Church officially declares century-old cure of paralyzed sailor a miracle

Church authorities have officially recognized the seemingly inexplicable recovery of a paralyzed sailor, which occurred over a century ago, as a miracle. John “Jack” Traynor, a Liverpool native, journeyed to the sacred French shrine of Lourdes on 22 July 1923, suffering from a paralyzed right hand and an inability to walk. He departed the site on 28 July 1923, propelling his own wheelchair. Recently discovered church records have led both the Archdiocese of Liverpool and a medical panel in Lourdes to conclude that Mr. Traynor underwent an irreversible cure that lacks medical explanation. Archbishop Malcolm McMahon formally announced this recognition during a Mass held at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral on Sunday, marking it as the inaugural English case to receive such acknowledgment. Alex Taylor, Mr. Traynor’s great-great grandson, commented, “It hasn’t really sunk in yet.” He further stated that while the account might appear incredible to many, it did not seem so to him, having personally visited the shrine. “This is going to have an effect beyond Merseyside and around the world. We are delighted,” he added. Relatives of Mr. Traynor were notified slightly over a week prior and were present at the cathedral to witness Archbishop McMahon’s announcement, delivered with “great joy,” that the healing constituted a miracle. A previous effort in 1993 to re-examine the case was unsuccessful due to a lack of “contemporaneous medical evidence.” The authorities at Lourdes follow stringent Vatican criteria, established almost 300 years ago, which mandate that for a cure to be classified as a miracle, it must involve a serious, untreatable medical condition that experiences an instant, medically “inexplicable,” and lasting recovery, subsequently ratified by the recipient’s local bishop. Mr. Traynor, who also suffered from epilepsy, was initially considered too unwell to undertake the journey to the shrine, a site where Catholics have sought miraculous cures since 1858, following alleged visions of the mother of Jesus Christ. His severe injuries were sustained during his service with the Royal Naval Reserve forces in the 1915 Gallipoli landings, where a bullet pierced his right armpit, severing the nerves to his right arm and resulting in paralysis. Upon his return to Liverpool, walking once more after bathing in the Lourdes baths—which some Christians regard as a source of healing—he was met by substantial crowds. However, the church did not ratify the seemingly inexplicable cure at that time. Mr. Traynor regained sufficient strength to operate a coal haulage business, frequently lifting heavy sacks effortlessly for the remainder of his life. His epilepsy also reportedly disappeared. Dr. Kieran Moriarty, an English member of the International Medical Committee of Lourdes for two decades, whose grandparents were among those who welcomed Mr. Traynor at Lime Street station, was requested last year to re-examine the case. Dr. Moriarty uncovered fresh evidence from the Lourdes archives, indicating that a panel of doctors had concluded in 1926 that Mr. Traynor underwent a “prodigious healing which was absolutely outside and above the forces of nature,” yet these documents were never dispatched to Liverpool. Dr. Moriarty expressed being “deeply moved” by his research, stating, “I heard the story of the cure when I was around eight years old and I always thought that it was a recognised miracle until I came to Lourdes as a medical student in 1971.”