Pastoral Letter of the Lord Bishop of Algiers against Spiritism.

– Dated last August 18, the Lord Bishop of Algiers published a pamphlet addressed to the curates of his diocese, under the title Circular and Pastoral Letter on the Superstition Called Spiritism. n We cite the following passages, accompanied by some observations.

“…We had thought of adding a modest page to these luminous annals, reproving, from the heights of good sense and faith, as it deserves to be, Spiritism, which, drawn from the oldest and coarsest idolatry, comes to descend upon Algeria. Poor colony! n After such cruel trials, it still needed one of this kind!”

Poor colony! Indeed, would it not be far more prosperous if, instead of tolerating and protecting the religion of the natives, they had transformed their mosques and synagogues into churches and had not restrained the zeal of proselytism? It is true that the holy war, a war of extermination like that of the crusades, would still be going on; that hundreds of thousands of soldiers would have perished; that, perhaps, we would have been forced to abandon it. But what is that when it concerns the triumph of faith! Now, here is another scourge – Spiritism – which, in the name of the Gospel, comes to proclaim fraternity among the different cults and to cement union, inscribing on its banner: Outside charity there is no salvation.

“But various considerations, sir curate, have held us back until today. At first we hesitated to reveal this new shame, which is added to so many miseries, exploited with bitter irony by the enemies of our dear and noble Algeria. On the other hand, we know that Spiritism has hardly penetrated among us except in certain cities, where the idle are counted in greater number; where curiosity, incessantly excited, feeds avidly on everything that presents itself with the character of novelty; where the need to shine and to distinguish oneself from the multitude is not always foreign, even to intelligences of greater or lesser reach, while the greater number of our small cities and of our countryside are ignorant of it and, certainly, have nothing to lose by this, down to the bizarre and pretentious name of Spiritism. In short, we think that such practices are never destined for a long life, because disillusionment soon comes for the scandals of the imagination, which almost always die of their own shame. So it happened with the blunders of Cagliostro and of Mesmer; so the furor of the turning tables was calmed, leaving behind it nothing but the ridicule of its draggings and of its memories.” If the very name of Spiritism is unknown in the majority of the small cities and in the countryside of Algeria, the circular letter of the Lord Bishop of Algiers, spread in profusion, is an excellent means of making it known, exciting the curiosity that, certainly, will not be restrained by fear of the devil. Such was the effect, well proven, of all the sermons preached against Spiritism which, by their notorious publicity, contributed powerfully to multiplying its adherents. Will the circular of the Lord Bishop of Algiers have the contrary effect? It is more than doubtful. We always remember this prophetic word, so well realized, of a Spirit whom we asked, two years ago, by what means Spiritism would penetrate the countryside; he answered us: “By the priests. Voluntarily or involuntarily? – At first involuntarily; later, voluntarily. We also remember, at the time of our first journey to Lyon, in 1860 [see Banquet offered by the Lyonese Spiritists to Allan Kardec on the occasion of his visit to Lyon, on September 19, 1860. And his return to that city in 1861 Spiritism in Lyon], that the Spiritists there were only a few hundred. In that same year a virulent sermon was preached against them and they wrote to us: “Two or three more sermons like this one and soon we shall be increased tenfold.” Now, as everyone knows, sermons have not been lacking in that city; and what everyone also knows is that the following year there were five or six thousand Spiritists, more than thirty thousand of them being counted two years later. Poor city of Lyon! What is also known is that the majority of the adherents are found among the workers, who drew from this doctrine the strength to bear patiently the harsh trials they were passing through, without seeking in violence and spoliation the necessities they lacked; it is that today they pray and believe in the justice of God, since they do not believe in that of men; it is that they understand the word of Jesus: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Tell us why, with your doctrine of eternal punishments which you extol as an indispensable curb, you have never restrained any excess, while the maxim “Outside charity there is no salvation” is omnipotent! May God grant that you never have need to place yourselves under its aegis! But if God still reserves for you ill-fated days, remember that those very ones to whom you refused the bread of alms, because they were Spiritists, will be the first to share with you their piece of bread, because they understand this word: “Forgive your enemies and do good to those who persecute you.” But then, what has Spiritism that is so fearsome, since it occupies itself only with the idle of a few cities? Since such practices are never destined for a very long life? Since it must have the fate of the blunders of Cagliostro, of Mesmer, and of the turning tables? As regards Cagliostro, he must be left out of the question, considering that Spiritism has always refused him any solidarity, in spite of the persistence of some adversaries in linking his name to the name of Spiritism, as they do with all charlatans and conjurers. As for Mesmer, one must be very little informed of what is happening to be ignorant that magnetism is more widespread than ever, and that it is today professed by scientific notabilities. It is true that now little is occupied with the turning tables, but it must be admitted that they made a fine journey, for they were the point of departure of this terrible doctrine, which causes so much insomnia to these gentlemen. They were the ABC of Spiritism; if, then, they are no longer occupied with, it is because one need not spell out when one knows how to read. They grew in such a way that you would no longer recognize them.

– After having spoken of his journey to France, which achieved full success, the Lord Bishop of Algiers adds:

“Our first and incessant occupation upon returning was to publish a pastoral instruction against superstition in general and, in particular, against that of Spiritism, for the Gospel according to Renan n entertained us only for eight days.”

Let us admit that this is a singular confession. The work of Mr. Renan, which undermines the edifice at its base, and which had so great a repercussion, did not preoccupy His Eminence except for eight days, while Spiritism absorbs all his attention. He says: “I arrive in all haste and, though overwhelmed by the fatigues of a long journey without repose, I am always ready for combat. We have a new and harsh adversary in Mr. Renan, but he disquiets us little; let us march straight against Spiritism, for it is a more urgent matter.” It is a great honor for Spiritism, for it is to recognize that it is much more fearsome, and it can be so only on the condition of being logical. If it had no serious basis, as the Lord Bishop claims, of what use would this apparatus of forces be? Has one ever seen cannon shots fired at a flying fly? The more violent the means of attack, the more exalted is its importance. This is why we do not lament. “We have learned, and we do not doubt it, that true Christians, sincere Catholics imagine they can associate Jesus Christ and Belial, the commandments of the Church with the processes of Spiritism.”

It is a little late for you to perceive it, for it is three years since Spiritism was implanted and prospers in Algeria, where it does not go badly. Moreover, the pamphlet of Mr. Leblanc de Prébois, published in the name and for the defense of the Church, must have informed you that, according to his calculations, there are today in France twenty million Spiritists, that is, half the population, and that in a short time the other half will be won. Now, Algeria is part of France. n The circular says, addressing the curates of the diocese:

“Should Spiritists be found in your parishes, regardless of the condition of each one, generally unbelievers, vain women, empty heads, always forming the bulk of the superstitious cortèges, let the priest not waver in declaring to them that there is no possible transaction between Catholicism and Spiritism; that, in their experiments, there can be only one of these three things: cunning on the part of some, hallucination on the part of others, or, what is worse, a diabolical intervention.”

If there is no possible transaction, so much the worse for Catholicism than for Spiritism, because the latter gains ground daily, do what they may to stop it; and what will Catholicism do when the prediction of Mr. Leblanc de Prébois comes to pass? If it puts all the Spiritists at the door of the Church, who will remain inside? But this is not a question for the moment, which will come in its time and place. The last part of the sentence has great import on the part of a man like the Bishop of Algiers, who ought to weigh the meaning of all his words. According to him, there is in Spiritism only one of these three things: cunning, hallucination, or, what is worse, diabolical intervention. Note well that it is not the three things together, but only one of the three is possible. The prelate does not seem to be certain which, for diabolical intervention is merely the worst. Now, if it is cunning and hallucination, it is nothing serious, and there is no intervention of the devil; if it is the work of the demon, it is something positive and, in that way, there is neither cunning nor hallucination. In the first hypothesis it must be admitted that to make so much noise over a mere trickery or an illusion is to fight against windmills, a role little worthy of the gravity of the Church; in the second it is to recognize in the devil a power greater than that of the Church, or in the Church an immense weakness, since it cannot prevent the devil from acting, as it could not itself, despite all the exorcisms, deliver from him the possessed of Morzine.

– “We were there, sir curate, in our apostolic labor, when we received numerous newspaper articles, pamphlets, books, and principally a discourse (that of Father Nampon), in which, save for the general ideas, we found the very clear exposition of everything we were going to say next, concerning Spiritism. As we do not like to redo, without necessity, what we judge to be well done, we exhort you to acquire some of these works and, at least, one copy of this discourse, which will enlighten you sufficiently as to the processes, the doctrine, and the consequences of Spiritism.”

We are very pleased to learn that the work of Father Nampon is judged by the princes of the priests to be a well-done work, in such a way that, after it, there is nothing better to do. It is a tranquility for the Spiritists to know that the reverend father exhausted all the arguments and that nothing can be added. Now, as these arguments, far from stopping the advance of Spiritism, recruited partisans for it, it falls to its antagonists to show themselves satisfied with so little. As for sufficiently enlightening the curates about the doctrine, we do not think that altered and truncated texts, of which Father Nampon used and abused, as we demonstrated (Review of June 1863), are appropriate to give a very correct idea of Spiritism. One must be lacking good reasons to use such means, which discredit the cause of whoever makes use of them. “Above all, would it not be deplorable to find again in Algeria serious Christians who hesitated to pronounce themselves energetically against Spiritism? Some under the pretext that there is something true in it? Others because they saw obstinate materialists return to belief in the other life, through Spiritism? Illogical naïveté on both sides!”

Thus, it counts for nothing to lead obstinate materialists to belief in God and in the future life; even so Spiritism does not cease to be an evil thing. Jesus, however, said that an evil tree cannot bear good fruit. Will it, then, be an evil fruit to give faith to one who does not have it? Since you could not lead back those obstinate unbelievers and Spiritism succeeded in it, which is the better of the two trees? It is evident that without Spiritism those obstinate materialists would have remained materialists; and since the Lord Bishop wishes at full steam to destroy Spiritism, which leads souls back to God, it is that in his eyes it is preferable that those souls, which were not led back by the Church, die in unbelief. This reminds us of those words pronounced from the pulpit of a small city: “I prefer that unbelievers stay outside the Church than that they enter it through Spiritism.” In no way are these words of the Christ, who said: “Mercy I want, and not sacrifice.” And these others, pronounced elsewhere: “I prefer to see the workers leaving the tavern drunk than to know them to be Spiritists.” This is dementia. We would not be surprised if a fit of fury against Spiritism produced a true madness. “If, in spite of the voice of conscience, men educated in the principles of Christianity and, unfortunately, having forgotten them, denied them in their heart and combated them in their books, were to attempt to condescend to those principles, admitting an immortality of the soul, a purgatory and a hell completely different from the immortality of the soul, from the purgatory and the hell of the Gospels, and gained, through Spiritism, something for faith and for salvation, what Christian could believe it, since they merely put in their place the most sacrilegious blasphemies of belief?”

In what does the purgatory of the Spiritists differ from that of the Gospels, since the Gospels say nothing about it? They speak so little of it that the Protestants, who follow the letter of the Gospel, do not admit it. As for hell, the Gospel is far from having placed there the boiling cauldrons that Catholicism places in it, and from having said, as we were taught in childhood, and as was preached three or four years ago in Montpellier, that “the angels remove the lids of these cauldrons so that the elect may rejoice in the sight of the sufferings of the damned.” Here is a singular side of the beatitude of the blessed; we did not know that Jesus had said a word about it. Spiritism, it is true, does not admit such things; if this is a motive for reproof, then let it be reproved!

“You will likewise make them understand that Spiritism is the restoration of the pagan theories, fallen into the contempt of the wise, even before the appearance of the Gospel; that, introducing metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, it kills personal individuality and reduces moral responsibility to nothing; that, destroying the idea of purgatory and of an eternally personal hell, it opens the way to all disorders, to all immoralities.”

