The miracle that led to the beatification of the Venerable Camille Côte de Beauregard could be described as 'historic', considering the evidence presented. It involved the healing of little René from Chambéry on October 28, 1910, who had suffered an "ocular trauma from burdock fruit with injury to the cornea and wound to the conjunctiva".
René was born on October 16, 1899, and at the age of five, in 1904, he had joined the 'Orphelinat du Bocage' of Chambéry founded by the Venerable Camille Costa de Beauregard. On September 26, 1910, while on the road to Chambéry with his companions, playing with the thorny fruits of the Burdock (genus Arctium), René was hit in the right eye by one of them - initially, to avoid problems, the boys claimed that the blow was caused by a pebble kicked up by a passing vehicle.
René recounted that "at the time, I thought I was blind, not having been able to open my eye for a long time because the pain was so great". The little orphan, as soon as he returned to the Institute, was immediately given an eye wash and applied iodoform ointment.
On the following 27 September, Dr. Antoine Denarié, the attending physician, examined the eye, confirming the care provided the day before by Sister Joséphine Rigaud, of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who served in the orphanage founded by Côte de Beauregard.
On 1 October 1910, as there was no improvement, Sr. Rigaud took René to ophthalmologist Amédée Denarié, a cousin of the attending physician, who found the situation serious. The ophthalmologist revisited the little orphan in the following days, noting the persistence of the inflammatory phenomena "with stubborn tenacity".
On the following 20 October, as the severity of the eye injury persisted and amid the discouraging atmosphere noted by the ophthalmologist, Sr. Rigaud initiated a novena invoking the late Canon De Beauregard, the founder of the institute where she and young René resided. The injured boy and the entire community participated in the novena.
By 26 October, the seventh day of the novena, the condition of the boy's eye had worsened during a check-up. The following day, she applied a piece of cloth to René's injured eye, a cloth that had come into contact with items used by the late Abbé De Beauregard, who had passed away a few months earlier.
On 28 October, the final day of the novena, in the morning, upon removing the piece of cloth used to dress the wounded eye, it was observed that the eye had healed.
On 2 November 1910, at 9:30 a.m., ophthalmologist Denarié observed that "the eye was completely healed: no signs of inflammation on the conjunctiva, which had returned to its normal white color, the cornea had regained its brightness and natural appearance."
On 5 November, ophthalmologist Denarié conducted another examination of the healed individual and confirmed that "his recovery remained complete."
