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Lourdes,English 19,Alexis Carrel.Nobel Prize in Medicine,14,2,22
Alexis Carrel.Nobel Prize in Medicine
Carrel was impressed by the miracles and publicly expressed his intention to scientifically study the healings of Lourdes. He earned the enmity of both the French clergy and the members of the Faculty of Medicine of Lyon
Dr. Carrel intrigued by the healings of Lourdes
Dr. Alexis Carrel was a man of science and by having been educated in the lay school, he had completely lost the Faith; but intrigued by what was said so much about the wonderful healings of Lourdes, he resolved to investigate for himself what might be true in them
He himself wrote the account of what he witnessed there, using in his narration the pseudonym of Lerrac, his same name read backwards, to avoid the barrane of attacks from his colleagues, the French church and the Masonic press
A summary of his book was published in the December 1950 issue of «Reader’s Digest Selections», nothing suspected of bias. There the reader will find, exposed with relative breadth, what here we can point out only:
Dr. Carrel departs for Lourdes
Taking advantage of the opportunity that in the year of 1903 was presented to him, to occupy the position of the doctor who usually accompanies the pilgrimages of the sick to Lourdes, Dr. Carrel left for this City, and invited by the Abate Bernole, Priest in charge of the pilgrimage, he settled in the compartment of the train marked «Administration», where he began to work on the classification of the observations that he had been able to make about the sick before to start the pilgrimage, because as a member who was of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lyon, he had collected many data about the sick who on the same train went and was thus in circumstances of being able to verify the authenticity of the cures of Lourdes
After the first night on the way, he found Carrel on the train to Abate Olivier, Deputy Director of the pilgrimage, who told him: «There goes a young woman whom I have been recommended to take special care of, I would be grateful to you very much if you could take care of her. It’s so weak that I fear disaster.»
Maria Ferrand’s condition was desperate.
Dr. Carrel found this young woman, who was named Maria Ferrand, lying on a mattress that completely obstructed the entrance of the compartment of the train in which she was, her face was whitewashed and pale, her lips dispossessed of all color
I suffer a lot, he said, but I’m glad I came. The Sisters did not want to give me permission
After having listened to him, Carrel told Abate Olivier: «The state of his sick person does not give much hope.»
After the second night on the way and before dawn, the volunteer nurse who had been in charge all night of the care of Maria Ferrand, sent; hastily call Carrel.
He seemed to be dying with every sudden stop on the train, he said, «I thought he was going to pass out and I didn’t know what to do to him.
The Doctor found her lying on her mattress almost unconscious,I will not get to Lourdes! She said sighing in anguish
The Doctor listened to it carefully: the skin of the belly, bulging in excess, was glossy and extremely tense and on the sides the ribs proeld very pronounced, the swelling It seemed caused by solid masses and a bag of fluid was perceived under the navel
He also had swollen legs, the temperature was higher than normal, the pulse and breathing accelerated. Doctor diagnosed: a typical case of tuberculous peritonitis
Carrel then verified what the nun who took Maria Ferrand to the train had informed him: the girl’s parents had died of similar evils, Maria had been ill all her life; at the age of 17 he had suffered a dry cough and blood sputring; at 18 he had suffered
pleurisy and fluid had been removed from his left lung. He had never been able to fully recover and for 8 months, when he entered the Hospital, his abdomen had begun to swell, the fever was sustained and the doctor had also diagnosed him with tuberculous peritonitis. A few days before the pilgrimage it had been thought to operate on her, but the chief surgeon considered that the condition of the young woman was too delicate and it was decided to warn the family that the case was desperate. But Mary had been so determined to make the trip to Lourdes that it had finally been necessary to agree on it.
The arrival in Lourdes
At about two o’clock in the afternoon, the train was arriving at its destination. A voice began to sing the sacred hymn: «Ave Maria Stella, Del Mater alma…» prayer that was spreading from wagon to wagon and coming out of all breasts. In the midst of great murmur, the high-pitched voices of the children, the loud and low voices of the Priests and the voices of the women were distinguished and, accompanied by this hymn of happiness and hope, the train was entering the lourdes station.
Carrel finds a classmate.
Shortly before noon, Dr. Alexis Carrel left his hotel and directed his steps towards the large building of the Hospital of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows
The chief of volunteer camilleros, decorated by S. S. the Pope, surrounded by a group of camilleros, nervously, anxiously and with a look of atement, gave orders to his subordinates as a general before the battle.
