CURES WROUGHT IN THE CHABLAIS DISTRICT (SAVOY).
"The Borders of Lake Geneva, June 18, 1835.
"Monsieur:
"The country purged of Calvin's heresy by the labors of Geneva's holy bishop, is not a stranger to the blessings figured by the medal's mysterious rays. This wonderful instrument of Mary's liberality has been propagated with astonishing rapidity, though only a few months since we heard of it in our midst. I consider it a pious obligation to offer you a few small stones towards the construction of that temple of glory now in process of erection, to the honor of her, who has lately proved herself more powerful and merciful on earth than ever before. I am a young villager living amidst my family; I do not announce miracles to you, but merely recount facts just as I have seen or heard them. I could have subjoined a list of signatures, but I did not judge it necessary, the docile, religious heart deeming them superfluous, and the skeptic, fraudulent, like the facts. On a perusal of the first few phrases in each incident, persons living in the vicinity will recognize the individuals concerned, and thereby be more deeply impressed.
"1st. In the month of July, 1824, Mlle. C., aged twenty-nine years, bade, as she thought, a last adieu to her family; she and some other generous companions were going to one of the large cities in southern Italy to consecrate themselves there to the service of the sick and poor. After a few months' novitiate in a religious house devoted to works of this nature, she was attacked by one of those debilitating, wasting maladies that physicians are at a loss to define. Attributing it to the climate, the Superiors, after twenty-two months' ineffectual treatment at the novitiate, sent her to breathe her natal air. But change of air proved vain also, and the doctors at last ceased their visits, judging the re-establishment of her health an impossibility. About six years ago, she had improved sufficiently to walk a few steps beyond her chamber, and even remain in the open air some minutes, but amelioration was illusory, and since 1830 she had not been able to leave her couch of suffering except for a few instants. Many times during these last five years was she apparently on the verge of death, and that for several consecutive days, always, however, retaining her hearing and intellectual faculties, since she could respond by signs to the priest who visited her. It was he who gave me these particulars. Her condition had become such that it was judged advisable to administer the Last Sacraments. This house was now a school of edification, where Christians might study the price of sufferings and the heroism of patience. Finally, about the end of last April, this poor creature, so tortured for the past eleven years, conceived a hope of relief through the Miraculous Medal, but, mistrusting the somewhat extraordinary impressions the thought made upon her imagination, it was only from obedience she could be induced to commence a novena. The sole exercises consisted of repeating, three times a day, the invocation: 'O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!' On Wednesday, April 24th, the second or third day of the novena, she felt an irresistible desire to arise. It was yet very early in the morning; a little child assisted her to dress. Finding that her limbs support her, she begins to think it must be something miraculous, and, filled with joy, she wishes to announce the news to her mother, who is in an adjoining room. Arrived at the door, she is seized with fright, and precipitately turns back; but, being reassured of her newly restored strength by the facility with which she reaches her own chamber, she overcomes herself, and, retracing her steps, seeks the embraces of her mother, her sister and brother. Her unexpected appearance fills them with great emotion, and abundant tears attest the depths of their joy and gratitude. A clergyman, who often visited this lady, soon heard rumors of her recovery, but gave no credit to them. Meeting her mother on the street not long after, she burst into tears at sight of him, and was unable to express the cause of her emotion. Suspecting it, he went immediately to the house, and saw for himself what a miracle had been wrought. With Mlle. C., he unites in blessing her powerful protectress, the Immaculate Mary.
"Since that time, April 24, to the present date, June 18th, Mlle. C. rises about seven o'clock, hears Mass on her knees, employs herself in various duties during the day, makes visits and walks of half an hour's or even an hour's duration, and continues well, even her complexion begins to assume a healthy tinge. Her legs are still a little swollen, and she cannot yet take much nourishment.
"The sudden appearance of this person, whom every one had known to be seriously afflicted for eleven years, created an extraordinary sensation. All eyes were fixed upon her, and many persons even followed her. This took place in the capital of the province.
