Albert J. Hebert - Saints Who Raised the Dead

Saints Who Raised
the Dead

True Stories of 400
Resurrection Miracles

Father Albert J.
Hebert, S.M.

Nihil Obstat:	Fortune Frenoy, S.M. Censor Deputatus
Imprimi Potest:	Donald A. Romito Provincialis
Nihil Obstat:	Cage Gordon, V.G. Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:		Joseph V. Sullivan, S.T.D. Bishop of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

In no case do the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur constitute an approval of any private revelations, prophecies or possible new devotions or cults connected therewith if these have not been officially approved by the Church. Where such are treated as historical accounts or are reported as news of the day, the Catholic reader may form his own opinion or judgment according to the facts presented. However, he must be ready to submit to the judgment of the Church if and when it is made; and at the place of source, the instructions of the local Ordinary should be obeyed.

With regard to declarations on miracles, holiness of individuals, or other supernatural matters, the author in no way presumes to anticipate the judgment of Holy Mother Church. In conformity with the decree of Pope Urban VIII, the author declares his intention to attach purely human credibility to such events narrated in this book.

Copyright 1986 by Albert J. Hebert, S.M. First published in 1986, under the title Raised from the Dead. Republished in 2004 under the title Saints Who Raised the Dead.

ISBN: 978-0-89555-798-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except that brief selections of text may be quoted or photocopied for non-profit use without permission.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com
2012

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

Mary, Our Blessed Lady (poems)
A Christ-Filled World (poems)
Priestly CelibacyLasting Value and Recurrent Battle
Mary, Our Blessed Mother (poems)
The Tears of Mary and FatimaWhy?
Mary, Why Do You Cry?
A Prayerbook of Favorite Litanies
Prophecies! The Chastisement and Purification!
Mary and Her Hidden Life

"Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do."

Words of Our Lord (John 14:11-12)

CONTENTS

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OTHER WONDERS:
FURTHER SIGNS OF IMMORTALITY

FOREWORD

What is more important to any man or woman than to know, to be sure, that he or she will rise from the dead someday?

Nothing is better established as fact in the history of the Old and New Testaments and in the Catholic Christian centuries than the raising of dead persons to lifesome of these in fairly recent times. Although these privileged persons all had to die again, their "temporary" resurrections confirm the Christian's faith in the great resurrection of the body which will come at the end of the world. The entire Christian era20 centuriesis the fruit of that great belief, that great hope.

True, there are people today, as there always have been, who will attack the teaching of the resurrection of the body. The Sadducees of Jesus' day challenged Him on the doctrine of a bodily resurrection. But before the Master's words they retired in confusion.

Miracles of the dead being returned to life need not be accepted on faith; they are a matter of historical record. The accounts presented here, at least taken as a whole, will show the impossibility of denying these miracles. There are just too many great saints involvedSt. Benedict, St. Martin of Tours, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Dominic, St. Vincent Ferrer, and St. Francis Xavier, to name but a few. To deny the works of such men of history is to affront the faculty of reason.

It is hoped that this book's account of so many wondersboth resurrection miracles and other miracleswill show the utter foolishness and poor scholarship of those so-called exegetes, theologians, and other writers, even within the Church, who deny the fact of miracles. The poorest of scholars and researchers can attest to the many historical reports of persons raised from the dead by any number of Catholic saints.

In commissioning His twelve Apostles, Our Lord gave them the power of working miracles to witness to the divine Source of their teachings. He said to them, "And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely have you received, freely give." (Matt. 10:8).

Our Lord stated that His great miracles were meant to lead men to faith, and He prophesied even greater wonders to come: "Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, Amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do." (John 14:11-12).

Following in the footsteps of the Apostles, the Catholic saints have brought the teachings and the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ to vast numbers of people. God has often seen fit to back up the teachings of His later "Apostles," also, with miracleshealings, the casting out of devils, and the raising of the dead. It is particularly to His great missionary saints, those who received the vocation and the stupendous responsibility of converting thousands, that God has given the power to raise the dead.

The great number of resurrection miracles worked by the saints of God constitute divine approval of the Catholic Churchof her claim to be founded by Jesus Christ Himself, and of her claim to be the ark of eternal salvation. These saints were instruments of God, and their miracles were primarily His action, not theirs. These great miracles are God's testimony to the truth of the Catholic Faith. He has not so testified to the truth of any other religion.

As Vatican Council I (1870) proclaimed,

"In order that the obedience of our faith might be in harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior help of the Holy Spirit there should be joined exterior proofs of His revelation, to wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies, which, as they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation adapted to the intelligence of all men. Wherefore, both Moses and the Prophets, and most especially Christ Our Lord Himself, showed forth many and most evident miracles and prophecies, and of the Apostles we read: 'But they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.' "

These resurrection miracles also make it easier for one to accept the miracles reported of Our Lord Himself in the Gospelsincluding His raising of three persons from the dead. If the servants of God can perform such great works, why not the Master Himself? He is truly the Lord of the living and the dead: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live."