[106] Compare Andrea’s first examination, July 20 (Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 8-13), and his second, Aug. 10 (pp. 56-7), with his defiant assertion of his belief, Aug. 13 (pp. 68-72). So, Maifreda’s first interrogatory, July 31 (pp. 23-6), with her confession, Aug. 6, and revelation of the names of her worshippers (pp. 33-5). Also, Giacobba dei Bassani’s denial, Aug. 3, and confession, Aug. 11 (p. 39). It is the same with those not relapsed. See Suor Agnese dei Montanari’s flat denial, Aug. 3, and her confession, Aug. 11 (pp. 37-8).
[107] Ogniben, pp. 19-20, 77, 91.
[108] Ogniben, pp. 42-4, 63, 67-8, 81-2, 91-2, 95-6, 97, 100, 110, 113, 115-16.
[109] Spiritual eccentricities, such as those of the Guglielmites, are not to be regarded as peculiar to any age or any condition of civilization. The story of Joanna Southcote is well known, and the Southcottian Church maintained its existence in London until the middle of the present century. In July, 1886, the American journals reported the discovery, in Cincinnati, of a sect even more closely approximating to the Guglielmites, and about as numerous, calling themselves Perfectionists, and believing in two married sisters—a Mrs. Martin as an incarnation of God, and a Mrs. Brooke as that of Christ. Like their predecessors in Milan the sect is by no means confined to the illiterate, but comprises people of intelligence and culture who have abandoned all worldly occupation in the expectation of the approaching Millennium—the final era of the Everlasting Gospel. The exposure for a time broke up the sect, of which some members departed, while others, with the two sisters, joined a Methodist church. Their faith was not shaken, however, and in June, 1887, the church expelled them after an investigation. One of the charges against them was that they held the Church of the present day to be Babylon and the abomination of the earth. England has also recently had a similar experience in a peasant woman of not particularly moral life who for some fifteen years, until her death, September 18, 1886, was regarded by her followers as a new incarnation of Christ. Her own definition of herself was, “I am the second appearing and incarnation of Jesus, the Christ of God, the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, the God-Mother and Saviour, Life from Heaven,” etc., etc. She signed herself “Jesus, First and Last, Mary Ann Girling.” At one time her sect numbered a hundred and seventy-five members, some of them rich enough to make it considerable donations, but under the petty persecution of the populace it dwindled latterly to a few, and finally dispersed. Aberrations of this nature belong to no special stage of intellectual development. The only advance made in modern times is in the method of dealing with them.
| “O glorioso stare In nihil quietato! Lo’ intelletto posato E l’affetto dormire! | Annichilarsi bene Non è potere humano Anzi è virtù divina!” (Comba, La Riforma in Italia, I. 310.) |
[111] Salimbene, pp. 112-13.
[112] Salimbene, pp. 114-16.
[113] Concil. Lugdun. ann. 1274 c. 23.—Salimbene, pp. 117, 119, 329-30.—Concil. Herbipolens. ann. 1287 (Harduin. VII. 1141).—Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. p. 360.
[114] Salimbene, pp. 114-16.