by Marquis de la Franquerie (1977)
 |
| Marie-Julie Jahenny de la Fraudais, Brittany, France (1850 - 1941) |
Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with emotion and joy that I speak to you today about Marie-Julie Jahenny who had the stigmata and was from La Fraudais near Blain in Brittany [France]. I knew her well and received great graces during her ecstasies at which I assisted ………..
MARIE-JULIE’S STIGMATA, ECSTASIES, AND OTHER SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Ascetically and Mystical Theology [p. 951], articles 1522 to 1525, says: “This phenomenon consists of a sort of impression of the sacred wounds of the Savior on the feet, hands,First of all, what is the STIGMATA? Tanquerey, in his Precis of side and forehead. They appear spontaneously, without provocation by any exterior wound, and blood that is not corrupt flows from them periodically….”
It seems to be an established fact that stigmatization exists ONLY WITH ECSTATICS and that is preceded and accompanied by VERY GREAT SUFFERING, physical and moral, which thus makes the subject similar to the suffering Jesus. Absence of this suffering would be a bad sign as the stigmata are just the SYMBOL OF UNION with the Divine Crucified One and participation with His Martyrdom. Existence of the stigmata is proved by so many witnesses that unbelievers themselves generally admit their existence, but they try to give them a natural explanation.
The signs to distinguish real stigmata of supernatural origin are the following:
It seems to be an established fact that stigmatization exists ONLY WITH ECSTATICS and that is preceded and accompanied by VERY GREAT SUFFERING, physical and moral, which thus makes the subject similar to the suffering Jesus. Absence of this suffering would be a bad sign as the stigmata are just the SYMBOL OF UNION with the Divine Crucified One and participation with His Martyrdom. Existence of the stigmata is proved by so many witnesses that unbelievers themselves generally admit their existence, but they try to give them a natural explanation.
The signs to distinguish real stigmata of supernatural origin are the following:
1. The stigmata are placed in the same places where Our Lord received the five wounds, whereas the exudation of blood of those who are hypnotized is not placed in the same fashion.
2. Usually the renewal of wounds and sufferings of the stigmatists take place on the days or times which recall the Passion of the Savior, such as Friday or some feast of Our Lord.
3. These wounds NEVER FESTER. The blood that flows from them is pure, whereas the smallest natural wound on another part of the body suppurates, even with stigmatists. They do NOT HEAL, despite the usual remedies and sometimes persist for thirty or forty years.
4. They produce copious bleeding. This can be noted on the first day of their appearance, but they become inexplicable. The stigmata are generally on the surface, far away from the large blood vessels, and yet they BLEED PROFUSELY!
5. Finally and above all, these stigmata are to be found only with people who practice the most HEROIC VIRTUES and who have a particularly great LOVE OF THE CROSS.
The study of all these circumstances demonstrates well that this is not an ordinary pathological case, but that there is here the intervention of an intelligent and free cause which works on these stigmatists to make them more conformable to the Divine Crucified One. There is therefore no possible assimilation between MYSTICAL PHENOMENA and morbid phenomena.
Marie-Julie was born on 12th of February 1850 at Blain in the hamlet of Coyault. Daughter of Charles Jahenny and Marie Boya. She was the eldest of five children. Her parents belonged to essentially Christian families of that class of peasant who knows how to combine love of work and a simple lifestyle to being modestly well off. [Pierre Ragot, La stigmatisee de Blain; Marie-Julie Jahenny.]
From the time of her first Communion, Marie-Julie was strongly attracted to the divine Host of the Tabernacle and she joyfully complied to the desire of Jesus who said to her, “Stay a little longer with Me.” Attentive to the interior voice that she heard, the child liked the quiet and meditative atmosphere she found by withdrawing herself to enjoy the presence of God peacefully and to pray in silence. Nevertheless, she willingly played with her sisters, her brother, and her friends, to please them. As soon as she was old enough she helped her mother with the housework. To become more perfect she joined the Franciscan Third Order with all her soul. “For as long as she was able to go to Church,“ writes M. Ragot, “she was the model of the parish for her regularity and modesty, and everyone was edified by her recollection, her devotion and fervor. She went to the Holy Altar with an angelic devotion.”
The stigmatization of Marie-Julie began in 1873. Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Clermont-Ferrand, writes, “From the first years of the stigmata… I was called by Monseigneur Fournier, Bishop of Nantes, to examine medically this young Breton peasant. She was then twenty three years old. The examination over, I declared to the Bishop that he possessed a young woman with a genuine stigmata. That there was NO FRAUD AT LA FRAUDAIS. Monseigneur Fournier arrived promptly at the conviction that the manifestations presented by his diocesan were of divine origin.”
2. Usually the renewal of wounds and sufferings of the stigmatists take place on the days or times which recall the Passion of the Savior, such as Friday or some feast of Our Lord.
3. These wounds NEVER FESTER. The blood that flows from them is pure, whereas the smallest natural wound on another part of the body suppurates, even with stigmatists. They do NOT HEAL, despite the usual remedies and sometimes persist for thirty or forty years.
4. They produce copious bleeding. This can be noted on the first day of their appearance, but they become inexplicable. The stigmata are generally on the surface, far away from the large blood vessels, and yet they BLEED PROFUSELY!
5. Finally and above all, these stigmata are to be found only with people who practice the most HEROIC VIRTUES and who have a particularly great LOVE OF THE CROSS.
The study of all these circumstances demonstrates well that this is not an ordinary pathological case, but that there is here the intervention of an intelligent and free cause which works on these stigmatists to make them more conformable to the Divine Crucified One. There is therefore no possible assimilation between MYSTICAL PHENOMENA and morbid phenomena.
Marie-Julie was born on 12th of February 1850 at Blain in the hamlet of Coyault. Daughter of Charles Jahenny and Marie Boya. She was the eldest of five children. Her parents belonged to essentially Christian families of that class of peasant who knows how to combine love of work and a simple lifestyle to being modestly well off. [Pierre Ragot, La stigmatisee de Blain; Marie-Julie Jahenny.]
