Chapter XXXI: Part VII: I (1)

The clergy still kept away from the grotto and aloof from all share in the movement. The orders of Mgr. Laurence were strictly observed throughout the diocese.

The people, cruelly harassed by the persecuting measures of the administration, turned with anxiety toward the authority charged by God with the conduct and defence of the faithful. They expected to see the bishop protest energetically against the violence offered to their religious liberty. A vain hope! His lordship kept absolutely silent, and let the prefect have everything his own way. Shortly afterward, M. Massy caused to be circulated in print a report that he acted according to agreement with the ecclesiastical authority; then astonishment became general, for the bishop did not publish a line in contradiction.

The heart of the people was troubled.

Hitherto the ardent faith of the multitude had been at a loss to explain the extreme cautiousness of the clergy. At the present juncture, after so many proofs of the reality of the apparitions, the springing up of the fountain, and so many cures and miracles, this excessive reserve of the bishop during the persecution of the civil power seemed to them like a defection. Neither respect for his private character nor even his office could restrain the popular murmurs.

Why not pronounce upon the matter, now that the elements of certainty were flowing in from all quarters? Why not, at least, order some inquiry or examination to guide the faith of all? Were not events which might suffice to overthrow the civil power and raise a sedition worth the attention of the bishop? Did not the prelate's silence justify the prefect in acting as he did? If the apparition were false, ought not the bishop to have warned the faithful and nipped error in the bud? If, on the other hand, it were true, ought he not to have set his face against this persecution of believers, and courageously defended the work of God against the malice of men? Would not a mere sign from the bishop, even an examination, have stopped the prefect from entering upon his course of persecution? Were the priests and the bishop deaf to all the demands for recognition which came from the foot of this rock, ever to be celebrated as the place where the Mother of our crucified God had set her virginal foot? Had the letter succeeded in killing the spirit, as among the priests and Pharisees of the Gospel, so that they were blind to the most striking miracles? Were they so occupied with the administration of church affairs, so absorbed by their clerical functions, that the almighty hand of God outside the temple was for them an affair of little account? Was this time of miracles and persecution a proper season for the bishop to take the last place, as in processions?

Such was the clamor that arose and daily swelled from the crowd. The clergy were accused of indifference or hostility, the bishop of weakness and timidity.

Led by events and the natural bent of the human heart, this vast movement of men and ideas, so essentially religious in spirit, threatened to become opposed to the clergy. The multitude, so full of faith in the Trinity and the Blessed Virgin, seemed about to go where the divine power was plainly manifest, and to desert the sanctuary, where, under the priestly vestment, the weaknesses of men are too often to be found.

Nevertheless, Mgr. Laurence continued immovable in his attitude of reserve. What was the reason that made the prelate resist the popular voice, so often taken for the voice of Heaven? Was it divine prudence? Was it human prudence? Was it shrewdness? Or was it mere weakness?

II.

It is not always so easy to believe, and in spite of the striking proof, Mgr. Laurence still retained some doubts, and hesitated to act. His well-instructed faith was not as quick as the faith of the simple. God, who shows himself, so to speak, to souls who cannot pursue human studies, is often pleased to impose a long and patient search upon cultivated and informed minds who are able to arrive at truth by the way of labor, examination, and reflection. Even as the Apostle St. Thomas refused to believe the testimony of the disciples and the holy women, so Mgr. Laurence desired to see with his own eyes and touch with his own hands. Exact, and far more inclined to the practical than to the ideal, by nature distrustful of popular exaggeration, the prelate belonged to that class who are chilled by the passionate sentiments of others, and who readily suspect self-deception in anything like emotion or enthusiasm. Although at times he was startled by such extraordinary events, he so feared to attribute them rashly to the supernatural that he might have put off his acknowledgment of their true source until it was too late, were it not that his natural bent had been well tempered by the grace of God.

Not only did Mgr. Laurence hesitate to pronounce judgment, but he could not even make up his mind to order an official inquiry. As a Catholic bishop penetrated with the external dignity of the church, he feared to compromise it by engaging prematurely to examine facts of which he himself had insufficient personal knowledge, and which, after all, might have no better foundation than the dreams of a little peasant and the illusions of poor fanatical souls.

Of course the bishop never had counselled the measures taken by the civil power, and warmly disapproved them. But, since the wrong had been committed, was it not prudent to draw from it an accidental good? Was it not well--if, perchance, there were some error in the popular stories and belief--to abandon the pretended miracle, and allow it to sustain single-handed the hostile examinations and persecution of M. Massy, the free-thinkers, and scientists leagued together against superstition? Was it not proper to wait, and not to hasten a conflict with the civil power which might prove entirely unnecessary? The bishop privately answered after this manner all who pressed him to interfere: "I deplore as much as you the measures which have been taken; but I have no charge of the police, I have not been consulted with regard to their proceedings, what then can I do? Let everybody answer for his own acts.... I have had nothing to do with the action of the civil power in reference to the grotto; and I am glad of it. By-and-by the ecclesiastical authority will see if it is necessary to move." In this spirit of prudence and expectation, the bishop ordered his clergy to preach calmness and quiet to the people, and to employ all means to make them submit to the prohibitions of the prefect. To avoid all disturbance, not to create any new difficulties, and even to favor, out of respect for the principle of authority, the measures adopted in the name of government, and to let events take their course, seemed to the bishop by far the wisest plan.

