Book IT, c. 4.

Jehan Molinetf (Chroniques,l’an 1491) describes a most pestilent. vexation lasting for many years with which God, on account of the sin of one of them who had long fornicated with a demon, permitted Satan to afflict a convent of holy virgins of le Quesnoy. The Dean of Cambrai, a learned and righteous man, came with other Exor- cists, and having celebrated the Mass carried the life-giving Host to the possessed community. But the demons could not endure this, and cried out together: “‘Ah, are you well armed? Have you bread there?” “‘What are you calling bread?’ said the dean. **If this is nothing but bread, remain in possession of this body: but if, as we believe, It is the true Body of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 1 command you to depart at once from this body and
* “Abbot William.” William of S. Thierry, author of the “‘Uita Prima’? of the Saint.
t ‘“ Jehan Molinet”’ cover the period from 1474 to 1504. Molinet died in 1507. There were cur- rent many MSS. of the ‘‘Chroniques’’ but actu- ally they were not published until they appeared in five volumes, 1828. -
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never more to trouble it.’”? When he had said this (oh, wonderful!) the possessed woman seemed as if she were freed from a great burden, and at once began to breathe freely and to cry aloud on the name of Jesus; and all the others did likewise, being freed when the demons were driven away.
That the like of this happened in our own times at Laon in Belgium is well known to many thousands of Calvinists who witnessed it to their terror and confusion.
S. Auxentius the Abbot had a disciple named Basil who was so terribly afflicted by demons that, with his whole body wounded and broken, he was taken for dead in a cart to S. Auxentius. The holy Abbot ordered him to arise and to take the venerable Body and the life-giving Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to return at once to his home. Upon this he went away, and the tempter assailed him no more.
A history, surpassing all wonder, is related by Bernard of Luxemburg con- cerning one Guido de Lachia (Cata- logus haereticorum, sub littera G). This man obtained such a false reputation for sanctity in the Diocese of Brixen that the people took him to be a second S. John Baptist, and therefore gave him a most honourable burial. After his death the Inquisitors were led by certain sure indications to pronounce that he was a heretic; and therefore, following the advice of the Bishop and other wise men who were his assessors, they passed a sentence that his body should be exhumed and burned. This was done in the presence of the people, - and his bones were thrown upon the fire: but behold, certain demons, which were seen by not a few, lifted them from the pyre and held them suspended in the air. This aroused the indignation of the people, who cried out: “Death to the Bishop and these Monks who, out of jealousy, have tried to burn the bones of a Saint! Why do we hold our hands? God is manifesting unto us His sore dis-
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pleasure !”? The Bishop was afraid, but the Inquisitors encouraged him to commence Holy Mass, saying that God would perform a miracle rather than permit the cause of the Faith to be imperilled. He then said the Mass of Our Lady; and when it came to the Elevation of the Lord’s Body the demons began to shout in the air: “O Guido de Lachia, we have defended you to the best of our power but can do so no longer, for a greater than we is here.’? At once the bones fell back upon the pyre and were burned to ashes in the flame.
Peter Martyr d’Anghierra, who composed the history of the voyage of Columbus to that Western Land of the Indians, testifies that the follow- _ing miracle commonly happened: if the Sacrament of the Eucharist was reserved anywhere by the Christians the demons at once were silenced in that place.
Nearly four hundred years ago lived Caesarius of Heisterbach, who in his Dialogue of Miracles, 1X, 12, wrote as follows: At the time when the heresy of the Albigenses began to manifest itself some malignants, supported by the power of the devil, showed certain signs and portents by which they both strengthened that heresy and subverted the faith of many Catholics: for they used to walk upon the waters without sinking. A certain priest of the Catholic faith and of religious life saw this and, knowing that no true signs could proceed from a false doctrine, carried the Lord’s Body in a Pyx to the river where these men were to show the people their powers, and said in the hearing of all: “I adjure thee, thou devil, by Him whom I bear in my hands, that thou work not such phan- tasies upon this river by means of these men to the subversion of the people.” Saying this, and while the men were walking as before upon the waters of the river, the priest in righteous wrath by some inspiration threw the Lord’s Body into the river. Marvellous is the might of Christ: for
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as soon as the Sacred Host touched the water phantasy gave place to truth, and those false saints sank like lead to the bottom and were drowned. But the Pyx with the Sacrament was immediately borne away by Angels. Seeing all this the priest rejoiced, in- deed, in the miracle, but grieved at having thrown away the Sacrament. spending the whole night in tears and groaning. But in the morning, he found the Pyx with the Sacrament upon the Altar.
