Laborare Est Orare

Religious authorities at Lourdes, whose commercial acumen has helped to make it one of France's holiest shrines, have been persuaded that the miracle of transubstantiation is best performed on domestically manufactured produce. Cheap wafers from Poland had threatened to undercut the prices charged by the otherworldly denizens of France's sixty-six religious communities which make and sell the sacramental bread and live off the proceeds. The church at Lourdes has agreed to continue buying French wafers, but at a reduced price. Expressions of gratitude for their new degree of freedom from worldly and materialistic temptations do not appear to have been forthcoming from the religious communities involved.