An Explanation of Indulgences

RECEIVING INDULGENCES
by Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

There was a time when indulgences had a bad name. This was because in the Middle Ages some of the clergy were in the habit of selling indulgences to the faithful for their own benefit. They had no right to do so and the practice was eventually stopped. In 1567 Pope Pius V cancelled all grants of indulgences involving fees or any financial transaction, proving that the Church was determined to put an end to the abuse. However, the regular and proper use of indulgences was still strongly recommended and that continues to be the case.

What exactly is an indulgence? Put simply, it is the full or partial remission of the temporal punishment still due after sins have been forgiven. The former is called a plenary indulgence, the latter a partial indulgence. Both are dispensed by the Catholic Church, which claims the authority to apply the merits of Christ and the saints in heaven.

Where did this authority originate? How, one might ask, does the Pope come to have the power required to achieve this? In the Gospel according to St. Matthew (Chap. 16: 18-19), Christ said to Simon Peter: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in heaven.”

A wonderful statement, leading directly to the Sacrament of Penance. At one time those going to confession could expect to receive certain penitential practices to carry out as a condition for their absolution. Over the years, the successors to St. Peter decreed that some prayers and good works could replace these penitential practices, leading to the introduction of indulgences. The aim of the Church in granting indulgences is not only to expiate or reduce the temporal punishment still due to sins after the eternal punishment has been remitted by confession, but also to persuade the faithful to perform works of piety, penance and charity, leading to a general growth in faith. (Offering indulgences for the dead is an excellent example of charity. Donating money to relieve starvation in Third World countries is another.)

Indulgences are not awarded lightly or accidentally. There is nothing automatic about them. There must be the intent to gain an indulgence. Pope Paul VI stated: ‘Indulgences cannot be gained without a sincere conversion of outlook and unity with God.’ To gain one you have to be a Catholic in a state of grace. To obtain a partial indulgence one must perform with a contrite heart the act or prayer to which the indulgence is attached. For a plenary indulgence the conditions are stricter. As well as having a contrite heart, where possible one must, within a period of up to 20 days, go to confession, receive Holy Communion and pray for the Pope’s intentions. (One Our Father and one Hail Mary will suffice.) Also, you must be free from all attachment to sin – including venial sin. If all four conditions are not met the indulgence granted will be only partial.

The list of approved indulgences was changed in 1968. It is to be found in the Catholic Church’s Enchiridion of Indulgences, available from the local library or through Google on the Internet. The determination of the number of days or years which were commonly quoted, and which actually referred to the number of days’or years’ remission of punishment on completion of the old canonical penances, has been abolished. The number of indulgences on offer has been somewhat reduced. According to the Enchiridion, ‘The main concern has been to attach greater importance to a Christian way of life, and to lead the faithful to cultivate the spirit of prayer and penance and to practise the theological virtues, rather than merely repeating certain formulas and acts’.

While partial indulgences can be gained more than once a day, a plenary indulgence can be acquired only once in the course of a day. An exception to this is allowed at the moment of death. Not all indulgences are available to the living. For example, a partial indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the departed buried there. During the period 1st – 8th November (the month of the Holy Souls), a plenary indulgence may be gained for such visits.

Interestingly, the Church makes a plenary indulgence available to those of the faithful who are unable, when dying, to be assisted by a priest bringing the sacraments, provided they are “properly disposed” and have been in the habit of saying prayers during their lifetime. The holding of a crucifix at such a time is recommended as praiseworthy.

There are various ways of obtaining plenary indulgences. One is granted, for instance, to a Catholic who spends at least three whole days in the spiritual exercises of a retreat. Participation in certain pilgrimages is another source. Sometimes they are connected to Feast Days, such as Corpus Christi, or a particular event or date, such as the Millenium. The 150th anniversary two years ago of the Apparitions at Lourdes was another example.

Reciting the Rosary as an individual, and saying various other prayers, such as the Angelus, or Psalm 129, the “De Profundis” (Out of the Depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord..), are means of gaining partial indulgences. If five decades of the Rosary are recited in a church gathering or family group, however, they merit a plenary indulgence. Similarly, attending the Stations of the Cross, participation in the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for at least half an hour, reading Holy Scripture for the same length of time – all can lead to a plenary indulgence. There is plenty of opportunity.

So, is it possible for the faithful to avoid Purgatory altogether? The answer is yes, though it is advisable not to rely solely on indulgences. In a book entitled: “Read Me Or Rue It” by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan (now out of print but available via Google on the Internet), excellent advice is given on how to achieve this aim. It involves a whole list of activities and attitudes:-

Remove the cause of sin by frequent use of the Sacraments; break off bad habits, such as speaking ill of others;

Do penance by way of little mortifications, like St. Therese of Lisieux; be unselfish and kind to all, practising self restraint and patience;

Bear suffering patiently and calmly for God’s sake, offering up every pain, sorrow and disappointment; willingly accept minor daily annoyances;

Go to Confession frequently, take Communion and attend Mass more often, thus gaining the strength to avoid sin;

Ask God to deliver you from Purgatory altogether! Perseverance and faith may prevent God from refusing this favour; After Holy Communion say: ‘Eternal Father, from this day forward I accept with a joyful and resigned heart the death it will please You to send me, with all its pains and suffering’;

Ensure that those nearest to you will summon a priest as soon as it is known that you are in danger of dying, so that you will benefit from the Sacrament of the Sick, formerly called Extreme Unction;

Make use of partial indulgences; recite short ejaculatory prayers during the day, such as ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You’; obtain plenary indulgences also.

Apply the benefits of indulgences to help the Holy Souls reach Heaven.

With regard to the last recommendation, it should be remembered that those who work heart and soul for the relief of the Holy Souls may well hope to avoid Purgatory altogether. As St. James said, ‘He who saves a soul, saves his own and satisfies for a multitude of sins’.

Those interested in saving souls may wish to join a special Association devoted to this cause. One such is the Association of the Holy Souls, Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, Pius XII Monastery, Rua do Rosario 1, 2495 Fatima, Portugal, to whom one should apply for further details. There may be some delay in obtaining a reply. One applicant recently received the following from the Mother Prioress:-

‘God bless you for your interest and desire to help all the suffering souls in Purgatory. Though we continue to enroll members in the Association, we encourage you to try to work for the Holy Souls in your own diocese. As much as possible, according to your means and state in life, we suggest that you:
Request Holy Mass to be offered in your parish for the relief of the Holy Souls;
Assist at Holy Mass with the intention of relieving their suffering;
Pray for the Holy Souls – especially the prayer of the Rosary;
Remind and encourage others to pray for the suffering souls….

Finally, we ask you to remember in prayer those who are dying so that every grace they need will be granted, especially to those who may have despaired of God’s love and mercy.

In your kindness, please pardon any delay in our reply to your letter.’

Those with access to the Internet on a computer will find a choice of Associations dedicated to the Holy Souls via Google. One such is FOSS, (Friends of the Suffering Souls), whose email address is foss@1earth.net. Applications to enroll for the most part involve only one communication, so a relative or friend owning a computer may well help out without being unduly inconvenienced.

