CONVERSIONS AND CURES WROUGHT IN SWITZERLAND.
Letter from Sister Boubat, Superioress of the Daughters of Charity in Chesne:
"February 12, 1835.
"I have not great miracles to recount to-day, but the facts I give are certainly very striking traits of protection. However, I shall tell them just as they are, and let you judge of them for yourself. Those of which I was not an eye-witness have been told me by very reliable parties who were.
"1st. A woman who had been sick a long time, and given up by the doctors, received, one evening, the Miraculous Medal, and was restored to her usual health that night; feeling perfectly well, she said to her husband next morning that she would get up and prepare breakfast. He treated this as nonsense, and when she really did arise, his astonishment was great, and beyond all bounds when he found that her health was fully restored.
"2d. In the same village, a young mother had two children, one six the other eight years old. The latter was attacked by a violent malady, described to me as a convulsion, and died in a few days. The younger had a similar attack, and seemed on the verge of death. The poor mother was in the depths of grief, when some one thought of offering her a medal. She received it as a treasure. It was evening; she put it on the dying child, who soon fell asleep, and slept soundly the whole night. In the morning he awoke perfectly cured! This good woman afterwards came to me to get medals for herself and some others. Oh! I wish you could have seen her as she wept for joy whilst expressing to me, with all simplicity, the transports of her soul! Never will I forget it, so deep was the impression it made upon me.
"3d. A child five years old had been racked for several months by a fever, which resisted all efforts to check it. One day, he was in his grandmother's arms when the paroxysm began. This woman, full of faith, applied the medal; the child soon grew better, and the fever never troubled him again.
"The attending physician was a relation; on seeing him after this, the child ran towards him, exclaiming with all the animation and artlessness of his age: 'I am cured, but it was not you who cured me, it was the medal.' He repeats these words nearly every time he sees the doctor.
"4th. A young man, on his death-bed, filled all his friends with serious apprehensions for his salvation. After several vain efforts of the most charitable zeal, the curé induced him to accept a medal, and very soon the dying man expressed a wish to confess. He expired in the most edifying dispositions.
"5th. Three sinners obstinately refused to assist at the exercises of a mission given in their parish, and even sought to oppose it. One of the missionaries persuaded them to accept a medal, and as soon as they had received it, a great change was visible. They not only made the mission, most devoutly, but became its zealous advocates.
"I get these details from a very venerable curé, who gave them to me himself.
"6th. There came to me recently a woman from the neighboring mountainous district, who said without any previous explanation: 'You cured one of my daughters whom all the physicians had given up; I now wish you to give me the same thing.' I tried at once to recollect what medicines I had prescribed, and asked question after question concerning the nature of the malady, so as to know what remedy I had dispensed. After puzzling my brain to discover, she told me it was a piece, thus suddenly reminding me that I had given a medal to a young woman from that place, who came to consult me about her failing health. To verify the fact, I sent word for the young woman to come to see me.
"I pass over in silence a multitude of other events which, without being termed miracles, are none the less real graces; and in my eyes one most precious and great grace for us is, that the Blessed Virgin deigns to make use of our poor little house to propagate devotion to her. Oh! if you could see these good mountaineers of every age and sex come with the greatest confidence and most touching simplicity, asking for na médaillot—a medal. It has affected me deeply, and I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to our tender and Immaculate Mother.
"Even Protestants have asked us for these medals, and I am assured it was with perfect sincerity. The pastors in Savoy are also very zealous in propagating this devotion to Mary. Since reading the notice, they have mentioned it from the pulpit to their parishioners, many of whom have, in consequence, procured the medal. Likewise, do we see young men about to enter the army fortify themselves with it, and persons undertaking a voyage wearing it as their safeguard; indeed, every one has recourse to it as the universal remedy for soul and body."
CURE OF SISTER HYACINTHE, A RELIGIOUS OF CALVARY.
It is the Mother General of the Community who has given us these details. Her letter is dated February 7th, 1835.
