IRISH MIRACLE SEEKERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1891, 28 October 1913, Page 7

IRISH MIRACLE SEEKERS.

it PILGRIMAGE OF 3000 TO LOURDEB* Q SEVERAL REPORTED CUBES. ,r _ Ton thousand pilgrims, many of them ® Irish, wore gathered recently at Lourdos, in tho French Py'renoes, hopI ing for miraculous euros at tho spring ! j v.hei'o fifty years ago the Virgin is said to have- appeared to a girl. About ° half a million souls, many of them halt and maimed, and blind, "visit tho place annually. The year for tho lirst time au'lrish pilgrimage to tho shrine wag' l " hi ranged under tno leadership of Car-' 'i dinal Loguo and the Irish archbishops and bishops. Tho party numbered 3000, gathered from all parts of ireland. , Several cures have been reported « among the pilgrims, and hare caused intense excitement at Lourdes (says tho ''Daily Mail"). Ono case is that of Miss "Graoo Mat lo'noy, aged eighteen, of the diocese of lUllalbo., County Clare. For nine years she has suffered from tuburculosis of the right, kneo. joint, with complete stiffII liess, Eight operations brought no ro y lie)., and after nine months in bed tlis !S knoo was still swollen l and painful.. When walking sho had a decided limp. Struggling, along in a procession of priests and pilgrims a,t Lourdos, Miss Malonoy told a group of doctors and priests: "I felt a Budden pain olimbing ■ up my leg I approached the shfine. Whan tho pain reached tho knee tho | stiffness suddenly passed off. I straightened my leg for tho first-time for many years, and walked without limping." _ . . t j a On examination, the joint was still' c found to bo somewhat swollon and 11 doughy, but really movable, and pain- *• less. s Cripple's Reoovery. - 1 Taking refuge in a shop to esoap.s thscrowd following her, Julie ' Bournay, |i aged fifty-ono, of the Dauphinois pil- « grims, tho heroine of another euro, told lie- story. For four years she .wag l " completely crippled by rheumatism in | the leg. She had only beon able to ■ j crawl about with great difficulty with • the aid of two crutches. _ Returning aftor an oarly morning visit to tijo | shrine, she suddenly felt tho power cumi nig back to her leg. Throwing her 'j prutflh.es away, sho walked easily slid : , 3 without pain for the first time in four 1 0 years. _ i j „ Anotlior cure was that of a Ettle girl i .. of nine, Joa-irio Bodet, of Liege {Bel- J I" gium). Sho had boon deaf and dumb ' (rod afflicted with St. Vitvis'-s dance, resulting from an attack of scarlet foyer throo years ago. On Sunday momind (September 14) while dressing she sur-j prised her mother by saying: "I haVo' , lost niy shoe." In breathless excitemenfc tho mother hurried with her to l ii the Medical Bureau, whore sho was ex- ! n aniiuod. ■ * • i ' She repeatedly pronounced the names of pages shown, her and showed rionp of y tho typical twitching of St.. Vitus'a j. dance, which, according to tho .doctors „ present, had been so marked on tho pre-; 1 vious day. Her hearing is still somea what defective in tho right ear, but ap' ■ pa rently normal in the left. Irish Pilgrim's "Cures." y A little boy, Thomas Downey, aged d seven, of 13 Glenview Street, Belfast, furnished another euro among tho Irish a pilgrims. Suffering from advanced tun ne.rculiir disease of tho hip With a diss charging sinus (cavity), he could barely o hobble along with two crutches. On' o Saturday (September 1.8) he surprised g tho nurses and attendants by 6njiiig y that ho felt much stronger, and after i- a visit to the shrine on Sunday morn-, e ing ho suddenly declared that lie'needo.ci liis crutches no longer and walked by, i, himself. After this miraculous and sudden im-: a, provement li»d been examined and rce corded by tho Medical Butoau lie was ,t earned back to his hotel. There he deu lighted the crowd by walking unaided II through tho gardens. t Tho most pathetic example of the o great faith shown by the pilgrims was 0 shown by two littles Irish boys, Patrick It Rogers and Larry Muldooney. Patrick r for tho most of his thirteen years lias 1 been suffering from carries (disintegraa tion)_of the spin©, with, complete paralyf sis of one leg. Both -Larry's arms aro f paralysed, withered, and immovable. At the 6hrino both boys towed that thoyfelt greatly improved, though t'lro actual paralysis remained. ' Cardinal Loguo's Belief. '• _. Cardinal Loguo lias issued the follow--5 ing message* to tho Roman Catholics in 1 Ireland who aro following in spirit tho ' pilgrims at Lourdos:— "At least one certain euro is ropoit- , ed, 1 refer to Graco Malonoy. I saw c tho girl myself after tho doctors had examined Ivor. Wo aro now only waiting tho cortificato from her doctor in J Ireland liof.'iro formally declaring tho B cure. In addition, two other curfis are notified, though they havo not yet received tho confirmation of tho doctors' I committee, but undoubtedly there is a i groat- improvement in tho condition of the patients."