Paralyzed Woman Cured at Lourdes Shrine

Total Catholic ^ | September 6, 2003

[NYer]

Church probes Lourdes cure

An almost totally paralysed 60-year-old Italian woman has been instantly cured of her illness in Lourdes this week.

And as the amazing and moving story of Giulia Mongelli Tofani emerged, she has  announced that she is totally convinced that a prayer to the Blessed Lady was the reason for her incredible recovery.  'I am overjoyed, most happy, Our Lady of Lourdes has cured me,' said Giulia, who prior to her visit was almost completely helpless and had to be spoon fed by her family. 'When I came to Lourdes I was full of anguish, now I feel like a cricket,' she said. 'I can walk up and down. I climb the stairs, I go up and down now and never stop. I laugh and joke.'

Giulia is convinced a miracle has occurred and top Vatican official Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar-general of Rome Diocese who led her party to Lourdes, backed this view when he publicly thanked God and Our Lady for 'the gift received by Giulia' on the final evening of her visit. The woman had been a bartender in Rome for 35 years before contracting a rare viral infection  that left her paralysed some years ago.
Her condition gradually worsened and two years ago only prolonged treatment in the intensive care unit of a Rome clinic kept her alive. Until last week, she showed no sign at all of improvement, but now she can walk and move freely, and as she arrived back in Italy, she told her amazing story.

Giulia said that one evening she was sat watching the candlelight at the grotto of Our Lady in Lourdes, though she was so ill she was not even able to hold a candle in her hand. As she gazed at the statue of Our Lady, she prayed for her seriously ill husband but said she also felt very much alone, and told Our Lady 'I cannot go on'. Giulia said she suddenly felt free from the burden she carried and she heard an inner voice telling her to 'Walk! Walk!'

'I walked up the ramp, but then I stopped and marvelled that I had done it,' she said. But  then  the  voice again urged her 'Walk! Walk!' She did, and then called her friends over to tell them 'I can walk' before bursting into tears and weeping uncontrollably for some time. 'I asked to hold a candle,' she said. 'Then I went to the grotto of Our Lady to thank her. I went back four or five times.'

As news of Giulia's recovery spread among excited pilgrims, her parish priest Don Canio then accompanied her to the medical bureau at Lourdes, where she was subjected to a three hour examination. The bureau are currently studying her case. Though Guilia and her friends are convinced as to what has taken place, it is commonly accepted that the Church is very slow to recognise miracles, even at Lourdes.

Of the millions of pilgrims who have visited Lourdes in the last 145 years, only around 7,000 cases of alleged cures have been examined in depth, and of these just 66 have been officially recognised by the Church as miracles. <

[NYer]

1858, in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl.

She revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception, asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto.

No fountain was to be seen, but when Bernadette dug at a spot designated by the apparition, a spring began to flow. The water from this still flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power, though it contains no curative property that science can identify.

Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady.

[Aliska]

What a wonderful article. I hope it is true and lasting, and I have no reason to believe that it will not be.

Thank God she was taken to an approved shrine.

[NYer]

LOURDES, FRANCE - OFFICIAL WEB SITE

[narses]

What a beautiful post, thanks!

[dsc]

This is a little off topic, but it doesn't rate a thread of its own.

Images of Our Lady are based in part on descriptions of her apparitions at Lourdes, Fatima, etc. by those to whom she appeared.

Are there cases of apparitions of demons, and images based on descriptions of those apparitions?

[american colleen]

Pinging you to this story as I know you have been to Lourdes.

[Domestic Church]

Thank you for posting this. What a sign of hope the BVM brings.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Finally some good news. Thanks.

[Aliska]

images based on descriptions of those apparitions?

There are no images approved by the church of demons that I ever heard about. Medjugorje may be demonic and there are statues of that lady, but the church hasn't approved that.

Some works of art contain images of dark entities, but only for instructive or artistic purposes. I think gargoyles found on churches built in the middle ages may represent evil spirits. Certainly the spirits those latter images represent are never sought for intercession.

