Did Eddy heal an Australian across the miles?
“Carte générale de la Nouvelle Hollande.” Nineteenth-century map of Australia
by Louis Claude Desaulses de Freycinet. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Various accounts have been in circulation, about a person in Australia said to have been cured of an illness through the prayers of Mary Baker Eddy. The Library receives questions as to whether we can confirm the accuracy of these accounts. Sometimes we’ve been asked to supply more detail about such a healing.
According to the story, Eddy was at her home in North America when she effected the healing as she pointed to Australia on a globe or map. Most versions of the account suggest that as a result of that experience she made this statement, first published in 1891, in the 50th edition of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “The ‘still, small voice’ of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound.”1
Our research staff has been unable to authenticate this story. That is, we are unable to locate any source for it, and we find no names, dates, or documents of any kind associated with it. We also consulted the Longyear Museum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and confirmed that they have not found anything in their collections to substantiate it either.
Christian Science was introduced to Australia late in the nineteenth century. William W. Virtue published the first testimony of healing from Australia in an 1899 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.2
The book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, Amplified Edition offers verified accounts of Eddy’s healing work.
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