The Latest Official “Miracle”

In 1970, miracle sixty-four was officially recorded at Lourdes. Serge Perrin, 41 years old, claimed that he had recovered from “recurring organic hemiplegia” (paralysis of one side of the body) and recurring blindness in one eye. The Lourdes medical team declared the case “miraculous.” But an American team examined the data and discovered that the necessary tests—a spinal tap and a brain scan—had not been done to properly establish the cause of the condition. In fact, the American doctors said, Perrin’s symptoms are classic signs of hysteria; in the absence of appropriate medical tests, that was a much more probable diagnosis. Furthermore, hysteria is known to respond favorably to highly emotional circumstances like those encountered at religious ceremonies. Bernstein found that Lourdes officials were not helpful in supplying evidence, being more concerned with her intent and attitude. She commented on their qualifications:If Serge Perrin’s case is representative, there are good reasons to be distrustful of officially declared miraculous cures at Lourdes. There are also reasons to question the allegedly rigorous system for recognizing them.... The expertise and skills of the doctors are at best a matter of chance since being present at the shrine and being a certified physician are the only requirements for joining the medical bureau.

Summing up on the status of Lourdes itself, Bernstein wrote:Lourdes has never swindled the sick with false promises. Nonetheless, a better effort could be made to convey to the world what the shrine really has to offer. Lourdes is not a miracle mill; it is not a spa; and the water does not have healing powers. Lourdes is a unique international meeting place and there is every reason to believe that the sick, the frail, and other sufferers derive innumerable psychological and spiritual benefits from their visits. Wonders do occur when pilgrims discover their own strengths and learn the art of living with their maladies.

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Faith-Healing in Modern Times

The present-day Christian claim that certain people can heal the afflicted by the “laying on of hands” originated with nineteenth-century American and European evangelists. The Reverend William Branham, a former game warden from Jeffersonville, Indiana, is often credited with bringing the modern evangelical/fundamentalist healing movement into existence in the 1940s. Pastor Branham was a fire-and-brimstone Bible thumper who offered his audiences spectacular performances and grand promises. He also was quick to blame his victims for their failures. In June 1947, in the town of Vandalia, Illinois, he apparently had cured Walker Beck, a deaf-mute. When he heard the next day that Beck’s condition was as bad as ever, Branham replied:I hear that Walker has smoked a cigarette after I told him that he would have to give them up. Because of this he will not be able to hear or talk and in all probability he will be afflicted with some greater trouble—perhaps cancer.

Tobacco seemed an unlikely cause for Beck’s deaf-mute condition, since he had been born in that state. Branham was so convincing a preacher that, when he died in a 1965 automobile accident, he wasn’t buried for four months because his flock expected him to rise from the dead at Easter. He didn’t.