Update: Please note that there have now been 70 approved miracles at Lourdes.
You can read about the 70th miracle via the CNA (Catholic News Agency). It reported that he miracle was officially declared by Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonin of Beauvais, France on Feb. 11, 2018, the World Day of the Sick and the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.
A list of the first 67 miracles is listed below.
LIST OF APPROVED LOURDES MIRACLES: 01 – 20
Source: The Miracle Hunter
Reprinted with permission.
In 1859, Professor Vergez of the Faculty of Medicine at Montpellier was appointed to examine the cures. Seven cures were recorded before 1862 promoting the argument for the recognition of the Apparitions by Bishop Laurence. Almost 7,000 cures have been documented at the waters of Lourdes. The Church has vigorously investigated and validated a mere 67 of them.
Read more at: How Lourdes Cures Are Recognized as Miraculous (Zenit 2004) | PDF
Download a list of miracles authenticated by International Medical Committee of Lourdes (C.M.I.L.).
Source: Mangiapan, Theodore and d’Andria, Vivienne. Imprimerie de la Grotte. 1987
1. Mrs Catherine LATAPIE
2. Louis BOURIETTE
3. Mrs Blaisette CAZENAVE
4. Henri BUSQUET
5. Justin BOUHORT
6. Mrs Madelaine RIZAN
7. Marie MOREAU
8. Pierre de RUDDER
9. Joachime DEHANT
10. Elisa SEISSON
11. Sister EUGENIA
12. Sister JULIENNE
13. Sister JOSEPHINE MARIE
14. Amelie CHAGNON
15. Clementine TROUVE
16. Marie LEBRANCHU
17. Marie LEMARCHAND
18. Elisa LESAGE
19. Sister MARIE OF THE PRESENTATION
20. Father CIRETTE
Mrs Catherine LATAPIE
Born in 1820
Lived in Loubajac, near to Lourdes. Cured 1st. March 1858 in her 39th year.
Miracle on 18th. January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes.
This was the first cure. The date is unquestionable.
At the time of the Apparitions, Catherine LATAPIE lived at Loubajac, a few kilometres from Lourdes. She had injured her right hand after a fall from a tree, in October 1856; in addition, she was at the end of her third(?) pregnancy.
This accident caused a subluxation of the humerus, which was easily reducible, but owing to the traumatic stretching of the brachial plexus, she was left with an ulnar type of paralysis. She could not use the last two fingers of her right hand, which were held in typical palmar flexion.
During the night between the 28th. February and the 1st. March, 1858, Catherine LATAPIE was moved by a sudden impulse . She rose at three in the morning, woke her young children and set off for Lourdes.
Arriving there at dawn, she met Bernadette, went to the Grotto and knelt down to pray. Then with all simplicity, she bathed her hand in the little hollow which had already collected water from the Spring.
Straightaway her fingers returned to normal. They had regained their movements and suppleness. She could flex and extend them with the same facility as she could before the accident.
With haste she returned home, and the same evening–(it is this detail which enables us to be sure of the date of the cure)–she gave birth to her third child. He was ordained a priest in 1882.
In his report for Mgr Laurence, Prof. Vergez classed this case amongst the cures “presenting a supernatural character”.
Louis BOURIETTE
Born in 1804
Lived in Lourdes. Cured in March 1858, in his 55th year. Miracle on 18th
January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes.
This cure is the one most often quoted in the history of Lourdes. Although usually considered the first, in actual fact there is evidence that it could not have happened before the first days of March (cf. Laurentin).
Louis BOURIETTE was a quarryman’s labourer, living and working in Lourdes. In 1858 he had been afflicted with a complete loss of vision in the right eye for two years. This serious disturbance resulted from an accident in the mine, which 19 years before had irreversibly injured his eye, and killed his brother Joseph, who was at his side.
Dr. Dozous, the first Medical “expert” verified this cure and in 1874 wrote this:
“It is a well known fact, corroborated by science, that whenever an eye is injured by a flying object in an explosion, the shock engendered is always sufficient to lead to incurable blindness. Often it happens that the other eye, unable to escape the repercussion of that shock due to the sympathy which exists between the two eyes, is itself weakened and ends up blind too”.
The circumstances of this cure were reported by the same Dr. Dozous who took an interest in them himself.
“As soon as Bernadette had scratched the soil of the Grotto leading to the appearance of the Spring which had cured so many sick people, I wanted, he told me, to try and see if this water would cure my eye.
When the chance came to use this water, l started to pray to Our Lady of the Grotto, and humbly begged her to be with me when I bathed my eye with the water from the fountain.
I bathed and rebathed my right eye repeatedly in the space of a short time, and after these ablutions my sight was excellent, just as it is now” (cf. La Grotte de Lourdes, sa fontaine, ses guerisons).
The Commission of enquiry, set up by Mgr Laurence, heard Dr. Dozous speak about this cure on 28th. July 1858.
In April 1860, Dr. Henri Vergez, Professor attached to the Faculty at Montpellier, and Medical Officer at the Waters of Bareges, presented his preliminary report as requested by Mgr Laurence. He declared as his opinion:
“This event (the cure) possesses a supernatural character”.
The verdict was solemnised in the Mandate of Mgr Laurence in January 1862.
Mrs Blaisette CAZENAVE
nee SOUPENE, born in 1808.
Lived in Lourdes. Cured in March 1858, in her 51st. year. Miracle on 18th January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes. Blaisette CAZENAVE, had serious trouble with her eyes for many years. This 50 year old Lourdes’ woman suffered from a chronic infection of the conjonctivae and eyelids, with bilateral ectropion… for which medicines up to then were of little help.
Declared incurable, she decided to use the water from the Grotto as a lotion. After the second application, she was completely cured. The eyelids returned to normal, the fleshy overgrowths disappeared, the pain and inflammation vanished.
Prof. Vergez was able to write about it thus: “The supernatural effect was as much evident in this wonderful cure as the physical lesion-nowadays we would say the organic disease of the eyelids–striking as that was, with the complete return to a normal healthy state by a rapid regrowth of the tissues”.
Henri BUSQUET
Born in 1842
Lived in Nay (Atlantic Pyrenees) Cured towards the end of April 1858, in his 16th year. Miracle on 18th January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes. This young adolescent had been ill for 15 months.
It all began with a fever, considered at that time as typhoid, but now and in all likelihood, perceived as the first sign of tuberculosis. This was followed by an abscess in the neck, really a purulent adenitis, which spread, in the absence of treatment, to the right side of his chest. After several months, his doctor lanced the abscess to avoid fistula formation. But developments were of the most complicated kind. His illness got worse during a short stay at Cauterets and at the beginning of 1858, an enormous septic ulcer appeared at the base of his neck. To add to this, more inflamed lymph glands developed in the adjoining area. There were no signs of improvement.
At this stage, Henri asked to go to Lourdes, but his parents refused. Nevertheless they begged a neighbour to bring him some water from the Grotto.
In the evening of 4.28.1858, while the whole family prayed together, the young man applied a dressing, soaked in water from the Grotto, to his neck. After a peaceful night, the ulcer had scarred over, the infection had subsided, the other lymph glands had disappeared. No relapse occurred in this sudden and complete cure, something no-one ever anticipated! This is why Prof. Vergez certified without hesitation: ‘This cure is beyond the laws of nature.”
Justin BOUHORT
Born in Lourdes on 28.7.1856, and lived there.
Cured at the beginning of July 1858 at the age of 2 years.
Miracle on 18th January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes. (Orthography and full chronological details established by Frs. Laurentin and Billet, cf. “Lourdes, Documents Authentiques” Volume V. P. 137-139). This cure is a delightful story to tell!
