Nolan, Finbarr (1952-)

Contemporary Irish healer who is the seventh son of a seventh son, and was thus, according to folk tradition, destined to begin healing by touch. He was born October 2, 1952, at Loch Gowna, county Cavan, Republic of Ireland. His mother stated "I knew … God would give him the power to heal." There were requests for healing when Nolan was only three months old, but his mother insisted that healing wait until the boy was at least two years old. At that time, a man brought his five-year-old child, who was suffering from ringworm. Nolan's mother circled the spots with holy water, making the sign of the cross in the middle, then placed the two-year-old Nolan's hand on each spot in turn, while she prayed for healing and asked her son to repeat the prayers after her. She claims that the ringworm was cured after two visits.

However, Nolan did not immediately undertake regular healing, although at the age of nine he touched the paralyzed hand of a local hotel proprietor and the hand became normal in three days' time. The father of this man was confined to a wheelchair with severe arthritis, but the day after Nolan touched him he was able to use his hands, and a month later he had recovered sufficiently to resume his job as a butcher.

At the age of sixteen, while still attending school, Nolan was asked to go to Donegal to cure an aunt. She notified the local newspaper, with the result that the young Nolan arrived to find a crowd of three hundred people and a television film crew. For several weeks afterward, some five thousand people a day came to his home for healing, and he touched them in groups of 14 or 15 at a time in the kitchen of the house. After that Nolan decided to leave school and devote himself full time to healing.

His reputation as a healer spread rapidly, and visitors came from around the world for treatment. Since county Cavan is located near the border of Northern Ireland, the political unrest and disorders began to discourage visitors, so Nolan moved with his parents and brothers to a house in the suburbs of Dublin. Here the large number of visitors seeking healing soon made it difficult for the family to live a normal life in an average-sized house, so Nolan hired halls and hotel rooms for regular clinics.

In the early period, Nolan had been influenced by his mother's religious outlook and used holy water, making the sign of the cross when touching each patient, but eventually he discarded such specifically Catholic tradition. As he said: "It deterred a lot of Protestants and I have nearly as many Protestant patients at my clinic as I do Catholic." Moreover he came to believe that his healing power had nothing to do with religion, and rejected the term "faith healer." He stated: "People should understand my healing has nothing to do with faith; I believe my power is a gift … I've proved that faith is not needed by curing animals and babies." Indeed, he became well known for treating injured race horses, and one horse he treated won nine races afterward.

His healing power appears to be in his right hand, and he therefore places it on each part of a patient's body that is afflicted. He lays his hand on the patient for several seconds and does not himself feel anything unusual happening, although patients often state that they feel a sensation of heat. His healing technique was monitored at a Belfast hospital, and it was found that during healing sessions there were changes in his respiration, pulse rate, and the electrical potential of his skin.

Like other seventh son healers, he has found that three visits are usually necessary. Patients sometimes feel worse after the first healing session, usually a sign that some changes have commenced. Healing is usually consolidated at the second and third visits.

Most patients pay a small voluntary contribution for healing, but some wealthier individuals have been very generous. An elderly lady in New York suffering from rheumatoid arthritis paid for Nolan's 6,000-mile journey and gave him an additional check for several thousand dollars. Nolan has also flown to Washington to treat a young Vietnamese war soldier. Nolan has held clinics in London as well as the United States and is credited with some remarkable cures.

An interesting experiment with Nolan was carried out by Robert E. Willner, diplomate of the Board of Family Practice, in his office in Florida. Willner selected ten patients on the basis of severity of their disease and failure to respond to multiple attempts at medical therapy. Nolan was introduced to them as "Dr. Finn, a medical student from the medical school in Dublin, Ireland." His function was ostensibly to confirm Willner's observations and provide an independent evaluation of each patient's disease process. The ten patients were involved with the experiment for three visits a week over a period of two weeks. Under these conditions, Nolan's touching appeared part of normal medical examination, so suggestion or placebo effect was eliminated, as no therapy was indicated.

Willner reported as follows:

"Four of the ten patients were completely unaffected by the examinations; five patients showed definite response of a positive nature and the improvement was thought to be of significant nature, in some cases 60% to 100% improvement. Two of these cases were extremely difficult and showed dramatic results…. It is also extremely important to note that all of these patients have been under the care of extremely fine specialists in the fields to which their diseases were related. Except for the increased attention that the patients were getting, I am not aware of any other positive influencing factor on the progress of the disease in any of them. One would expect that a patient in this setting would continue with their symptomatology in the hope that they would be chosen for the continuation of the experiment because their symptoms persisted…. The patients were not charged for their visits. Therefore, monetary incentive was absent."

Nolan is an amiable and, apart from his healing activity, eminently normal individual, with none of the mystique of many professionals in the paranormal. He does not think about anything in particular during the laying on of hands and exudes a friendly matter-of-fact atmosphere. His relaxations include Gaelic football, golf, and water skiing. His may be contacted at 11 Foxfield Rd., Raheny, Dublin 5, Republic of Ireland.

(See also Danny Gallagher ; King's Evil )