If something was taken from the pagan theories, it was certainly the picture of the tortures of hell. Moreover, we do not see clearly how, after having admitted some purgatory, they deny the idea of purgatory. As for the metempsychosis of the Ancients, far from having introduced it, Spiritism has always combated it, demonstrating its impossibility. When, then, will they cease to make Spiritism say the contrary of what it says? The plurality of existences, which it admits, not as a system, but as a law of Nature proved by facts, differs essentially from that. Now, against a law of Nature, which is necessarily the work of God, there is no system that can prevail, nor anathemas that can annul it, just as they did not annul the movement of the Earth and the periods of creation. The plurality of existences, rebirth, if one will, is a condition inherent in human nature, like that of sleeping, and necessary to the progress of the soul. It is always lamentable when a religion persists in remaining in the rear of acquired knowledge, because there comes the moment when, overtaken by the irresistible wave of ideas, it loses its credit and its influence over all instructed men. To judge itself compromised by new ideas is to confess the fragility of its point of support; it is worse still when it takes alarm at what it calls a utopia. It is a curious thing, truly, to see the adversaries of Spiritism fencing to say that it is an empty dream, without reach and without vitality, and incessantly crying fire! According to the maxim: “The quality of the tree is recognized by its fruit,” the best manner of judging things is to study their effects. If, then, as they claim, the negation of an eternally personal hell opens the way to all disorders and to all immoralities, it follows that: 1st – belief in that hell opens the way to all virtues; 2nd – whoever gives himself over to immoral acts does not fear the eternal punishments, and if he does not fear them it is because he does not believe in them. Now, who ought to believe in it better than those who teach it? Who ought to be penetrated by that fear, impressed by the picture of the torments without end, more than those who, night and day, are lulled in this belief? Where ought this belief and this fear to be in all their force? Where ought there to be more moderation and morality, if not in the very bosom of Catholicity? If all those who profess this dogma and make of it a condition of salvation were exempt from reproach, certainly their words would have more weight; but when one sees such scandalous disorders among the very ones who preach the fear of hell, it is necessary to conclude that they do not believe in what they preach. How do they hope to convince those who incline to doubt? They kill the dogma by their own exaggeration and by their example. To judge by its fruits, the dogma of eternal punishments does not give them good ones, proof that the tree is evil; and among these evil fruits it is necessary to place the immense number of unbelievers that it makes daily. The Church clings to it as to a rope of salvation, but the rope is so worn that it will soon leave the boat adrift. If ever the Church should be imperiled, it will be by the absolutism of its dogmas of hell, of the eternal punishments, and of the supremacy that it confers on the devil in this world. If one cannot be a Catholic without believing in this hell and in eternal damnation, it is necessary to recognize, from this day forward, that the number of true Catholics is singularly reduced, and that more than one Father of the Church may be considered as stained with heresy.

– “It will not be useless to add, sir curate, that the peace of families is gravely disturbed by the practice of Spiritism; that a great number of heads have already lost their senses through it, and that the asylums of America, England, and France are already overflowing with its numerous victims, in such a way that if Spiritism propagated its conquests, it would be necessary to change the name of sanatorium to madhouse.”

If the Lord Bishop of Algiers had gathered his information elsewhere, and not from interested sources, he would have known what these supposed madmen are and would not have surrendered to the echo of a story invented by bad faith, in which the ridiculous stands out from the very exaggeration. A first newspaper spoke of four cases, which were said to have been verified in an asylum [See: Spiritist Madness]; another newspaper, citing the first, raised the figure to forty; a third, citing the second, raised it to four hundred and adds that they are going to enlarge the asylum. All the hostile newspapers repeat this story to no end. Then the Lord Bishop of Algiers, moved by zeal, taking it up at its base, increases it still more, saying that the asylums of France, England, and America are overflowing with victims of the new doctrine. Curious thing! He cites England, one of the countries where Spiritism is least widespread and where there are certainly fewer adherents than in Italy, in Spain, and in Russia. That an ephemeral and unimportant pamphlet, that a newspaper little demanding as to the news sources it publishes, should advance a hazardous fact out of professional necessity, is nothing to wonder at, although it is immoral; but an episcopal document, with an official character, should contain only things of an authenticity so well proven that it should escape even the suspicion of inexactitude, however involuntary.

