[3] Euripides, Bacchæ: passim; Ovid, Metamorphoses, III. 513, sqq.; Apollodorus, III. v. 2.; Hyginus, Fabulæ, 184; Nonnus, Dionysiaca (Bassarica), XIV, 46.
[4] Sophocles, Ajax; Pindar, Nemea, VII, 25; Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIII, 1-398.
[5] Pausanias, III, xvi, 6.
[6] Valerius Maximus, I, 11, 5. Lacinium was a promontory on the east coast of Bruttium, a few miles south of Croton, and forming the western boundary of the Tarentine gulf. The remains of the temple of Juno Lacinia are still extant, and have given the modern name to the promontory, Capo delle Colonne or Capo di Nao (ναός).
[7] Xenophon, Memorabilia, II. i. 5; Demosthenes, XCIII, 24; Dinarchus, CI, 41; Plutarch, Lucullus, IV.
[8] Euripides, Orestes, l. 854, and l. 79.
[9] Cf. μάντις.
[10] Cf. Vergil Æneid, IV. 471-3:
[11] Plautus, Amphitruo, II. 2. 145. Nam hæc quidem edepol lauarum plenast.
Menæchmei. V. I, 2. Apuleuis has laruans = a madman: “hunc [pulcherrimam Mercurii imaginem] denique qui laruam putat, ipse est laruans.” (Laruatus is a poorer reading in this passage.) Cerritus, a rare word, is contracted from cerebritus (cerebrum), and not connected with Ceres, as was formerly suggested. Cf. Horace, Sermonum, II, iii. 278.
[13] Bibl. III, v, 1.
[14] 471, sqq.
[15] 56, Nauck.
[17] Circa 185-135 B.C.
[18] Professor Leuba, The Psychology of Religious Mysticism Kegan Paul, London, 1925, p. 11 sqq. has some very important references to the worship of Dionysus.
[22] Pythagoras prescribes music for mental disorders, Eunapius Uita philosophurum, 67; and Cælius Aurelianus by his references shows that this was a common remedy in such cases, De Morbis Chronicis (Tardarum Passionum) VI. Origen, Aduersus Celsum, III, x, and Martianus Capella De Nuptiis Philologiæ et Mercurii IX, 925, have similar allusions.
[23] 1 Kings xvi. 14 (A.V. 1 Samuel xvi. 14): “Exagitabat eum [Saul] spiritus nequam a Domino.”
[24] Antiquitates Iud., VI, viii, 2; ii, 2.
[25] La Mystique Divine, Ribet, II, ix, 4, it is true, speaks of “l’obsession intérieure,” but he makes the above distinction, and further says: “L’obsession purement intérieure ne diffère des tentations ordinaires que par la véhémence et la durée.”
[26] Multæ sunt tentationes eius, et die noctuque uariæ dæmonum insidiæ.... Quoties illi nudæ mulieres cubanti, quoties esurienti largissimæ apparuere dapes? Uita S. Hilarionis. VII. Migne. vol. XXIII. col. 32.
[27] Sustinebat miser diabolus uel mulieris formam noctu induere, feminæque gestus imitari, Antonium ut deciperet. S. Athanasius, Uita S. Antonii, V. Migne. vol. XXVI. col. 847.
[28] Feast (duplex maius apud Minores), 22 February.
[29] It may perhaps not be amiss to point out that S. Margaret before her conversion was by no means the woman of scandalous life so many biographers have painted her.
[30] Sectando per cellam orantis et flentis, cantauit [diabolus] turpissimas cantationes, et Christi famulam lacrymantem et se Domino commendantem procaciter inuocabat ad cantum ...; tentantem precibus et lacrymis repulit ac eiecit. Bollandists, 22 February. Vol. VI.
[31] Ceterum consilium est semper de talibus inuasionibus suspicionem habere, non enim negandum maiorem earum partem esse aut fictiones, aut imaginationes, aut infirmitates, præsertim in mulieribus. Praxis confessariorum, n. 120.
[32] Sæpissime, quæ putantur dæmonis obsessiones, non sunt nisi morbi naturales, aut Naturales imaginationes, uel etiam inchoata aut perfecta amentia. Quare caute omnino procedendum, usquedum per specialissima signa de obsessione constet. Theologia mystica, I. n. 228.
[33] Biblisches Realworterbuch, Leipsig, 1833.
