Lourdes: A Girl Born Deaf Can Now Hear

(Paris) She was born deaf. This past May 11 shortly before 20:30 she took off her prosthesis and said to her mother: "I no longer need this. I hear now." We're talking about a little girl who was staying with her mother, her grandmother and her brother on pilgrimage in Lourdes.

"The girl was born prematurely on December 25 of 2009. To save her, her doctors administered the drugs that damaged her hearing organs. In Gaslini Hospital of Genoa their own prostheses were used as hearing devices had no effect on her. With the help of speech therapy she learned in the course of time to read lips and speak with difficulty. Her story was told Giuseppe Secondi, the Unitalsi conductor of Milan West, who led the pilgrimage with the girl. Unitalsi is an ecclesial service, the Ambulance service operates at  Lourdes and other international as well as Italian sanctuaries.

As a gift to her family, the mother decided to make a thanksgiving pilgrimage to Our Lady at Lourdes with the children, which included her own mother.

Our Lady of Loudes

The pilgrimage took place in the usual way. Prayer, Holy Mass, dipping into the wells. On the evening of May 11, "we returned after the conclusion of the Eucharistic procession to the hotel," said the mother. "I was playing a bit with the kids, then I wanted to go to the meeting of the pilgrims who are first time attendees on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. When I told my daughter that I would go away but be inevitably long, she suddenly said in a clear voice, as she had never spoken before, that I should stay."

During the meeting pilgrim pilgrimage conductor Secondi was called. He was told that the girl had taken her hearing prosthesis out and told the mother that she no longer need it, because she could now hear.

"We stood in disbelief in front of her. From an adjoining room we called her several times with a soft voice and have found that she could really hear us.  Above all, she now speaks very clearly, very different than before."

"I thank you, dear Mother, for what you have done to me"

The next morning Secondi wanted to apply to the Bureau des Constatations Medicales to report the case. Previously, he had accompanied the girl to the grotto. While they were there, he said to the child: "Let's go to my Madonna, mine has a crown on her head."  So we went to the great Lady of Lourdes, crowned statue of Our Lady. As we stood in front of her, the girl said to my astonishment: "I thank you, dear Mother, for what you have done to me."

Then we went to the Bureau des Constatations Medicales. In the waiting room there was a stylized representation of Marie. The girl said: "this is ugly."  When we came into the doctor's room, a picture of the Blessed Mother crowned was hung: "This is the Madonna," she said with satisfaction.

The doctors examined her in detail, then the mother. They performed listening tests. Investigations have since continued in Italy and are still underway. Doctors in Genoa have presented to their astonishment, a cure of the hearing organs. There was also a change in character that took place. The previously very closed, introverted, girl has now become wholly different.

In Lourdes one proceeds with caution and accurate investigations are necessary before a miracle is recognized. The surveys will therefore take some time to complete. The girl and the family are certainly happy and grateful.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons