Prescribed
Remedies; to wit, the Lawful Exorcisms of the Church,
for all Sorts of Infirmities and Ills due to Witchcraft;
and the Method of Exorcising those who are Bewitched.
It
has already been stated that witches can afflict men
with every kind of physical infirmity; therefore it can
be taken as a general rule that the various verbal or
practical remedies which can be applied in the case of
those infirmities which we have just been discussing are
equally applicable to all other infirmities, such as
epilepsy or leprosy, for example. And as lawful
exorcisms are reckoned among the verbal remedies and
have been most often considered by us, they may be taken
as a general type of such remedies; and there are three
matters to be considered regarding them.
First, we
must judge whether a person who has not been ordained as
an exorcist, such as a layman or a secular cleric, may
lawfully exorcise devils and their works. Bound up with
this question are three others: namely; first, what
constitutes the legality of this practice; secondly, the
seven conditions which must be observed when one wishes
to make private use of charms and benedictions; and
thirdly, in what way the disease is to be exorcised and
the devil conjured.
Secondly, we
must consider what is to be done when no healing grace
results from the exorcism.
Thirdly, we
must consider practical and not verbal remedies;
together with the solution of certain arguments.
For the
first, we have the opinion of S. Thomas in Book IV,
dist. 23. He says: When a man is ordained as an
exorcist, or into any of the other minor Orders, he has
conferred upon him the power of exorcism in his official
capacity; and this power may even lawfully be used by
those who belong to no Order, but such do not exercise
it in their official capacity. Similarly the Mass can be
said in an unconsecrated house, although the very
purpose of consecrating a church is that the Mass may be
said there; but this is more on account of the grace
which is in the righteous than of the grace of the
Sacrament.
From these
words we may conclude that, although it is good that in
the liberation of a bewitched person recourse should be
had to an exorcist having authority to exorcise such
bewitchments, yet at times other devout persons may,
either with or without any exorcism, cast out this sort
of diseases.
For we hear
of a certain poor and very devout virgin, one of whose
friends has been grievously bewitched in his foot, so
that it was clear to the physicians that he could be
cured by no medicines. But it happened that the virgin
went to visit the sick man, and he at once begged her to
apply some benediction to his foot. She consented, and
did no more than silently say the Lord's Prayer and the
Apostles' Creed, at the same time making use of the sign
of the life-giving Cross. The sick man then felt himself
at once cured, and, that he might have a remedy for the
future, asked the virgin what charms she had used. But
she answered: You are of little faith and do not hold to
the holy and lawful practices of the Church, and you
often apply forbidden charms and remedies for your
infirmities; therefore you are rarely healthy in your
body, because you are always sick in your soul. But if
you would put your trust in prayer and in the efficacy
of lawful symbols, you will often be very easily cured.
For I did nothing but repeat the Lord's Prayer and the
Apostles' Creed, and you are now cured.
This example
gives rise to the question, whether there is not any
efficacy in other benedictions and charms, and even
conjurations by way of exorcism; for they seem to be
condemned in this story. We answer that the virgin
condemned only unlawful charms and unlawful conjurations
and exorcisms.
To understand
these last we must consider how they originated, and how
they came to be abused. For they were in their origin
entirely sacred; but just as by the means of devils and
wicked men all things can be defiled, so also were these
sacred words. For it is said in the last chapter of S.
Mark, of the Apostles and holy men: In My Name shall
they cast out devils; and they visited the sick, and
prayed over them with sacred words; and in after times
priests devoutly used similar rites; and therefore there
are to be found to-day in ancient Churches devout
prayers and holy exorcisms which men can use or undergo,
when they are applied by pious men as they used to be,
without any superstition; even as there are now to be
found learned men and Doctors of holy Theology who visit
the sick and use such words for the healing not only of
demoniacs, but of other diseases as well.
But, alas!
superstitious men have, on the pattern of these, found
for themselves many vain and unlawful remedies which
they employ these days for sick men and animals; and the
clergy have become too slothful to use any more the
lawful words when they visit the sick. On this account
Gulielmus Durandus, the commentator on S. Raymond, says
that such lawful exorcisms may be used by a religious
and discreet priest, or by a layman, or even by a woman
of good life and proved discretion; by the offering of
lawful prayers over the sick: not over fruits or
animals, but over the sick. For the Gospel says: They
shall place their hands upon the sick, etc. And such
persons are not to be prevented from practising in this
way; unless perhaps it is feared that, following their
example, other indiscreet and superstitious persons
should make improper use of incantations. It is these
superstitious diviners whom that virgin we have
mentioned condemned, when she said that they who
consulted with such had weak, that is to say bad, faith.
Now for the
elucidation of this matter it is asked how it is
possible to know whether the words of such charms and
benedictions are lawful or superstitious, and how they
ought to be used; and whether the devil can be conjured
and diseases exorcised.
In the first
place, that is said to be lawful in the Christian
religion which is not superstitious; and that is said to
be superstitious which is over and above the prescribed
form of religion. See Colossians ii: which things
indeed have a show of wisdom in superstition: on which
the gloss says: Superstition is undisciplined religion,
that is, religion observed with defective methods in
evil circumstance.
