Of all the mental epidemics that have visited Europe, beyond question
the most remarkable, and in some of its features the most inexplicable,
is that which prevailed in Paris some hundred and thirty years ago,
among what were called _the Convulsionists of St. Médard_.
The celebrated Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, during his life the opponent
and enemy of the Jesuits, whom he caused to be excluded from the
theological schools of Louvain, left behind him, at his death, a
treatise, posthumously published in 1640, entitled, "Augustinus," in
which he professed to set forth the true opinions of St. Augustine on
those century-long disputed questions of Grace, Free-Will, and
Predestination. Taking ground against the Molinists, he contended for
the doctrine of Predestination antecedent and absolute, a gift purely
gratuitous, of God's free grace, independent of any virtue or merit in
the recipient soul. This doctrine, set forth in five propositions, was
condemned, in the middle of the seventeenth century, by Popes Innocent
X. and Alexander VII.; and against it, when revived by Father Quesnel in
the beginning of the eighteenth century, there was fulminated, in 1713,
by Pope Clement XI., the famous Bull _Unigenitus_.
From this Bull, accepted in France after long opposition, the Jansenist
party appealed to a future Papal Council, thence deriving their name of
_Appellants_. Among these, one of the most noted and zealous was the
Diacre Pâris, who refused a curacy, to avoid signing his adhesion to
what he regarded as heresy, consumed his fortune in works of charity,
and his health in austerities of a character so excessive that they
abridged his life. Dying, as his partisans have it, in the odor of
sanctity, and protesting with his last breath against the doctrines of
the obnoxious Bull, his remains were deposited, on the second of May,
1727, in the small church-yard of St. Médard, situated in the twelfth
_arrondissement_ of Paris, on the Rue Mouffetard, not far from the
Jardin des Plantes.
To the tomb of one whom they regarded as a martyr to their cause the
Jansenist Appellants habitually resorted, in all the fervor of religious
zeal, heated to enthusiasm by the persecution of the dominant party. And
there, after a time, phenomena presented themselves, which caused for
years, throughout the French capital and among the theologians of that
age, a fever of excitement; and which, though they have been noticed by
medical and other writers of our own century, have not yet, in my
judgment, attracted, either from the medical profession or from the
pneumatological inquirer, the attention they deserve.
Of these phenomena a portion were physical, and a portion were mental or
psychological. The former, first appearing in the early part of the year
1731, consisted (as alleged) partly of extraordinary cures, the apparent
result of violent convulsive movements which overtook the patients soon
after their bodies touched the marble of the tomb, sometimes even
without approaching it, by swallowing, in wine or water, a small portion
of the earth gathered from around it, the effect being heightened by
strict fasting and prayer,--partly of what were called the "_Grands
Secours_," literally "Great Succors," consisting of the most desperate,
one might say _murderous_, remedies, applied, at their urgent request,
to relieve the sufferings of the Convulsionists. These measures, called
of relief, and carried to an incredible excess, were of such a
character, that, during any normal state of the human system, they would
have destroyed, not one, but a hundred lives, if the patient, or victim,
had been endowed with so many. Those who regarded this marvellous
immunity from what seemed certain immolation as a miraculous
interposition of God were called _Succorists_; their opponents,
ascribing such effects to the interference of the Devil in protection of
his own, or (a somewhat rare opinion in those days) to natural
agency, went by the name of _Anti-Succorists_. (_Secouristes_ and
_Anti-Secouristes_.)
Some of these alleged cures, but more especially some of these so-called
_succors_, were of a nature so far passing belief, that one would be
tempted to cast them aside as sheer impostures, were not the main facts
vouched for by evidence, not from the Jansenists alone, but from their
bitterest opponents, so direct, so overwhelmingly multiplied, so
minutely circumstantial, that to reject it would amount to a virtual
declaration, that, in proof of the extraordinary and the improbable, we
will accept no testimony whatever, let its weight or character be what
it may. Accordingly, we find dispassionate modern writers, medical and
others, while reminding us, as well they may, that enlightened observers
of these strange phenomena were lacking,[3] and while properly
suggesting that we ought to make allowance for exaggeration in some of
the details, yet admitting as incontestable realities the substantial
facts related by the historians of St. Médard.
Among these historians the chief is Carré de Montgéron, a magistrate of
rank and high character, Counsellor of the Parliament of Paris. An
enthusiast, and a weak logician, as hot enthusiasts generally are,
Montgéron's honesty is admitted to be beyond question. Converted to
Jansenism on the seventh of September, 1731, in the church-yard of St.
Médard, by the strange scenes there passing, he expended his fortune,
sacrificed his liberty, and devoted years of his life, in the
preparation and publication of one of the most extraordinary works that
ever issued from the press.[4] It consists of three quarto volumes, of
some nine hundred closely printed pages each. Crowded with repetitions,
and teeming with false reasoning, these volumes nevertheless contain,
backed by certificates without number, such an elaborate aggregation of
concurrent testimony as I think human industry never before brought
together to prove any contested class of phenomena.