Among these volunteers Carrel distinguished a former classmate of his, Antonin Duval, who was one of the camilleros; and as there was still an hour and a half to take the sick to the pools, he invited him to go for a walk a little. And they walked until they reached a café where they had to serve a coffee. Duval asked for pen and paper and began writing a letter to his young wife who was in Paris waiting for the arrival of a child.
Carrel, meanwhile, was studying the physiognomy of his friend: he was surprised that a man of the world like Antonin Duval had wanted to travel by third-class car with all those helpless, smelly, disgusting beings, to devote himself to caring for them and then to pulling one of those carts of the sick through the public streets, praying in the meantime prayers aloud
Carrel reflected on the difference in paths that the two friends had followed. The firmness of Duval’s faith was clear and instead his religious ideas, absorbed by his scientific studies, had been destroyed at last, leaving him only the beloved memory of a beautiful and delicate dream, having taken refuge in a tolerant skepticism that concealed in the bottom of his heart a secret pain , an insatiable thirst for certainty, tranquility and love.
When his friend had finished his letter he asked him: Do you know if this morning there were sick people cured in the pools? – No; duval replied; but in the grotto I witnessed a miracle: that of an elderly nun who, as a result of a sprain she suffered about two months ago, contracted an incurable disease in one foot. She was cured and threw the crutches.
Carrel denies God’s intervention in extraordinary healings
Carrel quickly examined the pages of his notebook and asked:
– Isn’t Sister Louise who was ill at the General Hospital of Lyon?
– Yes, the same. ……
… – That healing is an interesting case of self-suggestion. It so happens that she is one of the patients I had to examine. The torsion foot was perfectly healthy, but the good Sister had come to be persuaded that she would never walk normally again. It had become neurasténica. She came to Lourdes and was cured. Will there be anything more natural?
– But how do you explain that Lourdes managed to cure her when other treatments had not yielded any results?
– Because on a pilgrimage there is an incredible power of suggestion. An exalted and united crowd in prayer can have tremendous effects on the nervous system, but none on an organic disease. I myself witnessed this morning a fiasco which proves that Lourdes is powerless against organic disease….
– Regardless, Duval replied, real organic disease, like a tumor for example, can go away. But you don’t believe it because you’re convinced that miracles are impossible. Yet it is entirely in God’s power to suspend the Laws of nature, since He himself is the one who has dictated them
» Naturally, Carrel replied. If God exists miracles are possible. But does God exist objectively? How do we know? All I know is that there is no miracle that has been scientifically observed. For scientific understanding the miracle is an absurdity
-What kind of disease would you like to see cured to convince yourself that miracles do happen?
– It would have to see cured an organic disease: the reproduction of a leg after amputee; the disappearance of cancer; a congenital dislocation suddenly disappeared; If I ever saw such phenomena in my eyes, I would throw away all the theories and hypotheses of the world; but there is very little danger of such a happening. I assure you that if a wound really closes and heals before my eyesight, either I become a fanatical believer or I go crazy
Carrel thinks that only a miracle would heal Maria Ferrand
However, Carrel continued, this is not very likely, because I have had the opportunity to examine the few patients with organic diseases; the others are victims of nervous palsy or traumatic hysteria and patients of this kind can be easily cured or at least improved; but there is one patient who is closer to the grave than any other of the other sick. Her name is Maria Ferrand; if a case like his were cured, it would undoubtedly be a miracle; I would never hesitate again. It would truly be a miracle if she were to return home alive. Come with me, let’s see for a moment.
When the Doctors arrived at the Immaculate Room, where Maria Ferrand was, the volunteer nurse who treated her said to Carrel: Doctor, we have been waiting anxiously for you. He can barely speak anymore. I’m afraid it’s ending quickly,
-How does it feel? Carrel asked. The patient was not even able to utter an intelligible word. The Doctor took the pulse that he found very fast and irregular; the heart faltered; had to give him a caffeine shot
He again listened to her: the abdomen remained as relaxed as before; there were the solid masses; in the center, under the navel, the doctor could perceive the fluid
Turning Carrel towards Duval observed him: Do you see there precisely what speaks to you said? Very advanced tuberculous peritonitis; she can live a few more days, but she is sentenced to death. Its end is very close.
