Remedies prescribed
for Those who are Bewitched by the Limitation of the
Generative Power.
Although far more women are witches than men, as was
shown in the First Part of the work, yet men are more
often bewitched than women. And the reason for this lies
in the fact that God allows the devil more power over
the venereal act, by which the original sin is handed
down, than over other human actions. In the same way He
allows more witchcraft to be performed by means of
serpents, which are more subject to incantations than
other animals, because that was the first instrument of
the devil. And the venereal act can be more readily and
easily bewitched in a man than in a woman, as has been
clearly shown. For there are five ways in which the
devil can impede the act of generation, and they are
more easily operated against men.
As far as
possible we shall set out the remedies which can be
applies in each separate kind of obstruction; and let
him who is bewitched in this faculty take note to which
class of obstruction he belongs. For there are five
classes, according to Peter a Palude in his Fourth Book,
dist. 34, of the trial of this sort of bewitchment.
For the
devil, being a spirit, has by his very nature power,
with God's permission, over a bodily creature,
especially to promote or to prevent local motion. So by
this power they can prevent the bodies of men and women
from approaching each other; and this either directly or
indirectly. Directly, when they remove one to a distance
from another, and do not allow him to approach the
other. Indirectly, when they cause some obstruction, or
when they interpose themselves in an assumed body. So it
happened that a young Pagan who had married an idol, but
none the less contracted a marriage with a girl; but
because of this he was unable to copulate with her, as
has been shown above.
Secondly, the
devil can inflame a man towards one woman and render him
impotent towards another; and this he can secretly cause
by the application of certain herbs or other matters of
which he well knows the virtue for this purpose.
Thirdly, he
can disturb the apperception of a man or a woman, so
that he makes one appear hideous to the other; for, as
has been shown, he can influence the imagination.
Fourthly, he
can suppress the vigour of that member which is
necessary for procreation; just as he can deprive any
organ of the power of local motion.
Fifthly, he
can prevent the flow of the semen to the members in
which is the motive power, by as it were closing the
seminal duct so that it does not descend to the genital
vessels, or does not ascend again from them, or cannot
come forth, or is spent vainly.
But if a man
should say: I do not know by which of these different
methods I have been bewitched; all I know is that I
cannot do anything with my wife: he should be answered
in this way. If he is active and able with regard to
other women, but not with his wife, then he is bewitched
in the second way; for he can be certified as to the
first way, that he is being deluded by Succubus or
Incubus devils. Moreover, if he does not find his wife
repellent, and yet cannot know her, but can know other
women, then again it is the second way; but if he finds
her repellent and cannot copulate with her, then it is
the second and the third way. If he does not find her
repellent and wishes to have connexion with her, but has
no power in his member, then it is the fourth way. But
if he has power in his member, yet cannot emit his
semen, then it is the fifth way. The method of curing
these will be shown where we consider whether those who
live in grace and those who do not are equally liable to
be bewitched in these manners; and we answer that they
are not, with the exception of the fourth manner, and
even then very rarely. For such an affliction can happen
to a man living in grace and righteousness; but the
reader must understand that in this case we speak of the
conjugal act between married people; for in any other
case they are all liable to bewitchment; for every
venereal act outside wedlock is a mortal sin, and is
only committed by those who are not in a state of grace.
We have,
indeed, the authority of the whole of Scriptural
teaching that God allows the devil to afflict sinners
more than the just. For although that most just man,
Job, was stricken, yet he was not so particularly or
directly in respect of the procreant function. And it
may be said that, when a married couple are afflicted in
this way, either both the parties or one of them is not
living in a state of grace; and this opinion is
substantiated in the Scriptures both by authority and by
reason. For the Angel said to Tobias: The devil receives
power against those who are given over to lust: and he
proved it in the slaying of the seven husbands of the
virgin Sara.
