Who was the Mad Priest?

💫 PILGRIMAGE TO THE MAD PRIEST'S BIRTHPLACE.

So, who was the Mad Priest?

Well, you often hear us talk about the Mad Priest as the famous character from The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas. And he was. But Dumas got inspiration for his character the Mad Priest / Abbe Faria from the real life priest Abbe Faria. Who was from Goa, India.

Yep, pretty dang cool, eh?

Michael & Cherita used to live in India and on their recent trip back they got to visit the town in Goa where Abbe Faria was born and grew up. So, yes, a pilgrimage of sorts.

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Abbe Faria, a.k.a. The Mad Priest. 1756-1819.

His real name was Jose Custodio Faria but he was known to the world as Abbé Faria. He was born in the village of Candolim, Bardez Goa, India on 31 May 1756. 

He was the son of Caetano Vitorino Faria of Colvale and Rosa Maria de Souza of Candolim. He spent his childhood in this village of Candolim.

When he was just 15 years of age, his father took him to Lisbon, Portugal along with him. He fled to France because the Portuguese authorities suspected him of being a part of pinto's Revolution against the Portuguese in Goa in 1787. There too he actively participated in revolutionary activities.

He was a steat intellectual and a Doctor of Theology and philosophy. He was a member of the Medical Society of Marseilles and a profesS of philosophy at the university of France.

Abbe Faria, researched the human mind and deepened our understanding of it. Numerous texts on psychology, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy today make mention of Abbe Faria and his discoveries. At that time famous mesmerizer Franz Anton Mesmer, had mesmerized Europe with his idea of what he called 'animal magnetism'. Abbe Faria refuted Mesmer's hypothesis of animal magentism and propounded that suggestibility is the basis of hypnotism.

Modern psychiatry began with mesmerism but Mesmer did not know the science behind it. Abbe Faria discovered it and thus rightfully became the pioneer in this field. Hence he was called the Father of Hypnotism.

This great son of Candolim died on 20th September 1819 in Montmarte, France. 

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"My entire company is based off this man. Though originally it was from the fictional character in the brilliant novel by Dumas, the Mad Priest / Abbe Faria in the book was based on the real life figure who was a revolutionary responsible for significant advancement in psychotherapy and the father of hypnotism.

Abbe Faria was raised in the tiny village of Candolim, Goa, the area where we stayed. I walked the same earth as Abbe. I breathed the same air as Abbe. Thank you for molding my life so profoundly Abbe." - Michael