Carrel was about to leave, when the nurse stopped him: – Doctor, can we take Maria Ferrand to the pools?….
Carrel looked at her with surprise, what if she dies on the way? – But she is determined to take a bath; that’s why he made this journey so long.
Dr. Journet also believes that Maria Ferrand is about to die
At that moment Dr. Journet entered the room, who practiced his profession in a neighboring village of Bordeaux and who speaks accompanied to his patients to Lourdes. ..
Carrel asked her for her opinion on whether it would be advisable to take Maria Ferrand to the pools
Once again, the patient’s body was stripped of blankets for examination by Dr. Journet.
He’s about to die, he said, he may well die in the pool
» In any case I will be in the pools, Carrel said. If it goes into a coma call me…
. At 2 pm Mario Ferrand was dying ….
Around 2pm Carrel headed to the pools and sat on a bench near the door of the women’s pool.
Among the pilgrims he discovered Duval, who with another volunteer, was carrying the stretcher on which Maria Ferrand lay. The patient appeared to be unconscious. Carrel took the pulse that was faster than ever. She had a Cinderella face and was undoubtedly dying. …………
Carrel saw Maria Ferrand entering the pools and minutes later saw her leave them. He ran beside him. The sick woman’s condition was the same as before.
– We could barely pour a little water on the abdomen, said the lady who attended to her; they did not dare to submerge it, we take it now to the grotto of Massabielle….
– I will be with you in a moment, Carrel said, I do not see any change, if you need me please call me
When Carrel arrived at the grotto a Priest was kneeling facing the line of patients. He raised his arms and extended them on a cross to exclaim with emotion: «Blessed Virgin heals our sick», etc. «Jesus we worship you, Jesus blessed you;», etc. ….
The voices of the crowd thundered the space; people held their arms up; the sick tried to get on, the stretchers; the Priest stood up and exclaimed, «My brethren, let us raise our arms and pray!» …
A forest of arms rose to these words. It seemed as if a gale was blowing over the crowd: silent, intangible, powerful, irresistible, whipping them all like the storm on the mountain. Carrel felt his impact. On the banks of the stream he observed in the crowd the young Doctor Gouyot inmate of a hospital in Bordeaux, whom he had met the day before. after greeting him he asked: …….
.. -Have you recorded any cures? ………
– No, a few cases of hysteria have improved, but there has been nothing extraordinary. …
– Come with me to see my sick man, Carrel told him. There is nothing strange about this case, but it seems to me that it is about to die.
– I saw her a few minutes ago, replied Gouyot, What a pity that they let her come to Lourdes! ……..
It was already around 2.30. Among the crowd Carrel recognized the slender figure of Maria Ferrand’s nurse. He and Gouyot went there and stopping near the sick woman’s bed, leaned against him. small wall. Maria Ferrand was not making any movement. Her breathing was held fast and shallow, she seemed dying.
At 2.40 Maria Ferrand began to show signs of relief
Dr. Carrel once again looked up to Maria Ferrand. Suddenly he stared at her. It seemed to him that there was a verified change, that the harsh shadows of his face had disappeared, that the skin appeared less Cinderella, he hastily wrote down the hour: they were missing, 20 minutes to 3. Turning to Gouyot he said:
– Look at our patient again. Don’t you think she’s a little reanimous?
– To me it seems the same as before, replied the other, the only thing I can notice is that it is not worse.
Now the breathing is less fast, Carrel noted. – This must be because he is dying. .
Carrel answered nothing. It was clear to him that there had been a marked improvement. Something was going on. She was strength to resist the shudding of emotion and concentrated on Maria Ferrad all her power of observation. It didn’t take a moment off her eyes: Maria Ferrand continued to change slowly. Those eyes, once so muted, now opened statically looking towards the grotto.
Suddenly Carrel became pale. The blanket that covered the patient’s relaxed body was slowly flattening.
At 3 p.m., Maria Ferrand was cured…
When the bell of the basilica was 3 o’o’m, there was no longer any distension in Maria Ferrand’s abdomen.
Carrel thought he was about to go crazy. Standing next to the patient watched fascinated breathing movements and pulsation of the neck region, the rhythm was regular
-How do you feel? Carrel asked.
