The following report is a textual transcription of an original letter that we hold in our hands.
“Viviers, April 10th 1741.
No one in this world, my dear de Noailles, can tell you better than I can about everything that took place in Sister Mary’s cell and if the description you gave made us face ridicule in our town I want to share that with you. The power of truth will always make me face the fear of being taken by a visionary and an excessively believer. Therefore this is a summary of everything that I saw and heard during the four nights that I spent there together with more than forty people, all of them trustworthy. I will only mention the most remarkable events.
On March 23rd, the day of the Annunciation, I heard rumors that for three days a lot of noise was coming from Sister Mary’s cell; that the two Sisters from St. Domingo that live with her were so much horrified that they had sent for Father Chambon from St. Laurent; that when he arrived one hour past midnight to that cell he heard paintings knocking on walls, a basin with holy water moving around noisily and a chair that was placed in the middle of the room taken down six times. I confess, Sir, that after hearing those things I couldn’t help it and made fun of that. All the devotees were subjected to my criticism and since then I decided to spend the night following that Sister Mary, well persuaded that it would all be quiet in my presence or that I would discover the trickery.
I then in fact went to that home about 9 pm. I questioned many Sisters and in particular Sister Mary that seemed to be aware of the cause of all those noises but did not want to tell us. I then proceed to a very careful search of her room. I looked over and below her bed, the walls and paintings. Everything was examined very carefully and since I found nothing that could explain those noises I ordered that the room was cleared and that I was the only one authorized to return there. I then accommodated myself near the fireplace in a neighboring room; I left the door to the cell opened and placed a candle by the door sill so that from my place I could see almost the whole cell and a chair that I had left near the bed. At about 10 pm Mr. d’Entrevaux and Mr. Archambaud joined me and with them two other artisans from our town.
Around 11:30 pm I heard the chair moving and promptly ran to the room. Having found it down I lifted it and put it further from the patient’s bed since I did not want to lose the sight of the chair. Mr. d’Entrevaux and Mr. Archambaud did the same and soon after we saw it moving for the second time; the basin of holy water near the bed of Sister Mary at a height that could not be reached by her jingled several times and a painting knocked the wall three times. At that time I went to speak to the patient. I found her extremely depressed and from there she fell ill, losing consciousness and the control of her senses but the hearing. I attended her as a doctor myself; she soon recovered her senses with the application of lavender water. We heard the same noises every fifteen minutes and since the paintings were always found in the same condition I ordered the noisy one to knock three times and flip the painting; at that point I was obeyed. Sometime later I ordered that the painting should be flipped back and had the second proof that my orders were obeyed.
I noticed that the only noisy things in the cell were the chair, two paintings and the basin with holy water so that I had them removed. The noise then moved over to the images that we heard dragging several times and a small crucifix that was hanging on a nail on the wall. We made no secret about everything that we saw and heard and leave you to consider if I was not tricked in my vision. I induced the most skeptical persons into believing. We went there three nights in a role and that is what seemed remarkable to me. I only reported certain facts for it would take long to describe all the details. It should be enough to tell you that Messrs. Digoine, Bonfils, d’Entrevaux, Chambon, Faure, Allier, Aoust, Grange, Bouron, Bonnier, Fontenès, Robert and many others witnessed all that.
“The rumor around town was that Sister Mary could be the good actress of that comedy and that had changed the good opinion I had about her; I wanted even to be suspicious of foul play and although she is paralyzed as attested by our doctor and all of those that approach her and that ensure us that she hasn’t moved for over three years, not even her head, I wanted to admit that she could move and with such a hypothesis, Sir, here is how I proceeded: For two or three days in a role I went to the Sister’s home at 9 pm and forewarned her about the actions that I was taking to avoid being deceived and that in the presence of five or six of the gentlemen mentioned above. I had her tucked in in her own clothes. She was placed and attached to her bed like a one month old child in her crib. I also employed two pieces of paper and placed them on her chest in the form of a cross so that she could not make any move without disarranging them.
That day she had told Father Chambon and Father David about the mystery; Father Chambon is her guide in the absence of Mr. Bishop, and Father David is the director of our Seminary. The former asked her and she allowed him to tell us about the causes of all those noises. In confidence she told me that it was a suffering soul whose name she mentioned and that with God’s permission came to have her punishments mitigated. I then duly informed about the mistake did not allow anybody in that cell. That night it was eight of us, everyone determined to not believe anything. Around 11pm the paintings and basin were heard. Next Mr. Digoine and I moved to the door with a light in hand. It must be noted that the cell is small, that I could reach all walls reaching out with my hands, standing in the middle of the room. As soon as we got there the painting knocked on the wall. We moved fast and found the painting stationary and the patient in the same position. We returned to our post and heard the painting making a second noise; we rushed back and saw the painting flipping around over the bed. I placed it by the window. A moment later and it knocked three times in front of all those gentlemen. Wanting to be convinced about the truth of the story told by Sister Mary I ordered the suffering Spirit to take the crucifix from the wall and put it on the chest of the patient. It was immediately obeyed. All of those persons that were with me witnessed that. I then ordered to have the crucifix put back on its original place and the basin moved with noise. It was obeyed again and since I had taken the precaution of moved the basin to a place that could be seen by all we all saw and heard the movement. Since those signs were not good enough to convince me I requested other proofs. I then moved a table next to the bed and told the suffering Spirit that we would in good faith offer her our vows and prayers but she would need to knock on that table as many times as the number of masses she wanted us to give in her favor and that the sacrifice of the mass was the safest to alleviate her pain. She knocked immediately and we heard thirty three. We then organized ourselves to proceed accordingly and while we talked the paintings, the basin and the crucifix knocked all at the same time with a noise that was higher than ever before.
