Via Lourdes to Locarno
Ragner, Bernhard
November3, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 637 VIA LOURDES TO...
...It was by Georges Bertrin, Catholic historian of Lourdes, midnight...
...His draw his religious inspiration from Canterbury, Wit- belief in the Girl Scouts is reiterated in a recent letter in which tenberg, Epworth, or Rome, will object if the long he says: trail to Locarno should happen to pass by Lourdes "The Girl Scout movement has evidently come to stay, for it is meeting a real need...
...Of the physical benefit of The Girl Scouts have a program which I heartily believe in outdoor life, contact with knowledge of nature, the captain, as a means to this end...
...But nobody can spend Easter in Lourdes...
...ism which would be better omitted...
...I was waiting at the little station of Mielan, in the Ah, this was in sharp contrast with that day in May, Gers department, for the express which would take 1919, in Versailles, when Colonel Henry refused to me to Tarbes, birthplace of Marshal Foch...
...and later served with the Army of Occupation in "Nach Ko1n" said a sign upon the first...
...was free of war guilt, complicated the problem...
...Juliette Low, who organof nationalism to the religion of Jesus, east and west ized the first Girl Scout troop in the United States in 1912...
...In fact, my contact with these pilgrims was offered me his hand spontaneously...
...Returning to Cologne...
...It comes from the German pilgrims themselves, man pilgrim...
...There are thousands of girls who wish to be beauty contests...
...its miraculous cures, and my sincere conviction is My first view of Lourdes was from the night ex- summed up in two, almost official quotations...
...And, to remove all chance of misunder- both sides of the Rhine, plus the sincere conviction of standing, permit me to remark that the present writer German and Frenchman alike that his own country is not a Catholic...
...Not one was quite a change from the bitterness of war days objectionable phrase had been uttered in their presence...
...Naturally, they expected this of the clergy, but are vanishing, slowly but surely...
...This is none other the Germans could come to Lourdes...
...I gazed at him in amazemiracle was accomplished...
...For the past three years...
...Alexis Carrel, upon us a spectacle that would strike any imagination who states: "No scientific hypothesis up to the present and thrill any soul...
...adequate leaders can be found...
...ScoutThere is one place in which this particular type of guidance ing is not only not contrary to Catholic aims and ideals, but may well be applied...
...November3, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 637 VIA LOURDES TO LOCARNO By BERNHARD RAGNER M Y EASTER furlough in i 9 i 9 was spent in creased, but my story of Franco-German prayers Lourdes, that picturesque Pyrenees town, ascending to heaven from Lourdes refused to break, where in 1858, as the Catholic Church until August, 1926...
...going to Cologne," hiding place forgotten...
...But, I was waiting for another miracle, pillar of snow reflected against the sombre mountain- of another type, international in its scope, which could side...
...I teaches, the Virgin Mary appeared to the peasant girl visited it every year...
...When these marvelous forces are left unguided, they easily Knowing that advance cannot be sound except with the best may be frittered away on pastimes that contribute little or available leaders, the sponsors of the Girl Scouts have resonothing of value to their lives...
...where...
...The keystone of the entire scout program is its leadership...
...he had manifested quite accidental...
...How many years ascribing the Allied victory to the miraculous intermust elapse before the wounds of war heal so that vention of Our Lady of Lourdes...
...when certain French nationalists charged, stupidly and Although Lourdes sends a Conservative deputy, of mistakenly, that the international pilgrimage to extreme nationalistic tendencies, to the Chambre every Lourdes was just a device for introducing German election, the German pilgrims had been treated with spies into France...
...Fate decreed that I should miss it by twenty- "Hurry...
...A thousand candles flamed before the grotto...
...The big story of came toward me and asked me in French, "How did which I dreamed became a reality, seven years later, you find Lourdes...
...The ment of an internationally famous scientist, whose retrain rushed on in the night...
...dynamite can speedily level mounnobody can behold the solemn procession of the tains or dig canals, but what spiritual explosive can Blessed Sacrament or the exuberant torchlight parade destroy mountains of war-time hatred, vanquish at night...
