Ferdinand Bertin

Ferdinand Bertin died in the December 1863 shipwreck off the coast near Le Havre, after making heroic efforts to save the crew. Six days later, he came through spontaneously by means of a medium who had never known him and had never heard his name.

The medium’s hand begins writing...

Ferdinand BertinI'm in a horrible abyss.

Ferdinand BertinHelp me...

Ferdinand BertinOh my God, who will pull me out of this whirlpool?

Ferdinand BertinWho'll lend a hand to this miserable man being swallowed by the sea?

Ferdinand BertinThe night is so dark I'm full of terror.

Ferdinand BertinEverywhere I hear the roaring of the waves, and not one friendly voice comes to comfort me or help me in this terrible hour.

Ferdinand BertinThis dark night is death... death in all its horror... and I don't want to die.

Ferdinand BertinOh God, it's not death coming. It's death that's already happened.

Ferdinand BertinI'm separated forever from those I love.

Ferdinand BertinI see my body, and what I was feeling a moment ago was only the memory of the terrible agony of separation.

Ferdinand BertinHave pity on me, you who know my suffering.

Ferdinand BertinPray for me, because I don't want to keep feeling, as I have ever since that fatal night, the struggle of dying.

Ferdinand BertinBut that's my punishment. I know that already.

Ferdinand BertinPray for me, I beg you.

Ferdinand BertinOh, the sea... the cold... I'm being swallowed up.

Ferdinand BertinHelp, help.

Ferdinand BertinAh, take pity on me. Don't push me away.

Ferdinand BertinThere's room for both of us on this plank.

Ferdinand BertinOh, I'm choking.

Ferdinand BertinThe waves are covering me, and my loved ones won't even have the sad comfort of finding my body.

Ferdinand BertinBut no... I see now that my body is no longer being tossed by the waves.

Ferdinand BertinMy mother's prayers have been heard.

Ferdinand BertinMy poor mother.

Ferdinand BertinIf she could see how miserable her son is, she'd pray even harder.

Ferdinand BertinShe weeps for me as if I were a martyr, instead of the miserable, punished criminal I am.

Ferdinand BertinOh, you who know my misery, will you really stay without pity?

Ferdinand BertinNo, no... you will pray for me.

The medium later learned that Ferdinand Bertin really was one of the victims of the disaster. At the time of this first message, the spirit was still reliving the drowning and didn't clearly understand his own death.

Two months later he came through again by the same medium.

Ferdinand BertinThe pity you showed for my horrible suffering has brought me relief.

Ferdinand BertinI'm beginning to hope.

Ferdinand BertinI look forward to forgiveness, but only after the punishment for my crime.

Ferdinand BertinI still suffer.

Ferdinand BertinIf I'm allowed, for a few moments, to glimpse the end of my suffering, I owe that comfort only to the prayers of kind hearts who feel my misery.

Ferdinand BertinOh Hope, heavenly ray, how I bless you when you shine into my soul.

Ferdinand BertinBut then the abyss opens around me again.

Ferdinand BertinTerror and agony put out that brief gleam of pity.

Ferdinand BertinNight... always night.

Ferdinand BertinThe water and the waves that swallowed my body are only a faint image of the horror that surrounds my unhappy spirit.

Ferdinand BertinI'm calmer when I'm near you.

Ferdinand BertinJust as a terrible secret feels lighter when it's trusted to a friendly heart, your pity for my misery calms my pain and gives me rest.

Ferdinand BertinYour prayers do me good. Don't refuse them to me, I beg you.

Ferdinand BertinI don't want to fall back into that hideous dream that becomes real whenever I see it.

Ferdinand BertinHold the pencil more often. It does me so much good to speak through you.

A few days later, in Paris, he was questioned again through another medium and asked why this death had been an atonement.

MediumWhat led you to appear spontaneously to the first medium?

MediumHow long had you been dead when you first appeared?

MediumAt that time you seemed unsure whether you were dead or alive, and you were feeling all the anguish of a terrible death. Do you understand your situation more clearly now?

MediumYou have said that your death was an atonement. Tell us the cause. A sincere confession will help us learn, and it may also bring you relief.

Ferdinand BertinAt first it seems impossible that any creature could suffer this horribly.

Ferdinand BertinHow dreadful it is to keep seeing yourself in the middle of raging waves, to keep feeling that bitterness, that icy cold creeping over you and crushing your stomach like a vice.

Ferdinand BertinBut what's the use of always showing you the same horrible scene?

Ferdinand BertinShouldn't I begin by thanking you for the kind interest you take in my torments?

Ferdinand BertinYou ask me how long I had been dead when I first communicated.

Ferdinand BertinIt's hard for me to answer.

Ferdinand BertinRemember the horrible condition I was in, and still am in.

Ferdinand BertinBut I think I must have been led to the medium by a will greater than my own.

Ferdinand BertinAnd, what I can't understand, I used his arms as easily as I'm using yours now, convinced they were my own.

Ferdinand BertinRight now I feel great joy, a wonderful easing of my suffering, but this will soon end.

Ferdinand BertinI know I should make a confession.

Ferdinand BertinWill I have the strength to do it?

After much encouragement, he finally confessed.

Ferdinand BertinI have been very guilty.

Ferdinand BertinWhat pains me most is that people think of me as a martyr, because I'm nothing like that.

Ferdinand BertinIn a previous life, I had several victims sewn up in a sack and thrown into the sea.

Ferdinand BertinPray for me.

Saint Louis then explained that Ferdinand's recent life had been honorable and that his self-sacrifice had already become part of his reparation.

Mediums’ GuideThis confession will greatly relieve the spirit.

Mediums’ GuideYes, he was very guilty.

Mediums’ GuideBut the life he has just left was honorable.

Mediums’ GuideHe was liked and respected by those over him.

Mediums’ GuideThis change was the fruit of repentance and of the good resolutions he formed before returning to Earth, where he had decided to be as humane as he had once been cruel.

Mediums’ GuideThe devotion that cost him his life was a reparation.

Mediums’ GuideBut he still needed one final atonement, the terrible death he had just endured, because it matched the suffering he had once made others endure.

Mediums’ GuideAs you can see, what he regrets most is to be mistaken for a martyr.

Mediums’ GuideYou may be sure he'll be rewarded for this humility.

Mediums’ GuideHe is now leaving the path of atonement and entering the path of restoration.

Mediums’ GuideYour prayers can support him and help him walk that road with a steadier step.