Father Dégenettes, mediumFormer priest of Notre Dame des Victories, in Paris
The following story was literally taken from the book entitled Month of Mary, by father Défossés:
“This is how it did happen, in the world, in a heavenly and supernatural way, the divine work of the archconfraternity of the most holy and immaculate Heart of Mary. Let's go to Mr. Dégenettes again. Who else could better describe to us what actually happened? The archconfraternity was born on December 3rd, 1836. Many of those that judge us by the appearances believe us to be the founder. Only God has the honor and glory. We did not have the drive of spirit nor the heart to have us prepared for that. We must confess, asking for God’s forgiveness and Mary’s, and as the son of Mary, used to admire and venerate her as the kindest mother, since our early days, we did not understand a thing about the devotion of her sacred heart and we even avoided to think about that. We must add that father McCarty, a saint religious man that one day preached in our charge of the foreign missions about the sacred heart of Mary, caused on special impression on us, although we attested the eloquence of the speaker, despite our boredom supported by our proud prevention since he handled a matter that we thought would not be useful to others or to ourselves. That was our mind frame on the very December 3rd, 1836, the celebration of St. Francis Xavier.
That day, at nine o'clock in the morning, I began the Holy Mass at the foot of the altar of the Blessed Virgin, which we have since consecrated to her most holy and immaculate Heart, and which is today the altar of the archconfraternity. I was in the first verse of Psalm Judica me, when a thought crossed my mind: it was the thought of the uselessness of my ministry in that parish; such a thought was no stranger to me; I had only too many opportunities to conceive it and remind myself of that; but in this occasion it struck me more vividly than usual. Since it was neither the place nor the time to take care of it, I made every effort to keep it away from my mind. I could not manage it, I always seemed to hear a voice coming from inside me saying to me: "Do not do anything, your ministry is nil; See, for more than four years that you have been here, what have you won? All is lost, this people no longer has faith. You should leave, out of common sense!
Despite all my efforts to send that unfortunate thought away, it took me over in such a way that it absorbed all the faculties of my spirit, to the point that I read and recited the prayers without understanding what I was saying.
I was fatigued by the violence that I had imposed on myself and that made me sweat abundantly. I remained like that until the beginning of the canon of the mass. After saying the Sanctus I stopped for a moment and tried to regroup; I was scared of my own state and said to myself: God, what is happening to me? How can I offer the divine sacrifice? My spirit is not free enough to give consecration. Oh my God, keep that distraction away from me. As soon as I said that I clearly heard these words spoken in a solemn fashion: Consecrate your parish to the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary. As soon as I heard those words that did not hurt but resonated inside me, I recovered the calm and freedom of spirit. That fatal impression that violently agitated me soon vanished, not leaving any impression. I carried out the sacred ministry without any recollection of my previous distraction. After the thanksgiving I analyzed the way I had offered the sacred sacrifice. It was only then that I remembered having had a distraction, a confusing memory that forced me to dig up for a few moments and find the objective of that. I assured myself, saying: I did not sin. I was not free. I then asked myself how that distraction had ended and the remembrance of the words that I had heard came back to mind. That thought horrified me. I tried to deny the possibility, but my memory confused the thoughts that I repelled. I fought myself for ten minutes. I said to myself: If I stopped there it would bring a huge disgrace upon me; it would affect my morale and I could become a visionary. Tired of that fight I made the decision and said: I cannot stop at that thought; it would bring very unpleasant consequences; besides, it is an illusion; I had a big distraction during the mass, that is all. The essential to me is that fact that I did not sin. I do not want to think about it. I rested my hands on the kneeler where I was. At that very moment, and even before rising (I was alone in the sacristy) I heard these very distinct words: Consecrate your parish to the sacred and immaculate heart of Mary. I fell on my knees, stunned. I tried not to believe for a few moments; I wanted to at least doubt but I couldn’t anymore. I had heard and could not deny it to myself. I felt suddenly sad; the uneasiness that had tormented my soul was back. I then tried to expel all those thoughts; I said: It is still an illusion, resulting from the confusion in your mind since the first impression you had; I did not hear, you could not have heard, and an intimate voice was telling me: you cannot doubt, you heard it twice.
I then decided not to think about it anymore and try to forget. But those words – consecrate your parish to the sacred and immaculate heart of Mary reverberated incessantly in my soul. To get rid of the impression that was tiring me I said: It is always an act of devotion to the St. Virgen that can result in something positive. Let us try. My acknowledgement was not free; it was demanded by my fatigued spirit. I then went to my apartment. To keep those thoughts away I started working on the bylaws of our association. As soon as I started the work the matter was clarified before my eyes and the bylaws were soon written. That is the truth and we did not tell that in the first editions of our manual; we even hid it from the venerable director of our consciences. Up until that they it was kept as a secret, even to the closest friends. We dared not reveal it; and today that the mercy has positively assigned the work of the prodigious propagation of the archconfraternity, and in particular by the remarkable fruits that it produces, my conscience obliges me to reveal the fact. – It is glorious, said Archangel Raphael to Tobias, the revelation of God’s works is glorious, so that all can acknowledge that the whole honor, glory and praise belong to him.”