Not less zealous, if less voluminous, were the writers opposed to what
was called "the work of the convulsions." Of these one of the chief was
Dom La Taste, Bishop of Bethléem, author of the "Lettres Théologiques,"
and of the "Mémoire Théologique," in both of which the extravagances of
the Convulsionists are severely handled; a second was the Abbé d'Asfeld,
who, in 1738, published his "Vains Efforts des Discernans," in the same
strain; and another, M. Poncet, who put forth an elaborate reply to the
Succorists, entitled "Réponse des Anti-Secouristes à la Réclamation."
The convulsions, commencing in the year 1731, almost immediately assumed
an epidemical character, spreading so rapidly that in a few months the
affected reached the number of eight hundred. These were to be found not
only on the tomb and in the cemetery itself, but in the streets, lanes,
and houses adjoining. Many, after returning from the exciting scenes of
St. Médard, were seized with convulsions in their own dwellings.
The numbers and the excitement went on increasing, and conversions to
Jansenism were counted by thousands; the scenes became daily more
extravagant, and the phenomena more extraordinary, until the King, moved
either by the representations of physicians or by the remonstrances of
Jesuit theologians, caused the cemetery to be closed on the twenty-ninth
of January, 1732.[5]
Not for such interdiction, however, did the phenomena, once in progress,
intermit. For fifteen years, or longer,[6] the symptoms continued, with
more or less violence. Indeed, the number of Convulsionists greatly
increased after the cemetery was closed, extending to those who had no
ailment or bodily infirmity.[7]
The symptoms, though varying in different individuals, were of one
general character, partaking, especially as to the muscular phenomena,
of the nature of hysteria, or hystero-catalepsy. The patient, soon after
being placed on the revered tomb, or on the ground near it, was commonly
attacked by a tumultuous movement of all his members. Contractions
exhibited themselves in the neck, shoulders, and principal muscles all
over the body. The nervous system became dreadfully excited. The heart
beat violently, and the patient, sometimes retaining partial
consciousness and suffering extreme pain, could not restrain violent
cries. He usually experienced, also, a tingling or pricking sensation in
any diseased member. Those who from birth had been afflicted with
paralysis, or partial paralysis, of a limb, or one side of the body,
felt the convulsions chiefly in that limb or side. The convulsions were
often so violent that numerous assistants could scarcely restrain the
patient from seriously injuring himself by dashing his body or limbs
against the marble.[8]
The Demoiselle Fourcroy, alleged to have been suddenly cured, on the
fourteenth of April, 1732, by means of these convulsions, of a confirmed
anchylosis, which had deformed her left foot, and which the physicians
had pronounced incurable,[9] thus describes, in her deposition, her
sensations:--"They caused me to take wine in which was some earth from
the tomb of M. de Pâris, and I immediately engaged in prayer, as the
commencement of a _neuvaine_" (that is, a nine-days' act of devotion).
"Almost at the same moment I was seized with a great shuddering, and
soon after with a violent agitation of the members, which caused my
whole body to jerk into the air, and gave me a force I had never before
possessed,--so that the united strength of several persons present could
scarcely restrain me. After a time, in the course of these violent
convulsive movements, I lost all consciousness. As soon as they passed
off, I recovered my senses, and felt a sensation of tranquillity and
internal peace, such as I had never experienced before."[10]
It was usually at the moment of recovery from these convulsions, as
Montgéron alleges and the certificates published by him declare, that
the cures deemed by him miraculous were effected. Sometimes, however,
these cures were gradual only, extending through several days or weeks.
In Montgéron's work fourteen distinct cures are minutely reported, all
of persons declared by the attendant physicians to be incurable. Each of
these cures, with the documentary evidence in support of it, occupies
from fifty to one hundred pages of his book. The greater number are
cases of paralysis, usually of one entire side of the body, in some
instances complicated with general dropsy, in others with cancer, in
others again with attacks of apoplexy. There are four cases where the
eyesight was restored,--one of them of a lachrymal fistula; one of a
young Spanish nobleman, who suddenly recovered the use of his right eye,
the left, however, remaining uncured; and there is a case in which a
young woman, deaf and dumb from birth, is reported to have been suddenly
and completely cured on the tomb of M. de Pâris, at the moment the
convulsions ceased, immediately repeating, though not understanding, any
word that was spoken to her by the bystanders.
My limits do not permit me to follow Montgéron through the details and
the documentary proof of these cures. That the patient, in each case,
previously examined by some physician of reputation, was pronounced
incurable, does not prove that he was so. Yet, unless Montgéron lie,
some of the cures are inexplicable, upon any received principles of
medical science. One man, (Philippe Sergent,) whose right knee had
shrunk to such a degree that the right leg was, and had been for more
than a year, three finger-breadths shorter than the left, was, according
to the certificates, cured on the spot, threw away his crutches, and
walked home, unaided, followed by a wondering crowd. Another patient,
(Marguerite Thibault,) affected by general dropsy, and whose feet and
legs were swollen to three times their natural size, is reported to have
been cured so suddenly that before she left the tomb her servant could
put on her feet the same slippers she had worn previously to her malady.
