The Third Miracle Page #7

Of course, Your Eminence. Sorry.

So, your HeIen O'Regan intercedes

with God to spare Maria...

so that she may go on to a Iife

of the fouIest degradation.

Is that an exampIe of Iove?

Of wisdom?

Virtue is required of a saint, not

the abiIity to predict the future.

And now we Iearn that

Maria, this day, has died.

I was going to report that as soon

as her death had been confirmed.

Died unrepentant,

in the fouIness of sin!

How dare you say that?

How dare you sit there and say....

How couId you possibIy know

the state of her souI?!

Who are you to....

Who do you think you are?!

You are not God!

Excuse me, Your Eminence.

-John, what is it?

-Frank, Fathers, Your Eminence.

PIease, you must come.

You must see.

-A Iot of peopIe here today.

-They wanted a miracIe, they got it.

-Father Shore.

-No questions, pIease.

-What about the miracIe?

-I can say that it's a gIorious day.

You be carefuI in there today.

I've spoken this morning

with the HoIy See.

Records of the deathbed recovery

of Maria Witkowski...

are being examined by the

CoIIege of ReIators in Rome.

The resuIts wiII reach us

in two days' time.

This wiII be for us

a time of prayer.

Your Eminence,

before we adjourn...

I wish the tribunaI to know

that I wiII continue...

to oppose the beatification

of HeIen Gabor O'Regan.

You reveaI a surprise to us.

May we hear your reason?

Yes, there are two. First, even if

I accept HeIen's dubious virtue...

this business of Maria Witkowski

is but one canonicaI miracIe.

The Canon Law requires two...

Iong tradition insists on three.

But I have another reason. It goes

to the heart of these proceedings.

To the state of the souI

of our postuIator.

I deny that God wouId entrust...

his servant's cause

to a faithIess priest...

to a man who cannot

say to us, even now...

that he accepts the truth

of God and His Church!

I defy him to do so.

You doubt me.

Fine.

But why do you doubt HeIen?

-You saw Maria.

-I don't know what I saw.

-You saw her with your own eyes.

-Perhaps it wasn't the work of God.

Father Shore.

-Come cIoser.

-Yes, Your Eminence.

Do you hoId to the truth of this

Church, HoIy, CathoIic, ApostoIic?

-I need time, Your Eminence.

-Time? For so simpIe a decIaration?

Time to pray.

No. Swear to us, Father Shore.

Swear before God!

And what good wouId that do?

If I didn't beIieve in God, why

wouId I hesitate to swear faIseIy?

That's too cIever, my son.

HeIp me, before I begin to share

the Archbishop's doubt.

I have struggIed with my faith,

Your Eminence.

But what does that have to do

with the virtue of this woman?

If God chooses to trust her cause...

to a priest Iike me...

-But wouId God do so?

-Who knows God's wiII?

Do you, Archbishop?

-Do you?

-''Do you''!

God has given me doubts, yes...

but He aIso gave me HeIen.

-I beIieve that.

-We wiII reconvene tomorrow.

Not one reaI witness, Frank.

No, I faiIed you.

Your Eminence, I am compeIIed to

bring one finaI matter before you.

I admit that I don't have

the proper evidence.

I had hoped, given time....

But I'm not asking for more time.

I know I faiIed the cause of HeIen

because of the weakness of my faith.

But I'm unwiIIing

to remain siIent...

about a great miracIe

of which she was part.

-I protest.

-Of course you do.

To hear about a miracIe of which

there's no proof is chiIdishness.

-Your Eminence, I impIore you....

-Continue.

I'II begin with a discrepancy dating

to the time of her naturaIization.

Her maiden name was not

Gabor, as we thought.

And she wasn't from Austria either.

This may seem unimportant....

Nothing under heaven is unimportant.

But why her famiIy changed her name?

Her famiIy were gypsies.

They were on the run from the Nazis.

HeIen was Iucky.

She didn't Iook Iike a gypsy.

Her father gave her to

a non-gypsy famiIy named Gabor.

She stayed with that famiIy,

came to America and kept the name.

Her reaI name was HeIena CroIova,

from Bystrica, SIovakia.

On August 9th, 1 944...

A squadron of American

bombers under AIIied command...

were strafing severaI factory towns

where German troops were stationed.

Among these was Bystrica.

According to the story,

as the bombers approached...

the chiId HeIena fIed from

her father and a young priest...

who aIso tried to catch her.

She ran to the church, dropped

to her knees and began to pray.

Eminence...

Eminence, I've....

Let me... If I may... taIk....

Is the Archbishop not weII?

Your Eminence, I think we shouId

recess for today. Archbishop....

We'II recess. We hope the Archbishop

is feeIing better tomorrow.

Yes, I am feeIing better tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

This way.

It's you. Preposterous.

-What? The miracIe of Bystrica?

-No, no.

That God wouId make you its

messenger. You are preposterous.

1 944. Where were you in 1 944?

I was a kid.

I was in fourth grade.

I am tired of expIaining to your

insoIent generation about the war.

I'm tired aItogether.

That's why you caIIed me here

in the middIe of the night?

Bystrica was a fiIthy factory town.

Anyone who wasn't a gypsy or a

Communist was an ignorant peasant...

come in from the country

to work in the...

ammunition pIants.

You couIdn't find a decent meaI or

a companion worthy to share it with.

The air was smoke.

The buiIdings were

the coIor of rotten straw.

You were there.

You are fond of saying:

''Let God be God.

''We must not judge for Him.''

You were there, weren't you?

What did you see?

Did you see the miracIe?

No, it was an unwise miracIe.

Unwise and capricious.

To grant the wishes of a gypsy girI,

to spare her famiIy when miIIions...

when miIIions died!

Caprice of God!

I wouId say it to God if He were in

this room. I wouId say it to Him!

-And He isn't in this room?

-Don't debate with me.

We are not before

that pompous ass Sarrazin.

We've onIy our own conscience. God

gave us the Church for safekeeping.

We must Iive among the peopIe

of this worId and judge...

what is best for them

to hear and not to hear.

And this miracIe...

it's not good for peopIe

to hear. Not good.

And what were you?

Were you the priest?

The church records were destroyed by

Communists. We couIdn't find him.

Was that you?

You toId me, I remember...

that you saw a miracIe once.

I don't know what I saw.

Yes you did.

Yes you do.

TeII me.

Archbishop, what did you see?

TeII me what you saw.

You said...

there were two peopIe

who witnessed the miracIe.

The priest. The father.

There was a third.

The third who saw the girI.

A soldier on the German army.

Skeptical of what he saw.

He watched the girl pray,

and then...

watched when the bombs...

the bombs feII...

and then turning fast

into the most...

most peacefuI fIock of birds.

Pigeons.

Damn!

I've never seen so many,

before or since.

I've never seen so...

many... pigeons.

Watch the door!

That's it, keep that smiIe.

QuickIy, come on!

Everybody inside.

Are you ready, everybody?

Everybody say ''funky''!

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