In the same century, in the year 1231, lived Thomas of Brabant, com- monly called Cantimpratanus, who tells the following: At the time that Master Conrad was preaching in Thuringia against the heretics and died a martyr at their hands, a certain heretic, thereto persuaded by demons, invited one of the Preaching Friars to embrace his heresy, and when he saw that he very firmly resisted him, said: “You hold very fast to your faith, and yet you have no proof of it save cer- tain writings. But if you would believe my words, I would show you, as ocular proof, Christ and His Mother and the Saints.” The Friar soon suspected some illusion of demons, but wishing
to see what it would be, said: ‘‘You:
would verily deserve to be believed, if you fulfilled your promises.” The heretic joyfully appointed a day for the Friar; but the Friar secretly brought with him under his hood a Pyx with the Sacrament of the Body of Christ. The heretic led the Friar to a cave in a mountain, as wide as a palace and marvellously lit; and as soon as they reached the inner end of it they saw thrones, seemingly of the purest gold, on which sat a King surrounded with a dazzling brightness, and next to him a most beautiful Queen, serene of countenance; and on each side were seats upon which sat the older Patri- archs and, as it were, Apostles, with a great multitude of Angels standing by; and all shone with a heavenly light: so that they could be thought to be nothing less than demons. As soon as
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the heretic saw them he fell upon his face and worshipped; but the Friar stood motionless, yet mightily amazed at this spectacle. Soon the heretic turned to him and said: ‘“Why do you not worship when you look upon the Son of God? Fall down and worship him whom you see, and you will learn the secrets of our faith from his lips.” Then the Friar came near and drew out the Pyx and, offering It to the Queen sitting upon the throne, said: “If thou art the Queen, the Mother of Christ, behold there thy Son. If thou receive Him, I shall acknowledge thee to be the Mother of God.” At these words the whole of that phantasm vanished at once, and the brightness was extinguished, and the darkness was so thick that the Friar and his guide could hardly find their way back out on to the mountain. The heretic was then converted and returned to the Faith, and trembled with terror at the wonderful cunning of the devil. Here is another story, told by Pico della Mirandola in his De Strigibus. Fifteen years since, there dwelt in the Rhaetian Alps a certain good priest, and he had need to take the Eucharist to a man sick unto death, who lived a long distance away. Thinking that if he went on foot he would not reach him as quickly as he ought he mounted his horse, with the most Holy Body of Christ in a Pyx reverently fastened about his neck, and so rode as fast as he could. When he had gone some dis- tance he met a wayfarer who asked him to dismount and go with him to see a most wonderful sight. Rashly, from a desire to see this marvel, the priest obeyed ; and hardly had he dis- mounted from his horse before he felt himself carried through the air with his companion, and in a short time set down upon the top of a very high mountain, where there was a fair plain full of lofty trees and surrounded by forbidding rocks. In the midst was a great company and games of all sorts, and tables loaded with various luxur- ies of food and drink; and a sound of
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IgI sweetest singing was heard; and there came women such as can enslave a man’s soul with their beauty and soften his very marrow with the sweet- ness they exhale. The simple good priest wholly astounded at this un- expected event was speechless for very wonder, not daring to open his mouth; yea, he was quite beyond himself and struck still with astonishment. Then his companion who had led him there asked him if he wished to worship as a suppliant before the Queen who was there present, and to offer her any gift. On a high throne sat a Queen of most beautiful appearance, adorned in royal splendour and marvellous rich jewels: and all who were there went up to her and prostrated themselves tothe ground in two or four ranks in the fairest manner, and worshipped her and offered her various gifts. Hearing the word Queen, and seeing her so resplen- dent and surrounded by so many ministers, the priest thought that she was the Mother of Christ, Queen of Heaven and Earth; for he did not suspect any prestige or devilish glamour, or otherwise he would not have gone near to her. Considering with himself, then, what gift he should offer to her, he thought that none could be more grateful or acceptable than the Body of Her Son; and he went up and, kneeling as a suppliant at her feet, took the Pyx containing the Most August Sacrament from his neck and placed it upon the woman’s lap. Everything then at once vanished in a miraculous manner. Astounded at this strange experience the simple man saw that he had been ensnared by an illu- sion, and tremblingly began to beseech the help of God to bring him safe from such a wandering from the right way. For a long time he strayed through trackless places and vast forests until at last he found a shepherd who put him upon his road and informed him that he was a hundred miles from the place to which he wished to carry the Euchar- ist. At last he reached home again, and told the whole matter to the
192
Magistrates. This happened during the reign of Maximilian.
S. Augustine (City of God, XXII, 8) tells us that a man named Hesperius, who had formerly been a tribune, possessed a farm called Zubedi in the district of Fussala; and on account of the sickness afflicting his animals and his servants he found that his house was suffering from the visitation of malignant spirits. Therefore, in my absence, he asked our priests to send one of their number; and they granted his request. A priest went, and offered these the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ, and prayed with all his might that that vexation should cease. And God at once had mercy, and it ceased.
S. Augustine says again in the Ninth Book and also in the fifth chapter of his Collation that witches confess that they are freed from all vexation by the devil while they are hearing Mass; and there- fore they remain as long as they can at about midday in Catholic churches where many Masses are said.
6. Itis not Meet to Joke with Demons.
Nider in his Formicarius says that he saw a Brother in a monastery at Cologne who was rather ribald of speech, but famous for his power of casting out demons. This man was casting a demon from the body of a possessed person in the precincts of the monastery at Cologne, and the demon asked him to give him a place to go to; whereupon the Brother jokingly said: “Go to my privy.”’ The demon went out; and in the night, when the Brother wished to purge his belly, the demon attacked him so fiercely in the privy that he escaped with difficulty with his life.
Therefore the casting out of demons is a sacred matter, and should be undertaken most reverently.
7. Of Prayer.
In the year 1549 a man confessed to a Jesuit Father that while he was per-
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forming in the middle of the night the penance set him by his confessor, he
suddenly saw squadrons of cats, mice, and other beasts, black in colour and of a terrible appearance, so numerous that they seemed to fill the whole bedroom. Terrified by this sight he began to tremble for fear lest he should be seized alive by those beasts; and in his fear he ran to an image of Our Lord crying aloud for His Help. Thereupon all the animals suddenly vanished, with such a commotion and shrieking and outcry that it seemed as if the house would fall down.
At Bungo in Japan there was in the year 1555 a family which had been tormented by demons for a hundred years, so that the evil became as it were hereditary in that family of shepherds. The father had spent all his wealth in placating idols, but the evil rather grew than abated. His son, now thirty years old, was possessed by a demon so that he did not know his father and mother, and took no food for fifteen days. At the end of that time one of the Jesuit Fathers came to him and bade him call upon S. Michael ; but when he named the Saint he was struck with a violent trembling and threw his limbs about in such a way as to frighten those who were by. But when the priest invoked God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he was incontinently delivered from the demon. A few days later his
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sister was beset by the demon’s moles- tations; and in the midst of her agony she cried out in the hearing of the Jesuits that she wished to become a Christian. When she was brought to the sacred font and tried to protect herself with the holy sign of the Cross, she began to shake and tremble vio- lently. The priest poured forth fervid prayers; and she herself strove to utter the Sacred Name of Jesus and that of S. Michael, but the demon only plagued her the more, forcibly sealing her mouth fast. At last, however, she burst out into a kind of refrain and cried: “‘If we reject the Idols Xacca (Shaka) and Amida, the founders of the Japanese religion, there is no one left who should be worshipped.” And much more she said of this sort, which no one could understand. One day, when many Christians were present, the priest celebrated Mass, and the possessed woman also was there. When he had finished he asked her how she was, and she answered: “‘Very well.” But when she was told to pronounce the name of S. Michael, she began to shake and gnash her teeth, and the demon said that he would come out but, because he had for so many years used that family as his lodging, it was against his will to depart. The priest again bade her utter the name of S. Michael, and she answered that it was very troublesome to her, and shed tears and complainingly said: ‘Whither shall I go??? Then all the Christians joined in prayer; and when they had prayed enough the demon departed from her whom he had till then pos- sessed. ‘The woman at once asked for a drink to be given her; and when she was bidden to invoke the Names of Jesus and Mary, she pronounced them with such sweetness that it seemed like the voice of an Angel.