This woman had also been afflicted, for three years, with paralysis of
the left side, so complete as to deprive it of all power of motion. Yet
she is stated to have raised herself, unaided, on the tomb, to have
walked from the spot, and even to have ascended the stairs of her house
on her return. The symptom immediately preceding her cure is said to
have been "a beneficent heat, which diffused itself over the entire left
side, so long deadly cold." This was followed by a consciousness of
power to move it; and her first effort was to stretch out her paralytic
arm.[11]
But these cures, wonderful as they appear, are far less marvellous than
another class of phenomena already referred to.
The convulsions were often accompanied by an urgent instinctive desire
for certain extreme remedies, sometimes of a frightful character,--as
stretching the limbs with a violence similar to that of the
rack,--administering on the breast, stomach, or other parts of the body,
hundreds of terrible blows with heavy weapons of wood, iron, or
stone,--pressing with main force against various parts of the body with
sharp-pointed swords,--pressure under enormous weights,--exposure to
excessive heat, etc. Montgéron, viewing the whole as miraculous,
says,--"God frequently causes the convulsionists the most acute pains,
and at the same time intimates to them, by a supernatural instinct, that
the formidable succors which He desires that they should demand will
cause all their sufferings to cease; and these sufferings usually have a
sort of relation to the succors which are to prove a remedy for them.
For instance, an oppression on the breast indicates the necessity for
blows of extreme violence on that part; an excessive cold, or a
devouring heat, when it suddenly seizes a convulsionist, requires that
he should be pushed into the midst of flames; a sharp pang, similar to
that caused by an iron point piercing the flesh, demands a thrust of a
rapier,[12] given in the spot where the pain is felt, be it In the
throat, in the mouth, or in the eyes, of which there are numerous
examples; and let the rapier be pushed as it may, the point, no matter
how sharp, cannot pierce the most tender flesh, not even the eye of the
patient: of this, in my third proposition, I shall adduce proof the most
incontestable."[13]
To _some_ extent, it would seem, the symptoms themselves, attending the
convulsions, appeared, to the observant physician, to warrant the
propriety of the remedy desired. Montgéron copies a report of a case
made to him, and attested by a gentleman of his acquaintance, a
Jansenist, who had persuaded his cousin, Dr. M----, at that time a
distinguished physician of Paris, and much prejudiced against the
Jansenist movement, to accompany him to a house where there was a young
girl subject to the reigning epidemic. They found her in a room with
twenty or thirty persons, and at the moment in convulsions. The
assistants agreed to place the case in the hands of the physician, and
he carefully noted the movements of the patient.
"After a time," proceeds the reporter, "he was greatly astonished to
observe a sudden convulsive retraction of all the members. Examining the
patient closely, touching her breast and limbs, he became aware of a
contraction of the nerves, which gradually reached such a degree of
violence that the whole body was disfigured in a frightful manner. His
surprise was extreme, and it was soon changed to alarm, which induced
him to forget his prejudices, and to resort to the very means he had
previously condemned as useless or dangerous. He caused us to place
ourselves, one at the head and one at each hand and foot, and bade us
pull moderately. We did so.
"'Not enough,' he said, with his hand on the patient's breast;
'stronger!'
"We obeyed.
"'Stronger yet!' he exclaimed.
"We told him we were exerting our entire strength.
"'Two, then, to each limb,' he said.
"It was done, (by the aid of long and very strong pieces of
cloth-listing,) but proved insufficient.
"'Three to each!' he cried; 'the child will die; pull with all your
force! Stronger still!'"
"'We cannot.'"
"'Then four to each!'"
"He was obeyed."
"'Ah, that relieves,' he said; 'the nerves resume their tone; the
symptoms improve. But do not relax the tension.'"
"Then again, after a pause,--"
"'Strong! stronger! The contractions increase. Put all your strength to
it.'"
Ultimately five persons were assigned to each band; and the nearest
aided themselves by bracing their feet against the bed. They continued
their efforts during half an hour, sometimes pulling with all their
strength, sometimes less strongly, as the physician observed the
contraction of the nerves to increase or relax. Finally he ordered the
tension to be gradually diminished, in proportion as the convulsion
passed off.
After a time this convulsion was succeeded by another, causing a sudden
and alarming swelling of the chest. "The girl stood leaning against a
wall, and in that position he caused us, as had been our wont, to press
with force on her chest. This we did, interposing a small cushion
composed of listing. At first, I alone assisted." Then Dr. M---- ordered
three, four, five, ultimately even a greater number of persons, to aid
them. "The convulsion ceased gradually, and in the same proportion he
caused us to diminish the pressure."