Without any doubt whatever, this young boy had been ill frequently since birth. As a result by the age of 2 years, he showed a great failure to thrive, had never walked, was considered a hopeless case. In fact, for quite a long time, he was looked upon as having a “miserable constitution”… as being a puny and disabled little boy.
At that time he was dying from “consumption” of which his parents were the first to be aware.
One day, his mother, while watching Justin languish because nothing useful could be done for him, in desperation made up her mind to take him to the Grotto in the late afternoon, to implore help from the Blessed Virgin, despite the notices which prohibited the general public from going there. On arrival, with the child in her arms and surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers, she prayed for a few moments in front of the Rock. Then she decided to bathe the moribund child in the hollow recently dug by labourers. Those around shouted, protested and tried to refrain her from “killing her child!”
After a while, which inevitably seemed terribly long, she lifted the child out and returned home, carrying her son. When she arrived, Justin was still breathing feebly, but slept peacefully; while those present feared the worst, his mother alone was more than ever convinced that the Virgin would cure him! In the days which followed with no further sign of a threat to his life. Justin very quickly recovered, and walked! Back to normal, he grew up and reached adulthood. Before dying in 1935, he attended the Canonization of Bernadette in Rome on 12.8.1933.
Concerning this cure, doctors Dozous, Vergez, and also Dr. Peyrus, who had treated him, could see nothing else than the almighty power of God.
Mrs Madelaine RIZAN
Born in 1800
Lived in Nay (Atlantic Pyrenees) Cured on 17.10.1858, in her 58th year. Miracle on 18th January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes.
Madeleine RIZAN could not get about for more than 20 years, being confined to bed due to a leftsided paralysis, following an “attack of choera” 26 years before, in 1832.
At the beginning she had difficulty moving around the home. Then she gradually became bed-ridden, with painful bedsores and the whole range of trophic disturbances that it was possible to imagine. Her pain was in marked contrast to her loss of sensibility. Her doctors had long since abandoned all hope of a cure and had ceased to treat her.
In September,1858, Mrs Rizan received Extreme Unction, and from that day she prayed for the “grace of a happy death”.
A month later, on Saturday 16th. October, death seemed imminent. Next morning, when her daughter brought her some Lourdes’ water, she drank a few sips, and applied some to her face and body.
Suddenly the illness vanished… her strength returned, her skin regained its normal appearance and her muscles became active. The woman dying yesterday evening, now felt she would live again.
Since that day, on which she could once again get up, dress and eat, she led a normal existence until she died in 1869,11 years later, never having a relapse.
Unfortunately, we do not possess a picture (photograph or print) of Madeleine RIZAN, so fortunately cured.
Marie MOREAU
Born in 1841.
Lived in Tartas (Landes). Cured on 9.11.1858, when nearly 17 years old. Miracle on 18th January 1862, by Mgr Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes.
The first cure “far away from Lourdes”!
At the beginning of 1858, when Marie was 16 years of age, she contracted an inflammatory disease of the eyes.
Despite the remedies tried, this condition led to a severe degree of visual impairment, bordering on blindness.
After her father heard of Mrs Rizan’s cure, he decided to go to Lourdes to get some water from the Grotto.
On the 8th. November,1858, the family started a novena of prayers. In the evening, the young girl soaked a bandage with Lourdes’ water, and tied it over her eyes.
The next morning, 9th. November, at the moment Marie removed the bandage, she was aware that her sight was fully restored.
She resumed her studies at Bordeaux, where she had had to abandon them 2 years previously. Afterwards she lived and married at Aire-sur-Adour.
Pierre de RUDDER
Born on 7/2/1822 in Jabbeke in Belgium.
Cured on 4/7/1875, in his 53rd. year. Miracle on 7/25/1908, by Mgr Gustave Waffelaert, Bishop of Bruges.
