[JANSENISM BETWEEN STRICT RATIONALISM AND MIRACULOUS ECSTASY – SOURCES OF EARLY PSYCHANALYTIC THEORY] 23 publications on the Convulsionists of Saint-Médard in one bound volume.

Paris: Lottin, but predominantly n.p.: n.p., 1732–1739. Quartos (26 × 21 cm). Contemporary marbled calf over five raised bands, with morocco spine label and richly gilt spine compartments. All pages consecutively numbered in ink in a contemporary hand; the names “Marie-Madeline Mossaron” (twice) and “François Chaulin” (once) written out in ink (signatures?); at the end, 2 pages with a contemporary table of contents in ink; binding with three small, older adhesive labels on the spine; front hinge slightly cracked at extremities; edges, corners, and spine ends lightly rubbed and bumped; only a few pages slightly fox-stained; else very good. Item #54471

The tracts, reports, letters, petitions, collections of documents, counterstatements, and other texts assembled here, most of them printed only once, document aspects of the theological, political, and legal disputes surrounding the Parisian movement of the Convulsionnaires, who reported numerous miraculous healings at the tomb of the Jansenist François de Paris. Following the police closure in 1732 of the Saint-Médard cemetery, which had become a cult site, criminal investigations and legal proceedings were brought against several Convulsionnaires under the authority of the Parlement de Paris. For example, the famous female Convulsionnaires Charlotte de la Porte, Denise Regne, and Marguerite-Catherine Turpin, whose cases are addressed in numerous publications included here, were accused of fraud and sent to the detention facility of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière. The women's protests, together with the texts and speeches of their defenders, attracted considerable public attention in a series of widely publicized court proceedings. Medical experts were involved as well in these proceedings and were required to respond to reports of miraculous healings said to have occurred amid violent convulsions. (Cf. Robert Kreiser, Miracles, Convulsions, and Ecclesiastical Politics in Early Eighteenth-Century Paris, Princeton 1978).

The cult surrounding the Jansenist deacon François de Paris, which, for example, continued through the use of soil from his grave in Parisian chambers and salons, was politically explosive because it constituted an attack on the papal and royal measures against Jansenism. The convulsions and spontaneous healings were interpreted by sections of the public as divine signs against the papal verdict of heresy and the destruction of the Port-Royal convent ordered by Louis XIV. Increasingly, however, a number of Jansenist theologians distanced themselves from the Convulsionnaires, who were increasingly taking on a life of their own. Jansenists in the circle surrounding the women’s convent of Port-Royal first appeared as a political opposition during the Thirty Years’ War, when criticism of Richelieu’s policy of alliances with the Protestant powers first became discernible within Jansenist circles. Another political issue was the Jansenists' open criticism of Jesuit moral theology and the casuistic practice of confession based on it. The theologians associated with the convent of Port-Royal (above all the authors of the “Port-Royal Logic” and the “Port-Royal Grammar,” Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole) accused the Jesuits of laxism and relativism. Blaise Pascal, whose turn toward Jansenism was further strengthened by the miraculous healing of his niece at Port-Royal, polemicized in his anonymous work Les Provinciales, later banned and publicly burned by Louis XIV, against the leniency, laxity, and generosity of Jesuit confessors. The Jesuits cited by Pascal included the confessor of the Sun King. Numerous connections likewise existed between the insurgents of the Fronde and the Jansenists. While the rigorous theologians in the tradition of the Port-Royal School were in conflict with the court at Versailles and with Rome, the Parisian population flocked to the grave of the Jansenist ascetic. (See also: ibid.; Richard M. Golden, The Jansenism of the Parisian ‘Curés’ during the Religious ‘Fronde,’ in: The Catholic Historical Review, Oct. 1978, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 565–580; Jan Rohls, Der Jansenismus, Pascal und Racine, in: vol. 3, Das Zeitalter des Barock, Berlin, Boston 2021, pp. 351–373.)

Paris at the fin de siècle rediscovered the accounts of the Convulsionnaires from a new perspective. The neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, whose work was crucial to Freud’s development of psychoanalysis, dealt extensively and in detail with the accounts and pictorial representations of the convulsions and healings in his 1887 treatise Les démoniaques dans l’art, which for him constituted a wealth of case studies of hysteria. He interpreted the illnesses believed to have been healed themselves as hysterical symptoms, caused by permanent muscular contractions that were released again in the convulsions. Not only the descriptions of the spasms but also the pictorial representations of thrown-back heads, swollen necks, cramping hands, and so forth clearly reminded him of the gestures of his female patients. Charcot draws a line from the pictorial representations of possession in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, through the accounts of the Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard, to the “modern hysterics.”

