Political mobilizations of ecstatic experiences in late nineteenth-century Catholic France: the case of Doctor Antoine Imbert-Gourbeyre and his “Stigmatisées” (1868-73)

This article explores how intransigent Catholics used ecstatic experiences, in particular ecstatic prophetism, in late nineteenth-century France. The main protagonist of the events related here is Antoine Imbert-Gourbeyre, physician, intransigent Catholic and monarchical legitimist. From the 1870s, he started a widespread public campaign to scientifically defend the supernatural against anticlerical and rationalist criticism. In the precarious situation following the proclamation of the French Third Republic and the Paris Commune, Imbert’s struggle for the supernatural merged with Catholic legitimists’ hopes for Bourbon monarchical restoration and for a general socio-political regeneration culminating in the return to a medieval societas christiana. In this context, pro-monarchist political prophecies revealed by some ecstatic and stigmatic women were exploited to foster popular mass mobilization. Imbert worked actively to encourage, broadcast and scientifically legitimize these prophecies, instrumentalizing ecstatic experiences and subordinating their spiritual dimension to political purposes.