Alis de Tésieux (ca. sixteenth century C.E.)

Spirit of a Spanish nun, as recorded in a book published in Paris in 1528: La merveilleuse histoire de l'esprit qui, depuis naguère, s'est apparu au monastère des religieuses de Saint Pierre de Lyon, laquelle est pleine de grande admiration, comme on pourra vois par la lecture de ce prèsent livre, par Adrien de Montalembert, aumonier du roi François Ier. This work dealt with the appearance in the monastery of the spirit of Alis de Tésieux, a nun who had lived there before the reformation of the monastery in 1513. It seems Alis led a rather worldly life, following pleasure and enjoyment in a manner unbecoming to a nun, finally stealing the ornaments from the altar and selling them. She left the monastery and for a time continued her disgraceful career outside, but before she died she repented of her sins and, through the intercession of the Virgin, received pardon. However, she was refused Christian burial and was interred without the usual prayers and funeral rites.

A number of years later, when the monastery was occupied by other nuns, one of their number, a girl of about eighteen years, was aroused from her sleep by the apparition of Sister Alis. For some time afterward the spirit haunted her wherever she went, continually rapping on the ground near where she stood and even communicating with the other nuns. The spirit who entered the monastery seemed good and devout, but the good sisters, well versed in the wiles of the devil, had their doubts. The bishop of Lyons and the narrator, Adrien de Montalembert, were called in to deal with the evil spirit.

After many prayers and formalities, the spirit of Alis was found to be an innocent one, attended by a guardian angel. She answered a number of questions regarding her present state and her desire for Christian burial, and confirmed the doctrines of the Catholic Church, notably that of purgatory. The remains of Sister Alis were conveyed to consecrated ground, and prayers made for the release of her soul from purgatory, but she continued to follow the young nun for a time, teaching her, on her last visit, five secret prayers composed by St. John the Evangelist.