"The Blessed Virgin exists, God exists!"

Dr. Carrel (1873-1944), one of the most remarkable surgeons of his time, had lost his faith at the end of his studies in Paris, where the pontiffs of positivism bewitched the minds of students. According to them, only tangible realities existed. God, the soul, and the spiritual world were merely products of our imagination.

Carrel, however, wanted to scientifically study what was happening in Lourdes and its much talked-about miracles. Providence intervened in his plans. A doctor friend of his, unable to accompany a train of patients going to Lourdes, asked him to go instead, which Carrel accepted to do. The friend especially recommended a young dying patient of his called Marie Ferrand.

The trip was very difficult. Dr. Carrel had to give the patient injections at night, and again at the hospital. She could hardly be transported to the Grotto. Her already cadaverous face and faint voice predicted an imminent death. All the same, she was transported on a stretcher, Dr. Carrel staying at her side.

Suddenly, after a fervent supplication to the Blessed Virgin, the dying woman spoke: "I think that I am healed," she said. Seeing the changes that had occurred in her, Carrel was deeply moved. The swelling was gone, her face changed color, her eyes shone, and her pulse was normal again. "It was 2:40 pm,” Carrel noted. “At three o'clock, my doubts were gone: Marie Ferrand was healed."

"I began to walk around like a crazy person, repeating to myself: I saw a miracle! The Blessed Virgin exists, God exists!" After an hour of struggling with himself, Carrel returned to the Basilica where he said a fervent prayer to the Blessed Virgin, on his knees. God had converted him.

Henri Berger

Author and Editor for Editions Rassemblement à Son Image

Former contributor to the Journal de la Grotte in Lourdes, then with the Italian magazine Ecco Tua Madre (Here is your Mother); Pioneer founder of Radio Lourdes Pyrenees