OCR Text |
Show j. THE MIRACLES OF LOURDES . 1 The Rev. C. Van der Donckt, the learned and :". zealous pastor of Pocatello, Ida., has rendered a j ,' distinct service to that department of Catholic lit- i.i i erature, known as thaumaturgy, when he trans-lated trans-lated and published Doctor Boissarie's remarkable - j 1 work on the "Wonders of Lourdes." In his intro- " ! ductory chapter to the book, Father Van der Donckt, ' i v i anticipating the laudable self -questioning of many a ; ; troubled soul, pertinently asks: "Is there any visi- I ble witness to the Divine guidance of the Catholic, i ; j such, for instance, as that which. Jehovah gave to T I the Jews of old, and as Christ gave to men when ) ; he walked among them." Is there a voice from I ( JJeaven which comes to people today as it came to ' . .Saul on the road to Damascus, and which dispens- : : ing with a long course of study, argument and even 1 ' preparatory prapey suddenly bids the infidel to ' exclaim : "Lord, what wilt thou that I do ?" In an- i swer to these questions, the translator unfolds from 3 ' the French of do Boissarie a marvelous record of j wonderful cures of chronic and organic diseases, ; I 1 which occurred at the shrine of Our Lady of , Lourdes. , In this most interesting and convincing book i, y we have all the proofs demanded by any competent , : legal tribunal, all the sworn testimony of unini- i pcachable witnesses, and the evidence and legal ? oaths of the men and women who were instantaneously instantan-eously cured of loathsome diseases of cancers, hip - diseases, lupus, of advanced tuberculosis, and even - of blindness inherited from birth. Xot the least interesting chapter of this fascinating book is that i which deals with the notorious Zola's experiences I' ' at Lourdes and the infamous travesty on the sacred Ehriue by the Hebrew-French deist. The French j ; ! . ( deist went to Lourdes with the single purpose of completing his triology on Rome, Paris, Lourdes, and with the hope of adding to his popularity with the canaille, with the infidel masses of France, by ridiculing the miracles wrought on the banks of the Gave: "At Lourdes," writes de Boissarie, "Zola was, during his two weeks' stay, absorbed by crowd of reporters, by ceaseless visits, and by courting court-ing popularity." Further on the author adds : "He dished up a summary of confused impressions, altogether al-together groundless and in contradiction with the facts, and yet acceptable to the herd of readers, who prefer an unsavory joke to any amount of proofs." It is impossible to convince a man, against his will, or to anticipate the denials and objections of the man who will not accept the supernatural. Human Hu-man nature is ever the same, and ever will be. When our Dovine Lord said to the man blind from his birth : "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," his enemies said that he directed the blind man throuch the most public streets of the city, in order to give the cure more notoriety, and receive for Himself the greater credit." They could not deny the miracle, but they could discredit the miracle-worker by charging Him with the weakness of vanity. We are not informed of any conversions effected by the miracles of Moses, and when our Blessed Savior raised the dead to life and cast out devils, the freethinkers free-thinkers and rationalists, seeing the wonders, declared de-clared that "He did these things by Beekebub, the prince of the devils." Like the spiritists of our own day, they were willing to admit the existence of disembodied, or foreign spirits, but rejected the doctrines of Jesus Christ even wrhen attested by the hand of God. Father Van der Donckt has given us a good translation, and Frederick Pustet, the New York publisher, has put it on the market in good, clean type and attractive binding. Heaven's Recent Wonders or the Work of Lourdes Lour-des Authorized translation from the French of de Boissarje, by Rev. C. Van der Donckt. Frederick Freder-ick Pustet & Co., publishers, New York. |