Nizier Anthelme Philippe


Anthelme Nizier Philippe was a reputed healer and miracle worker.

Family background

Philippe was born the son of peasants. He was also known as "Maître Philippe" or "Maître Philippe de Lyon". His mother was Marie Vachod and his father was Joseph Philippe. From the age of fourteen he stayed with his uncle Vachod, a Butcher in Lyon. He gained a reputation as a healer by the age of thirteen.
He married Jeanne Julie Landar on 6 October 1877 in L'Arbresle. He had a daughter, Jeanne Marie Victoire born on 11 November 1878. She died on 29 August 1904 aged 25, just before her seventh wedding anniversary. He refused to heal her, saying that it was Heaven's wish that she should go on ahead, and predicted the precise course of her illness and death. "This death," he said, "has for me been a living crucifixion."

Career

He gained a reputation as a miracle worker amongst Paris occultists. Having been harassed for practicing medicine without a license, he went to St Petersburg where he was awarded his Doctor's Diploma in recognition of extraordinary feats of remote healing conducted in St Petersburg.
Grand Duchess Militza Nikolaevna of Russia later introduced Philippe to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia in 1901, and Philippe enjoyed a brief influence over the imperial couple, until he was exposed as a charlatan in 1903 and was expelled from Russia.
In October 1884 he presented a paper entitled "Principles of Hygiene applicable in Pregnancy, Childbirth and Infancy" at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. In recognition of this the University conferred a Doctorate of Medicine on him. Many other academic and social honours were conferred on him during the 1880s and 1890s in France and Italy.
Philippe died on 2 August 1905 at the age of 56, in L'Arbresle, Rhône, France where he was living. He was buried in the cemetery of Loyasse, in Lyon, France. Jean Chapas, the beloved disciple of Master Philippe, is also buried in the cemetery of Loyasse.

Books

Alfred Haehl wrote a well documented biography Vie et Paroles du Maître Philippe.
Maître Philippe collection: