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"Calvin, wake up!"

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I like this!

  • JD says:

    It's so good the Mary Baker Eddy Library is making these documentations of Mary Baker Eddy's healing work widely available to the public!!

    Posted on 13/04/09 @ 17:24

  • says:

    I love this story too!

    Posted on 14/04/09 @ 02:09

  • says:

    Calvin, also fell down the stairs and Mrs. Eddy had to wake him up as well. When asked where he was when he seemingly died, he said he was in the kitchen getting pie.

    Posted on 14/04/09 @ 02:13

  • says:

    When you say that scholars debate whether Calvin Frye was dead or not, how many people think he wasn't? Did they think he was unconscious? In a coma? What kind of certainty is there that he was in fact dead? How about Calvin Frye?

    Posted on 16/04/09 @ 12:22

  • Dana Byquist says:

    Thank you for watching the video and thank you for your questions. Let's see how two scholars, Gillian Gill and Robert Peel, view the issue.

    Gillian Gill discusses the subject on page 401 of her book "Mary Baker Eddy": "The relationship between Mary Baker Eddy and Calvin Frye is strange and mysterious, but, when we seek to understand it, these scenes of healing must be given great weight. The extraordinary lapses into a deathlike state that Calvin Frye was reportedly susceptible to were clearly related to the unremitting stresses of his life with Mrs. Eddy, and we may indeed wonder why on earth he put up with it all. On the other hand, for people who lived on such a pitch of religious intensity as Frye and Mrs. Eddy did, their occasional ability to enact two of the great gospel miracles--the raising of Lazarus and of Jairus's daughter--created a bond whose peculiar strength is hard to overestimate." Gill shows both sides of the issue and refrains from taking a side.

    Robert Peel, in "Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority," suggests Frye dealt with a physical challenge called catalepsy which made him appear to be dead. After describing George Kinter's account of Frye's healing at Pleasant View (the one I discuss in the video), Peel writes: "There were also one or two earlier instances [of a similar event] which have generally been taken as evidence of cataleptic seizures. Frye himself in a letter to the members of the National Christian Scientist Association dated 1888 told of Mrs. Eddy's rousing him from a state of unconsciousness" (p. 464, footnote 105). According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, catalepsy is "a trancelike state marked by loss of voluntary motion in which the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed."

    George Kinter, on the other hand, appears convinced Frye had passed on.

    There was no doctor present to check Frye and diagnosis him as dead or alive. Therefore we may never know for certain. Unfortunatley, Frye did not leave any record of the event. Regardless if Frye had actually passed on or not, the situation resolved with a healing of great magnitude. That is the most important aspect of the event in my opinion.

    I would love to talk more on the subject so please feel free to call my work number: 617-450-7219.

    Posted on 16/04/09 @ 13:43

  • Ben Willsea says:

    WOW! AMAZING! First of all, the story is extremely compelling, and I want to say "incredible", but I know better than that because if I said that, I would be saying it is un-believable...not possible. We know the truth is that it is COMPLETELY possible and just wonderful as an example of the power of real use of Christian Science! So, thank you for sharing. Secondly, I have known Dana for a few years starting with being his RA (Resident Assistant) at Principia College, and now both living in Boston, MA. I am impressed with his speech & story telling skills so much that I believe he should do that for a living!!! Keep up the great work, Dana & The Mother Church & MBE Library! I am inspired by this video to come work for the MBE Library! Thank you so very much again! Sincerely, Ben Willsea

    Posted on 18/04/09 @ 17:58

  • Rick and Emily says:

    Thanks Mister B for this rundown on such a very important moment between Mrs. Eddy and Calvin Frye. I wonder if Frye knew what had happened when he awoke the next day. Or, isn't there some person's record of Frye saying something like "I'm leaving. I don't want to stay." Or, is this another person at another time?

    Posted on 01/05/09 @ 00:35

  • Dana Byquist says:

    Rick and Emily,

    I apologize for my delayed response. I had not realized that you posted a question.

    There are no accounts of Frye's reaction to this event. In fact, Kinter recounts in his reminiscence that things went right back to normal the following day: "Next morning Mrs. Eddy's bell rang as usual for her breakfast, and on going down stairs, we who know of the unusual night work learned that Mr. Frye was down early this morning and had already had his breakfast at 8.00 that morning. Mrs. Eddy had us all ('the workers') in her sitting room and the work for that day was outlined for us without the slightest reference to the experiences of the previous night. At noon Mr. Frye was in his accustomed place at the head of the table and served dinner. Several of the household would doubtless be surprised to read this account for I never heard them speak of the occurence" (Kinter reminiscence, "Raising the Dead").

    It is highly unlikely that Frye would have forgotten the event though.

    Now to your question about Frye saying that he was "leaving." I can think of two stories that you may be referring to.

    1. During this episode with Mrs. Eddy, Frye was either dead,in a death-like state, or unconscious for about an hour. Eventually he started regaining consciousness. When this happened, hestarted responding to Mrs. Eddy's words. He said things like: "Don't call me back," and "Let me go, I am so tired." Mrs. Eddy responded with phrases like: "Oh, Yes, - We shall persist in calling you back, for you have not been away." (Kinter, "Raising the Dead"). Is this the record you are referring to?

    2. During the 28 years Frye served Mrs. Eddy (often 7 days a week with perhaps 4 days of vacation in total), there were a few times when he felt compelled to leave Mrs. Eddy's household. Let me share one example with you. After one of Mrs. Eddy's rebukes in August of 1897 he walked out of the house and headed to the nearby Eagle Hotel. Clara Shannon, a noteworthy early worker in the Christian Science movement, wrote him a letter in response: "Dear Brother, Mother says to tell you that she is sorry for saying what she did to you & wants you to come home now with Mr. Murdock. She says that to-night will decide it, & if you do not come back to night you will not stay here another night. Dear Brother, Just think of all the errors in us that she has forgiven. Will you come back after all she has done for you?" (L17450). Soon after he made his way back to Mrs. Eddy's house. It is worth noting here that Frye was an incredibly devoted worker, and the mere fact that he served Mrs. Eddy for 28 straight years is incredible.

    Posted on 15/05/09 @ 16:06

  • Courtenay says:

    Hey, Dana, thanks! Mrs Eddy's declarations to Frye really stood out to me - "Your life-work is not done. I need you. Our great, blessed Cause needs you." Obviously most of us don't have quite so demanding a job as Mrs Eddy's right-hand man, but it just came to me as a great reminder that we are ALL needed as workers for the same "great, blessed Cause". Thanks for all you're doing for it too. :-)

    Posted on 11/06/09 @ 03:33

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