CONVULSIONARIES OF SAINT MEDARD. — A complex of paranormal phenomena that occurred during the eighteenth century in Paris, in the small cemetery adjoining the church of Saint Medard, at the tomb of the deacon Pâris, or in connection with his relics or with the earth from his grave.
The deacon Francesco Pâris, an ardent Jansenist who died at only thirty-seven years of age, leaving a reputation for austere piety toward himself but forbearance and mercy toward others, had been buried there at the beginning of May 1727; immediately, on the very day of the funeral, a sensational healing was said to have taken place at his tomb, followed by several others, according to L.-B. Carré de Montgeron (La vérité des miracles, opérés par l'intercession de M. de Pâris, démontrée contre l'archévêque de Sens [Utrecht 1737]), who, from being dissolute and unbelieving, had converted to a new life at the deacon’s tomb and became the most ardent defender of the alleged « miracles ». Several of the healings had been accompanied by convulsions; indeed, this aspect soon became predominant, thereby opening the second period, known as that of the c. Not only the sick but also pilgrims displayed the c.; and no longer only at the tomb, but also in private homes. To relieve the poor patients, an entire series of secours or « means of alleviation » was devised, divided into two classes: petits (fists, trampling, stretching the limbs and body with sturdy bandages, as though they were dealing with a thorn) and grands (violent blows with a cudgel, mallet, or hammer to the victim’s chest, abdomen, or stomach; the wheel torture; crucifixions; swords pointlessly placed and pressed against the body), inflicted until the patient said that he felt relieved. Others, on the contrary, emitted screams, writhed, leaped, ground their teeth with their eyes protruding from their sockets, or walked on live coals (incombustibility) or remained suspended in the air (levitation); still others uttered prophecies or claimed, although they were laypeople and women, to exercise priestly functions. Most of the c. were women.
A proclamation of King Louis XV, issued in January 1732, had the cemetery gates closed; another, dated 17 February 1733, forbade the c. to put themselves on public display or to perform in private homes; nevertheless, the phenomenon continued until almost the French Revolution.
While the enemies of the Church used these events to cast ridicule and derision upon the genuine miracles of Christianity, fervent Jansenists presented them as so many true marvels wrought by God to demonstrate the holiness of his servant Pâris and the truth of his doctrine. Thus the phenomenon spread from Paris to various places and gave rise to various sects (vaillantistes, augustinistes, farinistes).
Anyone wishing to pass a fair judgment on this complex of events must follow the principles of sound criticism, equally distant from the two extremes of denying everything or accepting everything. Now: 1) several of these events are attributable to tricks and fabrications, as those who had taken part in the game themselves confessed; 2) others abound in evident and gross exaggerations due to the fanaticism of Jansenist adherents; they must therefore be carefully assessed in all their circumstances; 3) still others are due to suggestion or to a contagious fascination that spreads easily among the masses (obvious examples are Saint Vitus’s dance and the dancing dervishes), or are naturally explained by hysterical or epileptoid crises, with the accompanying phenomena of paralysis and anesthesia; 4) finally, there remain other groups of events,
CONVULSIONARI DI S. MEDARDO – COOPERATION
which seem to elude any natural explanation. Yet, notwithstanding all that they contain of the extravagant, grotesque, and indecent, all that smacks of filth or downright immorality, it is in no way possible to attribute them to the intervention of God, because they clash with his attributes and with everything known of his manner of acting and conducting himself. Rather, they accord with what history relates concerning diabolical feats of magic (Simon Mago, sorcerers, etc.).