Healing has been in demand at all times. Especially when it came to healing a large number of people. The 19th century healer Francis Schlatter, according to the most conservative estimates, healed 100,000 people in three years.
From his touch, the blind received their sight, and the paralyzed rose to their feet. Even cancer and tuberculosis gave way to the miraculous gift of a healer.
Escape to the desert
Schlatter was born on April 29, 1856 in the disputed territory - in the Alsatian village of Ebersheim. The province of Alsace, inhabited by Germans, has changed hands more than once. At the time of Francis's birth, the village belonged to France.
At the age of 14, Francis dropped out of school and got a job as an apprentice to a shoemaker. When his parents died, the future healer left for America. And he made the right decision: the craft was in demand. He earned $ 60 a month - a good amount for those days (a cowboy watching a huge herd received $ 40).
Francis was very strong and more than once surprised his acquaintances by twisting his horseshoes. He dispelled his melancholy at sea, hiring a fireman on a fishing boat. Schlatter read only the Bible, finding in it consolation and advice for all occasions. The girls of Jamesport looked at the handsome strong shoemaker, but he did not reciprocate to anyone.
When Schlatter was 37 years old, a voice sounded in his head. The shoemaker never for a moment doubted that God had answered his prayers. The voice ordered him to train for two hours daily, lifting weights, and walk at least 10 miles.
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In July 1893, Schlatter sold the workshop, distributed money to the poor, and left Jamessport for good. Francis walked around the big cities. When the boots fell apart, he continued on his way barefoot. Passers-by were respectful of the fanatic who did not part with the Bible.
Once a patient came to him, asking for help. Schlatter read a prayer and laid hands on him, sincerely believing that God would help the unfortunate. He didn't expect the effect to be instantaneous. The patient shuddered, as if from an electric shock, and threw himself on his knees, thanks for the healing.
Odyssey of the healer
Francis continued to move south, trying his hand on the way. He did not take money from the healed, repeating:
- What are they to me? Wouldn't the heavenly Father give me the blessings of the earth if they were really needed? The only wealth is faith.
The former shoemaker was convinced that his gift works even on animals. One day, Francis came across two cowboys who drove the horses to a pulp. Schlatter, without saying anything to the owners, laid hands on the animals. After half an hour, the wounds from the saddles healed, and in the evening only a shorter coat reminded of sneezes.
The shocked cowboys decided to go after the "saint." The chain of his footprints went up the mountain and soon reached the snow line. Schlatter could easily walk barefoot in the snow and sleep in a snow hole without making a fire. After walking a little more, the cowboys returned. The healer's footprints led to the pass, which at this time of year was considered impregnable.
The crossing of the mountains was not in vain for the iron health of Francis. For several days he lay in the wigwam with the Indians.
Having recovered, Schlatter responded to help, curing all the sick in the camp. The Indians asked Francis to take a wife and become the new shaman of the tribe, but he continued his journey.
In Hot Springs, Arkansas, Schlatter was arrested for vagrancy and imprisoned. It was pure chaos - the healer was not brought to trial and was not formally convicted. The prisoner's piety and exemplary behavior attracted the attention of the sheriff. He began to entrust him with work behind the fence, and then brought him home as a free worker.
Five and a half months after his arrest, Schlatter heard a voice in his head:
- Now go away!
The healer calmly walked out of the sheriff's house and left Hot Springs unnoticed. Fearing chase, he went into the mountains and stopped to rest only at the top of the ridge. When the state border was left behind, Francis was again able to go out to the people and bring healing to the suffering.
In 1895, Schlatter's name first hit the pages of newspapers. He did what was considered impossible before him - he crossed the Mojave Desert on foot and came to Albuquerque, New Mexico. To further complicate the task, Francis carried a heavy copper staff weighing over 20 kilograms.
Forty days fast
Having settled in Albuquerque, Schlatter once again amazed the journalists. He announced that he was starting a 40-day fast on one water. Fasting did not prevent him from healing everyone who came for help. In his spare time, Francis prayed.
The more terrible the healer's face with sunken eyes became, the larger the crowd grew near the house where he was staying. Schlatter began to be called a prophet, a new messiah, although he did not intend to preach or create a new religion.