In the year 1588 there was in a hospital at Briinn in Moravia a woman who was so bitterly plagued by the devil that sometimes she tried to drown herself, and sometimes tried to do away with herself with a knife
O
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. 193 which she deliberately seized in order to injure herself; but she was pre- vented by all the others in the hospital. After she had been thus afflicted for three years, she was stricken with apoplexy; and her tongue was tied up so that she could not speak. A request was sent to the priests to ask for the prayers of the people: and God heard their prayers, for first the knot of her tongue was unloosed and then that of her soul, as was proved after she had made a good Confession, and received Sacra- mental absolution.
In the Letters of Luis Frées (anno 1596) there is the following history:
A certain Nobleman formerly of great honour and authority who lived near Funai had a daughter who was married to a heathen, her mother and all her family being heathens also, and none being a Christian except the said Nobleman, who was a good and religious man. It happened that his daughter fell suddenly ill and in six days was near to death; and it was said that she was possessed by a demon, because her gestures were so frantic and strange that she could hardly be held by two or three men. Her husband and father-in-law im- plored the Bonzes for help; but they could help her no whit with their vain rites and superstitious trifling. When the woman seemed to be at death’s door they told her father, who dwelt eighteen miles away. He hurried to her as quickly as he could and found his daughter alive indeed, but so delirious that she did not recognise her father. He then ordered the Bonzes and the other heathens about the bed to be removed; and taking his Rosary recited the Lord’s Prayer three times and was commencing the Angelic Salutation. Meanwhile the woman became no better, but rather was convulsed with more terrible spasms than before, so that now many men could hardly hold her down. Her father again had recourse to the Rosary, and beat her back with it
194 saying: ““You seem to me to be some demon. Depart from this body.”? And the demon answered: “I shall not depart.”’ The father, being a man of eminent virtue, threw the Rosary about her neck, saying: ““Whether you will or no, you shall depart.’’ Then the demon said: ‘“‘Take away the Rosary, for it tears my neck; and then I will depart.” The father answered: ‘I shall not take it away.” Then he took some ropes and threatened that he would whip him ; and so the demon departed and left the woman free.
8. Of the Guardian Angel.
LEE”
Wills Ulli WLLL LLL LP
WITLI
Ferdinand of Castile,* the Historian of the Order of S. Dominic, relates the following: At Vouzella, a town in the district of Coimbra, was born one Egidius (or Giles) ofnoble parents. Whilst he was still but a youth, owing to his own natural talents and family influence he obtained no less than three rich benefices and also a Priory. But now he abandoned himself to
* “Ferdinand of Castile.” “Historia gener alts Ordinis Praedicatorum, Pars prima; liber secundus; cap. Ixxti. The history of Blessed Gil of Santarem, O.P., who was born c. 1185 and died at Santarem, 14 May, 1265, 1s related by all Dominican hagiographers and chroniclers. The cult of Blessed Gil was ratified by Benedict XIV on 9 March, 1748. His Seast is kept throughout the Order on 14 May as a semi-duplex.
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every vice. He was well versed in the humane sciences, and determined to acquire a complete knowledge of Philosophy and Medicine, thinking that this would provide him with greater opportunity to practise his iniquities. Accordingly he set out for Paris with that object in view. On his way he fell in with a demon in human shape; and his evil travelling companion (who knew him well, though Egidius did not know what he was) by degrees began to ask ques- tions ; and when he heard the purpose of his journey, he said: “‘Why do you not rather listen to me? I will give you knowledge which is both easy to acquire and is chiefly of use for obtaining those honours and pleasures which you have in mind, being the very perfection of all medicine. It is Necromancy I mean.” With these words he persuaded Egidius, and led him away to a vast cavern near the City of Toledo, where he was joyfully met and received by men and demons in human form; and they entered the cavern. Not only was an oath of secrecy exacted from him, but he was made to swear perpetual allegiance and homage; yet he did this full willingly, confirming his promise with a paper signed with his own blood. For seven years after this he deeply studied the Black Arts and Magic, and then proceeded to Paris where in a short time he made marvellous pro- gress among the followers of Hippo- crates and obtained the degree of Doctor. He began to give way to viler and viler enormities and sins, and rushed headlong from crime to crime, so that it was doubtful which waxed the greater, the fame of his learning or the infamy of his wicked- ness. But oh! the goodness of God! For since He could not lead him by gentleness He would have him by force. Behold there came a horseman brandishing a spear, and, looking at the miserable man with an angry countenance, cried to him threaten- ingly: “Leave this life and these evil
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ways, and turn again to the practice of good.” Egidius was seized with a sudden panic, but as soon as it had passed he was unwilling to change his manner of life and returned to wallow in his filth. Three days later the same horseman appeared looking even more terrible and not only used the same threatening words, telling him to change his manner of life, but pierced his breast with his spear, wounding it slightly. This broke his spirit, and he said: “I yield myself: I shall do what you command, Lord.’ You would have said that he was Saul fallen prostrate upon the ground. He fully determined to give himself entirely to God and, obeying some inner impulse (which, as I think, was inspired by his Guardian Angel who had appeared to him), resolved to join some Religious Order. In this mind he started back for Paris, and while he was passing through Palencia, where the Domini- can Brothers were then building a monastery, he felt a sudden wish to observe the work. He saw men of evident sanctity and learning, some of them aged and enfeebled, who had formerly been delicately nurtured, mixing mortar, cutting wood, shaping stone, and bearing loads upon their shoulders with the greatest cheerful- ness and alacrity. He wished to join them, and at once asked to be admitted and was granted his request. He fulfilled his novitiate under the spur of a great hope of future sanctity, and after some years was sent to Santarem in Portugal where he increased in prayer and in his victory over himself. The one regret which tortured him was that that obscene and execrable paper was still in the possession of the demon. Therefore he commended himself the more fer- vently to the Queen of Heaven, pray- ing not without tears and frequent sighing for some remedy for this evil. What can the Mother of Mercy deny to one who prays in such a manner? One day as he was praying with great fervour in a chapel of the church,
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there appeared to him a demon of terrifying aspect howling dismally, who made an outcry against him, petulantly reminding him of the allegiance he had vowed and _ the benefits he had received. At last, after many idle and impudent threats, he said: “I shall pay you for your monasticism and the violence which compels me to restore to you this paper; for you will never cease to regret it.” He then threw the paper down at the feet of Egidius and vanished. Egidius took up the paper and tore it to bits. But the demon’s threat was not vain: for he tormented him for more than seven years after in a marvellous manner. Withoutreckon- ing his other vexations, he assumed the likeness of a certain friar who dwelt in the same monastery, and so plagued Egidius with every domestic discomfort that can _ possibly be imagined. After suffering this, Egidius at last, in grief that the evil should lurk hidden and that the Brother (as he thought him) should so continually offend against God, took the matter to the Prior and asked to be sent else- where, telling him the reason. Upon this the matter was brought to light; and the calumniator, being exposed and nowforthe first timeovercome not, as before, by Egidius but by them all, ceased to torment his victor. Egidius lived on, and was famous not only for his many virtues, but for various miracles.