Anything,
also, is superstition which human tradition without
higher authority has caused to usurp the name of
religion; such is the interpolation of hymns at Holy
Mass, the alteration of the Preface for Requiems, the
abbreviation of the Creed which it to be sung at Mass,
the reliance upon an organ rather than upon the choir
for the music, neglect to have a Server on the Altar,
and such practices. But to return to our point, when a
work is done by virtue of the Christian religion, as
when someone wishes to heal the sick by means of prayer
and benediction and sacred words, which is the matter we
are considering), such a person must observe seven
conditions by which such benedictions are rendered
lawful. And even if he uses adjurations, through the
virtue of the Divine Name, and by the virtue of the
works of Christ, His Birth, Passion and Precious Death,
by which the devil was conquered and cast out; such
benedictions and charms and exorcisms shall be called
lawful, and they who practise them are exorcists or
lawful enchanters. See S. Isidore, Etym. VIII,
Enchanters are they whose art and skill lies in the use
of words.
And the first
of these conditions, as we learn from S. Thomas, is that
there must be nothing in the words which hints at any
expressed or tacit invocation of devils. If such were
expressed, it would be obviously unlawful. If it were
tacit, it might be considered in the light of intention,
or in that of fact: in that of intention, when the
operator has no care whether it is God or the devil who
is helping him, so long as he attains his desired
result; in that of fact, when a person has no natural
aptitude for such work, but creates some artificial
means. And of such not only must physicians and
astronomers be the judges, but especially Theologians.
For in this way do necromancers work, making images and
rings and stones by artificial means; which have no
natural virtue to effect the results which they very
often expect: therefore the devil must be concerned in
their works.
Secondly, the
benedictions or charms must contain no unknown names;
for according to S. John Chrysostom such are to be
regarded with fear, lest they should conceal some matter
of superstition.
Thirdly,
there must be nothing in the words that is untrue; for
if there is, the effect of them cannot be from God, Who
is not a witness to a lie. But some old women in their
incantations use some such jingling doggerel as the
following:
Blessed MARY went a-walking
Over Jordan river.
Stephen met her, and fell a-talking, etc.
Fourthly,
there must be no vanities, or written characters beyond
the sign of the Cross. Therefore the charms which
soldiers are wont to carry are condemned.
Fifthly, no
faith must be placed in the method of writing or reading
or binding the charm about a person, or in any such
vanity, which has nothing to do with the reverence of
God, without which a charm is altogether superstitious.
Sixthly, in
the citing and uttering of Divine words and of Holy
Scripture attention must only be paid to the sacred
words themselves and their meaning, and to the reverence
of God; whether the effect be looked for from the Divine
virtue, or from the relics of Saints, which are a
secondary power, since their virtue springs originally
from God.
Seventhly,
the looked-for effect must be left tot he Divine Will;
for He knows whether it is best for a man to be healed
or to be plagued, or to die. This condition was set down
by S. Thomas.
So we may
conclude that if none of these conditions be broken, the
incantation will be lawful. And S. Thomas writes in this
connexion on the last chapter of S. Mark: And
these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name
shall they cast out devils; they shall take up serpents.
From this it is clear that, provided the above
conditions are observed, it is lawful by means of sacred
words to keep serpents away.
S. Thomas
says further: The words of God are not less holy than
the Relics of the Saints. As S. Augustine says: The word
of God is not less than the Body of Christ. But all are
agreed that it is lawful to carry reverently about the
person the Relics of the Saints: therefore let us by all
means invoke the name of God by duly using the Lord's
Prayer and the Angelic Salutation, by His Birth and
Passion, by His Five Wounds, and by the Seven Words
which He spoke on the Cross, by the Triumphant
Inscription, by the three nails, and by the other
weapons of Christ's army against the devil and his
works. By all these means it is lawful to work, and our
trust may be placed in them, leaving the issue to God's
will.
And what has
been said about the keeping off of serpents applies also
to other animals, provided that the attention is fixed
only on the sacred words and the Divine virtue. But
great care is to be used in incantations of this nature.
For S. Thomas says: Such diviners often use unlawful
observances, and obtain magic effects by means of
devils, especially in the case of serpents; for the
serpent was the devil's first instrument by which he
deceived mankind.
For in the
town of Salzburg there was a certain mage who one day,
in open view of all, wanted to charm all the snakes into
a particular pit, and kill them all within an area of a
mile. So he gathered all the snakes together, and was
himself standing over the pit, when last of all there
came a huge and horrible serpent which would not go into
the pit. This serpent kept making signs to the man to
let it go away and crawl where it would; but he would
not cease from his incantation, but insisted that, as
all the other snakes had entered the pit and there died,
so also must this horrible serpent. But it stood on the
opposite side to the warlock, and suddenly leapt over
the pit and fell upon the man, wrapping itself round his
belly, and dragged him with itself into the pit, where
they both died. From this it may be seen that only for a
useful purpose, such as driving them away from men's
houses, are such incantations to be practised, and they
are to be done by the Divine virtue, and in the fear of
God, and with reverence.
In the second
place we have to consider how exorcisms or charms of
this kind ought to be used, and whether they should be
worn round the neck or sewn into the clothing. It may
seem that such practices are unlawful; for S. Augustine
says, in the Second Book on the Christian Doctrine:
There are a thousand magic devices and amulets and
charms which are all superstitious, and the School of
Medicine utterly condemns them all, whether they are
incantations, or certain marks which are called
characters, or engraved charms to be hung round the
neck.
Also S. John
Chrysostom, commenting on S. Matthew, says: Some
persons wear round their neck some written portion of
the Gospel; but is not the Gospel every day read in the
church and heard by all? How then shall a man be helped
by wearing the Gospel round his neck, when he has reaped
no benefit from hearing it with his ears? For in what
does the virtue of the Gospel consist; in the characters
of its letters, or in the meaning of its words? If in
the characters, you do well to hang it round your neck;
but if in the meaning, surely it is of more benefit when
planted in the heart than when worn round the neck.
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