[34] This word is found nowhere else in the New Testament, and wherever it is used in the LXX, it is invariably of the sayings of lying prophets, or those who practised arts forbidden by the Jewish Law. Thus of the witch of Endor (1 Kings (1 Samuel) xxviii. 8) μάντευσαι δή μοι ἐν τῷ ἐγγαστριομύθῳ, and (Ezechiel xiii. 6) βλέπουτες ψευδῆ, μαντευόμενοι μάταια.
[35] Ordinandi, filii charissimi, in officium Exorcistarum, debitis noscere quid suscipitis. Exorcistam etenim oportet abiicere dæmones; et dicere populo, ut, qui non communicat, det locum; et aquam in ministerio fundere. Accipitis itaque potestatem imponendi manum super energumenos, et per impositionem manuum uestrarum, gratia spiritus sancti, et uerbis exorcismi pelluntur spiritus immundi a corporibus obsessis. Studete igitur, ut, sicut a corporibus aliorum dæmones expellitis, ita a mentibus, et corporibus uestris omnem immunditiam, et nequitiam eiiciatis; ne illis succumbatis, quos ab aliis, uestro ministerio, effugatis. Discite per officium uestrum uitiis imperare; ne in moribus uestris aliquid sui iuris inimicus ualeat uindicare. Tunc etenim recte in aliis dæmonibus imperabitis, cum prius in uobis eorum multimodam nequitiam superatis. Quod nobis Dominus agere concédât per Spiritum suum sanctum.
[36] Accipite, et commendate memoriæ, et habete potestatem imponendi manus super energumenos, siue baptizatos, siue catechumenos.
[37] Deum Patrem omnipotentem, fratres charissimi, supplices deprecamur, ut hos famulos suos bene ✠ dicere dignetur in officium Exorcistarum; ut sint spirituales imperatores, ad abiiciendos dæmones de corporibus obsessis, cum omni nequitia eorum multiformi. Per unigenitum Filium suum Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui cum eo uiuit et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. R. Amen.
[38] Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, bene ✠ dicere dignare hos famulos tuos in officium Exorcistarum; ut per impositionem manuum, et oris officium, potestatem, et imperium habeant spiritus immundos coercendi: ut probabiles sint medici Ecclesiæ tuæ, gratia curationum uirtuteque cœlesti confirmati. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum uiuit, et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. R. Amen. Post hæc, suggerente Archidiacono, redeunt ad loca sua.
[39] Sulpitius Severus (d. 420-5) in his Dialogues, III (II), 6; (Migne, Patres Latini, XX, 215) tells us that S. Martin of Tours was wont to cast out demons by prayer alone without the imposition of hands or the use of the formulæ recommended to the clergy. Similar instances occur in the lives of the Saints.
[40] Translated from the Rituale Romanum. There are several forms extant, some authorized, but more, perhaps, unauthorized. There is an authorized form in the Greek Euchologion. It commences with the Trisagion, and Psalms, Domine exaudi (cxlii.), Dominus regit me (xxii.), Dominus illuminatio mea (xxvi.), Esurgat Deus (lxvii.), Miserere (lvi.), Domine ne in furore (vi.), Domine exaudi orationem (ci.). Then follows the Consolatory Canon, with a long Hymn addressed to Our Lord, Our Lady, and All Saints. Next the priest anoints the patient, saying a prayer over him, and so the office closes.
[41] It is also given in the Horæ Diurnæ O.P., Rome, 1903, where an indulgence of 300 days is attached, plenary once a month.
[42] Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos Domine; Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate seruire, te rogamus, audi nos; Ut inimicos sanctæ Ecclesiæ humiliare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos. Et aspergatur locus aqua benedicta.
[43] Holy water, the commonest of the sacramentals, is a mixture of exorcised salt and exorcised water.
[44] Of Eastern origin. It should be remembered that the Baptism of Christ in Jordan is commemorated on the Epiphany. In the present Breviary office in Nocturn I the first response for the day, the Octave, and the Sunday within the Octave deal with the Baptism, as does the second response. The antiphon to the Benedictus and the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers also make mention of the same mystery. In Rome the Latin rite of the Blessing of the Waters is pontificated by a Cardinal at S. Andrea della Valle on 5 January, about 3.30 p.m., at the church of the Stimmate of S. Francesco at 9.30 a.m. on the Feast itself. On the Vigil the Oriental rite is performed at the Greek church of S. Atanasio, beginning about 3.30 a.m.
