François de Paris (1690-1727)
François de Paris, né
a Paris le 30 juin 1690, mort le 1er may 1727. [France? Not before 1727]
Mezzotint portrait of the popularly-venerated Parisian
deacon. Since the mezzotint was the most laborious and expensive graphic
process of its day, this print suggests that François’ popularity was not
limited exclusively to the lower orders of society.
The portrait is included in a volume of miscellanea, probably bound by the Albani family, with the title page and manuscript listing of the volume’s contents shown below.
Although the volume’s original spine title
(Miracoli
delli Appellanti) accurately
reflected the contents, the book's title was later changed to the less descriptive but very dismissive Miracoli de
Protestant[i], symptomatic of an imperfect understanding of the true nature of Jansenist/Appellant ideology, and a willingness to lump all heterodox movements into one.
This photograph of the spine's palimpsest title
provides an object lesson in the mutability of such bibliographic evidence.
Clementine 273.7 .S434
Montgeron: Apologist for the Convulsionaries
Louis Basile Carré de
Montgeron (1686-1754). La Vérité
des Miracles Opérés à l’Intercession de M. de Pâris et Autres Appellans,
Démontrée contre M. l’Archevêque de Sens. [Utrecht? 1737]
Montgeron was a wealthy young lawyer when he
visited St. Medard cemetery purely out of curiosity. There he experienced a
conversion at the tomb of the deacon, and became an apostle of the
convulsionary cause. In addition to funding other Jansenist printing
enterprises, he wrote this work, which ultimately filled 3 volumes. He
dedicated the first edition to King Louis XV, and, as depicted in the frontispiece shown here, personally delivered a copy in 1737 to the astonished monarch who
promptly had the author arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille. There 5,000
copies of his book were burned beneath the window of his prison cell, but
the author, having foreseen this move, had already commissioned a new edition that soon appeared in Utrecht. The author remained imprisoned until his
death.
RBSC Folio BT97.A2 M7 1737
Madeleine Durand.
Two engravings after Jean Restout. In Vérité
des Miracles…[1737]
The success of Montgeron’s apologetic owed
much to the striking double page engravings of individuals cured through the
intercession of François de Paris. The left-hand image of the sick person usually includes
an inset depicting their medical complaint, with the view on the right showing the person restored to health. The medical descriptions in the
text, considered to be quite sophisticated for their time, are augmented by notarized statements of witnesses.
Mademoiselle Durand, seen in the above images, was aged 12 when diagnosed with an
inoperable tumor in her mouth. She reportedly removed the cancer herself with the
aid of a scissors and the intercession of Deacon François, and is known to have lived at least 4
years afterwards. Here she is seen in the first image about to perform her own surgery and later, presenting herself, fully cured, to an amazed doctor.
RBSC Folio BT97.A2 M7 1737
Anne Augier
Two engravings with etching, after Jean
Restout. In Vérité
des Miracles…[1737]
As his title indicates, Montgeron documents
other Jansenist “saints” responsible for cures, including Gerard Rousse, a
Jansenist priest of Reims who died in 1727 and
was credited with several miracles. The first of these was the restoration to
health of Anne Augier after 22 years of paralysis.
Jansenists viewed miracles as evidencing divine validation of their theological position, and their miracle-obsession can be seen as early as the cures attributed to the Holy Thorn at Port-Royal, miracles which were accepted by Pascal and other leading Jansenist intellectuals. Montgeron’s apologetic was meant to counter the works of Jean-Joseph Languet, Archbishop of Sens, the most prolific and articulate exponent of Unigenitus who was understandably skeptical of the purported miracles of Deacon Paris.
Jansenists viewed miracles as evidencing divine validation of their theological position, and their miracle-obsession can be seen as early as the cures attributed to the Holy Thorn at Port-Royal, miracles which were accepted by Pascal and other leading Jansenist intellectuals. Montgeron’s apologetic was meant to counter the works of Jean-Joseph Languet, Archbishop of Sens, the most prolific and articulate exponent of Unigenitus who was understandably skeptical of the purported miracles of Deacon Paris.
RBSC Folio BT97.A2 M7 1737
Catherine Bigot
Two engravings with etching, after Jean
Restout. In Verite des Miracles…[1737]
These images document the usual modus operandi of cures attributed to Deacon François. The deaf-mute Catherine Bigot (impervious even to a pistol shot fired above her head) was one of hundreds if not thousands of pilgrims who flocked to the St. Medard cemetery in the 1730s. Many of the sick would be placed on the stone over the deacon's tomb in hopes of a cure. Madame Bigot was one of the first pilgrims whose cure was accompanied by convulsions (August 1731). Eventually, the violent nature of these manifestations, and the unruly crowds in the cemetery, led to its closure by royal decree in January 1732. The convulsionary movement and the miracles associated with it became a source of dissension among Jansenist thinkers, ultimately contributing to the demise of French Jansenism.
RBSC Folio BT97.A2 M7 1737
Le B.H. Francois Paris Diacre mort appellant
et reappellant le 1r de may 1727 agé de 37 ans.
Etching with engraving. [France? Not
before 1733]
This portrait depicts François surrounded by
the names of people cured through his intercession, along with important dates
in the struggle to gain official recognition for his cause, for instance the 2em. reqte. des curez de Paris a Mr. Vintimille (near top left of image)
which likely refers to the October 1731 Seconde
requeste presentée a Monseigneur l’archevêque de Paris… signed by 22 of
Vintimille’s clergy and requesting the Archbishop’s certification of François’ miracle-working.
Bound in Clementine 273.7 .C7
