The Count of Saint Germain And The Secret of Immortality

The Count of Saint Germain was a controversial figure of the 18th-Century Europe, where intrigues and court’s secrets intertwined with the bold actions of individuals: it was the time of wizards, lights and alchemists.

Saint Germain's life has been the subject of numerous articles and at least one book which, since his death (1784), have not shed full light upon the real figure of this peculiar character. Marked as a charlatan by many, considered immortal by others, his deeds crossed the 1700 of Bach and Mozart like a Bohemian rhapsody.

The first of many mysteries related to Saint Germain concerns his birth. Many scholars believe that he descends from Francis II, king of the Principality of Transylvania that, at the time, had made an alliance with the House of Hesse (Francis II had in fact married with the 16-year-old Charlotte Amalie of Hessen-Reinfels on September 25, 1694 at the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany.)

The relationship between Francis I and Charlotte Amalie resulted in two recognized children; however, at the time of the publication of Francis II’s will (1737) a third unnamed child is mentioned as one of the beneficiaries. It was Leopold-George, the eldest of his sons and therefore a direct heir to the throne of Transylvania. Leopold-George could have been born in 1691 or 1696, and it was never possible to determine whether he was the son of Charlotte of Hesse or of the former wife of Francis II. Leopold-George was "killed" to save him from a conspiracy aimed at destroying the Transylvania dynasty and ending the independence of that territory.

So it is believed that Leopold-George was none other than the Count of Saint Germain himself, who (re-)appeared before the European society around 1743 as a man on his forties.
Nearly nothing is known of his life before that year, although a dossier on the Count had been previously compiled by order of Napoleon III. Unfortunately the dossier burned down in a fire that destroyed the building in which it was kept. The surviving information indicate that Saint Germain was trained to become one of the most daring, active and colorful secret political agents of the 18-Century brotherhood.

Prince Karl Von Hesse wrote that Saint Germain was raised by the last of the mighty Medici family in Florence, Italy. Indeed the Medici’s obsessive interest for mystery or mysteriosophical philosophies was well known and, under their care, Saint Germain had allegedly studied at the University of Siena, Italy.

At the time of Saint Germain’s entry into society, the Jacobite cause was rather pressing and, in the next two years (1745,) the invasion of Scotland would ensue. During these two years Saint Germain resided in London. It seems that he was a talented musician and many of his compositions were performed at the Little Haymarket Theatre.

The British authorities, however, didn’t believe that Saint Germain was in London to pursue a music career, and in December 1745, as the Jacobite pressed forward, he was arrested on suspicion of being a Jacobite agent. He was released only when the alleged letters of Charles Edward, leader of the Stuart invasion, were not found on him. Once free, Saint Germain left England and spent one year hosted by Prince Ferdinand Von Lobkowitz, prime minister of the Austrian Emperor. During this period the Count was introduced to the Marshal de Belle-Isle, the French war minister who, in turn, opened the doors of France to him.

Over the next three years nothing is known of Saint Germain’s deeds. He reappeared again in 1749 as a guest of King Louis XV of France, likely working as his political agent.
During the repression of the Brotherhood that occurred throughout France following the edict of the king and the bull of Pope Clement, Saint Germain, a high-degree Freemason, was at the French court. This seemingly enigmatic paradox can be explained only with the ignorance of the king about the Count’s real involvement inside the Brotherhood, but also by assuming that Saint Germain possessed essential intelligence about the French support to the Jacobite.

Officially the Count said that he was in l’Hague to negotiate peace between England and France, but the dignitaries of either country had not received any letter from their respective governments and, therefore, the Duke of Choiseul, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, ordered the arrest of Saint Germain. He managed to escape from The Netherlands and took refuge in London with the help of the Count of Bentinck.

Only in 1770 Saint Germain managed to return to France. Prince de Galitzin, a Russian dignitary in England, wrote later that the mission of Saint Germain in Holland was of financial nature, and it was top secret: to exploit the union between Princess Caroline an Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg to establish a “fund” in favor of France through Dutch bankers, as confirmed by the French Ambassador D’Affrey. This mission he was unable to accomplish due to his sudden escape.