Such were the thoughts of Mgr. Laurence, as is manifest from his correspondence about this time. Such were the considerations which determined his position and inspired his conduct. Perhaps, if he had possessed the strong faith of the multitude, he would have reasoned otherwise. But it was well that he reasoned and acted as he did. Because, if Mgr. Laurence, with the prudence becoming a bishop, looked from the standpoint of possible error, God with infinite wisdom saw the certainty of his own acts and the truth of his work. God willed that his work should undergo the test of time, and should affirm itself by surmounting without human aid the trials of persecution. If the bishop had from the start believed in the apparitions and miracles, could he have refrained from a generous outburst of apostolic zeal and energetic interference in behalf of his persecuted flock? If he really had believed that the Mother of God had appeared in his diocese, healing the sick and demanding a temple in her honor, could he have balanced against the will of heaven the pitiful opposition of a Massy, a Jacomet, or a Rouland? Certainly not. With what an ardent faith he would have set himself with mitred brow and cross in hand against the civil power, as St. Ambrose of old met the emperor at the church-door of Milan! Openly and at the head of his flock, he would have gone without fear to drink at the miraculous fountain, to kneel in the place sanctified by the footsteps of the Blessed Virgin, and to lay the corner-stone of a magnificent temple in honor of Mary Immaculate.

But in thus defending the work of God at that time, the prelate would have infallibly weakened it in the future. The support which he gave it at the start would hereafter render it suspected as emanating from man and not from God. The more that the bishop kept aloof from the movement, the more rebellious or even hostile he may be showed to have been to the popular faith, so much the more clearly is the supernatural manifested by its triumph, singly and in virtue of its truth, over the hatred or neglect of all that bears the name of power.

Providence resolved that so it should be, and that the great apparition of the Blessed Virgin in the nineteenth century should pass through trials, as did Christianity, from its very birth. He wished that universal faith should commence among the poor and humble, in the same way as, in the kingdom of heaven, the first were last and the last first. It was then necessary, according to the divine plan, that the bishop, far from taking the initiative, should hesitate the longest, and finally yield last of all to the irresistible evidence of facts.

See how, in his secret designs, he had placed at Tarbes on its episcopal throne the eminent and reserved man whose portrait we have just sketched. See how he had kept Mgr. Laurence from putting faith in the apparition, and maintained him in doubt in spite of the most striking facts. Thus, he confirmed in the prelate that spirit of prudence which he had bestowed upon him, and left to his episcopal wisdom that character of long hesitation and extreme mildness which, in the midst of their excitement, the people could not comprehend, but whose providential usefulness and admirable results the future was about to manifest to the eyes of all.

The people had the virtue of faith, but in their ardor they wished to force the clergy into premature interference. The bishop possessed the virtue of prudence, but his eyes were not yet opened to the supernatural events which were taking place in the sight of all. Complete wisdom and the just measure of all things were then as ever in the mind of God alone, who directed them toward the end and made use both of the ardor of the people and the prelate. He willed that his church, represented by the bishop, should abstain from taking an active part, and keep out of the struggle until the supreme moment, when she was to step forward as the final arbiter in the debate and proclaim the truth.

III.

Less calm and less patient than the bishop by their very nature, and now carried away by enthusiasm at sight of the miraculous cures which took place daily, the people could not bear themselves so indifferently toward the measures of the administration.

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.

Occasionally, unfortunate victims of blindness or palsy from a distance, who had been abandoned by the physicians and whose ills God alone knew how to cure, would come to the mayor and entreat him with clasped hands to give their lives one last chance at the miraculous spring. The mayor was inflexible, showing in his execution of the prefect's orders that energy of detail by which feeble natures so often deceive themselves. He refused in the name of the superior authority the desired permission.

The greater number then went along the right bank of the Gave to a point opposite the grotto. Here on certain days an immense throng collected, beyond the reach of the prefectoral power; for the land belonged to private parties, who believed that the benediction of Heaven would fall upon the footprints of the pilgrims, and gladly permitted them to kneel upon their land, and to pray with eyes turned toward the place of the apparition and the miraculous fountain.

About this time, Bernadette fell sick, affected by her asthma and also fatigued by the number of visitors who wished to see and speak with her. In hopes of quieting souls by removing every cause of agitation, the bishop availed himself of this circumstance to advise Bernadette's parents to send her to the baths of Cauterets, which are not far from Lourdes.

