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'!Fte!Jv[arian £i6rary ~ws{etter No. 38 (New Series) Summer, 1999 The Announcement.ofthe Assumption ; ~~""1 - Choirs of. angels rejoice, ';~tf:t' . • · ~ :oday the V~ Mother o~ God, All the samts exult: i:, · tmmaculate m her conceptiOn, Welcome Mary the Queen with great acclaim, )f, , and virgin even after giving birth, with rejoicing of all creation. triumphs over the corruption of the grave. The pilgrim Church is joyful 0 day of great hope: and praises God the all-loving Father today the Star has been lit in heaven he has done great things in his humble servant, to light up the path of humanity and raised her to the royal throne of the Son. with gentle rays of divine splendor. 'Ibis is the Easter of the Virgin Mother, This is a day of peace and hope who is raised in her body to the glory of heaven, that sees the Mother mediator of grace, radiant image of the Church in the future, adorned with the glory of the Son, brought to perfection in the kingdom. watching over the steps of all her children. This is the day in which the new Adam, 0 God, receive our prayers on this festival day: who overcame sin and death, may the light that glows fully in Mary raised the new Eve to be beside him, also shine in us. as his obedient and generous companion. From Celebrations for the Millennium, 1999. 66th Recognized Miraculous Healing at Lourdes Miracles as "Signs of Christ" On February 10, 1999, Msgr. Claude Dagens, bishop entire body. "Later, I took my flrst steps, just like a baby of Angouleme, France, armounced that the cure which who is learning to walk." He said he chose not to make Mr. Jean-Pierre Bely, a member of the diocese, had experi known the cure immediately, "for the sake of all the other enced at Lourdes 12 years earlier, was truly "a sign of Christ." sick people who were there." He stayed in his wheelchair The bishop said, "In the name of the Church, I recognize and waited until he was reunited with his wife and two and publicly acknowledge the authenticity of the cure children before revealing what had happend. He felt which Mr. Jean-Pierre Bely experienced at Lourdes on obliged to submit his case to the Lourdes Medical Office. Friday, October 9, 1987. This sudden and complete cure is a "I couldn't keep this sign all to myself," he said, adding personal gift of God for this man and an effective sign of that the physical healing was accompanied by a "feeling Christ the Savior, which was accomplished through the of total pardon and of love," received in the Sacrament intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes." of Reconciliation. In 1984, Mr. Bely was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, The International Medical Committee voted favorably on and, by 1987, he was completely paralyzed. Bed-ridden and the miraculous nature of Mr. Bely's healing, but only by a on a stretcher, he went to Lourdes in 1987 as part of the small majority. The fmdings were submitted to Bishop Dagens October Rosary Pilgrimage. On the final morning of the who conducted a canonical investigation. As he recognized pilgrimage, as Mr. Bely was armointed in the Sacrament the cure as a miraculous sign, the bishop explained that of the Sick, he felt, as he later described, a "sensation of "the International Medical Committee, even while abstain coldness" then "a gentle warmth" that seemed to fill his ing from furnishing the absolute medical proof of the cure, explicity wished that the Church formulate its own judgment. International Medical Bureau. Established in 1946, this The Church has the liberty, as recognized by the Interna bureau consists of medical doctors, psychiatrists, and tional Medical Committee itself, to express its own pastoral experts in specific diseases. The criteria for recognizing the discernment based on Mr. Bely's testimony and on the cure at Lourdes are the same as those proposed in 1743 by opinion of the canonical commission." the canonist, Prospero Lambertini (the future Benedict XIV), The bishop's statement, which avoids the term "miracle, n for the miracles required for the beatification and the is historically significant because it may allow other bishops canonization of saints. The inftrmity must have been serious to recognize cures and healings as divine "signs," even and thought impossible to cure; no medication or treatment though doctors hesitate to qualify them as totally inexpli must have been given, which could possibly have caused cable. "We are witness to a new meaning for miracle," the cure; the cure must be sudden and complete, with no commented the Msgr. Jacques Perrie, Bishop of Tarbes relapse. In a word, the cure must be unexplainable, that is, and Lourdes. there is no human or natural factor which could have effected the cure. (The doctors at Lourdes do