STRANGE STORY OF A PILGRIM MIRACULOUSLY CURED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 298, 7 April 1877, Page 4

STRANGE STORY OF A PILGRIM MIRACULOUSLY CURED.

Not loir:; ago th-.r clerical pipers published spi c'at announcing tTie miraculous cure of a pilgrim inn e I Utvitiv. Tits fvx.r fellow had suJcivd fur many ivar» from a cotnptica hm of ills, lie w;i3 atlliet'd with p-tratysis, he had an tt'cer tn his I .ft leg, an Ihe wa! d af aid dumb, and half blind. He went do vn to t.otmb a. and fnt! no sooner drank of the "■ Holy Water*" of the shritte triati he was instantly and completely cured of all {•is numerous dtf c"s ; he could onc\? more dance, sing, tear, and see as in his tender years. The miracle naturally made a great sensation, and when the fortunat* pilgrim r* turned h«-ne to Marancs, in the Maine-ef-Doire. ho became the subject of general attention, «-tpceiaUy on the part of tl*e Church authorities, who kept him in clover for some time. Unfortunately there was a sceptical doctor in the neighbourhood who d* sired to examine Riviere, and it was arranged that an examination should take place ; hut on the day fixed for it the happy pilgrim was nowhere to he found. This sudden dis ippearance was about io he attributed to auot'ier miracle, when he unexpectedly turned up between a brae*? of gendarmes, who had arrested him for swindling. It then transpired, according to the man's own confession. that he »vas a very old offender, and had feigned the aforesaid infirmities, as used to he done in the notorious Cotir des Miracles of former times, with t l »n object of ipuposing on public credulity and charity ; in s r »ort he was a prof ssional beggar. It must be confessed that Ids success was a miracle in its nav.