You are in:
Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > May > A Resurrection
A Resurrection
The Concorde, a journal from Versailles, on February 22nd, 1866 reports the following episode of a story published in a feuilleton, with the title In Corsica, sketch with a pen.
“A young woman had an aunt that was like her mother and to whom she devoted a filial love. The aunt fell sick and died. The young lady was kept away, but she stood up at the door of the mortuary chapel, crying and praying. Suddenly she seemed to have heard a weak scream, like a muffled moaning. She opened the door precipitously and saw her aunt that had removed the covering cloth, waving at her to approach. She then said, with a weak voice and out of a supreme effort: “Saveria, I was dead a short while ago… yes, dead… I saw the Lord… He allowed me to return for an instant to say a last goodbye and make a final recommendation to you.”
She then renewed a very important advice, that she had given a few days ago, that could affect her future. It was about keeping an absolute secret about a fact whose advertisement could lead to one of those terrible vengeances, so common in this country. After the niece had promised to comply with her will, she added: “Now I can die, because God will protect you as one is protected in such a time, for I will not leave behind me the displeasure of a vengeance fed by a trail of blood and curse… Goodbye my child, bless you”. After these words she expired.”
One of our correspondents, that personally knows the author, asked him if the report was the result of his imagination. “No, re said. It is the truth. I heard the story from Saveria’s mouth when I was in Corsica. I used her own words and even omitted certain details, afraid that people could accuse me of exaggeration.”
Facts of such a nature are not unique; we cited a very remarkable one in the Spiritist Review, August 1863, with the title Mr. Cardon, doctor. They are the evident proof of the existence and independence of the soul, because, if the intelligent principle were inherent to matter, it would extinguish with that. The remaining question is to know if, out of a wish, the soul can momentarily retake the body that it had just left.
One must not attribute the fact above, nor that of doctor Cardon, to a lethargic state. Lethargy is an accidental suspension of movements and nervous sensitivity, presenting the aspect of death, but that is not death, since there is no decomposition and the lethargic live many years after their wakening. Latent vitality retains is full strength, and the soul is not more separated from the body than it is during the sleep. In true death, on the contrary, matter decomposes, vitality is extinct and the perispirit detaches; the work of separation begins even before the consummation of death. While there is no consummation, it is possible to have temporary return to life, as the ones we cited, but always of short duration, considering that the will may delay the definite separation of the perispirit for a few moments, but it is impotent to stop the work of dissolution, when the time comes. Irrespective of the external appearances, one can say that every time that there is a return to life it means that there wasn’t death, in the pathologic meaning of the word. When death is complete, such return are impossible, for this is in opposition to the physiological laws.
In the circumstances that we discuss, therefore, we could rationally admit that death was not consummated. Having this event been reported at the Parisian Society, the guide of one of our usual mediums gave him the following explanation, that we reproduce with every reservation, as something possible, but not materially proved, and as a point of observation.
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, March 2nd, 1866 – medium Mr. Morin
In the case that constitutes reason for your discussion, there is a positive fact that is the dead person that spoke with her niece. It is necessary to know if this is a material fact, that is, if there was momentary return to the corporeal life, or if it is of spiritual order; the latter is the true hypothesis because the old lady was really dead. Here is what happened:
Keeling by the door of the mortuary chamber, the young lady had an irresistible impulse that took her to the bed of her aunt that, as I said, was truly dead. It was the strong will of the Spirit of this woman that provoked the phenomenon. Feeling that she was dying without being able to make the recommendation that she badly wanted to make, she asked God, in a last and supreme prayer, to allow her to tell the niece what she wanted to say. With the separation completed, the perispiritual fluid, still impregnated by her desire, involved the young woman, and brought her closer to the remains. There, with God’s permission, she became a clairvoyant and auditive medium; she saw and heard her aunt acting, not with a body, but through the perispirit, still connected to the body, so that there was spiritual, not material, sight and hearing.
The aunt’s recommendation, given in such a time and circumstances that gave the appearance of a resurrection, should vividly impress the young woman, making her understand the importance of the recommendation. Although she had already done that when alive, she wanted to make sure that her niece agreed, to avoid disgraces that could result from her indiscretion. Her will could not have revived her body, opposing the laws of nature, but could give her fluidic covering the appearance of her body.
