ABSTRACT
Catholic tongues after the Reformation were either a gift of saintly individuals or the product of communities and movements allegedly devil-possessed or heretical. The gift of tongues was also ascribed to Dominick of Neisse, librarian of the Escurial, who knew most European languages and Tartar, Indian, Chaldean, Hebrew, Syriac, Chinese, Japanese and Persian. St Jeanne of the Cross had the gift of tongues when she was in ecstasy and was able to communicate in different languages according to her listeners’ needs. Most of the phenomena were probably inaccurately observed, and imagination, no doubt, exaggerated the resemblances to foreign tongues that emerged from the hysterical utterances of the nuns. Accused of blasphemy and threatened with branding and tongue-boring because of her claim to speak in tongues, Ann was examined by four erudite Anglican divines. There were the claims, usual in such sects, to an ability to speak recognizable languages and the stories of conversions through messages in tongues.
