by Laura Roberts

by Alexis Carrel

Real-View-Books

95 pp.,

available from Grotto Press

$12.95 postpaid

810/231-6141

The book is mainly an account of Lerrac’s observation of one young lady, Marie, who was cured from her tubercular peritonitis. Marie was very sickly, and in fact Lerrac hardly expected her to survive the trip to Lourdes. He had fully detailed notes of her condition before she went to the pools. Lerrac was actually quite disappointed that she was one of only a few patients with organic diseases that he had been able to examine. He believed that it was very possible for some diseases to be cured, or to show improvement, for simply psychosomatic reasons. "’ In many people, and in most women, the nervous system itself aggravates the symptoms of organic disease....At the moment of highest emotion during a pilgrimage, the purely nervous symptoms of the disease disappear, and the patient shows marked improvement. At once, it is heeded as a miracle!’" Lerrac had discussed his doubts with a colleague, during which he explained that in order to believe that a miracle had occurred, he would have to witness an organic disease cured. "’I would have to see...a leg growing back after amputation, a cancer disappearing, a congenital dislocation suddenly vanishing. If such things could be scientifically observed, they would mean the collapse of all laws we now accept, and then it would be permissible to admit the intervention of a supernatural power.’" Lerrac discussed Marie’s condition, and said that he would believe it was a miracle if Marie was cured.

Marie, as weak as she had become, insisted on being taken to the pool, and survived her trip there. The people attending to Marie were so concerned about her, they only poured some of the water on her abdomen, instead of immersing her in the pool. Shortly after this happened, Marie showed dramatic improvement, and before long was completely cured. Lerrac examined her, and did not know what other conclusion he could draw, but was still torn by disbelief that he could have witnessed a miracle. "Profoundly uncertain, he hesitated between the only two possibilities: either he had made a grave error in diagnosis, mistaking nervous symptoms for an organic infection, or else a tubercular peritonitis had actually been cured. Either he had made a mistake, or seen a miracle." Upon further reflection, Lerrac determined that he had indeed witnessed a miracle, even though he still struggled with doubt. The narrative ends with Lerrac praying to the Virgin Mary for help to believe.

The third-person account of the experience in Voyage to Lourdes makes the narrative read like a storybook, and would appeal to children, as well as to adults. It would also make a good read-aloud book for families.

The introduction to the book provides a lot of extra information about the trip to Lourdes, and Carrel’s life. It cites some of the observation notes Carrel wrote when he examined Marie. It is about half as long as the book, though, and might be more effective as an Afterword, once the reader has a better frame of reference for the material presented.