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OTI5 SA.iJSB3m IMDlSlPKNBlENTr 10 Lourdes of America Draws Hosts of Pilgrims Concluded fro to the shrine several times in his eagerness to grnsp any unoccupied moment. Good Brother Jean-Louis must have noted my watching of this scene and caught something of my thought. 'Yes, he said softly, "that bone of Saint Anne has a marvelous power. Thousands who have COSH here crippled or suffering from diseases regarded by the doctors as incurable have gone away whole, gratefully praising God and la btmnr Stimtc .mm. ' He spoke with genuine fervor, his face flushed, his eyes bright and something of the ecstacy of a young saint in his voice. Then catching a questioning look in my t yes, he seemed to recover something of the calm pre cision of the reasoning student. He corrected himself quickly. "I don't mean that they are cured by the Saint's bone," he added; "they were cured by their faith in God's goodness; faith in the power of the intercession of the great, pure and holy soul privileged in the Divine Providence to become the mother of the immaculately conceived Mother of Christ Without faith it would not have been possible; all things are possible to them who believe." We passed on into the smaller chapel which oc cupies the sacristy at the back of the church and which is a veritable museum of interesting objects connected with the 200-year history of St. Anne's In one large glas CISC, I arai shown great heaps of jewelry, gold watches, bracelets, rings, necklaces. In the same cac. I little to one ltde, itood Ottt a magnificent crown and beside it a chalice, both ot elaborately worked solid gold set with gems. These offering! are not sold, but are periodically melted down and made over into the acred vessels and ornaments consecrated especially t the veneration of St. Anne. The chalice is valued by ex pcrt at $8,000. It is enriched with no less than oJo precious stones. Among interesting historical souvenirs in this chapel is s(1m1 silver altar crucihv given by the illustrious I' erre LetttOyne d'Iberville. the conqueror of Hudson Bay in lo and the discoverer of the mouth of the Mississippi in loQQ founder and first governor of Louisiana, the territory out of which the states ot Mabama, Mississippi. Louisiana. Arkansas. Missouri. Iowa. Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska. North and South a' Montana. Idaho. Oregon, Washington; Okla homa and the eastern half of Colorad , were carved after our purchase of the province trom r ranee during tne ad ministration of Jefferson. There also is i'k mass vestment richly embroid ered in gold and silver, the gift ol Anne of Austria in lor6 and made by her hands. Visitors to Paris churches w remember the story of how Queen Ann after 20 years of marriage, had d- spaired of presenting to her husband. Louis XIII. an heir to the French throne. "Fully confident in the inter no. oi her patron saint in this e tremity." runs the veracious chronicles of the time, "she ordered prayers and masses to bt said daily in every church in the French dominions fo? that inten tion. Her wish was granted by the b rth of the rince who later became Louis XIV, 'the Grand Monarch." who to this day stands out in French history hardly let md t Jeanne d'Are as the national hero For him the French province of Louisiana was named. In thanksgiving, the queen ordered some offering to be placed in every church in the kingdom dedicated to St. Anne. Then then is a gilded wood n Statue of St. Anne dating from 1662. and which for 200 yean adorned the front of the old church. Of a collection box used for the first time during the dedication of the second church on July 29, 1663, we are told that it was returned with 1265 francs (StiSJ), considered I good collection at that time as vagei were only one franc a day. It is recorded as a remarkable event that when the vice roy, the Marquis de Tracy, and his staff made their pilgrimage a few years later, the sexton, Michel Bouchard, actually saw 70 francs ($16) dropped into this box. one silver franc after the other! But then a franc went much further in those days than it does today Of a later date are curious reminders of the visits of living personages, such as the chiseled and embossed silver portrait presented on the occasion of his pilgrimage to St. Anne de Beaupre in October, 1WX). by the ComtC de Paris, who is regarded by thousands of Catho lics as the legitimate king of France Near this reminder of the French claimant, oddly enough, one comes upon the red onyx pen used first