song-kiang was not unknown to the Western public. Marco Polo visited it in the thirteenth century, and the Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth. Father Duhalde, in his monumental work on China, described Song-kiang as one of the most flourishing cities of the empire.
In those palmy days Song-kiang was the sister city of Soo- chow, which for its prosperity and elegance, as well as for the accomplishments and the beauty of its inhabitants, was ranked with Hang-chow as the terrestrial paradise. A graceful little rhyme, which has been rather happily translated, states that:
"Above there's paradise, 'tis true, But here below are Hang and Soo."
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Soochow and Song-kiang are not what they were ; both have suffered from the ravages of war, and their commercial im portance has been absorbed by Shanghai.
Zo-se, then, is about twenty-five miles southwest of Shang hai, and it is the largest of a little group of hills which rise out of the unbroken extent of rice fields, and which are known to foreign residents as simply the Hills. Our Lady of Zo-se is the title of the pilgrimage chapel on the summit of the hill, dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians. Pilgrimages are made to the chapel twice a year, once in May, on the patronal feast of the chapel, and once in November, on a day chosen as the patronage of Our Lady of Zo-se.
A pilgrimage chapel in China, a Christian shrine of special devotion on a spot once sacred to Buddha, may well excite sur prise and curiosity. A pilgrimage shrine, one is inclined to think, should be hallowed by the devotion of centuries or else it should be commended to the faithful in these latter days by wonderful manifestations of divine power and mercy. The shrine of Zo-se has no venerable memory, nor can it lay claim to striking miracles. Yet its history, going back but a quarter of a century, is none the less interesting for being recent, and the favors obtained through Our Lady of Zo-se are, we may hope, no less real for being hidden.
The year 1870 is a sad one in the annals of the Catholic mis sions in China. Agitations against foreigners had for more than a year been fomenting in various provinces of the em pire, and no one knew where or when they would break out into open violence. The simple people, who are naturally of a no less gentle and friendly disposition to-day than they were when described by Pliny, were goaded on by their leaders, the mandarins and the men of letters. France was in trouble at home, and the Catholic missionaries, without their accustomed protection, could not but view the approaching storm with a sense of insecurity. During the year 1869, an English mis sionary was murdered within thirty-five miles of Tien-tsin, an important port of the North. In the South, a French Catholic
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 89
missionary and forty native Christians were massacred. Finally, in June, 1870, the little foreign community of Tien-tsin was visited, and the Christian world was shocked by the frightful report from that city that twenty foreign residents, including ten Sisters of Charity, had been murdered there in a single riot. "You wish to kill us Europeans," said the heroic Superioress to the rioters ; "then come, we are ten ; my com panions await you in the chapel. But spare, we beseech you, spare the Chinese who are with us." The victims of that day's massacre included two members of the French Legation to Pekin, with the wife of one of them, a French and a Russian merchant with their wives, the French Consul, a French mis sionary, a native priest, and more than thirty native Christians.
When the news of the shocking event reached the different provinces, the feelings of the missionaries may be imagined. The news was everywhere received by the pagans with demon strations of joy and triumph. The time had come, it was said, to rise and rid the empire once for all of the hated intruders. It was, indeed, a critical moment, and not a missionary, we may be sure, ventured out in the discharge of his sacred duties, without a fervent act of contrition in his heart and a generous offering of his life to Him for Whose love he had sought such inhospitable shores. Thus fortified, the missionary could, in deed, go forth bravely and reck but little of the scowls and threats, the insults and the blows which attended his steps. Not so, however, the superiors to whom God had entrusted the harassed flocks.
A hundred missionaries depending upon his orders, thou sands of Christians entrusted to his care, the lives of devoted religious women and of innocent children demanding protec tion — such was the burden weighing upon Rev. Father Delia Corte, S. J., then superior of the mission of Nankin. The Vicar-Apostolic of the mission, Bishop Languillat, S. J., had gone to Rome for the Vatican Council, and all the care and responsibility of that hour of danger fell solely upon Father Delia Corte. The walls of Shanghai, where he resided, were
90 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
placarded with inflammatory denunciations of the missionaries, and alarming reports were coming in from all parts of the mission. The principal mandarin of Shanghai was known to favor the anti-foreign fury. A counterpart of the tragedy at Tien-tsin might have been precipitated by the slightest un toward event. What was the good Father to do in his anxiety and helplessness? What could he do for the safety of the mission and for the protection of the precious lives entrusted to him? What could he do but have recourse to Our Lady, Help of Christians — to her whose mercy Catholics the world over daily commemorate in the words of her sweet-tongued servant, St. Bernard : ''Never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy inter cession, was left unaided."
