The rapping Spirit of Sister Mary.

The narrative that follows is related in a letter, the original of which we have in hand and which we transcribe verbatim.

“Viviers, April 10, 1741.

“No one in the world, my dear Noailles, can inform you better than I of everything that took place in Sister Mary’s cell and whether the description you gave has exposed us to ridicule in our city; I want to share it with you. The force of truth will always overcome in me the fear of being taken for a visionary and an overly credulous man.

“Here, then, is a brief account of all that I saw and heard during the four nights I spent there, together with more than forty persons, all worthy of belief. I shall relate to you only the most remarkable facts.

On March 23, the day of the Annunciation, I learned, by public report, that for three days great noises had been heard every night in Sister Mary’s cell; that the two sisters of Saint Dominic who live with her had become so terrified that they sent for Mr. Chambon, the parish priest of Saint-Laurent, who, having come to that cell at one o’clock in the morning, heard the pictures striking against the walls, an earthenware holy-water font move with a noise, and a wooden chair, placed in the middle of the cell, knocked over six times. I confess, sir, that on hearing this account I did not fail to scoff; the devout women yielded to my criticism, and from then on I resolved to go and spend the following night at Sister Mary’s house, convinced that, in my presence, everything would take place in silence or I would discover the imposture. Indeed, that very day, at nine o’clock at night, I went to that house. I questioned many of the sisters, especially Sister Mary, who seemed to me informed of the cause of all these noises, but she would not communicate it to us. So I made a thorough search of her room; I looked above and below the bed; the walls, the pictures, everything was examined with care. Having discovered nothing that could provoke all these noises, I ordered everyone out of the room, with the command that no one should enter but myself. I positioned myself in the neighboring room, by the fireplace; I left the cell door open and on the threshold I placed a candle, so that from my place I could see, a step from the bed, the chair that I had set down and almost the whole room. At ten o’clock Messrs. d’Entrevaux and Archambaud came to join me, and with them two artisans of our city. “Around half past eleven I heard the chair move and at once I ran in; finding it fallen, I lifted it up, took a second one, which I placed at the greatest distance from the sick woman’s bed, for I did not want to lose sight of it. Messrs. d’Entrevaux and Archambaud took the same precaution and, after a moment, we saw it move a second time; the holy-water font, placed on Sister Mary’s bed, but at a distance she could not reach, rang several times and a picture struck the wall three times. At that moment I went to speak with our sick woman; I found her extremely oppressed, and from that oppression she fell into a swoon or lost consciousness and the use of all her senses, which were reduced to hearing; I myself was her physician; by means of lavender water, in a short time she came to herself. Every fifteen minutes we heard the same noise and, always finding the pictures in the same state, I commanded this noisy one, whoever it might be, to strike the picture three times against the wall and to invert its position; I was soon obeyed. An instant later, I commanded it to put the picture back in its former position, receiving a second proof of its submission to my orders. “As I perceived nothing noisy in the room except a chair, two pictures and a holy-water font, I took possession of all these objects; then the noise moved to the images, which we heard move several times, and to a small crucifix hung on the wall by a nail. We saw and heard nothing more that night; everything became calm and tranquil at five o’clock in the morning. We made no secret of all that we had seen and heard, and I leave you to consider whether I was deceived in what I saw. I exhorted the most incredulous to believe; we went there three nights in a row, and here is what seemed to me most surprising. I shall relate to you only certain facts, for it would be very long if I wished to enter into details. For now it should suffice that I tell you that Messrs. Digoine, Bonfils, d’Entrevaux, Chambon, Faure, Allier, Aoust, Grange, Bouron, Bonnier, Fontènes, Robert and so many others witnessed them.

“The rumor having spread in the city that Sister Mary might be the actress of this comedy, from then on I modified the good opinion in which I held her; I even chose to suspect fraud, and although she is paralytic, according to the testimony of our physician and of all who approach her and assure us that for more than three years she has moved only her head, I supposed that she might act, and on such a supposition, sir, here is how I conducted myself:

“For three consecutive days, at nine o’clock at night, I went to the sister’s house. I warned her of the measures I was going to take so as not to be deceived, in the presence of the five or six gentlemen already named. I had her sewn into her habit; she was arranged and wrapped in the bed like a one-month-old child in its cradle. I also took two little paper rolls, placing them in the form of a cross over her breast, in such a way that she could make no movement without the cross being undone.

