CONVULSIONARIES OF SAINT MEDARD. – A complex of paranormal events that occurred during the 18th century in Paris, in the small cemetery adjacent to the church of Saint-Médard, on the tomb of the deacon François Pàris, or with his relics or the earth from his grave.
The deacon François Pàris, a zealous Jansenist who died at only 37 years of age, leaving a reputation for austere piety toward himself but compassionate and merciful toward others, had been buried there in early May
1727. Immediately, on the very day of the funeral, a remarkable healing is said to have occurred 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 Pàris, démontrée contre l'archevêque de Sens* [Utrecht 1737]), who, from being a dissipated and incredulous man, was converted to a new life at the deacon’s tomb and became the most ardent defender of the alleged “miracles.” Many of the healings were accompanied by convulsions; indeed, this aspect soon became predominant, marking the beginning of the second phase known as the *convulsionaries*.The *convulsionaries* were not only the sick but also pilgrims, and not only at the tomb but also in private homes. To relieve the suffering of the afflicted, a whole series of *seances* or “means of alleviation” were devised, divided into two classes: minor (punches, trampling, stretching with strong bandages, as if dealing with a thorn, of limbs and the body) and major (violent blows with cudgels, mallets, or hammers to the chest, abdomen, or stomach of the victim, the wheel torture, crucifixions, swords uselessly pointed and pressed against the body), inflicted until the patient claimed to feel relief. Others, instead, would scream, writhe, leap about, grind their teeth with eyes bulging from their sockets, or walk on their heels (incompatible with normal posture) or remain suspended in the air (levitation); still others would utter prophecies or, even though laypeople and women, claim to exercise priestly functions. The majority of the *convulsionaries* were women.
A proclamation by King Louis XV in January 1732 ordered the gates of the cemetery to be locked; another, dated 17 February 1733, forbade *convulsionaries* from putting on public displays in private homes. Despite this, the phenomenon persisted until almost the time of the French Revolution.
While the enemies of the Church used these events to ridicule and mock genuine Christian miracles, ardent Jansenists took them as so many true prodigies, wrought by God to demonstrate the holiness of His servant Pàris and the truth of his doctrine. Thus, the phenomenon spread from Paris to various places and gave rise to various groups of *follantistes*, *augustinistes*, and *farinistes*.
Anyone wishing to form a balanced judgment about this complex of events must follow the norms of sound criticism, equally distant from both extremes: denying everything or accepting everything. Now: 1) many of these events were due to tricks and fabrications, as even those who had participated in them admitted; 2) others are rife with obvious and gross exaggerations stemming from Jansenist fanaticism; these must therefore be carefully examined in all their circumstances; 3) still others are attributable to suggestion or to a contagious fascination that easily spreads among the masses (clear examples being the dancing mania of Saint Vitus or the whirling dervishes) or can be explained naturally by hysterical or epileptoid crises, with the accompanying phenomena of paralysis and anesthesia; 4) finally, there remain other groups of events that seem to defy any natural explanation.
Yet, given all that they contain of extravagance, grotesquerie, indecency, and filth—or outright immorality—it is impossible in any way to attribute them to divine intervention, since they conflict with God’s attributes and with all that is known of His manner of acting. Instead, they align with what history reports of diabolical deceptions (Simon Magus, sorcerers, etc.).