The story of this well-known cure has been told thousands of times. We have already seen that it was not the first cure obtained outside Lourdes, but there was no doubt that it stands as the first cure and miracle which happened without any use of Lourdes’ water.
In 1867, Pierre de RUDDER had his leg crushed when a tree fell down. As a result he sustained an open fracture of both bones in the upper third of the left leg.
Despite all treatment given, it was obvious from an early stage that the fracture would never heal. Due to local infection, and (because of it) the elimination of newly formed bone over the years, a pseudoarthrosis set in at the site of the fracture, and there was not the slightest chance of the bones uniting.
The doctors advised amputation several times, but Pierre de RUDDER refused. After a few years, these doctors abandoned him, because they were absolutely powerless to help his chronic condition.
In this state, eight years after the accident, Pierre de RUDDER decided to make a pilgrimage to Oostacker on 4/7/1875, where a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes had recently been built for the piety of our Belgian neighbours. Setting off from Jabbeke in the morning as an invalid, unable to stand on his left leg, he returned in the evening without crutches or wounds.
The bones had united in a matter of minutes, without any shortening or deviation from the vertical axis. During the following days, the doctors who had treated him, verified these changes.
Pierre de RUDDER resumed a normal and active life straightaway. To our knowledge, he went to Lourdes, at least once, and that was in May 1881.
On 3/22/1898, he died, 23 years after his cure.
Later, for further proof, the bones of both legs were exhumed. This allowed us to see the objective evidence, the site of the fracture in its healed state, which can now be seen in the moulds in the possession of the Medical Bureau.
In July 1908, 33 years later (a sort of record!) the Bishop of Bruges declared that in the cure of Pierre de RUDDER, one could see a miracle attributable to “an intervention by God, obtained through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary”.
Joachime DEHANT
Born in 1849 in Velaine/s/Sambre
Lived in Gesves (Belgium). Cured 13.9.1878, in her 29th year. Miracle on 25.4.1908, by Mgr Thomas Louis Heylen, Bishop of Namur.
The cure is the oldest one recognised later on as miraculous in Lourdes, of a “non-native””… a sick-pilgrim from abroad.
Joachime was 29 years old when she arrived there on the evening of 12.9.1878, with an oozing and gangrenous ulcer on her right leg. This ulcer covered two thirds of the surface of the side of the leg, and what was even more serious was its depth, which led to a permanent
contraction of the muscles, causing a club foot.
The lesion was at least ten years old, and owing to this affection which no treatment could cure, her general state of health was very grave. The next day, the 13th, she took baths during the morning, her leg wrapped in bandages.
After the second, there was no trace of the ulcer. The flesh and the tendons had virtually become normal again, and the skin was new and rose-coloured. And after another bath later on, her foot returned to its normal position.
For thirty years her health remained excellent and was confirmed by another medical check. The Bishop of Namur accepted the verdict of the Commission which he had set up, and on the 25.4.1908, proclaimed that this miraculous cure must “be attributed to the powerful and efficacious intervention of Our Lady of Lourdes”.
Elisa SEISSON
Born in1855
Cured on 29.8.1882, in her 28th year Miracle on 12.7.1912, by Mgr Francois Bonnefoy, Archbishop of Aix, Arles and Embrun.
Miss Elisa SEISSON of Rognonas fell ill in 1876, when she was 21 years old. Dr. Pigeon had treated her for 6 years for “chronic bronchitis with severe organic heart disease”. There had been no response to all treatment and her case was considered incurable, in fact hopeless.
Elisa SEISSON came to Lourdes at the end of August 1882, and went into the Baths on the first day of her pilgrimage. She came out very much improved, having lost all the oedema of both legs.
After a good night’s rest, she woke up feeling she was completely cured. Her doctor confirmed this impression on 18.9.1882. Elisa remained well for the next 30 years, and this enabled her Bishop in 1912 to declare officially that the cure was miraculous.
