Of those against
whom the Power of Witches availeth not at all.
The
second main part of this work deals with the method of
procedure adopted by witches for the performance of
their witchcraft; and these are distinguished under
eighteen heads, proceeding from two chief difficulties.
The first of these two, dealt with in the beginning,
concerns protective remedies, by which a man is rendered
immune from witchcraft: the second, dealt with at the
end, concerns curative remedies, by which those who are
bewitched can be cured. For, as Aristotle says (Physics,
IV), prevention and cure are related to one another, and
are, accidentally, matters of causation. In this way the
whole foundation of this horrible heresy may be made
clear.
In the above
two divisions, the following points will be principally
emphasized. First, the initiation of witches, and their
profession of sacrilege. Second, the progress of their
method of working, and of their horrible observances.
Third, the preventive protections against their
witchcrafts. And because we are now dealing with matters
relating to morals and behaviour, and there is no need
for a variety of arguments and disquisitions, since
those matters which now follow under their headings are
sufficiently discussed in the foregoing Questions;
therefore we pray God that the reader will not look for
proofs in every case, since it is enough to adduce
examples that have been personally seen or heard, or are
accepted at the word of credible witnesses.
In the first
of the points mentioned, two matters will be chiefly
examined: first, the various methods of enticement
adopted by the devil himself; second, the various ways
in which witches profess their heresy. And in the second
of the main points, six matters will be examined in
order, relating to the procedure of witchcraft, and its
cure. First, the practices of witches with regard to
themselves and their own bodies. Second, their practices
with regard to other men. Third, those relating to
beasts. Fourth, the mischief they do to the fruits of
the earth. Fifth, those kinds of witchcraft which are
practised by men only and not by women. Sixth, the
question of removing witchcraft, and how those who are
bewitched may be cured. The First Question, therefore,
is divided into eighteen heads, since in so many ways
are their observances varied and multiplied.
It is asked
whether a man can be so blessed by the good Angels that
he cannot be bewitched by witches in any of the ways
that follow. And it seems that he cannot, for it has
already been proved that even the blameless and innocent
and the just are often afflicted by devils, as was Job;
and many innocent children, as well as countless other
just men, are seen to be bewitched, although not to the
same extent as sinners; for they are not afflicted in
the perdition of their souls, but only in their worldly
goods and their bodies. But the contrary is indicated by
the confessions of witches, namely, that they cannot
injure everybody, but only those whom they learn,
through the information of devils, to be destitute of
Divine help.
Answer.
There are three classes of men blessed by God, whom that
detestable race cannot injure with their witchcraft. And
the first are those who administer public justice
against them, or prosecute them in any public official
capacity. The second are those who, according to the
traditional and holy rites of the Church, make lawful
use of the power and virtue which the Church by her
exorcisms furnishes in the aspersion of Holy Water, the
taking of consecrated salt, the carrying of blessed
candles on the Day of the Purification of Our Lady, of
palm leaves upon Palm Sunday, and men who thus fortify
themselves are acting so that the powers of devils are
diminished; and of these we shall speak later. The third
class are those who, in various and infinite ways, are
blessed by the Holy Angels.
The reason
for this in the first class will be given and proved by
various examples. For since, as S. Paul says, all power
if from God, and a sword for the avenging of the wicked
and the retribution of the good, it is no wonder that
devils are kept at bay when justice is being done to
avenge that horrible crime.
To the same
effect the Doctors note that there are five ways in
which the devil's power is hindered, either wholly or in
part. First, by a limit fixed by God to his power, as is
seen in Job i and ii. Another example is the case
of the man we read of in the Formicarius of Nider,
who had confessed to a judge that he had invoked the
devil in order that he might kill an enemy of his, or do
him bodily harm, or strike him dead with lightning. And
he said: “When I had invoked the devil that I might
commit such a deed with his help, he answered me that he
was unable to do any of those things, because the man
had good faith and diligently defended himself with the
sign of the cross; and that therefore he could not harm
him in his body, but the most he could do was to destroy
an eleventh part of the fruit of his lands.”
Secondly, it
is hindered by the application of some exterior force,
as in the case of Balaam's ass, Numbers xxii.