In the year 1265 he left this world to be born again in Heaven, and was buried at Santarem where he is worshipped as a Saint. See what a mighty protection against demons there is in the Virgin Mother of God, and what inducement to a good life in a man’s Guardian Angel.
John of Salisbury (Polycraticus, II, 28) writes as follows: In my boyhood I was sent to learn the Psalms from a priest who unfortunately was given to crystal gazing. One day he made me sit at his feet with one of my com- panions who was rather older than
196 I, after having uttered certain spells, in order to use us in those profane mysteries so that we might be able to tell him what he asked. He rubbed our finger nails with some oil or holy ointment, and we gazed at them as also into a highly polished and shining bowl. After the priest had pronounced some strange names which seemed to me merely by reason of the horror I felt at them to be the names of demons, and had muttered some adjurations, which cannot have been in the name of God, my com- panion told him that he had seen certain ghostly and cloudlike figures ; whereas I was so blind to them that I saw nothing but my finger-nails and the bowl and such things as had before been visible to me. From that time I was considered to be of no use for these divinations; and I was forbidden to come near them, as being a hindrance to their sacrilege: and every time they determined to prac- tise these mysteries, I was kept away from them as an impediment. Thus did God (as I think, through my Guardian Angel) show favour to me in my childhood; and from that day the horror which I conceived for this crime increased as I grew older, and was but the more deeply printed upon my soul by the miserable end to which I saw many such Diviners come. For I have never known one who did not die before his time, or through some extraordinary mischance, or by the hands of his enemies; not to speak of others whom I have seen with my own eyes stricken to the ground by the vengeance of Heaven, and destroyed. Yet I must mention two, of whom one was this priest I speak of, and the other a certain deacon, who fled in terror from the horrors of the magic crystal, one to a Chapter of Canons and the other to a cell at Cluny, where they assumed the religious habit. And from that time I have felt great compassion for those two poor men, who have suffered even more than the rest of their companions.
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g. The Singular Help of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“we = _ = SE
De ct 4 FMM TN AEE ELIE DEDEDE GAT OT Ty
Besides other examples which I have already quoted, I will add another most certain story to show the present help of the Virgin Mother of God. Orazio Torsellino,* the writer of the History of Our Blessed Lady of Loreto, relates a happening which was as beautiful as it was true:
“Moreover the patronage of the B. Virgin of Loreto saved another young man, whom raging lust drew headlong to utter perdition. For being of desperate affection, desire and audacity, he gave himself wholly to forbidden pleasures; and overcoming many motions with his dishonesty, he burned with the excessive love of a certain woman, whom seeing he could
* “Orazio Torsellino.”” The historical works of Orazio Torsellino, S.F., are still held in high estimation. Sommervogel’s ‘‘Bib- liothéque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus” (10 vols., Brussels, t8go—1910) may be consulted. For this passage the translation of Thomas Price (1608) has been used. The refer- ence 1s III, 33.
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gain neither by entreaty nor money, nor force, nor deceit, he determined to experience the most desperate course of all. Making means therefore to the devil by Art magic, he requested to be made partaker of his desire, shewing himself ready to con- descend to all, to enjoy that which he so earnestly sought. Whereupon by commandment of the devil, he for- sook Christ, and gave and delivered himself wholly to him, and what is more, did also swear unto him by proscript words, and bound himself unto it by hand-writing: so far doth the love of pleasure bind impure minds. But when he had obtained his desire, satiety (as it happeneth) bred loathsomeness, and by the goodness and grace of God he weighed the greatness of his offence with mature consideration. And being truly peni- tent for his wicked sin, and conceiving some hope of pardon, he began to seek for heavenly help, and to call on Almighty God and His B. Mother, Meantime the B. Virgin of Loreto, and the priests of the sacred House (endowed with most ample faculty to release sins) coming to his mind, with- out delay made him go to Loreto, Almighty God being the author and guide of his journey; not doubting but there to find remedy against so many evils. His hope deceived him not. For as soon as he came thither, making means to confer with a dis- creet priest, he declared unto him his mournful state, and asked him, whether he might have any hope to be saved. At first the priest remained somewhat amazed at the grievousness of the offence, but then declaring unto him the greatness thereof; he put him in hope of salvation, if by prayer, fasting, and voluntary punish- ment of his body, he would wholly give himself to pacify Almighty God. When he refused no punishment at all, the priest promised him, if he did what was commanded, he would willingly hear him, and by the grace of God would also take away so great
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197 an offence. At parting he exhorted him to punish his body, with fasting, with hair-cloth and stripes, for the space of three days, to implore the help of the B. Virgin, and by her to ask humble pardon of Almighty God for his grievous sin; and he also promised to say Mass for his salvation all that time, whereby there was good confidence on either side. The three days being so spent, before he gave him absolution the priest thought good to wrest his hand-writing from the devil, that he might have no right nor interest at all in him. Therefore he exhorted the Penitent to retire himself into the most Majestical Chapel, and earnestly to importune the Mother of God with prayer and tears, until he got his hand-writing out of the devil’s hands. He obeyed, very desirous of salvation and security, with undoubted hope to obtain it by the intercession of the B. Virgin Mother of God. Whereupon prostrat- ing his body before the B. Virgin, with flowing tears he earnestly besought her, that she would vouchsafe to get him his wicked hand-writing, and to work his salvation and health. By a great miracle he had his desire. For as he repeated these verses with all devotion :
A Mother show thyself,
He take our plaints by thee, That being for us born, Vouchsafed thy Son to be.
he saw the hand-writing fall suddenly into his hands, and scarce crediting himself for the unexpected joy thereof, with new tears he gave manifold thanks to the B. Virgin. Whereupon departing presently out of the sacred Chapel, he went joyfully unto the priest, and showed him his hand- writing gotten again by the benefit of the Mother of God, which was stuffed with so many horrible execrations and curses against Christ, and himself that wrote it, that it may easily appear to be dictated by the everlasting Enemy of mankind. Notwithstanding the
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power of God, more potent than all diabolical deceit, loosed so great a band, whereby that sinful soul given by vow to hell itself, by favour of the Mother of God was set in the liberty of the children of God, that no wicked nor desperate man should despair of salvation (if he himself will not perish) nor doubt of the clemency of God who hath freely given his B. Mother a Patroness to offenders for their salvation.”
