PILGRIMAGE TO LOUDRES A Miracle Wrought in tne Presence of a Liverpool Doctor.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 305, 6 October 1888, Page 6

PILGRIMAGE TO LOUDRES A Miracle Wrought in tne Presence of a Liverpool Doctor.

A well-known and distinguished medical man of Liverpool has recently given an account of a pilgrimage he witnessed to Loudres during his summer holidays in the South of France. His party arrived at Loudres on the 25th April, and remained there some time. The doctor continues : — ' We were told the Belgians (pilgrims) were coming, and certainly there would be a miracle. This was taken for granted at the Grotto. On the appointed day the Belgians came, 400 strong, of every class and condition of life. From early inqrn till late at night they besieged the Basilica and the Grotto. Procession after procession was formed from one to the other — Mass, Benediction, Confession, and Communion, with hymns and ' prayers, were the order of the day — all to finish with a grand torchlight procession around the papal crowned statue in the grounds about nine o'clock. Amongst the pilgrims was a boy, Desire Melin, aged sixteen, from Bierges, in Brabant. He was born deaf and dumb. .Two doctors, Vanpee and Trousset, both of W,avre, certified as to the nature of the affletion, and declared it incurable. In an instant he that was deaf heard aright. He was alive to every sound ; even a faint whisper caused him to turn to the speaker. There was no mistake in the miracle. The doctor at the Grotto witnessed it, so did Dr. Archambeau, of Chatelineau, and Dr. Jhlenry Smets, of Brussels, and the doctor of our own.ipa.rty (Liverpool)., A look at the boy ?s , face, was sufficient evidence of the miracle that had been wrought, boy could? har'dly^restrain himself, whilst.his face was all aglow with wondrous astonishment.'