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The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser
Portsmouth, Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
In Prussian Silesia, a soldier accused of stealing silver hearts from a wonder-working Virgin Mary image claimed she gifted them out of pity. Catholic divines said such a miracle was possible, leading King Frederick to pardon him but forbid future divine gifts under penalty of death.
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A soldier in the garrison of a small town of Prussian Silesia, being suspected of making free with the offerings made by the pious Roman Catholics to a celebrated image of a wonder-working Virgin; he was watched, and upon his being searched, two silver hearts were found upon him. He was dragged before the magistrate, imprisoned, tried and doomed to death, as a sacrilegious robber.
In the course of his trial he constantly denied his having committed a theft, but that the Virgin herself, in pity to his poverty, had ordered him to take the above offerings. The sentence, with the prisoner's defence, was as usual, laid before the King.
His Majesty conversed with several of the Popish divines, asking them whether such a miracle was possible, according to the tenets of their religion. They unanimously answered, that the case was very extraordinary, but not absolutely impossible; upon which the King wrote in his own hand the following words: "The culprit cannot be put to death, because he positively denies the charge, and that the Divines of his religion declare, that the miracle wrought in his favour is not impossible: but we strictly forbid him, under pain of death, to receive any present from the Virgin Mary, or any Saint whatsoever. FREDERICK."
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Where did it happen?
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Prussian Silesia
Event Date
February 5
Key Persons
Outcome
soldier pardoned due to possible miracle but forbidden under pain of death from receiving future gifts from virgin mary or saints
Event Details
A soldier suspected of stealing silver hearts from a wonder-working Virgin image in a small Prussian Silesian town was tried and sentenced to death for sacrilege. He claimed the Virgin ordered him to take them in pity for his poverty. The King consulted Popish divines who deemed the miracle extraordinary but possible, leading to the pardon with a strict prohibition.