It was 2 am when I sent for Father Chambon that witnessed everything that we had told him since the thirty three knocks were repeated in his presence. Father Chambon then asked to have the crucifix transported to a certain chair. We soon heard a noise from that chair and saw the crucifix under the bed near the chair. I had Canon Digoine, Father Chambon and Father Robert hiding around the cell to keep an eye and see if they could detect something. They heard two different voices in the patient’s bed. The voice of the patient was very distinctive and asking many questions; as for the other one they could not distinguish the response since it spoke in a very lower and fast tone. Those gentlemen passed that information to me and when asked Sister Mary confirmed the fact.
I proposed to them to say a De Profundis for the relief of the sufferings of that soul and when the prayer was over the chair dropped, the paintings knocked and the basin jingled. I told the Spirit that we would say five The Lord’s Prayer and five Hail Mary to honor the five ulcers of our Lord Jesus and that I ordered her to knock the chair down once more and with more force to demonstrate that the prayers pleased her. As soon as we kneeled the chair fell forward lifted in the air and fell backwards, before our eyes.
When I saw the kindness of that Spirit and the readiness to obey I thought I could try everything. I place 40 coins of silver on the bed of the patient and ordered to have them counted. We immediately heard the count on a glass that I had placed nearby. I took the coins and put them on the table. I ordered the same thing that was soon obeyed again. I then placed a shield of six francs and asked to have the number of masses counted with that. The Spirit knocked on the wall 33 times with the shield.
I then called Father Digoine, Father Bonfils and Father d’Entrevaux to the cell, drew the curtains and placed a candle on the bed, asking the Spirit to knock and tell us the number of masses. The four of us saw Sister Mary always lying in bed in the same condition, without a movement and with the pieces of paper in the form of a cross on her chest, and we heard the 33 knocks on the wall. It is necessary to note that the adjacent cell by this wall was empty. We had been careful enough to remove anything and anybody that could bring us any doubt.
Finally, Sir, I tried something else. I wrote the following words in a piece of paper: I command you, suffering soul, to tell us who you are for our consolation and for the satisfaction of our faith. Write your name on this paper or, at least, make a mark and from that we will know the need that you have of our prayers. I then put that text under the patient’s bed with an inkpot and a pen. A moment later and I heard the basin jingle. We all rushed at the same time and found the paper with the crucifix on top. I then ordered to have the crucifix taken back to its place and a mark left on the paper. We said the Hail Mary prayer and when finished we saw the crucifix in its place and the piece of paper with two crosses made with the pen. Father Chambon that was near the bed heard the noise of the pen on the paper. I could tell you many other equally remarkable facts but the detail would require a lot of time.
You will undoubtedly ask, my dear Sir, what my thoughts are about such adventure. I will make my profession of faith. I first establish that what I saw and heard has a cause. The paintings, the chair, the basin, etc. are animated things that cannot move on their own. What is then the cause that made them move? It must necessarily be natural or supernatural. If it is natural it must be Sister Mary since she was the only one there. I cannot consider the hypothesis of springs being used to generate the noises because we examined everything with maximum care even disassembling the paintings and even if a single hair were responsible for the basin or chair we would have noticed. Now, I say that Sister Mary was not the cause. She did not want, or better, she could not deceive us. She did not want because a young lady with the smell of sanctity, a young lady whose life is a continuous miracle that hardly eat or drink for three years and only stones come out of her body; a woman that is suffering for six year always with a remarkable patience and that only opens her mouth to pray and that shows the deepest humility; is it possible, I ask, that she may have wanted to deceive us by forcing the public, her Bishop and confessor and to a number of priests to question her? We found a marvelous consistency in everything that she said; never the slightest contradiction that is the unique character of truth since lies would not sustain it. I don’t believe the martyrs have suffered more than this saint young lady. There are times when her body is a sole ulcer; blood and pus come out of her ears and sometimes long worms are taken from her nostrils. She suffers continually and asks God to make her suffer. A wonderful thing is that every year during East she has bloody vomit collected and after that she receives the Sacred Viaticum and an instant later she is totally shut down. That is what happened last Wednesday.
I then say that she could not deceive us. She has no condition to do anything since she is paralyzed, as I said, and a young lady from our town was completely convinced when she pierced her thigh with a needle. In fact you can attest the precautions we took. We tied her up with her clothes and frequently kept her under our eyes. Hence it is not her. What can you tell me then? It is easy to find the consequence of everything that I have the honor to report to you.
Signed: Abbot de Saint-Ponc, Cannon Presenter.”
OBSERVATION: There is an evident analogy between these events and those of the Rapping Spirit of Bergzabern and Dibblesdorf reported in the Spiritist Review May, June, July and August 1858, with the exception that in this case there was nothing malevolent about the Spirit. They are attested by a man whose character cannot be suspicious and that did not observe them lightheartedly. If, like some intend, it is only the devil that manifests, how come it would be near a lady that smells sanctity? It is noticeable that she was not afraid or tormented; she knew herself, and the experiments demonstrated, that it was a suffering soul. If it is not the devil than do other souls can communicate?
There are two things that hold a particular analogy with what we see today. To begin with the first thought is that there is deception from the part of the person that is involved with the phenomena, despite the material impossibilities that sometimes occur. In the moral and physical situation of that lady it is hard to believe that there was suspicion of a game in the minds of the other Sisters. The second aspect is more important. If some of the phenome took place before the eyes of the persons that were present the majority occurred when they were next door when showing their backs or in the absence of direct light like frequently observed in our days. What is the reason for that? That is not yet sufficiently explained. Since those phenomena have a material and not supernatural cause, it could be the case that like in certain chemical reactions diffuse light would be more favorable to the action of fluids utilized by the Spirit. Spiritual Physics is still in its infancy.
