In 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle, nearLourdes, France, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to BernadetteSoubirous, a 14 year old peasant girl. She identified herself as The ImmaculateConception. She gave Bernadette a message for all: "Pray and do penance for theconversion of the world." The Church investigated Bernadette's claims for fouryears before approving devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes has sincebecome one of the most famous shrines, attracting more than a million pilgrimseach year. There have been thousands of miraculous cures at this shrine.

A Medical Bureau was established in 1882 to testthe authenticity of the cures. The doctors include unbelievers as well asbelievers and any doctor is welcome to take part in the examination of thealleged cures. As many as 500 medical men of all faiths or no faith have takenadvantage of the invitation each year. Many books and movies tell the story ofLourdes. Even Hollywood made a movie of this remarkable event in the 1940'sentitled "The Song of Bernadette" which won six academy awards. No one leaves Lourdes without a gain in faith. Moral and spiritual cures aremore marvelous than physical cures. Some go to Lourdes with lifetimeprejudices, yet their minds are cleared in a sudden manner. Frequentlyskepticism gives way to faith; coldness and antagonism become whole heartedlove of God. Again and again those who are not cured of bodily pain receive anincrease of faith and resignation - true peace of soul. The story of twooutstanding miracles that occured at Lourdes are told below.

The case of Gabriel Gargam is probably one of thebest known of all the thousands of cures at Lourdes, partly because he was sowell known at the Shrine for half a century, partly because it was a twofoldhealing, spiritual and physical. Born in 1870 of good Catholic parents, he gaveearly promise of being a clever student and a fervent Catholic. The promise wasnot fulfilled in the most important respect for, at 15 years of age, he hadalready lost his faith. He obtained a position in the postal service and wascarrying out his duties as a sorter in December of 1899, when the train onwhich he was traveling from Bordeaux to Paris collided with another train,running at 50 miles per hour. Gargam was thrown fifty two feet from the train.He lay in the snow, badly injured and unconscious for seven hours. He wasparalyzed from the waist down. He was barely alive when lifted onto astretcher. Taken to a hospital, his existence for some time was a living death.After eight months he had wasted away to a mere skeleton, weighing butseventy-eight pounds, although normally a big man. His feet became gangrenous.He could take no solid food and was obliged to take nourishment by a tube. Onlyonce in twenty-four hours could he be fed even that way. He brought suit fordamages against the railroad. The Appellate Court confirmed the verdict of theformer courts and granted him 6,000 francs annually, and besides, an indemnityof 60,000 francs.

Gargam's condition was pitiable in the extreme.He could not help himself even in the most trifling needs. Two trained nurseswere needed day and night to assist him. That was Gabriel Gargam as he wasafter the accident, and as he would continue to be until death relieved him.About his desperate condition there could be no doubt. The railroad fought thecase on every point. There was no room for deception or hearsay. Two courtsattested to his condition, and the final payment of the railroad left the casea matter of record. Doctors testified that the man was a hopeless cripple forlife, and their testimony was not disputed.

Previous to the accident Gargam had not been toChurch for fifteen years. His aunt, who was a nun of the Order of the SacredHeart, begged him to go to Lourdes. He refused. She continued her appeals tohim to place himself in the hands of Our Lady of Lourdes. He was deaf to allher prayers. After continuous pleading of his mother he consented to go toLourdes. It was now two years since the accident, and not for a moment had heleft his bed all that time. He was carried on a stretcher to the train. Theexertion caused him to faint, and for a full hour he was unconscious. They wereon the point of abandoning the pilgrimage, as it looked as if he would die onthe way, but the mother insisted, and the journey was made.

Arrived at Lourdes, he went to confession andreceived Holy Communion. There was no change in his condition. Later he wascarried to the miraculous pool and tenderly placed in its waters - no effect.Rather a bad effect resulted, for the exertion threw him into a swoon and helay apparently dead. After a time, as he did not revive, they thought him dead.Sorrowfully they wheeled the carriage back to the hotel. On the way back theysaw the procession of the Blessed Sacrament approaching. They stood aside tolet it pass, having placed a cloth over the face of the man whom they supposedto be dead.

