Redigerer William A. Fillinger (avsnitt)

=== Bakgrunn===
Han var det nest yngste av 23 barn av en ikke-katolsk familie.<ref name="Ladouceur"/> Han var først elev på det katolske [[St. Sunniva skole|St. Josephs Institutt]] i [[Kristiania]] til han var 14 år. Så dro han til studier i [[Grenoble]] i [[Frankrike]]. Han ble katolikk i 18-årsalderen i forbindelse med et besøk til valfartsstedet [[Notre-Dame de La Salette]]<ref name="Ladouceur">Fr. Emile Ladouceur, M.S.: [https://www.lasalette.org/about-la-salette/reconciliation/spirituality-and-charism/1921-converted-at-la-salette.html ''Converted at La Salette''] {{Wayback|url=https://www.lasalette.org/about-la-salette/reconciliation/spirituality-and-charism/1921-converted-at-la-salette.html |date=20230405080124 }}, lest 2023-04-05</ref> nær Grenoble, der han ble vitne til et mirakel.<ref name="sitat">P. William A. Fillinger: ''«Among a group of pilgrims that came one day was a girl of 19, paralyzed from the hips down, who said that she had come to be cured. Thousands of people gathered the next day to make the four-mile ascent to the Shrine. The girl was placed in the waters of the spring and the priest fervently intoned the prayers while the crowd sang canticle after canticle. The first two times, no cure was effected but the third time the girl rose steadily to her feet, stood erect and walked. The miracle had been performed. As I stood there, hardly comprehending what I had seen, some invisible force took me by the neck and threw me on my knees. It was then that I realized the message it had conveyed. I went into the church and prayed.»''(Sitert hos fr. Emile Ladouceur, M.S.:'' Converted at La Salette'')</ref>