Lizzie M. Gannon was an American alleged teenage mystic and stigmatic from Boston, Massachusetts. She claimed to see visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, saints, and her dead brother.[1][2][3][lower-alpha 1]
"Angels" lawsuit
In 1881, Gannon's parents sued Fr. John H. Fleming and Archbishop John Joseph Williams for $5,000 in Suffolk Superior Court.[4][2][5][lower-alpha 2] Three years prior, Gannon began going into trances, during which she could not speak[1] unless Fleming or a few others placed their hands on her.[4][2][3][6] When she came out of them, she claimed to have received revelations from the Virgin Mary and to have seen saints[3] and the faces of those who died.[1]
Her family sent for Fleming, their parish priest, in the fall of 1878.[1][6] Fleming would often attend to the girl, often in the company of another priest, and the visits seemed to help her.[1] In one of her revelations, Gannon said that the Virgin Mary had a message for Fleming, that he was to write a book that told Gannon's story and of all of her visions.[2] Fleming declined to write the book.[2]
In the fall of 1879, Fleming visited the girl, who was entranced and holding in her hands two or three images or dolls of angels. They were about .75 inches long[3] and appeared to be cut from heavy paper.[1] Gannon said the images had been given to her by her dead brother.[4][lower-alpha 3] Her brother, to whom she had been quite attached, had died two years prior.[4] She also claimed to have received several other items from angels or spirits, including a letter written by the Virgin Mary.[2][lower-alpha 4] Fleming persuaded the girl to give the images to him.[1][6]
During his visits, Fleming called in doctors and others to see if they could help the girl and she was diagnosed with hysteria[2][4][6] by Dr. Hodges.[3] A Dr. Porter suggested Gannon be sent to a hospital.[3][6] Over time Fleming came to believe the girl was faking, and so stopped visiting around Christmas in 1880.[1][4][3][6] Gannon's father tried to persuade Fleming to continuing visiting the girl.[1] When he was unsuccessful in that, almost a year after she had given up the dolls,[2][5] he asked for their return.[1][4][6] Fleming told her father that he lost them.[1][6] Gannon's father then appealed to Archbishop John Joseph Williams but the bishop sided with the priest.[1][4]
When the suit was brought in the summer of 1881, the girl reportedly had hardly spoken for a year.[1] She was bedridden and could not see or speak, according to her lawyers.[3] Others testified that they had seen her doing work around the home, out shopping with her mother in the neighborhood, and even speaking.[5] Her parents contended that her condition was brought about by the loss of the images.[1][3][4] Others contended that the suit was brought when Fleming refused to help the girl and her family seek publicity.[2] Before the case went to trial, Gannon's father published a book about his daughter.[3]
The jury found for Gannon and awarded damages of $0.01.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Gannon lived at 141 Hudson Street in Boston.[2]
- ↑ Both clerics were represented by William Gaston, the former governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.[4]
- ↑ Early reporting on the matter said the girl claimed the Virgin Mary gave her the images.[1]
- ↑ Gannon was also said to have given away the letter.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "A psychic case in court". The Boston Globe. July 16, 1881. p. 1. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "The Gannon Miracles". The Boston Globe. February 5, 1882. p. 10. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "I want my angels". The Boston Globe. April 3, 1883. p. 4. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Lizzie Gannons Angels". New York Times. Vol. XXXII, no. 9852. April 4, 1883. p. 1. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- 1 2 3 "Lizzie's Paper Angels". The Boston Globe. April 9, 1883. p. 1. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Lizzie's Paper Angels". The Boston Globe. April 10, 1883. p. 6. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ↑ The Nation (929 ed.). J.H. Richards. April 19, 1883. p. 332. Retrieved 29 September 2019.