As the priest passed carrying the Sacred Host, hepronounced Benediction over the sorrowful group around the covered body. Soonthere was a movement from under the covering. To the amazement of thebystanders, the body raised itself to a sitting posture. While the family werelooking on dumbfounded and the spectators gazed in amazement, Gargam said in afull, strong voice that he wanted to get up. They thought that it was adelirium before death, and tried to soothe him, but he was not to berestrained. He got up and stood erect, walked a few paces and said that he wascured. The multitude looked in wonder, and than fell on their knees and thankedGod for this new sign of His power at the Shrine of His Blessed Mother. AsGargam had on him only invalid's clothes, he returned to the carriage and waswheeled back to the hotel. There he was soon dressed, and proceeded to walkabout as if nothing had ever ailed him. For two years hardly any food hadpassed his lips but now he sat down to the table and ate a hearty meal.

He sat up a small business and married a piouslady who aided him in his apostolate for the greater knowledge of MaryImmaculate. For over fifty years he returned annually to Lourdes and worked asa brancardier. The Golden Jubilee of his cure was the occasion of a remarkablecelebration during the French National Pilgrimage in 1951. M. Gargam sat in achair in the Rosary Square, surrounded by 1,500 sick and 50,000 other pilgrimswhile a description of his twofold healing was given by the celebratedapologist, Canon Belleney. His last visit to the Shrine was in August 1952: hedied the following March, at the age of eighty-three years.

In some respects the story of John Traynor issimilar to that of Gabriel Gargam. Yet in many ways it is different. Aftertheir cures, the two men were brancardiers at Lourdes at the same timeand may have discussed their cases with each other. John Traynor was a native of Liverpool, England. His Irish mother died when hewas quite young, but the faith which she instilled in her son remained with himthe rest of his life. His injuries dated from World War I, when he was asoldier in the Naval Brigade of the Royal British Marines. He took part in theunsuccessful Antwerp expedition of October, 1914, and was hit in the head byshrapnel. He remained unconscious for five weeks. Later, in Egypt, he receiveda bullet wound in the leg. In the Dardanelles, he distinguished himself inbattle but was finally brought down when he was sprayed with machine gunbullets while taking part in a bayonet charge. He was wounded in the head andchest, and one bullet went through his upper right arm and lodged under hiscollarbone.

As a result of these wounds, Traynor's right armwas paralyzed and the muscles atrophied. His legs were partially paralyzed, andhe was epileptic. Sometimes he had as many as three fits a day. By 1916,Traynor had undergone four operations in an attempt to connect the severedmuscles of this right arm. All four operations ended in failure. By this timehe had been discharged from the service. He was given a one hundred percentpension because he was completely and permanently disabled. He spent much timein various hospitals as an epileptic patient. In April, 1920, his skull wasoperated on in an attempt to remove some of the shrapnel. This operation didnot help his epilepsy, and it left a hole about an inch wide in his skull. Thepulsating of his brain could be seen through this hole. A silver plate wasinserted in order to shield the brain.

In July, 1923, Traynor heard that the Liverpooldiocese was organizing a pilgrimage to Lourdes. He had always had a greatdevotion to the Blessed Virgin and determined to join the pilgrimage. He took agold sovereign which he had been saving for an emergency and used it as thefirst payment on a ticket. At first his wife was very much disturbed by theidea of her husband making such a difficult trip. His friends tried to talk himout of it. His doctor told him the trip would be suicide. The governmentministry of pensions protested against the idea. One of the priests in chargeof the pilgrimage begged him to cancel his booking. All of this was to noavail. Traynor had made up his mind, and there was no changing it. When hiswife saw how much he wanted to make the trip, she decided to help him. In orderto raise the money for the pilgrimage, the Traynors sold some of theirfurniture; Mrs. Traynor pawned some of her jewelry.

There was much excitement at the railroad stationthe day the pilgrimage was to leave. In addition to the noise and confusionthat accompanies the departure of every large pilgrimage, there was theadditional hubbub caused by the curious who had come to see Traynor. His triphad aroused much interest, and at the station a great number of people crowdedabout his wheel chair. Newspaper reporters and photographers were on hand tocover the event. As a result of all this, Traynor reached the station platformtoo late to get on the first train. The second train was crowded, and once morean attempt was made to talk him out of taking the trip. Traynor, however, saidthat he was determined to go if he had to ride in the coal tender.