"Afterwards the physician, having retired to another room, said to us,
before going away, 'You would be homicides, gentlemen, if you did not
render these succors; for the symptoms require them; and the girl would
die, if you refused them. There is nothing but what is natural in the
relation between her state and these succors.'"[14]
Another example, occurring in 1740, and still more striking, because the
case was that of a girl only three years of age, is given by Montgéron
on the authority (among other witnesses) of Count de Novion, a near
relative of the Duke de Gesvres, Governor of Paris. The Count, having
been present throughout this case, testifies from personal observation.
The child's limbs, as in the previous example, were drawn up by violent
convulsive movements, and the muscles became as it were knotted, causing
extreme pain. The little creature urgently begged that they would draw
her legs and arms. Moderate tension caused no diminution of the pain;
violent tension, administered with fear and trembling, relieved her
immediately. She complained also of acute pain in the breast, which
swelled to an alarming extent. To remove this, nothing proved effectual
but excessive pressure with the knee on the part affected.
After a time, however, some of the Anti-Succorist theologians persuaded
the mother that the succors ought not to be administered,--and even
raised doubts in her mind and in that of the Count, as to whether the
Devil had not some agency in the affair. "Who knows," said the latter,
"if the Arch-Enemy has no part in this?" So they intermitted the succors
for some weeks. During this time the infant gradually sank from day to
day, would scarcely eat or drink, seldom slept, and death seemed
imminent.
The physician, being called in, declared that the only hope was in
resuming the succors, terrible as they appeared, and that, too,
promptly. To the father he said, "If you delay, it will be too late.
While you are trying all your fine experiments with her, your child will
die." They resumed the same violent remedies as before; and the child
was gradually restored to perfect health.[15]
But these examples, whatever we may think of them, are but some of the
most moderate, which Montgéron himself admits to be explicable on
natural principles. He says: "During the first months that the succors
commenced, the power of resistance offered by the convulsionists did not
appear so surprising, and seemed, indeed, to be the effect of an
excessive swelling which was observed in the muscles upon which the
convulsionists requested the blows to be given, and of the violent
agitation of the animal spirits; so that the succors demanded by the
sufferers appeared, in a measure, the natural remedy for the state in
which God had placed them. But when, every day, the violence of the
blows increased, it became evident that the natural force of the muscles
could not equal that of the tremendous strokes which the convulsionists
demanded, in obedience, as they said, to the will of God. And here was
manifested the miracle."[16]
I proceed to give, as an example of one of the more violent succors here
spoken of as miraculous, a narrative, not only vouched for by Montgéron
himself as a witness present, but put forth, in the first instance, by
one of the most violent Anti-Succorists, the Abbé d'Asfeld, in his work
already referred to,--and put forth by him in order to be condemned as a
wicked tempting of Providence,[17] or, worse, an accepting of aid from
the Prince of Darkness himself. It occurred in 1734.
"Here," says the Abbé, "is an example, all the more worthy of attention,
inasmuch as persons of every station and condition, ecclesiastics,
magistrates, ladies of rank, were among the spectators. Jeanne Moler, a
young girl of twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, standing up with
her back resting against a stone wall, an extremely robust man took an
andiron,[18] weighing, as was said, from twenty-five to thirty pounds,
and therewith gave her, with his whole force, numerous blows on the
stomach. They counted upwards of a hundred at a time. One day a certain
friar, after having given her sixty such blows, tried the same weapon
against a wall; and it is said that at the twenty-fifth blow he broke an
opening through it."[19]
Dom La Taste, the great opponent of Jansenism, alluding to the same
circumstance, says, "I do not dispute the fact, that the andiron sunk so
deeply that it appeared to penetrate to the very backbone."[20]
Montgéron, after quoting the above, adds his own testimony, as to this
same occurrence, in these words:--
"As I am not ashamed to confess that I am one of those who have followed
up most closely the work of the convulsions, I freely admit that I am
the person to whom the author alludes, when he speaks of a certain friar
who tried against a wall the effect of blows similar to those he had
given the convulsionist. As this is an occurrence personal to myself, I
trust the reader will perceive the propriety of my presenting to him the
narrative in a more exact and detailed form than that in which it is
given by the author of the 'Vains Efforts.'
"I had begun, as I usually do, by giving the convulsionist very moderate
blows. But after a time, excited by her constant complaints, which left
me no room to doubt that the oppression in the pit of the stomach of
which she complained could be relieved only by violent blows, I
gradually increased the force of mine, employing at last my whole
strength; but in vain. The convulsionist continued to complain that the
blows I gave her were so feeble that they procured her no relief; and
she caused me to put the andiron into the hands of a large and stout man
who happened to be one of the spectators. He kept within no bounds.
Instructed by the trial he had seen me make that nothing could be too
severe, he discharged such terrible blows, always on the pit of the
stomach, as to shake the wall against which the convulsionist was
leaning.
