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SUBIACO, SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1876.

No. 27.-VoL. III.

blood had flowed again cession go by and all knelt down to adore these prodigies than they are at their con- short time, sufficient tinuance. to gratify the devotion of other pilgrims, who the Blessed Sacrament as it passed. We learned, during breakfast, that Louise applied their handkerchiefs, as had been done Then we came to a level crossing on the A VISIT TO TUE HAMLET OF BOIS D'HAINE into her ecstasy between nine railway-a branch line from Manage, usuallytenpasses been wiped IN THE SUMMER OF 1872. o'clock on Friday morning. and before, until all the blood had and which penetrates into the heart of the coal the afternoon. time. This process was rein five a second it about of away out comes was country. A long train of coal waggons " Opera autem Dei revelare et confiteri coming up, and we had to wait for a minute As she is very unwilling to be made an object peated several times during the course of our admitted until however, that or two. The engine -driver and the stoker of exhibition, visitors are not honorificum est."-Torms xii. 7. leave visit. It has been remarked, raised their caps as they hurried by and the after the ecstasy hasbegun,and they must she is time blood does not usually flow so fast during of borders the on of Manage, this arrangement The village before it is over. By his knees man fell on in gate, charge of the the great Belgian coal -field, is close to a busy before the Blessed Sacrament, while, at the spared all confusion and embarrassment : for the time of ecstasy as it does before and railway station, and scarcely more than an same time, he held up his white flag to the while the ecstasy lasts, she is completely un- after. hour's distance south from the gay city of train. The house of Louise Lateau was now conscious of what is going on around her. Brussels. Late in the afternoon of a sultry in sight, about two hundred yards beyond the Accordingly, when we were taking our leave day, in the month of August last, 1 reached level crossing, and just half A mile from the after breakfast, the Care directed us to return When Vespers were ended the countenance this unattractive, noisy, place ; and spent a parish church of Bois d'Ilaine. at half -past twelve, and engaged to come of somewhat uncomfortable night, disturbed as with us himself to the house of the Ecstatica. of Louise subsided into an expression It is a small whitewashed cottage, standI was, ever and anon, by the heavy rumbling I came punctually at the time appointed, greater repose, such as it had worn when we in unpretending by roadside ; the of the coal waggons, and the shrill whistling ing The other priests had already arrived. But first came into the room ; but her hands still of the engines. I was up betimes in the appearance, but singularly neat and well there was a varied crowd of visitors besides, the attitude of earnest morning, and set out from the village inn kept. As we came near, the door noiselessly assembled in the ball and parlour of the remained extended in soon after five o'clock. to make my way to opened from within. We passed first into a Cure's house, who had come, not only from prayer. No very remarkable change took the hamlet of Bois d'ilaine, which, as I was room of moderate dimensions, which answers the neighbouring provinces of Belgium, but place until twenty minutes to three o'clock. told, was distant about twenty minutes' walk. the double purpose of kitchen and workroom from distant parts of France, and England, Some new and startling vision seemed then After following the high road for not quite for the family is poor, an aged mother and and America. It was a troublesome and of painany having scarcely three daughters going to her half a mile, I met some peasants unpleasant task for the poor Cure to meet to arrest her attention an emotion their work ; and asking my way, they showed means of support but what they earn by the them all : to listen to their several stories, to ful anxiety flitted across her face she rose me a path to the right, which led along work of their own hands. A sewing machine hear their urgent petitions, and yet to refuse up somewhat in her chair, but without Inv. through pleasant meadows and corn -fields, stood on a deal table at one side ; and the what they sought for so earnestly. He was and the next moment straight to the door of the Cure's house at walls, beautifully white and clean, were firm, however, though gentle. He told them ing the sitting posture, head adorned here and there with pious pictures. Bois d'llaine. he had long ago promised admission to as she fell forwards on the floor, her The next room. of smaller size, seemed to many as the room could hold that those coming gently into contact with the ground. This little hamlet. emliosomed in the undulations of a rich :mil a smiling country, he the sleeping apartment of the family. In who hal got his promise were already wait- There was something very peculiar about this is the very ideal of picturesque beauty and it was one of the sisters, kneeling in prayer. ing for him at the house of Louise, and that primitive simplicity. There are no streets. Directly before her was an open door ; and it would be unfair to exclude them now, at fall. It was not accomplished, apparently, no rows of houses h tt a couple of hundred through this door we passed into the room of the last moment, in order to make room for by a regular series of muscular efforts, but rusti cottages are scattered about, amid Louise. This room, about ten feet square, is others, who had come late, and who had rather by one continuous uniform movement ; shady orchard, and fragrant gardens. The a recent addition to the house. It was built made no previous application. and though the fall was quite sudden, there inhabitants. chiefly devoted to agriculture, for Louise, after the weekly recurrence of We set out at length, and in a few minutes have most of the comforts, without any of the the bleeding and the ecstasy was fully estabwas no shock, the hotly reaching the ground we encountered Here house, the reached There is