The trip was extremely trying, and Traynor wasvery sick. Three times, during the journey across France, the directors of thepilgrimage wished to take him off the train and put him in a hospital. Eachtime there was no hospital where they stopped, and so they had to keep him onboard. He was more dead than alive when he reached Lourdes on July 22 and wastaken to the Asile. Two Protestant girls from Liverpool, who were serving asvolunteer nurses in the Asile, recognized Traynor and offered to take care ofhim. He gladly accepted the offer. He had several hemorrhages during his sixdays there and a number of epileptic fits. So bad was his condition that onewoman took it upon herself to write to his wife and tell her that there was nohope for him and that he would be buried in Lourdes.

Traynor managed to bathe in the water from thegrotto nine times, and he attended all the ceremonies to which the sick aretaken. It was only by sheer force of will that he was able to do this. Not onlywere his own infirmities a serious obstacle but the brancardiers andothers in attendance were reluctant to take him out for fear he would die onthe way. Once he had an epileptic fit as he was going to the piscines .When he recovered, the brancardiers turned his chair to take him back tothe Asile. He protested, but they insisted. They were forced to give in when heseized the wheel with his good hand and would not let the chair budge until itwent in the direction of the baths.

On the afternoon of July 25 when he was in thebath, his paralyzed legs became suddenly agitated. He tried to get to his feet,but the brancardiers prevented him. They dressed him, put him back inhis wheel chair, and hurried him to Rosary Square for the Blessing of the Sick.Most of the other sick were already lined up. He was the third last on theoutside as one faces the church.

"The procession came winding its way back, asusual, to the church and at the end walked the Archbishop of Rheims, carryingthe Blessed Sacrament. He blessed the two ahead of me, came to me, made theSign of the Cross with the monstrance and moved on to the next. He had justpassed by, when I realized that a great change had taken place in me. My rightarm, which had been dead since 1915, was violently agitated. I burst itsbandages and blessed myself - for the first time in years.

"I had no sudden pain that I can recall andcertainly had no vision. I simply realized that something momentous hadhappened. I attempted to rise from my stretcher, but the brancardiers werewatching me. I suppose I had a bad name for my obstinacy. They held me down,and a doctor or a nurse gave me a hypo. Apparently they thought that I washysterical and about to create a scene. Immediately after the finalBenediction, they rushed me back to the Asile. I told them that I could walkand proved it by taking seven steps. I was very tired and in pain. They put meback in bed and gave me another hypo after a while.

"They had me in a small ward on the ground floor.As I was such a troublesome case, they stationed brancardiers in relaysto watch me and keep me from doing anything foolish. Late that night, theyplaced a brancardier on guard outside the door of the ward. There were twoother sick men in the room, including one who was blind.

"The chimes of the big Basilica rang the hoursand half hours as usual through the night, playing the air of the Lourdes AveMaria . Early in the morning, I heard them ringing, and it seemed to methat I fell asleep at the beginning of the Ave . It could have been amatter of only a few seconds, but at the last stroke I opened my eyes andjumped out of bed. First, I knelt on the floor to finish the rosary I had beensaying. Then I dashed for the door, pushed aside the two brancardiers andran out into the passage and the open air. Previously, I had been watching the brancardiers and planning to evade them. I may say here that I had not walked since 1915,and my weight was down to 112 pounds.

"Dr. Marley was outside the door. When he saw theman over whom he had been watching during the pilgrimage, and whose death hehad expected, push two brancardiers aside and run out of the ward, hefell back in amazement. Out in the open now, I ran toward the Grotto, which isabout two or three hundred yards from the Asile. This stretch of ground wasgraveled then, not paved, and I was barefoot. I ran the whole way to the grottowithout getting the least mark or cut on my bare feet. The brancardiers wererunning after me, but they could not catch up with me. When they reached thegrotto, there I was on my knees, still in my night clothes, praying to our Ladyand thanking her. All I knew was that I should thank her and the grotto was theplace to do it. The brancardiers stood back, afraid to touch me."