From the time of her first Communion, Marie-Julie was strongly attracted to the divine Host of the Tabernacle and she joyfully complied to the desire of Jesus who said to her, “Stay a little longer with Me.” Attentive to the interior voice that she heard, the child liked the quiet and meditative atmosphere she found by withdrawing herself to enjoy the presence of God peacefully and to pray in silence. Nevertheless, she willingly played with her sisters, her brother, and her friends, to please them. As soon as she was old enough she helped her mother with the housework. To become more perfect she joined the Franciscan Third Order with all her soul. “For as long as she was able to go to Church,“ writes M. Ragot, “she was the model of the parish for her regularity and modesty, and everyone was edified by her recollection, her devotion and fervor. She went to the Holy Altar with an angelic devotion.”
The stigmatization of Marie-Julie began in 1873. Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Clermont-Ferrand, writes, “From the first years of the stigmata… I was called by Monseigneur Fournier, Bishop of Nantes, to examine medically this young Breton peasant. She was then twenty three years old. The examination over, I declared to the Bishop that he possessed a young woman with a genuine stigmata. That there was NO FRAUD AT LA FRAUDAIS. Monseigneur Fournier arrived promptly at the conviction that the manifestations presented by his diocesan were of divine origin.”
On 6 June 1875, the holy Bishop wrote to the doctor, “The reports that I receive daily on Marie-Julie show me more and more the action of God on this soul. He grants her graces of an obvious supernatural order. At the same time she grows in virtue and noble sentiments. The natural and human disappear in her, and she often speaks to people she sees or who are referred to her giving instructions which are not in keeping with her normal state. Therefore be confident, dear Doctor, the time will come when Marie-Julie herself will be the proof… She is sincere. What she manifests is supernatural. I see nothing but good, edifying and in conformity with the principles of spirituality. Therefore it is God who favors her. You may be sure it will turn out well.” [Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, La stigmatization II p. 18 et 19.]
On 22nd of February 1873, Marie-Julie was seriously ill. Our Lady appeared to her telling her she would have much to suffer. The following 15th of March there was another apparition of the Mother of God. She asked Marie-Julie if she would accept the same sufferings that her son had endured for men. The reply was in the affirmative upon which Our Lady announced that she would later have five wounds. The stigmata began on the following 21st of March. The doctor interrogated Marie-Julie on the way she had received the stigmata. She replied: “When I received the stigmata, Our Lord appeared to me with radiant wounds. It was as if a sun surrounded them. A luminous ray came out of each wound and struck my hands, feet and side. At the end of each ray there was a drop of red blood. The ray that left the side of Our Lord was twice as wide as the others and was shaped like a lance. The pain I felt was very great, but it lasted barely one second.”
In 1875 Marie-Julie announced for over a month and several times that she would soon have a NEW STIGMATA, a CROSS and a FLOWER with the inscription, “O CRUX AVE“ would be impressed on her chest. More than a week beforehand she specified the date. It was to be on 7th of December. The day before Marie-Julie’s chest was examined to establish that the promised stigmata did not yet exist. The following day before the ecstasy she offered to be examined again, it was deemed useless, she had the right to be believed. Soon she went into ecstasy and while the marvelous impression was being made, witnesses and the family were able to verify incomparable scents that emanated from her body through her clothes. When the ecstasy was over, one could see the cross, the flower and the inscription on her chest. Marie-Julie Jahenny possesses at this moment the most numerous stigmata that have yet been seen, the FIVE WOUNDS, the CROWN, the stigmata of the SHOULDER, of the SCOURGING and of the ROPES that tied Our Savior, the stigmata of the RING FINGER and the EPIGRAPHIC and FIGURATIVE stigmata.
She received the five wounds on 21st of March 1873, the crown of thorns on 5 of October, on 25th of November, the stigmata of the left shoulder, on 6th of December, the stigmata of the extremities of the back, on 12th of January 1874, the stigmata of the wrists appeared representing the ropes which bound the hands of Our Savior, and the same day an epigraphic stigmata over the heart, on 14th of January, other stigmata appeared on the ankles, legs, and forearms as signs of the scourging, a few days later, two stigmatic stripes on the side, on 20th of February, a stigmatic ring on the ring finger of the right hand, a sign of her engagement, later various inscriptions on her chest, and on 7th of December 1875, the inscription “O Crux Ave“ with a cross and a flower.
When she first received the stigmata, it bled every Friday, later on only on Good Friday, but the pain of the stigmata always increased and always more so on Fridays. A part of Marie-Julie's stigmata was miraculously transformed, a transformation which was announced beforehand. These transformations occurred on 20th of February 1878, 29th of June 1880, 15 of October 1882, 24th of May 1883. During this last transformation, the family heard the music of angels.
On All Saints 1884 Our Lord announced to her that He would envelope her in a coat of bright light. This phenomenon took place a little after midnight on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The stigmatist was praying and saying to her Divine Spouse, "Oh Jesus, it is from Thee that all the lights gush forth that illuminate and invigorate me. At that moment a real light suddenly gushed forth from the stigmata of both her hands. Each stigmata became brilliant like a diamond, the side of a pea... The heavenly light lasted ten minutes.
On 20th of February 1874, no sooner had Marie-Julie received the five wounds than Our Lady announced that she would become the bride of Our Lord... Her director, father David, wrote to Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre to inform him of the facts, "Praise be to God! DEO GRATIAS! Yesterday we had the most consoling day possible. Everything that was announced last April has taken place... I had organized everything according to Monseigneur's orders, fourteen men as witnesses, three from Nantes sent by the diocese... At 8:30 we saw that the wounds were dry, that the ring finger of the right hand was normal, pale as death and no trace of a ring, after 9 o'clock, bleeding of all the wounds, towards 9:15 we noticed the finger swelling and reddening under the skin, towards 9:45 blood flowed above and below the finger, and little by little we saw the ring taking shape. It is now well marked for all her life... Monseigneur is enthusiastic."