"2d. In the month of August, 1833, my sister, at the sight of a child who barely missed falling through an open trap door, was suddenly attacked by frightful nervous convulsions, which henceforth returned daily, and even as often as fifteen times a day. It was only at the end of two months that remedies, and a four weeks' strict hospital treatment, succeeded in checking them. Last year, they manifested themselves again in the month of February, but disappeared, leaving her a prey to great weakness, and a fever that kept her in bed four weeks.
"In the February of this year, the nervous convulsions returned, and with a frequency and force that were truly alarming. The patient wasted visibly, the paroxysms were renewed seven and ten times a day, and were of a most frightful character; the circulation of her blood seemed checked, her feet and hands were deathly chilled, she jerked her head with violence and precipitation, an agitated cry escaped her breast; the attack lasted from three to six minutes, and left her completely exhausted. The witnesses of this painful spectacle were affected to tears. She was taken to a skillful physician, who after seeing her in one of these convulsions, pronounced the case hopeless, saying, 'it baffled him, he could not understand it.' However, he prescribed remedies. Meanwhile, the first medals arrived in our midst. On Shrove Tuesday, my sister had five attacks, which she assured me were the worst she had ever had. Next day, wearing the medal, she began a novena, and the two convulsions she had that day were the last; never since has she felt the slightest symptom (and that without employing the prescribed remedies), neither has she had a sign of the fever, which last year replaced the less violent convulsions. This cure was wrought in an insensible, but very efficacious manner, the first day of a novena made through the medal. My sister immediately resumed the manifold duties of a laborious household. She attributes, and we also, her recovery to Mary alone. Thousands of times be love and glory to this good Mother!
"3d. In the Chablais district, on the frontiers of the canton of Geneva, lived a poor widow, the mother of quite a large family. This good woman, about sixty years old, had a natural predisposition to paralysis. At the age of forty-eight, an attack of this disease deprived her of the use of her left arm. At intervals since then, she has had spells of illness so serious and so protracted, that at least a hundred times she seemed on the verge of the tomb. She never consulted a physician, but animated with a lively, persevering faith, she employed only supernatural means. 'God and the Saints are the only good doctors,' she would say, and 'God and the Saints' rewarded her confidence. She has recovered from these hopeless maladies in an extraordinary manner. On the first of last March, her left foot lost the power of supporting her body in walking, doubtless owing to her natural predisposition to paralysis. Persons informed on the subject have given the following description of the convulsive movements of this poor woman's foot: suspended, it preserved its natural position, but on putting it to the ground, it immediately lost its balance; her body was bent, her knee turned out, the sole of her foot exposed, and the left side of her foot was the foundation of support for the left limb in walking. She went thus to church, distant about four minutes' walk; but even in that short space of time, the convulsive movements of the foot were sometimes such that she was not able to keep her balance, but fell to the ground. Every one pitied her, she was always calm and perfectly resigned. Her children had made for her an iron brace which reached to the knee, but after a trial, she was obliged to discard it, the remedy causing more suffering than the disease. During the Lenten season, some charitable persons advised her to seek Mary's assistance through the Miraculous Medal. The good widow did so, and wore her medal with the utmost confidence. On Holy Saturday, she perceived that her foot had become steady; the next day, Easter, without any remedies having been used, it resumed its natural position, and since that time, though a little weaker than the right, not once has it given way or turned. She attributes her recovery to the Blessed Virgin, whom she invoked by wearing the medal, so justly styled miraculous.
"I could cite many other less striking cases; one time it is a hardy peasant who attributes to Mary's intercession relief from violent pains; another time, a little child, who in a few days, is completely cured of a large tumor under its arm, accompanied by fever; a mother who tells me how her daughter's ill health is sensibly improved by the application of the medal; or a Protestant girl, who, after wearing it, abjures heresy, etc. Nearly all the children of our village wear the Miraculous Medal around their neck, they recite the invocation, they kiss the precious image and give it to their little sisters and brothers in the cradle to kiss.
III.
Graces obtained from 1836 to 1838 in France, Italy, Holland, etc.
CONVERSION AND CURE OF M. GAETAN (BOULOGNE).
This account was sent me by the curé of Boulogne, February 8, 1836.