As for the peace of families disturbed by the practice of Spiritism, we know of no cases except those in which women, deceived by their confessors, were instigated to abandon the home in order to withdraw themselves from the demoniacal influences brought by their Spiritist husbands. On the contrary, numerous are the examples of families formerly separated, whose members were reconciled after the counsels of their protective Spirits and under the influence of the doctrine which, after the example of Jesus, preaches union, concord, gentleness, tolerance, the forgetting of injuries, indulgence toward the imperfections of others, and reestablishes peace where discord reigned. Here again it is the case to say that the quality of the tree is judged by its fruit. It is a confirmed fact that, when there is division of families, the split always starts from the side of religious intolerance. [See: Examples of the moralizing action of Spiritism.]

– The pastoral letter ends with the following ordinance:

“For these reasons, and having invoked the Holy Spirit, we prescribe and ordain what follows:

“Art. 1 – The practice of Spiritism or the invocation of the dead is forbidden to all and each in the diocese of Algiers;

“Art. 2 – Confessors will refuse absolution to whoever does not renounce all participation, whether as medium, whether as adherent, whether as a simple witness, in private or public sessions, or, in short, in any operation whatsoever of Spiritism;

“Art. 3 – In all the cities of Algeria and in the rural parishes where Spiritism has been introduced with some brilliance, the curates will read this epistle publicly from the pulpit, on the first Sunday after its reception. Moreover, everywhere it will be communicated in private, according to the needs.

“Algiers, August 18, 1863.”

It is the first ordinance launched with a view to officially interdicting Spiritism in a locality. It is of August 18, 1863. This date will mark in the annals of Spiritism, like that of October 9, 1860, n the day forever memorable of the auto-da-fé of Barcelona, ordered by the bishop of that city. As the attacks, the criticisms, and the sermons produced nothing satisfactory, they wished to strike a blow by official excommunication. Let us see whether the objective will be better attained.

By the first article, the ordinance is addressed to all and each in the diocese of Algiers, that is, the prohibition to occupy oneself with Spiritism is made to all individuals without exception. But the population is not composed only of fervent Catholics; not to speak of the Jews, Protestants, and Muslims, it comprises all the materialists, pantheists, unbelievers, free-thinkers, doctors, and the indifferent, whose number is incalculable; they figure in the nominal contingent of Catholicism, because born and baptized in that religion, but, in reality, they themselves abandoned the Church; in this number Mr. Renan and so many others figure in the Catholic population. Thus, the ordinance does not reach all individuals, but only those who observe the most strict orthodoxy. The same will occur everywhere a similar prohibition is made. Being, then, materially impossible that an interdiction of this nature, come whence it may, should reach the entire population, for one who is turned away from Spiritism, there will be a hundred who will continue to occupy themselves with it. Then they set aside the Spirits who come without being called, even near those forbidden to receive them; who speak to those who do not wish to hear them; who pass through the walls when the door is closed to them. There is the greatest difficulty, for which an article is lacking in the ordinance above. This concerns only the fervent Catholics. Now, we have already repeated it several times, Spiritism comes to give faith to those who believe in nothing or who are in doubt. To those who have an unshakable faith and for whom this suffices, it says: “Keep it and seek not to depart from it.” It never says to anyone: “Leave your belief to come to me,” for it has enough to harvest in the field of the unbelievers. Thus, the prohibition cannot reach those who turn to Spiritism and reaches only those to whom it does not address itself. As Jesus said, “it is not the healthy who need a physician.” If these latter come to it, without Spiritism seeking them, it is because in it they find consolations and certainties that they found nowhere else; in this case, they will take no account of the prohibition. It is nearly three months since this ordinance was given and we can already appreciate its effects. Since its appearance, more than twenty letters have been sent to us from Algeria, all confirming the foreseen results. We shall see what there is in the next number. [Spiritism in Algeria.]

[1]

[Lettre circulaire et ordonnance de Mgr Pavy, évèque d’Alger, sur la superstition dile spiritisme, In-8º, 8 p. Alger, impr. et libr. Bastide ; Constantine, libr. Alessi et Arnolet ; Paris, libr. Challamel alné. – See also the first Pastoral Instruction of the Lord Bishop of Algiers on Spiritism and The death of Mr. Bizet, curate of Sétif.]

[2][Vie de Jésus, par Ernest Renan - Google Books.]

[3] Translator's note: Algeria ceased to be a French colony in 1961.

[4] Translator's note: The auto-da-fé of Barcelona occurred on October 9, 1861.