A French paratrooper officer, who had been in the Vietnam War and had lost his faith, had to return to France at the end of the Algerian War and was driving to Pau, where his military detachment was stationed. When he was 14 kilometers from Lourdes, he felt an impulse to pay a courtesy visit to the Virgin. He entered the underground basilica and saw Jesus in the Eucharist exposed. He approached the front pews and was immediately enveloped in an immense wave of Jesus’ love. He sought out a priest, went to confession, and afterward, climbed the hill to make the Stations of the Cross. That night, he arrived at his detachment, transformed. He is now a Trappist monk.
On May 29, 1956, at the age of ninety, one of the greatest hagiographers of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena, Joergensen, passed away. He had been baptized at the age of thirty in 1896. One day, he had entered a Catholic church in Lucerne, Switzerland, out of curiosity. At that moment, the priest was blessing the people with the Blessed Sacrament. Driven by an irresistible force, he knelt down as well. This was the beginning of the long journey that led to his conversion.
Fr Angel Peña