THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
“ Does he do miracles, sir?
“ But the greatest |
“The most astonishing !
“The most incontestable!
“The truest miracles that have ever been done on earth
since the time of Jesus Christ! ... What! Thousands
of hosts appear on altars where there were none; wine
appears in empty chalices, and it is not an illusion, it is wine, a
delicious wine. . . . celestial music is heard, perfumes of the
world beyond fill the room, and then blood. . . . real human
blood (doctors have examined it !), real blood, I tell you, sweats
and sometimes flows from the hosts, imprinting mysterious
characters on the altars! I am talking to you of what I have
seen, of what I have heard, of what I have touched, of what I
have tasted! And you want me to remain cold at the bidding
of an ecclesiastical authority which finds it more convenient
to deny everything than to examine the least thing!. . .”
“By permission, sir; it is in religious matters, above all,
that authority can never be wrong. . . ._ In religion, good is
hierarchy, and evil is anarchy; to what would the influence
of the priesthood be reduced, in effect, if you set up the prin-
ciple that one must rather believe the testimony of one’s senses
than the decision of the Church? Is not the Church more
visible than all your miracles? Those who see miracles and
who do not see the Church are much more to be pitied than
the blind, for there remains to them not even the resource of
allowing themselves to be led... .”
“Sir, I know all that as well as you do. But God cannot
be divided against Himself. He cannot allow good faith
to be deceived, and the Church itself could hardly decide that
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