"She caused him to give her one hundred such blows, not reckoning as
anything the sixty I had just administered. She warmly thanked the man
who had procured her such relief, and reproached me for my weakness and
my lack of faith.
"When the hundred blows were completed, I took the andiron, desirous of
trying against the wall itself whether my blows, which she thought so
feeble and complained of so bitterly, really did produce no effect. At
the twenty-fifth stroke the stone against which I struck, and which had
been shaken by the previous blows, was shattered, and the pieces fell
out on the opposite side, leaving an opening of more than six inches
square.
"Now let us observe what were the portions of the body of the
convulsionist on which these fearful blows were dealt. It is true that
they first came in contact with the skin, but they sank immediately to
the back of the patient; their force was not arrested at the surface.
"I insist unnecessarily, perhaps, upon this fact, since all, even our
greatest enemies, admit its truth. But, however incontestable it is, I
conceive that I cannot too strongly prove it to those who have not
themselves witnessed what happened; inasmuch as the principal objection
made by the author of the 'Mémoire Théologique' consists in supposing
that the violence of the most tremendous blows given to convulsionists
is suspended by the Devil, who thus nullifies the effect they would
naturally produce."[21]
Montgéron further says, that "the greatest enemies of these miraculous
succors admitted the fact that such terrible blows, far from producing
the slightest wound, or causing the convulsionist the least suffering,
actually cured the pains of which she complained."[22]
The convulsionist sometimes demanded enormous pressure instead of
violent blows. To this also, the Abbé d'Asfeld testifies. I translate
from his "Vains Efforts."
"Next came the exercise of the platform. It consisted in placing on the
convulsionist, who was stretched on the ground, a board of sufficient
size to cover her entirely; and as many men as could stand upon it
mounted on the board. The convulsionist sustained them all."[23]
Montgéron adds,--"This relation is tolerably exact, and it only remains
for me to observe, that, as they gave each other the hand, for
reciprocal support, most of those who were on the board rested the whole
weight of the body on a single foot. Thus, twenty men at a time often
stood upon the board, and were supported on the body of a young
convulsionist. Now, as most men weigh a hundred and fifty pounds, and
many weigh more, the body of the girl must have sustained a weight of
three thousand pounds, if not sometimes nearly four thousand,--a load
sufficient to crush an ox. Yet, not only was the convulsionist not
oppressed by it, but she often found the pressure insufficient to
correct the swelling which distended her muscles. With what force must
not God have endowed the body of this girl! Since the days of Samson,
was ever seen such a prodigy?"[24]
If these incidents, attested as they are by friend and foe, seem to us
incredible, what shall we say of another, not less strongly attested?
Let us first, as before, take the statement of an adversary. I translate
from the "Mémoire Théologique."
"A convulsionist laid herself on the floor, flat on her back; and a man,
kneeling beside her, and raising a flint stone, weighing upwards of
twenty pounds, as high as he could, after several preliminary trials,
dashed it, with all his force, against the breast of the convulsionist,
giving her one hundred such blows in succession."[25]
To this Montgéron subjoins,--"But the author ought to have added, that,
at each blow, the whole room shook, the floor trembled, and the
spectators could not repress a shudder at the frightful noise which was
heard, as each blow fell on the convulsionist's breast." We need not be
surprised that he adds,--"Not only ought such strokes naturally to
rupture the minute vessels, the delicate glands, the veins and the
arteries of which the breast is composed,--not only ought they, in the
course of Nature, to have crushed and reduced the whole to a bloody
mass,--but they ought to have shattered to pieces the bones and
cartilages by which the breast is inclosed."[26]
This was the view of the case taken by a celebrated physician of the
day. Montgéron tells us:--"This philosopher maintained that the facts
alleged could not be true, because they were physically impossible. He
raised, among other objections, this,--that the flexible, delicate
nature of the skin, of the flesh, and of the viscera, is incompatible
with a force and a consistency so extraordinary as the alleged facts
presuppose; and, consequently, that it was impossible, without ceasing
to be what they are,--without a radical change in their qualities,--that
they should acquire a force superior to that of the hardest and most
solid bodies. They let him quietly complete his anatomical argument, and
set forth all his proofs, and merely answered, 'Come and see; test the
truth of the facts for yourself.' He went. At first sight, he is seized
with astonishment; he doubts the evidence of his eyes; he asks to be
allowed himself to administer the succors. They immediately place in his
hands iron bars of a crushing weight. He does not spare his blows; he
exerts his utmost strength. The weapon sinks into the flesh, seems to
penetrate to the entrails. But the convulsionist only laughs at his idle
efforts. His blows but procure her relief, without leaving the least
impression, the slightest trace, even on the epidermis."[27]
Space fails me to furnish more than a very few additional specimens of
the endless incidents of which the details are scattered by Montgéron
over hundreds of pages,--incidents occurring in various parts of Paris,
daily, for many years. Three or four more of these may suffice for my
present purpose.