Several Crucifixes bled at Marie-Julie's home. At the request of the young bed-ridden stigmatist, Father David, her director, had given her a picture of Our Lord on the cross after having blessed it. An extraordinary attraction for this picture seized her and she loved to mediate with it several times a day. On 21st of January 1877 Our Lord appeared to her while she was in ecstasy and said to her, "Oh, you who love Me, see how I suffer... I pour out My divine blood to pay for the sins of France... The picture where I am crucified before which you meditate, will remind you of My suffering. The divine blood of My Five Wounds which has just flowed on My Cross, will flow on the five wounds of this picture... Tell your Father to collect it... and now come back to earth. You will find my five wounds bathed in blood." Coming back to herself, Marie Julie saw the picture covered in blood, and all her family witnessed the miracle. Father David kept the miraculous picture.
Three years later, on 27th of May 1880, on the feast of Corpus Christi, blood flowed again at La Fraudais on another picture of Our Lord crucified and on two crucifixes. It is now the turn of Father Lequeux, former curate of Blain, who witnessed the prodigies. He wrote to Father David: "On Thursday I was at La Fraudais at about eleven thirty. While I was addressing a few words to Marie-Julie on the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, she went into ecstasy then all of a sudden exclaimed, "The Crucifix at the end of my bed is bleeding." I turned at once and saw on the picture a gush of blood of about two centimeters. I called Angele, (Marie-Julie's sister) who, like me, saw the prodigy. While I was occupied looking at the picture I noticed that Marie-Julie had her lips glued to her crucifix and seemed to be drinking. I approached her and clearly saw red blood on the Crucifix and on the lips of our dear victim who said to me as she stretched out her hand: "Father, give me quickly my other Crucified Love, your Crucifix." I gave it to her and she at once drank in the same fashion. After a few moments, she added, "My Jesus tells you to purify the two crucifixes with your consecrated fingers." With a blessed cloth I then purified the two crucifixes that were all red with red blood. Then Marie-Julie said to me, "My Jesus wants you to purify my lips reddened with His adorable blood." I then took the cloth by each end and pressed it on the lips of the seer.
Six weeks previously, 16th of April, I was at La Fraudais assisting at one of Marie-Julie's ecstasies. At a certain point, she put the following words in Our Lord's mouth, "A little later, when I give Myself to your soul, I will let flow on your lips a few drops of red blood which will be My precious blood."
Very often mystical souls are subject to inexplicable and extraordinary illnesses which are and cannot be other than a supernatural order. Marie-Julie was not exempt. We quote Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre, in charge of the medical inquest and who observed these facts, "Since the beginning of June 1880... Marie-Julie had had to endure extraordinary suffering during the ecstasies on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays of every week. At each ecstasy there was a new scene, her manifold sufferings were announced during the preceding ecstasies. What is even more remarkable is that they were described and as it were commented on during the ecstasy by Marie-Julie herself..."
During the Way of the Cross, the preceding Friday, Our Lord had said to Marie-Julie who repeated His words during the ecstasy, which were then taken down by a secretary. "On Monday, to expiate the culpable offences that I will oppress you in a different way. All your limbs will shrink, I will reduce you to being so small that you will have no freedom in any limb. Your head will be fixed to your bones, and you will be like the worm that I destroy. In this pain you will have a burning fever. Your tongue will be swollen very large. There will be a visible swelling at all the joints of your bones, and this will show how strong the pain is."
"All the prophetic program was to take place before my eyes," said the doctor. "This took place on Monday 27th of September 1880. Permit me to make a comparison with another stigmatist that I also met, Marthe Robin of Chateauneuf-de-Galaure [Marthe Robin (born on 13 March 1902 in Châteauneuf-de-Galaure, died on 6 February 1981) was a French Roman Catholic mystic and reported stigmatist. She became bedridden when she was 21 years old, and remained so until her death. According to EWTN she reportedly ate nothing for many years except receiving Holy Eucharist.
Source: Wikipedia . She also had her limbs completely shrunk to incredible proportions, as a result of a general retraction."
Doctor Imbert continues, "A few days after having assisted at extraordinary sufferings, I heard Marie-Julie announce in front of me in profound ecstasy that she would soon have a new and long illness. In the preceding six months, she had often said that God had asked her for the complete sacrifice of her ears, eyes, speech and movement. She accepted everything..."
On Sunday 19th of December, Marie-Julie knew by revelation that her sacrifice would begin two days later; now, the following Tuesday, she lost her speech and no longer heard the voices of her family. She knew the following day that she would become blind in three days time. The third day she was blind. The conditions of her dumbness were extraordinary. The tongue was immovable, as hard as a stone, pushed backward with the point bent under and completely blocking the throat. Her mouth was closed, the lips motionless, and one no longer saw Marie-Julie praying.
On 10th of February 1881 the following words of the ecstasy were recorded. Our Lord was saying to the victim, "Do you want to suffer again?" "Yes, my Jesus." "Well from next Monday, you will no longer be able to stay on your stake... All your limbs will become disjointed but without changing position. All the limbs on your left side, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, will no longer move." "I am willing, my Jesus." "You will stay in your armchair. There, new crucifixions of sufferings will come to keep you company, one by one." In fact, that same day, a long martyrdom began that was to last several years. Her body was freezing. Out of pity her family wanted to put her to bed one evening. It was impossible. She was nailed to her chair of pain by an invisible force that was heavier than a block of marble. She made them understand that they would be able to put her to bed only at one in the morning. At that moment, she became lighter than a feather.
The victim was deaf, but it soon became apparent that she could hear words of the priest when he spoke in Latin. She was blind, but during her ecstasies she could see the apparitions from Heaven, which was made manifest by the beauty and vivacity of her ecstatic expression. Her speech had been taken away, but on the day that Our Lord had told her that the light would be taken from her, He had said to her: "During ecstasies, I will give you back your speech." And at that time her tongue was loosened, she moved her lips that were previously immovable and began to talk. As soon as she had finished, her tongue contracted once more and took up its first position. Marie-Julie was paralyzed, but every Friday at nine in the morning, this paralysis disappeared providentially, so that she could change her linen and do the Stations of the Cross at one o'clock as was her custom. When the ecstasy ended, her left side became paralysed again for eight days... I enquired exactly on the truth of these facts, "de visu" and by witnessing... The illness of Marie-Julie lasted almost four years, coming to an end gradually. First the hemiplegia disappeared, then in succession the dumbness, the deafness and the blindness.
And Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre -- Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Clermont-Ferrand, I repeat, and therefore a top man in the science of medicine -- does not hesitate to conclude, "It seems that La Fraudais has appeared for the very purpose of combating the Salpetriere [Salpetriere is a hospital in Paris where doctor Charcot and his colleagues did work on hysteria. They pretended by hostility with regard to the Catholic Faith that supernatural phenomena were hysteria. notes p 17] on the very grounds of hysteria. The extraordinary suffering of Marie-Julie were accompanied by a dominant symptom, contracture, which plays an important role in neurosis. All the circumstances of this symptom prove that it was not of hysterical nature. Besides, who has ever seen at the Salpetriere or anywhere else a contracture that ceases regularly every Friday for several hours to allow the subject to talk and walk in ecstasy? The observation of the Breton virgin dispels all the observations of known hysteria. It is enough to be a doctor to understand."
Mr. Pierre Ragot writes with exactitude in his small book on Marie-Julie, "To purify his elect and to make them victims of atonement, God often uses Satan, who in his hatred of mankind, is in His hands the most active instrument, Sacred Scripture and especially hagiography give us numerous examples of this conduct of Providence."
Marie-Julie was molested by the devil many a time. We quote Doctor Imbert-Gourgeyre, "Marie-Julie had received the stigmata but a few weeks and already Our Lady had warned her several times that she would soon be attacked by the devil. On 26th of April, She appeared to her again and announced severe trials, promising that She would never abandon her. Then She disappeared with a gracious smile. A quarter of an hour later the devil appeared to Marie-Julie. He attacked her, made the religious pictures fall, the relics, etc... rosaries broken, straw mattress torn, crucifix thrown on the floor, some people thrown on the floor. Marie-Julie [was] covered in wounds, scratches, beaten nearly every day, the devil appearing either in his usual form or as an animal or under the appearance of a young man of great beauty, always promising cures, riches, etc... The wounds and scratches provoked by the devil never went septic and healed very quickly with holy water.
"On 29th of September, on the feast of Saint Michael, the devil was defeated and returned the objects he had previously stolen. Marie-Julie was left in peace until the following month of April. At that moment the diabolical assaults began again. Satan forced grass into her mouth and a phial of poisoned blood closing her jaws so that she could not open them until after an exorcism pronounced by Father David. On 12th of January 1875 the devil appeared to her in the form of a priest with a stole that had no cross and wanted to give her a host which she refused. Etc..."
Like many other great mystics Marie-Julie underwent starvation or miraculous abstinence. This total abstinence began for the first time on 12th of April 1874 and lasted ninety four days. She had announced it beforehand as she also did for the second period which lasted five years, one month and twenty two days from 28th of December 1875. As she had predicted, during these periods holy Communion was enough to sustain her, and as Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre recorded during the whole of this period there were no liquid or solid excretions.
During her ecstasies one could observe her usual characteristics in this miraculous state. The senses no longer acted. Her soul was completely absorbed in God. Absolute insensibility to the point that she could not notice or make the least movement when she was pricked or burned or when violent lights were flashed in her eyes. Some of her ecstasies were accompanied by levitation. At the moment she was ecstatically light. We add that when her spiritual director or a competent religious authority gave her the order to interrupt her ecstasy and come back to ordinary life, she obeyed immediately whether the call was mental, vocal or in writing. Of course the power of the call can be transmitted by delegation to lay persons, but it can only be ordered by a superior who has canonical jurisdiction. As the ecstatic does not hear the formal order which is given her it follows that this order is transmitted extra naturally. Usually such an order causes the ecstatic great suffering as it brusquely and instantaneously interrupts the vision. We add that the order to come back was made several times in Latin and she always obeyed even though she did not know that language.
Marie-Julie had the grace of hiergnosis. That is to say the marvelous gift of recognizing Eucharistic bread from ordinary bread, Objects that were blessed and those that were not, relics and to say where they came from, and finally to understand in several languages hymns and liturgical prayers. Monseigneur Fournier, Bishop of Nantes, accompanied by the Superior of the Jesuits and his secretary, found this out on 17th of July 1874. Let me add two personal facts. The first, on the day that I was going to assist at an ecstasy of Marie-Julie's, my mother gave me a relic of the true Cross, the origin of which was unknown to me. During the ecstasy Marie-Julie told me that I had to get the treasure authenticated. On the way back I asked Monseigneur Le Fer de la Motte what I should do since I did not know where that precious relic came from. The Bishop replied; Since Marie-Julie said this in ecstasy, the relic is certainly authentic, but I cannot authenticate it for you. When I got back to my Mother's, I told her what had happened. She at once told me that the relic had been sent to her a fortnight before by the prior of the Carmelites at Bethlehem and that she would ask him to send her an authentication, which was done by return of post.
The second example, after the Revolution my family spread the cult of Madame Elisabeth of France, being steadfastly faithful to the Family of our Kings. Madame Elisabeth had just worked a miracle on our behalf (birth of a little Elisabeth who should never have been born, today a mother of four children). Soon after this miracle, a librarian of second-hand books to whom I often went and who knew of our attachment to the Royal Family, showed me a book of the eighteenth century on which was written the prayer said by Madame Elisabeth, the prayer was signed Elisabeth-Marie. [Élisabeth of France (Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de France; 3 May 1764 – 10 May 1794), known as Madame Élisabeth, was a French princess and the youngest sister of King Louis XVI. During the French Revolution, she remained beside the king and his family and was guillotined at Place de la Révolution in Paris during the Terror. Madame Élisabeth is considered a Catholic martyr and was presented for canonization at one point. Source, Wikipedia ] Without giving me other information he asked me to find out if the signature was really that of the Martyr Princess. I left a few days later to assist at an ecstasy of Marie-Julie and I took the book with me. Because of a train delay -- God does all things well -- I arrived when the ecstasy had already begun, I then placed the book on the knees of Marie-Julie, who did not know I was there. She immediately confirmed the authenticity of the relic and described Madame Elisabeth crowned in Heaven. Needless to say I bought the precious relic as soon as I returned to Paris.
