Verger

On January 3, 1857, Archbishop Sibour of Paris was stabbed outside the church of Saint Stephen of the Mount by a young priest named Verger. Verger was sentenced to death and executed on January 30. Up to his last moment, he showed no real regret or repentance for the murder.

The medium’s hand begins writing...

VergerI am still held in my body.

MediumIs your soul not yet completely free from your body?

VergerNo...I am afraid...I do not know.

VergerWait until I can see myself.

VergerI am not dead...am I?

MediumDo you repent of what you have done?

VergerI did wrong to kill.

VergerBut I was driven to it by my temper, which could not stand humiliation.

VergerCall me another time.

MediumWhy do you want to go away?

VergerI would be too frightened if I saw him.

VergerI would fear that he would do as much to me.

MediumBut you have nothing to fear, since your soul is separated from your body. Put away this fear. It is unreasonable.

VergerA person cannot help his impressions.

VergerI do not know where I am.

VergerI am mad.

MediumTry to be calmer.

VergerI cannot, because I am mad.

VergerWait...I will try to recover my clarity.

MediumIf you prayed, it would help you get your self-control back.

VergerI am afraid...I do not dare to pray.

MediumPray. God's mercy is great. We will pray with you.

VergerYes, God's mercy is infinite.

VergerI always believed that.

MediumDo you now understand your condition more clearly?

VergerIt is so strange.

VergerI still cannot make it out.

MediumDo you see your victim?

VergerI seem to hear a voice like his saying, "I am not angry with you"...but that is only my imagination.

VergerI tell you, I am mad.

VergerI see my own body on one side and my head on the other, and yet I seem to be alive, in space, between the Earth and what you call the sky.

VergerI feel the cold of the knife falling on my neck, but that is the fear I have of dying.

VergerIt seems to me that I see many spirits around me looking at me with compassion.

VergerThey speak to me, but I do not understand them.

MediumAmong those spirits, is there one whose presence humiliates you because of your crime?

VergerThere is only one I am afraid of.

VergerIt is the one I struck.

MediumDo you remember your past lives?

VergerNo.

VergerI am in a vague state.

VergerI seem to be dreaming.

VergerAnother time...I must recover myself.

Three days later he was called again.

The medium's hand begins writing again...

MediumDo you understand your condition more clearly now?

VergerI know that I no longer belong to your world, and I am not sorry for it.

VergerI am sorry for what I did.

VergerBut my spirit is now freer.

VergerI see more clearly that there is a succession of lives that gives us the knowledge we need in order to become, at last, as perfect as created beings can be.

MediumAre you being punished for your crime?

VergerYes.

VergerI regret what I did, and I suffer for it.

MediumIn what way are you punished?

VergerI am punished by seeing the true nature of my act, and I beg God to forgive me.

VergerI am punished by the awareness of my lack of faith in God.

VergerI am punished because I now know that we must not cut short the life of our brothers.

VergerI am punished by remorse for having delayed my advancement by taking the wrong road and by not listening to my conscience, which told me that I would not reach my goal by killing.

VergerBut I let envy and jealousy master me.

VergerI was wrong, and I am sorry for it.

VergerA person must always do everything possible to master bad passions, and I did not do that.

MediumWhat do you feel when we call you?

VergerPleasure and fear, for I am not malicious.

MediumWhat do that pleasure and fear consist in?

VergerThe pleasure is in speaking with human beings, and in partly repairing my fault by confessing it.

VergerThe fear is something I cannot define...a sort of shame at having been a murderer.

MediumWould you like to return to Earth?

VergerYes, I beg to be allowed to do so.

VergerAnd I wish always to be exposed to the danger of being killed, and to be afraid of it.

Archbishop Sibour was also called. He said that he forgave his murderer and prayed for his return to the right path. He added that although he had been present, he had not shown himself to Verger, so as not to increase his suffering. Verger's fear of seeing him was itself a punishment.

Allan notes that this confused condition just after execution is common in violent deaths. The separation of soul and body is not always immediate, so the spirit may not know whether he is dead or alive.

He also points out that although Verger had remained unrepentant until death, repentance awakened in him almost at once after leaving Earth. Spiritism therefore rejects the idea of eternal condemnation and shows that conscience can awaken after death, sometimes very suddenly, though not in every case.