Train Wreck Survivor

Short Summary: Gabriel Gargam, paralyzed after a train accident, experienced a miraculous healing at Lourdes during a Blessed Sacrament procession, allowing him to stand and walk again.

Details

Location: Lourdes, France

Year: 1901

Prayer: Our Lady of Lourdes, Look upon me with eyes of mercy. May the healing hand of the Lord rest upon me, may your life giving powers flow into every cell of my body and into the depths of my soul, cleansing, purifying, restoring me to wholeness and strength for service in the Kingdom. God, Father, comfort me so that I may go forth and comfort others, following the example of Gabriel Gargam. Amen.

Verse: He comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble, with the same consolation we have received from him. -2 Cor 1:3-4

Full Story

Gabriel Gargam was 29 when his train suddenly collided with another train. He was thrown 30 feet and laid unconscious in the snow for seven hours. Barely surviving, he was permanently paralyzed from the waist down, and could only take food through a tube. For the next several months, his mother pleaded to take him to Lourdes, where thousands of cures had been known to occur. After his condition continued to worsen, Gabriel consented. On arrival, he experienced an incredible conversion of heart. He went to confession, and received Holy Communion. It was observed that “faith had taken possession of him”, although he had been away from the church for fifteen years. He then bathed in the spring water - a source of many miraculous healings. However, the water caused great pain, and he passed out. His body turned cold and blue. Unable to revive him, a cloth was placed over his face, and his stretcher was carried away. Several men carried his stretcher back towards the hotel where Gabriel and his mother were staying, full of grief. Their route was interrupted by a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and they stood aside to allow it to pass by. The priest leading the procession noticed Gabriel’s body on the stretcher, and gave a blessing to the sorrowful group standing together. Immediately, movement was seen under the blanket. Gabriel sat up and said emphatically, “Help me! I can walk! I feel I can walk.” This was the first time he had spoken since his accident nearly two years prior. He then proceeded to stand, and even walked himself back to the hotel, where he ate a big meal. A commission of doctors investigated the case, led by Dr. Boissarie. He reported: "That cure is one of the most remarkable we have ever observed. Over sixty physicians examined Gargam; all, believers or infidels, came to the same conclusion. Upon seeing that corpse rising before their eyes, they acknowledged that his instantaneous resurrection upset all the data of science." Gabriel, out of gratitude to God, began volunteering at the Shrine for the next 50 years. He helped to carry the stretchers of other pilgrims.

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