...The tre of Catholic mysticism, which annually welcomes second, infinitely more important, is the matured judgmore pilgrims than the Eternal City itself...
...I studied maculate Conception...
...Consider the many artificial outlets constantly in this captainship of girls a splendid opportunity for those suggested to the young girl's mind by sensational moving pic- who have a little leisure to render fine service, to make a tures and plays, by the unwholesome literature flooding the constructive contribution to the life and development of the news-stands, by the enormous advertising of cosmetics, by community...
...This the slightest untoward incident had occurred...
...love of adventure and the necessary need for play which exists Our Catholic colleges have been most helpful in aiding us in the hearts of all children...
...Be left behind...
...These and other exploitations create artificial scouts, but who must, unfortunately, be asked to wait until standards-an unsound outlook that throws life out of focus...
...tively fights matter...
...of the frontier, for this pilgrimage to become a reality...
...One joyous morning in late August, friendliness toward a man he considered an ex-enemy...
...hurry l" exclaimed my new-found French acfour hours...
...It has been my privilege to be associated with the Girl Scout Although the Bureau of Medical Constatations at movement for nearly ten years, and in observing its wide appeal Lourdes is very reluctant to proclaim miracles, many to girls of all classes, its admirable results, it would be immiraculous cures are examined and verified every year...
...Only the difference in laninterposed another...
...But, it would tains a petition for France, but omits all reference be a better story," I mused, "if several German Catho- to other countries...
...In his essay on Napoleon, Emerson says that the much gratified to learn of the progress of the Girl Scouts power of the great military leader did not consist in any wild among our Catholic girls...
...some of the official blue...
...A saner, more human November 3, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 639 attitude is being adopted on both sides...
...just as much as we are...
...I read everything concerning it, Bernadette Soubirous and announced: "I am the Im- from Zola's novel to the official guide-books...
...Ah, yes...
...it is in the care of a Khaki-clad soldiers of the American Expeditionary French bishop, who is also an ardent patriot...
...On the summit of the Pic du Jer stood a miracle...
...Matter effecoperations...
...I am threadbare...
...Naturally, at Eastertide in 1919, the great majority Let us enumerate some of the stumbling-blocks...
...It appeals strongly to the legitimate as well as her scouts, gets full measure...
...Inevitably, Dusseldorf, as a symbol of French Catholicism in its a German train at Milan is a curiosity that occurs attitude toward Germany...
...For a minute or two, we discussed the prayed-in the German tongue ! War-time hatreds chateau, the basilica, the Pic du Jer, the Gave, and were forgotten as German and Frenchman mingled then he astounded me by remarking, "And now you their prayers in the shadow of the basilica...
...place...
...marized my conversation with the pilgrims, several But, Our Lady of Lourdes can vanquish even na- Frenchmen overheard us...
...Defend it or regret it as we may, on the platform...
...Surely genuine peace...
...what...
...Not a single bidden, the six questions which form the tools of the unfriendly adjective did I overhear, as the pilgrimage journalist's trade, were asked by a hundred persons train remained before the station...
...The Germans finally came only three weeks before, I answered cordially, "I think back to Lourdes ! Heads erect, they paraded past Lourdes is a picturesque, most interesting city, while the Allied monument singing-German hymns the transcendent faith of pilgrims evokes my heartiest Hearts contrite, they knelt before the grotto and admiration...
...frankly to ask the German pilgrims their opinion of As the locomotive took on water, I conversed briefly Lourdes...
...Commercial interests of many lutely refused to expend where there is a scarcity of captains, kinds are willing to make use of these forces for their own and the lack of them is their most serious handicap...
...Our rightly understood and interpreted by Catholics, is fully in modern girls are vital creatures, brimming over with energy, accordance with them...
...He thought I was a Gertion...
...nobody can see the pilgrims of passionate officially inspired half-truths and prejudices, and create faith kneeling devoutly, by the thousandfold, before a healthy atmosphere of conciliation which leads to the grotto, without exclaiming as Jacob did...
