The Swiss glacier that responded to the power of prayer … finally
You've got to hand it to the Catholic church, sometimes its methods work. In 1678, the inhabitants of Fiesch in the Swiss canton of Valais, exasperated with the glaciers that loomed ever larger over their village, swallowing up their pasturage, inaugurated an annual pilgrimage. The hope was to banish the ice forms with chants, prayers and holy water. Several centuries later, their prayers appeared to have been answered...Villagers in the canton of Valais have been praying for a large glacier to shrink for centuries. Now it's melting, sending dangerous floods their way
Mon 30 Jul 2012"We prayed for the ice to recede, and our prayer worked—too well," said Herbert Volken, mountain guide and mayor of Conches, the district that includes Fiesch.
In 2009 the local parish council petitioned the Vatican to allow a change in the wording of the prayer. A year later the Holy See agreed, and Volken hopes the new prayer will work as well as the last one...
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The Swiss glacier that responded to the power of prayer …...
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