10. Of the Sign of the Holy Cross.
. 1 2
=
Of the many further examples which I could adduce, be content with this one which is both rare and marvellous. A certain priest dwelling at Arona in the year 1591 had made a vow to God that he would enter the Society of Jesus, and made his inten- tion known to one of the Fathers. But the devil took this ill and turned to his wonted weapons; for he so plagued the man with impure thoughts that he prevented him from sleeping. The soldier of Christ arose from his bed and passed sleepless nights reading the lives of the Saints; but the Adversary would not endure even this, for he threw down the lamp which was hanging upon the wall so that the oil
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was spilled and dirtied the whole book. Not satisfied with this, he burst into the midst of supper like a foul wind, so that the priest at once went from the table to his cubicle and fell prostrate upon the ground in prayer to God, giving his body stripes instead of food. And when even so he yet felt the fire of blind desire plucking at him, he stood barefoot upon the ground for two or three hours while that importunate heat should be cooled, and then threw himself wearily upon his bed. Lying in the same bed he seemed to see a woman, and to put out his hand and touch her hair; therefore he quickly leaped out in amazement and, turning his eyes to the bed, saw nothing: and this hap- pened two or three times. He feared that he was suffering a delusion of the eyes, and affirmed that the same thing happened on many nights; until at last it reached such a pass that, when the unhappy man went to bed, he used to tie down his arms and hands with bands for fear lest his hands should wander for some vain purpose in his dreams: but it was unavailing, for no sooner had sleep bound up his senses than, in a short time, it unbound his arms. But how wonderful is the mercy of God, who does not allow the devil to tempt us beyond our strength! The priest, obstinately fighting for his chastity, put the devil to flight; but though beaten he returned to the combat with marvellous cunning. One day the priest went out to escape from the heat of the town and was walking by a lake saying the Hours of Our Lady. He had hardly gone two hundred paces when he was over-' taken by a man with a long reddish beard, in very costly raiment, and sitting upon a very beautiful black horse like no other in those parts, and accompanied by two _ foot-servants. Approaching the priest he greeted him with great politeness and asked: ““Have you come to the Jubilate yet?” Now it happened that the priest was just then reciting that Psalm; but
BK. III. CH. IV.
the wonder was that he was doing it so quietly that he could hardly hear himself. Then the horseman and the a began to converse as follows.
irst the horseman asked enquiringly : ‘What is it that is worrying you so deeply?”’ But the priest tried to put him off, and said: “I am quite well
and happy. Your question is wide of
the mark.’ But the other answered: “My friend, it is hard to bandy words with me; for I have long had from God the gift of reading the inmost thoughts of men.” The priest stood rooted to the spot with wonder and amazement, staring at the speaker’s clothing and his whole person; but at last he took heart and said: “If you have that power, tell me what it is that is troubling me, if you know more about my affairs than I do myself.” The other answered him: “It is your vow to the Society of Jesus which is pricking you and will not leave you in peace. But you must order your life in a different manner, for there is no door open to you in that direction.” The priest, suspecting that the other had somehow heard that the Jesuits were undecided whether or not to accept his vow, replied: “If the Fathers will not have me, I shall not be disheartened nor torture myself; for there is not only one way of serving God piously and devoutly.” “That is right,” said the horseman; “‘put that trouble from your heart. Your mind and body are of such a nature that, even in your present manner of life, you are able to preserve your inno- cence. But if you will listen to me, you shall see another country where you shall live for God and yourself. Leave Arona and follow me. You shall not have cause to regret it, for you will be excellently placed with me. And here is proof that my promises are not idle.”’ Saying this, he shook a purse full of money in his hand. The priest thanked him, saying: “‘I do not at present need your generosity, for I must keep faith with the Church at Arona.”? The horseman at once inter-
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rupted him, saying: “What obligation have you? It has not been publicly witnessed, or put in writing. Can they claim you in return for fifty-three pounds of bronze? For that is all you receive, and you will never get more.” The priest, not without wonder, admitted the truth of this; but was led to suspect that his companion had been told everything by someone in Arona. Then, gaining a little con- fidence, he asked: ““But where are you going? Where do you live?’ “In Pallanza,’? he answered; ‘“‘and the boat which is approaching us is mine and at the service of my friends.” This boat was propelled by an oars- man on each side, and the priest wondered that he had not seen it before. “‘Now if you accept my con- dition, you shall have all you desire in Pallanza with me. If you are determined to embrace the religious life, I shall see to it that you are admitted into a famous and most holy House.” “I thank your exceeding civility towards a stranger, but I have my reasons for declining.’? When, after this exchange of conversation, the priest was constrained to wait a little, he said: ‘‘Go forward, Master : I shall follow a little behind”; and he did as he said. Then he made the sign of the Cross upon his brow and over his heart, and taking in his hands the rosary with which he had been count- ing his prayers, followed the other. But at the sign of the Cross, the horse- man, the servants, the boat and the rowers all vanished. See how the tortuous wiles of the Serpent were all dissipated like a cloud by one sign of the Cross.
11. Of Holy, or Lustral Water.
At Wirzburg in the year 1583 a priest’s house not far from the city was haunted either by an evil spirit or by some illusion. The priest himself and his confidential servants used to say that everything in the house was hurled violently to the floor ; moreover
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lighted torches, even when placed in great numbers in a room free from
all draughts, were blown out at one puff; beds were forcibly dragged away from them when they went to lie on them; and many of the servants had such an obstruction in the throat that they were nearly suffocated. Finally many horrible things were seen and heard in the house. The wretched priest, at his wits’ end, went to other priests and told them how he was being plagued, and asked the rector to depute some priest to be his pro- tection. One was entrusted with this duty, and towards evening went fast- ing to the place; but hardly had he crossed the threshold before he him- self saw what he had been told of. For in the actual sight both of him and his companion a salver was hurled against the wall with such force and violence that it frightened those present nearly to death. This priest bade them all be of good heart and urged the parish priest to prepare to approach the tribunal of Penance; and then putting on a surplice and stole he went up to the upper part of the house where the demon was chiefly wont to rage. He employed the usual rites of the Church for putting demons to flight ; and when there was no answer and no presence was evoked by the priest’s voice, he turned to exhorting the servants, especially to throw aside heresy and to expiate their sins by a good con-
BK. Ill. CH. IV.
fession. Then, having duly purified the place, he returned to his house with a great harvest of souls. For it is agreed that many were reclaimed from heresy to the Church; and that the house was freed from all its former molestation, as the parish priest after- wards testified.
