Jack was born and raised in Liverpool. His Irish mother died when he was quite young but her faith, devotion to Mass and Holy communion and trust in Our Lady stayed with him as a memory and example. When the First World war broke out Jack was mobilized with the Royal Naval Reserve. He took part in several operations Including in 1915 with the landings at Gallipoli. During this Jack was severely injured due to being hit by machine-gun fire. Numerous medical operations took place in Egypt and England which were unsuccessful. Jack eventually returned to Liverpool and lived in Grafton Street with his wife and children. By 1923 Jack had been seen by ten doctors, he was unable to stand or walk, experiencing frequent epileptic fits, three open wounds and no feeling or movement in his right arm. Jack discovered there was to be a pilgrimage to Lourdes in July 1923 at a cost of £13 with a deposit of £1 to book a place. Many people including the priest in charge of the pilgrimage tried to persuade him not to travel. Jack was determined and travelled from Liverpool by train, by sea to France and another train to Lourdes. During the journey jack was very unwell and arrived in Lourdes 22nd July. Despite his condition Jack was able to take part in bathing at the baths and other services. On the afternoon of 25th July, he was again taken to the baths and then onto the Blessed Sacrament Procession in the Rosary Square. When Jack was blessed by the Blessed Sacrament, he realized a great change had taken place in him. His right arm became agitated, and he was able to bless himself for the first time in many years. The three Liverpool Doctors when he was back in the Aisle examined Jack and found he had recovered the voluntary use of his legs and he could walk with difficulty. The next morning Jack was able to run to the Grotto and pray in thanksgiving to Our Lady. The news spread through the Liverpool pilgrims. The three Liverpool doctors examined Jack before he left Lourdes and, in their statement, witnessed that he could walk perfectly, recovered the use of his right arm, the opening in his skull had diminished and that there had been no more epileptic crises. The day before he had taken off the last of the bandages and every one of his sores were healed. When Jack returned to Liverpool there were great crowds to welcome him and see him walk down the station platform with his wife. It was the headlines in the local papers. The official report, issued by the Medical Bureau at Lourdes in 1926 declared that “this extraordinary cure is absolutely beyond and above the powers of nature”. Jack, having recovered from his war injuries, started a coal and haulage business. He also returned to Lourdes each year to help as a brancardier. 

The Declaration of the cure. 

At the end of the Diocesan Pilgrimage in 2024, Archbishop Malcolm and Fr Grant were invited to the medical Bureau to meet with the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes Mgr Jean Marc and the Director of the Medical Bureau Dr Alessandro.  They were presented with the incredible work of Dr Kieran Moriarty and the discovery of the documents that would lead to John’s cure being officially recognised by the Church.    

The Formal Declaration  

Statement on the Case of John Traynor In August 1993, a front-page article in the Catholic Pictorial appeared under the banner: “Is our man a miracle?” It was a reference to the cure of John (Jack) Traynor at Lourdes in 1923, and the possibility that this cure might officially be declared miraculous. The article added that, “Ever since the World War I veteran was cured instantaneously and dramatically during the first archdiocesan pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady… many have believed unquestioningly that the event was miraculous.” Archbishop Derek Worlock added that, “There’s no question that people in Liverpool believe Jack Traynor was cured miraculously, and personally I’d have no hesitation in declaring the cure a miracle if the conditions are fulfilled properly.” Despite the popular belief in Liverpool that John Traynor’s cure, from epilepsy, paralysis of the right arm and paraplegia, was miraculous, there had never been an official ecclesiastical declaration to that effect. Sadly, the 1993 attempt to reconsider the Traynor case floundered, as previous ones had done, because it was thought that there was insufficient contemporaneous evidence to establish that the cure of John Traynor could not be attributed to medical interventions or be explained according to medical science. At the time of our centenary pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2023, the current President of the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations (BdCM), Dr Alessandro de Franciscis, asked Dr Kieran Moriarty, an English member of the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, to conduct a review of the file of John Traynor held in the archives at Lourdes. Dr Moriarty unearthed a reference in the file to a report by Dr Vallet, the then Acting President of the BdCM, which had been published in the Journal de la Grotte in December 1926. Dr Vallet examined John Traynor in July 1926, together with the three doctors (Drs Azurdia, Finn and Marley) who had examined John Traynor at Lourdes in 1923, both before and after his cure. His report concluded that, “We recognise and proclaim, along with our Confreres, that the process of this prodigious healing is absolutely outside and above the forces of nature.” Dr Vallet’s report, which was published in French, appears never to have been sent to Liverpool, and indeed no potential miraculous cures were ever referred from Lourdes to diocesan bishops between 1913 and 1946. Dr Moriarty continued his research in our own archdiocesan archives and elsewhere, assembling an extensive dossier of evidence, and in particular contemporaneous medical evidence, relating to the cure of John Traynor. This dossier was then sent to us by Monseigneur Jean-Marc Micas, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, over the summer. It was clear that there was now sufficient medical evidence to reconsider the possibility that the cure of John Traynor might be declared miraculous. Accordingly, I convened a canonical commission within the archdiocese to consider this case. This commission met here in Liverpool on 29th November, with both Dr Moriarty and Dr de Franciscis appearing as witnesses. 

Given the weight of medical evidence, the testimony to the faith of John Traynor and his devotion to Our Blessed Lady, it is with great joy that I declare that the cure of John Traynor, from multiple serious medical conditions, is to be recognised as a miracle wrought by the power of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

+Malcolm McMahon 

Archbishop of Liverpool                                     December 8^th 2024 

On February 18^th 2025, in a packed cathedral, Archbishop Malcolm, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes along with Cardinal Nichols, representatives of John’s family and members of the medical bureau in Lourdes, came together to celebrate this wonderfully historic moment.  It was a vibrant and renewing liturgy bringing together, not only our diocesan family, but people from far and wide, to celebrate the first English Lourdes miracle to be recognised. A truly inspirational and memorable moment for all.