little wealth lished for it was found desirable to give u uries. of life. forty people, many with the lightness altno3t. and the ,a if tacos perhaps of crowd, another she might where them. and scanty learning they are her a place of retirement, :u without any arrangement of a sposres. remain undisturbed herself, and where she of whom had come i gnorant or heedleatoif modern improvements with the Cure in the vague hope of obtaining and free from ambition and from care, they pass would not interfere with the routine of admission. Then followed the same Untheir lives in humble. contented. obscurity. domestic work. of The Tittaary was now said, also the Litany In this little sanctuary every thing WAS ex- pleasant scene we had already witnessed, But it was not to admire picturesque expostulation and entreaty. In the end, the scenery, or mat ic simplicity of manners. that quisitely neat and modest. Before us. a very Cure, who acted with great tact, and a certain of the Saints, the Salve Regina, and some I had mine to the hamlet of Bois d'Haima small table, decorated with artificial flowers, blunt courtesy, succeeded in getting together other prayers. No visible effect was proThe story has gone about that, near to this and bright with burning tapers, was covered those whose claim he recognised, and duced upon Louise except that during the tromp:if and secluded spot, a peasant girl. by with a linen cloth of snowy whiteness, to arranging them close to the loo: of the raised ; when name Louise Lateau. had for four years borne receive the Blessed Sacrament. On the right, house. He then tapped lightly at the prayers her head was slightly on her hands and feet and side. the stigmas at the hack of the door. was a tiny bed, care- window. The door was opened in a moment. they con. sl it sank down again upon the of our Leol's l'aasion that front these -ti_- fully made up fur the day, and at the foot of We entered, to the number of about five -and - pavemilit. About this time a train passed by, slats, blood flowed cophosly on the Friday of of the bed was Louise herself upon her knees. twenty, and the door was closed again. close to the window of the little room, and cacti successive week while, at the same line. She is twenty-two years of age, rather under Louise was alone in the inner room. She the harali whistle of the engine disturbed, for around her head, was tlevelopet I a contact of the middle height, and somewhat plain in bleeding pants, representing the crown of appearance. As slit' knelt there, waiting to was seated on a chair at the foot of her bed. a moment, the profound quiet that reigned thorns. Furl her, it wassaid, t hat every Friday. receive Ciannention, her face bore a certain just in the sante place she knelt to re- around. What a startling contrast was here, for several hones together, she was rapt in an expression of sadness, hot was not. by any ceive Communion in the morning. Iler body without, representing the ecstasy, during which she hocame completely means. nathunclutly or care-worn. Her dress, was bent slightly forward her hands rested between the scene insensible to all material objects, and wholly in perfect harmony with everything around, on her lap, and were covered with a linen busy world in its onward march, noisy and cloth. deeply stained with blood her face, self-confident, and the scene within, reprealasorbtal in the, contemplatien of the Divine was simple and unpretendieg. Over her hands was spread out along linen partly turned round towards her right Passion, the various scenes of which were crucified-a stumbling block, vividly present to her mind. as in a vision. cloth. which she held up under her chin. shoulder, was directed upwards; her eyes, senting Christ to the This story I had read, from time to time. Another of the same kind, saturated with full of expression, were wide open, and indeed to the Jews, and a foolishness variously told, in newspapers and magazines, blood, was on the bed close by, as if it had seemed to be fixed on some object that absor- Gentiles, but to them that are called the whole attitude and now I was come to the place itself, in been changed for a fresh one just before we bed all her thoughts ; her power of God and the wisdom of God. able to see, with my came in ; beside it were lying her beads. suggested the idea of eager and earnest attenthe hope that I might own eyes, so striking and wonderful a The blood stood out in drops on her forehead, tion. Though five -and-twenty people had, which looked as if scratched and torn ; and, all at once, come into the little room, with a prodigy. From the way in which the Ecstatica had It was exactly a quarter to six o'clock when further back, it could be seen oozing out sort of rush, the ecstatic girl never stirred fallen to the ground, her body was partly diverted moment for a eyes were never her black cap. under little door hair, her The outer through her house. the Cure's reached I her left arm was bent in was, opened tiirectly I pulled the bell. and I She remained perfectly motionless, and never from the object on which they seemed to be doubled up, and found him walking in his garden. lie told raised her eyes. After receiving Communion immovably fixed ; nor did she appear. in the under her breast. In this position she reme it was not allowed to every one she took a little water from the hand of the least degree, conscious that her solitude had mained for about twenty minutes. But at to see Louise. but only to very few priest. The ceremony lasted altogether, from been suddenly invaded by an intensely eager, three o'clock exactly a remarkable movement ex- the time we entered the room, about three though reverent and awe-stricken, crowd. none were admit tat and that body became extended and before it was ended, cept, on a written application. made some or four minutes There were four or five priests in the room. was ititservecl. Her weeks beforehand. After a little conversa- the blood. which had been accumulating At a signal from the Cure they took out their to its full length, her arms were stretched out tion, however, he kindly agreed to relax the every moment on her forehead, was flowing Breviaries, and began to read