EARLY CONVULSIONNAIRES - FAKE MIRACLES
[Vintimille du Luc, Charles-Gaspard-Guillaume de]: Mandement de Monseigneur L’Archeveque de Paris qui condamne trois Ecrits […]. Paris, chez Pierre Simon, 1732. [Bound with]: [Favier du Boulay, Henri]: Lettres au sujet des choses singulieres et surprenantes qui arrivent en la personne de Monsieur l’Abbé Bescherant, a Saint Médard. Des 18, 28 Octobre, & 9 novembre 1731. N.pl., n.pr., 1731. [Bound with]: Le Franc, Abbé: Declaration du sieur Abbé Le Franc, frere de la demoiselle Anne Le Franc, connuë par le prétendu Miracle …. N.pl., n.pr., [1731?]. [Bound with]: 30 further publications relating to Jansenism, mostly printed in Paris, variously between 1714 and 1735 [The publications listed here are 1, 19, and 20 in the codex.]
This visually appealing Sammelband includes three rare pamphlets tackling the abundant miracle cures, violent convulsions, and celebratory literature following the death of prominent Jansenist Deacon François Pâris (1690-1727). A thoughtfully assembled volume, these three publications in particular shed light on questions about women’s bodies, devotional experience, and fraud that coalesced around the Paris cemetery of Saint-Medard, where the famous deacon was buried.
Shortly after his death, Deacon Pâris’s tomb became a hotspot of activity, especially among devout women. One important case was that of Marie-Anne Le Franc, who claimed to have been cured of both paralysis and blindness. In publication 20, the Abbé Le Franc — her own brother — denounces her as a fraud.
The remaining publications in this Sammelband generally relate to Jansenism, especially the papal bull Unigenitus, literary censorship, and the opposition between Jansenists and Jesuits.
For comparison, publication 19 comprises three letters questioning the miraculous origins of the violent convulsions experienced by the abbé Bescherand of Montpellier and others at the infamous tomb. One such letter concerning the ‘Fanatiques de S. Medard’ quotes a passage highlighting that practiced practised mimes can easily make ‘mouvemens si étranges’ (‘very strange movememnts’), with ‘extensions extraordinares’ (‘extraordinary extensions’; letter 2, pp. 10-11). In publication 1 the Archbishop of Paris tackles the steady flow of Jansenist literature commemorating Deacon Pâris, denounced as full of ‘propostions […] fausses, scandaleuses […] favorisant les Hérétiques’ (p. 18).
These various pamphlets were assembled carefully and indeed idiosyncratically by an eighteenth-century compiler, who folded larger publications in order to fit the binding and added a handwritten table of contents.
A working handlist is available on request.
Details
33 publications bound in one volume, approx. 23.5 x 18 cms in binding, pp. 386 overall (pagination details in handlist). An eighteenth-century hand has numbered most publications and added a contents page to the front free endpaper. Headpieces and decorative initials across many of the publications (details in handlist). Two blue textile bookmarks.
Condition: occasional light to medium staining; occasional small tears, minor worming to blank outer margins of some publications; some text clipping due to trimming (publications 2, 8, [14a], [19a]). Publications 8 and [14a] cut and folded to fit binding. Puncture(?) hole throughout publication 23 (generally affecting 1 word per page).
Bound in brown calf over boards. Five raised bands. Gold-tooled red goatskin label to second spine compartment (RECUEL DE MANDEM). Red speckled edges. Pastedowns at front and rear, one free endpaper at front and rear. Rubbing, wear, and light worming to leather.
Provenance:
- Bookplate to front pastedown (Ex Libris AB).
- Pencil notes to front pastedown
Bibliography:
Publication 1: Conlon 32:645, FRBNF32668752. Publication 19: Conlon 31:433. Publication 20: Conlon 31:542 (?), FRBNF32365354 (?).
OCLC shows copies of publications 1, 19, and 20 in the Catholic University of America, in addition to a copy of publication 1 in the Newberry Library and a copy of publication 19 in the University of Manchester Library. OCLC shows no further copies of the three aforementioned publications outside mainland Europe.