[Aliska]

I did extensive reading on Lourdes cures, and not one was American. Does anyone know of an authentic Lourdes cure of an American citizen? Most I read about were from England, France, Germany and now Italy, possibly a Swiss national or two. It's been awhile. Also, I can't recall a Spaniard cured at Lourdes.

[maestro]

Paralyzed Woman Cured at Lourdes Shrine ........but NOT from Purgatory?

[cpforlife.org]

What a beautiful post indeed!

[Coleus]

`

[american colleen]

Looks like none are American (or British or German or Spanish).

[Salvation]

"And the deaf will hear and the mute will speak."

[Salvation]

Looks like Terri Shiavo should visit Lourdes.

[Salvation]

Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive.

I like that!

[Loyalist]

Lourdes PING

[Gerish]

Truly inspiring, wonderful article! It gives HOPE which is what this woman seemed to need so badly!

[dsc]

Well, no, I certainly wouldn't seek anything from a malign spirit. I was just wondering...well, how they might have looked if they appeared to anyone.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

dsc, many of the Saints saw demons, were harassed by them and described the demons in their writings. It is certainly possible that artists created paintings based on those descriptions.

[dsc]

Yes, that's the sort of thing I was asking about. But I don't remember having seen such illustrations, so I thought I'd ask if anybody knew of any.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I just read an excerpt of Teresa of Avila where she describes some demonic harassment. Also, someone told me recently that St. Ignatius was harassed on his way to Rome. If I come across any specifics I'll send them your way.

[dsc]

Thanks. Mucho appreciado.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Aliska]

The bible says the devil can appear as an angel of light. It also says to test the spirits "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:2).

Obviusly discernment is called for, but I don't fully understand the process nor do I have that gift (sometimes I can tell and sometimes I can't). There are other passages in the bible that blur the issue.

Catholics depend on the church to discern these spirits or manifestations. I used to, but there are a couple that have been approved that I serioualy question, so it's back to square one for me.

I still want to believe that Lourdes and Fatima are true and worthy of belief. Certainly there have been any number of healings at Lourdes and I've also read of one at Fatima. What perplexes me is that evidently even these kinds of healings used to happen in the ancient pagan temples, as evidenced by ex-voto offerings found by archeologists (don't know where I read that, but I did).

[dsc]

"What perplexes me is that evidently even these kinds of healings used to happen in the ancient pagan temples, as evidenced by ex-voto offerings found by archeologists"

That's something that I would have to examine very carefully before accepting. Especially given the predeliction of the PC for finding what they want to find.

[Aliska]

I'm almost afraid to go there now in case it isn't what it is supposed to be.

That is a beautiful story and I tend to believe you. Of healings, few though they be, most tend to be gradual rather than instantaneous.

As to reporting it, I wouldn't want to put one of my loved ones through that unless it was for a very worthy cause. Witnessing about it, when appropriate, may be the right thing to do.

I ordered lots of Lourdes water in little vials and gave them out to people. Two had cancer and died, but I don't know if they used them. One did but she got hers from somewhere else.

I've had better results on my own with plain old holy water (and simple prayer combined), but when you start looking for or expecting healings you can wind up very disheartened.

A local catholic couple borrowed on their insurance years ago to take their son who had cerebral palsy (he was about 9 or so) to Lourdes. He was not healed, at least in the way one would have hoped. He is still alive and still very handicapped.

The vast majority of people are not healed and it bothers me. Is God, Mary or Jesus stingy? Why only certain ones? I want real answers and not canned answers that don't satisfy. Jesus healed everyone who wanted to be healed and believed in him.

[Aliska]

Just going to Lourdes and being in the waters was an experience never to be forgotten

It's very cold water. It would almost shock your system, so I understand.

Yes, they are scrutinize the healings very carefully, for which I'm grateful. The doctors aren't necessarily catholic doctors. Personally, I believe there have probably been a lot more healings that didn't get reported, happened after they got home, etc., etc.