It would serve to withdraw her from those conversations and inquiries which served to increase popular emotion. The Soubirous, alarmed at her state, and observing the bad effect of these continual visits, confided Bernadette to one of her aunts who was about to go to Cauterets, and who undertook the care and expenses of her little niece. The cost of such a visit is considerably less at that time of the year than any other, as the baths are almost deserted. The rich and privileged come later in the season. Here, as an invalid seeking repose and quiet, Bernadette used the waters for two or three weeks.

IV.

As the month of June draws to a close, the fashionable watering season begins in the Pyrenees. Bernadette returned to her home at Lourdes. And now, tourists, bathers, travellers, and scientific men from a thousand different parts of Europe began to arrive at the various thermal stations. The rugged mountains, so wild and lonely during the rest of the year, were peopled with a throng of visitors belonging for the most part to the higher social class of the great cities.

By the close of July, the Pyrenees became suburbs of Paris, London, Rome, and Berlin.

Frenchmen and foreigners met in the dining-halls, jostled one another in the _salons_, rambled among the mountain-paths, or rode in every direction, along the streams, over the ridges, or through the flowery and shaded valleys.

Ministers worn out by labor, deputies and senators fatigued by too much listening or speaking, bankers, politicians, merchants, ecclesiastics, magistrates, writers, and people of the world, all came to provide for their health, not only at the famous springs, but in the pure and bracing mountain air, which gives energy to the pulse and fills the mind with vigor and activity.

This motley society represented all beliefs and disbeliefs, all the philosophic systems, and all the opinions under the sun. It was a microcosm. It was an abridged edition of Europe--that Europe which Providence thus wished to place in presence of his supernatural works. Nevertheless, as of old in Bethlehem he showed himself to the shepherds before his manifestation to the Magian kings; so at Lourdes he first called the humble and the poor to behold his wonders, and only after them the princes of wealth, intelligence, and art.

From Cauterets, from Barèges, from Luz, from St. Sauveur, strangers hastened to Lourdes. The city was filled with rattling coaches, drawn, according to the custom of the country, by four powerful horses, whose harness and trappings are of many colors and adorned with strings of little bells. The greater proportion of the pilgrims paid no attention to the barriers. They braved the law and went into the grotto, some out of motives of faith, and others led by mere curiosity. Bernadette received innumerable visits. Everybody wished to see and could see the persons who had been miraculously cured. In the _salons_ at the baths, the events which we have recounted formed the universal topic of conversation. Little by little, public opinion began to be formed, no longer the opinion of an insignificant nook at the foot of the Pyrenees, and extending only from Bayonne to Toulouse or Foix, but the opinion of France and Europe, now represented among the mountains by visitors of all classes, of every intellectual shade, and from every place.

The violent measures of Baron Massy, which vexed curiosity as much as piety, were highly censured by all. Some said that they were illegal, others that they were misplaced, but all agreed that they were utterly inadequate to suppressing the prodigious movement of which the grotto and the miraculous spring were the centre.

The evidences of this total inefficiency drew upon the prefect severe criticism from those who shared his horror of the supernatural, and who at the start would have loudly applauded his policy. Men in general, and free-thinkers in particular, judge the acts of government rather by their results than by philosophic principles.

Success is the most certain means of winning their approval; failure, a twofold misfortune, since universal blame is added to the humiliation of defeat. M. Massy was subject to this double mishap.

There were circumstances, however, which put the zeal of the police and even the official courage of M. Jacomet to a rude test. Illustrious personages violated the enclosure.

What was to be done in such embarrassing cases?

Once they suddenly halted a stranger, of strongly marked and powerful features, who passed the stakes with the manifest intention of going to the Massabielle rocks.

"You can't pass here, sir."

"You will soon see whether I can or cannot pass," answered the stranger, without for a moment arresting his progress towards the place of the apparition.

"Your name? I will enter a complaint against you."

"My name is Louis Veuillot," replied the stranger.

While the process was being drawn up against the celebrated writer, a lady crossed the limits a short distance behind him, and went to kneel before the planks that shut up the grotto. Through the cracks of the palisade she watched the bubbling miraculous spring and prayed. What was she asking of God? Was her prayer directed towards the past or the future? Was it for herself or others, whose destiny had been confided to her? Did she ask the blessing of Heaven for one person or for a family? Never mind!

This lady did not escape the watchful eyes of him who represented at once the prefectoral policy, the magistracy, and the police.

Argus quitted M. Veuillot, and rushed towards the kneeling figure.

"Madame," said he, "it is not permitted to pray here. You are caught in open violation of the law; you will have to answer for it before the police court. Your name?"

"Certainly," replied the lady; "I am Madame l'Amirale Bruat, governess to his highness the Prince Imperial."

The terrible Jacomet had, above all things, a respect for the social hierarchy and the powers that be. He did not pursue the _procès-verbal_. Such scenes were often renewed. Certain of the _procès-verbaux_ frightened the agents, and may possibly have frightened the prefect himself.