Thirdly, by some externally performed miracle of power.
And there are some who are blessed with an unique
privilege, as will be shown later in the case of the
third class of men who cannot be bewitched. Fourthly, by
the good providence of God, Who disposes each thing
severally, and causes a good Angel to stand in the
devil's way, as when Asmodeus killed the seven husbands
of the virgin Sara, but did not kill Tobias.
Fifthly, it
is sometimes due to the caution of the devil himself,
for at times he does not wish to do hurt, in order that
worse may follow from it. As, for example, when he could
molest the excommunicated but does not do so, as in the
case of the excommunicated Corinthian (I. Corinthians
v), in order that he may weaken the faith of the Church
in the power of such banishment. Therefore we may
similarly say that, even if the administrators of public
justice were not protected by Divine power, yet the
devils often of their own accord withdraw their support
and guardianship from witches, either because they fear
their conversion, or because they desire and hasten
their damnation.
This fact is
proved also by actual experience. For the aforesaid
Doctor affirms that witches have borne witness that it
is a fact of their own experience that, merely because
they have been taken by officials of public justice,
they have immediately lost all their power of
witchcraft. For example, a judge named Peter, whom we
have mentioned before, wished his officials to arrest a
certain witch called Stadlin; but their hands were
seized with so great a trembling, and such a nauseous
stench came into their nostrils, that they gave up hope
of daring to touch the witch. And the judge commanded
them, saying: “You may safely arrest the wretch, for
when he is touched by the hand of public justice, he
will lose all the power of his iniquity.” And so the
event proved; for he was taken and burned for many
witchcrafts perpetrated by him, which are mentioned here
and there in this work in their appropriate places.
And many more
such experiences have happened to us Inquisitors in the
exercise of our inquisitorial office, which would turn
the mind of the reader to wonder if it were expedient to
relate them. But since self-praise is sordid and mean,
it is better to pass them over in silence than to incur
the stigma of boastfulness and conceit. But we must
except those which have become so well known that they
cannot be concealed.
Not long ago
in the town of Ratisbon the magistrates had condemned a
witch to be burned, and were asked why it was that we
Inquisitors were not afflicted like other men with
witchcraft. They answered that witches had often tried
to injure them, but could not. And, being asked the
reason for this, they answered that they did not know,
unless it was because the devils had warned them against
doing so. For, they said, it would be impossible to tell
how many times they have pestered us by day and by
night, now in the form of apes, not of dogs or goats,
disturbing us with their cries and insults; fetching us
from our beds at their blasphemous prayers, so that we
have stood outside the window of their prison, which was
so high that no one could reach it without the longest
of ladders; and then they have seemed to stick the pins
with which their head-cloth was fastened violently into
their heads. But praise be to Almighty God, Who in His
pity, and for no merit of our own, has preserved us as
unworthy public servants of the justice of the Faith.
The reason in
the case of the second class of men is self-evident. For
the exorcisms of the Church are for this very purpose,
and are entirely efficacious remedies for preserving
oneself from the injuries of witches.
But if it is
asked in what manner a man ought to use such
protections, we must speak first of those that are used
without the uttering of sacred words, and then of the
actual sacred invocations. For in the first place it is
lawful in any decent habitation of men or beasts to
sprinkle Holy Water for the safety and securing of men
and beasts, with the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity
and a Paternoster. For it is said in the Office of
Exorcism, that wherever it is sprinkled, all uncleanness
is purified, all harm is repelled, and no pestilent
spirit can abide there, etc. For the Lord saves both man
and beast, according to the Prophet, each in his degree.
Secondly,
just as the first must necessarily be sprinkled, so in
the case of a Blessed Candle, although it is more
appropriate to light it, the wax of it may with
advantage be sprinkled about dwelling-houses. And
thirdly, it is expedient to place or to burn consecrated
herbs in those rooms where they can best be consumed in
some convenient place.
Now it
happened in the city of Spires, in the same year that
this book was begun, that a certain devout woman held
conversation with a suspected witch, and, after the
manner of women, they used abusive words to each other.
