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www.florid.org
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Healing There many ways healers use to cure some practice cleansing baths, others anointing with herbs or oils, some heal by touch, some with the use of prayers, you should always get a doctor's opinion first but even if the doctor can help you quite often seeing a healer can speed up your recovery, be aware of charlatans... Healing by Touch: In England and Scotland, and in France also, the idea that a touch of the royal hand was a sure remedy for scrofula was long prevalent, and consequently this complaint acquired betimes the now familiar name of king’s evil,” In France, so far as can be ascertained, this interesting practice dates from the, reign of Louis IX, and in England from that of Edward III. who is recorded to have performed a considerable number of cures. He was wont to wash the affected part of the sufferer, but gradually the use of actual ablutions was discontinued, and most subsequent kings contented themselves with mere touching, while at the same time prayers were offered up on behalf of the patient. Anon the religious ceremony used on such occasions grew more elaborate, while, during the reign of Henry VII, a special “king’s evil” petition was drawn up by a body of divines for insertion in the Service Book, and there it prevailed for a surprisingly long time thereafter, being found in some editions printed as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century. The idea that kings ruled by divine right emanated mainly from Scotland, and so it is natural to assume that the early inhabitants of that land regarded their sovereigns as capable of miracles. There is little or no evidence, nevertheless, that the Stuarts, prior to the Union of the Cro-xus, practiced touching for king’s evil; but scarcely was Charles I. on the British throne ere he began to demonstrate his powers herein, and scrofulous persons flocked from far and near accordingly. Indeed, they came in such numbers, that early in the fifth year of his reign. Charles found it essential to specify certain times for their reception at court, and the proclamation which he issued on the subject may be read in the Historical Collections of John Rush’ worth, sometime secretary to Oliver Cromwell. Here it is stated that, in the future, those who wish to benefit from the king’s thaumaturgy gilt will be welcomed at Michaelmas or Easter, but it is clear that his Majesty saw fit to make exceptions to this rule, for, during his visit to Edinburgh in 1633, he ministered to numerous unfortunates in the month of June. It was at Holyrood that he received them, the palace being transformed pro tempore into a veritable Lourdes, and Sir James Balfour, the Historian, who was knighted at this time, and created Lyon King-at-Arms, affirms in an unpublished manuscript, still extant in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh, that Charles successfully heallit 100 persons of the cruelles or kingis eivell, yong and olde.” Reverting to the proclamation cited above, therein the king speaks at length of the many cures wrought by his “royal predecessors.” Now this, of course, may allude purely to the Plantagenets or Tudors, but it is equally possible that these references indicate touching for scrofula on the part of the early Stuarts, and be that as it may, Charles I. was not the only member of that dynasty who essayed the act. John Evelyn, in his Diary, writes repeatedly of Charles the Second’s activities in this relation, while Samuel Pepys refers to the same thing, and in one passage he says the sight failed to interest him in the least, for he had seen it often before. Clearly, then, quite a host of the Merry Monarch’s subjects were “ heallit “ by the royal touch, nor did the practice end with the ousting of the Stuarts in 1689. The Chevalier de St. George essayed it on several occasions, and his son Prince Charles, when in Scotland in 1745, made at least one attempt, though whether with success or not is unrecorded.
As regards the semblance, which this science bears to magnetism, it is certain that not only were the ancients acquainted with an artificial method of treating disease but also with somnambulism itself. Among others, Agrippa von Nettesheim speaks of this plainly when he says, in his Occulta philosophia, —“ There is a science, known but to very few, of illuminating and instructing the mind, so that at one step it is raised from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom. This is produced principally by a species of artificial sleep, in which a man forgets the present, and, as it were, perceives the future through the divine inspiration. Unbelieving wicked persons can also be deprived of this power by secret means.” The healing of the sick by the touch and the laying on of hands is to be found among primitive peoples, the Indians, the Egyptians, and especially among the Jews. In Egypt sculptures have been found where one hand of the operator is placed on the stomach and- the other on the back. Even the Chinese, according to the accounts of the early missionaries (Athan. Kircher, China Illustrata), healed sickness by the laying on of hands. In the Old Testament we find numerous examples, of which we shall extract a few. When Moses found his end approaching, he prayed for a worthy successor, and we find the following passage (Numbers, xxvii., j8, 20) :—“ And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him.” And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.” Another instance is to be found in the healing the seemingly dead child by Elisha, who stretched himself three times upon the child, and called upon the Lord. The manner in which Elisha raised the dead son of the Shunamite woman is still more remarkable. He caused Gehazi to proceed before him to lay his staff upon the face of the child. As this was of no avail, Elisha went up into the room, and laid himself upon the child, etc., and his hands upon the child’s hands, so that the child’s body became warm again. After that the child opened his eyes. Elisha’s powers even survived his death. ‘And Elisha died, and they buried him; and the bands of the Moabi tes invaded the land in the coming of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha; and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet.” (2 kings xiii. 20, 25). Naaman the leper, when he stood before Elisha’s house with his horses and chariots, and had been told to wash seven times in the Jordan, said,’ Behold I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” (2 Kings, v. 4). The New Testament is particularly rich in examples of the efficacy of laying on of the hands. “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” (Timothy, iv. I ‘i)~ is the principal maxim of the Apostles, for the practical use of their powers for the good of their brethren in Christ. In St. Mark we find (xvi., 33) :—“ They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” St. Paul was remarkable for his powers: “And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux; to whom Paul entered in, and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him.” (Acts, xxviii., 8). “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mayest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight.” (Acts, ix.,17- 18). In St. Mark we find “And they brought young children to him, that he might touch them; and his disciples rebuked those who brought them. But Jesus said, ‘ Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.” And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they besought him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue; and, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said unto him, ‘Ephphatha,’.— that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plain.” (Mark, vii., 33).
