CURE OF MADAME LEBON (DIJON).
Note.—"The venerable lady upon whom this cure was wrought belongs to a highly honorable family of Dijon, and her personal character is very well calculated to inspire the utmost confidence," says L'Ami de la Religion, in its issue of April 17th, 1835. Moreover, the letter she wrote, March 12th, to one of her friends, and which she was anxious should be transmitted to us, is accompanied by the certificates of the pastors of St. Michael of Dijon, of Dampierre and Beaumont-sur-Vingeanne, also of five members of the municipal council, and several other very reliable persons, some of them members of her family; more than this, it is followed by a detailed account given by the medical attendant, who had charge of her case for sixteen years.
"Dijon, March 12, 1835.
"Madame and Dear Friend:
"You ask me the details of the miraculous manner in which it has pleased God to restore me to health. Well! it might be summed up in these few words: I implored Mary to obtain my recovery, and she did obtain it instantly; having said this, you know all, but you desire me to recall the circumstances of my sickness and my experience subsequent to the cure. I give them as follows:
"You doubtless remember that, for more than twenty years, I could not walk, in consequence of an abscess on the intestines, which left me in such a state of sensibility that ever after a walk of more than a hundred steps I was exposing myself to the most serious accidents. Neither are you ignorant of the fact that, nearly fifteen months ago, by reason of influenza, a second abscess formed, and so increased the irritability that I hovered between life and death, and even when at my best I was scarcely able to drag myself from one room to another. But you have probably never heard that, since the 1st of last December, my condition was so critical that, with great difficulty, could I remain out of bed three or four hours at a time, which made me, as well as those around me, think my end was near and I would not survive the spring.
"This was my condition, dear friend, when some one mentioned to me the medal of the Immaculate Virgin, and urged me to get it. I was a long time deciding to do so, for I considered it presumptuous to solicit the cure of an infirmity the physicians had pronounced incurable. At last, having thought, on the one side, that the more desperate the malady, the greater God's glory should He deign to cure it; and, on the other, that He had wrought the most wonderful miracles for those who were least worthy, I decided to mention it to my confessor. I did so, and he encouraged me to make the novena.
"The 2d of February, Feast of the Purification, the first day of the novena and one ever memorable for me, I was taken to church in a carriage; my daughter, sole confidante of my intentions, assisted me to the Blessed Virgin's altar, where, after hearing Mass as well as my infirmity would permit, I received Holy Communion. Scarcely had I knelt to make an act of adoration, when I was obliged to take my seat. A Sister of Charity, whom I did not know was there, for I had not hoped to receive the medal just yet, put it on my neck. Immediately, I got on my knees to beg the Mother of the afflicted to intercede with her divine Son for the restoration of my health, should He foresee that it would be conducive to God's glory and her honor, to my salvation and the happiness of my husband and children. Scarcely had I pronounced a few words, petitioning our Lord to graciously hear His holy Mother's prayer, ere Mary had interceded and God in His great mercy had hearkened; I was cured, Madame, entirely cured.... I finished all the prayers of thanksgiving after Communion and those of the novena on my knees, and, without experiencing the slightest inconvenience, my malady had disappeared and I have never felt the slightest symptom of it since. I walked, unassisted, to the church door, sent away the carriage and returned home on foot.
"I have given you a detail of the facts, but to express the feelings that filled my heart on re-entering my house would be impossible; my joy, my astonishment, were boundless; I could hardly realize it myself. Cured in an instant! The thought was overpowering! It seemed as if I must be in a dream, but my husband's astonishment, my mother's, and that of the servants, who, seeing the great change wrought in me, although they were ignorant of the means, could not forbear exclaiming: 'But a miracle must have been worked upon you!' convinced me that I was not asleep.
"Since that time I walk as well as any one; scarcely was my novena finished ere I could go from one end of the city to the other. It has not been six weeks since my cure, and I have already walked more than three miles at a time, and could have accomplished twice as much. You see, Madame and dear friend, that the miracle is a most striking one.
"I now beg of you, as well as all other pious souls, to unite heartily with me in thanking God and His august Mother.