Very well, she replied faintly. Still weak, but I feel healed. .
There was no longer any doubt, Maria Ferrand’s condition had improved so much that she was almost unrecognizable
Carrel stood, silent, deeply bewildered, unable to analyze what he witnessed. This event, precisely the opposite of what I had hoped, could not be anything other than a dream
. The lady who attended to Maria Ferrand, offered him a cup of milk that she totally rushed. A few minutes later he lifted his head, looked around again, moved his legs a little and then turned on one side without showing signs of the slightest pain. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Carrel broke up abruptly. He walked away from the grotto making his way amidst the crowd of pilgrims whose oracíones in chorus he barely heard. It was already 4pm.
Carrel returned to his hotel determined to refrain from drawing any conclusions, until he could discover exactly what had happened. .
At 7.30 a.m. expectant and burning with curiosity, he went to the Hospital. The young woman’s bedside was promptly reached. It was with great astonishment that he looked at her. The move was disconcerting. Maria Ferrand was sitting on the bed in a white jacket. Even though he still had his face emaciated, a flash of life appeared in her, her eyes shone and a faint color pointed at her cheeks. Addressing Carrel he said: ..–
Doctor, I am completely healed, I feel very weak, but I think I could walk.
Carrel took his hand to observe the pulse that was now calm and regular. Also the breathing was completely normal. A great confusion invaded the doctor’s mood. Was that an apparent healing, the result of a violent stimulus of self-suggestion?, Or was it a new fact, a staggering event, a miracle in short? For a moment he hesitated before subjecting Maria Ferrand to the supreme test of examining her abdomen; but then, after the struggle of hope with fear, he set aside the blanket. The skin appeared smooth and white. Over the narrow hips stretched the small slightly concave abdomen of a malnourished girl. The doctor gently walked the abdominal wall with his hands to feel traces of the distension and hard masses he had found before. Everything had disappeared as in a dream
Sweat flooded Carrel’s forehead. He felt as if he had been hit in the head. His heart began to beat violently but he held on with iron will in his initial determination.
Drs. Journet and Gouyot testify to Maria Ferrand’s healing ..
Suddenly he noticed that Doctors Journet and Gouyot were standing next to him.
She seems to be cured, she told them; I don’t find anything abnormal, please examine him
While the two colleagues carefully felt Maria Ferrand’s abdomen, Carrel stood aside looking at them with bright eyes. There was no doubt that the girl was cured. That was a miracle of those who overwhelmed the audience like a tempest and threw it in hordes over Lourdes. Carrel again thought how lucky he was because among all the patients who came to Lourdes that day, it was the sick woman he had known and carefully studied that he saw heal.
Turning to Gouyot who was palpating Maria Ferrand’s abdomen, asked her if she found symptoms of the disease
– I can’t find anything, Gouyot replied, but I would like to listen to her.l
Maria Ferrand was again auscultated, tested, palpated, sobada and resobada; it was radiant. ………..
– She is cured, dr Journet said deeply moved. …………..
llllllllllllll–
I can’t find anything abnormal, Gouyot said; breathing is regular, it’s already good; you can lift it.
There is no explanation for this cure, dr. Journet opined.llllll
l
The conversion of Carrel.
. After examining a few more patients, Carrel took to the streets. It was already night. At the end of the road, the Basilica rose to the sky. A continuous chain of lights extended to the main entrance. The pilgrims’ torchlight procession formed a luminous serpentine, as they followed the tortuousness of the road along the esplanade. From everywhere came the voices of the immense crowd that sang the hymn of Lourdes with its Avé, Avé, Avé, repeated again and again. Everything he had previously believed was now presented to him with the setback. The dying were cured within a few hours. These pilgrimages had of their own a power that produced results; above all, they taught humility. ..
He reached the grotto in which he sat for a long time, contemplating the candles that, calling in the dark, threw a red glow into its outline. I stared at the statue of the Virgin, the row of copper spigots from which the miraculous water came
Night cae and when the moon appeared behind the hill, Carrel was still in the grotto. .
. How was he going to explain the healings of Lourdes? There was no denying that it was painfully unpleasant to be involved in that miracle. Most of the doctors were so jealous of their prestige, that even if they had come to Lourdes and seen what happens there, they did not dare to admit it, They feared that if they showed any interest they would be regarded as fanatics, if not fools.