One last note about indulgences. They are not granted automatically. In particular, plenary indulgences are hard to obtain because of all the conditions attached. One way to achieve genuine repentance for sin, and determination to avoid it, is to pray the Rosary regularly. It is impossible to say the Sorrowful Mysteries thoughtfully and conscientiously without being filled with sorrow for past sins. It may not be enough, but it is a start.

Click here to go to Part 1 of this article, entitled "Purgatory".

‘I received many and great favours from the saints, but still greater favours from the Holy Souls.’ -St. Catherine of Bologna

An explanation of Purgatory -Part 1 of 2

PURGATORY
-Part one of a two part series.
By: Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine on November 14, 2008. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” -2 Machabees 12:46

Many of us will remember hearing this exhortation when we were still young children learning our Catechism. We may have given it little thought since then, though we are reminded of it occasionally when relatives or friends die and we attend their funerals. We will regularly join with the priest and congregation at other times in reciting such prayers as ‘Eternal rest grant unto them , O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, Amen.’ Something of a formula perhaps, too easily pronounced and too quickly forgotten.

A mistake many of us unwittingly make is to assume that our deceased loved ones must already be in Heaven. There is good reason to believe that many of the souls in Purgatory remain there long after we have ceased praying for them. They are not able to communicate with us, nor we with them, though records do exist of certain saints who have been privileged to make contact with departed souls still awaiting entry to Heaven. While all such souls have the joy of knowing they will ultimately achieve eternal happiness , they undergo considerable suffering while awaiting their release. Our prayers and sacrifices can help to lessen their pain and speed them on their way.

How do we know this? As mentioned above, contact with souls in Purgatory has been made by certain privileged saints who have provided accounts of their experiences. Accounts which we have every reason to believe. The Diary of Saint Faustina, a Polish nun who died at the age of 33 in 1938, and was canonised in the year 2000, contains remarkable reports of visits made by her to souls in Purgatory and of conversations she was privileged to have with them. When she asked what their suffering mainly consisted of, they told her that their greatest torment took the form of an earnest longing for God. At the same time she heard an interior voice saying “My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.”

The concept of justice, as it applies to souls in Purgatory, is an important one. It seems that even though our sins have been forgiven, justice demands that we cannot enter Heaven until we have fully paid our debts. Saint Faustina stressed that the penance we are given when we go to confession is inadequate. She urged us to make a daily offering of our sufferings and trials on behalf of the poor souls in Purgatory and for our own souls in order to shorten our stay there.

In addition, people can make provision in their wills for Masses to be said for their souls after their death. Such bequests have the added advantage that they help to support certain religious communities which partly depend on funds made available in this way. Clearly one cannot rely entirely on these means as this would suggest that the rich have a great advantage over those less able to afford such contributions.

You will sometimes hear it said that the word ‘Purgatory’ is not to be found in Holy Scripture, and it is true that the word itself did not come into common use until the Middle Ages, but the doctrine whereby souls are detained prior to their entry into Heaven is proved by references to the dead in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Councils of Florence and of Trent and by Tradition.

An example of prayers being offered for the dead in the Old Testament is contained in the Book of Machabees, quoted above in the first paragraph. It was written long before the coming of Christ. We learn from it that Judas Machabeus, commander of the Jewish army, lost a large number of his soldiers in a successful battle against the Syrians. When these soldiers came to be buried, heathen charms were discovered under their tunics. It worried Judas to think that some of his soldiers had been unfaithful to the one true God. In an effort to beg pardon of God for their sins, he collected 12,000 drachms of silver and sent them to the temple in Jerusalem to have sacrifices offered for the dead soldiers, expressing the generally-held belief that ‘it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins’.

In the New Testament a declaration made by St. Paul in a letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3: 14-15) is generally taken to refer to what we now think of as Purgatory. It reads: ‘If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.’

Although souls are essentially spirits, theologians speak of Purgatory as a physical space in which the souls of those who have died in God’s grace but are still imperfectly purified, are kept until they have made good the harm done to their souls by sin. They are unable to go to Heaven immediately after death since nothing that is defiled can enter there. They cannot be in Hell either, for there is no redemption for souls unfortunate enough to have been consigned there after deliberately turning their backs on God. It follows that there must be a place or state in which souls have to wait while undergoing the purification necessary for their acceptance in Heaven.

If the temptation is to arrange for prayers and masses to be said only for our own souls, it should be remembered that we are constantly being urged and encouraged to pray for the Holy Souls in general. Pope John Paul II stated: ‘Giving the Holy Souls in Purgatory an indulgence is the highest act of supernatural charity.’ St. Thomas Aquinas said: ‘Of all prayers, the most meritorious, the most acceptable to God are prayers for the dead because they employ all the works of charity, both corporal and spiritual.’ Our Lady of Medjugorje, in her message of 21st July, 1982, lamented: ‘There is a large number of souls who have been in Purgatory for a long time because no one prays for them.’

St. Gertrude, when dying, was worried that she had given up all her good works to the souls in Purgatory, keeping none of the benefits for herself. Our Lord assured her in a vision that she would go straight to Heaven. Although none of us would presume to be so deserving, it seems reasonable to suppose that our generosity will be rewarded. St. Catherine of Bologna declared: ‘I received many and great favours from the saints, but still greater favours from the Holy Souls.’ It is claimed that Holy Souls, once released, never cease to pray for those who have helped them.

If the particular souls we are praying for are already in Heaven, there is no doubt that our prayers will be applied to benefit other souls. It has been said that there is no ungrateful soul in Heaven. A comforting thought.

Purgatory is defined by the Catholic Church as ‘a state of final purification after death and before entrance into Heaven for those who died in God’s friendship but were only imperfectly purified.’ Mention has been made of the suffering endured by the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Their pain is lessened however by several factors.

The first of these is the certainty they have of their future glory in Heaven; what might be called the light at the end of the tunnel. As St. Paul suggests in his letter to the Romans, this hope must bring the faithful great joy. Then there is their complete willingness to suffer, knowing that they deserve their punishment. Their love of God, perhaps newly found, causes them to rejoice in their suffering. While the souls of the lost are kept in the prison of Hell, those in Purgatory stay there willingly for they understand the just will of God and submit to it.

St. Catherine of Genoa wrote: ‘It seems to me there is no joy comparable to that of the pure souls in Purgatory, except the joy of heavenly beatitude.’ In his writings on Purgatory, Fr. Binet, S.J., states: ‘We have all the reason in the world to believe that God, of His infinite goodness, inspires these Holy Souls in a thousand heavenly lights, and such ravishing thoughts that they cannot but take themselves to be extremely happy.’

All of which is also most comforting. Nevertheless, for those anxious to limit the amount of time spent in Purgatory, even to avoid it altogether, there is always the legitimate prospect of obtaining indulgences.

Click here to go to part 2 of this article, "Receiving Indulgences"

Bibliography:
-‘Purgatory and Heaven’ by Fr. J.P. Arendzen, D.D.
-‘Purgatory’ by Fr. Frederick William Faber
-Google

Saints that are Incorruptible

THE INCORRUPTIBILITY OF SAINTS
By Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

When a body is described as being incorrupt it means that it does not decay after death. The same cannot be said of a body that is well preserved or mummified, or has undergone an embalming process. Most such corpses become stiff, but incorruptible saints remain completely flexible, as if they are only sleeping.

