Part 26 (2/2)
”5. That it broke into two pieces the stone upon which the priest consecrates the Host.
”6. That it tore into four pieces the card on which the canon of the Ma.s.s was printed.
”7. That it tore the altar-cloth and the cloth which was over it--both of them in an extraordinary way, namely, in the form of a cross of St.
Anthony.
”8. That the high altar was seen to be burning.
”9. That it burnt a part of the communion-cloth and of the tabernacle, upon which it formed several black waves.
”10. Finally that it imprinted upon the altar-cloth the sacred words of the consecration, beginning with _Qui pridie quam pateretur_, and going down to _Haec quotiesc.u.mque feceretis in mei memoriam facietis_, inclusive; only omitting those which are usually set forth in special characters, namely, _Hoc est Corpus meum_; _et Hic est Sanguis meus_.
”What, I repeat, can you expect unphilosophical minds to make of so astonis.h.i.+ng an affair as this? How account for the choice, the discernment, and the mysterious preference for some words over others.
Which shall we consider the privileged words--those taken or those left? What is one to think of the extraordinary way in which the figure of the Saviour was left hanging? And of that strange imprint of the cross? How resist all the thousand delusions and uncertainties and fears the entire thing calls forth?
”I wonder whether the unfortunate Balthasar, when his eyes beheld the terrible sight of the unknown hand inscribing upon the walls of his banqueting-room the announcement of his doom, can have been a prey to a greater variety of fears and tremors than those who witnessed or who even heard of the effects of the lightning at Lagny. For no doubt was felt that they were the outcome of supernatural forces--spirits alone could have worked these marvels; it was a question only whether they were the work of evil spirits or good. Some believed them to be the work of good spirits, deducing this from the omission of the words, _Hoc est Corpus_, etc., which they set down to a spirit of reverence for the sacred mystery.
”Others believed them to be the work of evil spirits, but here again there were different theories. Some held that bad spirits had perpetrated these things out of sheer wickedness, wilfully profaning the holy objects and suppressing out of contempt, or some other evil design, the words so essential to the mystery; others held that mere imps had been at work, actuated more by mischief than sinfulness, and wis.h.i.+ng only to give amus.e.m.e.nt to themselves and others by the quaintness of their pranks. I myself do not share any of those theories.”
Lamy's narrative proceeds to an examination of all the effects recorded, which he explains in the simplest way in the world, without having to have recourse to any occult causes. He comes, finally, to the last of all and the most extraordinary.
”Not wis.h.i.+ng to put trust in anything but my own eyes, I went to the church myself, and the effects of the lightning I saw there repaid me for the trouble.
”I examined carefully the new imprint on the cloth. I found it very clear and fine, the letters well finished, but the ink a little indistinct, perhaps I should say faded. As M. le Cure de Saint-Sauveur (who was kind enough to show me everything) a.s.sured me that at the moment of the lightning the three-leaved card which contains the canon of the Ma.s.s lay between the altar-cloth and the small mat upon the stone on which the consecration takes place, folded in such a way that the printed side was next to the altar-cloth, I compared the characters printed by the lightning with the original lettering, and found that they corresponded exactly, except that they went from right to left, backwards, so that they had to be read with the help of a mirror, or else through the cloth from behind.
”I observed that the words which the lightning had not printed on the cloth, but had omitted, were done in red letters on the card, and were no more favoured nor ill-used than certain other marks without any significance also printed in red upon the card, and leaving no trace upon the altar-cloth.”
The author proceeds to explain the so-called mystery, ascribing it to the difference between the two inks--the thick black ink and the thin red ink. He examines also into the other phenomena, explaining them in the same way, like the sagacious and enlightened observer he was.
It is clear, then, that the study of the phenomena of lightning is no new thing, and that it has been followed conscientiously for many centuries.
In the case of the canon of the Ma.s.s printed by the lightning at Lagny, the reproduction was by contact and pressure--it was not a case of reproducing distant objects as though by photography. Here is another case hardly less remarkable. The narrative is from the pen of Isaac Casaubon, in his _Adversaria_:--
”On a summer's day, about 1595, while divine service was in progress in the Cathedral at Wells, two or three thunderclaps were heard, of so terrible a nature that the whole congregation threw themselves down on the ground. Lightning followed at once, but no one was hurt. The astonis.h.i.+ng thing about the affair lies in the fact that crosses were afterwards found to have been imprinted upon the bodies of some of those present at the service. The Bishop of Wells a.s.sured the Bishop of Ely that his wife told him she had a cross thus imprinted upon her; and that on his being incredulous, she had shown it to him, and that he himself found afterwards that he, too, was thus adorned--on his arm, if I remember right. Some had it on their breast, some on their shoulders. It is from the Bishop of Ely I have these facts, which he tells me are well authenticated.”
What shall we say now of the photographing of a landscape on the inside of the skin of sheep which had been struck by lightning? The record of this seems well authenticated.
In 1812, near the village of Combe-Hay, four miles from Bath, there was a wood composed largely of oaks and nut trees. In the middle of it was a field, about fifty yards long, in which six sheep were struck dead by lightning. When skinned, there was discovered on them, on the inside of the skin, a facsimile of part of the adjacent landscape.
These skins were exhibited at Bath.
This record was communicated by James Shaw to the Meteorological Society of London at its session of March, 1857. Here are his own words:--
”I may add that the small field and its surrounding wood were familiar to me and my schoolmates, and that when the skins were shown to us we at once identified the local scenery so wonderfully represented.”
Andres Poey tells us of these other curious cases:--
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