Ann Mattingly nee Carbery was the subject of a miracle cure occurring in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 1824. After having breast cancer for a few years, by 1824 it was thought that Ann was in the final stages of the disease and would soon die. Ann languished behind the shuttered windows of her sick-room, where curtains blocked the sunlight. An acrid stench of diarrhea and vomit hung in the air, mixed with cloying odors of camphor and scented candles. The thirty-nine year old widow, sister of the Mayor of Washington, lay bedridden with a cancer that had ravaged her for seven years. In a spare room in her brother’s house, Mrs. Mattingly hovered near death. She was, said her doctors, “beyond the reach of medicine.” She wore death’s mask. She had been so ill during these last weeks that her caretakers had been unable to turn her in bed. She had end-stage breast cancer—a cancer that had spread to her internal organs and was consuming her from within. Her rattling breath reeked of the open grave. The tumor on her left breast had grown to such proportions that for some time she had been unable to move her arm and had lain partially paralyzed. Her back and legs were riddled with open sores, which, while she still could, she insisted on keeping covered up by lying in bed fully dressed. Mrs. Mattingly, though heavily sedated with a maximum dosage of four hundred grams of laudanum, had moments of clarity when she knew these were to be her last days. It was at this point in Ann’s struggle with cancer that the miracle happened. Ann Mattingly, widow, and her two children were living in Washington at the home of her brother, Thomas Carbery, Mayor of Washington. She and her family were members of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Washington. Here in our story we need to introduce two German priests. One was Prince Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenberg-Schillingfurst [1794-1849]. Hohenlohe was both a prince in a minor German royal family and a Roman Catholic priest. He became widely known in Germany and throughout Europe as a charismatic priest who claimed to effect miracle cures. The official Catholic Church in Germany separated itself from Hohenlohe's claims, but he had a huge mass following of people who believed in his miracles. One follower was Anthony Kohlmann, an Alsatian Jesuit priest who had been sent to Georgetown, Washington, D. C. in 1804. Father Kohlmann knew Mayor Carbery and his family and was well aware of Mrs. Mattingly's condition. He also knew that Hohenlohe celebrated a special Mass on the 10th of each month for the healing of the sick. Since the beginning of March 1824, those who loved Ann Mattingly had prayed for a miracle. These were not private supplications offered up individually by her loved ones, but a novena, a scheduled set of prayers that had begun nine days earlier under the direction of the European miracle worker Prince Hohenlohe to obtain a cure for Mrs. Mattingly. In the Roman Catholic Church, a novena typically consists of recitation of the rosary, or short prayers offered throughout the day. The nine-day prayer recalls the number of days Jesus’ mother Mary and the Apostles spent praying between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. Members of Mrs. Mattingly’s parish at St. Patrick’s had prayed at sunrise for nine days as a prelude to what they, too, hoped would be a remarkable event. On the tenth of March, Prince Hohenlohe had promised that, if the novena he prescribed was completed, he would offer his morning Mass in Germany for the sick person who had made the appeal. Prince Hohenlohe had already compiled an impressive list of cures, many of prominent European nobility, including the Princess Mathilde von Schwarzenberg and German Prince Ludwig. These days, as word of the cures had spread through Europe, the miracle worker was attracting crowds wherever he went. At the time that Father Hohenlohe was celebrating Mass in Germany, it would be 2:00 a.m. in Georgetown. While Hohenlohe was celebrating Mass in Germany, Kohlmann was celebrating Mass at the Jesuit Chapel at Georgetown University, 2:00 a.m. 10 March 1824. A third priest was celebrating Mass at Mrs. Mattingly's bedside. Another account indicates that Father Stephen Dubuisson of St. Patrick's Church celebrated his Mass and "carried a consecrated host with him to Thomas Carbery's home to give the Holy Eucharist to the dying Ann Mattingly." When, with much difficulty, Ann Mattingly was able to swallow the Host. Then everything changed. To Mrs. Mattingly's astonishment, her pain vanished. She moved her formerly useless arm and propped herself into a sitting position with her elbows, then stretched her arms forward, crying 'Lord Jesus! What have I done to serve so great a favor?' The room erupted on half suppressed shrieks and audible sobbing. The news of the miracle spread rapidly. It also became the subject of religious disputes. Catholics pointed to the miracle as proof of the "superiority" of the Catholic faith. Protestants attacked the miracle as "medieval superstition and priestly chicanery." Similar miracles were later credited to Father Hohenlohe here in Maryland, but none were ever accepted by the Catholic Church. The "Mattingly Miracle" is not accepted by the Church even today, mainly because it has never accepted the validity of the claims that Hohenlohe made of his own powers. Others recognize it as the first miracle in America. Be that as it may, Ann Carberry Mattingly lived on until 1855. She was buried at historic Mount Olivet Cemetery on Bladensburg Road, Washington's major Roman Catholic Cemetery. Father Kohlmann was later called back to Rome to take the chair of theology at the Gregorian University. One of his students at the university was the future Pope Leo XIII [reign: 1878-1903].