This is particularly true of Saint Bernadette [pictured above] whose body is displayed in a glass case at the Convent of Nevers in France. In spite of having died more than 130 years ago, she looks for all the world as if she is about to wake up. It is true that when she was exhumed a second time, the nuns gave her face a light wax mask, but this was done mainly to cover damage caused earlier by washing. A doctor who removed one of her ribs to provide a relic found her body had remained pliable. Pope John XXIII’s body remains intact, but it was embalmed for his lying in state and the Church does not claim that it is incorruptible due to supernatural reasons.

There is a whole list of saints, however, whose bodies have been found to be incorrupt. Not all of them were Roman Catholics. The Russian Orthodox Church is well represented by such as St. Alexander of Svir, who was a monk, and by the martyrs of Vilnius, St. Anthony, St. John and St. Eustathios.

The exhumation of saints’ bodies may appear a macabre business, but the first examples of incorruptibility were discovered by accident. It usually happened when a body was being transferred from one place to another. Now, of course, the Church is more alive to the possibility. Not that it expects the body of every saint to be incorruptible. Indeed, it is unusual, and no one knows why a few saints’ bodies are preserved and most are not. Some believe that the piety of a particular saint is so remarkable that it permeates the whole body, while others believe that decomposition has been prevented directly by God, irrespective of the degree of piety.

The argument for a physical cause, usually applied to persons not known for their religious background, relates to the physical environment in which decomposition has been retarded by the cool, dry conditions of the place of burial. With regard to Catholic saints, the Church maintains that the environments in which saints’ bodies have been preserved are normal, or even, in some instances, particularly damp. Sometimes two bodies will be buried side by side, as was the case with Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco, the young seers of Fatima, yet only one was preserved.

Cases of incorruptibility go back a long way. The first saint whose body was found to be incorrupt was St. Cecilia, who was martyred in AD 177. Her remains were moved to a new site in 822, and in 1599 an exhumation revealed her body to be incorrupt. Over the centuries more than 100 cases of saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible have come to light, sometimes, as with St. Cecilia, many years after their death.

St. Agnes of Montepulciano died in 1317. Not only did her body remain incorrupt, but a perfumed liquid flowed from her hands and feet. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Another Italian, St. Catherine of Bologna, died at the age of 49 in the year 1463 and was canonized in 1712. She was buried unembalmed and without a casket; 18 days later, after various reports of graveside miracles, her body was exhumed and found to be flexible and uncorrupted. It was moved to the chapel of the Poor Clares in Bologna where it is displayed to this day, dressed and seated upright in a glass case.

St. Catherine Labouré (1806 – 1876) [pictured to the left] was born in Burgundy, France. She is famous for having passed on a request from Our Lady for the creation of the Miraculous Medal, worn now by thousands of the faithful. When her body was exhumed in 1933 it was found to be incorrupt. It rests now on display in the chapel of Our Lady of the Sun in the Rue du Bac, Paris.

In October, 1977, the canonization took place of an ordained Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk named Charbel Makhlouf. He had lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death at the age of seventy in 1898. With a reputation for holiness, he followed a strict fast and was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. After his death, mysterious, dazzling lights were seen over his grave and pilgrims began to visit. His corpse which had been exuding sweat and blood was transferred to a special coffin, and hordes of pilgrims swarmed to the place seeking his intercession. They still do.

As recently as January, 1993, a partially paralysed fifty-six-year old woman named Nohed El Shami saw two Maronite monks standing next to her bed. They performed surgery on her neck and when she woke up she found two wounds on her neck. She was completely healed and able to walk again. One of the monks she identified as Charbel. His canonization took place on 9th October, 1977, in the Vatican.

[Pictured to the left is the popular Saint John Vianney, affectionately known as the Cure d'Ars] Mention has been made of the exudation of sweat and blood from St. Charbel’s body. The same symptoms have been observed with other saints, often many years after their death. The odour of sanctity is frequently mentioned, not only at the time of death or burial, but many years later. It is frequently described as a sweet-smelling perfume. In the case of the Venerable Mother Maria of Jesus (a contemporary of St. Theresa of Avila), who died in 1640, the odour detected on the occasion of her exhumation in 1929 was described as a ‘sweet perfume of roses and jasmines’ which clung not only to her body, but to articles she was known to have used during her lifetime. This was 289 years after her death!

The Church is reluctant to accept the incorruption of the body of a candidate for sainthood as a miracle proving sanctity. The cause of beatification is usually well under way before graves are opened for the recognition of relics. You could say that incorruption is seen as a bonus. By the same token, dissolution of a body provides no hindrance to a saint’s cause. Many of our most illustrious saints went the way of all flesh, including Saint Therese of Lisieux who foretold, correctly, that her body would not be protected.

We should gratefully accept that our ability to see the miraculously preserved bodies of individual saints is a privilege, a comfort and a source of encouragement in our daily struggle to achieve some degree of holiness.

-Click here for an excellent article on the incorrupt bodies of the Saints.

The Miracle Cures of Lourdes -Miraculous healings

THE MIRACLE CURES OF LOURDES (Part 3 of 3)
By Jim Dunning

Strange as it may seem, out of 7000 cases recorded over the past 150 years by the Medical Bureau of Lourdes, only 67 have been officially recognised as miraculous by the Church. This is undoubtedly because of the strict criteria applied to all the cases put forward. Nevertheless, Lourdes is besieged year after year by thousands of pilgrims, many of whom are seeking spiritual rather than physical relief. There has been criticism of the vulgar display of religious objects in the local shops, but this should not be allowed to detract from the value of the pilgrimages. No one goes to Lourdes simply to buy religious goods.

Why are so few cures accepted by the Church as miraculous? The reason is that the requirements set out by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes for the validation of a miracle cure are extremely strict. The illness in question must be serious and the cure sudden and complete. There must be no need for convalescence. Another requirement is that no regular medication has been given since this would give rise to the possibility that the cure resulted from the treatment. Ironically, once a person is completely cured, it is no longer possible for tests to be carried out to verify the existence of the illness!

There is, of course, previous documentation to be considered with a view to establishing the medical history. And an assessment of the patient’s personality will help to eliminate false claims, genuine illusion or hysteria. A judgement is then made as to whether the cure is beyond the usual medical prognosis for the particular illness. When all these steps have been followed, a decision will be reached to either take no action or to undertake further examination, or to record the event as an “unexpected cure” for subsequent validation. The Bishop of the patient’s diocese, together with a doctor assigned by that Bishop, will then be advised of the result of the preliminary examination.

At Stage Two of the process, professional experts on the Committee compare the medical documents from before the alleged cure with those issued afterwards to ensure that there has been a definite change from a precisely diagnosed illness to a recovered state of health. What was earlier labelled an “unexpected cure” can then be designated a “confirmed cure”. According to the findings, each case is filed under the heading: ‘no further action’, or is validated under the heading: ‘supported and confirmed’.

