Louise Lateau of Bois d'Haine : her life, her ecstasies, and her stigmata, a medical study / by F. Lefebvre ; translated from the French ; edited by J. Spencer Northcote.
- Lefebvre, Ferdinand J. M., 1821-1902.
- Date:
- 1873
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Louise Lateau of Bois d'Haine : her life, her ecstasies, and her stigmata, a medical study / by F. Lefebvre ; translated from the French ; edited by J. Spencer Northcote. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![tlie emperors to guard this important entrance to the plains of Italy. As her only food, she takes from time to time, either in obedience to her confessor or when she feels that she requires it, a few grapes or some other fruit, or a little bread. In consequence of this meagre diet she has become very tliin, yet not more so than many others who lead an ordinary life. Her face has still a certain fulness, which varies, however, very much according to the state of her health. ' On my first visit I found her in the position in which she x^asses the greater part of the day, kneeling on the edge of her bed, and in an ecstasy. Her hands, crossed upon her breast, allowed the stigmata to be distinctly seen; her face, slightly raised, was turned towards the church; her eyes, lifted up towards heaven, expressed profound absorption, that notliing from without could disturb. No movement could be perceived except that produced by respiration or deglutition. Occasionally a kind of slight oscillation was perceptible. It was a spectacle which can only be compared to that which the angels would present could we behold them prostrate in prayer before the throne of God. It is no wonder that it ]3roduces so vivid an impression upon all who witness it. The hardest hearts cannot resist this sight, and astonishment, joy, and piety have caused many a tear to be shed around her. It is said by the priest of her parish, and by others who have acted as her directors, that during the last four years she has spent aU the time of her esctasies in contemplating the life and Passion of our Lord, and in honouring the Blessed Sacrament. Her prayers are regulated according to the order of the ecclesiastical year; she has written some of these prayers for her confessor, who pronounces them to be full of fervour and edification. ' The faculty which she possesses of seeing distant objects, whether in space or time, is only exercised in what regards the Church and rehgion; far different from clairvoyants, she is as completely igno- rant as other people of what takes lolace in her own person. In the events which she has foretold there was nothing which could have led her to expect them at the time when she predicted them, and their fulfilment has always depended solely upon the free exercise of the human will, and upon Divine Providence. She has never spoken of her visions to any one but her confessor, and as the circle of her knowledge is very Imiited she has often great difiiculty in finding words to express what she has seen. Nevertheless, the scene which is pictured in her mind is clearly manifested by the bearing and posture of her body, which always partakes, to a greater or less degree, in the object of her visions. Thus, at Christmas, she is seen holding in her arms with unsj^eakable joy the new-born Infant; at the Epiphany she is Imeeling in adoration behind the Magi. She assists at the marriage-feast of Cana, reclining on one side at table,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21063904_0194.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