Doctor Imbert continues, "A few days after having assisted at extraordinary sufferings, I heard Marie-Julie announce in front of me in profound ecstasy that she would soon have a new and long illness. In the preceding six months, she had often said that God had asked her for the complete sacrifice of her ears, eyes, speech and movement. She accepted everything..."
On Sunday 19th of December, Marie-Julie knew by revelation that her sacrifice would begin two days later; now, the following Tuesday, she lost her speech and no longer heard the voices of her family. She knew the following day that she would become blind in three days time. The third day she was blind. The conditions of her dumbness were extraordinary. The tongue was immovable, as hard as a stone, pushed backward with the point bent under and completely blocking the throat. Her mouth was closed, the lips motionless, and one no longer saw Marie-Julie praying.
On 10th of February 1881 the following words of the ecstasy were recorded. Our Lord was saying to the victim, "Do you want to suffer again?" "Yes, my Jesus." "Well from next Monday, you will no longer be able to stay on your stake... All your limbs will become disjointed but without changing position. All the limbs on your left side, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, will no longer move." "I am willing, my Jesus." "You will stay in your armchair. There, new crucifixions of sufferings will come to keep you company, one by one." In fact, that same day, a long martyrdom began that was to last several years. Her body was freezing. Out of pity her family wanted to put her to bed one evening. It was impossible. She was nailed to her chair of pain by an invisible force that was heavier than a block of marble. She made them understand that they would be able to put her to bed only at one in the morning. At that moment, she became lighter than a feather.
The victim was deaf, but it soon became apparent that she could hear words of the priest when he spoke in Latin. She was blind, but during her ecstasies she could see the apparitions from Heaven, which was made manifest by the beauty and vivacity of her ecstatic expression. Her speech had been taken away, but on the day that Our Lord had told her that the light would be taken from her, He had said to her: "During ecstasies, I will give you back your speech." And at that time her tongue was loosened, she moved her lips that were previously immovable and began to talk. As soon as she had finished, her tongue contracted once more and took up its first position. Marie-Julie was paralyzed, but every Friday at nine in the morning, this paralysis disappeared providentially, so that she could change her linen and do the Stations of the Cross at one o'clock as was her custom. When the ecstasy ended, her left side became paralysed again for eight days... I enquired exactly on the truth of these facts, "de visu" and by witnessing... The illness of Marie-Julie lasted almost four years, coming to an end gradually. First the hemiplegia disappeared, then in succession the dumbness, the deafness and the blindness.
And Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre -- Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Clermont-Ferrand, I repeat, and therefore a top man in the science of medicine -- does not hesitate to conclude, "It seems that La Fraudais has appeared for the very purpose of combating the Salpetriere [Salpetriere is a hospital in Paris where doctor Charcot and his colleagues did work on hysteria. They pretended by hostility with regard to the Catholic Faith that supernatural phenomena were hysteria. notes p 17] on the very grounds of hysteria. The extraordinary suffering of Marie-Julie were accompanied by a dominant symptom, contracture, which plays an important role in neurosis. All the circumstances of this symptom prove that it was not of hysterical nature. Besides, who has ever seen at the Salpetriere or anywhere else a contracture that ceases regularly every Friday for several hours to allow the subject to talk and walk in ecstasy? The observation of the Breton virgin dispels all the observations of known hysteria. It is enough to be a doctor to understand."
Mr. Pierre Ragot writes with exactitude in his small book on Marie-Julie, "To purify his elect and to make them victims of atonement, God often uses Satan, who in his hatred of mankind, is in His hands the most active instrument, Sacred Scripture and especially hagiography give us numerous examples of this conduct of Providence."
Marie-Julie was molested by the devil many a time. We quote Doctor Imbert-Gourgeyre, "Marie-Julie had received the stigmata but a few weeks and already Our Lady had warned her several times that she would soon be attacked by the devil. On 26th of April, She appeared to her again and announced severe trials, promising that She would never abandon her. Then She disappeared with a gracious smile. A quarter of an hour later the devil appeared to Marie-Julie. He attacked her, made the religious pictures fall, the relics, etc... rosaries broken, straw mattress torn, crucifix thrown on the floor, some people thrown on the floor. Marie-Julie [was] covered in wounds, scratches, beaten nearly every day, the devil appearing either in his usual form or as an animal or under the appearance of a young man of great beauty, always promising cures, riches, etc... The wounds and scratches provoked by the devil never went septic and healed very quickly with holy water.
"On 29th of September, on the feast of Saint Michael, the devil was defeated and returned the objects he had previously stolen. Marie-Julie was left in peace until the following month of April. At that moment the diabolical assaults began again. Satan forced grass into her mouth and a phial of poisoned blood closing her jaws so that she could not open them until after an exorcism pronounced by Father David. On 12th of January 1875 the devil appeared to her in the form of a priest with a stole that had no cross and wanted to give her a host which she refused. Etc..."
Like many other great mystics Marie-Julie underwent starvation or miraculous abstinence. This total abstinence began for the first time on 12th of April 1874 and lasted ninety four days. She had announced it beforehand as she also did for the second period which lasted five years, one month and twenty two days from 28th of December 1875. As she had predicted, during these periods holy Communion was enough to sustain her, and as Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre recorded during the whole of this period there were no liquid or solid excretions.
During her ecstasies one could observe her usual characteristics in this miraculous state. The senses no longer acted. Her soul was completely absorbed in God. Absolute insensibility to the point that she could not notice or make the least movement when she was pricked or burned or when violent lights were flashed in her eyes. Some of her ecstasies were accompanied by levitation. At the moment she was ecstatically light. We add that when her spiritual director or a competent religious authority gave her the order to interrupt her ecstasy and come back to ordinary life, she obeyed immediately whether the call was mental, vocal or in writing. Of course the power of the call can be transmitted by delegation to lay persons, but it can only be ordered by a superior who has canonical jurisdiction. As the ecstatic does not hear the formal order which is given her it follows that this order is transmitted extra naturally. Usually such an order causes the ecstatic great suffering as it brusquely and instantaneously interrupts the vision. We add that the order to come back was made several times in Latin and she always obeyed even though she did not know that language.
