Schlatter, Francis (1855-1895)

Mystic and miracle worker of the nineteenth century. Born in Alsace in 1855, he emigrated to the United States and traveled the country with head and feet bare, preaching the love of God and peace amongst men. When imprisoned as a vagrant, he continued to preach in jail. He had a gift of healing and cured many sick individuals merely by placing his hand on their heads. He appeared in San Francisco, California, in 1894, traveled through Mexico, and crossed the Mohave Desert. He spent several weeks at Flagstaff, then wandered among the Indian tribes, staying with the chief of the Navajos five days and performing many miracles.

Thousands came to see him in Denver, Colorado, where he once identified a secret murderer. He reputedly healed blindness, deafness, diphtheria, cancer, and other diseases with a touch of the hand, and also cured a number of handicapped people. He claimed that faith was the cause of his cures, and that even touching was unnecessary. He would sometimes sensitize a piece of material or a handkerchief with healing force. He treated from three to five thousand people a day by standing with outstretched hands blessing them.

Eventually he undertook a forty-day fast, during which he continued to heal the sick. In November 1895 he disappeared from Denver without warning. He left a note at the house of Alderman Fox, where he was a guest, stating "Mr. Fox—my mission is ended, and the Father calls me. I salute you. Francis Schlatter, November 13th." He was never heard from again.