JETZER:

A TALE FROM THE SWISS HISTORY;

Being an account of a Remarkable Imposture practised by a Convent of Dominican Friars, at Berne, in Switzerland, in the year 1509.

THE prodigious number of monks that overspread Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, occasioned universal murmurs and complaints. Such, however, was the slumbering genius of the age, that they would have remained undisturbed, had they continued to preserve that external propriety of conduct which had distinguished them in former times.

But the order of the Benedictines, who were invested with the privilege of possessing extensive lands and revenues, broke through all restraint, and that order of monks stood pre-eminent for their open and shameless profligacy.

All the orders were more or less borne away by this torrent of licentiousness. 'Tis true, that the Mendicants, and particularly those who followed the rules of St. Dominic and St. Francis, were more austere in their habits of life; yet even these lost their credit, although in a different manner. Their rusticity, their superstitions, their ignorance, and cruelty, alienated from them the minds of the people, and they were regarded with little more respect than the profligate brethren of the Benedictines.

Among all the monastic orders at this period, none enjoyed so high a degree of power as the Dominican Friars, whose credit was great, and whose influence was almost universal. They filled the most eminent stations in the Church-they presided everywhere over the formidable tribunal of the Inquisition-and were invested with the function of Confessors in all the Courts of Europe, a circumstance which, in those times of ignorance and superstition, manifestly tended to place the majority of the European princes in their power. Notwithstanding these advantages, the influence of even the Dominicans began to decline, and several marks of perfidy which appeared in the measures which they employed to extend their authority, exposed them to the malignity of their enemies and the indignation of the public.

Something, they found, must be adopted to support the credit of their order, and they embraced an expedient of the most extraordinary nature; and of all the various frauds practised upon the credulity of the ignorant, the page of history records none more singular than the celebrated imposition which was practised at Berne in Switzerland in the year 1509, by this impious fraternity. The stratagem was employed in consequence of a rivalship between the Franciscans and Dominicans; and the particular occasion of their dispute was respecting the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. The former maintained that she was without original sin, the latter asserted the contrary, and the conten-> tion was sharply supported on both sides.

This was the state of things about the beginning of the sixteenth century, when a circumstance occurred which rendered the breach still wider between these Christian Brethren. A Dominican entered a MAGNET, VOL. IV. PART XXVII.

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church at Frankfort, at which a Franciscan happened to be preaching, and no sooner did the preacher see the follower of the rival sect, than, regardless of the place and his office, he discontinued his sermon, and bursting into violent exclamations, he praised God that he was not of an order that profaned the Virgin, or that poisoned princes in the sacrament—which had been done by a Dominican with regard to Henry the Seventh. The other, stung with this reproach, stigmatised the Franciscan as a liar. A violent tumult arose, the Dominican narrowly escaped with his life, and the whole order thus publicly insulted, piously meditated a revenge.

A chapter was accordingly held at Vempfen in Germany, in the year 1504, where they resolved to endeavour to raise their sinking reputation, and humble their adversaries; and they determined to have recourse to fictitious visions and dreams, in which the people, at that period, reposed unlimited confidence. Berne was chosen for the scene of their operations, and four of the order undertook to manage the design; and when the plan was organised, they found, without difficulty, a suitable instrument for the delusion which they were contriving. At this juncture, a person named Jetzer had taken their habit of a lay brother he was extremely simple, and much inclined to austerities; and having noticed his temper well, they proceeded to put their scheme into execution.

On the night after that on which Jetzer had assumed their habit, one of the four Dominicans secreted himself in his cell, and at midnight appeared to him in a tremendous form, apparently breathing fire from his mouth and nostrils, by the means of a box of combustibles which he held near his mouth. In this alarming form he approached Jetzer's pallet, and told him the celebrated story that was related to all their friars, to prevent their laying aside their habit. He stated that he was the ghost of a Dominican, who had been killed at Paris, as a judgment of heaven for putting off his monastic robes-that he was condemned to purgatory for his crime; adding, at the same time, that by his means he might be rescued from his misery. This story, accompanied with fearful lamentations, alarmed the unfortunate Jetzer, and induced him to promise that he would perform all in his power to deliver the Dominican from his torment.