This is a maximum demonstration of the auditive mediumship. Whoever denied the mediumistic effect and thought it was a miracle I would say that miracle is something exceptional and above the laws of nature and that nobody would consider as such the phenomena that do take place every day; their reproduction is a positive indication that they exist due to a law and that consequently do not escape the natural order of things. Well, events similar to that of father Dégenettes are among the most common of mediumship since phenomena of auditive communication are extremely numerous.
If, according to the opinion of some, the devil is the only agent of the mediumistic phenomena, one would forcibly have to conclude, to be consistent, that the foundation of the so called archconfraternity is the works of the devil because, following the good logic, the absolute analogy of the effects imply the cause.
A more embarrassing point to the partisans of the devil is the endless reproduction of all mediumistic phenomena in the very heart of the clergy and in religious communities, and the perfect similarity between several effects named sacred, with those that are considered diabolic. One must then acknowledge that the bad spirits are not the only ones with the power of manifestation, on the contrary the majority of the saints would be no more than “possessed”, since the beatification of many followed phenomena that today are reproduced by mediums. They ducked by saying that the good Spirits only communicate with the Church or it is only the Church that can differentiate those that come from God from those that come from the devil. Be it. It is a reason, like any other, to be appreciated by everyone but that exclude the exclusive communication of the devil.
Mr. Delanne that kindly reported the event above also added the following communication from father Dégenettes, received by Mrs. Delanne:
“My dear children, I gladly attend to your call. I will provide you with the details that you would like to know because today I am linked to the phalanx of the Spirits whose mission is to lead humanity on the path of truth. When I was on Earth I struggled to bring people back to God, but I only had a slight idea of this great law that entitles everyone to progress. Matter imposes serious blockades and our instincts frequently paralyze the efforts of intelligence. At the time of my hearing, therefore, I did not know, for sure, what to think; but since I continued hearing that voice I concluded it was a miracle. Yet, I saw myself as an instrument and everything I got through that only confirmed my idea. I was in fact an instrument but there was no miracle. I was one of those designated to carry the first stones of the doctrine, offering the proof of spiritual communications. Time is not far when you will be given developments about the so called mysteries and that were supposed to be up until now, because humanity was not yet prepared to understand them! Ah a thousand times happier those that today understand the beautiful mission of propagating the doctrine of revelation, showing a good and merciful God! Yes, my dears, when I was exiled on Earth I carried the precious gift of mediumship; but I repeat, I was not aware of that. When that voice spoke to my heart I acknowledged a more special and visible protection of Mary in all my actions, even the simplest, and if I hid that even from my superiors it was attending the advice of that same voice that made me understand that the time was not right for that revelation. I had the presentiment and a vague intuition of the renovation that is taking place now. I understood that the revelation was not supposed to come from the Church but that one day the Church would be forced to support it, by all facts that it are named miracles and are attributed to supernatural causes. I will continue this on another occasion, my friends. May the peace of the Lord be with you and allow you a peaceful sleep.”
Q – Should we send this communication and the events that led to it to Mr. Allan Kardec? A. – Haven’t I told you that I am one of the propagators of the doctrine? My name does not carry much value but I cannot see why I would not authorize you to proceed. In fact, this is not the first time I communicate. You can, therefore, forward to the master my simple instructions, or even better, my simple report.”
Dégenettes
Observation: Father Dégenettes in fact communicated several times with words that are worthy of the elevation of his soul. As much as we can remember he was the one that told the following story in a sermon given at the Notre-Dame des Victories:
- A poor and unemployed working-class woman that came for her prayers encountered a man, when leaving the church, that approached her and said: You must go to this address to find a job; talk to Miss Jane Roe; she will fix it for you.
- The poor woman appreciated that and went to the given address where she really found the person in question and told her the story. That person then said: I don’t know who might have given you my address since I am not looking for anyone to work here. Nonetheless since I have a few things to be done I will allow you to work on that.
- The poor woman then saw a photograph hanging on a wall and then said: Look Ma’am, she said pointing at the picture; this was the gentleman that sent me here!
- That is impossible, the other woman said, this is the picture of my son who died three years ago.
- I don’t know how that can be, the poor woman said, but I can recognize him perfectly well.
Father Dégenettes, therefore, believed in the apparition of the souls after their death, with the same looks as they had when alive. Events of such a kind are not unusual and we have numerous examples of them. It is unlikely that father Dégenettes reported this one from the pulpit without authentic proofs. His belief in this point, added to his personal experience, support his own words about his mission in the propagation of the doctrine of the Spirits.
An event like the one reported above would necessarily go among the marvelous and supernatural. It is only Spiritism that can give them a rational explanation by the knowledge of the properties of the perispirit. For that same reason it proves the possibility of Jesus Christ appearing to his disciples after his death.