After the short stay in London the Count of Saint Germain secretly returns to Paris (1760) where, hosted by the Anhalt-Zerbst family, first witnesses the marriage between Princess Catherine II and Prince Peter III of Russia and then, when the latter ascends to the throne, goes to St. Petersburg where he helps Catherine II to dethrone Peter III and take control of the Russian Empire (with the support of the Orloff family.) As a reward for his services, Saint Germain was appointed general of the Russian army and Catherine II, of German origins, who later became “Catherine The Great” was to reign over Russia for twenty-nine years.

Between 1763 and 1769 the veil of mystery descends again over Saint Germain’s activities. He left Russia for Berlin, and then he traveled to other European locations.
With the death of King Louis XV ended also the French court’s support to Saint Germain. The new king, Louis XVI, called Choiseul to power and opposed the Count openly until he was forced to leave France forever. Saint Germain went to Germany under the protection of William IX of Hesse, the prince who will inherit the immense fortune of the Hesse-Kassels

The date of the alleged death of the Count of Saint Germain is 1784, at lease according to the records of the Eckenforde’s Church which note: “Died on February 27, buried on March 2, 1784”.)
Only after his death his true involvement with the Brotherhood was fully exposed. Saint Germain was not only one of its members of the highest degree, but he was described as being physically immortal, for he couldn’t age nor die. A large number of contemporaries claimed to have seen Saint Germain in impossible periods. One of them was the Baron E.H.Gleichen that, in its memoirs published in 1868 wrote:

“I’ve heard Rameau and a relative of the French ambassador in Venice testify of having met Saint Germain in 1710 as a man in his fifties.”

If the Count was 50 in 1710 he would have been 124 years old at the time of his death. There are some, however, that are not convinced he actually died in 1784.
A German magazine of mysticism, the Magazine der Beweisfuhrer fur Verurtheilung des Freimaurer-Ordens claimed in 1857 that Saint Germain was one of the French representatives at the Masonic Convention in Paris in 1785, that is, one year after his official death. Writer Cantu Cesare, in his work The Heretics of Italy, described the presence of Saint Germain at the famous Masonic conference of Wulhelmsbad in that same year, 1785.
Such reports support those who believe that Saint Germain had forged his death- for a second time in order to escape from the dangers and scandals he was continuously exposed to.

Countess D’Adhemar, a member of the French court, swore to have seen Saint Germain several times after 1784 and always in conjunction with situations of serious political crisis. For example, she said that Saint Germain had sent warnings to the king and queen of France (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. She also said to have seen him in 1793, 1804, 1813 and 1820.
Madame Helena Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, declared that Saint Germain was one of the Hidden Masters of Tibet who controlled the fate of the world in secret.

We can notices similarities in the life and mystery of Saint Germain and Cagliostro (See the first article of the Hermetic Triad): of both little is known about the origins; both were labeled as charlatans once they revealed their magical or mystical knowledge about Alchemy. Saint Germain, beside being a proven skilled political spy, had claimed, within close circles of friends and adepts, to have lived many centuries and known both King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

However, to limit Saint Germain’s profile only to his deeds in political intrigues and dismissing his esoteric claims as forged lies would be a big mistake. In chemistry, that he had certainly studied with masters from the several courts in which was hosted (most likely, Germany) he possessed a vast knowledge, perhaps exaggerated by his colorful stories such as the removal of defects from diamonds, the transmutation of metals in gold, and the Elixir of Immortality.
Other alchemical secrets he may have learned during his travels in Mexico and the Near East (Constantinople), and later used them in executing the victorious plan which brought Catherine II to the throne of Russia. Success made possible thanks to “something”, an object perhaps, that was allegedly capable to increase the traditional energies of the Rurik Crystals.

The memoirs of Cagliostro confirm that the Count founded the Freemasonry in Germany, as well as having initiated Cagliostro himself to the Masonic rite of Memphis-Misraim during their famous encounter in London. It seems that Saint Germain had a magnificient collection of precious stones which some believed to be artificial, while others swore upon their authenticity.
The most persistent rumors about Saint Germain concerned his presumed discovery of the secret of immortality, and how he had only shared this secret with only a selected few.

What is certain is that the Europe at the time of the Enlightenment had developed over a layer of mysticism and strong interest for the occult which never faded away. On the contrary, with the founding of the Theosophical Society and the rising of Nazism, such obsessive interest was pushed to its extremes.
From this perspective both the Count of Saint Germain and Cagliostro had managed to “ride the wave” on these subjects, using them to manipulate people, events, and the fate of nations.