As he lay trembling on his pallet, the impostor still advancing towards him, said he knew that he was a great saint, and that his prayers and mortifications would prevail, but that they must be more than ordinarily severe. The whole monastery must consent for eight days to undergo the discipline of the whip, and that he must lie prostrate in the form of one crucified, in the chapel, whilst mass was publicly performed. These mortifications, the spectre said, would contribute to his deliverance; and assured Jetzer, that if he complied with this, he would infallibly draw down upon himself the protection of the Blessed Virgin, and that all his sufferings would be most gloriously rewarded. He concluded by saying that he should appear to him again on another occasion.

Morning no sooner arrived than Jetzer gave his brethren an account of this apparition. They listened with affected surprise, and advised him to undergo the discipline which was enjoined, and each consented

to bear his part of the task imposed. The deluded brother obeyed, and was admired as a saint by the multitude that crowded about the convent, while the four friars, who managed the imposture, pompously magnified the miracle of this apparition in their various sermons.

Jetzer's confessor was in the secret, and from him they learned all the little circumstances of his life, and by this means obtained access to even his private thoughts, which powerfully assisted them in the management of their scheme. This confessor gave the poor victim a consecrated wafer, and a piece of wood, said to be a relic of the true cross. These were to operate as charms in his favour, in case any other apparition should approach him: since they possessed the wonderful power of subjecting evil spirits to their control!

On the following night the imposture was renewed, and the figure appeared, attended by two other figures, to represent evil spirits. Upon this occasion, Jetzer was fully convinced of the virtue of his preservatives, for no sooner had he presented these awful relics to them, than it effectually checked their approach: his faith was also considerably augmented, when he heard a recital of his words, and the various events of his life. In this and some subsequent scenes, the impostor conversed much with him upon the subject of the Dominican order, which he said was peculiarly dear to the Virgin, and added, that she abhorred the doctrines of the Franciscans, and that shortly the town of Berne would be destroyed for harbouring such heretics within her walls. Some nights after this the Prior appeared as St. Barbara, and told him that the Blessed Virgin, highly pleased with his charity, intended shortly to visit him. He immediately called the convent together, and his account was received with tumultuous joy, whilst the anxiety of Jetzer was wrought up to the highest pitch in expectation of the accomplishment of the promise. After tantalizing him for some time, the longed-for delusion was suffered to appear, clothed in the habits which were used to adorn the statue of the Virgin on the great festivals of the Church. The figure thus equipped, addressed a long discourse to the delighted Jetzer, in which, after commending him, and extolling the merit of the discipline which he had endured, she took occasion to deny the doctrines of the Franciscans, and confirmed that which the Dominicans maintained. As a miraculous proof of her presence, she presented him with several extraordinary relics, and particularly a host, or consecrated wafer. After several visits, she told him that she would add the most affecting proof of her approbation by imprinting on him the same wound that her son had borne upon the cross, as she had done before to St. Lucia and St. Catherine. Jetzer seemed somewhat averse to receive a favour that must be attended with so much suffering, but without waiting for his consent, his hand was forcibly seized, and suddenly perforated with a nail.

The deluded fanatic awoke out of a fancied transport of enthusiasm into a real agony. She then touched the lacerated part, and he thought that he smelt an ointment applied to it, but his confessor assured him that it was only an imagination. The next night the pretended Virgin brought, as she said, some of the linen in which Christ had been wrapt to bind up the wound, and added a draught of a soporific nature, to

complete the farce. To accomplish this, it is necessary to mention an expedient which these "holy men" adopted, and which would be unworthy of credit, did not the facts rest on unquestionable evidence. Agreeably to the customs of the age, they called in magic to their aid. The sub-prior produced a "book of charms" before the rest of the society; but he informed them, that to render these effectual, they must solemnly renounce God, and proceeded to set them the example; and concluded by dedicating himself to the Devil, by a formal act prepared in writing, and signed with his own blood. To the latter extremity, the rest of the brethren did not advance, but they all renounced God: he then proceeded to compound the soporific potion for their unfortunate victim.