Marie-Julie had the grace of hiergnosis. That is to say the marvelous gift of recognizing Eucharistic bread from ordinary bread, Objects that were blessed and those that were not, relics and to say where they came from, and finally to understand in several languages hymns and liturgical prayers. Monseigneur Fournier, Bishop of Nantes, accompanied by the Superior of the Jesuits and his secretary, found this out on 17th of July 1874. Let me add two personal facts. The first, on the day that I was going to assist at an ecstasy of Marie-Julie's, my mother gave me a relic of the true Cross, the origin of which was unknown to me. During the ecstasy Marie-Julie told me that I had to get the treasure authenticated. On the way back I asked Monseigneur Le Fer de la Motte what I should do since I did not know where that precious relic came from. The Bishop replied; Since Marie-Julie said this in ecstasy, the relic is certainly authentic, but I cannot authenticate it for you. When I got back to my Mother's, I told her what had happened. She at once told me that the relic had been sent to her a fortnight before by the prior of the Carmelites at Bethlehem and that she would ask him to send her an authentication, which was done by return of post.
The second example, after the Revolution my family spread the cult of Madame Elisabeth of France, being steadfastly faithful to the Family of our Kings. Madame Elisabeth had just worked a miracle on our behalf (birth of a little Elisabeth who should never have been born, today a mother of four children). Soon after this miracle, a librarian of second-hand books to whom I often went and who knew of our attachment to the Royal Family, showed me a book of the eighteenth century on which was written the prayer said by Madame Elisabeth, the prayer was signed Elisabeth-Marie. [Élisabeth of France (Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de France; 3 May 1764 – 10 May 1794), known as Madame Élisabeth, was a French princess and the youngest sister of King Louis XVI. During the French Revolution, she remained beside the king and his family and was guillotined at Place de la Révolution in Paris during the Terror. Madame Élisabeth is considered a Catholic martyr and was presented for canonization at one point. Source, Wikipedia ] Without giving me other information he asked me to find out if the signature was really that of the Martyr Princess. I left a few days later to assist at an ecstasy of Marie-Julie and I took the book with me. Because of a train delay -- God does all things well -- I arrived when the ecstasy had already begun, I then placed the book on the knees of Marie-Julie, who did not know I was there. She immediately confirmed the authenticity of the relic and described Madame Elisabeth crowned in Heaven. Needless to say I bought the precious relic as soon as I returned to Paris.
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| “Madame Elisabeth” was a French princess, sister of Louis XVI, guillotined in 1794. |
Marie-Julie had the grace almost uniquely reserved to stigmatists, but even exceptional for them of having several auxiliary angels as well as their own guardian. She enjoyed this privilege during the time she was deaf, dumb, blind and paralyzed.
During Christmas night 1879 she received the Child Jesus in her arms, her description of the scene is really touching; "I felt in my soul leaving and going in the midst of a multitude of angels who were going to the divine crib, and when I was at the Holy Child's crib, I felt this same burning as I had never felt before; and at once the Holy Child said to His dear Mother 'My dear Mother give Me the beautiful robe that we have prepared, you and I.' And Our Lady gave me a white dress, and the small Child Jesus placed a white cloak over my shoulders. He said to me, 'I want to rest on your heart, in your arms.' I was about to run away so as not to take Him because I am not worthy when He said to me, 'Stay there, I want you to carry Me.' I began to cry. He dried my tears with His small hand there in a crib of fire I received the Holy Infant Jesus... I held Him, He stroked my cheeks with His delicate hands. He gave me a small kiss... there in the middle of my forehead and afterwards He had in His right hand a golden nail and placed it like this... straight on my heart saying, 'One day this same golden nail will remain engraved where I have placed it! From the place of his nail will exude a scent which will be the same when you come out of the tomb before the Resurrection.' I do not know what this means and I did not ask Him. 'The marvels of the scent,' He said to me, 'will be the same during your life as after your death!'" In fact from that time on there often came incomparable scents from Marie-Julie's chest which were smelled by numerous visitors.
Marie-Julie had many miraculous communions. Let us listen to Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre, who witnessed this several times and wrote to Monseigneur Lecoq to testify this, "The stigmatist of La Fraudais has received a good many miraculous communions. The first was on 4th of June 1874, followed by three more during the same year. From the beginning of May 1976 to 29th of January 1877 there were thirteen communions during the Friday ecstasy which were seen by over two hundred people. Marie-Julie knew beforehand by revelation the day the miraculous communion of Fridays was to take place... On that day, the witnesses having been warned were admitted to the cottage. There were usually fifteen ... These admissions had been authorized by Monseigneur Fournier, bishop of Nantes."
Twenty three days after the death of this great bishop who was so devoted to the cause of La Fraudais, Marie-Julie was deprived of the sacraments by order of the Chapter of Curates, a decision which was upheld by Monseigneur Lecoq who was successor. From that moment each Sunday and on certain feast days between 6 and 7 in the morning the stigmatist had a miraculous communion which had no other witness than her family. This lasted for eleven and a half years, until the sacraments were given back to her... by order of the Holy See as a result of an inquest that Pope Leo XIII had made by the Very Reverend Father Fanutelli, Dominican, cousin of Cardinal of the same name.
"Concerning the supernatural visions and words," Doctor Imbert-Gourbeyre wrote, "and I am in complete agreement with him. The ecstatic discourses have two principal characteristics, infused science and the prophetic spirit. We have assisted several times at Marie-Julie's ecstasies. What a surprise," he writes, "to hear this simple peasant woman without any instruction, speaking of divine things like an accomplished theologian giving mystical instruction, deserting admirably on God, Jesus Christ, the Eucharist, the Cross and the Priesthood; telling the life story of a great number of saints who she could not have known, quoting in Latin texts from Holy Scripture; reproducing entire passages from the Holy Fathers, making numerous revelations and sometimes rising to an incomparable literary style. A personal testimony: one day after an ecstasy I had assisted with my wife and two of my children. She said a word to me she had heard during the ecstasy which she had not understood and she asked me what that word signified... she could not have invented it!"
