Examination of evidence and report to the Most Reverend James Whitfield ... upon the miraculous restoration of Mrs. Ann Mattingly, of the city of Washington, D.C. ... together with the documents / By the Right Reverend John England.

  • England, John, 1786-1842.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Examination of evidence and report to the Most Reverend James Whitfield ... upon the miraculous restoration of Mrs. Ann Mattingly, of the city of Washington, D.C. ... together with the documents / By the Right Reverend John England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ever, occasionally varying, and at times so far abating as to admit of her sitting up, moving about in the room, and sometimes sewing. She further deposeth and saith, that during the whole period of her illness, since about March, 1818, she does not recollect any moment at which she was free from severe pain, and that, for the most part, her sufferings were so excru¬ ciating as te deprive her of all strength and power of action, and that she fre¬ quently fainted from the extreme acuteness of her pains ; that she has, during the same period, been in the habit of vomiting large quantities of blood and oifensive matter, and that she has no recollection of having, at any time, spit without emitting some portion of blood. That generally her sensations ap¬ peared to her to be such as might be occasioned by boring her side, immedi¬ ately under and next to her arm, with an auger, a constant tweaking or pinch¬ ing of her side with numerous pincers, and a cutting of her flesh with sharp instruments ; that in the lump on the side of her breast, which increased some¬ what in size, and continued until her final recovery, she has frequently felt sudden and most acute pains, which seemed to shoot off in every direction from that spot, causing her agonies which are indescribable That immediately under her shoulder blade, in her left shoulder, and her left arm from her shoulder to her elbow, during the whole period of her illness, she felt pains nearly as severe as that in her side, and that she was only enabled to use the lower part of that arm and her left hand by supporting her elbow with her right hand or resting it with something else—that she constantly felt a tightness across her breast, as if lashed tightly round with a cord, and an internal burning and smarting sensation, resembling, as nearly as she can con¬ ceive, the exposing of a raw burn to a hot fire. That for about six months immediately preceding the moment of her restoration to health she had been afflicted with most distressing fits of coughing, and latterly with daily cli and fevers. That during her most afflicting and painful paroxysms her tongue has been parched with a constant fever, and seemed to her to be as hard and rough as a nutmeg grater, and that she had constantly a bad and disagreeable taste in her mouth. That since the commencement of her illness she expe¬ rienced a general loss of appetite: but during the periods of most severe suffering she has been unable, for several weeks together, to take any solid or substantial food; and the small quantities of tea which she at times attempted to take, her stomach rejected That she was often seized with a severe cramp in her breast, in her side, and in her shoulder, and sometimes in her stomach and extremities. She further deposeth and saith, that pursuant to the directions of Prince Hohenlohe, a Catholic priest of Bamberg, in Germany, as communicated to her by the Rev. Mr. Dubuisson, assistant pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, in the City of Washington, she performed a novena, or nine days’ devotion, in honor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, commencing on the first day of the present month; and having made her confession to the Rev. Mr. Matthews, rector of the church aforesaid, the Holy Eucharist was administered to her by the Rev. Mr. Dubuis- son, at a little after four o’clock on the morning of Wednesday the tenth of this month. That, in consequence of the hard and dry state of her tongue at the time of receiving the blessed sacrament, five or six minutes elapsed before she was able to swallow it; but, directly after having done so, she found that she was relieved from all that pain g^jid sickness which at the moment of her receiv¬ ing was, if possible, greater than at any former time, and so intense as to threaten her immediate dissolution; and she immediately found herself able to arise from her bed, without any assistance, and, in the presence of the Rev. Mr. Dubuisson and her attending relatives and friends, kneel in thanksgiving to Almighty God. That, from the moment of her restoration, her appetite has been perfectly good; and while she is rapidly regaining her natural strength and flesh, no symptoms of disease, or the slightest indisposition of any kind.