To mark the end of the fast, Schlatter cooked fried chicken, steak and eggs, washed down with a bottle of wine. They tried to stop him, saying that such a feast after a long hunger strike could be fatal.
“Don't be afraid,” he replied. - Have faith. Our heavenly father supported me for 40 days, and will not leave now.
In the summer of 1895, Denver City Councilor Edward Fox came to town. He suffered from constant hearing loss and could barely walk due to a bad kidney. Fox made his way to Schlatter through the crowd that surrounded him.
“Seeing the healer, I felt that I would recover, and my hope came true,” Edward recalled. “After spending a week in Albuquerque, I was convinced that I hadn’t heard half the truth about Schlatter's power. I invited him to live in Denver.
After settling at Fox's, the healer began to receive two thousand people a day. Without shoes or warm clothes, he stood on the street for six hours every day, healing the sick and not accepting any money. To avoid a crush, Edward ordered to put together a platform on the street, allowing you to approach Schlatter strictly in turn.
The people he treated felt something like an electric current of moderate strength, and one of the healer's hand seemed hot to them, and the other cold. Towards the end of the day, Schlatter went around the carts, healing those who could not stand in line.
Russian visit
The American correspondent for the Moskovskie vedomosti newspaper suffered from severe rheumatism. Hearing about the miracles performed by Schlatter, he decided to personally go to Denver and test his strength.
“I was caught in a line of pedestrians, horsemen and carriages heading for Fox's cottage,” said a journalist who chose to remain anonymous. - I walked, looking from a distance at a tall man with a small beard and long hair that fell over his shoulders.
The healer's face was handsome, the look was calm and deep; the whole figure breathed a meek, imperturbable calm, which was not disturbed either by exclamations of amazement at the relief of the sufferers who touched him, nor by their grateful and joyful cries and hubbub when they, yielding places to others, departed, enthusiastically, often with tears, passing each other their Feel.
His head was uncovered and his legs were uncovered. Holding the baby in his arms, the healer turned his eyes to the sky, whispering the words of a prayer. The infant, incessantly screaming, was now silent, falling asleep, and a blush that had not been shown for a long time was spreading over his face.
My turn came too … I approached with a beating heart, not saying anything, but silently praying, trying to concentrate all my thoughts on prayer and on the firm conviction that God's help will be shown to me through this chosen person. And what! Not even a minute had passed when I felt an extraordinary heat in the aching limbs, in the arm and leg, which often made me endure severe torment.
I can’t compare this sensation with anything, as with the feeling of vital forces being poured through all the veins … For a minute I still had no strength at all in my right hand; now I responded to Schlatter's grip harder than he squeezed my fingers. He said, "I hope the pain won't bother you anymore." And for sure: since then rheumatic sufferings have left me.
Disappearance of the healer
On November 13, 1895, Schlatter did not show up for breakfast. Edward went upstairs and saw a note on the bed: “Mr. Fox, my mission is complete. The heavenly Father is calling me. Farewell . A white horse disappeared from the stable - the only gift he agreed to accept from the townspeople.
When it became clear that Schlatter would not return, panic seized the crowd outside Fox's house. People were crying and pushing, trying to touch the platform where the healer walked, breaking chips off him as a keepsake.
Schlatter was last seen alive at Miss Agnes Morley's ranch near Datila, New Mexico. The workers called the hostess, saying that some guy had come with a white horse on a lead. The traveler was invited to warm up, but he replied that he would not enter the house without the permission of the owners. Morley recognized Schlatter at once. He said:
“The heavenly Father has brought me to safe harbor. I must pray and recuperate.
Francis lived at Morley's home for three months. When rumors about the famous healer began to gather crowds of curious people, Schlatter decided to leave for Mexico. Agnes walked part of the way with him. The healer said that the woman would soon find out about his death, but nevertheless he promised to return.
The following year, the skeleton of a man was discovered in the Sierra Madre mountains. His death was not violent. The deceased was lying on his back with his arms crossed over his chest. A weather-tattered Bible lay under the skull. On the cover, the cowboys read the host's name: Francis Schlatter. A heavy copper staff lay nearby.
Agnes waited all her life for the return of the miracle worker, but his last promise remained unfulfilled.
Mikhail GERSHTEIN, magazine "Secrets of the XX century" 2016