The only one I personally know about was told me by a catholic lady (in a nursing home at the time of the telling) who went there and there was a lady from Quincy, Illinois whose hearing aid didn't work for her. They dipped the hearing aid into the Lourdes water and it worked again. I would rather her deafness would have been healed, but I don't necessarily disdain healing a hearing aid. Maybe I didn't get the story right or maybe the teller (who got a little flaky toward the end) got it confused.

I don't doubt for a minute that healings take place at Lourdes. I do have other doubts about it. At least St. Bernadette was a real person, and her body is incorrupt, but there is no way for common people to really know that it is and she has had to have her face repaired.

[Aliska]

Thanks, colleen. I don't want to download it because my computer got trashed with the blaster and it is taking a long time to get everything reinstalled and working again. I think I may have my acrobat reader still, but it needs to be reinstalled.

Can you copy just the relevant part and post it?

I got ahold of several books about Lourdes, some from the public library, and did my own little study. Very definitely some of those healed were from England. I found one on the net just tonight, Traynor, I think his name was.

[Aliska]

We need our own Lourdes in America. There is somewhere I was told to go but I've dragged my feet for years, thinking an evil spirit is trying to trick me. I'm afraid to go and I'm afraid of how I would react if I were disappointed again. It is a legitimate catholic place. Well, it is owned by a legitimate catholic shrine but I wouldn't go to any of their masses because they are another one of those places that has very strange masses and I refuse to go to any more like that. It makes me so frustrated.

[Aliska]

I didn't say I didn't believe. I don't know you. I had a friend who made stuff up like this. Once you have been duped you become cynical and sceptical of everyone and everything.

[TotusTuus]

Are there cases of apparitions of demons, and images based on descriptions of those apparitions?

In addition to what others have already said, even at Lourdes I think at one point Bernadette saw and/or heard "evil" in the river telling her (or the Immaculate) to leave. When the Blessed Virgin Mary looked in their direction, they left. (Something to that effect anyway).

Also, after St. Bernadette's visions at Lourdes, there were many claims of "visions" from others at the Grotto. Some were sure that they were seeing evil spirits "dressed in light". In any event, the Bishop only approved St. Bernadette's experiences as worthy of belief.

I don't recall ever seeing a painting of the evil one described and dictated to an artist by a visionary.

[TotusTuus]

Paralyzed Woman Cured at Lourdes Shrine ........but NOT from Purgatory?

???, ? ?? ?, ???? ??, ????

Okay, I give up. ?? What's the riddle to be answered here?

[TotusTuus]

I hope to go there soon as a pilgrimage. A month or so from now!

[.45MAN]

Ping

[dsc]

Maybe it was feared that the act of creating such a painting could have negative consequences.

[TotusTuus]

I've had better results on my own with plain old holy water (and simple prayer combined), but when you start looking for or expecting healings you can wind up very disheartened.

Forgive me Aliska, but you're sounding superstitious here - as if we can "force" miraculous cures from God. Plain old Holy water? There's nothing "plain" about it - that's the whole point! You take ordinary water, then a Priest blesses it - it is now "set apart" for Holy usage! It is no longer to be treated as "plain".

The water from the Grotto at Lourdes itself is "plain". It is the Faith and Trust in God from our hearts that elicits miracles from God (through Mary). The whole event of Lourdes, including the water, is the external catalyst drawing us in our interior life through which we approach God for healing associated with the extraordinary favors He chose St. Bernadette and Lourdes for.

Ad Iesus per Mariam. Here He confirms Mary as the Immaculate Conception. But I would think the central message of Lourdes from Mary to St. Bernadette was "...penance, penance, penance..." of which St. Bernadette fulfilled through the rest of her life.

Recalling, or leading people to, the healing waters of Baptism, where sin is destroyed and the Life of Grace is born, is the greatest miracle. Faith is central in any event. Even in the Gospels Christ did not always heal everyone of physical infirmities where Faith was lacking, and those that He did, the people eventually grew old and died.