A deplorable state of things: his orders were violated with impunity by the powerful, and cruelly maintained at the expense of the weak. He had two sets of weights and measures.

V.

The question raised by the various supernatural occurrences, by the apparitions--true or false--of the Blessed Virgin, by the breaking out of the fountain, and by the real or imaginary cures, could not remain for ever in suspense. Such was the conviction of everybody. It was necessary that the matter should be submitted to severe and competent inquiry.

Strangers, who spent but a short season in the place, who had not witnessed from the first the miraculous events, and who could not form a conviction from personal knowledge, as could the inhabitants of the surrounding country, amid the various accounts and opinions that were to be heard from all quarters, were unanimous in their astonishment at the apparent indifference of the clergy. And, while they blamed the inopportune meddling of the civil power, they also censured the prolonged inaction of the religious authority, personified in the bishop.

The free-thinkers, interpreting the hesitation of the prelate to their own advantage, felt confident of his final verdict. The partisans of Baron Massy began to announce an entire accord between the sentiments of the bishop and those of the prefect. They cast the entire responsibility of the violent measures upon Mgr. Laurence.

"The bishop," they said, "might, by a single word, have put a stop to this superstition. It was only necessary for him to deliver his judgment on the matter. But in default of his action, the civil authority has been forced to proceed."

But in view of the evidence for the miracles, the faithful considered the final judgment as certainly favorable to their belief. Moreover, a great number of strangers who had no conviction nor party prejudices, sought to be relieved of their uncertainty by a definitive examination. "Of what use," said they, "is religious authority if not to decide such matters, and to fix the faith of those whom distance, or lack of documents, or other causes, prevent from examining and settling the question for themselves?"

Continual demands reached the ears of the bishop. The murmur of the crowd was swelled by the voice of those that are usually styled the "enlightened class," although their lesser lights sometimes cause them to lose sight of brighter ones. Everybody demanded a formal inquest.

Supernatural cures continued to manifest themselves. Hundreds of authentic affidavits of miraculous cures, signed by numerous witnesses, were daily received at the bishop's palace.[100]

On the 16th of July, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Bernadette heard again within herself the voice which had been silent for some months, and which no longer called her to the Massabielle rocks, then fenced and guarded, but to the right bank of the Gave, to the meadow where the crowd knelt and prayed beyond reach of _procès-verbaux_ and annoyance of the police. It was now eight o'clock in the evening.

Scarcely had the child prostrated herself and commenced to recite her beads, when the divine Mother appeared to her. The Gave, which separated her from the grotto, had no existence for her ecstatic vision. She saw only the blessed rock, quite close to her, as formerly, and the immaculate Virgin, whose sweet smile confirmed all the past and vouched for all the future. No word escaped her heavenly lips. At a certain moment she bent towards the child as if to take a long farewell. Then she re-entered paradise. This was the eighteenth apparition: it was to be the last.

In a different or opposite sense, strange facts now took place which it is necessary to notice. On three or four occasions, certain women and children had, or pretended to have, visions similar to those of Bernadette.

Were these visions real? Was diabolical mysticism endeavoring to mix with the divine in order to trouble it? Was there at the bottom of these singular phenomena a mental derangement or the ill-timed trickery of naughty children? Or was there a hostile hand secretly at work pushing forward these visionaries in order to cast discredit on the miracles at the grotto? We cannot tell.

The multitude, whose eyes were fixed on all the details, and who eagerly sought to draw conclusions from what they already knew, were less reserved in their judgment.

The supposition that the false visionaries were incited by the police immediately took possession of the public mind as being very consistent with the policy of the authorities. The children who pretended to have had visions mingled their accounts with most extravagant incoherencies. Once they scaled the barrier which enclosed the grotto, and, under pretence of offering their services to the pilgrims, of procuring the water for them, and of touching their beads on the rock, they received and appropriated money. Strange to say, Jacomet did not interfere with their proceedings, although it would have been quite easy to have arrested them. He even affected not to notice these strange scenes, ecstasies, and violations of the enclosure. From this surprising behavior of the shrewd and far-sighted chief, everybody concluded the existence of one of those secret plots of which the police, and even the administration, are sometimes thought capable.

"Baron Massy," so they said, "sees that public opinion is withdrawing from him, and, convinced that open violence is insufficient to put a stop to these events, has sought to dishonor them in principle by encouraging the false visionaries, full accounts of whom we shall soon see in the journals and the official reports. _Is fecit cui prodest._"

Whatever might have been the truth of these suspicions, perhaps incorrect, such scenes could not but disturb the peace of souls. The curé of Lourdes, moved by these scandals, immediately expelled the pretended seers from the _catechisme_, and declared that, if similar occurrences took place in the future, he would not rest until he had exposed their true instigators.

The position and threats of the curé produced a sudden and radical effect. The pretended visions ceased at once, and nothing more was heard of them. They had only lasted four or five days.