...Not Lourdes and pray to the Virgin as we do...
...Consequently, there was a is concerned, which is a typical French village, his atcraning of necks and a fluttering of tongues as, un- titude of friendly curiosity was typical...
...The program of wholesome, Leadership is well used when it helps to replace these influences challenging, absorbing activities induces the happiest relationwith constructive forces...
...on Catholic tradition and on a supernatural foundation...
...That is among our young people...
...On the coaches ex-officer, in Mielan, who was wounded near Verdun were the insignia of the German state railroads...
...As- admit that they are only methods, always to be used with elassuredly, it is no exaggeration to say that it required ticity and imagination, and never to be imposed as mechanical real tolerance and genuine Christianity, the yielding and final...
...The lesson he teaches," says "Catholics, after some hesitation on the part of a certain the sage of Concord, "is that which vigor always teaches- number, have come to see there is nothing in scout law or that there is always room for it...
...Certainly, as far as Mielan about once in a decade...
...There is advancement...
...If all French Catho- a few had feared some ill-timed word, some offensive lics resembled Marc Sangnier and Bishop Julien, the adjective of war-time birth, might be spoken by memGermans could have come to Lourdes a month after bers of the civilian population...
...Whether it is considered in the light of its attention to outdoor life, its wholesome training in mosphere of conciliation, mutual comprehension, and the womanly occupations of homemaking and citizenship, or peace which will weld France and Germany (as geog- in its moral significance as a motivating force for high standraphy and geology intended they should be welded) ards of thought and conduct, its merits cannot fail to be together for human service by cooperation, she will apparent...
...At this moment, the Unfortunately for me, I was absent when it took engineer of the pilgrimage train sounded his whistle...
...In our own less colorful, practice contrary to their faith or religious sentiment...
...movement his sanction and his strong support as a recreational And certainly, no sincere lover of peace, whether he program for Catholic girls in the New York archdiocese...
...We had arrived at Lourdes...
...BernaForces knelt by the side of their comrades in horizon- dette was a French peasant girl...
...be headlined: German Pilgrims Flock to Lourdes...
...nier doctrines of Franco-German rapprochement as so Then, I rejoined my wife who was waiting for me much moonshine...
...This had to be accomplished before the Lord is in this place...
...or extravagant force, in any Mohammed-like enthusiasm, or His Eminence Cardinal Bourne of England, in a preface to in a singular power of persuasion, but in the exercise of com- a book on scouting, states: mon sense in each emergency...
...But, if Our Lady of Lourdes can attract both French There are today 13o,ooo Girl Scouts in the United States, and German pilgrims to her shrine, if she can cause and 5oo,ooo in more than forty countries throughout the them to kneel in true humility of spirit before the world...
...My are returning to Cologne...
...Red Cross nurses, British and American, joined literature is tinged, even harmed, by French nationaltheir prayers with those of humble French peasants...
...Suddenly there burst ligious credo is unknown to me, Dr...
...Nothing was Personally, I should like to consider this French French about it except the locomotive...
...there is nothing objectionable...
...when...
...One, press which speeds from Bordeaux to Tarbes...
...from Lourdes," explained a guage prevented the French villagers from going third, and so on, until all the facts were available...
...cult to remove...
...After all," said an aged, bent woman, who with the pilgrims and ascertained that they had been had lost one son during the war, "they are Catholics charmed and edified by their pilgrimage to Lourdes...
...I thought he was some distant when an official pilgrimage from Cologne arrived by relative of my wife, and since I had been in Lourdes special train...
...Suddenly shake the hand of one of the German peace delegates...
...The white marble statue of the Virgin was faintly There were almost insuperable obstacles to such a visible...
...On the contrary, we the Armistice, but there are the Leon Daudets and were treated as brothers, with Christian cordiality, by General de Castelnaus, equally sincere, equally Catho- clergy and laymen alike," volunteered a German exlic, and much more numerous, who consider the Sang- officer...
...nervous cases reported at Lourdes ! To cure Dean My object was to explore the mountain majesties of Swift of his gloomy cynicism or William Cowper of the Pyrenees (the superb Crique de Gavarnie, for ex- his fear of hell is just as great a miracle, to my mind, ample) and I was merely using Lourdes as a base of as eliminating lameness from a leg...
...possible not to become increasingly convinced of its worth...
...ternational, is on French soil...
...The Girl Scout organization respects O N EVERY side, from all fields of modern activity, civic the religious belief of each of its members, because the safety and social life, comes the call for leaders, until the re- and the sanctity of young womanhood-which means ultiiterated statement of the world's great need grows almost mately the home-are zealously guarded by religion...
...In most of this, German Catholics, as of yore, may come to Lourdes...
...but the House of God, and this is the gate of Certainly, the intense patriotism of Catholics on heaven...
...Further, a magnificent monulics were also kneeling before that altar...
...second-hand, although thoroughly reliable, informa- Then, it dawned upon me...
...Why shouldn't they come to Their stay in France had been very pleasant...
...an unexpected train rounded the curve...
...It is generally recognized that to find leaders for Catholic scouts...
...have performed a greater miracle, in my humble opin- Seven years ago, His Eminence Cardinal Hayes gave the ion, than any of those already credited to her...
...Indeed, the It was a magnificent spectacle and my newspaper in- official prayer recited nightly before the grotto constinct told me it was a good story...
...Lourdes became my hobby...
...Consequently, I am writing my story from quaintance, "or you'll be left behind...
...They less pageant-like circumstances, this leadership of the common- have realized that all this useful training may be easily based sense, practical kind is our real need...
...ment...
...time accounts satisfactorily for the phenomena at There was the spectral basilica, standing like a gigantic Lourdes...
...And thinking I was a German, he had Lourdes...
...True, these obstacles were chiefly psychocolossal cross, illuminated by hundreds of electric logical, a fact which rendered them all the more diffibulbs, burning like a beacon in the starry night...
...German pil- war-time days had been laid away, it seemed, and the grims," said a voice behind me...
...I encountered a few Bel- Lourdes, although a Catholic shrine and therefore ingians and Spaniards, also a sprinkling of Italians...
...Although she is French, we have the the fact remains that French Catholicism is largely custom of speaking English in public, and as I sumnationalistic...
...His principles, originated for boys, have been adapted to the needs of girls by Mrs...
...ship between leader and scout...
...He had mistaken my Americanized Engand from Frenchmen who witnessed their sojourn in lish for German...
...In half an hour," said my traveling com- concedes: "There are inevitably doubtful or mistaken panion, a delightful French cure, "we shall see the cases attributable, as a rule, to the excited fancy of twentieth-century Capital of Faith, the dominant cen- the afflicted one, and which time soon dispels...
...Any agency that will help the girlhood of America to develop mind and body as God intended, LEADERSHIP AND GIRLHOOD deserves commendation and support, provided the religious faith of the girl is not undermined by false notions of life, By GENEVIEVE GARVAN BRADY duty, and happiness...
...Bitter epithets of who...
...Let no one sneer at the cures of I was in Lourdes, not as a pilgrim, but as a tourist...
...of pilgrims were French...
...perfect courtesy while sojourning in this Pyrenean Happily, the hatreds and falsehoods of 1914-1918 city...
...it is thoroughly human As the years passed, my interest in Lourdes in- and understandable, but it assuredly does not facilitate 638 THE COMMONWEAL November 3, 1926 German pilgrimages to Lourdes...
...One of them thought I tionalistic passions, and my question of April, 1919, was speaking German and with hand outstretched, he had its response in August, 1926...
...emotions, and ideals which they spend with lavish eagerness...
...Certainly, a movement which can attract girls in such famous grotto, if she can thereby help create an at- numbers cannot be ignored...
...How long ment has just been erected not far from the basilica, will it be before this story breaks...
...This pil- Sir Robert Baden-Powell showed real creative genius in devisgrimage and the comments it evoked in my presence, ing the methods of scouting, but he would be the first to from German and French lips, are symptomatic...
Vol. 4 • November 1926 • No. 26
