Certain Remedies
prescribed against those Dark and Horrid Harms with
which Devils may Afflict Men.
Yet
again we reserve our judgement in discussing the
remedies against certain injuries to the fruits of the
earth, which are caused by canker-worms, or by huge
flights of locusts and other insects which cover vast
areas of land, and seem to hide the surface of the
ground, eating up everything to the very roots in the
vineyards and devouring fields of ripe crops. In the
same light too we consider the remedies against the
stealing of children by the work of devils.
But with
regard to the former kind of injury we may quote S.
Thomas, the Second of the Second, Question 90,
where he asks whether it is lawful to adjure an
irrational creature. He answers that it is; but only in
the way of compulsion, by which it is sent back to the
devil, who uses irrational creatures to harm us. And
such is the method of adjuration in the exorcisms of the
Church by which the power of the devil is kept away from
irrational creatures. But if the adjuration is addressed
to the irrational creature itself, which understands
nothing, then it would be nugatory and vain. From this
it can be understood that they can be driven off by
lawful exorcisms and adjurations, the help of the Divine
mercy being granted; but first the people should be
bidden to fast and to go in procession and practice
other devotions. For this sort of evil is sent on
account of adulteries and the multiplication of crimes;
wherefore men must be urged to confess their sins.
In some
provinces even solemn excommunications are pronounced;
but then they obtain power of adjuration over devils.
Another
terrible thing which God permits to happen to men is
when their own children are taken away from women, and
strange children are put in their place by devils. And
these children, which are commonly called changelings,
or in the German tongue Wechselkinder, are of
three kinds. For some are always ailing and crying, and
yet the milk of four women is not enough to satisfy
them. Some are generated by the operation of Incubus
devils, of whom, however, they are not the sons, but of
that man from whom the devil has received the semen as a
Succubus, or whose semen he has collected from some
nocturnal pollution in sleep. For these children are
sometimes, by Divine permission, substituted for the
real children.
And there is
a third kind, when the devils at times appear in the
form of young children and attach themselves to the
nurses. But all three kinds have this in common, that
though they are very heavy, they are always ailing and
do not grow, and cannot receive enough milk to satisfy
them, and are often reported to have vanished away.
And it can be
said that the Divine pity permits such things for two
reasons. First, when the parents dote upon their
children too much, and this a punishment for their own
good. Secondly, it is to be presumed that the women to
whom such things happen are very superstitious, and are
in many other ways seduced by devils. But God is truly
jealous in the right sense of the word, which means a
strong love for a man's own wife, which not only does
not allow another man to approach her, but like a
jealous husband will not suffer the hint or suspicion of
adultery. In the same way is God jealous of the soul
which He bought with His Precious Blood and espoused in
the Faith; and cannot suffer it to be touched by, to
converse with, or in any way to approach or have
dealings with the devil, the enemy and adversary of
salvation. And if a jealous husband cannot suffer even a
hint of adultery, how much more will he be disturbed
when adultery is actually committed! Therefore it is no
wonder if their own children are taken away and
adulterous children substituted.
And indeed
that it may be more strongly impressed how God is
jealous of the soul, and will not suffer anything which
might cause a suspicion, it is shown in the Old Law
where, that He might drive His people farther from
idolatry, He not only forbade idolatry, but also many
other things which might give occasion to idolatry, and
seemed to have no use in themselves, although in some
marvellous way they retain some use in a mystical sense.
For He not only says in Exodus xxii: Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live on this earth; but He adds
this: She shall not dwell in thy land, lest perchance
she cause thee to sin. Similarly common bawds and
bulkers are put to death, and not allowed to company
with men.
Note the
jealousy of God, Who says as follows in Deuteronomy
xxii: If thou find a bird's nest, and the dam sitting
upon the eggs or upon the young ones, thou shalt not
take the dam with the young, but thou shalt let the dam
fly away; because the Gentiles used these to procure
sterility. The jealous God would not suffer in His
people this sign of adultery. In like manner in our days
when old women find a penny, they think it a sign of
great fortune; and conversely, when they dream of money
it is an unlucky sign. Also God taught that all vessels
should be covered, and that when a vessel had no cover
it should be considered unclean.
There was an
erroneous belief that when devils came in the night (or
the Good People as old women call them, though they are
witches, or devils in their forms) they must eat up
everything, that afterwards they may bring greater
abundance of stores. Some people give colour to the
story, and call them Screech Owls; but this is against
the opinion of the Doctors, who say that there are no
rational creatures except men and Angels; therefore they
can only be devils.
Again, in Leviticus
xix: Ye shall not round the corners of your heads,
neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard; because
they did this idolatrously in veneration of idols.
Again in Deuteronomy
xxii: God says that men shall not put on the garments of
women, or conversely; because they did this in honour of
the goddess Venus, and others in honour of Mars or
Priapus.
And for the
same reason He commanded the altars of idols to be
destroyed; and Hezechias destroyed the Brazen Serpent
when the people wanted to sacrifice to it, saying: It is
brass. For the same reason He forbade the observance of
visions and auguries, and commanded that the man or
woman in whom there was a familiar spirit should be put
to death. Such are now called soothsayers. All these
things, because they give rise to suspicion of spiritual
adultery, therefore, as has been said, from the jealousy
which God has for the souls He has espoused, as a
husband espouses a wife, they were all forbidden by Him.
And so we
preachers also ought to bear in mind that no sacrifice
is more acceptable to God than a jealousy of souls, as
S. Jerome says in his commentaries upon Ezekiel.
Therefore in
the Third Part of this work we shall treat the
extermination of witches, which is the ultimate remedy.
For this is the last recourse of the Church, to which
she is bound by Divine commandment. For it has been
said: Ye shall not suffer witches to live upon the
earth. And with this will be included the remedies
against archer-wizards; since this kind can only be
exterminated by secular law.
A remedy.
When certain persons for the sake of temporal gain have
devoted themselves entirely to the devil, it has often
been found that, though they may be freed from the
devil's power by true confession, yet they have been
long and grievously tormented, especially in the night.
And God allows this for their punishment. But a sign
that they have been delivered is that, after confession,
all the money in their purses or coffers vanishes. Many
examples of this could be adduced, but for the sake of
brevity they are passed over and omitted.
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