Gabriel Gargam
Miracles, and particularly miraculous healings, bring home the point that every now and then God opens a portal to heaven. Still, many walk by and scoff. They say there is no portal and that the so-called miraculous event never happened. When that’s shown to be wrong they maintain that what appears to be a miraculous healing is sheer trickery or a cure that would have happened anyway. Perhaps it’s merely a manifestation of the innate ability of the body to cure itself through the power of suggestion. Finally, it will be argued that at the present time we just don’t know why something occurred but are certain that someday we will. When all these objections fail, the event is simply ignored – much like Fatima and Lourdes.
Are there documented cures that have no explanation other than the intervening hand of God? We know there are. We describe the healings of Marie Bailly and Nobel Laureate Alexis Carrel, Marion Carroll, Jack Traynor, and Francis Pascal: Blindness Cured in some detail. Here is another one – the story of Gabriel Gargam. Was there a miraculous healing? You be the judge.
Gabriel Gargam was born in 1870. In 1899 he was severely injured in a train accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. After eight months he had wasted away to 78 lbs and reduced to a mere skeleton. He could not take any solid food and could only be tube-fed. He sued the railroad and it vigorously defended. Doctors unanimously testified that he would be a hopeless cripple for the rest of his life. There could be no deception. Gargam won his case and received monetary payment from the railroad for the rest of his life.
For two years he was essentially bed-ridden and two nurses were required to attend him daily. There was no doubt about his condition. He was paralyzed from the waist down and could not help himself in even the most trifling affairs. Finally, and even though he had not been to church for 17 years, he acceded to the pleas of his mother and his aunt (a nun) to go to Lourdes.
The following description is of Gabriel Gargam’s healing is from Miracles of Lourdes, which also describes the Jack Traynor cure and aftermath in some detail.
“Previous to the accident Gargam had not been to Church for fifteen years. His aunt, who was a nun of the Order of the Sacred Heart, begged him to go to Lourdes. He refused. She continued her appeals to him to place himself in the hands of Our Lady of Lourdes. He was deaf to all her prayers. After continuous pleading of his mother he consented to go to Lourdes. It was now two years since the accident, and not for a moment had he left his bed all that time. He was carried on a stretcher to the train. The exertion caused him to faint, and for a full hour he was unconscious. They were on the point of abandoning the pilgrimage, as it looked as if he would die on the way, but the mother insisted, and the journey was made.
“Arrived at Lourdes, he went to confession and received Holy Communion. There was no change in his condition. Later he was carried to the miraculous pool and tenderly placed in its waters – no effect. Rather a bad effect resulted, for the exertion threw him into a swoon and he lay apparently dead. After a time, as he did not revive, they thought him dead. Sorrowfully they wheeled the carriage back to the hotel. On the way back they saw the procession of the Blessed Sacrament approaching. They stood aside to let it pass, having placed a cloth over the face of the man whom they supposed to be dead.
“As the priest passed carrying the Sacred Host, he pronounced Benediction over the sorrowful group around the covered body. Soon there was a movement from under the covering. To the amazement of the bystanders, the body raised itself to a sitting posture. While the family were looking on dumbfounded and the spectators gazed in amazement, Gargam said in a full, strong voice that he wanted to get up. They thought that it was a delirium before death, and tried to soothe him, but he was not to be restrained. He got up and stood erect, walked a few paces and said that he was cured. The multitude looked in wonder, and then fell on their knees and thanked God for this new sign of His power at the Shrine of His Blessed Mother. As Gargam had on him only invalid’s clothes, he returned to the carriage and was wheeled back to the hotel. There he was soon dressed, and proceeded to walk about as if nothing had ever ailed him. For two years hardly any food had passed his lips but now he sat down to the table and ate a hearty meal.
“On August 20th, 1901, sixty prominent doctors examined Gargam. Without stating the nature of the cure, they pronounced him entirely cured. Gargam, out of gratitude to God in the Holy Eucharist and His Blessed Mother, consecrated himself to the service of the invalids at Lourdes.”
For 50 years Gargam returned annually to Lourdes and worked as a brancardier (a volunteer at Lourdes who assist the sick in their journey). He died in 1953 at the age of 83. Gargam’s cure is not included among the 70 officially recognized miracles.
Lourdes doesn’t have a monopoly of miraculous cures. Just a little bit of research will reveal unexplained and instantaneous cures all along the Christian spectrum. Thousands upon thousands have occurred and they all have one thing in common – a turning over to God and the acceptance of his will. We know they are granted to Catholics and non-Catholic Christians alike. Confirmable miracles may also be granted to non-Christians, but if they are, they’re kept under wraps.
The lesson is that when you suffer and are in a horrible situation please pray for a miracle. God may grant it, and that miracle may be even more impressive and permanent than a physical cure. It may be the miracle of a renewed spiritual birth of your faith.
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Last modified June 16, 2019