18 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat Here is the report of the healing of Renault Pierre, a seminarian, sent by his superior, Fr. Lambert, to the Bishop of Versailles.1 This prodigious event took place in the seminary chapel. Renault Pierre, born in Paris on July 3, 1825, entered the Minor Seminary of Versailles in October 1838. During the summer of 1843, he was plagued by heart palpitations and went home for a while. He wanted to resume his studies at the end of the school vacation that same year, but soon he was suffering again from violent attacks and horrible convulsions, during which four men could barely contain him. Our school doctor spared nothing to heal him – all in vain. The attacks recurred in an alarming way. Despite his diligent care, the patient’s condition continued to worsen, and on April 1, the convulsive heartbeats, compared by our doctor to violent piston strokes, caused a discharge in the brain, resulting in paralysis of the optic nerve. The outcome was complete blindness and absolute insensitivity of the pupil, to the extent that the doctor could touch it with his fingers without the patient feeling the slightest impression. The eyelids were drawn back and left the eyeball uncovered, showing them to be as motionless as a marble statue. For three days and three nights, the poor patient endured pains that made him utter heart-rending moans. The chief physician of the Versailles Civil Hospital, a doctor of great reputation and consummate experience, came for a consultation on Thursday, April 4. He examined him, reckoned that he would probably 1.Appeared in: Les miracles en France au XXe siècle (Miracles in France in the 20th Century), cited in “L’Ami du Clergé”, (Paroissial 1928), pp. 38-39. never recover his sight, and said that he had an irreversible heart condition. He added that we could expect to lose him sooner or later. In our sorrow, we turned to Heaven. That same day, Thursday, April 4, 1844, the entire Community began a novena to the Blessed Virgin. On Friday the 5th, a prolonged seizure and the patient’s extreme weakness prompted us to give him Extreme Unction shortly before one o’clock in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the students who were gathered in the chapel recited the Miserere. The patient was unconscious. His eyes were fixed and wide open, and he appeared to have stopped breathing. We made haste, lest he should breathe his last before the ceremony ended. His mother was there, bursting into tears. About a quarter of an hour after being administered, Renault regained consciousness and stated that he was no longer suffering. He had been lying in bed for a long time, unable to take any food due to a complete loss of strength, and now he asked to get up; from that very day, he was able to walk around the infirmary. He was no longer in pain, but he was still blind. We now had only one hope for his sight. The novena was to end on Friday, April 12. Our dear patient received Communion that day, but his sight did not return. From then on, we understood that we would have to resign ourselves, and it was decided that the poor child would leave us on Sunday, April 14. On the day set for his departure, he attended the first Mass and spoke to his confessor. He told him how painful it was for him to think that many of his young classmates might be shaken in their faith, seeing that, despite their fervent prayers, he remained blind. He begged him to speak to them in “DO YOU BELIEVE?” A young
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