The volume comprises 10 publications concerning the case of Charlotte de La Porte, 3 each concerning the cases of Louise Tremasse and Gabrielle Gantier, veuve Delorme, 1 each concerning Marguerite Hutin, Madame de Mérigny, Mademoiselle Mossaron, Denise Régné, and Marguerite-Catherine Turpin, 1 concerning the three cases of La Porte, Régné, and Turpin jointly, and 1 addressing the miracles of the Appellants in general.

I) La vérité du miracle opéré en la personne de Marguerite Hutin, fille native de la ville de Reims, connue sous le nom de Sœur Marguerite, estropiée du bras droit pendant trente ans par une mauvaise saignée, & guérie, par l'intercession du Bienheureux François de Paris, au mois de juin mile sept cent trente deux, en la cinquantième année de son âge [The truth of the miracle that took place in the person of Marguerite Hutin, a native of the city of Reims, known as Sister Marguerite, who had been crippled in her right arm for thirty years due to a botched bloodletting, and who was healed through the intercession of Blessed François of Paris in the month of June, 1732, in the fiftieth year of her life]. N.p.: n.p. 1734. [4], 64 pp.

II) Déclaration du révérend père Colinet, prêtre de l’oratoire ; supérieur de collège de Troyes. Au sujet de la guérison miraculeuse de madame de Megrigny, religieuse Benedictine de l’abbaye de Notre-Dame de Troyes, obtenuë par l’intercession du bienheureux François de Paris [Statement by Reverend Father Colinet, a priest of the Oratory and principal of the college in Troyes, regarding the miraculous healing of Madame de Megrigny, a Benedictine nun of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Troyes, obtained through the intercession of Blessed François de Paris]. N.p.: n.p. [1730?]. 3, [1] pp.

III) Lettre de Mademoiselle Mossaron à Monseigneur l'Archevêque de Paris, au sujet de ce qui est dans son Ordonnance du 8 novembre 1735. contre le miracle de sa guérison subite et une paralysie de dix-huit mois, arrivé le 26 juin 1728, au tombeau de M. de Paris … [Letter from Mademoiselle Mossaron to His Eminence the Archbishop of Paris, regarding the contents of his ordinance of November 8, 1735, concerning the miracle of her sudden recovery from an eighteen-month paralysis, which occurred on June 26, 1728, at the tomb of M. de Paris]. N.p.: n.p. 1737. 62 pp.

IV) Copie de l'acte passé devant le notaire de Moisy, diocèse de Blois, par Louise Tremasse, guérie, au mois d'octobre 1737, par l'intercession du bienheureux Pâris; Lettre de M. le curé de Moisy à monseigneur l'évêque de Blois, au sujet d'un miracle opéré sur une femme de Moisy par l'intercession du bienheureux Pâris; Réponse de monseigneur l'évêque de Blois au curé de Moisy; Extrait d'une lettre d'un ecclésiastique de Vendôme à un religieux Bénédictin de Paris qui lui avait demandé des éclaircissements sur le miracle de Moisy... Cette lettre est datée du 10 novembre 1737 … [Copy of the deed drawn up before the notary of Moisy, in the Diocese of Blois, by Louise Tremasse, who was healed in October 1737 through the intercession of Blessed Pâris; letter from the parish priest of Moisy to His Excellency the Bishop of Blois regarding a miracle performed on a woman from Moisy through the intercession of Blessed Pâris; reply from His Excellency the Bishop of Blois to the parish priest of Moisy; excerpt from a letter from a clergyman in Vendôme to a Benedictine monk in Paris who had asked him for clarification regarding the miracle in Moisy... This letter is dated November 10, 1737…]. N.p.: n.p. [1738?]. 10 pp.

V) [Julien-Rene-Benjamin de Genne]. Reflexions importantes sur le miracle arrive au mois d’octobre dernier au bourg de Moisy en Beauce Diocèse de Blois, en la personne de Louise Tremasse, veuve Mercier, par l'intercession de M. de Pâris, diacre de sainte mémoire ; et sur les événements qui ont suivi ce prodige [Important reflections on the miracle that occurred last October in the village of Moisy-en-Beauce, in the Diocese of Blois, involving Louise Tremasse, widow of Mercier, through the intercession of Mr. de Pâris, a deacon of blessed memory; and on the events that followed this miracle]. N.p.: n.p. 1738. [8], 24, LXIV, [2] pp.

