ALS in French, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, September 28, 1894. Letter to "Monsieur Meyer," about Bernadette Soubirous (Saint Bernadette of Lourdes). In part (translated): "It is useless that I respond to Mr. Henri Lasserre. Our heads are made differently, we speak a different language, and we would never agree. In addition, I want to remain courteous with him, as he has been with me, and is not anymore. But, from his own letter, it is now established that he has not seen the administrative documents, and that the independent historian who someday will come will have to consult them to write the human and ultimate story of Bernadette. It is also established that there was an abbot Ader in Bartres; that this abbot Ader was the first spiritual guide of Bernadette; that he had her in his catechism class; that he predicted her visions, which gives rise to the most terrible suppositions; and that Mr. Henri Lasserre did not even mention this abbot Ader. There is therefore here, in his book, an inexplicable omission, that takes away all its authority. As for my thirty years of work, I will proudly bear them. I wanted the truth as much as Mr. Henri Lasserre, and I made it with all the strengths in my heart and my intelligence." In fine condition, with an old mounting strip along the left edge. Both Zola and Lasserre, a Catholic journalist and writer, published works about Bernadette of Lourdes.
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