Joanny Bricaud
Abbé Boullan (Doctor Johannes from « Là-bas ») : His Life, His Teaching and His Magical Practices
Paris
Libraire Générale des Sciences Occultes
Chacornac Frères
11. Quai Saint-Michel, 11 1927
FOREWORD
The character whose strange and tormented life I am going to relate has been presented under two absolutely opposite aspects.
All readers of the famous novel by J.K. Huysmans : « La-Bas » (Down There), remember the extraordinary « Doctor Johannes », who lived very retired at Lyon, awaiting the imminent coming of the Paraclete, which he announced, and occupied his leisure time curing the illnesses inflicted by witchcraft.
« He’s a very intelligent and very learned priest. He has been Superior of a community, and he has edited, in Paris itself, the only magazine that was ever mystical. He was also a consulted theologian, an acknowledged master of divine jurisprudence. » So does Huysmans express himself.
Among the occultists, Stanislas de Guaita takes a totally different tone. In a chapter on the Temple of Satan, he deals at great length with the bizarre doctrines of a modern sorcerer whom he designates under the name Jean-Baptiste, « Pontiff of infamy, base idole of mystical Sodom, Goetian of the worst sort, a wretched and criminal man, a sorcerer, and the instigator of an unclean sect. » ; a man who arouses such contradictory judgments merits that one focus one’s attention on him somewhat, that one examine up close his life and his ideas.
This « very learned priest », according to Huysmans, this « Pontiff of infamy », according to Stanislas de Guaita, was known under his real name as the Abbe Boullan. Having had the occasion to approach him in my career as an occultist, having known many people who lived in his intimate circle, possessor, finally, of numerous documents on his account, drawn from the archives of the Carmel of Eugene Vintras, to which he undeservedly pretended to link himself, I will endeavor, in the pages that follow, to present this strange character and to determine as exactly as possible the curious physiognomy of this priest, mystic and magician in one, who aroused toward the end of the Nineteenth Century duels and polemics whose echo is not yet completely extinct.
The Abbe Boullan
Chapter One
The Abbe Boullan, Roman Priest
Joseph-Antoine Boullan was born on February 18, 1824, at Saint-Porquier, a small town of the Tarn-et-Garonne. He was the son of Barthelemy Boullan and Marie Domini. His mother was, it is said, of Italian origin.
We know nothing particular of his youth. Being destined for an ecclesiastical career, he was, upon leaving the lesser seminary, sent to Rome to do his theological studies. There he passed his Doctorate in Theology brilliantly.
Shortly after, he entered the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, founded in August 1815, at Giano, in Italy, by the Venerable Gaspard del Buffalo. He was sent, toward the end of the year 1850, to the Saint Paul House, which the Congregation had just established at Albano. He stayed there for part of the year 1851, in the course of which he took part in several missions in Italy.
According to the usage adopted then by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Director of the Mission, after having preached to the faithful the necessity of penance, would announce, at the end of the preaching, that, to set the example, the missionaries were going to do penance themselves for the people. A procession was organized, and, in the sight of all the people, the missionaries, armed with a heavy iron instrument of discipline, struck themselves on the shoulders, with such an excess sometimes, that they were at the point of succumbing.
Later, Abbe Boullan would never speak without emotion of these bloody flagellations in which he had taken part, during which, he said, he was ready to give up his soul, and which it was nevertheless necessary to begin again over and over, since it was in the middle of a procession.
He affirmed, moreover, that he had often seen the mission stay unsuccessful until the day when the missionaries, in the course of a solemn procession practiced flagellation.
Returning to France, toward the end of 1851, we find him, in 1853, as a Missionary of the Precious Blood, at Trois-Epis, in Alsace.
At that time, he interested himself particularly in mystical studies, and, in November 1853, he published a translation of the Divine Life of the Blessed Virgin, from Father Bonaventure Amedeo de Caesare, extracted from the Mystical City of Maria d’Agreda.(1)
(1) Divine Life of The Most Holy Virgin Mary, or Abridgement of the Mystical City, According to Maria de Jesus d’Agreda ; by Fr. Bonaventure de Caesare, M.C., consultant, of the Holy Roman Congregation of The Index, translated and with an Additional Notice by Abbe Joseph-Antoine Boullan, Doctor of Theology. Paris, Lecoffre, 1854. A second edition published in 1858.
This work cost him from its publication very lively persecutions on the part of highly-placed persons in the Church, who sought to discredit this book, and went, to stop the spread of it among the faithful, so far as to forbid the reading of it, claiming it to be harmful to the salvation of souls. The intervention of a charge d’affaires of the Holy See in France was required to bring an end to this opposition.