by King George V. of England, when, as Prince of Wales, he visited the shrine in June, 1908, and again as lately as August 23, 119. by his son. the present Prince of Wales, in signing St. Anne's Visitors' Record. A very curious souvenir is the seal of General Santa Anna, president of Mexico in 1832 and through the historic days of our war with that republic. This seal is made of solid gold in the form of an eagle with outspread wings standing on a rock of lapis lazuli, engraved with the seal and holding between his wings a sphere, likewise of lapis-lazuli, the eagle's eyes being formed by two rubies, seemingly directed to the word Mcjico inlaid on the sphere in gold letters. The seal proper bears the initials of the president, wreathed with the Mexican national insignia. Among a number of paintings on the walls of the sacristy and adjoining passages, I single out for men tion one which seemed to me especially to accord with the "miraculous" atmosphere all about TMl b a large painting from the brush of Lebrun representing in the center St nne teaching her daughter. Mary, and OH either side h low them two figures in the garb of pilgrims at prayer. The picture is a votive offering made hv the Marquis de Tracy, viceroy ot New France in 1666, and the pilgrims in the picture are the Marquis and his Marquise. It is related that during a fierce storm at sen, the pious viceroy made I ow to St. nne that he would make her a fCncrOUl offering if she would save his life. Ho fulfilled his promise by presenting to St. Anne's church here this masteipicie of one of France's greatest artists. The painting of a sailing ship of war of the early eighteenth century fashion, like that given by the Marquis de Tracy, is a reminder that St. Anne has been regarded for centuries as the patroness of sailors and of those who (ravel by sea. It represents the man o" war "King s Hero.' and was presented by the crew of that vessel in thanksgiving for St. Anne's protection, when in 1711, they were cast up on the shore in the neighborhood, following a furious storm in which 84 ships of the British line sailing up the St. Lawrence under command of Admiral Walker were dashed on the rocks near 1 gg Island beach and destroved, a calamity which caused the British to abandon their first invasion of New France. "It sail rs and nassett on ocean ships todaj prayed more to St. Anne, we would not have manv shipwrecks as we are having in these irreligious days.' said my cicerone. According to accepted tradition, the first church of St. Anne was built Ofl this coast by a few Breton mariners who. believing themselves in danger of per ishing by shipwreck, vowed that the) would erect a chapel to the patroness of their own loved Brittany on whatever spot they might be able to land. As far back as 1662, marvelous cures were reported .ts being obtained at this chapel through the intercession of St. Anne In oi 5, the TCnerabtc Mar oi the In carnation, foundress of the I rsiilines of Quebec, wrote: "There thr paralytic are made to waft ; the blind re ceive their sight; and the sick, whatever their ailment may be. regain their health." I IiImHI ,es HMmLmrA ulibar 'snl En Rar afl aaHBaWnrawaB aaaaai flaaaaaaSHatllSSS Reminders of many miracles of healinf Hundreds of crutches, cane and eurfical appliance are tacked around the f ur pillars nrar the entrance and hang afainsl the walls. The croaacd riflee are the pio offering of a smuttier saved from shipwreck and taatify fulfillment of hi vow to St. Anne to abandon his trade. In response to a question a to the crutches, canes and steel leg-supporters and back-braces I noticed within railings around three sides of the reliquary itself, Brother Jean-Louis told me these were left by persons' who had been healed within the past week. Each article was ticketed with the name and address of the healed one. his ailment and date of healing. Nor all who arc h aled leave such visible reminders, he added. For instance, on the very feast of St Anne this year (July 26) a prominent and wealthy New York woman had been healed of cancer, he said. At the end of six months, her physician would be asked to sign a cer tificate as to the genuineness and lasting nature of the cure for the church archives. 