"Your ever devoted
"ÉLIS. M. DARBEAUMONT LEBON."
The physician's certificate ends thus: "Whatever may have been the cause of a cure, heretofore regarded as impossible by all the doctors who attended Mme. Lebon, it should be considered none the less certain and positive, for the evidence of the fact is indubitable.
"Wherefore, I sign the present attestation, which I declare sincere and true.
"FOURNIER, Doctor.
"Dampierre, March 19, 1835."
CURES WROUGHT AT SMYRNA AND CONSTANTINOPLE.
Extract of a letter from M. Le Leu, Lazarist missionary:
"Constantinople, March 16, 1835.
"It has been a long time since I proposed writing you something about the medal. In my eyes, one of the greatest miracles it has ever worked is the rapidity of its propagation and the confidence it inspires. By our demands upon you for medals, you may judge of their effect in this country. We could dispose of thousands and yet not satisfy the innumerable calls we have for them. At Smyrna, it is the same. We had occasion to send a few into the interior of Asia, and the Blessed Virgin showed herself no less powerful or beneficent there than in Europe. At Angora, an old man was deprived of the use of all his limbs, and had neither walked nor worked for years; he lived in frightful poverty, and sighed for death, for he was especially grieved at being so long a burden upon a family in indigent circumstances. (In this country there are numbers of Armenian families very devoted to the Blessed Virgin, and this was one of them.) He had no sooner heard of the Miraculous Medal, than he solicited the happiness of obtaining and wearing it. In these countries the Faith has retained its primitive simplicity; this recipient of a medal does not content himself with praying before it, or hanging it around his neck, but he kisses it with profound respect and applies it to the affected part; the Blessed Virgin cannot resist such confidence, and the good old man instantly recovers the use of his limbs—he now works and supports himself.
"Here is another incident: A young woman belonging to a respectable and very pious family had, for a long time, been a prey to a disease, the nature of which neither the French, Greek nor Turkish physicians could understand. Its symptoms were most violent pains in the side, which prevented her walking, eating or sleeping, and which sometimes disappeared, only to return with renewed violence. Having heard of our medal, this lady felt interiorly urged to employ it for her recovery, but believing herself unworthy of obtaining a direct miracle, she besought the Blessed Virgin to enlighten the physician and make known to him the proper remedy. Thereupon, she went to the country. At the end of several days, she was astonished to see her physician, who exclaimed as soon as he saw her: 'Madame, good news! I have found the remedy for your disease. I am sure of it; in a few days you will be perfectly well. I do not know why it is, but your case has constantly occupied my mind since your departure, and by a careful study of it I have at last discovered the cause of the disease and the manner of treating it.' The lady recognized at once that this knowledge came from above, and she had not implored Mary in vain. To-day she is in excellent health. It was from the mouth of her mother I received these details. 'O Monsieur,' exclaimed this good mother, 'how happy I am at my poor daughter's recovery! It is the Blessed Virgin who has restored her to me. If you could only get me a few more of these medals; I am overwhelmed with requests for them.' The physician himself published the details I have just given. So persuaded is he of the efficacy of the medal that he calls it his final remedy, and advises his patients to wear it whenever he is at a loss concerning their malady. And the Blessed Virgin has rewarded his faith; for one of his own daughters, a most pious person, but in miserable health, has just experienced its beneficial effects.
"I could mention numberless other incidents, as many conversions as cures, but one more will suffice for to-day. Not long ago the mother of a family had every symptom of an attack of apoplexy; she had already lost consciousness, when her son, a very pious young man, who wore one of these medals, took it off his neck and put it around hers. He then ran for a doctor and a priest. On reaching the house they were all three astonished to find that she had quite recovered. That evening the son asked his mother for the medal, and she returned it, but a moment after was stricken with another attack. The protection of the Blessed Virgin seemed to have been withdrawn with this sign of her power. He immediately put the medal on her neck again, this time to remain, and she has been well ever since.
"Oh! do not delay, I beg you, in sending us the medals we have asked of you."