The goal pursued by Abbe Boullan, in publishing this work, was such as he explains it himself in the important Notice on The Works of The Venerable Maria de Jesus d’Agreda, placed at the head of his book, to call the attention of priests and engage them in the study of the wonders of Christian Mysticism « in the face of the phenomena of Magnetism and of the neo-Spiritualism that is breaking out in the world ».
« There are, » he wrote, « gifts divine and supernatural so wondrous that, if all the authority of the holy doctors and that of the Church did not affirm them absolutely, one would feel oneself inclined to dismiss them in doubt. But doubt is permitted only to ignorance and to bad faith, and neither one nor the other justify man at the tribunal of conscience, nor thenceforth at the tribunal of God.
« The God of mercies accords to some souls the privilege known under the name of words clear, distinct, and formal, or supernatural locutions : that is to say that God consents to speak to a person, be it directly, be it immediately, as it happens in certain cases, be it by the ministry of the angels, as is more ordinary. At other times, it’s Our Lord, it’s the august Mother of God, and even, in rarer circumstances, the saints who consent to speak to souls elevated to a particular state of contemplation. »
After having remarked that those who hear these supernatural and heavenly words sometimes see the personages who pronounce them under corporeal forms, Abbe Boullan adds : « The few things that we have said will suffice to call the attention of priests and engage them to study in depth these wonders of grace, in the face of the phenomena of magnetism and of the neo-Spiritualism that is breaking out in the world ; they will better understand the truth and the error, and they will clearly discern the trap that the enemy since the beginning, the angel of darkness, endeavors to hold out to men, in enticing them, either into the denial of that which is supernatural, or into the gross deceits into which he leads the unhappy adepts of these dark doctrines. » (1)
(1) Notice, pp. 19-20
One thus sees the goal that Boullan pursued : to oppose to the phenomena of magnetism and of spiritism those of Christian Mysticism.
At the same time as the Divine Life of The Most Holy Virgin Mary appeared, still according to the Mystical City of Maria d’Agreda, The Admirable Life of The Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, followed by The Life of The Venerable Mother Maria de Jesus d’Agreda (1)
Admirable Life of The Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph According to The Mystical City with an Introduction of The Sentiments of M. Olier on The Devotion to Saint Joseph, and in Appendix The Life of The Venerable Mother Maria de Jesus d’Agreda, Paris, Lecoffre, 1853
In 16 Paris, Coursier 1855, in that same year 1855, the Universite Catholique, no. March, published the review of the work entitled « Institutiones Theologicae ad usum Seminarii Tolosani, by Abbe Boullan », (Off-print, in-8, 16 pages, Nantes, 1855).
In-8, Paris, Jacques Lecoffre, editor, 1856.
Paris and Lyon, Jacques Lecoffre and former Maison Perisse freres, in-16, 204 pages, 1857.
In the course of the year 1857, the Abbe made a long sojourn in Paris. He lived in a small room belonging to the Convent of the Religious of The Restorative Adoration, which was then established at 12 Rue des Ursulines. The founder of the Congregation, Mother Marie-Therese, had sent for him to discuss with him his plans for founding a branch of male religious of the Restorative Adoration. Despite all the efforts of Mother Marie-Therese, there was no following through of his plans.
Abbe Boullan had become Superior of the House of The Three Spikes [des Trois-Epis] when he published, in 1855, translated from the Italian, the work of Dom Luigi Navaro, entitled : Explanations of The Holy Scriptures, by A Servant of God (Sister Maria Luisa of Naples), containing the Apocalypse of the Apostle Saint John, with the sacred text of the Vulgate and the French version (2).
The next year, he published, in Paris, a notice on Abbe Rene-Francois Rohrbacher (1), but at this time he was no longer a Missionary of The Precious Blood. He lived in Paris and he was a free priest. Finally, in 1856, he completed his translation of The Glories of The Priesthood, Its Obligations and Its Evils, extracted from the authentic revelations of Saint Brigitte, with important explanations, according to the Reverend Father Antonio Natali, of the Society of Jesus (2).
Abbe Boullan, one sees, was especially preoccupied by the supernatural, revelations, and miraculous events.
In 1856, Abbe Boullan had had to concern himself with a nun of the Congregation of Saint Thomas of Villanova, at Soissons, Sister Adele Chevalier, who had visions and received revelations.
This nun recounted that, stricken with blindness and with a pulmonary congestion, given up by all the doctors, she had been miraculously cured, in the month of January 1854, thanks to the intercession of Our Lady of La Salette. She was then a postulant sister with the nuns of Saint Thomas of Villanova.