MARIE-JULIE'S PROPHECIES
We can now speak of Marie-Julie's predictions. Let us begin with those that have already taken place. We will then study those on the future, particularly the ones concerning the great crisis, the death of the Church and France, both in the tomb, the destruction of Paris, and finally the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch, who will assure the salvation and triumph of the Church and France until the end of the world.
For a long time, in France, we thought that Henri, Count of Chambord was the GREAT MONARCH announced by the prophecies God had, in effect, destined him to save France and transmit the throne to the legitimate heir, the descendant of the King and Queen martyrs and of Louis XVII. (Chambord was the posthumous son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, younger son of Charles X of France ) and resumed the whole program of the salvation of France when he said; "For France to be saved, God must enter it as Master so that I can reign as King" Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d'Artois, duc de Bordeaux, comte de Chambord; (29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883) was disputably King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as Henry V, although he was never officially proclaimed as such. Afterwards, he was the Legitimist Pretender to the throne of France from 1844 to 1883. Chambord was succeeded by Juan, Count of Montizón , the Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne as legitimist pretender to the throne of France. The current (2012) pretender in this line is Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou (French: Louis Alphonse Gonzalve Victor Emmanuel Marc de Bourbon; Spanish: Luis Alfonso, Duke of Anjou born 25 April 1974, Madrid) is a member of the Royal House of Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct French throne. As the senior male heir of Hugh Capet, being the senior descendant of King Louis XIV of France (ruled 1643–1715) through his grandson King Philip V of Spain, he is recognized as the "Head of the House of Bourbon" and rightful claimant to the French crown by the legitimist faction of French royalists. He is 38 years old, married and has a daughter and twin sons. He or his eldest son, Louis (born 28 May 2010 in NY, who has been given the title of Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne) and as Legitimist Dauphin (crown prince) of France, will succeed his father as Head of the French Royal House in Legitimist reckoning) may or may not be destined to be the Great Monarch. [also see: Marquis de la Franquerie de la Tour, André Lesage, Le Saint Pape et le grand monarque d'après les prophéties, Editions de Chiré, Chiré-en-Montreuil, 1980 ISBN …]
Henri, Count of Chambord was the posthumous son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, younger son of Charles X of France (younger brother of Louis XVI who was guillotined), by his wife, Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies. As the grandson of the king, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. But as early as 1877 Our Lord announced the death of the Count of Chambord because unfortunately France refused her salvation and Our Lord complained, "I wanted to give France a King whom she had refused." [On 14th of February 1878, during an apparition of Pius IX to Marie-Julie, Our Lord said to the latter, My victim, I come to tell you not to worry. I have revealed many things to you on Holy Church. This does not apply to Pius IX... In fact the friends of La Fraudais applied to Pius IX and the Comte de Chambord that, which concerned frequently the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch who had been announced for the future by many saints and prophets. note p.24] [In other words, the friends of La Fraudais still thought the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch were Pius IX and the Count of Chambord. ed]
And on 24th of August 1883 He [Jesus] announced the DEATH OF THE PRINCE, DUKE OF CHAMBORD, who has just died. Marie-Julie sees the cross covered with clouds, the world in darkness, and from His Throne above Jesus Christ said these terrifying words in terribly menacing terms; "NO MORE HOPE FOR THE WORLD! France NOT HAVING MERITED the one who was to save her, GOD HAS TAKEN HIM AWAY FROM THE EARTH. First punishment!." Without doubt it is not without reason that on the vigil of the feast of Saint Louis -- the most holy of Kings -- that God called back to Himself the one who in the nineteenth century so admirably imitated the model of sovereigns. The one referred to by Pius IX when he said: "Everything that he says is well said. Everything that he does is well done."
As early as 15th of September 1879, Marie-Julie announced BISMARCK'S KULTURKAMPF and the WAR IN GERMANY AGAINST CATHOLICS. She also announced the religious persecutions triggered off by the Freemasons and Republicans, military service imposed on religious, the plundering of Church possessions, the closing of colleges, departure and exile of Religious Congregations, the separation of Church and State, the suppression of Crucifixes in hospitals, in courtrooms and teaching establishments, suppressions of chaplains in the Army and Navy, the creation of atheistic schools, iniquity, irreligion, revolution and anti-patriotism, in one word crime, and she added that youth would be directed by all that is most corrupt and dirty and would be instructed in a blasphemous religion... The mortal creature would be made to adore all that is most infamous and ignoble, and indecently presented. And she said that the Chamber of Deputies is the hall of hell and would be struck by the fire of Heaven.
As early as 15 September 1881 she announced all the circumstances of the DEATH OF MELANIE CALVAT, the shepherdess of La Salette, who died twenty three years later, on 15th of December 1904 at Altamura, in Italy and her prophecy came true exactly.
She announced before hand the ERUPTION OF MT. PELE at St. Pierre in MARTINIQUE, and then described it while it was taking place.
She predicted the TRANSVAAL WAR as early as 1881 and said it would take place at the DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA who died in 1901. She added that France would always have to beware of England.
On 26th of October 1877, Marie-Julie saw four crosses, the 1st was for: "France, your tears and your wailing have not been heard. The 2nd, Brittany, your moaning heart sighed to my Son. He has heard your voice. The 3rd, dear Vendee, how many times you have shed your blood for your faith. My blessings will fall on you. The 4th, Alsace and Lorraine will be reunited to France."
At the death of Leo XIII a few days before the opening of the conclave, Marie-Julie had the following revelation which describes in advance the reign of the future Pope, "The Adriatic Cardinal is chosen by God, His reign will be that of Christ. He will not last very long and will be called Pius."
