Of the Method by
which Devils through the Operations of Witches sometimes
actually possess men.
It
has been shown in the previous chapter how devils can
enter the heads and other parts of the body of men, and
can move the inner mental images from place to place.
But someone may doubt whether they are able at the
instance of witches to obsess men entirely; or fell some
uncertainty about their various methods of causing such
obsession without the instance of witches. And to clear
up these doubts we must undertake three explanations.
First, as to the various methods of possession.
Secondly, how at the instance of witches and with God's
permission devils at time possess men in all those ways.
Thirdly, we must substantiate our arguments with facts
and examples.
With
references to the first, we must make an exception of
that general method by which the devil inhabits a man in
any mortal sin. S. Thomas, in Book 3, quest. 3, speaks
of this method where he considers the doubt whether the
devil always substantially possesses a man when he
commits mortal sin; and the reason for the doubt is that
the indwelling Holy Ghost always forms a man with grace,
according to I. Corinthians, iii: Ye are the
temple of God, and the spirit of God dwelleth in you.
And, since guilt is opposed to grace, it would seem that
there were opposing forces in the same place.
And there he
proves that to possess a man can be understood in two
ways: either with regard to the soul, or with regard to
the body. And in the first way it is not possible for
the devil to possess the soul, since God alone can enter
that; therefore the devil is not in this way the cause
of sin, which the Holy Spirit permits the soul itself to
commit; so there is no similitude between the two.
But as to the
body, we may say that the devil can possess a man in two
ways, just as there are two classes of men: those who
are in sin, and those who are in grace. In the first
way, we may say that, since a man is by any mortal sin
brought into the devil's service, in so far as the devil
provides the outer suggestion of sin either to the
senses or to the imagination, to that extent he is said
to inhabit the character of a man when he is moved by
every stirring temptation, like a ship in the sea
without a rudder.
The devil can
also essentially possess a man as is clear in the case
of frantic men. But this rather belongs to the question
of punishment than that of sin, as will be shown; and
bodily punishments are not always the consequence of
sin, but are inflicted now upon sinners and now upon the
innocent. Therefore both those who are and those who are
not in a state of grace can, in the depth of the
incomprehensible judgement of God, be essentially
possessed by devils. And though this method of
possession is not quite pertinent to our inquire, we
have set it down lest it should seem impossible to
anyone that, with God's permission, men should at times
be substantially inhabited by devils at the instance of
witches.
We may say,
therefore, that just as there are five ways in which
devils by themselves, without witches, can injure and
possess men, so they can also do so in those ways at the
instance of witches; since then God is the more
offended, and greater power of molesting men is allowed
to the devil through witches. And the methods are
briefly the following, excepting the fact that they
sometimes plague a man through his external possessions:
sometimes they injure men only in their own bodies;
sometimes in their and in their faculties; sometimes
they only tempt them inwardly and outwardly; others they
at times deprive of the use of their reason; others they
change into the appearance of irrational beasts. We
shall speak of these methods singly.
But first we
shall rehearse five reasons why God allows men to be
possessed, for the sake of preserving a due order in our
matter. For sometimes a man is possessed for his own
advantage; sometimes for a slight sin of another; and
sometimes for his own venial sin; sometimes for
another's heavy sin. For all these reasons let no one
doubt that God allows such things to be done by devils
at the instance of witches; and it is better to prove
each of them by the Scriptures, rather than by recent
examples, since new things are always strengthened by
old examples.
For an
example of the first is clearly shown in the Dialogue
of Severus, a very dear disciple of S. Martin, where he
tells that a certain Father of very holy life was so
gifted by grace with the power of expelling devils, that
they were put to flight not only by his words, but even
by his letters or his hair-shirt. And since the Father
became very famous in the world, and felt himself
tempted with vainglory, although he manfully resisted
that vice, yet, that he might be the more humiliated, he
prayed with his whole heart to God that he might be for
five months possessed by a devil; and this was done. For
he was at once possessed and had to be put in chains,
and everything had to applied to him which is customary
in the case of demoniacs. But at the end of the fifth
month he was immediately delivered both from all
vainglory and from the devil. But we do not read, nor is
it for the present maintained, that for this reason a
man can be possessed by a devil through the witchcraft
of another man; although, as we have said, the
judgements of God are incomprehensible.
For the
second reason, when someone is possessed because of the
light sin of another, S. Gregory gives an example. The
Blessed Abbot Eleutherius, a most devout man, was
spending the night near a convent of virgins, who
unknown to him ordered to be put by his cell a young boy
who used to be tormented all night by the devil. But on
that same night the boy was delivered from the devil by
the presence of the Father. When the Abbot learned of
this, and the boy now being placed in the holy man's
monastery, after many days he began to exult rather
immoderately over the boy's liberation, and said to his
brother monks: The devil was playing his pranks with
those Sisters, but he had not presumed to approach this
boy since he came to the servants of God. And behold!
the devil at once began to torment the boy. And by the
tears and fasting of the holy man and his brethren he
was with difficulty delivered, but on the same day. And
indeed that an innocent person should be possessed for
the slight fault of another is not surprising when men
are possessed by devils for their own light fault, or
for another's heavy sin, or for their own heavy sin, and
some also at the instance of witches.
Cassia, in
his First Collation of the Abbot Serenus, gives
an example of how one Moses was possessed for his own
venial sin. This Moses, he says, was a hermit of upright
and pious life; but because on one occasion he engaged
in a dispute with the Abbot Macharius, and went a little
too far in the expression of a certain opinion, he was
immediately delivered up to a terrible devil, who caused
him to void his natural excrements through his mouth.
And that this scourge was inflicted by God for the sake
of purgation, lest any stain of his momentary fault
should remain in him, is clear from his miraculous cure.