The news had rapidly spread throughout the diocese, and the Bishop of Soissons had delegated his Vicar General to proceed with an investigation. The conclusions of the report edited by this ecclesiastic were neat and precise : « After having maturely reflected on the circumstances of in which Adele Chevalier obtained recovery of sight and the pulmonary cure which had been presented with characters of gravity so alarming, I do not hesitate to believe in a supernatural intervention by the mother of God. »
From this time forth Sister Chevalier affirmed that she did not cease to be inspired by divine grace, that she was in communication with the Virgin, from whom she frequently received revelations through a mysterious voice.
In 1856 she left the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Thomas of Villanova to bring herself to Notre-Dame de la Salette, where she said she was called by supernatural voices.
The Fathers of La Salette examined her state and were so struck by it that they asked Msgr Ginhouliac, the Bishop of Genoble, for autorisation to put her under the direction of Abbe Boullan, whose theological knowledge was, they said, well known to them.
From the first days Abbe Boullan had faith in the supernatural state of his penitent, and was convinced of the truth of her revelations. He concluded that there had been a miracle.
In July 1857, Sister Chevalier published her revelations under the title of : Cry of Salvation(1), but under the veil of anonymity.
((1- Reproduced by Abbe Curicque in : Prophetic Voices, volume II, pp 460-470, Paris, 1872))
It was said in this revelation that « there is a dose of restoration that must be paid off by just souls, by innocent victims, by souls in a state of grace. » This was the point of departure for a work on the restoration of souls, which Adele endeavored to organize under the direction of Abbe Boullan. He immediately began to seek to raise the funds necessary for the construction of a church and a house where restorative souls would gather.
It’s under the influence of the revelations of Sister Chevalier that he published, in 1857, a work having for its title, True Restoration, or The Soul Restorative Through The Tears of Jesus and Mary, in which he said that, « Heaven asks to save us restorative prayers made in the Churches by the clergy and the faithful. » The work had much success, and many editions followed.
In the course of his travels, he met toward the end of 1857, at Millau, a private instructor, Mlle Marie-Madelaine Roche who was, since 1847, the tireless apostle of the restorative work for blasphemies and for the violation of Sunday, established at Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne). If one believes her biographer, Abbe Carrie, Mlle Roche was a worthy mystic (1). He had received the gift of discernment of spirits and had intuitions which sometimes allowed her to predict the future. For several years she had applied herself to making the restorative work known in the town and in the region.
When she met Abbe Boullan, she did not fail to speak to him of the work which was held such a place in her heart. Relations were established between them for the furtherance of this work.
The director of the restorative work of Saint-Dizier, whom Mlle Roche had consulted, obligated her to confide herself to Abbe Boullan. « He’s a learned, pious priest, » he told her. « You can in good conscience follow his inspirations. »
Boullan obligated her to come to Paris so that he could examine in depth the extraordinary way of the restorative of Millau. Mlle Roche went there, took lodging in a convent of the capital and stayed there an entire month.
Abbe Boullan studied her attentively, saw no error in her writings, and had complete confidence in her restorative mission.
Still, he told her that before founding the work, it would be necessary to refer it to Rome, and he obligated Mlle Roche to go there, assigning himself to accompany her. In the month of September 1858,
(1) Biography of Marie-Madelaine Roche (1810-1880), by Abbe J. Carrie. Rodez, 1910.
He wrote to Mlle Roche that going to Rome, he would pass by Millau to take her there. They presented themselves to the Bishop of Rodez to explain to the Bishop the goal of their journey. The Bishop gave them a letter of recommendation. Upon arriving in Rome, Mlle Roche obtained a private audience with Pius IX, from which she became more and more confirmed in her mission.
Once back in Paris, the Abbe relocated Sister Chevalier and re-undertook her direction. In conformity with the revelations that she said she had received from the Virgin, Adele Chevalier had founded the Work of the Restoration of Souls, in which she grouped restorative souls. The rules for the new Work had been written by the sister under divine dictation.
In accordance with her Director, she settled the Work at Bellevue, in the Department of Seine-et-Oise, with the approval of several highly placed prelates.
At this time, in 1859, Abbe Boullan lived in Sevres, 14 Avenue de Bellevue, and he had founded a magazine entitled: Annals of The Priesthood, Journal of The Restoration and of The Work of The Missions, which concerned itself with mystical theology and with bringing back the Christians of the East to the Roman Church. The magazine appeared three times a month.