M. Peyramale notified the bishop of this occurrence. M. Jacomet, on his part, addressed to the authorities an exaggerated and romantic statement, of which we will have future occasion to speak. This audacious attempt of the enemy to destroy the true nature and honor of the movement only added to the reasons which called peremptorily for action on the part of the bishop. Everything seemed to indicate that the moment for interference had come, when the religious authority should set about examining and giving sentence.

Men of distinction in the Catholic world, such as Mgr. de Salines, Archbishop of Auch; Mgr. Thibaud, Bishop of Montpellier; Mgr. de Garsignies, Bishop of Soissons; M. Louis Veuillot, chief editor of the _Univers_; and persons less widely celebrated, but of national reputation, such as M. de Rességuier, formerly a deputy; M. Vène, chief engineer of mines, and inspector-general of thermal waters in the Pyrenees; and a great number of eminent Catholics, were at that time in the country.

All had examined these extraordinary facts which form the subject of our history; all had interrogated Bernadette; all were either believers or strongly inclined to believe. They tell of one of the most venerated bishops, that he was unable to control the emotion awakened by the _naif_ statement of the little seer. Gazing upon the open brow which had received the glance of the ineffable Virgin Mother of God, the prelate could not restrain the first movement of piety. The prince of the church bowed before the majesty of that humble peasant.

"Pray for me; bless me and my flock," he cried, choked with emotion, and sinking on his knees.

"Rise! rise! my lord! It is yours to bless her," said the curé of Lourdes, who was present, and instantly seized the bishop's hand.

Although the priest had sprung forward quickly, Bernadette had already advanced, and, all abashed in her humility, bowed her head for the blessing of the prelate.

The bishop gave it, but not without shedding tears.

VI.

The entire course of events, the testimony of such grave men, and their evident conviction after examining, were facts which made a lively impression on the clear and sagacious mind of the Bishop of Tarbes. Mgr. Laurence thought that the time had now come to speak, and he came forth from his silence. On July 28, he published the following orders, which were immediately known throughout the entire diocese, and produced intense excitement; for every one understood that the strange position which he had hitherto assumed was now about to have its solution:

"ORDER OF HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP OF TARBES,
CONSTITUTING A COMMISSION TO REPORT ON THE AUTHENTICITY
AND NATURE OF CERTAIN FACTS WHICH HAVE, FOR SIX MONTHS,
BEEN TAKING PLACE ON OCCASION OF A REAL OR PRETENDED
APPARITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN A GROTTO SITUATED
WEST OF THE TOWN OF LOURDES.

"Bertrand-Severe-Laurence, by the mercy of God and the
apostolic favor of the Holy See, Bishop of Tarbes.

"To the clergy and faithful of our diocese, health and
benediction in our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Facts of grave importance, and intimately connected
with religion, have been occurring at Lourdes since the
eleventh of last February. They have stirred our whole
diocese, and their fame has been re-echoed in foreign
parts.

"Bernadette Soubirous, a young girl of Lourdes,
fourteen years of age, has had visions in the
Massabielle grotto, situated west of that town. The
Blessed Virgin has appeared to her. A fountain has
risen on the spot. The water of this fountain, having
been drunk or used as a wash, has operated a great
number of cures, which are considered miraculous.
Many persons have come from parts of our own and from
neighboring dioceses to seek, at this fountain, the
cure of various diseases, invoking the Immaculate
Virgin.

"The civil power has been alarmed by this. The
ecclesiastical authority has been urged by all parties,
since the month of March, to make some declaration
concerning this improvised pilgrimage. We have delayed,
up to the present time--believing that the hour was
not come for us to deal successfully with this matter,
and also that, to give due weight to our judgment, it
would be necessary to proceed with wise moderation, to
distrust the prejudices of the first days of popular
enthusiasm, to allow agitation to quiet itself, to
give time for reflection, and to procure light for an
attentive and clear investigation.

"Three classes appeal to our decision, but with
different views:

"First are those who, refusing all examination, see in
the events at the grotto, and in the cures attributed
to its water, only superstition, jugglery, and deceit.

"It is evident that we cannot, _à priori_, share
their opinion without serious examination. Their
journals have, from the start, cried, and loudly too,
superstition, fraud, and bad faith. They have affirmed
that the affair of the grotto has had its rise in
sordid and guilty cupidity, and have thus wounded
the moral sense of our Christian people. The plan of
denying everything and of accusing intentions seems
to us very convenient for cutting off difficulties;
but, on the other hand, very disloyal to sound reason,
and more apt to irritate than to convince. To deny
the possibility of supernatural facts is to follow a
superannuated school, to abjure Christianity, and to
proceed in the ruts of the infidel philosophy of the
last century. We, as Catholics, cannot take counsel
in such a matter with those who deny God's power
to make exceptions to his own laws, nor even join
them in examining whether a given fact is natural or
supernatural, knowing in advance that they proclaim
the impossibility of the supernatural. By this, do
we shrink from thorough, sincere, and conscientious
discussion enlightened by advanced science? By no
means. On the contrary, we desire it, with all our
heart. We wish these facts to be submitted to the
severest tests of evidence compatible with sound
philosophy, and, accordingly, to determine whether they
are natural or divine, that prudent men, learned in
the sciences of mystical theology, medicine, physics,
chemistry, geology, etc., etc., be invited to the
discussion, in order that science shall be consulted
and give her sentence. And we desire, above all, that
no means be neglected to ascertain the truth.

