John Traynor’s miracle is a sign of God’s love, says Lourdes bishop
Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes gave a homily in Liverpool during a Mass in Liverpool, 18 February, celebrating the case of John (Jack) Traynor being declared a miracle, saying that God performs miracles to show that he loves all people.
John Traynor was a layman in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, and a WW1 veteran, who visited Lourdes in 1923 and was healed of epilepsy, paralysis of the right arm and paraplegia.
Traynor would recall in a letter many years later that when he was bathed at Lourdes, his legs were “violently agitated”.
He felt he had regained their use, but the people with him thought he was having a fit.
Later in the pilgrimage when the Archbishop of Rheims blessed him, his arm became “violently agitated”.
Traynor was, he said, “instantly cured and able to make the sign of the cross”.
Early the next morning he left his hospital bed and ran to the grotto, where Bernadette was said to have had her visions.
He spent 20 minutes on his knees making a thanksgiving prayer.
Three doctors examined him on 27 July and found he regained his ability to walk perfectly, as well as the full use and function of his right arm and legs.
The sores on his body healed completely and his fits ceased.
An opening in his skull created during surgery had also “diminished considerably”.
After new medical evidence has recently surfaced, a commission convened by the Archbishop McMahon of Liverpool met in Liverpool last year to validate Traynor’s recovery.
Afterwards, Archbishop McMahon said: “Given the weight of medical evidence, the testimony to the faith of John Traynor and his devotion to Our Blessed Lady, it is with great joy that I declare that the cure of John Traynor, from multiple serious medical conditions, is to be recognised as a miracle wrought by the power of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes.”
It is the 71st official miracle to have happened in Lourdes and the first person from England to be recognised.
During his homily to the people of Liverpool, Bishop Micas said:
“This miracle is now a responsibility for you: to show the men and women of your country that God loves them, that God wants and can cure them of all diseases, true illnesses, those which kill the heart and the soul. John Traynor’s healing is good news for our time: God saves.”
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Pic: © Marcin Mazur/CBCEW