In 1824, Joseph-Antoine Boullan was born, born in the peaceful village of Saint-Porquier, located in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne. The details of his childhood remain rather discreet, with the exception of his early commitment to the path of spirituality. Having brilliantly completed his academic career at the Montauban seminary, this young man was then sent to Rome to pursue doctoral studies in theology.
In this place, he will join the Congregation of the Precious Blood, engaging in acts of bloody self-flagellation with the aim of “doing penance for the people”. After his return to France, Joseph-Antoine Boullan established his residence at the Trois-Épis convent in Alsace. Attracted by mystical studies and neo-spiritualism, the young man developed a keen interest in supernatural phenomena.
In 1853, he began translating The Divine Life of the Holy Virgin, an activity that he frequently reproduced by publishing other pious works once established in Paris. Until now, few elements oppose the image of this priest who seems devoted to “suffering for others”. However, the perverse nature of his practices was revealed when he founded the religious congregation of the Work of Reparation.
Exorcism ritual and use of hosts impregnated with blood.
Frequently asked to perform exorcisms on nuns facing psychological problems, Father Boullan established a link with Adèle Chevalier, a formerly blind nun who miraculously regained her sight after her visit to the Alpine sanctuary of La Salette. Together, in 1859, they founded the Œuvre de la Réparation in Sèvres, secretly maintaining an affair.
Although temporarily authorized by the Bishop of Versailles, the congregation quickly attracted attention. In order to "exorcise evil", Joseph-Antoine Boullan and Adèle Chevalier engage in scandalous practices with the nuns. Testimonies reported that the priest spit in the nuns' mouths, made them drink his urine sometimes mixed with that of Sister Adèle , and smeared them with poultices made from fecal matter, allegedly in order to treat them.
The priest orchestrated rituals of love and glory, involving naked bodily contact in groups. In addition, he distributed "bloody wafers" which oozing blood. He officiates following special rites where Adèle Chevalier offers her naked body at the altar, the black mass is near.
Allegations of fraudulent practices.
Beyond these activities considered Satanist, Adèle Chevalier and Joseph-Antoine Boullan face accusations of fraud. The couple received money from those seeking to obtain the favors of the Blessed Virgin. Following these revelations, they were both sentenced to three years in prison.
More sinisterly, a rumor is circulating suggesting that Father Boullan orchestrated the disappearance of the child resulting from his clandestine affair with Adèle Chevalier. Boullan is suspected of having religiously sacrificed the newborn in a ritual where magic, sex and Catholic rites are mixed, but no proof has been provided. Father Boullan's heretical activities resulted in his expulsion from the Church in 1875, also marking the end of the Annals of Holiness, a pious publication of which he was editor.
Successor of Vintras
Once his sentence is completed, Boullan resumes his exorcism activities, however arousing the irritation of his superiors. The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Guibert, took drastic measures by prohibiting him from practicing. Dissatisfied with this decision, Boullan went to the Vatican to plead his case and vigorously contested this sanction. Unfortunately, the Holy Father does not grant him his favor either. Boullan is thus unceremoniously expelled, definitively dismissed. It was at this time, in 1876, that he moved to Lyon to join the sect of the mystical prophet Eugène Vintras, subsequently proclaiming himself his sole successor after the latter's death.
Eugene Vintras
Father Boullan persevered in his faith by establishing the Carmel of Elie. Simultaneously, he continued his work of “healing the possessed” in collaboration with Madame Thibault, a clairvoyant with whom he shared his residence in a building located rue de la Martinière.
Constantly dressed in his long vermilion cashmere robe, adjusted at the waist by a blue one, and displaying his coat "cut on the chest in the shape of a cross, head down", the fallen abbot captivates his admirers as much as he disgusts his detractors. In the lodge where he resides on rue de la Martinière, they bring him the “knotted children” whom he claims to cure with the help of precious stones. Likewise, women afflicted with genital disorders have consecrated hosts applied to them, as demonstrated by the writer Joris-Karl Huysmans in his novel “Là-bas”.
However, its many adversaries, infiltrated within the sect, report many other aspects: the black ceremonies, the use of the blood of white mice fed on consecrated hosts to eliminate the "spells of hatred", as well as its doctrine where the sexual act occupies a preponderant place. In order to atone for their sins, the abbot advises his followers to have intimate relations with their "religious superior" - in this case, himself. In addition, there is a rumor that he had the cross of Christ tattooed under his foot in order to “walk on the savior”. Although these facts have never been proven, the abbot, described as a "sorcerer and instigator of a filthy sect", will be tried for Satanism before an initiatory tribunal and condemned by the Church, leading to the dissolution of his sect.
The abbot, however, presents himself as a victim, convinced that other occultists, including Stanislas de Guaita, are seeking to curse him. His friends Jules Bois and Huysmans also share this conviction. “He showed me his leg penetrated to the bone by satanic effluvia, and the bullets from the fluidic pistols had hollowed out his ascetic chest even further,” testifies the first.
The day before his death, Boullan wrote to Huysmans. "This night, a terrible accident took place. I woke up suffocated and screamed: I'm suffocating." He describes being "between life and death" for thirty minutes, considering this a sign that his enemies wish him harm. His death, noted on January 4, 1893, generated incredible media coverage, fueled on one side by the incessant accusations of his many detractors, and on the other by his rare friends seeking to rehabilitate him.
"L'Abbé Boullan : Un Prêtre Déchu et ses Activités", Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. 19, 1973, pp. 245-267.
Jean-Paul Delahaye, Joseph-Antoine Boullan et la Réparation : Une Étude Critique — Éditions Verdier, 1984.
Marc L. Foucault, Les Sectes et l'Église au XIXe Siècle : Le Cas de l'Œuvre de la Réparation — Presses Universitaires de France, 1990.
Joris-Karl Huysmans, Là-bas — Éditions Gallimard, 1891. (Référence pour les descriptions des pratiques de Boullan et des événements associés.)
"Les Pratiques Hérétiques de l'Abbé Boullan", Bulletin de l'Institut d'Histoire Religieuse, vol. 12, 1987, pp. 92-110.
Robert Dubois, Les Mystères de l'Œuvre de la Réparation : Boullan et ses Suivants — Éditions du Cerf, 1995.
Jean-Pierre Boudet, Les Épreuves du Sacré : Joseph-Antoine Boullan et ses Controverses — Éditions Beauchesne, 2003.