A certain Marie Sonnet had made herself so remarkable by the incredible
succors she demanded, that a physician of Paris, Dr. A----, published,
in regard to her case, a satirical letter addressed to M. de Montgéron,
in which, after attacking the girl's moral character, be assumed this
strange position: "It is a sentiment universally established, that it is
in the power of the Devil, when God permits, to communicate to man
forces above those of Nature. Nor must it be said that God never permits
this; the case of the girl Sonnet is unanswerable proof to the
contrary."[28]
Among the incidents which appear to have led to this opinion one is thus
stated by him:--"They let fall upon her stomach, from the height of the
ceiling, a stone weighing fifty pounds, while her body, bent back like a
bow, was supported on the point of a sharpened stake, placed just under
the spine; yet, far from being crushed by the stone, or pierced by the
stake, it was a relief to her."[29]
Montgéron supplies further particulars of this case. He says:--"It was
not once, it was a hundred times in succession, and that daily repeated,
that this flint stone was raised by main force, by the aid of a pulley,
to the ceiling of the room, and thence suddenly let fall on the stomach
of the patient. This stone weighed, it is true, fifty pounds only; but,
descending from a great height, its effect was immensely increased by
the momentum it acquired in falling, as soon as the cord was detached by
which it was suspended in the air.' And, in truth, the ribs of the
convulsionist bent under the terrible shock, sinking under the weight
till her stomach and bowels were so completely flattened that the stone
seemed wholly to displace them. Yet she received no injury whatever, but
was relieved, as Dr. A---- himself admits. He confesses, also, that the
body of the convulsionist was bent back so that the head and feet
touched the floor, and was supported only on the sharp point of a stake
right under her reins, and placed perpendicularly beneath the spot where
the stone was to fall. The weight of the stone in falling was,
therefore, arrested only by the point of this stake, the body of the
convulsionist being between them, so that the entire force of the blow
was concentrated opposite that point.... The stake appeared to penetrate
to a certain depth into the body, yet neither the skin nor the flesh
received the slightest injury, nor did the convulsionist experience any
pain whatever."[30]
This same Marie Sonnet exposed herself to terrible tests by fire. A
certificate in regard to this matter, signed by eleven persons, of whom
one was an English lord, one a Doctor of Theology in the Sorbonne, and
another the brother of Voltaire, Armand Arouet, Treasurer of the Chamber
of Accounts, is given by Montgéron, and I here translate it:--
"We, the undersigned, certify, that this day, between eight and ten
o'clock, P.M., Marie Sonnet, being in convulsion, was placed, her head
resting on one stool and her feet on another, these stools being
entirely within a large chimney and under the opening of the same, so
that her body was suspended in the air above the fire, which was of
extreme violence, and that she remained in that position for the space
of thirty-six minutes, at four different times; yet the cloth [_drap_]
in which she was wrapped (she having no other dress) was not burned,
though the flames sometimes passed above it: all which appears to us
entirely supernatural. In testimony whereof, we have signed our names,
this twelfth of May, 1736."
To this certificate, which was afterwards legally recorded, a postscript
is appended, stating, that, while they were writing out the certificate,
Marie placed herself a fifth time over the fire, as before, remaining
there nine minutes; that she appeared to sleep, though the fire was
excessively hot; fifteen logs of wood, besides fagots, having been
consumed in the two hours and a quarter during which the witnesses
remained.
Montgéron adds, that this exhibition has been witnessed at least a
hundred times, and by a multitude of persons. And he expressly states,
that the stools, which consisted of iron frames, with a board upon each,
were placed entirely within the fireplace, and one on each side of the
fire; so that, as Marie Sonnet rested her head on one stool and her feet
on the other, her body remained suspended immediately above the fire;
and further, that, "no matter how intense the heat, not only did she
suffer no inconvenience, but the cloth in which she was wrapped was
never injured, nor even singed, though it was sometimes actually in the
flames."[31]
He declares, also, that Marie, on other occasions, remained over the
fire much longer than is above certified. The author of the "Vains
Efforts" admits that "she remained exposed to the fire long enough to
roast a piece of mutton or veal."
Montgéron informs us, in addition, that Marie Sonnet sometimes varied
the form of this experiment, with a somewhat varying result. He
says,--"I have seen her five or six times, and in the presence of a
multitude of persons, thrust both her feet, with shoes and stockings on,
into the midst of a burning brazier; but in this case the fire did not
respect the shoes, as, in the other, it had respected the cloth that
enwrapped her. The shoes caught fire, and the soles were reduced to
ashes, but without the convulsionist experiencing pain in her feet,
which she continued to keep for a considerable time in the fire. Once I
had the curiosity to examine the soles of her stockings, in order to
ascertain if they, too, were burnt. As soon as I touched them they
crumbled to powder, so that the sole of the foot remained bare."[32]
Dr. A----, in the letter already alluded to, which he published against
this girl, admits, that, "while in the midst of flames, or stretched
over a burning brazier, she received no injury whatever."[33]
M. Poncet, whom I have elsewhere mentioned as one of the chief writers
against the Succorists, admits the following:--
"This convulsionist [Gabrielle Moler] placed herself on her knees before
a large fire full of burning coals all in flame. Then, a person being
seated behind her, and holding her by a band, she plunged her head into
the flames, which closed over it; then, being drawn back, she repeated
the same, continuing it with a regular alternate movement. She has been
seen thus to throw herself on the fire six hundred times in succession.