Soon, there were noted from within the community bizarre practices. Abbe Boullan cured there, through strange proceedings, diabolical sicknesses with which the nuns had been afflicted.
In a work of M. Charles Sauvestres: Religious Congregations Unveiled, I found curious information on our Abbe and his strange medications. “One of the sisters being tormented by the demon, Abbe B., to exorcise it, spat in her mouth; another, he made drink from her urine mixed with that of the Chevalier girl, which they were ordered never to throw out; for a third, he ordered poultices of fecal matter. I pass by stranger ones yet, which the pen that respects itself in the least would refuse to reproduce (1).”
Moreover, ecclesiastics wrote to Abbe Boullan and Sister Chevalier to ask them – through finances – how they could conciliate the favor of the Blessed Virgin; women of the world consulted them on incredible questions of conscience.
There was soon, to the attention of the Bishop of Versailles, numerous complaints. If one relies on the judicial documents collected by M. Sauvete, charges were brought against Abbe Boullan and Sister Chevalier, accused of swindling and public outrage against decency. On this last charge, the Chamber of Correctional Appeals in Paris would issue, in July 1865, a dismissal,
leaving only swindling, for which they were sentenced to three years in prison.
I owe it to the truth to say that I have not able to find a trace of this sentencing for swindling, on the date indicated by M. Sauvestre (1). Perhaps there is an error of date.
Be that as it may, Abbe Boullan will write later, in 1867, being “under the weight of a terrible test”, he went to make a retreat to the famous Benedictine Monastery of the Turning Stone, and it’s there at the foot of the statue of the Virgin “erected on the ancient stone that formally served for the invocation of demons”, that he found the help he needed.
The next year he resolved, in order to know the designs of God for his vocation and the work of the divine Restoration, to go to Rome, on pilgrimage, to the tombs of the Holy Apostles and to various sanctuaries of the Holy City. From there, he went to Our Lady of Loreto, and from Loreto to Assisi, to receive the blessing of the glorious Patriarch of Assisi, in the famous Church of Our Lady of The Angels.
It’s in Rome that he decided on the project of founding a magazine devoted to bringing to the light saints of the XIX Century.
(1) M. Sauvestre gives as reference L’independance belge. I have perused all the issues for the month of July 1865 of that paper, which has a special rubric for trials, but found nothing concerning Abbe Boullan. I have not been more successful consulting attentively at the Bibliotheque Nationale, the two large volumes of the Gazette des Tribunaux, of 1865.
He devised the program, traced out the plan of it that he exposed, on his return to Paris, in a group of religious, and on the first of January, 1870, appeared the first issue of The Annals of Sanctity in The XIX Century.
The Annals of Sanctity constituted a biographical repertoire of sorts of the Saints, Blesseds, and Venerables who had lived and died in the course of the XIX Century. Their biographies were established according to the acts of the apostolic processes for beatification.
Abbe Boullan was the principal collaborator. He would also work to propagate the cult of the Blessed Virgin and of Saint Joseph, and in March 1870 published he published in Paris: The Most Blessed Virgin, Founder in Jesus Christ, of The Church (in-8, of 96 pages).
During the Vatican Council, he was sent to Rome, as chronicler for the Council for Rosier de Marie [The Rosebush of Mary], a religious newspaper founded by Abbe Pillon.
Returned once again to Paris, he became as of January first 1872, managing owner and editor-in-chief of The Annals of Sanctity of The XIX Century (1).
(1) The offices were at 77 rue de Vaugirard, at the residence of Abbe Boullan.
Still preoccupied with mysticism, he publishes there articles on the events of Pontmain, and, a curious detail, he leads an ardent campaign in favor of the introduction in Rome of the cause of the beatification of the Curate of Ars, for whom he had a particular veneration.
But his principal preoccupation is the restorative idea, and he announces that the Annals of Sanctity have received from heaven a new mission, that of making known the work of Mary, which he founded in 1869 and which is a new form of the divine Restoration. This work is designed to make the Church triumph and to save the world in the midst of the decadence of faith.
Not only, said Abbe Boullan, must we suffer a share of suffering for ourselves, but it is also permitted us to suffer in favor of others, because we are members of the Mystical Body of the Savior, and the members of the member which constitutes the Divine Body of Christ.
“The hour is come when heaven wants to reveal to the earth the mysteries of the Holy Host of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and by what sufferings of soul and body the Savior has operated the redemption of the human race. There must exist a religious Order that proposes for itself this goal, and the time is favorable to make known something of what it has pleased heaven to unveil to us of these mysteries…”
And Abbe Boullan explains that