The Medical Bureau of Verifications (M.B.V.) has evidence of her visit the day after her cure, on 30.8.1882, in a report written and signed by Fr. Burosse, m.i.c.
Later, on 18th September 1896, she was examined by doctors within the Medical Bureau of Verifications, founded in 1883.
Sister EUGENIA
Marie MABILLE, Born in1855
Cured 21.8.1883, in her 29th. year. Miracle on 30.8.1908, by Mgr Philippe
Meunier, Bishop of Evreux.
This is an outstanding cure because the clinical account of the former illness was perfectly established, due to its long duration and the number and competence of the doctors who looked after her.
In 1877, when 22 years of age, she developed an abscess, almost certainly from the appendix, which in those days could not be cured.
Two years later, evidence of peritonitis and bilateral phlebitis appeared. In 1880, she was seen by the famous Prof. Pean in Paris. His opinion was that surgery was quite inappropriate in this case of “longstanding chronic infection in the right iliac fossa, with vesical and colonic fistulae”.
Between 1880 and 1883, all therapeutic measures were ineffective, and her general state of ill-health only made things worse.
Although at death’s door, Sister EUGENIA departed for Lourdes in August 1883.
Having left on the 17th. she reached there on the 21st., and on arrival was taken to the Grotto where she received Holy Communion and sensed some relief.
But it was in the afternoon at the Baths that Sister felt cured. She came out on her own and from that moment all signs of her illness vanished. She could walk at the first attempt and took food. On returning to her Community, she resumed work… and followed the Rule, something she had not been able to do for 5 years.
The doctors who had the opportunity to examine her (in particular Dr. Dunot de St Maclou who had founded the M.B.V. that year and followed her case after the cure) have written an extremely competent account, leaving nothing vague or equivocal, which proved the case and could have been written today, a century later.
There was no change in her florishing state of health throughout the next 24 years, the interval between the time of the cure and its recognition as miraculous by her Bishop, the Bishop of Evreux.
Sister JULIENNE
Aline BRUYERE, Born in 1864
In the village of la Roque, near Sarlat. Cured on 1.9.1889, in her 25th. year. Miracle on 3/7/1912, by Mgr Albert Negre, Bishop of Tulle.
This case, of cavitating pulmonary tuberculosis, is recognised as miraculous, with a wealth of detail, difficult to visualise in those far off days.
The doctors, for their part, established that Sister JULIENNE: –had suffered from a grave and incurable pulmonary disease; –was cured in a completely sudden way in the Baths at Lourdes; –had remained perfectly well for more than a year.
These were the findings of a rigourous investigation undertaken by both Dr. Dunot de St. Maclou, and his colleague, Dr. Boissarie in 1 889-1 890.
When the Canonical enquiry took place in 1911-1912 (i.e. more than 20 years later), the same medical report was submitted for verification to another group of doctors who, in their turn, questioned and examined the nun. They were also shown an X-ray which demonstrated the original pulmonary lesion.
With these two medical investigations, 20 years apart, both giving consistent clinical and radiological reports, and the fact that this cure, when submitted to the list of criteria drawn up by Benedict XIV, did not fail to be judged as certain and complete, instantaneous, lasting and
occurring without the aid of any treatment, Mgr Albert Negre had no difficulty in declaring the cure on 3/7/1912, as “happening outside the sphere of nature, and miraculous.
Sister JOSEPHINE MARIE
nee Anne JOURDAIN, born on 5.8.1854, in Le Havre
Cured on 8/21/1890, in her 36th year. Miracle on 10/10/1908, by Mgr Marie Jean Douais, Bishop of Beauvais.
Here is another cure of “tuberculosis with gross apical lesions” which occurred in a young woman, born into a family where this disease had caused the deaths of two sisters and one brother.
Ill for a long time, she was moribund by July 1890. Under obedience, she agreed to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, against the advice of her doctor.