aloud the at right angles to her body, and her right rule in my favour and, as this was Friday, down over her face in three separate Vespers of the day it was the Eve of St. foot placed itself over her left. One of the he proposed I should come down to Isis house streams. Laurence, Martyr, As soon as the first murWhen we came back to the Church, the mur of prayer was heard, the countenance of priests who were present bent up her right arm between twelve and one o'clock, when I might go with him to see her in her ecstasy. Cure was finishing his Mass, in the presence Ionise seemed to be suddenly lit up with an into a more convenient position ; when the In the meantime we had reached the little of a large peasant congregation. As there expression of innocent delight. It was no was withdrawn, it was at once church where he was about to say Mass. were two altars, we had an opportunity of longer plain, butt beautiful and attractive. pressure Three or four priests were already there, who saying Mass, too, without much delay ; and At intervals, a sweet smile playing across her stretched out again as before. In like had come, like myself, from a distance, to see afterwards, the Cure invited us all to break- features, and her eyes beamed with a more manner, when the Cure moved the right I eagerly accepted the invitation, brilliant lustre. This was always the case at foot front its position, it was instantly carried the Ecstatica. I foundt on inquiry, they were fast. now going direct to her house, to give her hoping to hear, front an authentic source, an the Gloria i'atri, and at the Ave Maria. But back, as if by a secret spring. of the extraordinary phenher uniform practice account exact holy Comtnunion. It is a more striking, change came with the first to receive Communion daily. On all other omena manifested in Louise, and to learn, verse of the Magnificat. The movement of slays she conies to the church, like the rest of perhaps, some interesting details of her life. her features betokened especial emotion she After this, no further change occurred and the fait hful. lint on Fridays she cannot come. But I was doomed to disappointment. The started with a sudden thrill of joy, and her about twenty minutes past three, at the bidding on account of the bleeding and so. by a worthy Clitt, was not communicative it was hands, at the saute moment, rose up from her special privilege, the Blessed Sacrament is only with reluctance he would speak about lances,where they had before rested, into an of the Curt", we took our leave. As we carried to her house. I asked the Cure's per- Louise at all ; and he seemed rather disposed attitude partly of wonder, partly of adora- passed out, we saw the mother of Louise in mission to accompany the procession and to rebuke our curiosity titan to gratify it. tion. one room, sitting alone, apparently very we set out just as the bell for six o'clock One thing, indeed, came out, which was new By this last movement the cloth that had infirm and stricken in years. In the next to me, that Louise had eaten nothing since Mass had ceased to toll, The Sacristan of the church went. first, last March twelvemonth. Butt even this fact covered her hands was thrown off, and the room were the two sisters, busied with their bearing a lighted torch. enclosed within an was drawn from 'sun with difficulty, and he stigmas became visible. At first they were sewing machine and their needlework. ornamental lantern. Next, in soutane and spoke of it without any expression of admira- somewhat concealed by the blood, which was All were simple and graceful ; neither forslowly oozing through the skin. But some surplice. and stole, followed the priest, who tion or surprise. It seemed to me as if the good Cure had pious people, seeing that a favorable moment ward on the one hand, nor awkward or emcarried the Blessed Sacrament. Then came three other priests and myself. We took a been so long accustomed to supernatural had arrived for getting a relic of this barrassed on the other not over eager to path through the fields, the same by which I wonders in the person of Louise Lateau, that extraordinary scene, began to apply talk, yet entering with ease into coversation had come to the hamlet, half an hour before. they have ceased to be wonders for him. As white handkerchiefs and linen cloths, to. But the Cure was not the As we wound our way along, the sun burst Saint Augustine says, it is not what is ready to the bleeding marks ; and in a few when spoken out through a thin veil of cloud that hung in most wonderful that strikes us most, but moments all the blood was wiped away. man to encourage idle gossip. He motioned the eastern sky, the dew glistened on the rather what is rare. The countless marvels The nature of the stigmas was then more to us, front behind, to move on, and got us grass, and a light wind rustled through the of the earth and of the heavens pass before distinctly seen. They arc oval marks of a out of the house as quickly as he could. ears of corn. Emerging, after a few minutes, our eyes. day after day. and we make but bright -red hue, appearing on the back and a few from the path, we came on a sort, of bridle little account of them : so, too, it would seem palm of each hand, about the centre. Speak- After exchanging greetings with road, and passed some scattered houses. that those in daily intercourse with Louise, ing roughly, each stigma is about an inch in persons in the miscellaneous crowd, and There were peasant children playing in the have gu'own so familiar with: the prodigies length, and somewhat more than half an inch thanking, the Cure for his kindness, I turned way : there were busy housewives sweeping which God has wrought in her, that the feel- in breadth. There was no wound, properly my steps in the direction of Manage, and out their houses: there were listless idlers ing of wonder has passed away, and they so called, but the blood seemed to force its attracted to the doorsteps. to see the pre- would no hew more surprised at the cessation of way through the unbroken akin. Its a very left the same evening, by brain for Ghent.

LOUISE LATEAU.

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