A passion from beyond the graveMaximilian V…, a twelve year old child commits suicide for love
It was published in the Siècle on January 13th, 1862:
“Maximilian V…, a twelve year old young man, lived with his parents at Rue des Cordiers and was employed as a upholsterer apprentice. He had the habit of reading series of novels. Every break in his job was utilized for his readings that super excited his imagination and inspired in him ideas beyond his age. That is how he imagined to have fallen in love with a young lady that he had the occasion of seeing from time to time and who had never thought that she could have inspired such a feeling in the young man. Hopeless to see the dreams produced by his readings come true, he then decided to kill himself. Yesterday a servant of the house where he was doing his training found him lifeless in a little room on the third floor where he was working alone. He had hung himself with a rope that he had tied on a beam with a huge nail.”
The circumstances of that death at such an early age made us think that the evocation of that boy could provide us with matter for a useful study. The evocation was carried out at the Society on January 24th last through the medium Mr. E. Vézy.
There is a difficult moral problem in this case that is impossible to be solved by the arguments of common philosophy and even less so by a materialistic philosophy. They may say that everything can be explained by assuming that it was a premature child. But this explains nothing. It is absolutely the same as saying that the day breaks because the sun is up. Where does this early maturity come from? Why do certain children go beyond their normal age on the development of passions and intelligence? This is one of the difficulties that stop every philosophy because its solution always leaves an unsolved question and we can always ask why. Once the existence of the soul and its development before this existence is admitted and everything else is explained in the most natural way. With such principle we go back to the actual cause and the source of everything.
1. (To the spiritual guide of the medium) – Can you tell us if we are allowed to evoke the spirit of the young man that we have just mentioned? – A. Yes. I will guide him because he suffers. May this communication be a lesson and serve you as an example.
2. (To Maximilian) – Are you aware of your situation? – A. I do not know well where I am. There is something in front of me like a veil. I speak but I do not know how and how I am heard. But what was until recently obscure I can see now. I was suffering but at this moment I feel relieved.
3. Do you remember well the circumstances of your death? – A. It is all too vague to me. I know I was committing suicide without a reason. Nonetheless as a poet from another incarnation I had a kind of intuition of my previous life. I created dreams and chimeras. I was in love.
4. How could it be that you got to such an extreme? – A. I have just responded to that.
5. It is remarkable that a 12 year old boy could be led to suicide particularly for a reason like that one. – A. You are a strange people! Haven’t I said that I was a poet in another incarnation and that my faculties had become ampler and more developed than on others? Oh! In the darkness that surrounds me I see this sylph of my worldly dreams passing by and that is the punishment that God inflicts upon me; I see her going by, beautiful and frivolous as always and I, intoxicated by madness and love I want to throw myself… but ah! I feel like I am in chains… I call… but that is in vain. She does not even turn to look at me… Oh! I suffer so much!
6. Can you describe your sensation when you recognized yourself in the world of the Spirits? – A. Yes, now that I am in touch with you I can. My body was there, inert and cold and I was gliding around it. I cried warm tears. The tears of a soul must surprise you. Oh! They are scorching hot! Yes, I cried because I had just acknowledged the enormity of my mistake and the greatness of God! Nevertheless, I was not sure about my death and I thought that my eyes could open. Elvira! I called… supposing that I could see her… Ah! I love her since long ago. I will always love her! Who cares if I have to suffer forever if I can one day have her in other incarnations?
7. What are your sensations for being here? – A. It does me good and bad at the same time. It is good because I know you share my suffering. It is bad because despite my desire to please you accepting your prayers I cannot do that because I would be forced to follow a different route, different from that of my dreams.
8. What can we do to help you? – A. Pray because prayer is the divine drizzle that refreshes the heart of our poor souls in punishment and suffering. Pray. However, I feel like you remove my love from my heart, replacing it by God’s love… I do not know… I believe… Look! I cry now… Ah! Pray for me!
9. (To the guide of the medium) – What is the punishment of this spirit for having committed suicide? Given his age, is his action as liable as others who commit suicide? A. The punishment will be terrible because his is more liable then others. He already had great faculties; the power of loving God and doing good. If those who commit suicide suffer long punishments God punishes even more those who kill themselves with great ideas in their minds and hearts.
10.. You said that Maximilian’s punishment will be terrible. Can you tell us how it is going to be? It seems that it has already started. Will it be worse than his current sufferings? A. No doubt since he feels a devouring fire and it will only stop through the works of prayer and repentance.
OBSERVATION: He feels a devouring fire. Isn’t that the image of the flames of hell, presented as a material fire?
11. Is there a possibility of having his punishment alleviated? – A. Yes, by praying for him and particularly if Maximilian joins your prayers.
12. Does the object of his passion share his feelings? Are these two beings destined to unite one day? If so, what are the conditions of such a union and what are the obstacles that preclude it now? – A. Do the poets love women on Earth? They believe so for an hour or a day. What they really love is the ideal; a chimera created by their eager imagination, a love that cannot be satisfied but by God. When they meet a beautiful child who will never be theirs they say that reality has taken over the dream. If they get back to their senses, however, they fall from the ethereal regions of matter and since they no longer recognize the object of their dreams they then create other fantasies.
13. (To Maximilian) – We would still like to ask you a few other questions that might bring you some comfort. What was the time when you lived as a poet? Was your name well known? – A. During Louis XV kingdom. I was poor and unknown and loved a woman, an angel that I saw strolling at the park on a spring day. Since then I have only seen her in my dreams and my dreams promised me that she would be mine one day.
14. The name Elvira sounds very romantic to us leading us to think that it is a fictitious name. – A. Yes, it was a real woman. I know her name because a gentleman that passed by called her Elvira. Ah! She was exactly like the woman in my imagination. I still see her, always beautiful and astounding nice. She can make me forget God just to see and follow her.
15. You suffer and can still suffer for a long time. It is up to you to shorten your misery. – A. Who cares about my sufferings? You do not know what an unaccomplished desire is! Are my desires bodily like? Nevertheless they burn me just by the thought of her, even stronger than if I thought of God.
16. We are sincerely sorry for that. You must become useful and think more of God in order to work towards your own advancement. It is necessary that you request a reincarnation just to repair your mistakes and the uselessness of your last existences. We are not asking you to forget Elvira but that you think of her less exclusively and a little bit more of God who can abbreviate your torments if you do what it takes. We will support you in your endeavors through our prayers. – A. Thank you! Pray and try to remove Elvira from my heart. I will perhaps thank you one day.