The Third Stage sees the official recognition by the whole Committee of the exceptional nature of the cure in the light of the present state of scientific knowledge. The cure must not have a medical explanation; indeed, it must be seen to have occurred contrary to all medical predictions. The Bishop of Tarbes & Lourdes then forwards the complete file to the Bishop of the cured person’s diocese. That Bishop will then ‘canonically’ recognise the cure as miraculous on behalf of the Church.

It is clear that those cases which succeed in being officially recognised as miraculous have undergone a rigorous screening. There seems little doubt that many of the non-recognised cures are also genuine, in spite of their having failed to clear every obstacle in the prudently strict path to canonical recognition. That the Church is cautious in declaring a cure is understandable, even commendable.

An examination of the accepted cures associated with Lourdes is interesting. Most have taken place at Lourdes itself, but some have occurred elsewhere, either through prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes or through application of water originating from the Grotto.

Not surprisingly, the first cures were recorded soon after the start of the apparitions in February, 1858. The first was that of a local married woman named Catharine Latapie who had a paralysed right hand caused by a fallen tree. On 1st March, 1858, less than three weeks after the first apparition, this 38-year old mother made an early morning visit to the Grotto and bathed her arm in the small pool fed by the spring first unearthed by Bernadette. Immediately her fingers were cured and she returned home to give birth the same day to her third child. Twenty-four years later that child became a priest.

More newsworthy at the time was the cure of a local quarry worker aged 54. Louis Bouriette had lost the sight in his right eye after an explosion in a mine. He asked for some water from the same source, and after praying earnestly and bathing his eye several times, he discovered that his sight was completely restored. This was in March, 1858, only weeks after the start of the apparitions.

A sick boy of 16 named Henri Busquet was refused permission to visit Lourdes by his parents, but a neighbour provided him with some Lourdes water and the agonising throat ulcer caused by tuberculosis disappeared completely. This was only ten weeks after the first apparition and was the first miraculous cure attributed to Lourdes from outside the area. There have been many other such cures, though not all have been authenticated.

To counter any suggestion that psychology might play a role in these miraculous cures, one has only to point to those cases involving very young children who could not possibly have expected any result from their experience at Lourdes. The most dramatic of these was that of a Lourdes child named Justin Bouhort. He was not yet two years old and on the point of death when his mother said a prayer and plunged him into the icy water at the grotto, to the consternation of onlookers who screamed in protest. She took him home and put him to bed. Within days his health improved. This happened less than five months after the first apparition. Justin lived long enough to attend Bernadette’s canonization in Rome on 8th December, 1933.

A more recent cure took place on 9th October, 1987, when Jean-Pierre Bely, aged 51, was suddenly cured of multiple sclerosis while participating in a Rosary Pilgrimage to Lourdes. He enjoyed perfect health for the next 18 years before his death in 2005. Other recent cures are still under investigation.

In the intervening years many cures have been effected, either at Lourdes or elsewhere, frequently after immersion in the shrine’s baths, or through the application of water from the Grotto’s spring, combined always with prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes. The water itself has been analysed and shown to have no therapeutic value. In the shrine’s history eight cures have been recorded as coinciding with the blessing of the sick by the Blessed Sacrament during or immediately after the Eucharistic Procession.

Statistics relating to the 67 officially recognised cures make interesting reading. No less than 55 of those concerned were French, 6 were Italian, 3 were Belgian, while Germany, Austria and Switzerland accounted for the remaining 3. Some 80% of those cured were females, among whom were 8 nuns. And 6 people were cured through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes without coming to the shrine. The most common illness recorded during the first 60 years was tuberculosis, though the whole range of sickness has been represented. The youngest person was almost two years old, the oldest being 64. [Note that these figures are from the officially recognised list, however over 7000 cases of cures have been reported, as previously mentioned.]

In case it might be thought that the number of cures at Lourdes is diminishing, it is worth pointing out that as recently as 2005, no fewer than forty ‘spontaneous declarations’ of cures were examined by the International Medical Committee. Five of these cases were considered worthy of further examination and yet another was confirmed as ‘exceptional’ after 13 years of restored health. No wonder the shrine at Lourdes continues to attract many thousands of visitors each year from every part of the globe. Bernadette, that most modest of saints, must be very pleased.

-Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Click here to go to part 1 of this story, St Bernadette and Lourdes.

St Bernadette of Lourdes -Part 1

SAINT BERNADETTE AND LOURDES 1844-1879 (Part 1 of 3)
by Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author, Jim Dunning, for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

February 11, 2008, marked exactly 150 years since the first apparition took place at the foot of a hill called Massabielle, near the small town of Lourdes in France. Bernadette Soubirous, aged fourteen, was out with her younger sister and a friend looking for firewood to sell in exchange for bread. Her two companions waded across a stream and left her taking off her shoes and stockings. Suddenly, she saw a figure in the opening of a grotto. It looked to her like a beautiful young lady of fifteen or sixteen, surrounded by light and holding a rosary. Instinctively, Bernadette pulled out her own rosary and began to pray. When she finished her prayers the Lady bowed, smiled at her and disappeared.

On the way home Bernadette asked her companions whether they had seen anything. They had seen nothing, but her sister, Toinette, pressed her to tell them what she had seen. Reluctantly, she admitted seeing a beautiful young lady dressed in white, with a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot. When Toinette told her mother they were both punished and Bernadette was forbidden to return to the cave.

On the Saturday, Bernadette went to confession and told Abbé Pomian what she had witnessed. He merely advised her to wait and see. When word got around, however, local children urged Bernadette to go back to Massabielle. Her father agreed, but told her to be quick.

Back at the Grotto Bernadette knelt down and started to say the rosary. She had barely finished one decade when she exclaimed: ‘Look – the light. She’s there!’

The other children could see nothing. Bernadette got to her feet and sprinkled holy water all round the wild rose bush in front of her, saying, ‘If you come from God, stay. If not, go away.’ The Lady smiled, bowing her head. Bernadette went into a trance and could not be moved. An adult was fetched who finally managed to get her away. When asked what she saw, she said: ‘I see a lovely young lady with a rosary on her arm.’

Bernadette habitually referred to the Lady as “Aquero”, meaning “that one”. At the request of two ladies, she asked Aquero to write down her name. The Lady laughed and said: ‘That is not necessary’, adding ‘Will you do me the favour of coming here every day for a fortnight?’ ‘If my parents will let me,’ she answered. She was then told: ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but I will in the next.’

On 21st February the police became involved because rumours spreading around were creating an atmosphere of excitement. An Inspector Jacomet asked Bernadette to promise not to go back to the grotto. ‘Monsieur, I have promised the Lady to go back.’ The next day, after being forbidden to return by both her parents, she felt an overwhelming urge to go to the grotto and skipped school in order to do so. But the Lady didn’t appear, and she was distraught. ‘How have I failed her?’ Clearly, the Lady disapproved of her disobedience.

On 23rd February, after her parents had relented, Bernadette ran back to Massabielle and was again favoured with a vision. A woman watching Bernadette wrote: ‘Her face was transfigured by an expression of joy, happiness and delight.’
Another pinched her and pricked her shoulder with a hatpin, but the girl did not even flinch. A candle she was holding appeared to burn her finger, but subsequently there was no trace of blistering.