Usually she wore a bonnet, but sometimes not; and when she did wear one,
the top of the bonnet was occasionally burned."[34] Montgéron adds, "but
her hair never."[35]
Gabrielle was the first who (in 1736) demanded what was called the
_succor of the swords_. Montgéron says,--"She was prompted by the
supernatural instinct which guided her to select the strongest and
sharpest sword she could find among those worn by the spectators. Then
setting herself with her back against a wall, she placed the point of
the sword just above her stomach, and called upon him who seemed the
strongest man to push it with all his force; and though the sword bent
into the form of a bow from the violence with which it was pushed, so
that they had to press against the middle of the blade to keep it
straight, still the convulsionist cried out, 'Stronger! stronger!' After
a time she applied the point of the sword to her throat, and required it
to be pushed with the same violence as before. The point caused the skin
to sink into the throat to the depth of four finger-breadths, but it
never pierced the flesh, let them push as violently as they would.
Nevertheless, the point of the sword seemed to attach itself to the
skin; for, when drawn back, it drew the skin with it, and left a
trifling redness, such as would be caused by the prick of a pin. For the
rest, the convulsionist suffered no pain whatever."[36]
Similar is the testimony of an Advocate of the Parliament of Paris,
extracts from whose certificate in regard to the succors rendered to the
Sister Madeleine are given by Montgéron. Here is one of these:--
"One day, extended on the ground, she caused a spit to be placed
upright, with the point on her bare throat. Then a stout man mounted on
a chair, and suspended his whole body from the head of the spit,
pressing with all his force, as if to transfix the throat and pierce the
floor beneath. But the flesh merely sank in with the point of the spit,
without being in the least injured.
"Another day, she placed the point of a very sharp sword against the
hollow of the throat, just below the epiglottis, and, standing with her
back against the wall, called on them to push the sword. A vigorous man
did so, till the blade bent, though not so much as to form a complete
arc. The point sank into the flesh about an inch. I was curious to
measure the exact depth, and found that the flesh rose so far around the
sword-point that I could sink a finger in beyond the first joint. She
received this succor twice. The sword was one of the sharpest I have
ever seen. We tried it against a portfolio containing the paper intended
for the minutes which on such occasions I always make out. It perforated
the pasteboard and a considerable part of the papers within."[37]
The Sister Madeleine carried her temerity in this matter still farther.
Here is a portion of the certificate of an ecclesiastic, for whose
uprightness and truthfulness Montgéron vouches in strong terms, and who
relates what he alleges he saw on the thirty-first of May, 1744.
"Madeleine caused them to hold two swords in the air horizontally. She
herself placed the point of one in the inner corner of the right eye,
and of the other in the inner corner of the left, and then called out to
those who held the swords, 'In the name of the Father, push!' They did
so with all their force; and I confess that I shuddered from head to
foot.... A second time Madeleine caused them to set two swords against
the pupils of her eyes, and to press them strongly, as before. This time
I took especial notice of the part of the sword that was on a level with
the surface of the eye when the pressure was the strongest, and I
perceived that the point had penetrated a good inch into the pupil."[38]
The Chaplain in Ordinary of the King, under date of the fourth of
October, 1744, testifies to confirmatory facts. He says,--"I have seen
them push sword-points against the eyes of Sisters Madeleine and
Félicité, sometimes on the pupil, sometimes in the corner of the eye,
sometimes on the eyelid,--with such force as to cause the eyeball to
project, till the spectators shuddered."[39]
Another officer of the royal household gives a certificate of succors
administered to this same Madeleine, of a character scarcely less
wonderful, with pointed spits, of which two were broken against her
body.
