Alexis Carrel and His Voyage of Discovery: Miracles and the Spirituality of Healing.

In the era of positivism and anticlericalism of France's Belle Époque, scientist Alexis Carrel stood in stark contrast as one preoccupied with his faith and its relation to scientific scrutiny. Despite his early adult agnosticism, he sought proof of the divine and chose verification of the miraculous cures reported from the shrine at Lourdes, France. It so happened that on his first visit there, he encountered a truly remarkable "cure" of a young woman in the terminal stages of tubercular peritonitis. On a return visit, for the second time, he witnessed the restoration of sight to a blind child. Throughout the rest of his life, Carrel was struck by the proximity of the supernatural to corporeal interactions. He ultimately found a place for his faith as a parallel pathway and not in juxtaposition to the scientific. This paper chronicles Carrel's evolution of belief and reconciliation of faith and science.

The Lourdes Pilgrimage and the Impact on Pilgrim Quality of Life.

Lourdes, France, is a major site of pilgrimage, particularly for Roman Catholics with illness. The direct impact of pilgrimage on pilgrim quality of life (QOL) has not previously been measured. The present study aimed to measure the impact of pilgrimage to Lourdes on QOL in self-defined "sick pilgrims". The standardised EuroQol EQ-5D-5L questionnaire measured two aspects of QOL, namely a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score of self-rated health and an Index Value Score (IVS) of the five dimensions of QOL, in a group of pilgrims, before (Q1), immediately after (Q2) and two months after (Q3) return from pilgrimage to Lourdes. A total of 93 pilgrims responded at time Q1, 71 at Q2 and 64 at Q3. The VAS scores of self-rated health showed statistically significant improvement at Q2 (p = 0.04), although this was not sustained at Q3. The IVS Scores showed no significant differences at Q2 or Q3. However, at Q2, 67.6% of pilgrims reported their self-rated QOL as "much better" or "better", and this was maintained in 54.7% at Q3. Pilgrims identified "spiritual and religious aspects of pilgrimage", "a sense of togetherness" and "spiritual healing" as having the most significant impact on their QOL. The Lourdes pilgrimage had a statistically significant positive impact on the immediate post-pilgrimage VAS scores of QOL of "sick pilgrims", but this was not sustained two months following pilgrimage. The IVS scores were unchanged. Pilgrims identified beneficial holistic, spiritual and communal aspects of the pilgrimage experience.

Transcendent Experiences Among Pilgrims to Lourdes: A Qualitative Investigation.

Millions of pilgrims visit Lourdes each year, often seeking revitalisation rather than miraculous cures. We sought to understand the phenomenon of transcendent experiences. We spoke with 67 pilgrims including assisted pilgrims, young volunteers and medical staff. About two in five reported a transcendent experience: some felt they had communicated or had close contact with a divine presence, while others reported a powerful experience of something intangible and otherworldly. Transcendent experiences are an important feature of pilgrimage to Lourdes and the place offers the faithful a means of connecting with the divine, with nature and with the self.

Lourdes: A uniquely Catholic approach to medicine.

As an American medical student, I spent the summer break between my first and second year in Lourdes, France, the site where the Immaculate Conception appeared eighteen times to St. Bernadette in 1858 as proclaimed approved by the Catholic Church and whose water is associated with over seven thousand unexplained cures. During this time I volunteered with St. Joseph's Service and Poste Secour, followed several medical teams taking care of large pilgrim groups, and shadowed Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis the president of Le Bureau des Constations Médicales, the office in Lourdes charged with investigating claims of miracles. Through my experiences, I found the mission of medicine in Lourdes to be twofold: to provide the critical care needed to give sick persons the chance to transform their experience of disease through their faith; and secondly, through the efforts of the Medical Bureau, to be an instrument by which we can comprehend the wonders of the work of God. I conclude that this twofold mission should inform the work of every Catholic in health care or research, and Lourdes provides the venue par excellence to cultivate this mission. Lay Summary: Lourdes is a pilgrimage site in southern France that has been associated with medical miracles for the past 150 years. The site is unique in that throughout its history, physicians, of any or no faith, have been invited to participate in the proceedings of the investigations of each claimed cure. The investigations have formalized into a process handled by the Lourdes Medical Bureau and the Lourdes International Medical Association. Travis Dichoso, an American medical student, writes about his experiences as part of this process.

The Lourdes medical cures revisited.