When Jetzer awaked from the lethargy into which he had been thrown by the gift of the Holy Virgin, he found to his unspeakable joy the wound on his hand: he was in this state exposed to the admiring multitude on the principal altar of the convent, to the great mortification of the Franciscans. The Dominicans finding the plot answer, gave him other draughts, which threw him into convulsions, and were followed by a voice conveyed through a pipe into the figures of the two images of the Virgin and the infant Jesus. The child asked his mother by means of this voice, (which was that of the prior,) why she wept ? and she answered that the tears she shed were owing to the impious manner in which the Franciscans attributed to her the honour which was due to him alone. The populace beheld, and believed the astonishing miracle!

The apparitions, false prodigies, and absurd stratagems of the Dominicans were repeated every night; and the matter was at length so grossly overacted, that, simple and credulous as Jetzer was, he at length discovered it, and resolved to quit the order. The reign of delusion was now at an end. It was in vain that they attempted to exhibit any more nocturnal visions, for he had almost killed the prior, who appeared to him one night in the form of the Virgin with a crown upon her head he had discovered the whole trick. The Dominicans, fearing to lose the fruit of their imposition, and apprehensive of being degraded in the public estimation, concluded that it would be better to confess the whole matter to Jetzer, and to endeavour to engage him by the most seducing promises, to prosecute the cheat. They artfully suggested the esteem that would attach to his character, if he continued to support the reputation that he had already acquired: they hinted also that he would become the chief person of their order. Jetzer was persuaded, or at least appeared to be so. But the Dominicans suspecting that he was not entirely to be depended upon, resolved upon poisoning him, and he in his turn looked upon them with an equally suspicious

eye.

One day they sent him a loaf prepared with some spices, but he was already upon his guard. He kept it for a day or two, and then perceiving it to grow green, he threw a piece of it to a dog that was kept within the monastery, and in a few days it died. Another attempt was made to destroy him, which was alike unsuccessful; they administered poison in the host, or consecrated wafer-in the sacrament! but he

vomited it up, and once more was he preserved: five separate times the monks administered poison to him, but his constitution was so vigorous, that he was not destroyed by it. His malignant tormentors urged him to renounce God, because they imagined that their charms would have no effect on him, unless he could be induced to do so; but he scornfully rejected the temptation, and in order to compel his obedience, they scourged him with an iron chain, and bound it so tightly round his body, that in his agony, and to avoid further torment, he swore that he would never discover the secret. After having thus deluded them in his turn, he at length found an opportunity of escaping from the convent, and, throwing himself into the hands of the magistrates, he made a full confession of the whole affair.

The four friars who had been most active in the deception, were seized and imprisoned; and an account of the affair was sent first to the Bishop of Lausanne, and then to Rome, while the triumphant Franciscans were eager that it should undergo a complete examination. The Bishops of Lausanne and of Lyons, with the Provencial of the Dominicans, were appointed to form the process. The four friars first excepted to Jetzer's credit; but that plea being set aside, they were threatened with the rack; they also put in a long protest against this measure, but to which they were eventually obliged to submit. Two of the number endured the torture long, but at length they all confessed the whole progress of the imposture.

Thus completely vindicated, Jetzer retired to Constance, where he died in a few weeks. It was stated by some that he had poisoned himself, while others have charged his death upon his adversaries; but the most probable supposition is, that his vigorous constitution, though not destroyed, was yet undermined by the sufferings it had undergone, though they did not immediately affect his dissolution.

For a whole year, no farther inquiry respecting the imposition was made, but at the expiration of that time, a Spanish Bishop arrived at Berne, authorized with full powers from Rome. After the most diligent scrutiny, the whole imposition being fully proved, the four friars were solemnly degraded from their priesthood, and burnt alive on the last day of May, in the year of our Lord 1509.

At the latter end of the seventeenth century, Gilbert Burnet, D.D., Bishop of Sarum, (who extracted the substance of this narrative from the records of the city of Berne,) beheld the memorials of this iniquitous proceeding. He was shown the cavity in the wall through which the voice was conveyed to the images in the church, and saw the spot where the friars suffered the punishment due to their extraordinary crimes.