This officer certifies, also, that, on one occasion, when pushing a
sharp sword against Madeleine, not being able to push strongly enough
to satisfy her, he placed a book bound in parchment on his own breast,
placed the hilt of his sword against it, and pressed with so much force
that the cover of the book was quite spoiled by the deep indentation
made by the sword-hilt. He adds,--"The instinct of her convulsion caused
her sometimes to demand as many as twenty-two swords at a time. These
were placed, some in front, some against her back, some against her
sides, in every direction. I myself never saw quite so many employed;
but I was present, and was myself assisting, when eighteen swords were
pushed at once against various parts of her body. Although the force
with which this prodigious succor was administered caused deep
indentations in the flesh, she never received the slightest wound. It
often happened that her convulsions caused the flesh to react under the
pressure of the sword-points, so as forcibly to push back the
assistants."[40]
The Advocate of the Parliament of Paris, already mentioned, certifies to
the same phenomenon. His words are,--"One can feel, under the
sword-point, a movement of the flesh, which, from time to time, thrusts
back the sword. This occurs the most strongly when the succor is nearly
at an end. The convulsionist calls out, 'Enough!' as soon as the pains
are relieved."[41]
The same Advocate states, that sometimes the convulsionist threw the
weight of her body on the swords, the hilts resting on the floor, and
being secured from slipping. He speaks of one case in which, "while she
was balancing herself on the points of several swords upon which she had
thrown herself with all her weight, [_où elle se jettoit à corps
perdû_,] one of them broke."[42]
The officer of the king's household already spoken of testifies to a
similar fact. A certain Sister Dina, he says, caused six swords thus to
break against her body. He adds, that he himself broke the blade of a
sword while thrusting against her; and that he saw two others broken in
the same way.[43]
In regard to what Montgéron considers the exacting instinct, the same
officer says,--"I had the curiosity to ask Sister Madeleine, in her
natural state, what was the sort of suffering which caused her to have
recourse to such astonishing succors. She replied, that the pain she
suffered was the same as if swords were actually piercing her; that she
felt relieved of this pain as soon as the sword-points penetrated to her
skin, and quite cured when the assistants put their whole force to it.
She laughed when the swords pierced her dress, saying, 'I feel the
points on my skin. That relieves. That does me good.'"[44]
Both the Advocate of Parliament and the ecclesiastic from whose
certificates I have quoted testify that the convulsionists were
repeatedly undressed and examined by a committee of their own sex,
consisting in part of incredulous ladies of fashion, to ascertain that
they had nothing concealed under their clothes to resist the
sword-points. But in every case it was ascertained that they wore but
the ordinary articles of under-clothing. The Sister Dina was examined in
this way; and it was ascertained that she had nothing under her gown
except a chemise and a simple linen stomacher. Her clothing was found
pierced in many places, but the flesh wholly uninjured.[45]
Although throughout the writings of the Anti-Succorists there are
constant denunciations of these succors as flagrant and wicked temptings
of Providence, yet I do not find therein any allegation that serious
injury was ever sustained by any of the patients. Montgéron himself,
however, admits, that, on one occasion, a wound was received. He tells
us that a certain convulsionist long resisted the instinct which bade
her demand the succor of a triangular-bladed sword against the left
breast, fearing the result. At last, however, the pain became so intense
that she was fain to consent. For the first seven or eight minutes the
sword-point only indented the flesh, as usual. But then, says Montgéron,
"her faith suddenly failing her, she cried out, 'Ah! you will kill me!'
No sooner had she pronounced the words than the sword pierced the flesh,
making a wound two inches in depth." He alleges, further, that the
instinct of the convulsionist informed her that the wound would have no
bad consequences, and could be cured by severe blows of a club on the
same spot; which, he declares, happened accordingly.[46]
Besides the incidents above related, and a hundred others of similar
character, which, if time and the reader's patience permitted, I might
cull from Montgéron's pages, the restless enthusiasm of the
convulsionists ultimately betrayed them into extravagances, in which it
is often hard to decide whether the grotesque or the horrible more
predominated. One convulsionist descended the long stairs of an
infirmary head-foremost, lying on her back; another caused herself to be
attached, by a rope round her neck, to a hook in the wall. A third
repeated her prayers while turning somersets. A fourth, suspended by the
feet, with the head hanging down, remained in that position
three-quarters of an hour. A fifth, lying down on a tomb, caused herself
to be covered to the neck with baked earth mixed with sand and saturated
with vinegar. A sixth made her bed, in winter, on billets of wood; a
seventh on bars of iron. The Sister Félicité was in the habit of causing
herself to be nailed to the cross, and of remaining there half an hour
at a time, gayly conversing with the pious who surrounded her.[47]
Another sister, named Scholastique, after long hesitation between
different modes of mortification, having one day remarked the manner in
which they constructed the pavement of the streets, had her dress
tightly fastened below the knee, and then ordered one of the assistants
to take her by the legs, and, with her head downward, to dash it
repeatedly against the tiled floor, after the fashion of paviors, when
using a rammer.
"If," says Calmeil, "the idea had chanced to suggest itself to one of
these theomaniacs, that disembowelling alive would be a sacrifice
pleasing to the Supreme Being, she would undoubtedly have insisted upon
being subjected to such a martyrdom."[48]
The mental and physiological phenomena connected with this epidemic
remain to be noticed, together with the theories and suggestions put
forth by medical and other contemporary writers, in explanation of what
has here been sketched, the substance of which is usually admitted by
these commentators, however incredible, when related at this distance of
time, it may appear. Next month the subject will be continued.
* * * * *