This article examines the cures recorded in Lourdes, France, between 1858, the year of the Visions, and 1976, the date of the last certified cure of the twentieth century. Initially, the records of cures were crude or nonexistent, and allegations of cures were accepted without question. A Medical Bureau was established in 1883 to examine and certify the cures, and the medical methodology improved steadily in the subsequent years. We discuss the clinical criteria of the cures and the reliability of medical records. Some 1,200 cures were said to have been observed between 1858 and 1889, and about one hundred more each year during the "Golden Age" of Lourdes, 1890-1914. We studied 411 patients cured in 1909-14 and thoroughly reviewed the twenty-five cures acknowledged between 1947 and 1976. No cure has been certified from 1976 through 2006. The Lourdes phenomenon, extraordinary in many respects, still awaits scientific explanation. Lourdes concerns science as well as religion.

The Miraculous Cure of a Sarcoma of the Pelvis: Cure of Vittorio Micheli at Lourdes.

In April 1962, Vittorio Micheli, a soldier in the Italian Army, developed rapidly increasing pain in his left buttock region. X-rays of the left hip showed osteolysis involving the ilium and the roof of the acetabulum. A biopsy of the gluteal muscle showed cells of a sarcomatous character. He was not deemed to be a candidate for medical intervention, so neither radiotherapy nor chemotherapy was offered to him. In May 1963, racked with pain and unable to walk, he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, following which he was cured of his sarcoma. His case was reviewed by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes in 1969 and in 1971. There was unanimous agreement that this was a medically inexplicable cure.

[Gamma heavy chain disease associated with aggressive B lymphoma in the context of myelodysplastic syndrome]. / Maladie des chaînes lourdes de type gamma associée à un lymphome B diffus à grandes cellules dans un contexte de myélodysplasie.

INTRODUCTION: Heavy chain disease is a rare entity characterized by the production of incomplete immunoglobulin heavy chain without associated light chain. It is a B-cell lymphoproliferation, categorized according to the immunoglobulin involved. It is often associated with lymphomas but also with autoimmune diseases. OBSERVATION: We report the case of a 70-year-old patient who presented a gamma-type heavy chain disease, associated with a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the context of myelodysplastic syndrome. CONCLUSION: This is the first case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated gamma heavy chain disease described in the context of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Belief in the miracles of Lourdes: A voxel-based morphometry study.

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that particular religious beliefs and practices are associated with brain function and structure. The present voxel-based morphometry study investigated the correlation between the belief in the miracles of Lourdes (a major Catholic pilgrimage site) and gray matter volume in specific brain regions associated with theory of mind (ToM). METHOD: Structural brain data from 84 women (mean age: 25 years; no current somatic illness; 80% Roman-Catholic) were correlated with self-report measures on belief in miracles, religious-spiritual well-being, and psychological problems. Selected brain regions of the ToM network included the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), hippocampus, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). RESULTS: The belief in the miracles of Lourdes was positively correlated with general religiousness and with feelings of connectedness; there was no association with psychological problems. Belief in miracles of Lourdes correlated positively with TPJ volume and negatively with MPFC volume. CONCLUSION: Belief in the miracles was associated with brain volume in regions involved in mentalizing and self-control.

Beatification of Cardinal Henry Newman.

Claims of a miracle cure require objective and thorough investigation with a review of all contemporaneous medical records. This paper describes instances of apparent miraculous recoveries from fatal or incurable illnesses. Following more rigorous review of the medical documentation, when available, a different story emerges. Misdiagnosis and/or appropriate treatment account for the best cases.

Memorial de Maria de Lourdes Almeida: historia e enfermagem no Brasil pos-1930 / The academic dossier of Maria de Lourdes Almeida: history and nursing in post-1930s Brazil

O Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública redimensionou a formação e a identidade profissional da enfermagem brasileira ao reinserir homens e mulheres negras na profissão - premissa deste artigo fundado no método histórico, que analisa os resultados do Programa Enfermagem a partir da experiência pessoal de uma das protagonistas. As fontes primárias integram documentos anexados ao memorial de Maria de Lourdes Almeida, uma das primeiras bolsistas do serviço, enfermeira chefe do Serviço Especial de Saúde de Araraquara, do Centro de Treinamento da Faculdade de Higiene e Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo. Considera-se que o Programa Enfermagem, implantado no Brasil durante o Estado Novo, alterou o perfil profissional da enfermagem brasileira pós-1930 e consubstanciou a política intervencionista promovida na era Vargas.

The Special Public Health Service (Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública) reframed both the training and the professional identity of Brazilian nursing when it reopened the doors to black men and women. This is the premise of the present article, which uses the historical method to analyze the results of Brazil's Nursing Program based on the personal experience of one of its actors. Primary sources consist of the documents attached to the academic dossier of Maria de Lourdes Almeida, one of the first beneficiaries of a grant from the Service and head nurse with the Araraquara Special Health Service, part of the Center for Training School of Hygiene and Public Health at the Universidade de São Paulo. It is argued that the Nursing Program, which was implemented in Brazil under the Estado Novo, changed the professional profile of Brazilian nursing after the 1930s and solidified the interventionist policy promoted in the Vargas era.