Astrange feature of Traynor's case was that he did not completely realize whathad happened to him. He knew that a great favor had been bestowed upon him andthat he should be thankful, but he had no idea of the magnitude of the favor.He was completely dazed. It did not seem strange to him that he was walking,and he could not figure out why everyone was staring at him. He did notremember how gravely ill he had been for many years.

A crowd of people gathered about Traynor while hewas praying at the grotto. After about twenty minutes, he arose from his knees,surprised and rather annoyed by the audience he had attracted. The people fellback to allow him to pass. At the crowned statute of our Lady, he stopped andknelt again. His mother had taught him that he should always make somesacrifice when he wished to venerate the Virgin. He had no money to give. Thefew shillings he had left after buying a railroad ticket, he had spent to buyrosaries and medals for his wife and children. He therefore made the onlysacrifice he could think of: he promised our Lady that he would give upcigarettes. The news of his cure hadspread rapidly, and a great crowd was waiting at the Asile. Traynor could notunderstand what they were doing there. He went in and got dressed. Then he wentinto the washroom. A number of men were there ahead of him.

Mr. Cunningham told him that one of the priestsof the pilgrimage - the one who had opposed his coming - wished to see him.There was much difficulty getting through the crowd, but they finally got tothe hotel where the priest was waiting. The priest asked him if he was allright. All this solicitude was most bewildering.

"Suddenly," Traynor later told Father O'Connor,"everything came back to me, the memory of my years of illness and thesufferings of the journey to Lourdes and how ill I had been in Lourdes itself.I began to cry, and the Archbishop began to cry, and we both sat there, cryinglike two children. After a little talk with him, I felt composed. Now Irealized fully what had happened."

Someone suggested to Traynor that he telegraphhis wife. Instead of telling her that he had been completely cured. he merelysaid. "Am better - Jack." His wife was very much pleased to receive thismessage. She had been very much upset when the woman in the pilgrimage had toldher that he was dying. But she was not prepared for the glorious news that wasto come! She was the only one who was not, for the story had been in theLiverpool papers. Since she had not happened to see the story, those about herdecided not to tell her. They thought it would be nicer to surprise her. It seemed that all Liverpool was at the station togreet the cured man upon his return. When Mrs. Traynor reached the platform,she told who she was and asked to be allowed through the crowd.

In an attempt to save Traynor from being crushedby the crowd which was growing every minute, the railway company stopped thetrain before it got to the station. The Archbishop walked toward the crowd. Heasked the people to restrain their enthusiasm when they saw Traynor and todisperse peacefully after they had had a look at him. They promised that theywould do so.

The joy of Traynor's family upon his return andtheir deep gratitude to Our Lady of Lourdes could never be put into words. Thecured man went into the coal and hauling business and had no trouble lifting200-pound sacks of coal. He went back to Lourdes every summer to act as a brancardier .He died on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1943. The causeof his death was in no way related to the wounds which had been cured atLourdes.

"It is known that when the important nerves havebeen severed, if their regeneration has not been effected (after the mostsuccessful operations this would take at least a year) they contract rapidlyand become dried up as it were, and certain parts mortify and disappear. In Mr.Traynor's case, for the cure of his paralyzed arm, new parts had to be createdand seamed together. All these things were done simultaneously andinstantaneously. At the same time occurred the instant repair of the braininjuries as is proved by the sudden and definite disappearance of the paralysisof both legs and of the epileptic attacks. Finally, a third work was effectedwhich closed the orifice in the brain box. It is a real resurrection which thebeneficiary attributes to the power of God and the merciful intercession of OurLady of Lourdes. The mode of production of this prodigious cure is absolutelyoutside and beyond the forces of nature."

TheBritish War Pension Ministry, however, insisted upon paying Traynor's pensiontill the end of his life. They had examined him thoroughly and found himincurable. They did not care what the Lourdes Medical Bureau said or what anyof the doctors who examined Traynor after his return from Lourdes reported. Itdid not matter that he was engaged in the most strenuous kind of work. They hadpronounced him incurable, and incurable he was. This decision was neverrevoked.

"The Catholic Faith alone produces miracles,which are never seen among heretics. Plants of this sort cannot grow in a soilcursed by God; they can take root only in that Church where the True Faith isprofessed . . . God cannot sanction the performance of a miracle except infavor of the true religion; were He to permit it in support of error, He woulddeceive us."