But in the night she wished to put her little suckling
child in its cradle, and remembered her encounter that
day with the suspected witch. So, fearing some danger to
the child, she placed consecrated herbs under it,
sprinkled it with Holy Water, put a little Blessed Salt
to its lips, signed it with the Sign of the Cross, and
diligently secured the cradle. About the middle of the
night she heard the child crying, and, as women do,
wished to embrace the child, and life the cradle on to
her bed. She lifted the candle, indeed, but could not
embrace the child, because he was not there. The poor
woman, in terror, and bitterly weeping for the loss of
her child, lit a light, and found the child in a corner
under a chair, crying but unhurt.
In this it
may be seen what virtue there is in the exorcisms of the
Church against the snares of the devil. It is manifest
that Almighty God, in His mercy and wisdom which extend
from end to end, watches over the deeds of those wicked
men; and that he gently directs the witchcraft of
devils, so that when they try to diminish and weaken the
Faith, they on the contrary strengthen it and make it
more firmly rooted in the hearts of many. For the
faithful may derive much profit from these evils; when,
by reason of devils' works, the faith is made strong,
God's mercy is seen, and His power manifested, and men
are led into His keeping and to the reverence of
Christ's Passion, and are enlightened by the ceremonies
of the Church.
There lived
in a town of Wiesenthal a certain Mayor who was
bewitched with the most terrible pains and bodily
contortions; and he discovered, not by means of other
witches, but from his own experience, how that
witchcraft had been practised on him. For he said he was
in the habit of fortifying himself every Sunday with
Blessed Salt and Holy Water, but that he had neglected
to do so on one occasion owing to the celebration of
somebody's marriage; and on that same day he was
bewitched.
In Ratisbon a
man was being tempted by the devil in the form of a
woman to copulate, and became greatly disturbed when the
devil would not desist. But it came into the poor man's
mind that he ought to defend himself by taking Blessed
Salt, as he had heard in a sermon. So, he took some
Blessed Salt on entering the bath-room; and the woman
looked fiercely at him, and, cursing whatever devil had
taught him to do this, suddenly disappeared. For the
devil can, with God's permission, present himself either
in the form of a witch, or by possessing the body of an
actual witch.
There were
also three companions walking along a road, and two of
them were struck by lightning. The third was terrified,
when he heard voices speaking in the air, “Let us
strike him too.” But another voice answered, “We
cannot, for to-day he has heard the words ‘The Word
was made Flesh.’” And he understood that he had been
saved because he had that day heard Mass, and, at the
end of the Mass, the Gospel of S. John: In the beginning
was the Word, etc.
Also sacred
words bound to the body are marvellously protective, if
seven conditions for their use are observed. But these
will be mentioned in the last Question of this Second
Part, where we speak of curative, as here we speak of
preventive measures. And those sacred words help not
only to protect, but also to cure those who are
bewitched.
But the
surest protection for places, men, or animals are the
words of the triumphal title of our Saviour, if they be
written in four places in the form of a cross: IESUS †
NAZARENUS † REX † IUDAEORUM †. There may also be
added the name of MARY and of the Evangelists, or the
words of S. John: The Word was made Flesh.
But the third
class of men which cannot be hurt by witches is the most
remarkable; for they are protected by a special Angelic
guardianship, both within and without. Within, by the
inpouring of grace; without, by the virtue of the stars,
that is, by the protection of the Powers which move the
stars. And this class is divided into two sections of
the Elect: for some are protected against all sorts of
witchcrafts, so that they can be hurt in no way; and
others are particularly rendered chaste by the good
Angels with regard to the generative functions, just as
evil spirits by their witchcrafts inflame the lusts of
certain wicked men towards one woman, while they make
them cold towards another.
And their
interior and exterior protection, by grace and by the
influence of the stars, is explained as follows. For
though it is God Himself Who pours grace into our souls,
and no other creature has so great power as to do this
(as it is said: The Lord will give grace and glory);
yet, when God wished to bestow some especial grace, He
does so in a dispositive way through the agency of a
good Angel, as S. Thomas teaches us in a certain place
in the Third Book of Sentences.
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