"Another class neither approve nor condemn the events
which are everywhere recounted, but suspend their
judgment. Before pronouncing definitely, they wish to
know the views of competent authority, and earnestly
ask for them.

"Finally, a third and very numerous class have become
thoroughly, though perhaps prematurely, convinced. They
impatiently look to the bishop to pronounce immediately
on this grave affair. Although they expect from us a
decision favorable to their own pious sentiments, we
know their obedient spirit well enough to be assured
that they will agree with our judgment, whatever that
may be, as soon as it is known.

"It is, therefore, to enlighten the piety of so many
thousands of the faithful, to correspond with an
urgent public appeal to settle the uncertainty and
quiet the agitation of souls, that we yield to-day to
instances repeated and continued, from all parts. We
desire light on facts in the highest degree important
to the faithful, the worship of the Blessed Virgin,
and religion itself. To this end we have resolved
to institute in our diocese a permanent commission
for collecting and reporting upon the facts which
have occurred, and which may hereafter occur, at or
concerning the grotto of Lourdes, in order to make
known their character and supply us with the means
indispensable to arriving at a true judgment.

"WHEREFORE,

"The holy name of God having been invoked,

"We have ordered and hereby order as follows:

"Art. I. A commission is hereby instituted in the
diocese of Tarbes, to examine the following points:

"1. Whether cures have been worked by drinking, or by
bathing with the water of the grotto of Lourdes; and
whether these cures can be explained naturally or are
to be attributed to something above nature.

"2. Whether the visions which are said to have been
seen by the child Bernadette Soubirous have been real;
and, in the latter case, whether they can be explained
naturally or are to be invested with a supernatural
character.

"3. Whether the object which is said to have appeared
manifested its intentions to the child; whether she has
been charged to communicate them, and to whom; and what
were the said intentions or demands.

"4. Whether the fountain which is now running in the
grotto existed before the alleged visions of Bernadette
Soubirous.

"Art. II. The commission will present for our
consideration only facts established by solid evidence,
concerning which it will prepare minute reports
containing its own judgment on the matter.

"Art. III. The deans of the diocese will be the
principal correspondents of the commission.

"1. They are desired to call attention to facts which
have taken place in their respective deaneries.

"2. The persons who are allowed to testify concerning
such acts are:

"3. Those who, by their science, can enlighten the
commission.

"4. The physicians who have had charge of the sick
before their cure.

"Art. IV. After having received notices, the commission
will proceed to examination. Evidence must be rendered
under oath. When investigations refer to localities,
at least two members of the commission must visit the
spot.

"Art. V. We earnestly recommend the commission to
invite to its sessions men well versed in the sciences
of medicine, physics, chemistry, geology, etc., in
order to hear them discuss the difficulties which may
arise on points familiar to them, and in order to learn
their opinion. The commission will neglect no means of
acquiring light and arriving at the truth, whatever
that may be.

"Art. VI. The commission shall be composed of nine
members of our chapter, the superiors of the great and
little seminaries, the superior of the missionaries of
our diocese, the curé of Lourdes, and the professors of
dogmatic and moral theology and physics of the great
seminary. The professor of chemistry in our little
seminary shall be often consulted.

"Art. VII. M. Nogaro, canon-arch-priest, is hereby
named president of the commission. The Canons
Tabariés and Soulé are named vice-presidents. The
commission will appoint for itself a secretary and two
vice-secretaries from its own number.

"Art. VIII. The commission will immediately enter
upon its labors, and meet as often as it shall deem
necessary.

"Given at Tarbes, in our episcopal palace, under our
sign and seal, and the countersign of our secretary,
July 28, 1858.

"✠ BERTRAND-SRE,
"Bishop of Tarbes.

"By command, FOURCADE,
"Canon-Secretary."

His lordship had scarcely issued this order when he received a letter from M. Rouland, Minister of Public Worship, entreating him to interfere and arrest the movement.

In order to comprehend the full meaning of this letter, it will be necessary for us to turn back a short distance.

VII.

Whether the police or administration had incited the false visionaries or were the innocent victims of universal suspicion, it is impossible to know with certainty; it is still more impossible to establish either opinion by authentic documents. In such cases the proof, if there be any, is always destroyed by interested hands. There are, consequently, no other means of getting at the truth, except the general appearance of things and the unanimous sentiment of the contemporary public, sometimes assuredly just, though often tinged by passion or infected with error. In view of this chaotic state of the elements, the historian can only relate facts both authentic and alleged, express his own doubts and scruples, and leave the reader to determine upon the most probable explanation.

