The cure of a British soldier during World War I at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France has been declared the 71st miracle at the pilgrimage site.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Archbishop Malcolm McMaho of Liverpool declared the healing of British Royal Navy soldier John Traynor a miracle at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The news comes after the president of the Lourdes Medical Observatory, Dr Alessandro de Franciscis, commissioned a review of Traynor’s case last year by a British doctor, a member of the International Medical Commission at Lourdes, Kieran Moriarty.

Dr Moriarty’s investigations uncovered numerous records in the Lourdes archives including the testimony of three doctors who examined Traynor before and after his cure, along with other supporting evidence.

Archbishop McMahon concluded in a commission that, based on the evidence gathered by Dr Moriarty, Traynor’s cure was indeed a miracle. He stated: “Taking into account the medical evidence, the testimony of John Traynor’s faith and devotion to Our Lady, I am pleased to declare that the cure of John Traynor from multiple serious illnesses is recognised as a miracle wrought by the power of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes.”

He added: “I hope that in February 2025 we will have a celebration in the Cathedral to mark this important moment in the history of the archdiocese, helping us all to respond to the Jubilee’s call to be ‘pilgrims of hope’.”

Traynor was born in Liverpool in 1883 and had a special devotion to the Eucharist and to Our Lady. As a member of the Royal Navy, Traynor was mobilised early in the war in 1914. During the Battle of Antwerp, he was hit by shrapnel in the head while trying to carry an officer away from the battlefield. However, he quickly recovered and returned to service. During another battle, on 8 May 1915, Traynor was hit again in the head, chest and arm. Several operations were performed on the arm, but none were successful. He was left paralysed, and suffered from epilepsy. Eight years later, in 1923, Traynor was ordered to be admitted to a hospital for the terminally ill, but instead went to Lourdes and was cured. The most recent miracle is the 70th. It is the miraculous cure of Sister Bernadette Moriau, a French nun, of the Franciscan Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which occurred on July 11, 2008 and was recognized by the Church on February 11, 2018 after 10 years of investigation.

Source: Vatican News