The legitimacy of Lourdes (or Fatima, etc.) as a shrine of Faith is valid to the extent that it leads people into full communion with Christ and His Church with growth in Faith and Trust. At this point, we can recognize that God through Christ and His mother Wills at times to work miracles for some if it is of benefit to them and others in terms of the final goal of life - Eternal Life. These miracles necessarily follow from and confirm Faith of the recipients. Also, a complete consideration of potential miracles includes recognition of our need for penance (for ourselves and others) and "carrying our daily crosses".

Whatever you do, don't get caught up on external and quantitative comparisons concerning how many miracles, and to what people, they are given. There is nothing "fair" about it. The Grace that God gives us is infinitely more than any of us evers deserves or can even imagine to ask for. Indeed, the greatest miracle par excellence is reception of our Lord in Holy Communion. No, God is not "stingy".

[LadyDoc]

you ask about demonic apparations. yes there are many.

Indeed, after Lourdes occurred, there were over 100 "copycat" visions. Most were merely vivid imagination, but probably a few were demonic. That is why the church is so slow at approving of a vision. Even in today in the USA I know of at least 10 people who were seriously investigated for having visions. Most have been "shut down" by the local bishops, and at least one (bayside) is powerful but so anti church/hateful that some suspect it is demonic...

If you want to read about it is detail, check out the book " A Still Small Voice" by father Groeschel.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898704367/qid=1063020125/sr=1-26/ref=sr_1_26/002-9773405-1067262?v=glance&s=books

He is a psychologist, and explains how supernatural phenomenum can be anything from fraud to mental illness, to overactive imagination, to spiritual inspiration where a person adds his imagination to pure miracle.

Many churches had "words of knowledge". Now, most Christians who read the bible have inspirations from God, but often these inspirations are contaminated by our selves. So these churches require and interpretation by another, and a Biblical confirmation.

Catholics do the same. ALL confirmed visions essentially say the same thing: Repent and pray. Some have warnings, but others do not. Alas, the warnings are often made more important by people than the message of repentence...

[dsc]

"ALL confirmed visions essentially say the same thing: Repent and pray."

Interesting.

I wonder how many people have "lesser" experiences; just God letting them know that He's there.

[dsc]

What I'm wondering about, though, is not the deceptive apparitions where a malign spirit appears as a "bright angel," but how the "aliosque spiritus malignos" might appear if they weren't trying to fool anybody.

[8mmMauser]

The dark forces hate Lourdes just too much for good reason. St. Bernadette still lies in state, uncorrupted in Nevers, France, for any disbelievers to witness first hand.

We have been to Lourdes several times, have watched the modernization creeping in, turning the site into a modern ecumenical park, save for the poor old basilica of St. Pius X which had been left to deteriorate. We tended to avoid the modernized areas and activities, but spent time at the traditional chapel up on the hill and at the grotto. We have seen and witnessed efforts to denigrate the grotto, even to divert the river so that it would interfer with visits.

Not a miracle, but something interesting happens to those who bathe in the painfully cold water of the spring. You are not given towels. You emerge from the immersion cold and wet in a damp cave-like environment and are instructed simply to get dressed. No worry about toweling down, you mysteriously dry while dressing. I am sure some here have experienced this too. Now, we haven't been there for five years or so, and maybe it changed...... We have no doubts of the healing properties, and keep a supply of the waters of the spring which were made into holy water by a traditional priest on site.

We have no doubt as well, plenty of pretenders and malevolent souls prowl about the site, seeking to play down the miracles.

[FormerLib]

"Your faith has made you well."

[dsc]

"but there is no way for common people to really know that it is and she has had to have her face repaired."

What's this about having her face repaired?

[Aliska]

What's this about having her face repaired?

Once it was exposed to the air it started turning black and they had to put a wax coating on it. It was in a book I got at the library; can't remember the title.

[dsc]

Well, that might be true, or it might not. They don't call "old scratch" the father of lies for nothing, you know.

Anybody else got anything on that?

[eastsider]

As I recall, during one of the apparitions at Fatima, the seers were given a vision of hell, of which they said that they saw demons torturing the the souls of the damned, which hopped about like hot coals in a fire.