Whatever the cause or hidden hand might have been which pushed forward two or three little ragamuffins to make seers of them, M. Jacomet, M. Massy, and his friends felt bound to magnify and spread their silly story. They endeavored to attract the attention of the people, and withdraw it from such grave events as the divine ecstasies of Bernadette, the bursting forth of the fountain, and the miraculous cures which had laid hold of popular faith. When the battle had been lost on one point, these able strategists sought to lure the enemy on to a field surrounded by ambuscades and mined in advance; in short, to make a diversion.

The sudden disappearance of the false visions and visionaries before the threatened scrutiny of M. Peyramale upset, for several days at least, the fond hopes of the free-thinking strategists. The common sense of the public remained firm on the true ground of controversy, and did not permit itself to be deceived. The enlightened intellect of Minister Rouland did not fare so well. What follows will explain how this independent spirit was overthrown.

MM. Jacomet and Massy were striving against a triumphant and irresistible force, and taxed the utmost resources of their genius to make out of these slight events a final pretext for repairing their losses and reassuming an offensive part. They sent to the Minister of Public Worship an exaggerated and fantastic account of these childish scenes.

Now, by an illusion barely conceivable in a politician acquainted with ordinary practice, M. Rouland placed blind confidence in their official reports. He was not without faith, although injudicious, one may say, in selecting the object of his trust. The philosopher Rouland had no faith in Our Lady of Lourdes asserting herself by cures and miracles, but he had perfect faith in Massy and Jacomet. These two gentlemen made him believe that, under the shadow of the Massabielle rocks, children officiated as priests, that the people, represented by creatures of dishonest life, crowned them with laurels and flowers, etc., etc.

They did not disguise the uselessness of violent measures against the general excitement of spirits. According to their account, material force was vanquished and the civil authority completely brought to naught. The religious authority alone could save the day by energetic action against the popular belief. Desperate as to their own straits, and little considering the dignity of a Christian bishop, they presumed to think that strong pressure from the upper heights of the administration could force Mgr. Laurence to condemn what had transpired and to follow their views. Accordingly they signified to the minister their judgment that the solution of all difficulties would be the direct interference of the prelate.

This was to push his excellency in the direction towards which, as is well known, he naturally inclined, viz., to mix himself in religious questions, and to foster the desire of making out a programme for the bishops.

The minister, although he had once been _procureur-general_, did not think of asking how it was that the police had not prosecuted in the courts the profanations which they reported. The strange abstinence of the magistracy in view of the pretended disorders did not occasion him the slightest suspicion.

Accepting with more than ministerial candor the romance of the police and the prefect, and imagining that he saw the whole truth; moreover, believing himself nothing less than a theologian, and, because Minister of Public Worship, something more than an archbishop, M. Rouland settled the whole affair in his cabinet, and wrote to Mgr. Laurence a letter, in all respects a worthy mate of the one he had formerly addressed to the prefect, and which we have cited. It was strongly impregnated with the same official piety, and whilst we read it to-day by the light of true history, we cannot restrain a smile at the manner in which rulers are sometimes hoodwinked and mocked by their inferior agents. Indeed, it is not without a sad irony that one sees the following letter written by the very minister who, in a short time, was to sign the permission to build a splendid church on the Massabielle rocks in eternal memory of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

"My lord," wrote M. Rouland, "the recent advice which
I have received about that affair at Lourdes seems
to me calculated to afflict deeply the hearts of all
sincerely religious men. This blessing of rosaries by
children, these public demonstrations in the first
ranks of which are to be seen women of doubtful
character, this coronation of the visionaries, and
other grotesque ceremonies which parody the rites of
religious worship, will not fail to open a free avenue
of attack to Protestant and other journals, unless the
central authority interferes to moderate the ardor of
polemics. Such scandalous scenes degrade religion in
the eyes of the people, and I feel it my duty again
to call your most serious attention to them.... These
deeply to be regretted demonstrations seem to me of
such a character as to summon the clergy from the
reserve which it has hitherto maintained. On this point
I can do no more than to make a pressing appeal to
the prudence and firmness of your grace _by demanding
if you do not think it proper to rebuke publicly such
profanity_. Receive, etc.,

The Minister of Public Instruction and Worship,

"ROULAND."

VIII.

This missive reached Mgr. Laurence just after he had issued the ordinance already known to the reader, and had appointed a commission to examine the extraordinary works wrought by the hand of God.

Although singularly astonished and indignant at the fantastic account so gravely offered by the good minister as the truth itself, nevertheless, the bishop answered his letter in measured terms. Without expressing a complete judgment, in order not to hasten a premature solution of the matter, he rehabilitated the facts which had been so shamefully misrepresented. He set forth with great frankness the line of conduct which he and his clergy had pursued, until events had got to such a pass that it was necessary to interfere and order a commission of inquiry. To the minister, who, without knowledge or examination, had said, "Condemn," he answered, "I will examine."