Early in the morning, July 4, 1870, Father Delia Corte got into his boat and directed the boatman to Zo-se. A part of the hill had for several years been in the possession of the mission, and was used as a retreat for the missionaries when prostrated by fatigue or sickness. Seven or eight hours on the winding canals brought the Father to the foot of the hill. Regardless of the noon-day sun he began the rocky ascent, nor stopped till he had reached the little chapel on the summit, three hundred feet above the surrounding rice fields. There, kneeling down before our Lady's statue, "My dear Mother," he prayed, "our mission is in danger. Save us, and I promise to build you here a beautiful church in place of this little chapel." The vow was made, and our Lady took the mission under her pro tection.
A few days later, Father Delia Corte received a visit at his residence in Shanghai from no less a personage than the chief- justice of the province, who came to express his sympathy with the missionaries for the sad affair of Tien-tsin. It was to the interest of the government to prevent further outrages against Europeans, and the mandarins had to shape their con duct accordingly. They had, however, succeeded so well in exciting the populace, that it was no easy task to quell the vio-
HEAVENS BRIGHT QUEEN 91
lent feelings. The residents of the foreign settlements organ ized companies for their own defence, and some English gen tlemen kindly extended their protection to the Catholic mis sionary establishments of Zi-ha-wei, four or five miles out of the city.
Toward the middle of July the excitement reached a climax. The night of the thirteenth, it was rumored, had been fixed upon for a general uprising. The foreigners redoubled their vigilance, and a company of Frenchmen remained up all night in front of the church. The night passed, however, without any sign of disturbance, and with the morning came the feel ing of relief that the crisis was over. The excitement of the populace began to subside, and before two months had passed, Father Delia Corte, who still lives to tell the story of our Lady's singular protection, saw that his prayer had been heard, and that it remained but to build the votive chapel. In September he issued a circular to all of the priests and Chris tians of the mission, recalling the serious danger through which by a special favor they had all passed unharmed, and inviting their co-operation in building the chapel which he had vowed in commemoration of our Lady's protection.
Chinese Christians as a rule are not among the wealthy mer cantile and lettered classes, and the church had to be built principally by the contributions of the poor. However, three families gave as much as a thousand dollars each. An old peddler by dint of hard economy during long years on the streets of Shanghai, had put by a hundred dollars against the ills that might come upon him with age. On hearing of the chapel to be built at Zo-se, he gave up his little hoard to Our Lady, relying upon her mercy to provide for the remnant of his days. A little village girl had received a kid from her parents to raise for herself. She did not waste her affections upon it, as some little children of the West might do, but with the true instinct of her race, she intended it for the market, and was to sell it for a thousand copper coins. She could buy many nice things with a thousand coppers, for though they
9* APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
only amount to a dollar, they go a long way from the fact that they are as many as a thousand. However, she sacrificed her childish gratification to the love of our Lady, and gave her thousand coppers to the missionary for the chapel of Zo-se.
