A man who does not die, and who knows everything
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks
The French soprano sang to packed house after packed house at the Metropolitan Opera. The run spread out just over a decade, including 261 performances between appearances in Europe’s cultural capitals. Emma Calve was at the height of her powers when she reportedly met the Count. He, on the other hand, had been dead for 113 years.
Published the same year, his book, The Practice of Palmistry for Professional Purposes, was dedicated the singer. She returned the favor by signing a copy of the volume, “To Mister Count Saint-Germain, the Grand Chiromancer, able to see me put it real, Emma Calve, 1897." The Count would publish another two books -- Practical Astrology: A Simple Method of Casting Horoscopes: The Language of the Stars and Practical Hypnotism: Theories and Experiment – four years later.
At very least, Saint Germain’s posthumous publishing career was reasonably explained away as the work of one, Count Edgar de Valcourt-Vermont, who had adopted the nom de plume. But plenty claimed to have met the true Count of St. Germain in the years leading up to his supposed encounter with the opera singer. Most notable among them were the multiple encounters with Helena Blavatsky, which ranged over two decades. The Theosophy founder considered him among the practice’s Masters of Wisdom, who had personally passed along knowledge in the form of secret documents.
The exact nature of his immortality is, however, seemingly the matter of some dispute among theosophical texts. The Society also suggests that the Count had lived dozens of previous lives, including Plato, Francis and Roger Bacon, Christopher Columbus, Hesiod, Samuel, Saint Joseph and Merlin, among others.
The Count appeared rather busy in the century following his death. The first appearance was recorded in Paris, two years after meeting his end at Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel’s residence. He was buried in a private grave, before his belongs were auctioned off by the mayor – owing to the town’s inability to locate a living relative.
Stories of his immortality pre-dated his death, often seemingly propagated by the Count himself. Though his insistence that he had reached the ripe old age of 500 was seemingly contradicted by his claims of being the son of Francis II Rákóczi. The military leader and Transylvanian prince had himself been born in the latter half of the 17th century. As in death, the circumstances of his birth and his identity prior to adopting the title of Count are unclear. Nor is the sincerity of Voltaire’s claim that “Der Wundermann” was a “man who does not die, and who knows everything."
What seems somewhat more concrete, however, is his intelligence. Saint Germain was a violinist and composer, who spoke nearly every European language and possessed a deep knowledge of history and chemistry. Of the latter, he often bragged of his ability remove flaws from diamonds and perform acts of alchemy.
The great fame he enjoyed was beset by accusations of espionage. Among the few verifiable pieces of historical reporting during his life is an arrest for spying amidst the Jacobite rebellion. “The Prince of Wales has had an unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain,” writer Horace Walpole noted at the time. “However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.”
As with virtually every other aspect of his life, the charges didn’t stick.
Author, adventurer and famed libertine, Giacomo Casanova, describes a mixture of skepticism and awe, upon encountering him in Paris,
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me.
Casanova, however, fell victim to one key lie: the extraordinary man who told him that he had once advised Jesus was himself an imposter. A local comedian had made successfully convinced Parisians that he was Saint Germain, while relying even more outlandish tales than those of the Count.
Sightings of the Count continued for centuries. He was most recently seen at Mt. Shasta in 2011.
Sources:
comte de Saint-Germain https://www.britannica.com/biography/comte-de-Saint-Germain
The Count of Saint Germain by Isabel Cooper-Oakley
The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book by Raphael Patai