The journey with the National Pilgrimage was plagued with haemoptyses. Sr JOSEPHINE MARIE arrived on the 20th August, and straightaway was plunged into the Baths.
It was the next day, 21st August, after a second or possibly a third immersion that she felt infinitely better and could announce her cure.
The doctor who had opposed her departure for Lourdes, saw her again on the 28th, after she had returned to her Community, and issued a certificate stating that the disease had completely disappeared.
Since then Sr JOSEPHINE MARIE resumed an active life in her Convent and had no further need for the doctor.
The Canonical judgement recognising the miraculous character of this cure, was given by the Bishop of Beauvais. It was supported by the medical investigation at the M.B.V. in 1890, and confirmed by an X-ray 28 years afterwards.
It established that this cure “complete, lasting, instantaneous and obtained without any form of human help” must be considered as a miracle.
Amelie CHAGNON
Born on 9/17/1874
Lived in the Diocese of Tournai (Belgium). Cured on 8/21/1891, when nearly 17 years old. Miracle on 9/8/1910, by Mgr Charles G. Walravens, Bishop of Tournai.
This was the first of a long series of “bone diseases”, amongst the cures recognised as miraculous in Lourdes.
Amelie CHAGNON was about 13 years old when tuberculous arthritis started in her left knee. Shortly afterwards this was followed by a similar lesion (called in those days: caries…) in the left foot.
For a whole year the treatment given by two doctors proved ineffective. When Amelie told one of them of her intention of going to Lourdes, he agreed to postpone a surgical operation until the end of August.
On the 30th. August and the 5th. September 1891, these same doctors certified that the disease had been cured without any sequelae, enabling all movements to be carried out freely and painlessly.
Similar investigations were undertaken in December 1893, and in May 1910.
On the grounds of these medical assessments, the Bishop of Tournai recognised the miraculous character of this cure on 9/8/1910.
Clementine TROUVE
Born in Azay le Boule, in 1878
Cured on 8/21/1891, in her 14th year. Miracle on 6/6/1908, by Mgr Amette, Archbishop of Paris.
On the very same day as the previous one (A. Chagnon), another cure occurred in a young girl… slightly younger than she.
The disease was practically the same: tuberculous osteoperiostitis of the right calcaneum.
The doctor who wrote the certificate on her departure for Lourdes on 11.6.1891 held the opinion that her illness warranted a radical operation… or else, some other lengthy treatment.
The same doctor who saw Clementine again after her cure in the Piscines on the 21st August, and the Medical Bureau of Verifications, having examined her on the same day, both certified: “that she only bore the scarred mark” of her former illness which “was now cured”.
This is the girl who appeared in the book about Lourdes of the famous French writer E. Zola, under the name of Sophie Couteau.
In actual fact, she became a Little Sister of the Assumption taking the name of Sister Agnes Marie.
Mgr Amette, Archbishop of Paris, in 1908 recognised five cures as miraculous in a collective declaration. All of them happened in the last decade of the 19th century. Clementine Trouve was the youngest of this group.
Marie LEBRANCHU
Born in 1857. Cured in her 36th year.
Marie LEMARCHAND
Born in1874, in Caen. Cured in her 19th year.
These two cases were closely connected:.. Both of them were sick pilgrims in the Paris section of the National Pilgrimage.
… Both were cured on successive days, 20th., and 21st. August 1892. Also, as in the preceding case, they were among the cures declared miraculous by Mgr Amette, Archbishop of Paris, in his Canonical judgement of 6/6/1908.
Both suffered from severe pulmonary tuberculosis (Koch’s bacillus + ) for two years, and had reached the terminal stages of this disease.
Marie LEBRANCHU weighed less than 60 lbs., when she came out of the Baths… cured.
Marie LEMARCHAND had deep tuberculous ulcerated areas on her face, quite resistant to all treatment, and very repulsive.
Lastly, both had the chance to meet M. Emile Zola at the Medical Bureau of Verifications where he had been allowed in, perhaps invited!