We read in Epiphanus (II) of a certain Josephus who, while he was yet a Jew, restored a sick man to health by making the sign of the Cross upon him in water. Palladius* testi- fies the same of a woman whom through magic glamour seemed to be changed into a mare: for when S. Macarius blessed water and having prayed sprinkled it upon her head, it became clear to all that the woman stood there in her own proper shape.
Theodoret (lib. 5, hist., cap. 21) records that, when Bishop Marcellus was destroying the Temple of Jupiter at Apamea, he saw a black demon restraining the force of the flames so that they should not consume the wooden material. He fortified and blessed water with the sign of the Cross and ordered it to be thrown upon the flames; and the evil spirit could not endure this conduct and fled. But the flames were aroused by the water as if it had been oil, and consumed the Temple in a moment.
S. Theodore the Archimandrite used to drive away all harms with Holy Water, even sickness caused by demons, as he did from that Phentinus near Tantendia who met a demon in the form of a dog which, by merely gaping at him, struck him with a most grievous malady; and as he did from the house of one Theodore, a Tribune, where both men and all the animals were tormented by demons; so that when they would dine, stones were hurled upon the table to the great
* “Palladius.” Born in Galatia, 368; died probably before 431. Author of the *‘Historia Lausiaca,”’ an account of the monks of Egypt and Palestine. The first edition was a Latin version by Gentianus Hervetus, Paris, 1555.
ee ae Fo
BK. III. CH. IV.
terror of all, and the women’s beds were broken, and the house was infested by so many snakes and mice that everybody was afraid to enter it. So the servant of God went in and spent the whole night worshipping and praying to God; and by sprink- ling the whole house with Holy Water, delivered it from the unclean spirits. This we learn from Gregory the Priest, whom we have often quoted.
He recalls also the following illus- trious miracle: The inhabitants of a village in the district of Como had killed an ox in order to feed upon the roasted flesh, butitso happened that all who ate of it became ill and lay as if they were dead, and whatever meat they had left went black and stinking. Those, therefore, who had not tasted of the meat told what had happened to a holy man; who answered that the misfortune must have come from a company of demons in the cooking pots, and since he could not at that time go with them he blessed water and sent it by one of the Brethren to sprinkle it over those who were in danger and to offer it to them to drink. When this was done they all arose as if from sleep, except one who was dead. For this man’s brother, John the Bailiff, would not wait for the blessing of the servant of God but ran for help to a witch; and while he was applying her charm to his brother, he lost his life.
Great armies of devils invaded the dwelling of S. Hubert the Bishop of Liége, a veritable scourge of demons. Seeing this, the man of God said to his page: ‘‘Go, and let there be brought here water which a priest has con- secrated by mingling salt therewith, and which has been impregnated by the power of prayer for putting to flight the Enemy’s malice; and oil (that is, the Chrism) blessed by apostolic authority; for by the asper- sion and unction of these the pestilent phantasms of the Enemy will soon be so routed, that he will not dare to renew his machinations.” So says
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the anonymous author, that disciple of S. Hubert who wrote a life of the Saint.
In the year 1583 at Riga one Ruthenus was often admonished to return to the bosom of the Roman Church, but he always refused to listen and went away impenitent. But from that time various spectres were seen by his servants in his house: the tables were removed from them when they sat down, yet there was no one to be seen; the bedroom doors, although secured not only with bolts but with bars across them, were torn right off their hinges; from the top of the house were hurled huge stones covered with pitch, which a Jesuit Father writes that he himself has handled. And a certain Pole, whom that priest asserts that he saw, was so grievously wounded upon the head that he lay half dead for some days. There was also much straw in that house, and this was all cut up into the most minute pieces. In short these and other such terrible manifestations led the man to have no doubt that Satan had taken possession of that house as his by right. The priestwhom I have mentioned went into the house with one companion and purified it with Holy Water and incense, and by this exorcism all the disturbance of the demons was allayed, wherefore they returned great thanks in the House of God.
About 1587 the Jesuits established a colony at Patzcuaro in Mexico. Here there was an Indian woman with a child, and every night when she slept it seemed as if the child were snatched from her side and then replaced, but she did not know where he was taken to. Meanwhile the boy himself lost strength every day and was slowly wasting to his death. He was brought into the church and was saved by the application of Holy Water, with prayer.
In 1588, the following year, a peasant woman of Tréves offered a man some eggs. The man’s lackey
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took the eggs in his hat and, after removing them, replaced his hat upon his head; and was at once stricken with such pain that he nearly went mad. Not knowing what he was doing, he rushed into a church and plunged his burning head into the Holy Water stoup which stood there, and was cured. The witch, on being seized and examined, said that the eggs had been so poisoned that they would kill whoever ate them, and would cause those who touched them to swell.
At Pont-a-Mousson in Lorraine in the year 1593 a virgin of advanced age was subject to such fits that she was held to be possessed: another woman was bewitched, and another tormented by an evil spirit. After a priest had recited Litanies, and they had drunk Holy Water, and had hung blessed Agnus Deis about their necks, they came to their senses and, after confessing their sins, soon departed this life while they were intent upon their prayers.
Francisco Lopez Gomara, in his Mistoria Mexicana, testifies that among the Indians there are three chief remedies against the illusions and apparitions of demons. The worship- ful Presence of the most potent Sacra- ment of the Eucharist; the Crucifix, and Holy Water. And he says that the cacodemons themselves have con- fessed as much to the Indians more than once.