“That very day she had revealed the mystery to Father Chambon, who directs her in the absence of the Lord Bishop, and to Father David, the director of our seminary. The former asked her and permitted her to inform me of the cause of all these noises; so I entered into the confidence and she informed me that it was a suffering soul, whose name she indicated, and that it came with God’s permission so that its pains might be relieved. Thus instructed and forewarned against error, I left no one in the room. We were eight that night and all determined to believe nothing. Around eleven o’clock the pictures and the holy-water font made themselves heard. Then Mr. Digoine and I went to position ourselves at the door, with a lamp in hand; it must be noted that the cell is small, that from the middle I could reach the four walls merely by stretching out my arms. Hardly had we taken our places when the picture struck the wall; we ran immediately, finding the picture motionless and the sick woman in the same state; we resumed our place and, the picture having struck a second time, we ran at the first blow and saw the picture turn in the air and whirl over the bed. I placed it on the window; a moment later it struck three times, in full view of everyone. Wishing to convince myself more and more of the truth told by Sister Mary, I commanded the suffering Spirit to take the crucifix from the wall and place it on the sick woman’s breast; it obeyed at once. All the gentlemen who were with me were witnesses. I commanded it to put the crucifix back in its place and to move the font forcefully; it also obeyed; and since I had taken care to place the font in full view of everyone, we heard the noise and saw the movement. These signs not being sufficient to convince me, I demanded new proofs. I placed a table at the foot of the sick woman’s bed and told this suffering Spirit that we would gladly offer it vows and prayers, but the sacrifice of the Mass being the surest means for the relief of its pains, I ordered it to strike as many blows on the table as the number of Masses it wished to be said for it. It struck at that very instant and we counted thirty-three blows. Then we came to an agreement to discharge ourselves of that task as soon as possible and, during the time allotted to this, the pictures, the font and the crucifix struck all at once, with more noise than ever. “It was two o’clock in the morning; I had Father Chambon awakened, who witnessed all that we had told him, for in his presence we had the 33 blows repeated. Father Chambon commanded it to carry the crucifix to a certain chair; as soon as we heard a blow upon it, we ran and found the crucifix under the bed, a step from the chair. I asked in turn Canon Digoine, Father Chambon and Mr. Robert to hide in the cell to examine whether they saw anything; they heard two different voices on the sick woman’s bed, distinguishing hers perfectly, as she asked several questions; as for the other, they could not make out the answer, for it expressed itself in a very low and rapid tone. Informed by these gentlemen, I went to verify it with Sister Mary, who confessed the fact.

“I proposed to those gentlemen that we say a De profundis for the relief of the pains of that suffering soul and, the prayer ended, the chair toppled, the pictures struck and the font buzzed. I told this Spirit that we were going to say five Pater and five Ave in honor of the five wounds of Our Lord, and I commanded it, as proof that the prayer pleased it, to knock over the chair a second time, but with more force. Hardly had we knelt when the chair, placed before our eyes and two steps away, fell forward, rose up and fell backward.

“Seeing this Spirit’s docility and its promptness in obeying, I judged I could attempt anything. I put 40 coins on the sick woman’s bed and ordered it to count them. Immediately we heard them counted into a glass tumbler that I had placed nearby. I took the coin and placed it on the table; I ordered the same thing and it obeyed at once. I put down a six-franc crown and ordered it to indicate with it the number of Masses that were necessary for it; it struck 33 times with the crown against the wall. I have Messrs. Digoine, Bonfils and d’Entrevaux enter the room, we draw aside the bed curtains, place the candle upon it, and I order the Spirit to strike and designate for us the number of Masses. We four see Sister Mary still in the same state, motionless and with the paper rolls in the form of a cross, still arranged, and we count 33 blows on the wall. It is to be noted that in the neighboring room, separated by this wall, there was not a living soul; we had taken care to remove everything that could arouse in us the slightest suspicion. “Finally, sir, I tried a new approach; I wrote these words on a paper: I command you, suffering soul, to tell us who you are, both for our consolation and for the sustenance of our faith. Write, then, your name on this paper or, at least, make a mark on it so that we may know the need you have of our prayers. I place this writing under the sick woman’s bed, with an inkwell and a pen; an instant later I hear the font tinkle; we all rush to the noise and, at the same time, we find the paper and the crucifix upon it. I order it to put the crucifix in its place and to mark the paper; then we said the litany of the Virgin and, the prayer ended, we found the crucifix in its place and, beneath the paper, two crosses made with the pen. Father Chambon, who was very close to the bed, heard the noise of the pen on the paper. I could tell you many other equally surprising facts, but the detail would carry me too far.