Ann Mattingly nee Carbery was the subject of a miracle cure occurring in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 1824. After having breast cancer for a few years, by 1824 it was thought that Ann was in the final stages of the disease and would soon die. Ann languished behind the shuttered windows of her sick-room, where curtains blocked the sunlight. An acrid stench of diarrhea and vomit hung in the air, mixed with cloying odors of camphor and scented candles. The thirty-nine year old widow, sister of the Mayor of Washington, lay bedridden with a cancer that had ravaged her for seven years. In a spare room in her brother’s house, Mrs. Mattingly hovered near death. She was, said her doctors, “beyond the reach of medicine.” She wore death’s mask. She had been so ill during these last weeks that her caretakers had been unable to turn her in bed. She had end-stage breast cancer—a cancer that had spread to her internal organs and was consuming her from within. Her rattling breath reeked of the open grave. The tumor on her left breast had grown to such proportions that for some time she had been unable to move her arm and had lain partially paralyzed. Her back and legs were riddled with open sores, which, while she still could, she insisted on keeping covered up by lying in bed fully dressed. Mrs. Mattingly, though heavily sedated with a maximum dosage of four hundred grams of laudanum, had moments of clarity when she knew these were to be her last days. It was at this point in Ann’s struggle with cancer that the miracle happened. Ann Mattingly, widow, and her two children were living in Washington at the home of her brother, Thomas Carbery, Mayor of Washington. She and her family were members of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Washington. Here in our story we need to introduce two German priests. One was Prince Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenberg-Schillingfurst [1794-1849]. Hohenlohe was both a prince in a minor German royal family and a Roman Catholic priest. He became widely known in Germany and throughout Europe as a charismatic priest who claimed to effect miracle cures. The official Catholic Church in Germany separated itself from Hohenlohe's claims, but he had a huge mass following of people who believed in his miracles. One follower was Anthony Kohlmann, an Alsatian Jesuit priest who had been sent to Georgetown, Washington, D. C. in 1804. Father Kohlmann knew Mayor Carbery and his family and was well aware of Mrs. Mattingly's condition. He also knew that Hohenlohe celebrated a special Mass on the 10th of each month for the healing of the sick. Since the beginning of March 1824, those who loved Ann Mattingly had prayed for a miracle. These were not private supplications offered up individually by her loved ones, but a novena, a scheduled set of prayers that had begun nine days earlier under the direction of the European miracle worker Prince Hohenlohe to obtain a cure for Mrs. Mattingly. In the Roman Catholic Church, a novena typically consists of recitation of the rosary, or short prayers offered throughout the day. The nine-day prayer recalls the number of days Jesus’ mother Mary and the Apostles spent praying between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. Members of Mrs. Mattingly’s parish at St. Patrick’s had prayed at sunrise for nine days as a prelude to what they, too, hoped would be a remarkable event. On the tenth of March, Prince Hohenlohe had promised that, if the novena he prescribed was completed, he would offer his morning Mass in Germany for the sick person who had made the appeal. Prince Hohenlohe had already compiled an impressive list of cures, many of prominent European nobility, including the Princess Mathilde von Schwarzenberg and German Prince Ludwig. These days, as word of the cures had spread through Europe, the miracle worker was attracting crowds wherever he went. At the time that Father Hohenlohe was celebrating Mass in Germany, it would be 2:00 a.m. in Georgetown. While Hohenlohe was celebrating Mass in Germany, Kohlmann was celebrating Mass at the Jesuit Chapel at Georgetown University, 2:00 a.m. 10 March 1824. A third priest was celebrating Mass at Mrs. Mattingly's bedside. Another account indicates that Father Stephen Dubuisson of St. Patrick's Church celebrated his Mass and "carried a consecrated host with him to Thomas Carbery's home to give the Holy Eucharist to the dying Ann Mattingly." When, with much difficulty, Ann Mattingly was able to swallow the Host. Then everything changed. To Mrs. Mattingly's astonishment, her pain vanished. She moved her formerly useless arm and propped herself into a sitting position with her elbows, then stretched her arms forward, crying 'Lord Jesus! What have I done to serve so great a favor?' The room erupted on half suppressed shrieks and audible sobbing. The news of the miracle spread rapidly. It also became the subject of religious disputes. Catholics pointed to the miracle as proof of the "superiority" of the Catholic faith. Protestants attacked the miracle as "medieval superstition and priestly chicanery." Similar miracles were later credited to Father Hohenlohe here in Maryland, but none were ever accepted by the Catholic Church. The "Mattingly Miracle" is not accepted by the Church even today, mainly because it has never accepted the validity of the claims that Hohenlohe made of his own powers. Others recognize it as the first miracle in America. Be that as it may, Ann Carberry Mattingly lived on until 1855. She was buried at historic Mount Olivet Cemetery on Bladensburg Road, Washington's major Roman Catholic Cemetery. Father Kohlmann was later called back to Rome to take the chair of theology at the Gregorian University. One of his students at the university was the future Pope Leo XIII [reign: 1878-1903].

Bio by: Dennis Hubscher