The building was begun in the following year, 1871, and on the feast of the Help of Christians, Bishop Languillat, who had returned from Rome, laid the corner-stone. Two years later the church was completed and dedicated, and at the open ing of May the first solemn pilgrimage was celebrated. The Christians flocked to the shrine from far and near, the neigh boring canals were lined with their boats, and as many as twenty thousand assembled for the feast. There were numer ous confessions, and two thousand approached the Holy Table at the pilgrims' Mass. Bishop Languillat, assisted by twenty- eight priests, conducted the ceremonies. The scene, we may well believe, was one of rare consolation for the zealous mis sionaries. The Bishop had himself confessed the faith in prison, and his companions had had their years of toil and danger, and now the sight of thousands of devout Christians gathered in the face of the pagan world to honor Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, could not but arouse within their breasts sentiments of joy and gratitude, mingled with a con soling sense of triumph over the powers of darkness and the enemies of the Gospel. Thus one of them wrrote of a scene at the solemn Mass : "When the preacher had ceased, another voice was heard ; it was that of the Bishop. Standing on the spot where a temple of false gods had stood, and as it were to bid defiance to persecution, the confessor of the faith in toned the Credo in unum Deum, the Creed which begets mar tyrs and which traverses the centuries victoriously, in spite of the efforts of hell and in the teeth of tyrants' hate. It tri umphed over ancient Rome in the arenas and amphitheatres, and the pretoriums of China shall not prevail against it any more than did those of Nero and Diocletian. The arm of God is not shortened ; and blood shall never cease to flow gloriously in His Church, for the heralds of Christ shall never cease to
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 93
proclaim to their persecutors the words of Peter and John, adopted as their device : Non possumus non loqui. We can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
A Shrine of Our Lady on the summit of Zo-se derives a special interest from the fact that the hill had for centuries been a favorite site for Shrines of Buddha. A corrupted form of Buddhism, though repudiated by the lettered class and ex ecrated by the professors of Confucianism, is still the pre vailing religion of China's masses. In selecting sites for their pagodas and monasteries, the bonzes manifest no mean appre ciation of natural beauties and of the picturesque effect to be produced by their fantastic architecture. Zo-se and the neigh boring hills offered many an attractive site, and when Song- kiang was at the height of its prosperity, Zo-se became the resort of Buddhist monks. The ruins of their extensive mon asteries are still seen, and the annals of Song-kiang, kept according to custom with astonishing exactness, inform us of the dates and the names of the different buildings.
The first one recorded was built in 1048 and was known as the "Light of the Universe." It was burnt down toward the end of the fourteenth century, but its old tower still stands, presenting a desolate but picturesque sight, in a beautiful spot on the northwestern skirt of the hill. When the evening sun creeps around the shoulder of the hill, throwing his mellow rays upon the aspen leaves of the bamboo grove, and casting the shadow of the solitary tower far out upon the rice fields below, one cannot but adniire the taste of the old bonzes who fixed their home and built their temple in such a charming solitude.
On the other side of the hill, about half way up the ascent, there was a pagoda which still existed in a dilapidated and abandoned state when that part of the hill came into the pos session of the Fathers. They prudently refrained from ex citing the pagans by destroying the temple, though their cook, a native Christian, cut up the idols for fire-wood. In 1863, General Gordon, after the capture of Song-kiang, retired with
94 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
his little army to the vicinity of Zo-se. He was on friendly terms with Father Leveille, who was then missionary of the district and who recalls with pleasure and enthusiasm his acquaintance with the gallant officer. The good missionary availed himself of the occasion to get rid of the old home of idolatry, and at his request Colonel Thompson, Gordon's lieutenant, sent his men to pull down the old pagoda, under pre text of utilizing some of the material in constructing temporary quarters for the officers. The missionaries' residence stands near the site of the destroyed pagoda.
From the house to the church above there are two ap proaches; one direct, but steep and irregular, and the other a broad walk, ascending gently in regular zigzags. The lat ter is so arranged that there are just fourteen turns in the zig zag, and at each turn there is a station of the Way of the Cross. The stations are represented in bronze relief, and placed in simple Tuscan niches about ten feet high.
To understand the special propriety of such an approach to a Shrine of Our Lady, it must be remembered that Zo-se is in a missionary land, where the Way of the Cross must fre quently take the place of the Holy Sacrifice of the altar. Many a missionary station is left Sunday after Sunday without the Sacrifice of Calvary being renewed within its modest little chapel, and the Christians have been taught to make up as well as may be by at least commemorating the Sacrifice, and follow ing their Saviour in spirit through the scenes of His sacred passion and death. Thus the devotion of the Way of the Cross has for the scattered little flocks of China an importance which is unknown in lands blessed with a more numerous clergy. Moreover, the persecutions which arise, and the seri ous danger in which the Christians not un frequently find them selves, naturally strengthen their devotion to Our Lord's suf fering. They know not how soon they may be called upon to suffer and even to die for Him. When a foreign missionary meets with a violent death in China, all the Western world is startled and shocked; but hundreds of natives may lay down
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 95
their lives for their faith, without exciting a remark across the seas.