She predicted the WORLD WARS of 1914 and 1939. About this last one, speaking of the Germans, as early as 18th of November 1920, she [quoted Jesus], "These cruel and barbaric souls have not disarmed against the poor children of my Kingdom... They seek by means of great injustice to pay their debts with iron... They will come back. They will do a lot of harm... But I will keep my Kingdom... My divine power will stop their rage... I will drive them back." She foresaw the WAR IN ALGERIA. The land of the Arabs will triumph over the poor French armies. All the priests of those regions will have to undergo the most cruel miseries... This took place to the letter since those unfortunate priests were odiously persecuted by too many diocesan Ordinaries of the Metropolis and by the majority of the clergy...
She depicted a terribly exact portrait of the false saviour, DE GAULLE, who was in fact, consciously or unconsciously, the biggest malefactor in the history of France. Our Lord had said to Marie-Julie, "His lies and his conceit do not deceive Me." [Zeller, the former grand master of the French Freemasons, in his book, Trois Points, c'est tout page 320, relates the reception that De Gaulle gave to the delegates of the Grand Lodge of the Grand Orient of France in Algiers in 1943. The General, a temporary title, declared; "I am going to give back the republic to France, I can also give back the Freemasons." That is what he did. Held by occult power for his desertion in 1917, he had to keep his word. In fact, during the advanced defense at Fort de Vaux, he raised the white flag without being wounded and gave himself up to Captain Albrecht of the Reichswehr.
Henri, Count of Chambord was the posthumous son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, younger son of Charles X of France (younger brother of Louis XVI who was guillotined), by his wife, Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies. As the grandson of the king, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. But as early as 1877 Our Lord announced the death of the Count of Chambord because unfortunately France refused her salvation and Our Lord complained, "I wanted to give France a King whom she had refused." [On 14th of February 1878, during an apparition of Pius IX to Marie-Julie, Our Lord said to the latter, My victim, I come to tell you not to worry. I have revealed many things to you on Holy Church. This does not apply to Pius IX... In fact the friends of La Fraudais applied to Pius IX and the Comte de Chambord that, which concerned frequently the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch who had been announced for the future by many saints and prophets. note p.24] [In other words, the friends of La Fraudais still thought the Holy Pope and the Great Monarch were Pius IX and the Count of Chambord. ed]
And on 24th of August 1883 He [Jesus] announced the DEATH OF THE PRINCE, DUKE OF CHAMBORD, who has just died. Marie-Julie sees the cross covered with clouds, the world in darkness, and from His Throne above Jesus Christ said these terrifying words in terribly menacing terms; "NO MORE HOPE FOR THE WORLD! France NOT HAVING MERITED the one who was to save her, GOD HAS TAKEN HIM AWAY FROM THE EARTH. First punishment!." Without doubt it is not without reason that on the vigil of the feast of Saint Louis -- the most holy of Kings -- that God called back to Himself the one who in the nineteenth century so admirably imitated the model of sovereigns. The one referred to by Pius IX when he said: "Everything that he says is well said. Everything that he does is well done."
As early as 15th of September 1879, Marie-Julie announced BISMARCK'S KULTURKAMPF and the WAR IN GERMANY AGAINST CATHOLICS. She also announced the religious persecutions triggered off by the Freemasons and Republicans, military service imposed on religious, the plundering of Church possessions, the closing of colleges, departure and exile of Religious Congregations, the separation of Church and State, the suppression of Crucifixes in hospitals, in courtrooms and teaching establishments, suppressions of chaplains in the Army and Navy, the creation of atheistic schools, iniquity, irreligion, revolution and anti-patriotism, in one word crime, and she added that youth would be directed by all that is most corrupt and dirty and would be instructed in a blasphemous religion... The mortal creature would be made to adore all that is most infamous and ignoble, and indecently presented. And she said that the Chamber of Deputies is the hall of hell and would be struck by the fire of Heaven.
As early as 15 September 1881 she announced all the circumstances of the DEATH OF MELANIE CALVAT, the shepherdess of La Salette, who died twenty three years later, on 15th of December 1904 at Altamura, in Italy and her prophecy came true exactly.
She announced before hand the ERUPTION OF MT. PELE at St. Pierre in MARTINIQUE, and then described it while it was taking place.
She predicted the TRANSVAAL WAR as early as 1881 and said it would take place at the DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA who died in 1901. She added that France would always have to beware of England.
On 26th of October 1877, Marie-Julie saw four crosses, the 1st was for: "France, your tears and your wailing have not been heard. The 2nd, Brittany, your moaning heart sighed to my Son. He has heard your voice. The 3rd, dear Vendee, how many times you have shed your blood for your faith. My blessings will fall on you. The 4th, Alsace and Lorraine will be reunited to France."
At the death of Leo XIII a few days before the opening of the conclave, Marie-Julie had the following revelation which describes in advance the reign of the future Pope, "The Adriatic Cardinal is chosen by God, His reign will be that of Christ. He will not last very long and will be called Pius."
She predicted the WORLD WARS of 1914 and 1939. About this last one, speaking of the Germans, as early as 18th of November 1920, she [quoted Jesus], "These cruel and barbaric souls have not disarmed against the poor children of my Kingdom... They seek by means of great injustice to pay their debts with iron... They will come back. They will do a lot of harm... But I will keep my Kingdom... My divine power will stop their rage... I will drive them back." She foresaw the WAR IN ALGERIA. The land of the Arabs will triumph over the poor French armies. All the priests of those regions will have to undergo the most cruel miseries... This took place to the letter since those unfortunate priests were odiously persecuted by too many diocesan Ordinaries of the Metropolis and by the majority of the clergy...
She depicted a terribly exact portrait of the false saviour, DE GAULLE, who was in fact, consciously or unconsciously, the biggest malefactor in the history of France. Our Lord had said to Marie-Julie, "His lies and his conceit do not deceive Me." [Zeller, the former grand master of the French Freemasons, in his book, Trois Points, c'est tout page 320, relates the reception that De Gaulle gave to the delegates of the Grand Lodge of the Grand Orient of France in Algiers in 1943. The General, a temporary title, declared; "I am going to give back the republic to France, I can also give back the Freemasons." That is what he did. Held by occult power for his desertion in 1917, he had to keep his word. In fact, during the advanced defense at Fort de Vaux, he raised the white flag without being wounded and gave himself up to Captain Albrecht of the Reichswehr.
Love, Jeanne