Example 5 - DOUBLE SUICIDE, “FOR LOVE AND FOR DUTY”.

— The following account is from a newspaper dated June 13, 1862:

“Young Palmyre, a milliner, living with her parents, was endowed with a charming appearance and an amiable character. For this reason her hand was also much sought after. Among all her suitors she chose Mr. B…, who returned this preference with the most ardent of passions.

Notwithstanding this affection, out of deference to her parents, Palmyre consented to marry Mr. D…, whose social position appeared to them more advantageous than that of his rival.

Messrs. B… and D… were close friends, and although there were no relations of interest between them, they never ceased to see each other. The mutual love of B… and Palmyre, who had become Mrs. D…, had in no way diminished, and as both strove to contain it, it grew in intensity in direct proportion to that effort.

With the aim of extinguishing it, B… resolved to marry, and indeed wedded a young woman possessed of eminent qualities, doing his utmost to love her; soon, however, he perceived that this heroic means had been useless for his cure.

Four years passed without either B… or Mrs. D… failing in their duties. What they suffered, only they know, for D…, who truly esteemed his friend, would always draw him to his home, insisting that he remain there whenever he tried to withdraw.

“Brought together one day by fortuitous circumstances independent of their own will, the two lovers made known to each other the affliction that tormented them and concluded that death was, in this case, the only remedy available to them. They agreed that they would take their lives together the next day, when Mr. D… would be away from home for a longer period. Having made the final preparations, they wrote a long and touching letter, explaining the cause of their resolution: so as not to transgress. This letter ended by asking that they be forgiven and, further, that they be buried in the same grave.

“Upon returning home, Mr. D… found them asphyxiated. He respected their last wishes, and thus did not permit the bodies to be separated in the cemetery.”

— This occurrence being submitted to the Society of Paris as a subject of study, a Spirit replied:

“The two suicide lovers cannot yet answer you. I see them immersed in confusion and terrified by the prospect of eternity.

The moral consequences of the fault committed will weigh upon them through successive migrations, during which their separated souls will seek each other ceaselessly, subject to the double torment of sensing and desiring each other in vain.

Once the expiation is complete, they will be reunited forever, in the bosom of eternal love.

In eight days, at the next session, you will be able to evoke them. They will come here without seeing each other, because deep darkness will separate them for a long time.”

Evocation of the woman. — Do you see your lover, with whom you took your life? — A. I see nothing, not even the spirits who wander with me in this world. What a night! What a night! And what a thick veil surrounds my brow!

What sensation did you experience upon awakening in the other world? — A. Singular! I was cold and I was burning. I had ice in my veins and fire in my brow!

Strange thing, unheard-of combination! Fire and ice seemed to consume me! And I thought I was going to succumb a second time!…

Do you experience any physical pain? — A. All my suffering resides here, and here… 2 — What do you mean by here, and here? — A. Here, in my brain; here, in my heart…

It is probable that, were he visible, the Spirit would have raised his hand to his head and to his heart.

Do you believe in the perpetuity of this situation? — A. Oh! always! always!

Sometimes I hear infernal laughter, horrendous voices that cry out: “always thus!”

Well then: we can assure you with certainty that it will not always be thus. Through repentance you will obtain forgiveness. — A. What do you say? I do not hear.

We repeat that your sufferings will have an end, that you can shorten them through repentance, it being possible for us to aid you with prayer. — A. I heard, beyond confused sounds, only one word. That word is: — grace!

Was it indeed grace that you pronounced? You spoke of grace, but no doubt you did so to the soul that passed by here beside me, a poor child who weeps and waits.

A lady present at the gathering declared that she had offered a fervent prayer for the unfortunate one, which no doubt moved her, and that indeed, mentally, she had implored the grace of God in her favor.

You said you were in darkness and heard nothing? — A. I am permitted to hear some of your words, but what I see is only a black crepe, in which from time to time a weeping countenance takes shape.

But since he is here without your seeing him, do you not even perceive the presence of your lover? — A. Ah! do not speak to me of him. I must forget him for now so that the image portrayed in the crepe may be extinguished.

What image is that? — A. That of a man who suffers, and whose moral existence on Earth I annihilated for a long time.

— From the reading of this account it is readily inferred that there are attenuating circumstances in this suicide, regarded as a heroic act prompted by the fulfillment of duty. But it is also recognized that, contrary to what was judged, long and terrible must be the penalty of the guilty for having voluntarily taken refuge in death to avoid the struggle; 2 the intention not to fail in their duties was, indeed, honorable, and will be counted to them later, but the true merit would have consisted in resistance, they having acted like the deserter who slips away at the moment of danger.

The penalty will consist, as we see, in seeking each other in vain and for a long time, whether in the spirit world or in other earthly incarnations; a penalty that is here aggravated by the prospect of its eternal duration. This prospect, joined to the punishment, makes it so that they are forbidden to hear words of hope that may perchance be addressed to them.

To those who find this penalty long and terrible, all the more so since it is not to cease until after several incarnations, we will say that such duration is not absolute, but dependent upon the manner in which they endure their future trials. Besides which, they can be aided by prayer. And they will thus be, like everyone, the arbiters of their own destiny.

Is this not, even so, preferable to the eternal condemnation, without hope, to which they are irrevocably subjected according to the doctrine of the Church, which considers them consigned to hell and forever, to the point of refusing them, doubtless as useless, the last prayers?