The chapel, constructed in the shape of a Greek cross, is neither ambitious in style nor of imposing proportions. Solid ity rather than elegance was sought in its construction. Yet its simple porticoes and Doric columns, while imparting an air of strength, are not without architectural attractions. The northern arm of the cross is occupied by the main altar and the sanctuary, and in each of the three other faces there are three large doors, so that the whole chapel can be opened at once, permitting of large numbers passing in and out at a time. As the chapel stands on the very crest of a hill, there extends along the whole facade a high parapet, reached on either side by a broad granite stairway. The massive balus trade of the parapet is surmounted by eight granite lions, four of natural size and the others slightly smaller. Strange orna ment, it may seem, for a Shrine of Our Lady ; but the visitor ceases to wonder when he learns that the lions are the spoils of paganism. In former centuries they guarded the temples of idolatry which clustered around Zo-se, and which have all disappeared and given place to the Shrine of the Blessed Mother of God. The time-worn appearance of the lions and their familiar conventional type, bespeak their former history, and, on viewing them, the pilgrim's heart is filled with joy at the triumph of Christ and His Blessed Mother over one of Satan's strongholds.
And when from the lion's parapet the pilgrim casts his eyes over the extended plain below, over the green rice fields, rich with the year's yield, and the network of canals lined with their bamboos and willows, and when he follows the silvery streams from village to village, to the towers of Song-kiang and Tsing-poo on the south and west, and to the smoke of Shanghai on the neatheastern horizon, he finds it a consoling and grateful thought that in the teeming population of the fertile plain around him, there are no fewer than fifty-three thousand four hundred Christian souls reclaimed from the
96 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
slavery of idolatry. Nowhere in the world, perhaps, is there a denser rural population than in the rich plain surveyed from the summit of Zo-se, and nowhere in China is the proportion of Christians so large as in the missionary district of which Zo-se is the centre. — Rev. W. Hornsby, SJ.
VIRGIN MOTHER MARY
'O Virgin Mother ! pure and sweet,
As low before thee bending, We cast our garlands at thy feet
In faith and love unending, We sing the glory of thy name,
Who bore our Lord and Brother, And since from Heaven an angel came, Hast been our loving Mother. Blessed name to God most dear, Sweetest name to sinners here, Holy name that all revere, Virgin Mother Mary !"
Rev. William Livingston.
OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP
Mother dearest, mother fairest
Help of all who call on thee,
Virgin purest, brightest, rarest
Help us, help, we cry to thee,
Help us, help, we cry to thee.
Free us from all sin and sadness,
Fill our hearts with peace, with gladness:
Mary, Mother, help alway !
Mary, Virgin, help us aye !
Lady, Help in pain and sorrow Sooth those racked on bed of pain, May the golden light of morrow Bring them health and joy again, Bring them health and joy again.
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 97
Help the poor, the sad, the weary, Comfort those whose homes are dreary. Mary, Mother, help alway! Mary, Virgin, help us aye !
Mother ! help the absent loved ones, Ah ! we miss their presence here ! Help our father, friend, our brother, Help them, guard them far and near, Help them, guard them far and near. Save them from all sin and danger, Lead safe home the weary stranger, Mary, Mother, help alway ! Mary, Virgin, help us aye!
Mother, help the wounded soldier, Set the pining captive free, Help the sailor on mid-ocean, Help those in their agony, Help those in their agony. From the demon's malice guard them, In their death-pangs watch and ward them. Mary, Mother, help alway! Mary, Virgin, pray ! oh pray !
Help our priests, our virgins holy, Help our Pope — Long may he reign! Pray that we who sing thy praises, May in heaven all meet again, May in heaven all meet again. Help us when our life grows dreary Thy heart too was sad and weary, Mary, Mother, help alway ! Mary, Virgin, pray, oh pray!
APPARITION TO
OUR LADY OF HOPE
PONTMAIN, FRANCE
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 99
APPARITION
TO
OUR LADY OF HOPE PONTMAIN, FRANCE
1871
Mother of Christ on thee,
And thy dear Son we call; France from all perils free,
Pray, oh pray, for us all.
Ave Maria.