The next day, Bernadette was seen walking on her knees to the back of the cave,
continually kissing the ground, explaining later that "Aquero" [The Lady] had said: ‘Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground in penance.’

The following day Bernadette was observed stooping over a muddy patch of earth, scraping at it until water appeared. She drank from it, muddying her face so that she looked revolting. She was led away and the watching crowd, indignant at the spectacle, left in disgust. The Lady had told her: ‘Go to the spring and drink and wash.’ That afternoon people returning to the cave found a small spring and filled bottles with water to take home.

The daily visions continued. On 2nd March Bernadette was given a message for the clergy. The Lady asked for a procession to take place and for a chapel to be built on the site. Advised of this, the Curé (parish priest), Abbé Peyramale, who terrified everyone, including Bernadette, insisted scornfully that she should ask this Lady what her name was.

When Bernadette conveyed this message she received only a smile. When told, the Curé commented: ‘If she wants the chapel, let her tell you her name and make the wild rose flower at the grotto.’ On 4th March a crowd of three to four thousand assembled at the grotto, believing that this would be the occasion of the last apparition. They half expected to see the rose flower. They were disappointed. Bernadette received no vision that morning and everyone left. But Bernadette was persuaded to return at lunchtime and saw her vision once again. It seemed Aquero had been upset by the improper behaviour of certain people in the cave the previous night.

On 25th March Bernadette felt the familiar irresistible urge to go to the grotto. Aquero appeared immediately and stayed for an hour. After being asked her name four times, she looked up to heaven and said simply: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’ It meant nothing to Bernadette who went straight back to the Curé’s house with her aunt, repeating the words to herself lest she forget them. When they burst in on him she told him: ‘She said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”’ The Curé was speechless and sent her home. He was later to become her staunchest ally.

When word got round, the people of Lourdes were not surprised, having believed all along that it was the Blessed Virgin appearing at the grotto. The authorities were still not sure what to do. Visitors to the grotto were turning it into a shrine and official action was set in motion to close it down to the public. Claims of cures were made by the relatives of those who had bathed in the spring.

On 7th April Bernadette returned to Massabielle and once again spoke with the Lady. A local doctor, known to be a sceptic, witnessed her hands being exposed to the flame of the large candle she was holding, and was amazed to find no trace of scorching. ‘Now I believe,’ he said.

The grotto was closed, but barriers erected were repeatedly torn down by the townsfolk. On 16th July Bernadette visited an area close to the grotto and saw Our Lady for the last time. Aquero said nothing but appeared more beautiful than ever. It was the eighteenth apparition.

In September the Emperor himself gave orders that the grotto should reopen. An Episcopal Commission was set up to investigate events at Lourdes and claims of cures.
As for Bernadette, in 1866 she entered the mother-house of the Sisters of Charity at Nevers. Her life and death there provide another story...
-St Bernadette, pray for us!

Click here for part 2 of St Bernadette of Lourdes

St Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes -Part 2

ST. BERNADETTE OF LOURDES (1844-1879) Part 2 of 3
by Jim Dunning

Bernadette Soubirous was born on 7th January, 1844, in the small French town of Lourdes. Her family was poor and for much of her childhood they were forced to live in a single basement room that had once served as a gaol. It was dark, damp and smelly and Bernadette developed asthma at an early age. Her Aunt Bernarde and her former foster mother, Maria Lagues, provided the family with some relief by taking the child to live with them for long periods, but in return insisted that Bernadette, instead of attending school, should look after their children.

When Bernadette returned home she was kept busy looking after her younger sister and two brothers. Thus she missed out on her schooling and for a long time was unable to learn how to read and write. It caused some people to regard her as stupid, but as her behaviour during and after the apparitions showed, she had plenty of sturdy common sense and, on occasions, a lively personality.

Although her inability to read and write prevented her from learning her catechism, delaying her First Communion, Bernadette imbibed her faith from those around her and was completely familiar with the rosary she carried with her everywhere. Like the general population of the area she had a simple but rugged faith in God. It was typical of her that when she first saw the Lady in the grotto she instinctively pulled out her rosary and began to pray.

At the time of the visions she experienced at Massabielle Bernadette revealed two sides to her character. Humbly aware of her family’s poverty and her own backwardness, she was extremely modest and respectful in her manner. On the other hand she was invariably straightforward, honest and direct when interviewed, never embroidering her accounts. She recoiled in horror when people tried to press money into her hand and was scornful of those urging her to bless their rosaries. ‘I don’t have a purple stole,’ she reminded them. When a visiting Bishop offered to exchange his gold-mounted rosary for hers she thanked him but said quite firmly that she preferred her own.

The Count of  Bruissard, saw in effect the smile of the Virgin, as we see the reflection of the sun in a pure and tranquille lake; he saw in the transformed figure of Bernadette a reflection of the smile of Our Lady. 

But let us allow him (the Count) speak: 

“I was at Cauterets, at the moment when they were speaking a lot about the apparitions.  I did not believe any more in these apparitions as I did in the existence of God.  I lived a wicked life and what is worse, I was an atheist.  Having seen in a newspaper of the region, that Bernadette had an apparition on saw on the 16th July and that the Virgin smiled at her, I resolved to take myself to Lourdes out of curiosity and and to catch the little visionary  in the act of lying. 

I took myself to the house of the Soubirous, and there I found Bernadette at the step of the front door in the process of mending  a pair of  black stockings.

Bernadette seemed to me common enough.   Her face seemed to have traits of suffering, however  she had a certain softness in her expression and bearing.

After my questioning, she recounted the apparitions with a simplicity and an assurance which struck me. Finally I asked her, how did this beautiful lady smile?

The  little shepherd looked at me with astonishment, then after a moment of silence said:

“Oh! Sir, One would have to be of Heaven to make this smile.”

“Could you not make it for me?”,  I asked her. I am an unbeliever, I do not believe in your apparitions.”

The face of the child became sombre, and took on a severe expression.

“Then, Sir, you believe that I am a liar.”

I felt disarmed. No Bernadette was not a liar and I was on the point of falling to my knees to ask her pardon.

“Since you are a sinner, I am going to re make the smile of the Virgin.”

The child got up slowly, joined her hands and began to make a heavenly smile such I have never seen upon the lips of any mortal. I saw her figure lit with an unsettling reflection.

Smiling still, her eyes turned towards the heavens. I was on my knees before her, believing to have seen the smile of the Virgin in the figure of the visionary.

Ever since, I carry in me, in the intimacy of my soul, this divine smile. It has dried my tears. I have lost my wife and my two girls, and although it seems that I am alone in the world, I am not. I live with the smile of the Virgin.

It is the ray of sunlight that illumines and embellishes the ruins of my existence."

Her simple, straightforward manner impressed all who had dealings with her. One imagines that her utter joy in experiencing visions of Our Lady must have given her added confidence. In addition, the people of Lourdes and numerous visitors from elsewhere made a great fuss of her. On one occasion when she had finally escaped the crowds by taking refuge in a sympathetic neighbour’s house, she crept home in the dark to her bed, answering her mother’s query as to how she felt with a sigh. ‘I’m worn out with all that kissing.’