not speak of The Special Mission of Lourdes "miracles," only of inexplicable cures.) If, in the opinion of Since the apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, a procedure has the International Medical Committee, there is no natural gradually developed for verifying cures and healings which explanation for the cure, the case is then turned over to the occur there. Today, Lourdes is recognized as the Church's bishop of the diocese in which the individual resides. foremost center for investigating healings. There, medical The fmal stage in the process is the investigation by the personnel from all the world are permitted to investigate diocesan canonical committee appointed by the bishop. In the evidence for reported healings. The personnel includes the early years of Lourdes, the fmal judgment appeared to those who allow and those who exclude the possibility of rest with doctors, so much so, that the second President of miraculous healings. The procedure is also one which the Medical Bureau wrote, in 1892, that "the history of respects the dignity of the person who has been cured. John Lourdes has been written entirely by doctors." In the Paul II reminded the medical personnel of Lourdes that the twentieth century, the church has assumed a greater role in verification of miraculous cures is Lourdes' "special respon the discernment process. A miraculous cure is not simply an sibility and mission" (L'Osservatore Romano,[Eng.ed] 19-26 impersonal intervention of divine power, but a gift to the December 1988). individual, frequently accompanied by greater faith, charity, It is impossible to estimate the number of cures which peace. For that reason, and since miracles belong "to the have occurred at Lourdes. There are healings of a spiritual order of faith," the canonical examination deals with the nature, such as faith, conversion, acceptance, joy. There are individual's disposition at the time of the cure and religious also the psychological cures-freedom from anxiety, release attitudes which are part of the individual's life. The fmal from addiction and compulsion. There are cures of a word belongs to the bishop of the diocese, who, as in the physical nature, the only type investigated at Lourdes (and case of Bishop Dagens, recognized the miraculous cure "in also the only type accepted in the beatification or canoniza the name of the Church." tion process), because evidence of the past and present Mr. Bely's healing is the 66th cure occurring at Lourdes condition can be presented. which has been officially recognized by ecclesiastical The verification process at Lourdes now involves three authorities. In the last one hundred years, over 6,500 stages. The ftrst occurs when the cured person is examined individuals have reported cases of cures to the Medical at the Lourdes Medical Bureau. Established in 1883, the Bureau. Of these, at least 2,500 are considered truly remark Medical Bureau receives the testimonary of the cured able, but they lack some requirement needed to allow them person, of the doctor who treated the patient, of those who to the next stage-witnesses, evidence, differing explana accompanied the person to Lourdes. After the preliminary tions for the cause of the cure. In the last twenty years, examination, the cured person is usually asked to return to there are reports of about twenty cases of extraordinary Lourdes a year later for another examination. Many cases cures or healings, about one a year. remain at this ftrst level because of the difftculty of gather ing the previous medical reports, a frequent occurrence Reconsidering the Requirements with individuals coming from areas where medical records for a Miracle are not kept. In November 1988, the Congregation for the Causes of Sufftciently documented cases are passed on to the Saints sponsored a symposium with the Lourdes Medical The Marian Library Newsletter Appears twice yearly and is sent to those interested in the Marian Library and the International Marian Research Institute. Donations to cover printing and postage costs-and to support the activities of the library and the institute-are gratefully accepted. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, the return of the mailing address label would be appreciated. Editor: Fr. Thomas A. Thompson, S.M. Marian Library/IMRI: (937) 229-4214 FAX: (937) 229-4258 Mariological Society of America: (937) 229-4294 [email protected]. udayton.edu [email protected] Mary Page: http://www.udayton.edu/mary 2 Bureau and the International Medical Committee on are not intended "to satisfy the curiosity and satiate the healings and miracles. The symposium was held partly in desire for magic" (CCC 547-49). As in the Gospels, miracles response to the questions which the medical personnel are recognized by persons of faith. were posing.