JANY may think it a sad task to lift the veil beyond which the terrible events of 1870-71 lie hidden. Those were indeed dread days, whose souvenir is ever present, but which the lips are unwilling to recall, the pen reluctant to retrace. To us, however, who, in our pious wanderings to Mary's shrines in France, have so often seen that Heavenly Protectress with her favored nation in its glorious hours of triumph, it seems but natural to seek and find her with her children in their days of anguish. Con- solatrix Afflictorutn! The Blessed Virgin could not be absent when war, with the grim spectre of defeat, had cast mourning throughout the land. Regnum Gallics, regnum Maries! Surely, if France was Mary's kingdom in its hours of joy and victory, how much the more should this tender Mother look upon it as her own, and watch over her devoted clients when sorrow weighed them down!
The invader, daily pursuing his triumphal march, cast de spair into every heart; even the most valiant, even those in whose bosom the spirit of unbounded faith and confidence in divine help had hitherto remained unshaken, — even they scarce dared to hope. Nothing save a miracle could now arrest the conqueror. Paris — surrounded from the i8th of September,
ioo APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
bombarded since the 27th of December, and now starving — could no longer hold out. Each day appeared to bring the capital twenty-four hours nearer the one fatal issue, which now alone seemed possible — surrender. But Mary, celestial har binger of good tidings, was vigilant. She it was who should announce to her people those words of consolation, bringing back hope to the despairing, and courage to the fainting heart. Prayers so fervent had daily ascended to her throne for the sal vation of France, that this loving Mother could not refuse such heartfelt petitions.
The following details of the marvelous Apparition of Pont- main are taken from various fully authenticated documents, which have been placed at our disposal by the never-failing kindness of the Oblate Fathers. May they here receive a public acknowledgment of cordial thanks !
Pontmain is a little bourgade lying in the northwest corner of the department of Mayenne, on the borders of Brittany, in that part of the country formerly known as Bas-Maine. It is situated on a wooded slope, leading to a smiling valley, through which runs the river Dairon. The hillside being thickly wooded, the village lies concealed from view, and is only dis covered when the pilgrim, or traveler, almost enters it. Pont main has been compared to a "mysterious Eden" hidden away in a leafy bower. In far-distant ages, however, it was a pow erful town, strongly fortified, having a fortress castle, the grim dwelling of a valiant Breton lord. Old chroniclers relate that, in the second half of the ninth century, this spot was chosen by Meen — a prince of the house of Gaen, the noblest family in Brittany — as his residence. Not content with his fortress, Meen built formidable ramparts to protect the town, which quickly sprang up around the chateau fort. From his title was derived the name of Pont-Meen, later changed to Pont-Main, and now written Pontmain.
For several centuries Pontmain retained the reputation of being one of the most strongly fortified towns in France. But under the ruthless English Earl of Arundel the fortress was
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 101
taken, and destroyed about 1431 or 1432. Only a few of the in habitants escaped death, Arundel well deserving the odious ap pellation of "Scourge of Bas-Maine," by which he was known. The site of the ancient castle can still be seen, a portion of the ruined ramparts yet remaining. These relics of old times form a striking contrast to the splendid oaks now flourishing on the very spot where once stood the fortress of Prince Meen.
The inhabitants of Pontmain are principally occupied in agricultural pursuits ; they are simple and pious, devotion to the Mother of God being the characteristic feature of their piety. So unimportant was the little town, that not until 1840 was it raised to the dignity of a parish. Then the village — predestined to be honored by the visit of Mary — received, as its first pastor, the venerated Abbe Michel Guerin ; as if the living example of such virtues as his was necessary to prepare the villagers for the supreme grace that God, in His infinite goodness and mercy, intended to bestow on them. The saintly Cure's devotion to Our Lady was saintlike. Many believe the priceless favor granted to Pontmain was the reward of his love for the Blessed Virgin and his unbounded confidence in her protection.
The evening shadows had fallen on the village of Pontmain, as it nestled peacefully though sadly beneath its immaculate shroud, on that ever-blessed Tuesday, January 17, 1871. The villagers had each and all returned to their tranquil, happy homes, and silence reigned around.