But life wasn’t all serious. In her excellent book, “Bernadette and Lourdes”, Ann Stafford describes how, at recreation, ‘she thoroughly enjoyed herself; she laughed and played and joked with children of all ages, completely happy, unless she was called away to see visitors.’

In January, 1862, The Bishop of Tarbes announced the Church’s belief that Mary the Immaculate Mother of God had in fact appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, and that certain cures had taken place at Lourdes for which there was no natural explanation. ‘The finger of God is here.’

Bernadette herself was now living in the local hospice run by nuns. When the apparitions were a thing of the past she referred to herself as ‘the broom placed behind the door once it has been used.’ Her family, with the help of relatives and friends, had moved into more suitable accommodation. When the Bishop of Nevers visited the hospice and suggested it was time for her to consider getting married, she replied: ‘As for that, no way!’ When he then proposed entry to a convent she regretted that as well as always being ill, she was too poor to provide the customary dowry, adding, ‘Besides, I know nothing and am good for nothing.’ But in 1866 she entered the Convent of Saint-Gildard at Nevers.

Nevers is a long way from Lourdes, which suited Bernadette’s wish to hide from the public very well. She arrived at the Convent of Saint-Gildard on 7th July, 1866. She was twenty-two. When the Reverend Mother asked her on admission, ‘What can you do?’ her simple answer was: ‘Nothing very well.’ On her second day in the Convent she was obliged to tell her story to the whole community. The mistress of novices, Mother Marie-Therese Vauzou, decided to treat Bernadette twice as severely as the others in order to guard her against the danger of pride.

On 29th July she took the nun’s habit with the name Sister Marie-Bernard. It was not long before she fell ill and had to be taken to the infirmary. At the end of October she was deemed to be so close to death that the Bishop of Nevers administered Extreme Unction and allowed her to take her vows in advance. But she recovered the next day, much to the chagrin of the novice mistress who accused her of putting on her illness! Bernadette never complained of the severity of the mistress of novices. ‘She is right – I am proud – I shall work at trying to improve myself.’

Because of her delicate state of health the Bishop assigned her the task of prayer. She was given the light role of assistant to the convent’s nurse, but when the latter fell ill and died, Bernadette was put in charge of the infirmary where she coped well.

Later she became the convent’s sacristan, creating beautiful embroidery for altar cloths and vestments. But in 1872 Bernadette’s health deteriorated again and for a time she was confined to her room. When she recovered she reverted to the role of assistant nurse. In April, 1875, she took to her bed again and remained a permanent invalid. Of great comfort to her was the knowledge that she lived in a spirit of close intimacy with Jesus, whose love knew no limits. ‘He is sufficient for me' she once said.

Bernadette developed tuberculosis of the bone in the right knee, a most painful condition which she bore stoically. The name ‘Bernadette’ means ‘brave as a bear’, and she certainly lived up to it. Not surprisingly, she was universally loved and admired by the community she lived among, with the possible exception of the mistress of novices.

The end came on Wednesday, 16th April, 1879. Bernadette asked to be lifted from her bed. After making her last confession she recited the prayer for the dying. She asked for a drink of water, made the Sign of the Cross, bowed her head and died. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. She was just 35.

Sister Bernard Dalias wrote : ‘As soon as she was dead, Bernadette’s face became young and peaceful again.’ About 11 o’clock on the following day her body was brought down to the chapel. She appeared to be sleeping. The news of her death caused a sensation in Nevers and well beyond. ‘She’s gone to see the Blessed Virgin again in Heaven!’ was the cry. Crowds of people hurried through the rain to catch a glimpse of her.

The main doors of the chapel were left open for two whole days so that everyone could go in and pray before the Altar of Repose. Four of the sisters were kept busy touching the body with pious objects belonging to the lines of people filing past. Working men and women handed up their tools to be touched against Bernadette’s hands. Some of the local garrison’s officers laid the hilt of their swords on her hands and remained afterwards to pray. Such were the crowds that the funeral had to be delayed by a day.

Bernadette was not buried in the town cemetery. Her Mother Superior insisted on keeping her within the convent walls in a vault constructed in the secluded oratory.
Thirty years after her death her body was exhumed. There was no trace of corruption, though her crucifix was tarnished by verdigris and her rosary corroded with rust, proving that damp existed within the coffin. Ten years later the body was exhumed again and once more revealed no sign of corruption. After this, Bernadette’s mortal remains were placed in a casket of gilded bronze and crystal in a chapel where all can still see her today at the Convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers.

In August, 1913, Pope Pius X conferred the title on her of Venerable. Ten years later Pius XI published a decree on the heroic nature of the virtues of the Venerable Sister Marie-Bernard Soubirous. It stated: ‘This life can be summed up in three sentences: Bernadette was faithful to her mission, she was humble in glory, she was valiant under trial.’ The Congregation for Rites examined the authenticity of the ten miracles put forward for her Beatification. It selected two – those of Henri Boisselet and Sister Marie-Melanie Meyer.

On 8th December,1933, Bernadette was finally canonized by Pope Pius XI with the words: ‘We define and declare the Blessed Marie-Bernard Soubirous a Saint.’ Her annual Feast Day is 16th April.

God exalts none but the humble. -St Bernadette, pray for us!

Click here to go to part 3 -The Miracle Cures of Lourdes

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Quotes of St Bernadette/Prayers of St Bernadette

"I shall spend every moment loving. One who loves does not notice her trials; or perhaps more accurately, she is able to love them."

"Oh Jesus and Mary, let my entire consolation in this world be to love you and to suffer for sinners."

"Oh Jesus, I would rather die a thousand deaths than be unfaithful to You!"

"Oh my Mother, to you I sacrifice all other attachments so that my heart may belong entirely to you and to my Jesus."

"Love overcomes, love delights. Those who love the Sacred Heart of Jesus rejoice."

"Jesus, my God, I love You above all things."

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner."

-Words of St Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)

St Mary Magdalene -First woman mystic and ascetic

Saint Mary Magdalene –One of the first women mystics and ascetics of the Church

-The sinner turned extraordinary Saint

St Mary Magdalene---what an extraordinary saint! In the beginning she was the woman of great wealth, the sister of Martha and Lazarus with friends at the palace of Herod in Tiberias and more notoriously she was “the sinner from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons” (Mark 16:9). She then turned into the repentant sinner who anoints the feet of Jesus with costly perfume and bitter tears, and wipes them dry with her long hair, thus becoming the converted sinner and disciple who accompanies Jesus from Magdala in Galilee to Bethany in Judea, and later the faithful disciple who follows Jesus to Calvary, who remains steadfast at the foot of the Cross, is at the tomb during Jesus’ burial, and the last one to leave after. Above all, she is the chosen one to whom the risen Christ first appears on Easter Sunday, making her the “apostle to the apostles”. She is the messenger that Christ has conquered death, the Good News that became the very basis of Christian belief.

From the lips of Mary Magdalene came the most wondrous news of all time that would ring throughout Christendom in all the centuries to come: "Christ is risen!" and add to this the fact that she is mentioned 11 times in the four Gospels in connection with the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and from this we can see that with Mary Magdalene we have a case of an exceptional woman because of the prominence she is given in the Gospels.

