“Madeleine caused them to hold two swords in the air horizontally.  She herself placed the point of one in the inner corner of the right eye, and of the other in the inner corner of the left, and then called out to those who held the swords, ‘In the name of the Father, push!’ They did so with all their force; and I confess that I shuddered from head to foot....  A second time Madeleine caused them to set two swords against the pupils of her eyes, and to press them strongly, as before.  This time I took especial notice of the part of the sword that was on a level with the surface of the eye when the pressure was the strongest, and I perceived that the point had penetrated a good inch into the pupil."[38]

The Chaplain in Ordinary of the King, under date of the fourth of October, 1744, testifies to confirmatory facts.  He says,—­“I have seen them push sword-points against the eyes of Sisters Madeleine and Felicite, sometimes on the pupil, sometimes in the corner of the eye, sometimes on the eyelid,—­with such force as to cause the eyeball to project, till the spectators shuddered."[39]

Another officer of the royal household gives a certificate of succors administered to this same Madeleine, of a character scarcely less wonderful, with pointed spits, of which two were broken against her body.

This officer certifies, also, that, on one occasion, when pushing a sharp sword against Madeleine, not being able to push strongly enough to satisfy her, he placed a book bound in parchment on his own breast, placed the hilt of his sword against it, and pressed with so much force that the cover of the book was quite spoiled by the deep indentation made by the sword-hilt.  He adds,—­“The instinct of her convulsion caused her sometimes to demand as many as twenty-two swords at a time.  These were placed, some in front, some against her back, some against her sides, in every direction.  I myself never saw quite so many employed; but I was present, and was myself assisting, when eighteen swords were pushed at once against various parts of her body.  Although the force with which this prodigious succor was administered caused deep indentations in the flesh, she never received the slightest wound.  It often happened that her convulsions caused the flesh to react under the pressure of the sword-points, so as forcibly to push back the assistants."[40]

The Advocate of the Parliament of Paris, already mentioned, certifies to the same phenomenon.  His words are,—­“One can feel, under the sword-point, a movement of the flesh, which, from time to time, thrusts back the sword.  This occurs the most strongly when the succor is nearly at an end.  The convulsionist calls out, ‘Enough!’ as soon as the pains are relieved."[41]

The same Advocate states, that sometimes the convulsionist threw the weight of her body on the swords, the hilts resting on the floor, and being secured from slipping.  He speaks of one case in which, “while she was balancing herself on the points of several swords upon which she had thrown herself with all her weight, [ou elle se jettoit a corps perdu,] one of them broke."[42]