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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    has been felt by her, and that in the place of the former disagreeable taste in her mouth, she has constantly had a sweet taste, nearly resembling that of loaf sugar. Finally, she declares that, at the moment of receiving the blessed sacrament, she felt so extremely ill, that believing the time arrived when she must either die, or through the mercy and goodness of God be restored to health, she made this mental prayer or aspiration: “ Lord Jesus ! thy holy vdll be done.” Sworn to before R. S. BRISCOE, Justice of the Peace. SUPPLEMENT TO MRS. ANN MATTINGLY’S DEPOSITION. Of the many hundred persons who visited me since my extraordinary cure, several have asked me if it was not effected by the breaking of an abscess in my side, and a copious discharge from it. I consider myself bound in grati¬ tude to God, the sole author of my restoration to health, to prevent the propa¬ gation of such an erroneous opinion, by solemnly declaring that I had no knowledge of any abscess in my side, and of course I perceived no breaking or discharge of any. Such, in fact, was my exhausted and debilitated state, that it was with great difficulty that I could spit at all during that night, and what I did spit was in smaller quantity than usual. Equally erroneous is the opinion that my imagination effected my cure. I had long expected the hour when Almighty God, in his mercy, would deliver me from my sufferings, by withdrawing me from a world, to me a scene of misery. I believed that hour was now at hand; with calm resignation I awaited it. The lump on my side was so inflamed and so painful, that I could not suffer my arm to touch it; and the sinews of my arm being contracted, I could not keep it entirely from touch¬ ing my side. In this distressing situation, I, calmly and without agitation of mind, awaited the final close of my earthly miseries, when suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, all pain left me, my body was entirely healed, and I found myself in perfect health; a blessing of God, which I have continued to enjoy since, without interruption, to the present moment. ANN MATTINGLY. Washington City, May 3c?, 1824. Sworn to before me, a Justice of the Peace, for the City and County of Washington, District of Columbia. JAMES HOB AN, [seal.] Justice of the Peace. DR. WILLIAM JONES. In the summer of 1817, I examined a tumour, seated in Mrs. Mattingly’s left mamma, and was of opinion at the time, that it partook of a schirrous character. Some months subsequent to this examination, I was called to visit her, and found her with pain in the side and breast. The tumour had become painful, and the pectoral muscle somewhat contracted. After prescribing for those symptoms several months, and the disease continuing to resist, I requested the attendance of Doctors Blake and Schaaf; what their opinions were of the case, I do not recollect; but the treatment suggested by them, produced no improvement in the patient. During Mrs. Mattingly’s illness, (but at what period I am not prepared to state,) her complaint assumed a more formidable aspect; the stomach became irritable, and began to eject large quantities of blood ; sometimes florid, but mostly grumous and fetid. When this last symp¬ tom presented, I was of opinion, that it was vicarious, and not until convinced by Mrs. Mattingly, that the functions of the uterus continued to be performed, (except when she was very much reduced,) did I abandon it.