1 was not fortunate enough to witness s miracle personally; but various pilgrims I talked with told me that they had been encouraged to come n, ft, , fa some cases from a long distance, by thr 1 nn.' former years of friends and relatives and declare! they had already experienced remarkable ben t Lk Jtf as s',iritl,a,,y' Wf Joaquin Miller, the "Poet of the Sierras" Ua . , on record interesting impressions and observation, ! his visit. He says: ll,"ns of "Fot my part. I have not seen the blind rr cover their light, but an English ladv of greai distinction. Mrs. G. P., related to me the He tails of the cure of a little girl ten rears old who had been blind from her birth.' I nem that I know is that it is true .... That same day 1 remarked in the church a poor old man all crip pled and so weak that he could not even use crutches. They helped him to drag himself as far as the statue. He sank down at its feet. As I had not come to pray but to sec, I attentively fixed my eyes on that man. Nor could I easily remove them from those features in which feeling and life seemed extinct, and so deadly pale. Yet the sufferer raised his head and his lips moved. I will say no more, lest I profane the subject! Let me merely add that I saw the old man re stored to health, if not to youth. He arose, and I followed him as far as the door. There he took his traveling bag and his stick and began to walk with a vigorous step. 1 followed him for a while. No doubt could remain : he was cured." Not only in the Basilica itself, but also in the sur roundings, everything in the arrangement and environ ment is well calculated to foster faith. The church yard surrounding the Basilica is a prettily laid out gar den with statues and grottoes set in the shrubbery and flower beds, and in one corner is a "holy well" whose waters are said to have miraculous healing powers. Eastward of the church rises a large three-story build ing, the monastery of the l demptorist Fathers, 40 of whom arc engaged in looking after the work of the shrine. Here also is maintained a training school for novitiates in the order. Along the slope of the terraced hillside, stand out at intervals striking groups in bronze life size figures portraying the stages in the passion of Christ and forming the sta tions of the "Way of the Cros." On one of the lower terrace i, rises the edi fice known as the "Scala Santa." or Holy Stairway. Here pilgrim ascend I broad flight of step, to say a short prescribed prayer. On the upper floor is a chapel with an altar. A balcony leading from this chapel affords I fine view across the broad St Lawrence and over the surrounding countryside. This stairway represents the 28 mar ble steps of the Praeiorium which Jesus ascended to appear before Pilate. The original stairway, trodden by the Sav iour and stained with Ir.s bl d, is said to be still in existence, and to consist of a flight of 28 marble steps brought from Jerusalem to Rome about the year A. D. 35, under direction oi St He ena. mother of the Emperor Constantine. In the Kternal City they are housed in a magnificent temple where they are a constant object of the veneration of the faithful, being now "worn down by the kisses of pious worsh peri whose tears of repentance and love flow continu allv." to quote the phrasing of the good Kcdemptorist Father who is the author ot the official guide prepared undif ec clesiastical authority for the use of pil grims to St. Anne de Beaupre. To those not in sympathy with W cult of this saint, there may be something repellant in the promis cuous kissing of the glass kni cover ing the relic, in the awkward climbing of stairs on the knees, and m the com mercial suggestion of numerous boxes for offerings, and the stalls tor the sale of books, photographs, gold ana silver medals and crucifixes, the Oil oi St Anne" and similar articles, but i must say that the evidently sincere ana whole hearted devotion of the wofsnp ers reduces such impression to m n importance. , . Along with the first and deep n pression of admiration for the. demonstration of faith which these o. grimages present, there is an .nerttW sense of pathos in the reflection that more Xhe church conditions while manv are healed very many msm ham and bitter disappointment t r . i u mi4sm nrrliminarv it sen recognizes n r - - ( Xper;- heart and mind arc indispensable to any encing of the efficacy of the religious exewses nected with the pilgrimage and the ; vem-ratior l ot relic. Why could not intending gJ forehand in the.r own home churches. tJ " es 0f essarv in most cases to induce those proper states m,,,ddo'not overlook in making this outstanding fact that, whether healed of firmity or not, practically every pilgrim 0 fully follows the directions given to mm. ' ience. reap decided spiritual advantages fromnfn"h'xpphysicsl This, after all. is perhaps more important than p healing.