This folk healer became famous for the fact that in a relatively short time (in just three years) he cured more than one hundred thousand people. From the touch of his hands, the paralyzed got up, the blind received their sight, cancer and tuberculosis disappeared without a trace in the hopelessly sick … The only thing that Francis Schlatter did not do was raise from the dead.
Healer from God
Schlatter was born in 1856 in France. At the age of fourteen, for some unknown reason, he drops out of school and goes to work as an apprentice for a shoemaker. Later, when his parents die, he leaves for America. Here his craft turned out to be quite in demand, since it allowed Francis to earn from sixty to eighty dollars a month (for example, a cowboy guarding a huge herd of animals received no more than forty dollars).
The shoemaker's appearance and behavior were unusual. Schlatter was distinguished by his tall stature and remarkable strength - he could easily break horseshoes. The girls of Jamesport, where he settled, with might and main looked at the handsome craftsman, but he himself did not show any interest in them. He read only the Bible, and when he found moments of despondency, he dispelled the melancholy at sea, temporarily hiring a fireman on fishing vessels.
It would seem that the life of a shoemaker was monotonous, and in the absence of family happiness, it was completely gray. Someone else might have tried to brighten it up with alcohol or drugs, but Francis was not fond of either one or the other, he did not even smoke. And so, when he was thirty-seven years old, Schlatter suddenly heard the voice of God in his head, who ordered him to train his body for at least two hours a day and walk at least ten miles a day.
To everyone's surprise, the shoemaker sells his workshop for a pittance, distributes the money he earns to the poor, and hastily leaves Jamessport. He goes on foot aimlessly, avoiding, however, entering the big cities. When his boots fell apart, Francis continued on his way barefoot. Passers-by mistook him for a devout fanatic, since the man did not part with the Bible, and treated him with respect.
Once a very sick, actually dying man turned to Schlatter and asked to help him, because he considered Francis a saint. He did not dissuade the unfortunate man, but simply read a prayer over him. The effect was instantaneous: the patient shuddered sharply, as if from an electric shock, and then fell on his knees in front of Schlatter, thanks to him for saving him.
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Odyssey of a unique healer
So Francis Schlatter became a healer, and word of his abilities literally ran on his heels. Moving south, the former artisan willingly and completely free of charge healed all those in need: people recovered from one touch of his hands.
The same force worked on animals. There was a case when Francis came across cowboys who drove their horses half to death. Without saying anything, he simply stroked the dying animals - and after a few minutes all the wounds on their bodies disappeared, and after half an hour the horses were healthy. Shocked by such a miracle, the cowboys followed the saint, but soon saw that the chain of his footprints went into the mountains, to the impregnable pass: Schlatter calmly walked barefoot in the snow, not feeling cold, and could even sleep in a snow hole. The cowboys returned, realizing that they could not afford this road …
The wandering healer was in danger not only in large, but also in small towns. So, in Hot Springs, he was arrested for vagrancy and thrown into jail without any trial or investigation. However, here, too, the piety and true holiness of this man forced to draw the attention of the sheriff himself, who made Francis a worker in his house. However, about six months later, Schlatter again hears God's voice, which orders him to leave. And he, obeying, sets off again through the mountain pass to avoid the pursuit. Francis goes out to people only when he is in another state.
The amazing abilities of the healer
… When Schlatter walked through the Mojave Desert (barefoot and with a copper staff of twenty kilograms of weight, with which he never parted), journalists noticed him. It was 1895.
After settling in Albuquerque, Francis arranges a strict forty-day fast, while continuing to heal the sick. And there are more and more of them: the rumor about the healer-wizard spreads further and further - and now people are going to Albuquerque from all over the world. The most amazing thing is that at the end of the fast, the healer prepared himself a steak, fried chicken, boiled eggs and did not forget a bottle of wine. Experts began to warn the doctor that it was very dangerous to get out of starvation in this way, but he just laughed. God kept me during the fast, Francis answered, and will keep me now. Indeed, this banquet in honor of the end of the hunger strike did not harm him in any way.
In 1895, Schlatter was already receiving two thousand patients a day. During this time, he lives in the home of Denver City Councilor Edward Fox, whom he has healed of deafness and kidney disease. Subsequently, Fox wrote that for convenience (so that there was no crush among the sick), he ordered to put together a special platform, so that people could approach Schlatter only one at a time.
The doctor himself spent six to eight hours on the street without warm clothes and shoes, taking patients. He just had to touch them and pray to himself - people left the platform already healthy, sighted, throwing out crutches … At the end of the day, Schlatter walked around the carts with seriously ill patients who could not stand in line, and they also got to their feet …
Visit to the Russian healer
The correspondent of the newspaper "Moskovskie vedomosti", suffering from severe rheumatism, also heard about the wonderful American doctor and went to the USA. The journalist, who tried to remain anonymous, described Schlatter well.
He was a tall man with long hair and a relatively small beard. His face is beautiful and graceful, his gaze is deep and calm, like the whole figure, from which some kind of strong energy and divine light emanated. He was undressed, not wearing shoes, and obviously he was praying to himself all the time. As soon as he took a frantically screaming baby in his hands, he immediately calmed down, dozed off, and a blush appeared on his pale cheeks.
When my turn came, the reporter continued, I was very worried and also prayed passionately. The healer touched me - and I felt an extraordinary heat in my whole body. In less than a minute, my sore arm and leg were filled with the same strength. Since then, I have forgotten about my illness forever.
The healer suddenly disappears
It happened on November 13, 1895. Francis did not show up for breakfast that morning; a little later, Fox found a note where the healer reported that God had called him to him. A white horse disappeared from the stable - the only gift the doctor accepted from a grateful patient. Apparently, he felt that the horse would be useful to him.
People who came to the healer wept and sobbed in the street - they came too late. Some of them tried to touch at least the platform on which the miracle worker worked, broke off chips from him …
The last person to see Schlatter was Miss Agnes Morley, on whose ranch a wanderer on a white horse came to warm up. Morley immediately realized who it was, and invited Francis to use her house as her own. He lived on the ranch for three months, after which he went to Mexico. A year later, the skeleton of a large man was discovered in the Sierra Madre mountains, next to which lay a copper staff known to many. Schlatter lay on his back, his arms crossed.
Agnes Morley had been waiting for Schlatter for a long time, as he promised to return to her. However, the great healer never appeared on her ranch, as, indeed, in any other place on our planet …