The Revue
Spirite of
1863
Part 6
We continue in
this issue the
study of
the Revue
Spirite corresponding
to the year of
1863. The
condensed text
of the mentioned
volume will
hereby be
presented in
sixteen parts,
based on the
translation of
Julio Abreu
Filho and
published by
EDICEL.
Issues for discussion
A. What does François-Nicolas Madeleine say about
indulgence?
B. Should we celebrate the birth of the Spiritist
Doctrine in the same manner as the Christians celebrate
the birth of Jesus?
C. Why is it that in the case of the possession of
Morzine the exorcisms were useless?
Text for reading
52. The crises observed in the patients of Morzine, as
described by Mr. Constant, show people in a state of
fury, quite agitated and declaring themselves devils of
hell and hitting the furniture with force and energy.
The Victoire V case, twenty years old, one of the first
to become ill when she was sixteen, is expressive. Her
father says she had never felt anything until one day
she was taken spiritually in church. Once, when she took
his dinner to the curia, where he worked, she began to
jump and threw herself on the floor, shouting and
gesticulating. By chance the cure of Montriond was
there, but she insulted him. Morzine's priest approached
her as she calmed down, but the crisis resumed as he
made the sign of the cross on her forehead. After being
exorcised several times, without success, he took her to
Geneva, where Mr. Lafontaine, the magnetizer, treated
her for a month. Victoire returned cured, remaining
quiet for about three years. After that, the illness
returned, but she was no longer in crisis: she only
locked herself in the house and did not want to see
anyone, only eating occasionally, which weakened her so
much that she could not stand up. Taken back to Mr.
Lafontaine, after two sessions she got better and up to
now she is no longer ill. (Pages 105 to 110)
53. The Revue transcribes two letters, one from
Albi and another from Lyon, in which its authors attest
to the positive effect that the knowledge of Spiritism
has produced in their lives. "From now on", says Michel
of Lyons, "I can pray without fear that my prayers will
be lost in space and I will bear with joy the
tribulations of this short existence, knowing that my
present misery is just the consequence of a guilty
past…" (Pages 111-117)
54. On 03/07/1863 a reader wrote from Chauny informing
that in the local parish Father X... delivered a sermon
in which he spoke about God and the Spirits and their
relations with the men, without any attack to Spiritism.
In reproducing the letter, Kardec says that, thanks to
God, this sermon is not unique in the kind, which shows
that part of the clergy does not agree with those who
attribute Spiritist facts to the demons. (Pages 117 and
118)
55. A couple from Tours, him eighty years old, and his
wife sixty-two, decided to put an end to their anguish
by unfortunately committing suicide, which the opponents
of Spiritism attributed to the fact that both were in
recent times involved in Spiritist practices. The
reason, as revealed in a letter left by Mrs. F ..., was
purely financial: the couple feared the prospect of the
misery that surrounded their home after having made a
small fortune in the tissue trade. (Pages 118-121)
56. When the true cause was disclosed in the city, the
noise initially made against Spiritism changed its
course in favor of the Doctrine, and it showed in the
extraordinary increase in the sale of Spiritist books.
According to the correspondent of the Revue, the
bookstores of Tours never sold as many spiritual works
as from that episode. (Page 122)
57. Religious fanaticism added yet another regrettable
case to its collection in early 1862 in France. The C...
couple had two children: a fifteen-month-old boy and a
five-year-old girl, who were never seen by neighbors.
Rumor had it that the children were being subjected to
cruel treatment, the police went to the house and saw a
horrible scene: the girl, shirtless and without socks,
with only a filthy Indian dress and the flesh of her
feet were glued to the leather of shoes, she was sitting
in a urinal, propped up in a box and tied with ropes
that passed under her armpits. The investigation found
that the child had been in that position for many
months, and that the parents woke up at night to torment
her, waking her up by beating her. Asked by the police
authority, the father explained, "Sir, I am very
religious; my daughter did the prayers badly; so I
wanted to correct her". (Pages 122 and 123)
58. Camille Flammarion published in the Revue
Française of February 1863 an article, requested by
the newspaper's director, in which he writes about the
history and principles of Spiritism. The Revuecopies
part of the article, in which Flammarion reports on the
first manifestations in America, its introduction into
Europe and its conversion into philosophical doctrine.
(Pages 123 to 125)
59. The Spirit of Jobard presents, in a message given in
the Spiritist Society of Paris, a new and zealous
supporter of Spiritism, who on Earth was not a
Spiritist, but never spoke openly out against the
Spiritist belief. It is the Spirit of François-Nicolas
Madeleine, who wrote a page on indulgence in which he
recommends, in the end, that we should be severe to
ourselves in the same degree as we are indulgent to the
weaknesses of our brethren. (Pages 125 to 128)
60. St. Louis, communicating on Christmas Eve in the
city of Tours, mentions the feast of the Nativity of the
Child Jesus to say that the Spiritists should also
rejoice and celebrate the birth of the Spiritist
Doctrine. (Pages 128 and 129)
61. The Revue of May opens with a new article -
the fifth and last - concerning the possessions of
Morzine, in which Kardec states that these facts have
their source in the incessant reaction that exists
between the visible and the invisible world that
surrounds us and in whose midst we live. Says the
Encoder: I) In Morzine a cloud of evil Spirits has come
down and it will not be with showers or succulent food
that they will be expelled. II) Some call them devils or
demons; Spiritism simply calls them evil Spirits and
inferior Spirits, which does not imply a better quality,
but indicates that they are perfectible beings. III) The
exorcisms performed proved to be useless, because their
efficacy depends not on the words and signs with which
they are made, but on the moral ascendant exercised over
those who caused the disturbances. (Pages 131 to 138) (Continues
on next issue).
Answers to proposed issues
A. What does François-Nicolas Madeleine say about
indulgence?
François-Nicolas Madeleine emphasizes the importance of
indulgence and, in the end, recommends that we be as
severe to ourselves as we are indulgent to the
weaknesses of our brothers. (Revue Spirite, 1863,
pages 125-128).
B. Should we celebrate the birth of the Spiritist
Doctrine in the same manner as the Christians celebrate
the birth of Jesus?
Yes. This is what Saint Louis proposed in a message
transmitted on the eve of Christmas in the city of
Tours. Spiritists should, according to him, rejoice and
celebrate the birth of the Spiritist Doctrine. (Ibid,
pages 128 and 129)
C. Why is it that in the case of the possession of
Morzine the exorcisms were useless?
According to Kardec, in Morzine like a cloud of
malicious Spirits took over the place and it would not
be with showers or succulent food that they would be
expelled from there. Some call them devils or demons;
Spiritism simply calls them evil Spirits and inferior
Spirits, which does not imply a better quality, but
indicates that they are perfectible beings. The
exorcisms performed proved to be useless because their
efficacy depends not on the words and signs with which
they are made, but on the moral ascendant exercised over
those who caused the disturbances. (Ibid, pages
131-138).
Translation:
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br
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