THE MIRACLES AT LOURDES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1289, 18 November 1911, Page 9

THE MIRACLES AT LOURDES.

LECTURE BY REV. FATHER CAIiRAN. The Rev. Father Carran) of Auckland, delivered a lecture on "Lourdes," its miracles and his own impressions on what ho saw there during his recent tour in Europe, to a- crowded audienco at Xewlnarket, Auckland, recently. Father Carran admitted that great writers of the material school dogmatised on the impossibility of any such violation of the laws of nature, as the miracles at Lourdes, Humo going so far as to say that a firm and unalterable experience has established the universal laws. 'Without submitting any actual evidence in reply to this argument, the lecturer said it was radically fallacious, because if it were sound no new fact could ever" be proved since tbo first, and , each'succeeding witness would ba assumed to have universal experience against him. "It is not, however, to tho material school I am now addressing myself, but to those who, liko myself, believe that tho Saviour of mankind worked, and through His Church, is still working miracles as an irrefragable proof of His divine nature and mission," said the lecturer. The lecturer traced tha history or the scene of these famous operations from tho second week in February, 1858, to tho present time, relating tho facts of extraordinary cures there down to the present day. Father Carrau tliTew on the screen, amongst many others, a picture of a-typical case, that of Pierro do Rudder. ; Ho said incontestable evidence proved that at a certain moment ho was suffering from a terriblo wound in his left leg, just below tho knee. A number of years previous to his cure, both tibia and fibula had been fractured, and instead of reuniting tho broken ends had suppurated. Tho surgeons removed nearly an inch of tho terminal surfaces in tho hopo of obtaining a union of tho fresh faces. Instead, theso two decayed. It followed that both bones wero consider* ably shorter than those of tho right leg. "The next fact," said the lecturer, "is that before a shrino at Lourdes the bones were instantaneously reunited, and that firmly and without traco even of a callus. His gait during life, and more especially the post-mortem examination, proved that tho bones of both limbs wero absolutely equal in length. Thero had been then tho instantaneous formation of about ono inch of strong healthy bone, not to speak of tho surrounding tissues. Those facts, continued the lecturer, had been after the fullest investigation fully established, "and what scientist," he asked, "would submit that thny arc in conformity with tho known laws of Nature?" Father Carran said science teaches us that Nature follows an orderly course in the formation of all living tissues, nud this course takes time, as .ill successful and biological changes must, and a very great period of time in the uw-o of broken tibia, let alone two broken and carious bones. The point, ho said, was worth oven more than ordinarr consideration.

Concluding, the lecturer said that tho reality of the miracles in Lonrdcs in our ov.n dcy was beyond cavil, and science could not explain them. All that science coii.'d say was that l:hvy are beyond (ho forces known and unknown of Nature.■ If, therefore, ho continued, "Iho honest tcarchsr after truth will carefully invpsviK.ate the story of Lourdes, lie will find in it tangible and real proofs of the Divine Xature of tho Christian faith."