In one of his books, our “novelist”, altered the real facts. Having depicted as an ill person the rather unenviable lot of Marie LEBRANCHU, using the name of La Grivotte, he made her die on the train home! Yet, she lived in perfect health until 1920!
As for the other, Marie LEMARCHAND– “Elisa Rouquet”, for E. Zola…–she got married and had 8 children. She never had a relapse and died long after her cure was declared miraculous.
Elisa LESAGE
Born inBucquoy (Pas de Calais) in 1874
Cured on 8/21/1892, at age 19. Miracle on2/4/1908, by Mgr Alfred
Williez, Bishop of Arras.
Here again is a case of tuberculosis of the right knee, awfully common among adolescents in those days. She had had this “white swelling” for more than a year.
The doctor who treated this young girl before she went to Lourdes, was fully aware of the well-known course of this disease, namely ankylosis of the joint in the long-run, assuming no further spread of the disease ensued.
The unexpected cure happened after a bath on 8/21/1892, and her complete recovery was confirmed on the same day by the Medical Bureau of Verifications “without any sequelae or ankylosis”
While accompanying the same National Pilgrimage in 1893 and 1894, Elisa was examined again.
Sixteen years later, no recurrence had taken place. Her Bishop declared the cure as miraculous.
Sister MARIE OF THE PRESENTATION
Born in15.2. 1846
Cured on 29.8.1892, in her 47th year. Miracle on 15.8.1908, by Mgr Francois Delamaire, Coadjutor of Cambrai.
A Franciscan nun, Sr MARIE OF THE PRESENTATION, from the order of the Propagation of the Faith, lived in Lille. She developed what the doctors called “chronic gastro-enteritis”. For twelve years this disease steadily became worse, to such an extent that those who cared for her could not prevent “a state of absolute starvation, which would undoubtedly end in death”. (Prof. Lavrand).
Sr MARIE wanted to go to Lourdes. Her doctor, and the others looking after her, thought it useless to try to dissuade her.
The journey from the North of France in those years lasted more than two days. However the first sign of improvement was seen in the train. This enabled her to eat a little.
While she was praying in the Rosary Basilica, she experienced for the last time “stomach pains far worse than she had ever felt before” and then, the unexpected, sudden and total cure happened.
In 1908, for the 50th . Anniversary of the Apparitions, Mgr Delamaire, Bishop-Coadjutor of her Diocese, declared this cure as miraculous, since for 16 years there had not been any relapse.
Father CIRETTE
Born inPoses (Eure), on 3/15/1847
Cured on 8/31/1893, in his 47th year. Miracle on 2/11/1907, by Mgr Philippe Meunier, Bishop of Evreux.
In January 1892, this priest in charge of a Parish in the Diocese Evreux, showed signs of a nervous disorder after influenza: — Complete loss of ability to do anything without aid, and inability to walk, — Mental confusion, — Difficulty with speech and memory, i.e. symptoms originating from the spinal cord and brain.
His morale was very low in the early part of 1893 due to ineffective treatment.
As there was no improvement in his health by August, he decided to go to Lourdes with the Diocese of Rouen. His own diocese was not going to Lourdes that year.
Father arrived on the 29th August, but he did not go to the Baths until the 31st (not wanting “to take up a place of another sick pilgrim who might obtain a cure” there). At first, nothing particular happened. But later, after the mid-day meal, he felt an overwhelming desire to go to the Grotto.
He set off there, and quickly realised that he had no further use for his walking sticks. He was cured… in a complete, sudden and unexpected way.
Moreover the cure was lasting.
Father CIRETTE was able to take up all his activities again, working as a priest in the Parish of Beaumontel. 14 years after, this cure was attributed by his Bishop, Mgr Meunier to “the intervention of a supernatural cause, which could be none other than the Almighty Power of
God”.
Saint Bernadette 