The Illustrated London News
(Saturday, December 17, 1910)

Antoinisme - a new religion.

In Belgium a new cult has come into being under the name, of "Antoinistes," or followers of Antoine the Healer, of Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, near Liege. The number of his disciples has increased rapidly, and a petition, signed by 160,000 of them, has just been presented to the Belgian Government asking that the new cult may be legalised, as are the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religions, in order that it may share in certain civil advantages connected mainly with the property rights of its various temples. Antoine the Healer holds a silent service in his temple at Jemeppe-sur-Meuse on four days of each week (not on Sundays). He merely faces his congregation with lifted hand for a full minute, and walks out: then an adept save, "Everyone whose faith is strong enough must be cured." Louis Antoine, who is sixty-five, was formerly a coal miner. He is a vegetarian and a hermit, speaking to no one, except by telephone. His wife, Madame Antoine, "The Good Mother," performs cures as his deputy by waving her hand, and invoking "Antoine the Healer."

The Illustrated London News,
Saturday, December 17, 1910