"Monsieur le Ministre," wrote the prelate, "great was
my amazement on reading your letter. I also am informed
as to what takes place at Lourdes, and, as a bishop,
deeply interested in reproving all that can harm
religion and the faithful. Now, I can assure you that
no such scenes as you describe exist, and, if there
have been any occurrences worthy of regret, they have
been transitory and have left no traces behind them.

"The facts to which your excellency alludes transpired
after the grotto was shut up, and after the first week
in July. Two or three children of Lourdes pretended to
have visions, and behaved extravagantly in the streets.
The grotto being then shut up, as I have said, they
found means to get into it, and to offer their services
to visitors stopped at the barricades, in order to
touch their chaplets on the rock inside the grotto, and
to appropriate the offerings received from them. One of
them who was most remarkable for his eccentricities was
a choir-boy in the church of Lourdes. The curé rebuked
and drove him out of the _catechisme_, and excluded him
from the service of the church.[101] The disorder was
only transitory, and amounted only to the mischief of a
few boys, which ceased as soon as it was reprehended.
Such are the facts which _overzealous_ persons have
magnified into permanent scenes.

"I would be much gratified, M. le Ministre, if you
would seek a fair statement of what has occurred from
honorable persons who have remained here for some time
in order to make personal observations of places, and
to interrogate the child who is said to have had the
vision. Such are Mgrs. the bishops of Montpellier
and Soissons, Mgr. the Archbishop of Auch, M. Vène,
inspector of thermal waters, Madame l'Amirale Bruat, M.
L. Veuillot, etc., etc.

"The clergy, M. le Ministre, have up to this time
maintained a complete reserve with regard to the
occurrences at the grotto. The clergy of the town
have shown a most admirable prudence. They have never
gone to the grotto to give credit to the pilgrimage,
nor, on the other hand, favored the measures of
the administration. Nevertheless, they have been
represented to you as encouraging superstition. I do
not accuse the head magistrate of the department,
whose intentions have always been good; but in this
matter he has had an exclusive confidence in his
subordinates.

"In my reply to the prefect, dated 11th of last April,
which has been submitted to your perusal, I offered
my hearty concurrence with the magistrate in order to
bring this affair to a happy conclusion. But I have
not been able to do what was desired of me, namely, to
condemn from the pulpit, without examination, inquiry,
or apparent reason, the persons who go to pray at the
grotto, and to forbid all approach to it, especially
when no disorder had been noticed, although on certain
days the visitors amounted to thousands. Moreover,
while the church has always some motive for her
prohibitions, and while I myself was not sufficiently
posted as to facts, I was also certain that amid the
general excitement my words would have passed unheeded.

"The prefect, during the council of revision at
Lourdes, on May 4th, caused the chief of police to
remove the religious emblems left at the grotto, and,
in an address to the mayors of the canton, stated
that he had taken this measure by agreement with the
diocesan bishop, an assertion which was repeated a few
days afterward by the official organ of the prefecture.
I was informed of this measure only by the journals and
the curé of Lourdes.

"I hastened to write to the latter to cause the
prefect's order to be respected. I made no complaint
at that time or afterward of having been made an
apparent party to a measure of which I had been left in
ignorance. Although numerous letters were addressed to
me entreating me to disclaim any share in it, I have
refrained from adding any difficulty to the situation.

"After the religious objects had been removed from
the grotto, we might have hoped to see the number of
visits diminish, and the pilgrimage, so inconsiderately
improvised, brought to an end. It was not so, however.
The public rightly or wrongly pretended that the
water from the grotto worked marvellous cures. The
concourse became more numerous, and crowds came from
the neighboring departments.

"On the 8th of June, the mayor of Lourdes issued a
prohibition forbidding all access to the grotto. This
was stated to be in the interest of religion and
public welfare. Although religion might have been
encouraged by it; and, again, although the bishop had
not been consulted, he published no reclamation against
these assertions; he kept silence for reasons above
stated.

"You see, M. le Ministre, by these details, that the
reserve of the clergy has not been complete in this
matter; it has been, in my judgment, prudent. When
able, I have lent my aid to the measures of the civil
authority, and, if they have not met with success, it
is not the bishop who is to blame.

"To-day, yielding to the petitions which have been
addressed me from all quarters, I have concluded that
the time has come when I can interest myself to good
purpose in this affair. I have named a commission
to collect the elements necessary for me to form a
decision on a question which has moved the whole
country around us, and which, judging from reports,
seems likely to interest the whole of France. I am
confident that the faithful will receive it with
submission, since they are aware that no effort will be
spared to get at the truth. The commission having been
at work for some days, I have determined to render my
ordinance public by having it printed, in hopes that it
may help to calm spirits until the decision shall have
been made known. I shall soon have the honor of sending
your excellency a copy.

"I am, etc.,

"B. S., Bishop of Tarbes."