Jesus made a great sinner the symbol of hope for all sinners. Who then could ever despair when recalling Jesus' love for Mary Magdalene? Gathered together in the person of Mary Magdalene, we find all the reasons for believing in the goodness of God, who sent His Son to rescue those who are lost. She became and remains the perfect symbol of the sinner who finds Christ and is transformed by His love.

Through the Gospel, we discover her extraordinary presence in the life of Christ, and the elevated place that He reserved for her in the heart of His Church. After she had anointed His feet, Jesus said “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Matt 26:13) Thus, she is venerated even to this day. Her love was exceedingly great and pleasing to Christ, and like a heavenly luminary, it continues to be the beacon of hope of those who have sinned and strayed from God.

Her remarkable life after the Resurrection of Jesus

What is often not brought out about Mary Magdalene is her life after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension into heaven and in particular her remarkable mystical life as revealed in the tradition of the Church as presented in early Church documents. The life of Mary Magdalene, as reflected in the Gospels, needs no embellishment, dramatization or glorification. The beauty, the drama, the dignity and grandeur are all there, ennobled with the divinity of Christ's presence.

Church tradition, legend and the historical record need not add anything to this already extraordinary life of repentance, conversion and love. The Gospels reveal that she had been given a mission, namely to announce the Good News; that she had seen Christ risen from the dead. As the first eyewitness to this greatest event in Christian history, Mary Magdalene could not and would not keep this wondrous news to herself. Her mission did not begin and end as the Apostle to the Apostles. She was a woman of fervor and courage and total devotion to Christ. Such great love must find expression.

When the first persecutions scattered the little Church of Jerusalem, those who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the word of Christ. Thus the persecuted Christians went about numerous ports around the Mediterranean basin that included Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and many other countries within the Roman Empire. France was then called Gaul; and the new life of Mary Magdalene begins there, on its Mediterranean coast. The area which cradles her tradition is known as “La Sainte Baume”.

The tradition that tells of the arrival of Mary Magdalene and her companions on the coast of Gaul (France), goes back to the earliest centuries of Christianity. Her flight from the persecutions in Palestine is set at the year 42, the same year that James the Greater was executed in Jerusalem.

Accompanied by Martha, Lazarus, Mary Salome and Mary Jacoby, the disciples Maximin and Sidonius [two of the 70 disciples referred to in the Gospels], with Marcella their servant, Mary Magdalene embarked [or were forced onto?] a small boat, crossed the Mediterranean, and arrived near the city of Marseilles [France], then known as Massilia. The small port where they came ashore was called Rha that later became known as Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Holy Marys of the Sea). Tradition maintains that the boat with its eight passengers docked safely, and that it had neither oars, sails, nor steering device. It could have run into a storm that destroyed its gear, or it could have been pushed out to sea in that unstable condition by their persecutors; whatever the actual cause of the crippling of their boat, they all set foot in Rha.

Mary Salome, Mary Jacoby and Marcella remained in Rha while the others made their way overland to Massilia. Arriving in Massilia was like entering any other Roman-occupied city with its paved streets, shops, villas, gardens, pools, a stadium or theater, and inns. It was an important commercial port. Whether its people were familiar with the news concerning the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is not known.

In any event, it is said that the small group began to preach near the temples where the pagan Gods were worshipped. Statues of these Roman deities-Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Diana, Venus, Mars, Apollo and others -adorned the temples, and religious ceremonies were held at the altars dedicated to them.

Mary Magdalene and her companions denounced the false Gods, and told them the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They converted many. Some time later, Martha leaves them to go to Tarascon, a place roughly 25 miles northwest of Massilia, Maximin goes to Aix, 20 miles north of Massilia, while Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and Sidonius continue to preach in the city.

After some months, Mary Magdalene and the disciple Sidonius leave Lazarus in Massilia, where he becomes its first bishop, and travel northward, following the Huveaune river until they reach its source in the hills that would become known as La Sainte Baume. The immense natural cave they discover in the rocks, the size of a large house, becomes the new home of Mary Magdalene. Some miles down the valley was the village bearing the Roman name of Villalata that in centuries to come would be known as Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume.

Her extraordinary mystical life and mystical graces

The magnificent cave-grotto must have been even more out of the way then it is to the pilgrim of today. It is here in this hermitage that Mary Magdalene spends the next 30 years of her life in solitude, in meditation and contemplation. But her solitude is only that of the world, for seven times a day angels came down to the cave and took her to the top of the hill where she is given the grace to hear the music and songs that are the sounds of heaven. From this height, the view stretches as far as the Mediterranean, and overlooks the surrounding forest, hills and valleys. On a clear day, one can visualize right across the sea, the coast of Africa; and further east, Palestine. It is presumed that she is here often drawn into ecstasy, although details of which are not in the written record. The record does state however that she neither ate nor drank for the thirty years that she lived in the grotto. It is also presumed that during her 30 years as a hermitess in the cave of La-Sainte-Baume, she suffered and sacrificed in reparation not only for her own sins, but also as a soul victim for others, and that the early Church benefitted greatly from her sacrificial life of penances and mortifications, offered in union with her beloved Jesus, for the sake of His Church.

Following 30 years spent in prayer and longing to be reunited with Jesus, the day came when Jesus enlightened her that death was approaching, and He guided her down the hill toward the village of Villalata. On the way there (and a pillar still marks the place), she was met by Maximin who had been divinely inspired to go to meet her and lead her to his church. Once there, having received holy communion from his hand, she falls lifeless before the altar. The date was July 22, around the year 72 A.D.

St Maximin ordered her body to be interred with great dignity and pomp, and commanded that he himself be buried near her tomb after his death. And such was her beauty in the eyes of the Lord that during seven days the oratory was filled with the holy perfume of her sanctity.
One of the earliest documents on the life of Mary Magdalene after the death of Christ is a text in Latin, by an anonymous author. It dates back to the fifth or sixth century. In part, it reads as follows:

“After the glory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the triumph of his Ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the word of God was spread far and wide, and the number of the faithful grew day by day. But the Priests of the Jews, the Pharisees and Scribes, kindled the fire of persecution, and chased most of Jesus' witnesses out of Judea. During the terrible persecutions, the disciples traveled to different places of the world to announce the Good News to the Gentiles.

One of the 70 disciples was Maximin, known for his perfection in moral integrity, illustrious through his doctrine, and honored for the gift he had been granted to perform miracles.

In the same manner as the Blessed Mother was placed in the care of John, so Mary Magdalene was placed in the care of Maximin, attentive to his religious guidance.
This is how, during the dispersion, Mary Magdalene left all her possessions and traveled to the sea, where in the company of Maximin, she boarded a vessel and safely arrived near the port of Marseille [France].

There, inspired by the Lord, they made their way to the town of Aix, and by their fasting, prayers, and through the spreading of the divine message, they attracted people to the cult of God, even though many were at first incredulous and not yet reborn through the waters of baptism.

Maximin governed the Church of Aix for numerous years, preaching the Word of God, chasing demons, anointing the dying, curing the blind and the crippled, and healing all manner of sickness.

