148 AECHBISHOP O'BRIEN ON THE 



walk, and to throw away my stick." His companion to whom he handed his stick, saying, 

 " Take it, I have no furtlier need of it," replied : " You are beside yourself, you will fall," and 

 attempted to restrain him. Delanoy, however, took no heed, but followed in the procession, 

 walking easily and firmly, and was perfectly cured. His astounded companion followed, saw 

 him mount nimbly the flight of steps in front of the church, and kneel for a length of time 

 in prayer. Later in the day, in the presence of several medical doctors and others, he was 

 examined minutely ; no trace of the disease could be discovered ! He had been instantan- 

 eously and perfectly healed. Some time after his return to Paris the chaplain of one of the 

 hospitals, who had known him when sick, telegraphed to Lourdes : " The doctors who have 

 examined Delanoy are astounded ; I have seen him four times this week ; he walks like a 

 rustic postman (facteur rural)." Later on he himself wrote : "lam in perfect health, my 

 legs are strong and under control. I am at work, and have only one thing in view, to serve 

 the Good God, and to thank his Most Holy Mother who has given me back my health." 

 The full particulars of this case, with a critical analysis of both its medical and historical 

 aspects, may l)e read in "Annales de î^otre-Dame de Lourdes " for November and December 

 of 1889 and January, 1890. 



What judgment shall we pass on this case? In the face of the cumulative evidence set 

 before us by the cards of discharge from the various hospitals, as well as by the books of 

 these same institutions, we are compelled to admit that Pierre Delanoy had been most seri- 

 ously afflicted with locomotor ataxia for several years. Medical science leaves us no choice 

 as to the nature of that disease, or of the category to which it belongs, — it is incurable. But 

 tVie proof of its complete and instantaneous cure is as well authenticated as was the existence 

 of the disease. In view of these facts it would be a trifling unworthy of serious minds, to 

 fall back on the stock phi'ases of "hallucination," "superstition," "diseased imagination." 

 The true scientist, not merely dabblers in the shallow waters on the shores of wisdom's vast 

 ocean, will bow the head, and confess the intervention of the Divine Power in the order of 

 created things. 



Has science any explanation to offer for the occurrence, from time to time, of miraculous 

 events? How are they reconciled with the attributes of the Infinite, such as his wisdom, 

 foresight, love of order ? Do not these render antecedently improbable events other than 

 strictly natural ones ? Was wisdom at fault in ordering the plan of creation, and thus 

 necessitated a sudden and unusual, if not violent, interference of the divine power to remedy 

 the defect? If we take a comprehensive view of creation we shall find tliat these doubts 

 and questionings vanish, like mist swallowed up in the morning sunlight. We shall find 

 that these supernatural manifestations are not haphazard events, much less after-thoughts of 

 the creative power, but that they are in accordance with a law as fixed and as determined as 

 molecular attraction. 



Man, the masterpiece and monarch of visible creation, is conscious of the existence of 

 ydiysical, intellectual and moral laws, corresponding to a three-fold order discernible in 

 nature. Tlie regulation of conduct, or of the free acts of man should be guided by moral 

 laws. Their observance is as necessary for tlie harmony of nature, and for the attainment of 

 its end, as is that of intellectual laws for the development and perfection of the intelligence, 

 or of physical ones for the stability of the universe. We know, however, how prone men 

 are to disregard moral laws, and to introduce a dissonance into the hymn of eternal praise 