The Barbadette family — a model in the village — consisted of the father, mother, and three boys. The eldest, Auguste, had set of! on September 25, 1870, to join a regiment of mobiles ;* the second, Eugene, was twelve; and the third, Joseph, ten years old. They were a truly Christian family, in which the solid practices of piety were daily exercised. The boys rose
* Of the little band of thirty-eight mobiles from Pontmain, not one was injured. Before departing, they were consecrated to Mary, and all returned safe and sound from the campaign. A large white marble tablet, erected in the village chapel near the Blessed Virgin's altar, speaks their grateful thanks for this truly remarkable preservation.
102 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
at six o'clock, dressed quickly, set about doing some household work, then recited the Rosary for their absent brother; and, after breakfast, went off to the village chapel to perform the Way of the Cross for his intention ; then they served the Cure's Mass. After Mass there were public prayers for France and her army, and often the saintly Cure said :
"Let us add penance to our prayers, and then we may take courage. God will have pity on us; His mercy will surely come to us through Mary."
The words sounded like a prophecy. At the conclusion of these prayers the village children went to school, and at five o'clock the little Barbedettes turned their steps homeward.
The soil around Pontmain being unfavorable for the cultiva tion of fodder, the general food for horses is derived from the tender branches of the furze bushes. The branches are pounded in troughs, by means of large wooden mortars commonly called piloches. To prepare the evening meal for their horses con stituted a daily occupation for the Barbedette children on re turning from school ; and scarcely had they entered the house than, seizing their piloches, they and their father set to work to accomplish the allotted task. This pounding process was carried on in the barn, and had been in progress for nearly half an hour, when the door was opened by a neighbor, named Jeannette Detais. This good woman had just returned from a neighboring village, and having heard good news of the little band of Pontmain mobiles, charitably came to reassure Barbe dette and his wife as to the fate of their beloved son.
This absent soldier was Eugene's god-father, and the child dearly loved his eldest brother. How came it to pass — at the moment when Jeannette, all excited with the news she had learned, came to give it to the Barbedette family — that Eugene, instead of listening, should have left the group ? But so it was. No doubt some strange, invisible magnet drew him from the spot. Later on, when asked to explain, he would simply an swer: "I went just to see what the weather was like." And there, at the door of that humble dwelling, hitherto all un-
HEAVEN'S BRIGHT QUEEN 103
known, henceforth to be almost hallowed ground to all the Catholic world, Eugene Barbedette stood transfixed. All was white outside, so far as the eye could reach ; the heavens were bright and clear, and it seemed to the child that never before had the firmament shown such a wealth of brilliant stars. There in the heavens, at seven or eight meters above an opposite neighbor's house, the child beheld what he called a "grande, belle Dame." Such a celestial and unexpected vision might have frightened others, but Eugene felt no fear. The heavenly Lady smiled ; the boy, all entranced, gazed on.
The Lady's dress was dark blue* — as the children described it afterward, — of the color of the blue balls used for bluing linen, and spangled with brilliant, golden stars. It fell in loose folds from the neck to the feet, and was not enclosed by any girdle; the sleeves were loose and hanging. The Lady wore soft slippers (chaussons), of the same color as the dress, fast ened with golden ribbons, forming rosettes. Over the head fell a soft, black veil, covering the hair and ears completely, partially concealing the forehead, and then falling over the shoulders half down the back. She wore a golden crown, somewhat raised in front, but not pointed ; and a red band passed round it, dividing the crown in the centre. The Lady's face was small, pale, and of matchless beauty. Pier age ap peared about eighteen or twenty. The arms were bent down, the hands extended, as in the image of Mary Immaculate. All the while she smilingly looked at the child, who remained gazing; then, as Jeannette Detais was leaving the barn, the boy said excitedly:
"Look, Jeannette, and tell me what you see over Augustin Guidecog's house!"
"I can't see anything," she replied, after a moment.
The father, hearing these few words, came to the door with his other son, and could not discern anything.
*The darker blue of the dress was easily distinguishable from the blue of the sky, which was much lighter. Notwithstanding the brightness of the stars on the robe, no rays fell from the celestial apparition.
iQ4 APPARITIONS AND SHRINES OF
"Look, Joseph,"f said Eugene to his brother, "and tell us if you see anything."
"Oh, I see a beautiful Lady !" replied Joseph, immediately ; and he described her dress in all its details.
The father looked