When the time came for Mary Magdalene to be freed of her earthly body, she saw Christ who came to call her to the glory of the heavenly Kingdom. He came to give the substance of eternal life to the one who had so faithfully given of her substance when he walked the earth.

She died on the eleventh day before the Kalends of August, namely on July 22, amidst great rejoicing of the angels in heaven. Maximin embalmed her most holy body with many aromatic herbs, and placed it in an honorable tomb, over which he elevated a most beautiful church. There can be seen her white marble sarcophagus with sculptures that represent her story as to how she came to find the Lord at the house of Simon, and so obtained forgiveness of her sins, and the devout duties she carried out for the Savior's entombment."

Like many other ancient writings and works of art, this document has no signature. However, it indicates that the tradition of La-Sainte-Baume goes back to the earliest centuries of Christianity. Later in the 9th century, the martyrologist of King Alfred the Great of England, compiled all the known traditions and legends into a liturgical document. It contained some precisions on Mary Magdalene that confirmed the earlier Latin document, as seen by the following extracts:

"July 22 is the Feastday of Mary of Magdala, who had previously been a sinner plagued by seven demons. She came to see our Lord whilst he was at table in the house of a Jewish Pharisee, carrying a vase of precious perfumed ointment. And the Lord said to her: 'Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.'

Later she was chosen by Christ to witness his apparition at the Resurrection, the first of all mortals, and to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles.
After the Ascension, being torn with such terrible grief at his absence, she withdrew to a barren land where she remained for thirty years. Never in need of nourishment, God's angels came down seven times a day and trans¬ported her up to where she could hear the celestial music of heaven, and then carried her back to her grotto carved in the rock. It is for this reason that she was never hungry or thirsty.

And so it came to pass that after thirty years, a priest went to meet her in the desert and led her to his church. He gave her holy communion, whereafter she rendered her spirit to God, and the priest buried her. And many miracles took place at her tomb."

The two previous documents are historically important because of their description of the arrival of Mary Magdalene in ancient Gaul and the thirty years she spent in the cave grotto. The first was written before the Saracen invasion of France, and the second during the time the tomb and holy remains were concealed in the Church of Saint Maximin.

There were other documents relating to the life of Mary Magdalene in the Grotto of La-Sainte-Baume, but the most important ones that finally and definitely affirmed that the holy remains of Mary Magdalene were in Saint-Maximin, were the Bulls of Pope Boniface VIII, in 1295.

The miraculous events surrounding the rediscovery of the tomb of her holy remains

In the year 710, the Monks of the monestary of St Maximin were forced to flee their Monestary because of the invading Saracens (Moslem tribes from Arabia). They knew that they could not leave the holy remains of St Mary Magdalene for the invaders to destroy, so they devised a plan to move her remains into a more humble tomb next to the original as a diguise, and then bury the entire Chapel with earth and sand so that no part was visible.

Finally, the Arab occupation came to an end in the 10th century, but while the citizens remembered the events surrounding the burial of the Chapel and the tombs, the exact location was not known.

In 1279, Prince Charles II of Salerno, nephew of King Louis IX of France, resolved to find the tomb of Mary Magdalene. Under the direction of a number of Church dignitaries and nobles, the search began in earnest, and workmen began the excavation work inside the church of Saint-Maximin and the land surrounding it.
The search continued for many days, and the prince himself joined in with the laborers removing mountains of earth. At last, they came upon a crypt that dated back to the 1st century.

The crypt was filled with earth and sand and they began removing this. On December 9, 1279, as Prince Charles was displacing the earth from the middle of the Crypt, the workmen digging on his right discovered a marble tomb buried deep in the sand. It was the sarcophagus-tomb of Sidonius, the one into which the holy remains of Mary Magdalene had been placed prior to the Monks fleeing in 710.

Before they were able to open it, a most marvelous fragrance rose up from the tomb that made all those present believe they had not found the treasure they were searching for.
On December 18, a number of Bishops, including the Archbishop of Arles and the Archbishop of Aix, came to Saint-Maximin, and in the name of the Church, officially witnessed the opening of the tomb.
The body was found to be complete except for a bone of the jaw that was missing. Among the dust particles at the bottom of the tomb, a small piece of cork was found. Inside it was a message written on parchment. It read:
"Year of the nativity of our Lord, 710, this sixth day of the month of December, under the reign of (not legible) and during the ravages of the Saracen nation, in fear of the Saracens, the body of the well-loved and venerable Mary Magdalene has been transferred, to be better concealed, from the alabaster tomb to the one in marble, out of which the body of Sidonius has been removed.'

The prince, overjoyed at having found the holy remains of Mary Magdalene, called together on May 5, 1280, in the town of Saint-Maximin, the prelates and a great number of religious of Provence and of France, together with the counts, barons, knights and persons of high rank in his kingdom and the nobles attached to his court, in order to proceed to the solemn elevation and translation of the relics.

The prelates having come to the tomb to remove the holy body, and while in the process of performing this venerable task, discovered a small ball of wax that contained a piece of bark. On it was a message more ancient than the parchment, and hardly legible. Written in Latin, it read:
"Hic requiescit corpus Mariae Magdalenae" (Here lies the body of Mary Magdalene)

The finding of this second testimonial caused great rejoicing among all those present and also the vast number of people outside who had come from many parts to assist at this solemn occasion.

There were several signs that were remarkable considering the body had been buried since the 1st century. It was found that the tongue still adhered to the mouth cavity, and from it had grown an aromatic plant. On seeing this marvel, the prince burst out into loud sobs. And overcome by deep emotion, he wept openly, bringing on the tears of many of those present.

The most remarkable sign of all was the small piece of skin that was found to be attached to the brow. It was smooth, clear, and lighter than the remainder of the body, and was the size of two fingertips. As it resembled live skin, it was subsequently named the "Noli me tangere" (Do not touch me)-the words spoken by Christ to Mary Magdalene at the Resurrection; it was believed to have been the touch of the risen Lord on the brow of Mary Magdalene.

This small particle of skin remained unchanged for another five hundred years, and no suitable explanation was ever found for the phenomenon. Five centuries after its discovery, it finally detached itself from the brow, and was placed in a separate reliquary.

And so we have in Mary Magdalene one of the first (if not the first) women mystics and hermits of the Church. Her cave-grotto with its remarkable view is now a large Chapel where Mass is celebrated each day. It houses an extraordinary reliquary containing part of her tibia bone and also the chapel boasts several beautiful statues and a beautiful altar. The Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalen in nearby Saint Maximin, Vézelay, France contains the tomb and the blessed remains of Saint Mary Magdalen. Since the 11th century the Basilica of St Mary Magdalen (known in French as Basilique Ste-Madeleine) in Vézelay has been one of the greatest European pilgrimage locations, especially during the middle ages. It is a large Basilica, only a few yards shorter that the great Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

~St Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

"It is presumed that during her 30 years as a hermitess in the cave of La-Sainte-Baume, she suffered and sacrificed in reparation not only for her own sins, but also as a soul victim for others, and that the early Church benefitted greatly from her sacrificial life of penances and mortifications, offered in union with her beloved Jesus, for the sake of His Church."