United States or Christmas Island ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
There are, as I have said, three compartments in the building called the piscines. That on the left is for women; in the middle, for children and for those who do not undergo complete immersion; on the right, for men. It was into this last, then, that I went, when I had forced my way through the crowd, and passed the open court where the priests prayed.
Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently down to the gate of the piscines. At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted.
We said not one word to one another. The first thing I noticed were the three roofs of the piscines, on the left side of the road, built under the cliff on which the churches stand.
The next case was that of a woman with paralysis, who was entered provisionally as one of the "ameliorations." She was now able to walk, but the use of her hand was not yet fully restored. She was sent back to the piscines, and ordered to report again later. The next was a boy of about twelve years old, Hilaire Ferraud, cured of a terrible disease of the bone three years before.
She had been carried down from her lodging that morning to the piscines; she was returning on her own feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to the hotel. In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before.
He had stayed a few months in Lourdes, bathing in the piscines, and the obsession had left him. His statements were verified; he was congratulated and dismissed. There followed Emma Mourat to report; and then Madame Simonet, cured eight years ago of a cystic tumour in the abdomen.
It affects those to whom one speaks the quiet doctors, even those who, through some confusion of mind or some sin, find it hard to believe; the strong brancardiers, who carry their quivering burdens with such infinite care; the very sick themselves, coming back from the piscines in agony, yet with the faces of those who come down from the altar after Holy Communion.
I cannot conceive such a woman suffering from an illusion. A few minutes later Dr. Cox called to me, and writing on a card, handed it to me, telling me it would admit me to the piscines for a bath. I had asked for this previously; but had been told it was not certain, owing to the crush of patients, whether it could be granted. I set out immediately to the piscines.
Until that time he was unable to walk without support. He had been cured in the piscines. He had been well ever since. He followed the trade of a carpenter. And now he hopped solemnly, first on one leg and then on the other, to the door and back, to show his complete recovery. Further, he had had running wounds on one leg, now healed. His statements were verified.
First, however, I went down to the robinets the taps which flow between the Grotto and the piscines and, after a heartcrushing struggle, succeeded in filling my bottle with the holy water. It was astonishing how selfish one felt while still in the battle, and how magnanimous when one had gained the victory.
Word Of The Day