For by continual prayers and submission to the Abbot
Macharius, the vile spirit was quickly driven away and
departed from him.
A similar
case is that related by S. Gregory in his First
Dialogue of the nun who ate a lettuce without having
first made the sign of the Cross, and was set free by
the Blessed Father Equitius.
In the same Dialogue
St. Gregory tells an example of the fourth case, where
someone in possessed because of the heavy sin of
another. The Blessed Bishop Fortunatus had driven the
devil from a possessed man, and the devil began to walk
about the streets of the city in the guise of a pilgrim,
crying out: Oh, the holy man Bishop Fortunatus! See, he
has cast me, a pilgrim, out of my lodging, and I can
find no rest anywhere. Then a certain man sitting with
his wife and son invited the pilgrim to lodge with him,
and asking why he had been turned out, was delighted
with the derogatory story of the holy man which the
pilgrim had invented. And thereupon the devil entered
his son, and cast him upon the fire, and killed him. And
then for the first time did the unhappy father
understand whom he had received as a guest.
And fifthly,
we read many examples of men being possessed for their
own heavy sin, both in the Holy Scripture and in the
passions of the Saints. For in I. Kings xv, Saul
was possessed for disobedience to God. And, as we have
said, we have mentioned all these so that it need not
seem to anyone impossible that men should also be
possessed because of the crimes of, and at the instance
of, witches. And we shall be able to understand the
various methods of such possession by quoting actual
examples.
In the time
of Pope Pius II the following was the experience of one
of us two Inquisitors before he entered upon his office
in the Inquisition. A certain Bohemian from the town of
Dachov brought his only son, a secular priest, to Rome
to be delivered, because he was possessed. It happened
that I, one of us Inquisitors, went into a refectory,
and that priest and his father came and sat down at the
same table with me. We saluted each other, and talked
together, as is customary; and the father kept sighing
and praying Almighty God that his journey might prove to
have been successful. I felt great pity for him, and
began to ask what was the reason of his journey and of
his sorrow. Then he, in the hearing of his son who was
sitting next to me at the table, answered: “Alas! I
have a son possessed by a devil, and with great trouble
and expense I have brought him here to be delivered.”
And when I asked where the son was, he showed me him
sitting by my side. I was a little frightened, and
looked at him closely; and because he took his food with
such modesty, and answered piously to all questions, I
began to doubt that he was not possessed, but that some
infirmity had happened to him. Then the son himself told
what had happened, showing how and for how long he had
been possessed, and saying: “A certain witch brought
this evil upon me. For I was rebuking her on some matter
concerned with the discipline of the Church, upbraiding
her rather strongly since she was of an obstinate
disposition, when she said that after a few days that
would happen to me which has happened. And the devil
which possesses me has told me that a charm was placed
by the witch under a certain tree, and that until it was
removed I could not be delivered; but he would not tell
me which was the tree.” But I would not in the least
have believed his words if he had not at once informed
me of the facts of the case. For when I asked him about
the length of the intervals during which he had the use
of his reason more than is usual in the case of persons
possessed, he answered: “I am only deprived of the use
of my reason when I wish to contemplate holy things or
to visit sacred places. For the devil specifically told
me in his own words uttered through my mouth that,
because he had up to that time been much offended by my
sermons to the people, we would in no way allow me to
preach.” For according to his father, he was a
preacher full of grace, and loved by all. But I, the
Inquisitor, wishing for proofs, had him taken for a
fortnight and more to various holy places, and
especially to the Church of S. Praxedes the Virgin,
where there is part of the marble pillar to which Our
Saviour was bound when He was scourged, and to the place
where S. Peter the Apostle was crucified; and in all
these places he uttered horrible cries while he was
being exorcised, now saying that he wished to come
forth, and after a little maintaining the contrary. And
as we have said before, in all his behaviour he remained
a sober priest without any eccentricity, except during
the process of any exorcisms; and when these were
finished, and the stole was taken from his neck, he
showed no sign of madness or any immoderate action. But
when he passed any church, and genuflected in honour of
the Glorious Virgin, the devil made him thrust his
tongue far out of his mouth; and when he was asked
whether he could not restrain himself from doing this,
he answered: “I cannot help myself at all, for so he
uses all my limbs and organs, my neck, my tongue, and my
lungs, whenever he pleases, causing me to speak or to
cry out; and I hear the words as if they were spoken by
myself, but I am altogether unable to restrain them; and
when I try to engage in prayer he attacks me more
violently, thrusting out my tongue.” And there was in
the Church of S. Peter a column brought from Solomon's
Temple, by virtue of which many who are obsessed with
devils are liberated, because Christ had stood near it
when He preached in the Temple; but even here he could
not be delivered, owing to the hidden purpose of God
which reserved another method for his liberation. For
though he remained shut in by the column for a whole day
and night, yet on the following day, after various
exorcisms had been performed upon him, with a great
concourse of people standing round, he was asked by
which part of the column Christ had stood; and he bit
the column with his teeth, and, crying out, showed the
place, saying: “Here He stood! Here He stood!” And
at last he said, “I will not go forth.” And when he
was asked why, he answered in the Italian tongue
(although the poor priest did not understand that
language), They all practise such and such things,
naming the worst vice of lustfulness. And afterwards the
priest asked me, saying, “Father, what did those
Italian words mean which came from my mouth?” And when
I told him, he answered, “I heard the words, but I
could not understand them.” Eventually it proved that
this demoniac was of that sort of which the Saviour
spoke in the Gospel, saying: This sort goeth not out
save by prayer and fasting. For a venerable Bishop, who
had been driven from his see by the Turks, piously took
compassion on him, and by fasting on bread and water for
forty days, and by prayers and exorcisms, at last
through the grace of God delivered him and sent him back
to his home rejoicing.
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