VI) [Julien-Rene-Benjamin de Gennes]. Seconde requête présentée à M. l'Evêque de Blois (...) au sujet de la guérison miraculeuse opérée à Moisy (…) avec une addition aux pieces justificatives de ce miracle (…) et de nouvelles reflexions importantes, contenant la refutation des articles de la xx. lettre de D. La Taste [Second petition submitted to the Bishop of Blois (...) regarding the miraculous healing that took place in Moisy (...) with an addendum to the supporting documents for this miracle (...) and new important reflections, containing a refutation of the points made in the xx. letter by D. La Taste]. N.p.: n.p. 1739. 4, 45, [1], 59, [1], 11, [1], XIII, [1] pp.

VII) [François] Chaulin. Relation de la manière dont Gabrielle Gantier, veuve Delorme a été frappée d'une paralysie subite au tombeau de M. de Pâris, le quatre d'aoust 1731. Avec un détail des circonstances [An account of how Gabrielle Gantier, widow of Delorme, was struck by sudden paralysis at the tomb of Mr. de Pâris on August 4, 1731. With a detailed description of the circumstances]. N.p.: n.p. 1732. 33, [1] pp.

VIII) François Chaulin. Lettre de Monsieur Chaulin (...) à Monseigneur l'archevêque de Paris, en réponse à l’article de son ordonnance du 8 Novembre 1735, qui concerne le Miracle de punition arrivé en la personne de la veuve de Lorme… [Letter from Mr. Chaulin (...) to His Grace the Archbishop of Paris, in response to the clause in his decree of 8 November 1735 concerning the miraculous punishment that befell the widow of Lorme…]. N.p.: n.p. [1736]. 20 pp.

IX) Réponse à la quatrième lettre attribuée à un religieux bénédictin concernant la démarche de la veuve de Lorme au tombeau de Mr de Pâris [Response to the fourth letter attributed to a Benedictine monk concerning the visit by Lorme’s widow to the tomb of Mr. de Pâris]. N.p.: n.p. 1733. 75, [1] pp.

X) [Boyer, Pierre]. L'autorite des miracles des appellants dans l’Eglise: Ou Traité dogmatique, dans lequel en examinant la manière des Miracles en elle-même (...) on fait voir l'abus que les Constitutionnaires font du témoignage de ce Père. Que les Miracles étant la preuve des preuves; on ne peut donner atteinte à leur autorité sans ébranler les fondemens de la Religion [The authority of the miracles of the appellants in the Church: or, a dogmatic treatise, in which, by examining the nature of miracles themselves (...), the abuse that the Constitutionalists make of this Father’s testimony is exposed. Since miracles are the proof of all proofs, one cannot undermine their authority without shaking the very foundations of religion]. N.p.: n.p. 1734. XII, 79, [1] pp.

XI) Requeste présentée au Parlement pour Denise Regné, guérie subitement dans les prisons de Vincennes, d'un Dragon dans l'œil & d'un cancer au sein, le 13 Février 1734, à la fin de la dernière de ses Convulsions [Petition submitted to Parliament on behalf of Denise Regné, who was suddenly cured, whilst imprisoned in Vincennes, of a ‘dragon’ in her eye and breast cancer on 13 February 1734, at the end of her final fit]. Paris: Lottin, 1735. 11, [1] pp.

XII) Requeste présentée au Parlement par Charlotte de la Porte, dont les jambes et les pieds ont grandi & se sont formés après l'âge de cinquante ans, dans le cours de ses convulsions; accusée d'imposture, décrétée de prise de corps, et renfermée à la Salpêtrière [Petition presented to Parliament by Charlotte de La Porte, whose legs and feet grew and took shape after she turned fifty, during her seizures; accused of fraud, ordered to be arrested, and confined to the Salpêtrière]. Paris: Lottin, 1735. 12 pp.

XIII) Requeste de Charlotte de la Porte au Parlement [Petition from Charlotte de La Porte to Parliament]. Paris: Lottin, 1735. 28 pp.

XIV) Requeste présentée au Parlement pour Marguerite-Catherine Turpin dont les os se sont reformés après l'âge de vingt-sept ans, & dont les uns ont été allongés, les autres raccourcis & diminués [… [Petition submitted to Parliament on behalf of Marguerite-Catherine Turpin, whose bones reformed after she turned twenty-seven, and some of which were lengthened, while others were shortened and reduced in size…]. Paris: Lottin, 1735. 11, [1] pp.

