The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-31
n MIRACLE FACTORY AT TILLY.


 Not the Devil, but Reincarnated Eli
 and John the Baptst-Vintras' Bilo- cation and Provictimal Sacrifice of
 Mary-Sixty Years of Queer Doings
 in France.
 The recent apparitions at Tilly-sur- Seulles have been charitably ascribed
 by Canon Brettes, president of the French Psychical Research society, to the intervention of the devil. France, just at this moment seems to be girded in by diapolical manifestations. A haunted house at Le Perreux-that charming village on the Marne-was explained on the theory of "Lucifer- ians'' playing with fire. Becoming se- riously alarmed for my own personal safety, called yesterday on my friend M. Jules Bois, the greatest authority on .Satanism" living, for few words of help and counsel. Could 1t really be that the devil was so close behind us?
 'The apparitions of Tilly-sur- Seulles have been denounced by Canon Brettes
 Ca sincere Catholic) as of diabolic ori-
 gin, because that excellent ecclesiastic
 cannot explain them on any grounds" said M. Jules Bois-"an ancient theo- logical argument" he added which the Pharisees used when miracles were performed surpassing their under standing, and they exclaimed A de- mon, demonn Then what does it all amount tor" I inquired with in creasing anxiety. M. Jules Bois, who is one of the least ,credulous of men, in spite of his mystical preferences, then gave me an apercu of the entire ques- ton, which I must endeavor to summa- rize. .r
 Tilly-sur- Seulles, where the Virgin
 Mary is said to have appeared, and where the peasants have put up notice
 boards with the inscription
 No Blaspheming Allowed Here,'
 was the birthplace of the great exorcist Vintras, a foreman in a paper factory who, at a given moment, became aware by revelation from the Archangel Mi- chael, that he was the reincarnation of the prophet Eli It was there that Vim tras founded his sect with it's special cult for the Virgin Mary; it was there that he propounded the theory of the Immaculate Conception, which at that time 1839) did not constitute one of the dogmas of the Catholic church. He represented the bond of union between the ancient and the modern miracle, it being granted that the saints were conscious" workers of miracles while Vintras performed his marvels in a magnetic sleep He established 6 Car | mel at Montplaisir, a suburb of Lyons, I where he had his temples, his acolytes being an ex-chasuble maker, named l Soidekerck, and the Duke of Parma. There he was wont to celebrate the ''provictimal sacrifice of Mary" in a
 room hung with red cloth, a mass cele- | brated in French in honor of the Vir- | gin. The waters left the chalice of their own will, blood dripped from the
 ceiling, strange geometrical figures in | blood formed themselves on the holy brocade (specimens are still preserved l at Lyons), the prophet himself, who 1 professed to be inspired, had a dove formed on his brow by natural wrin- kles, his mission was to combat the black masses which he declared were
 being said in London and Rome by l | possessed the power of levitation or "bilocation," as the mysties call it (the
 power of being in two places at once).
 Finally, after a career in which he
 troubled and fascinated an extraordi-
 nary number of people, he was con- | demned as a swindler to fine of one thousand francs and five years solitary tconfinement. With the gift of ''biloea- tion' he snapped his fingers at impris- | onment. A giant with a vast beard
 and enormous forehead, his favorite ec-
 clesiastical dress was long robe of red
 cashmere, over which was 8 sort of black stole in the form of a cross up- | side down. It was he who first caused Tilly-sur-Seulles to become famous.
 He prophesied before he died, some
 thirty years ago, that in the year 1896 the Virgin would make miraculous | appearance on that sacred spot. His
 prophecy formed the epigraph of his book published shortly before his death. Curiously enough, his religion became | mixed up with the claims of the impos-
 tor, Naundorff, who professed to be the Dauphin, escaped after the revolution | from the Temple, and consequently  | King of France with the title of Louis XVII. Naundorf, not content to be
 the great king" wanted also to be the
 great prophet" But both he and Vim tras died before their relative situa-
 tions could be satisfactorily defined To Vintras succeeded the famous Abbe Boullan. who figures in Huysmans s great novel, "La-Bas, as the enemy of | the no less famous Satanist, Canon
 Docque. Boullan believed himself to be
 the reincarnation of John the Baptist
 and so signed himself as a rule. He
 not only exercised evil spirits, removed
 Satanic spells (envoutements). but
 cured stomach-ache with the help ot
 precious stones. He, too. had the pow
 CT of biloeation, was constantly war
 ring against the Satanists and the
 adopts in black magic. was declared by
 Canon Brettes to be a Luciferian
 (which he strenuously denied), and ifinally fell victim to a Satanic spell.