Cassian, in
his Collation of the Fathers, quotes S. Antony as
saying that the devil can in no way enter our mind or
body unless he has first deprived it of all holy
thoughts and made it empty and bare of spiritual
contemplation. These words should not be applies to an
evil affliction over the whole of the body, for when Job
was so afflicted he was not denuded of Divine grace; but
they have particular reference to a particular infirmity
inflicted upon the body for some sin. And the infirmity
we are considering can only be due to the sin of
incontinence. For, as we have said, God allows the devil
more power over that act than over other human acts,
because of its natural nastiness, and because by it the
first sin was handed down to posterity. Therefore when
people joined in matrimony have for some sin been
deprived of Divine help, God allows them to be bewitched
chiefly in their procreant functions.
But if it is
asked of what sort are those sins, it can be said,
according to S. Jerome, that even in a state of
matrimony it is possible to commit the sin of
incontinence in various ways. See the text: He who loves
his wife to excess is an adulterer. And they who love in
this way are more liable to be bewitched after the
manner we have said.
The remedies
of the Church, then, are twofold: one applicable in the
public court, the other in the tribunal of the
confessional. As for the first, when it has been
publicly found that the impotence is due to witchcraft,
then it must be distinguished whether it is temporary or
permanent. If it is only temporary, it does not annul
the marriage. And it is assumed to be temporary if,
within the space of three years, by using every possible
expedient of the Sacraments of the Church and other
remedies, a cure can be caused. But if, after that time,
they cannot be cured by any remedy, then it is assumed
to be permanent.
Now the
disability either precedes both the contract and the
consummation of marriage; and in this case it impedes
the contract: or it follows the contract but precedes
the consummation; and in this case it annuls the
contract. For men are very often bewitched in this way
because they have cast off their former mistresses, who,
hoping that they were to be married and being
disappointed, so bewitch the men that they cannot
copulate with another woman. And in such a case,
according to the opinion of many, the marriage already
contracted is annulled, unless, like Our Blessed Lady
and S. Joseph they are willing to live together in holy
continence. This opinion is supported by the Canon where
it says (23, q. I) that a marriage is confirmed by the
carnal act. And a little later it says that impotence
before such confirmation dissolves the ties of marriage.
Or else the
disability follows the consummation of a marriage, and
then it does not dissolve the bonds of matrimony. Much
more to this effect is noted by the Doctors, where in
various writings they treat of the obstruction due to
witchcraft; but since it is not precisely relevant to
the present inquiry, it is here omitted.
But some may
find it difficult to understand how this function can be
obstructed in respect of one woman but not of another.
S. Bonaventura answers that this may be because some
witch has persuaded the devil to effect this only with
respect to one woman, or because God will not allow the
obstruction to apply save to some particular woman. The
judgement of God in this matter is a mystery, as in the
case of the wife of Tobias. But how the devil procures
this disability is plainly shown by what has already
been said. And S. Bonaventura says that he obstructs the
procreant function, not intrinsically by harming the
organ, but extrinsically by impeding its use; and it is
an artificial, not a natural impediment; and so he an
cause it to apply to one woman and not to another. Or
else he takes away all desire for one or another woman;
and this he does by his own power, or else by means of
some herb or stone or some occult creature. And in this
he is in substantial agreement with Peter a Palude.
The
ecclesiastical remedy in the tribunal of God is set
forth in the Canon where it says: If with the permission
of the just and secret judgement of God, through the
arts of sorceresses and witches and the preparation of
the devil, men are bewitched in their procreant
function, they are to be urged to make clean confession
to God and His priest of all their sins with a contrite
heart and a humble spirit; and to make satisfaction to
God with many tears and large offerings and prayers and
fasting.
From these
words it is clear that such afflictions are only on
account of sin, and occur only to those who do not live
in a state of grace. It proceeds to tell how the
ministers of the Church can effect a cure by means of
exorcisms and the other protections and cures provided
by the Church. In this way, with the help of God,
Abraham cured by his prayers Abimelech and his house.
In conclusion
we may say that there are five remedies which may
lawfully be applied to those who are bewitched in this
way: namely, a pilgrimage to some holy and venerable
shrine; true confession of their sins with contrition;
the plentiful use of the sign of the Cross and devout
prayer; lawful exorcism by solemn words, the nature of
which will be explained later; and lastly, a remedy can
be effected by prudently approaching the witch, as was
shown in the case of the Count who for three years was
unable to cohabit carnally with a virgin whom he had
married.
|