“No doubt you will ask, dear sir, what I think of this adventure. I shall make my profession of faith. In the first place I establish that the noise I saw and heard has a cause. The pictures, the chair, the font, etc., are inanimate beings, which cannot move by themselves. What, then, is the cause that gave them movement? Necessarily, it must be either natural or supernatural; if it is natural, it can be none other than Sister Mary, for there was only she in the room. It cannot be claimed that the noise was produced by springs; we examined everything with the utmost attention, even dismantling the pictures, and if a single hair had been responsible for the font or the chair we would have noticed it.

“Now, I say that Sister Mary is not the cause; she did not want to, or rather, she could not deceive us. Is it possible that a girl in a perfect state of sanctity, a young woman whose life is a continual miracle, for it is proven that for three years she neither eats nor drinks and that nothing has come from her body except a quantity of stones; that a maiden who has suffered for six years all that one can suffer and always with admirable patience; that a girl who opens her mouth only to pray, letting the most profound humility show through in all she says, should have wished to deceive us, thus imposing herself upon a whole public, upon her bishop, upon her confessor and upon a multitude of priests who questioned her about it? I find in all that she says a marvelous coherence, never the slightest contradiction, the sole characteristic of truth, for a lie would not hold up. I do not believe that the martyrs suffered more than this saint; there are times of the year when her body is one single wound; one sees blood and pus coming from her ears and, very often, very long worms are drawn out of her, coming through her nostrils; she suffers and continually asks God to make her suffer. A marvelous thing is that every year, in the fortnight of Easter, she is seized by a vomiting of blood; once the vomiting has passed, her throat becomes unobstructed, she receives the holy viaticum and an instant later it closes up entirely; this is what happened to her last Wednesday. “In the second place I say that she could not deceive us, for she is incapable of acting; as I have said, she is paralytic and a young lady of our city was fully convinced when she drove a thick needle into her thigh. Besides, you see the precautions we took. We sewed her into her habit and often with a guard in sight. So it is not she. Who is it, then? you ask. The consequence is easy to draw from all that I have the honor to tell you in this account.

“Signed: Abbé of Saint-Ponc, presenting canon.”

Observation – There is an evident analogy between these facts and those of the rapping Spirit of Bergzabern and of Dibbelsdorf, related in the Spiritist Review of May, June, July and August 1858, except that, in this case, the Spirit had nothing malevolent about it. They are attested by a man whose character cannot be suspect, and who did not observe carelessly. If, as certain persons claim, only the devil manifests itself, how would it come to a girl in a state of spiritual perfection? Now, it is to be noted that she was neither terrified nor tormented; she herself knew, and the experiments confirmed, that it was a suffering soul. If it is not the devil, then can other Spirits communicate?

Two circumstances have a particular analogy with what we see today. First of all, the initial thought is that there is fraud on the part of the person near whom the phenomena are produced, despite the material impossibilities that sometimes exist. In the physical and moral situation of this girl, one cannot understand how the suspicion of a staging could have entered the minds of the other religious women.

The second fact is more important. While some of the phenomena occurred in view of the persons present, the greater part of them were produced when they were in the neighboring room, with their backs turned and in the absence of direct light, as has often been observed in our day. To what is this owing? That is what is not yet sufficiently explained. These phenomena having a material, and not a supernatural, cause, it could happen, as in certain chemical operations, that diffuse light was more favorable to the action of the fluids of which the Spirit makes use. n Spiritual physics is still in its infancy.

[1] Translator’s note: It seems that exactly the opposite occurs: diffuse light causes the dissolution of the fluids.