"I am overwhelmed with joy; our poor patient is perfectly cured by virtue of the Miraculous Medal. I could say our patients, for our prayers were offered both for the paralytic and that young person whom I told you had been sick eleven months; she was able to remain out of bed only a few hours each day; whenever she could go to Mass, and that was rarely, she had to be assisted, and the support of an arm was necessary when she approached the Holy Table. Since Thursday she walks alone and eats without experiencing the slightest symptom of her former infirmity, except a little weakness. I hope the Lord will finish His work and restore her to perfect health; but let us speak of our dear Sister.
"The following is a copy of the account I wrote of this marvel to our holy Bishop day before yesterday, after Mass:
"'I acquaint Your Grace with an incident of God's great mercy, displayed to our Community in the sudden cure of one of our choir religious, named Hyacinthe, aged forty-seven years. This good Mother, the 14th of last January, had a stroke of paralysis. It did not affect her head, but immediately fixed itself in the left side, which became motionless and devoid of feeling. We hastened to summon the physician, who bled her freely in the arm; next day we tried leeches, medicines, a blister on the neck, and three days after one upon the paralyzed limb, but all of no avail. The poor patient, as well as ourselves, must submit to the decrees of Him who strikes and heals at will. At the end of fifteen days I was inspired with the thought of making a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception, the medal of which, called the miraculous, we all wear. On the fourth day of the novena, as we were about to recite the prayers around her bed, the good Mother desired Holy Communion. She was taken to the choir by three persons; after receiving, the limb felt a little better, and she could return with the aid of two persons only. Her confidence in the Mother of God increased daily; yesterday she asked permission to come down on the last day of the novena, and this morning, with the assistance of a cane and some one to support her, she came down and had the happiness of receiving Holy Communion. Immediately after, we finished the novena prayers, just at the end of which she was seized with a pain in the paralyzed arm, followed by an icy chill and then a sensation of extreme heat. She came to me with both arms lifted, exclaiming, "I am cured!" And perfectly cured she was, being able to walk and use her limbs as freely as if she had never felt a symptom of paralysis.
"'To give you an idea of our joy and gratitude, Monseigneur, would be impossible. The patient fainted, and I came very near doing the same; it was with difficulty I could continue our prayers of thanksgiving, so marvelous did it seem that the Lord should have granted this favor to our Community, under the government of one of His most unworthy servants.'
"I send you this copy, which we had kept, of the letter.
"In the same letter I asked Monseigneur's permission to have a Te Deum chanted at the end of Benediction. His Grace hastened to send word that he not only permitted but ordered it, which order was joyfully complied with. The Vicar General, our Superior, wrote, asking me to defer our Vespers half an hour, as he wished to assist at the Te Deum. Several other ecclesiastics also came, and saw our healed ones blessing God. Since that day our good Mother Hyacinthe follows the rules, complies with all her duties, and has never felt the least return of her malady.
"This miracle created great excitement in our city; the laborers who were working at the house having learned it on the spot, immediately spread the news; the evening previous, they had seen our poor Sister dragging her limb, a cane in hand, and almost carried by two persons, and next morning they beheld her perfectly cured! These men, who have seldom much religion, sang the praises of God's power, and asked me to give them medals. I gave a medal to each with great pleasure. Clergymen have come to learn the particulars of this event, and I let the miraculously cured herself recount the wonders of the Lord.
"I must not omit informing you that the physician having vainly exhausted all remedies, had been nine days without seeing the patient; and the very eve of her recovery he told one of our boarders that the disease having settled itself he believed our afflicted one might be able to walk, but she could never use her arm again. On coming next day to visit his other patients, he was surprised beyond expression when she appeared before him perfectly cured. Wishing to get his candid opinion on the subject, I remarked that probably it was not real paralysis, but only a numbness. 'It was a strongly marked case of paralysis,' he answered, 'and there is certainly something supernatural in her recovery.'
"In thanksgiving we continue the novena prayers, but preface them with the Laudate.
"Make such use of this letter as you may deem advisable. If you insert it in the notice, you are at liberty to name our city and house. Oh! how we long to spread abroad the knowledge and love of God's power, signally displayed in answer to our invocation of the Immaculate Mother of His Divine Son.
"SISTER ST. MARIE,
"Superioress of Calvary of Orleans."