12. Of the Virtue of Salt, Bread, Wax, and the Blessed Agnus Dei
At Trapani in the year 1585 there was a householder in whose house it was reported that certain voices had been heard for some months; and this was a familiar demon who in various ways tried to delude men. He would hurl great stones, but without wound- ing anyone’s head, and would cast down the household vessels from on high without breaking them. And when a boy of the house was wont to
COMPENDIUM
BK. Ill. CH. IV.
sing hymns, the demon trolled out lascivious songs in the hearing of all
WA
N
SS N N WS RS S 1s S
to the accompaniment of a harp, and openly boasted that he was a demon. When the master of the house and his wife were starting on their business to a certain town, the demon attached himself to their company; and when the man was drenched with rain and was coming back, the evil spirit went before shouting on his way, and began to warn the servants to build a fire, for the master was at the door soaked through with rain. But so soon as the master of the house understood how he was being deluded, he threatened the demon that he would fetch a priest to drive him from his house: and the demon began to exclaim that he must not do this, and threatened him with his enmity and hatred, saying that he would keep himself hidden for as long as the priest should be in the house. Nevertheless the master went to a priest and told him all that had hap- pened, and even changed his house in order to free himself from that haunt- ing. But the priest, fearing to arouse the curiosity of the ignorant multi- tude who would flock thither to see what would happen, decided not to go with him; only he advised him and all his household to cleanse their souls by a general confession and strengthen themselves with the Heavenly Bread, and to take care that none of the servants or anyone else should fall
BK. Ill. CH. IV.
into conversation with the Enemy, nor seek to know from him what was hidden, as they had done; but rather they were to laugh at anything he said, and despise it as coming from the Father of Lies. They all promised to do so, and the priest gave them an image of the Celestial Lamb in blessed wax to hang by a thread round the necks of those who were chiefly troubled by the demon. The demon was in terror of that wax and threat- ened that, if they did not throw it away, he would twist their necks and kill them. But they followed the sage counsel and advice of the priest and gave him no answer, but fortified themselves against the Enemy with the weapons of the Sacraments and were easily saved from his guile and molestation.
The country of Tréves is even now infested with witches, one of whom with her spells and charms enticed a boy, about eight years of age, to that place where, under the cover of dark- ness and night, they perform their execrable games. The boy was given his part to play; for while the rest joined hands and danced, he beat the measure upon a tabor. Neither was he a looker-on at their dances and games only, but often witnessed the magic with which they do hurt to human bodies and the fruits of the earth. The Archbishop ordered the boy to be kept in custody in his Palace and to be taught the catechism, of which he was quite ignorant. He had an Agnus Dei hung round his neck, and a demon came to him at night and scolded him bitterly for having let himself be deceived so easily, and ordered him to throw away that waxen image if he did not wish to be beaten. The boy, in terror, obeyed; and at once the demon, since the object of his fear had been removed, carried him to the town walls and placed him upon a black goat and took him in a moment to the most obscene spots haunted and infested by witches. After he had remained
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some time with the witches he was again restored to the Palace, with the cord broken from which the waxen image had hung. At the request of the Archbishop and the whole city, the boy was sent to a house of the Jesuits, and kept till he should learn what was necessary to the Christian discipline, so that he might after- wards return to the Palace piously fortified by the Sacraments and free from the snares of demons. And so, finally, this came to pass; although it is said that after some years he re- lapsed and paid the penalty of his crime.
In 1586 in the same district there was a young peasant, less than fifteen years old, of very keen intelligence. He had been more than once to the hellish place where men mingled with women, and young with old, with the demon presiding, in feasting at night with all sense of shame forgotten. But he had not yet renounced God and the Mother of God, nor had pro- nounced after the demon the exe- crable prayers: only he had eaten the brain of a cat in his food when the moon was waning, and felt that his own brain had become smaller. He entered the city of Tréves which he had never seen before, doubtless being lured to his punishment by the same hand that had led him to the sin of witchcraft; and was taken as posses- sed into the Prince’s Palace to be guarded apart, that the demon might be driven from him. But the demon gave him no rest at night, beating him and tearing the Agnus Dei from his neck. The Archbishop then deter- mined to send him to the College of the Jesuits; but even there the poor boy had no peace until his cubicle was solemnly exorcised. It will be worth while to record some of his statements; for he told the Bishop as follows: ‘‘While we were holding our Sabbat there was one of your retainers who boasted that on such and such a night he had poured a poisoned drink into you as you slept, having found
204.
the way open to you because you had imprudently left your Agnus Dei on the table when you went to bed; and if the cup had been a little larger, you would not have escaped death.’’ And indeed the Bishop said that he had been so ill after that particular night that he had been forced to keep his bed for some days. When this state- ment did not convince the great com- pany of nobles who were present, the boy said to the Burgomaster of the city: “And our witches have attacked you twice; but they were repulsed by that little locket which you always wear, containing two images and some consecrated object.”? (He meant the Agnus Dei.) The Burgomaster admitted that he always wore these holy things.
Another man possessed by a demon appeared more like a snarling, bark- ing dog than a reasoning and speaking man. He was brought from Burgundy to us and with great difficulty forced into the church; and he did not cease to act like a dog until an Agnus Dei was put about his neck. Then at last he grew quiet and behaved like a man again, and purged his soul with the healing grace of confession. The same amulet similarly benefited another who laboured under the same afflic- tion.
In the Province of Innspruck an apt medicine for the gravest maladies is much in use, and the terrors of the devil are counteracted in many places by the use of sacred amulets. Many incidents are told in proof of this. One man asserted that he was destined to hell because of his crimes, and in his convulsions invoked the devil, making it clear by his behaviour to the panic-stricken bystanders that the Fiend had appeared to him. But the man was cured: for a priest soothed him at first with gentle words, and so led him to make his confession, having given him an Agnus Dei to place devoutly in his bosom. Another man had in time past pledged his soul and body to the terrible Snatcher of souls;
COMPENDIUM
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and as his time was at hand the un- happy wretch went to a priest and sought his advice with trembling lips and uneasy eyes. In a sudden panic he cried out: “Help! Father, make haste to help a poor wretch with some holy thing.” The priest asked what was the matter, and he answered “The Enemy is standing at the door waiting for me to come out, and looking threateningly at me because of my broken vow.” This man also was cured by the same remedy. The following story also is not unknown. A certain peasant heard that there were in Innspruck men who had a sure medicine to drive away witch- craft and delusions: so he came to them for the medicine against the devil; for so he called it. When asked what he meant by a medicine, he answered: “I do not know. I only know what I have heard: but what- ever it is, it is something that drives the devil away.” So he was given a piece of blessed wax, and soon after found great benefit from it: so that now, whenever a Jesuit Father goes through that town, he needs more than seventy pieces of blessed wax to satisfy their clamorous requirements. About the same time at Avignon a woman was tormented by an evil spirit; and a friend advised her to go to a priest, and meanwhile he gave her parents an Agnus Dei which they sewed in her garment unbeknown to her. She either forgot this advice, or put off going; and she was seized through the window by four seeming cats and carried up on to the roof of the house; then she heard a human voice threatening to hurl her down unless she threw away the waxen image which she had in her clothes. She understood what that must be, and recognised that they were evil counsellors: therefore with great cour- age she refused to do so, and at once turned to her prayers, and was left perched upon the roof. For there her San roused by her cries, found er,
BK. III. CH. IV.