The saints accomplished everything through faith in Christ, and therefore were able to perform such miracles. We shall make mention of a few of the most remarkable accounts. St. Patrick, the Irish apostle, healed the blind by laying on his hands. St. Bernard is said to have restored eleven blind persons to sight, and eighteen lame persons to the use of their limbs, in one day at Constance. At Cologne he healed twelve lame, caused three dumb persons to speak, ten which were deaf to hear; and, when he himself was ill, St. Lawrence and St. Benedict appeared to him, and cured him by touching the affected part. Even his plates and dishes are said to have cured sickness after his death. The miracles of SS. Margaret, Katherine, Elizabeth, Hildegarde, and especially the miraculous cures of the two holy, martyrs Cosmas and Damianus, belong to this class. Among others, they freed the Emperor Justinian from an incurable sickness. St. Odilia embraced a leper, who was shunned by all men, in her arms, warmed him, and restored him to health. Remarkable above all others are those cases where persons who were at the point of death have recovered by holy baptism or extreme unction. The Emperor Constantine is one of the most singular examples. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, had the power of assuaging colic and affections of the spleen by laying the patients on their backs and passing his great toe over them. (Plutarch. Vita Pyrrhi Digitum maximum pedis divinitatem habuisse ad quod igne non potuit comburi.”) The Emperor Vespasian cured nervous affections, lameness, and blindness, solely by the laying on of his hands (Suelin, Vita Vespas). According to Coelius Spartianus, Hadrian cured those afflicted with dropsy by touching them with the points of his fingers, and recovered himself from a violent fever by similar treatment. King Olaf healed Egill on the spot by merely laying his hands upon him and singing proverbs. The kings of England and France cured diseases of the throat by touch. It is said that the pious Edward the Confessor, and in France that Philip the First, were the first who possessed this power. The formula used on such occasions was, Le roi te touche, allez et guerissez; “ so that the word was connected with the act of touching. In England the disease was therefore called King’s Evil.” In France this power was retained until the time of the Revolution, and it is said that at the coronation the exact manner of touching, and the formula ” Le roi te touche, dieu te guerisse “—were imparted to the monarch. In the reign of Louis XIII. The Duke d’Epernon is said to have exclaimed, when Richelieu was made generalissimo against the Spaniards, what! has the king nothing left but the power of healing wens? Among Gen man princes this curative power was ascribed to the Counts of Hapsburg, and also that they were able to cure stammering by a kiss. Pliny says ‘There are men whose whole bodies possess medicinal properties, —as the Marsi, the Psyli, and others, who cure the bite of serpents merely by the touch.” This he remarks especially of the Island of Cyprus; and later travelers confirm these cures by the touch. In later times, the Salmadores and Ensalmadores of Spain became very celebrated, who healed almost; all diseases by prayer, laying on of hands, and by breathing. In Ireland, Valentine Greatrakes cured at first king’s evil” by touch. In the seventeenth century, the gardener Levret and the notorious Streeper performed cures in London by stroking with the hand. In similar manner cures were performed by Michael Medina, and the Child of Salarnanca; also Marcellus Empiricus. Richter, an innkeeper at Royen, in Silicia, cured, in the years 1817-18 many thousands of sick persons in the open fields, by touching them with his hands. Under the Popes, laying on of hands was called Chirothesy. Diepenbroek wrote two treatises on it, and, according to Lampe, four-and-thirty Chirothetists were declared to be holy. Mesmer and his assistants also employed manipulations largely. |
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In
the infancy of the world, and during a time when these laws of nature were but
partially known and understood by man, it was most natural that these
inexplicable powers should be directly ascribed to a divine influence. Healing
of the sick was supposed to proceed alone from God, or through the priest’ and
saints His servants. Faith was therefore necessary to the cure, and the magical
powers were therefore transferred by words, prayers, and ceremonies, and the
science was transmitted among the mysteries. Healing by touch, by laying
on of hands, and by the breath, belonged to this secret influence; also the use
of talismans and amulets, which were composed of organic as well as inorganic
substances, —minerals, stones, and plants; the wearing of rings, of images of
saints, and other symbolical objects; lastly, healing the sick by words
and prayers.