In a seven-volume series with text by the Abbé Banier, Picart strove to document objectively the religious ceremonies and morals of all the peoples of the known world.  These two engravings are exceptional in that they represent events that Picart could have witnessed. In 1727, the Jansenist priest François Pâris died and was buried in Paris’ St. Médard cemetery.  Shortly after, women and men suffering from various illnesses began to claim miraculous recovery after visits to Pâris’ grave.  In the upper plate,  helpers hold down a man while he contorts in an awkward position on Pâris’ grave. News of the miracles traveled quickly, and created a religious following so substantial that Louis XV closed the cemetery’s gates and denounced the miracles as heresy. 

The king’s decree only encouraged secret meetings. Believers gathered in darkened rooms to recite apocalyptic scripture and experience convulsions like those shown in the second plate.  

Natacha Dockery