236 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the patient and swing the incense, the relic is elevated, a bell 

 rings, and the congregation kneels. This is the supreme moment. 

 No time is lost, however, on a busy day, and when it is seen that 

 a miracle is not forthcoming, the poor fellow is bundled into one 

 of the sixteen lateral chapels, where other saints are venerated ; 

 his place is taken by another far-gone pilgrim, or perhaps a batch 

 not so grievously afflicted are beckoned to the rails and the relic 

 passed from lip to lip amid the prayers and sobs of five thousand 

 onlookers. No one asks, with the skeptic in the temple of the sea- 

 god, Where be the offerings of them that have perished ? if only 

 a single miracle be announced during the week or recorded in the 

 monthly Anndles. 



The golden age of miracles in French Canada dates from 

 the arrival of the Recollets and Jesuits, 1615-'25, and may 

 be said to have terminated about 1860. The Church possesses 

 many relics besides those of Saint Anne, some among the most 

 precious in Christendom,* and has had local martyrs and con- 

 fessors whose ashes repose here. Nevertheless, the stream of 

 miracles outside Beaupre* has gradually dwindled and dried up, 

 and those of Beaupre* are losing their old characteristics. 



In the early days Saint Anne cured all manner of ailments 

 with an untiring hand. The Relations des JeVuites for 1667 contain 

 an account of the chief miracles wrought down to that time the 

 cure of Elie Godin of dropsy ; Marguerite Bire, of fracture of the 

 leg, Jean Adam, blind of both eyes ; Pradere, a French soldier, of 

 paralysis and une apostume dans Vestomac, and other wonders to 

 which Laval bore witness. Saint Anne never raised the dead to 

 life, at least not in Canada, nor gave a limb to a one-legged client 

 as Saint Anthony of Padua did, but over and over again she cured 

 heart disease, cancer, apoplexy, and consumption. She interfered 

 to save pious persons from death in the forest, when they had 

 been pinned under a falling tree, by inspiring neighbors to go to 

 their aid or a faithful dog to carry a piece of blood-stained bark 

 to the nearest settlement, and snatched many from ice jams, 

 bush fires, and Dutch men-of-war, in the last case resorting to the 



* At the celebration in 1 874 of the second centenary of the erection of the Diocese of 

 Quebec over five hundred relics were exposed. The list is given in Le Deuxieme Centenaire, 

 an official account, bearing the imprimatur of Cardinal Taschereau. Among them were relics 

 of the vetement depourpre de Jems Christ, creche de Jesus Christ, colonne de la flagellation 

 de Jesus Christ, sainte epine de Jesus Christ, table de la derniere scene, terre ou Jesus pria, 

 pierre sur laquelle Notre Seigneur s'assit et mangea avec ses apotres, vraie croix de Jesus 

 Christ, etc. Also, apparel of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, fragment of the rock 

 struck by Moses, lock of hair of Saint Mary Magdalen, portion of the cloth of the head of 

 Saint John the Baptist, fragment of a wooden altar served by Saint Peter, and of the block 

 on which Saint Paul was beheaded, bones of the Holy Innocents, of the chief disciples, of 

 Saint Stephen the first martyr, etc. 