XV) Défense et justification des Requestes de Charlotte de la Porte, Denise Régné et Marguerite-Catherine Turpin contre les Reflexions de Monsieur F*** [Defense and justification of the requests of Charlotte de la Porte, Denise Régné, and Marguerite-Catherine Turpin against the reflections of Monsieur F***]. N.p.: n.p. 1736. [2], 43, [1], 44–69, [2], 27, [3] pp.

XVI) Réflexions sur la requeste de la nommée Charlote et la consultation des avocats qui y est jointe: Où l'on examine cette curieuse question : s'il est vraisemblable que Dieu ait donné à cette convulsionnaire le don miraculeux des guérisons, comme elle le prétend dans sa Requeste [Reflections on the petition of a certain Charlote and the lawyers’ advice attached thereto: in which we examine this curious question: whether it is plausible that God should have bestowed upon this convulsionist the miraculous gift of healing, as she claims in her petition]. N.p.: n.p. 1735. [2], 18 pp.

XVII) Réflexions sur la requeste de Denize ou Nizette, avec de nouvelles remarques sur celle de Charlote [Reflections on the petition by Denize or Nizette, with further comments on that of Charlote]. N.p.: n.p. 1735. 23, [1] pp.

XVIII) Lettre à Monsieur F** au sujet de ses reflexions sur la requeste de Charlote de la Porte [Letter to Mr. F** regarding his thoughts on Charlote de la Porte’s petition]. N.p.: n.p. 1735. [2], 14 pp.

XIX) Réfutation de l'étrange paradoxe avancé par l'auteur de l'examen de la Consultation : qu'il y a des Prophètes du vrai Dieu, sujets à l'erreur, au tems de l'inspiration & de l'énonciation prophétique [Refutation of the strange paradox put forward by the author of the review of the Consultation: that there are prophets of the true God who are prone to error at the time of inspiration and prophetic utterance]. N.p.: n.p. 1736. 30, [2] pp.

XX) Suite de la Réfutation de l'étrange paradoxe avancé par l’auteur de l'examen de la Consultation des XXX Docteurs; qu'il y a des prophètes du vrai Dieu sujets à l’erreur [Continuation of the refutation of the strange paradox put forward by the author of the commentary on the Consultation of the Thirty Doctors; namely, that there are prophets of the true God who are prone to error]. N.p.: n.p. 1736. 16 pp.

XXI) Apologie de saint Paul, contre l'apologiste de Charlote, où l'on montre que cet apostre n'a fait ni une fausse prophétie, ni une fausse prédiction en disant à ceux de Milet : Je sçais que vous ne verrez plus mon visage [Apology for Saint Paul, against the apologist of Charlote, in which it is shown that this apostle made neither a false prophecy nor a false prediction when he said to those of Miletus: I know that you will see my face no more]. N.p.: n.p. 1736. 8 pp.

XXII) Suite de l'Apologie de saint Paul … [Continuation of the apology for Saint Paul …]. N.p.: n.p. 1736. 24 pp.

XXIII) Réponse à un Mémoire en forme de plainte, faite au nom de la convulsionnaire nommée Charlote [Reply to a memorandum in the form of a complaint, made in the name of the convulsionist named Charlote]. N.p.: n.p. 1735. 32 pp.

Bibliography:

I) Robert Yve-Plessis, Essai d'une bibliographie française méthodique & raisonnée de la sorcellerie, no. 719 note – II) Catalogue provisoire des imprimés dans la Collection Rochechouart de la Bibliothèque du Chapitre de la Cathédrale de Bayeux. J 4° 01/15 – III) Yve-Plessis, 602. – V) Yve-Plessis 738; Jens Ivo Engels, Wunder im Dienste profanierter Weltsicht, in: Historisches Jahrbuch, vol. 117, no. 1., note 13. – VI) Engels, note 13. – VII) Yve-Plessis,702; François Pérennès, Dictionnaire de bibliographie catholique IV, 168. – VIII) Yve-Plessis, 702, note. – X) Kreiser, Miracles, Convulsions, and Ecclesiastical Politics in Early Eighteenth-Century Paris, Princeton 1978, p. 412. – XI) Yve-Plessis, 720. – XII) Yve-Plessis, 731; Kreiser, Cap. VIII, note 54. – XIII) Yve-Plessis, 732. – XIV) Yve-Plessis, 733. – XV) Yve-Plessis, 733, note. – XVI) Kreiser, Cap. VIII, note 51. – XVII) Kreiser, ibid. – XXIII: Yve-Plessis, 732, note.

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