The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871

by Various

The more intrepid, braving the tribunals and their fines, broke through the barriers, and, flinging their names to the guards, went to pray before the grotto. Among these same guards many shared the faith of the crowd, and commenced their watch by kneeling at the entrance to the venerable spot.

Placed between the morsel of bread which their humble employment procured and the repulsive duty which was demanded by it, these poor men, in their prayer to the Mother of the weak and needy, cast all the responsibility upon the authority which controlled their acts. Nevertheless, they strictly fulfilled their duty and reported all the delinquents.

Although the impetuous zeal of many believers caused them to expose themselves willingly in order to invoke the Blessed Virgin in the place of her apparition, nevertheless the jurisprudence of M. Duprat, whose fine of five francs could be raised, as we have explained, to enormous sums, was sufficient to terrify the great mass. For most of them, such a condemnation would have been utter ruin.

And yet a great number endeavored to escape the rigorous surveillance of the police. Sometimes the faithful, respecting the barriers where the guards were stationed, came to the grotto by secret paths. One of the number watched and gave notice of the approach of the police by an appointed signal. It was with the utmost difficulty that the sick could be transported to the miraculous fountain. The authorities, being notified of these infractions, doubled the number of sentries and intercepted all the paths.

Still, many swam across the Gave to kneel before the grotto and drink at the holy fountain. Night favored such infractions, and they multiplied continually in spite of the vigilance of the police. The influence of the clergy was greatly lessened and almost compromised on account of the reasons which we have set forth.

In spite of the efforts which they made to carry out the orders of the bishop, the priests were powerless to calm the general agitation or to cause their flock to respect the arbitrary measures of the civil power. "We ought to respect only that which is respectable," such was the revolutionary motto which everywhere found echo. The personal ascendency of the curé of Lourdes, who was so universally loved and venerated, began to give way before popular irritation.

Order was threatened by the very means that were taken to maintain it. The people, wounded in their most cherished beliefs, wavered between violence and submission. While on one hand petitions to the emperor were signed in all parts demanding the withdrawal of the orders of the prefect in the name of liberty of conscience, on the other hand the planks which closed the grotto were several times torn off during the night and thrown into the Gave. Jacomet vainly strove to find out these believers, so wanting in respect for the civil power as to abandon themselves without shame to a crime hitherto unknown to our laws, nocturnal prayer with trespass and breach of enclosure.

Sometimes they prostrated themselves at the stakes which formed the boundary of the forbidden ground—a mute protest against the measures of the government, and a mute appeal to Almighty God.

On the day which saw the sentence of the tribunal of Lourdes set aside by the court of Pau with reference to several women who were prosecuted for innocent conversation about the grotto, and two others who were acquitted, then an enormous crowd gathered around the stakes, they shouted victory, and passed the barriers in compact masses without a word in answer to the cries and efforts of the police. The latter, disconcerted by the recent check at Pau and overpowered by the multitude, gave way and let the torrent pass. The following day orders and remonstrances from the prefect came to comfort them and to prescribe a stricter watch. The force was increased. Threats of dismissal were bruited by the agent of the government, and vigilance redoubled.

Sinister reports of imprisonment absolutely false, but cleverly circulated, were readily accepted by the multitude. The real penalties not being sufficient, it was necessary to resort to imaginary ones in order to make a stronger impression on the souls of the faithful. By such means they succeeded in hindering for a time any renewal of the open infractions of the law.