LOUISE LATEAU.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 176, 11 August 1876, Page 14

LOUISE LATEAU.

<H When our Blessed Lord worked his miracles on earth nearly two thousand years ago, unbelievers attributed them to magic. When He cast out devils they said He was aided by Beelzebub, prince of the devils, and persuading themselves of this they remained unconverted. The infidels of to-day do not believe in magic> and when miracles are wrought in the Church they are unable to account for.

them by an accusation of diabolical agency, but yet they are not converted, for their hardness of heart has found another refuge, and they say " these things are done by trickery." It matters not hoy open may be the manner of the performance, or how impossible it would be for deceit to be practised, "the age of miracles is passed, if, indeed, it ever existed," they cry, " and these things must needs be false, however they are brought about." Thus it is with the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, although thousands who yearly behold it are ready, at all hazards, to testify to its truth, and so are explained the wonderful cures performed by the water from the world-renowned grotto of Lourdes. Nevertheless, the Juvellous works of God continue to be made visible, and though jrny in their folly laugh them to scorn, to others they are the cans of conversion and of deep edification. Some eight or ten years ago — we write from memory and guided by recollections of a cursory notice read here andthere in Catholic newspapers alone — in an humble village of Belgium, called Bois d'Haine, and lying between the towns of Mons and Charleroi, a young girl, named Louise Lateau, was supposed to be dying. She was in nothing remarkable, except for goodness. She was of lowly birth, and her life had been passed in the labors usual amongst the peasantry of her native place ; but her kindness of heart was proverbial, and in a recent visitation of cholera to the village, she had distinguished herself by self-sacrificing attendance on the sick. Her neighbours were therefore much grieved at the thoughts of losing her ; and when it became known that, after all, it was probable she might recover, there was general rejoicing amongst them. She did recover, and then commenced the wonderful life which she has since led. At first, if we recollect aright, she noticed that, on every Friday, blood issued from a certain spot upon her side, corresponding with that where in pictures of the Crucifixion the spear is seen to pierce our Blessed Lord. This she communicated to her confessor, and was by him desired to say nothing of it but to conceal it as well as she could. She did so as long as it was possible, but soon the blood began to flow from her hands and feet, as well as from her side, and it became apparent to all about her that she had been chosen to receive the marks of our Blessed Saviour's stigmata, as had St. Paul the Apostle, St. Francis, of Assisi, and, in our own day, the Augustinian nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich, of "Westphalia, and certain holy women of the Tyrol and Italy. The matter speedily was noised abroad; inquiries were not shunned, and members of the medical profession came from far and near to examine into the case. Many of these were men of eminence and European reputation, and amongst them some who had hitherto been infidels were converted, notably Dr. Klapp, of Hanover, while all seem to have agreed that the matter lay beyond the reach of their science, and could not have been accomplished by natural means. As years passed^by, the" phenomena observed in the favored being of whom we write, appear to have increased in number and intensity, for, in addition to what has been already mentioned, of late we have read of a circle around her head and a wound upon her shoulder, answering to the impress of our most holy Redeemer's crown of thorns, and the bruise He received from the Cross borne by Him to Calvary. The bleeding of the stigmata has also been attended for some time with excessive agony, so that it is painful even to look upon the sufferer, for her affliction is most evident ; but this finds relief in ecstasies, of which wonderful things ara related, and during which she is unconscious of all that takes place around her as well as of pain. Moreover, as certain of the ■aints have done, she is said to have abstained for years from food, the blessed Sacrament alone having been received by her during that period. Although our knowledge of them is very imperfect, we have thoughtit righttogivethis shortaccount of these marvellous thinge, in order to draw the attention of our readers to them ; for if God works such wonders in our day, it is evident He mercifully considers our weakness, and affords us means of strengthening our faith, by contemplating the visible signs of His presence in the Church. The world may laugh at the supernatural, but the supernatural is in our midst, and the arguments of unbelievers will no more remove it from amongst us, than the levers of Archimedes, potent though they were in their proper sphere, could have turned away the universe from its appointed course.