Ebelman
“A young woman had an aunt that was like her mother and to whom she devoted a filial love. The aunt fell sick and died. The young lady was kept away, but she stood up at the door of the mortuary chapel, crying and praying. Suddenly she seemed to have heard a weak scream, like a muffled moaning. She opened the door precipitously and saw her aunt that had removed the covering cloth, waving at her to approach. She then said, with a weak voice and out of a supreme effort: “Saveria, I was dead a short while ago… yes, dead… I saw the Lord… He allowed me to return for an instant to say a last goodbye and make a final recommendation to you.”
She then renewed a very important advice, that she had given a few days ago, that could affect her future. It was about keeping an absolute secret about a fact whose advertisement could lead to one of those terrible vengeances, so common in this country. After the niece had promised to comply with her will, she added: “Now I can die, because God will protect you as one is protected in such a time, for I will not leave behind me the displeasure of a vengeance fed by a trail of blood and curse… Goodbye my child, bless you”. After these words she expired.”
One of our correspondents, that personally knows the author, asked him if the report was the result of his imagination. “No, re said. It is the truth. I heard the story from Saveria’s mouth when I was in Corsica. I used her own words and even omitted certain details, afraid that people could accuse me of exaggeration.”
Facts of such a nature are not unique; we cited a very remarkable one in the Spiritist Review, August 1863, with the title Mr. Cardon, doctor. They are the evident proof of the existence and independence of the soul, because, if the intelligent principle were inherent to matter, it would extinguish with that. The remaining question is to know if, out of a wish, the soul can momentarily retake the body that it had just left.
One must not attribute the fact above, nor that of doctor Cardon, to a lethargic state. Lethargy is an accidental suspension of movements and nervous sensitivity, presenting the aspect of death, but that is not death, since there is no decomposition and the lethargic live many years after their wakening. Latent vitality retains is full strength, and the soul is not more separated from the body than it is during the sleep. In true death, on the contrary, matter decomposes, vitality is extinct and the perispirit detaches; the work of separation begins even before the consummation of death. While there is no consummation, it is possible to have temporary return to life, as the ones we cited, but always of short duration, considering that the will may delay the definite separation of the perispirit for a few moments, but it is impotent to stop the work of dissolution, when the time comes. Irrespective of the external appearances, one can say that every time that there is a return to life it means that there wasn’t death, in the pathologic meaning of the word. When death is complete, such return are impossible, for this is in opposition to the physiological laws.
In the circumstances that we discuss, therefore, we could rationally admit that death was not consummated. Having this event been reported at the Parisian Society, the guide of one of our usual mediums gave him the following explanation, that we reproduce with every reservation, as something possible, but not materially proved, and as a point of observation.
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, March 2nd, 1866 – medium Mr. Morin
In the case that constitutes reason for your discussion, there is a positive fact that is the dead person that spoke with her niece. It is necessary to know if this is a material fact, that is, if there was momentary return to the corporeal life, or if it is of spiritual order; the latter is the true hypothesis because the old lady was really dead. Here is what happened:
Keeling by the door of the mortuary chamber, the young lady had an irresistible impulse that took her to the bed of her aunt that, as I said, was truly dead. It was the strong will of the Spirit of this woman that provoked the phenomenon. Feeling that she was dying without being able to make the recommendation that she badly wanted to make, she asked God, in a last and supreme prayer, to allow her to tell the niece what she wanted to say. With the separation completed, the perispiritual fluid, still impregnated by her desire, involved the young woman, and brought her closer to the remains. There, with God’s permission, she became a clairvoyant and auditive medium; she saw and heard her aunt acting, not with a body, but through the perispirit, still connected to the body, so that there was spiritual, not material, sight and hearing.
The aunt’s recommendation, given in such a time and circumstances that gave the appearance of a resurrection, should vividly impress the young woman, making her understand the importance of the recommendation. Although she had already done that when alive, she wanted to make sure that her niece agreed, to avoid disgraces that could result from her indiscretion. Her will could not have revived her body, opposing the laws of nature, but could give her fluidic covering the appearance of her body.
Ebelman