Literary Views & Reviews The Enigma Of Cagliostro

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31724, 6 July 1968, Page 4

Literary Views & Reviews The Enigma Of Cagliostro

Cagliostro. By Francois Ribadean Dumas. Allen and Unwin. 307 pp. Mirabeau once posed the question, “Cagliostro—scoun-

drel or saint?" and in this biography, Mr Dumas has tried his bast to approach the truth. Cagliostro's early life is shrouded in mystery, and although it is thought that he almost certainly was the impoverished pen and ink artist, Guiseppe Balsamo, Cagliostro denied it In 1776, Count Cagliostro (by which name he became known) was living in London with his exquisitely beautiful wife Serafina. during an age when the great minds of Europe were in ferment. He was

then a Rosicrucian alchemist practising the principle of the regenerating fire which was so necessary to the Philosopher's Stone, and he was said to possess the powder from this stone which permitted transmutation into gold and produced the elixir of eternal life.

A certain haughty expression and subtle elegance made Cagliostro stand out and his language was impressive and often incomprehensible as he would throw in a bit of Arabic to astound people. His natural inclination was to

play the esoteric man of mystery and this was coupled with an intense desire to be reborn. He was admitted in Masonry in 1777 and set off on the path to moral and physical perfection by rediscovering God in the secrets of nature. Several predictions he made came true but his real desire was to devote more time to healing the sick, in which field he had remarkable success.

Realising that the whole man must be cured, Cagliostro concentrated on restoring confidence in his patients and strengthened their will to Lodge teaching. Cagliostro said it was the first duty of every man to help his neighbour. so he refused to take money—helping rich and poor alike. As a result, doctors hated him, inevitable malicious intrigues surrounded his private life, and he made some dangerous enemies, one of whom was Catherine the Great

Travelling widely in England and Europe, Cagliostro was making his own synthesis of the popular philosophies of the day such as physiognomy and mesmerism and was in addition combining ancient Egyptian rites with biblical mysticism. Around 1780, people were talking abov' the Egyptian origin of Freemasonry and the Egyptian belief that stars rule the destinies of men. Cagliostro set up a Lodge at Lyons and began his experiments with the laying on of hands using a child-medium

whom he called “Dove” because of her purity and innocence. The child had to gaze on a carafe filled with clear water and then call on the prophets in the name of God. Healing and divination were said to have resulted. A more bizarre regeneration ceremony was sometimes enacted to capture eternal youth. This was extremely complicated, and as the author suggests smacked of Faust.

In 1785, with his work in Lyons apparently unfinished, Cagliostro went to Paris to the General Convention of Universal Masonry. Mesmer, the partisan of animal magnetism, advocated a scientific rite, whereas Cagliostro worked through spiritualistic incantations. This union of science-magic-religion was tile strength of a 'widespread movement of which Cagliostro was the foremost leader. People flocked to him with their physical and psychological problems. Cagliostro’s two greatest wishes now were to obtain tiie approval of the Chinch, and to see his rite recognised by world-wide Masonry. To this must be added a more personal ambition—to be admitted to the Court of Versailles. (He was in royal favour because he had twice correctly predicted that Queen Marie - Antoinette would have a son, but this state of grace was shortlived.) On a trumped-up

charge Cagliostro was imprisoned in the Bastille for almost a year, not knowing that his beloved Serafina was also imprisoned on the fourth floor.

Exonerated and acquitted, Cagliostro emerged with magnified stature. However scandal had besmirched the Royal family and a spirit of vengeance would spread, with brutality. Speaking out boldly about the disgrace of the Bastille and the dishonesty of the Government, Cagliostro was accused of hastening the Revolution and he was banished from France. Expelled from England, scorned and pursued everywhere, Cagliostro made for Italy. But the Pope was annoyed because seven hundred spiritualistic Lodges were functioning in France to the detriment of regular attendance in the churches. In Rome, pressure was brought to bear on Serafina, who, fearing ex-communica-tion, promised to renounce Masonry. Fantastic anecdotes of black magic and vulgar accusations against Cagliostro circulated. In his defence he said his aim was to spread a belief in God and the immortality of the soul. He called himself a Roman Catholic and longed for the Pope’s blessings, but because he had declared all religions worthy of respect he was denounced as a heretic.

Hurt by the Pope’s rejection and Serafina's disloyalty, Cagliostro broke down under merciless interrogation and signed a "confession." Immediately he realised that he had been tricked into admitting fault against the Church and had signed his own death warrant Pontifical sentence of life Imprisonment was pronounced on his liberalism and heresy “which would lead to destruction of the Christian religion.” Consciences all over Europe were troubled. Cagliostro behaved as though he had nothing with which to reproach himself, and not one word at testimony was brought forward to support the terrifying list of crimes allotted to him. In prison he was tortured and strangled at the age of fifty-two. This book, which reflects the thinking of the great minds of the eighteenth century, presents us with a portrait of an extraordinarily gifted man with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Cagliostro’s search was for the inner meaning of occultism—to discover the transcendent lying behind the tangible reality, the ceaseless search for a way to control the forces acting upon mankind, believing always in physical and moral happiness. The author has had access to many interesting letters and documents, and photographs add authenticity to tiie biography of a man whose whole life was an enigma. As to the question of whether he was a charlatan readers will draw their own conclusions after reading the book.