_At Tréves in the year 1590 a young man received a great wrong involving much loss at the hands of those from whom he should least have expected it; and he resented this more than was becoming to a Christian. Black with grief and brooding immoder- ately, as he was walking alone in the twilight he met a demon who, seeing his chance, was not slow to take it. He was in the form of a noble man, very dark, and at first caused the young man some terror; but he greeted him and so removed his fear, and asked him the cause of his sorrow. The young man explained what was the matter; and the demon told him that by himself he had no hope of recovering his money, since it had fallen into the hands of very powerful persons; but if he would follow him, he would very easily recover every- thing. The young man answered him: **T have been imposed upon by men whom I know, and by my friends: shall I, then, put my trust in a stranger, whom I now see for the first time? Good God——”’ At these last words the man-monster vanished into the air like lightning. On the next day at the same time, as the young man was pondering the same thoughts, there appeared to him a woman of noble mien who begged him to retire with her for a short time. But the young man refused, and kept resisting her importunate persuasions, until she advised him to draw his sword from the bedside and pierce the wall with it. He refused at first; but at last, not knowing what he did (for he was nearly mad with worry), he obeyed; and.as he struck the wall he cried: ‘God turn it to good!” This again drove off the second demon like lightning. But the demon came a third time (for his moody anxiety was deeply implanted in the man’s mind, and the tempter would not leave him alone), and took the form of a woman in the flower of life and of great beauty, who, both by word and gesture, lasciviously invited
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him to sin. She did not stop short at words, but forcibly tried to drag him to her. The young man cried aloud for help, and when the servants ran quickly to him that wicked apparition vanished, and the man was found utterly spent and nearly dying. When he was asked the reason of his fear and his screams, he could not even open his mouth, but lay with glazing eyes like a dead man, having lost his voice through fright. He was_ therefore placed upon a bed and tended, and recovered his courage as soon as he was sprinkled with Holy Water; and the next day he told the whole story, and at the advice of a priest fortified himself with waxen images conse- crated by the sacred mysteries, and other weapons feared by the devil, and in this way so frightened his Enemy that he ceased to appear to him. But sometimes it happens, with God’s permission, that this remedy is of no avail, especially when God has willed to gain a more glorious victory by some other means, as for example by the bare name of Jesus or of Mary. This was proved by what hap- pened at Augsburg in the year 1591, where the wearing of consecrated wax stamped with the image of the Lamb was for many a present remedy against the horrid monsters of the devil and his nightly terrors. But to one man the demon appeared openly, as if in contempt, and bribed him with much money to commit a crime, having broken the cord by which the disc hung, and thrown away the Agnus Dei. Yet the man was saved when he called upon the names of Jesus and Mary. In the year 1589 there was a woman who had written a Deed with her own blood and vowed herself to the devil. After she had repented of this, the demon often showed her the Deed; but she trusted in the protection of the Divine Lamb with whose image she had fortified her breast, and ordered him to return to her her hand-writing. At last she saw it fall at her feet, burned to glowing ashes.
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13. Of the Sound of Bells
We have elsewhere given proof of the efficacy of the sound of bells against demons. And this is main- tained also by the Council of Cologne, cap. 243 and confirmed by an example quoted by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, who writes as follows (De miraculis, I, 13): A certain Italian Brother named Giovanr became weary of the severity of t unvarying discipline, and even “he _t of escap- ing from the me ~ tery. The devil himself appeared v» him in the form of an abbot accompanied by two demons in the guise of mcnks, while this Brother was sitting alone in a remote part of the monastery in deep thought; and thinking the moment ripe for deceiving him, he appéared to him and said: “Brother, | have lately come here to lodge. Brt, hap- pening to see you, I recc7r that you are in some great trouw.x and are turning over many thoughts in your mind. Now I have inquired, and in part know the cause of your trouble; but if you would tell it to me openly, perhaps I shall be able to give you some advice. Therefore tell me, as a friend, who you are and why you are so sad and sorry.”” And when that brother hesitated to open the secrets of his heart to one whom he supposed a stranger, and only answered that he was of Italian nationality; one of the demons in the form of a monk added: “And I am an abbot in that very district, and can be of good help to you in all things: for I know, although you keep silent, that the abbot of this monastery, and the others, treat you badly, not respecting you as you de- serve, and moreover putting you to much indignity. Therefore I advise you to consult your own interest and leave this utterly pernicious place and come away with me; for I am ready to. take you from these evils to my abbey, which is called Grotta Ferrata
®
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where you will receive every honour.” To this the Brother answered: “I can by no means leave here; for the gates of the monastery are shut, and I am surrounded with a crowd of monks.’? Then the devil said: ‘‘As long as you remain here, I can give you no help. But find some way to break out of the monastery, and I shall at once be by your side and take you to my place as I said.”? But merciful God, who does not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength, did not permit the Enemy to proceed any further. But as it is written (job xx, 24), “He shall flee from the iron weapon.” For as they were thus disputing, the company of monks were sitting down to supper in the refectory at their accustomed hour, and when they had finished the Prior, as was his custom, struck one blow upon the bell. Hearing this sound, the demon who was pretending to be an abbot, was by the act of God snatched away from the Brother, who was speaking to him, and driven with great speed and violence to the privies which were close by, and in the sight of the said Brother plunged right into them.
It is commonly confessed by witches that if, when they are being carried by a demon to the Sabbat, or back home from it, the sound of bells is heard, the demons carrying them at once set down their foul burdens and escape in terror. This I have already explained in the proper place.
FINIS.
*
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, That Thy people may escape the con- tamination of the Devil, and may with a pure mind follow Thee, the only God, Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, &c.
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