[45] See Wilson, Western Africa; and the article “Possession diabolique” by Waffelaert in the Dictionnaire apologétique de la foi catholique, Paris, 1889. The opinion of the Cistercian Dom Robert de la Trappe (Dr. Pierre-Jean-Corneille Debreyne), who, whilst acknowledging that the demoniac possessions as detailed in the New Testament are de fide, supposes that all other cases are to be attributed to fraud or disease, must be severely censured as regrettably rash and even culpable. Essai sur la théologie morale, IV. p. 356.
[46] S. Justin. Martyr, Apologia, VI; Dialogues, XXX, LXXXV: Minutius Felix, Octavius, XXVII; Origen, Contra Celsum, I, 25; VII, 4, 67: Tertullian, Apologia, XXII, XXIII.
[47] Paulinus, Uita Ambrosii, 28, 43.
[48] S. Gregory of Nyssa, De Uita Ephraem.
[49] Upon this passage Servatius Galle (1627-1709), a Dutch minister at Haarlem, in his edition of Lactantius, 1660, writes the most absurd note I have ever met with in any commentator.
[50] Published between 304-313. De Labriolle, Histoire de la Littérature Latine Chrétienne, p. 272.
[51] A very full and scholarly monograph upon this subject may be recommended: La Réalité des Apparitions Démoniaques, by Dom Bernard-Marie Maréchaux, Olivetan, O.S.B., Paris, Téqui, 1899.
[52] It is true that on one occasion S. Maurus, who was with S. Benedict, beheld an apparition, and S. Benedict once enabled a monk to see a similar vision.
[53] One of Sodoma’s exquisite frescoes at Monte Oliveto (Siena) depicts an exorcism by S. Benedict.
[54] The letters have been thus translated by Dom Benedict McLaughlin of Ampleforth:
[55] All English Benedictine priests hold the special faculty to use this (bestowed 23 February, 1915), and it has also been granted to many others, religious and seculars.
[56] Omnis virtus aduersarii, omnis exercitus diaboli, et omnis incursus, omnis phantasma Satanæ, eradicate et effugare ab his numismatibus....
[57] Domine Iesu Christe ... per hanc tuam sanctissimam passionem humiliter exoro; ut omnes diabolicas insidias et fraudes expellas ab eo, qui nomen sanctum tuum, his litteris ac characteribus a te designatis, deuote inuocauerit, et eum ad salutis portum perducere digneris. Qui uiuis et régnas....
[58] The Rituale Romanum has “Benedictio Infirmorum cum Ligno SS. Crucis, D.N.J.C. seu Signum S. Mauri Abbatis.” This is a blessing of the sick with a Relic of the Holy Cross and the invocation of S. Benedict and S. Maurus.
[59] The Uita S. Mauri (Mabillon, Acta S.S. O. S.B., I, 274) is ascribed to a companion, the monk Faustus of Monte Cassino. Père Delehaye, in his unfortunate and temerarious work Légendes Hagiographiques (translation. London, 1907), indecorously attacks this and treats S. Maurus with scant respect. A worthy defence was made by Adlhoch, Stud. u. Mittheil., 1903, 3; 1906, 185. According to Peter the Deacon he also wrote a Cantus ad B. Maurum.
[60] Blessed Victor III. Dialogues, I, 2.
[61] Abbé Lebeuf. Histoire du diocèse de Paris, V. 129 sqq.
[62] Portraits of him are preserved at Rome and Valladolid.
[63] A hearty believer in witchcraft. He had sent at least one witch to the gallows, and another to prison.
[64] Apparently the work of Darrel himself, but in the Huth catalogue (V, 1643) ascribed to James Bamford.
[65] Darrel in his Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet, 1600, writes: “There is no doubt but that S.H. stand for Samuell Harsnet, chapline to the Bishop of London, but whither he alone, or his lord and hee, have discovered this counterfeyting and cosonage there is the question. Some think the booke to be the Bishop’s owne doing: and many thinke it to be the joynt work of them both.”
[66] On 10 November, 1629, he was sworn of the Privy Council.
[67] Whence Shakespeare derived the names of various evil spirits whom Edgar mentions in King Lear.
[68] I do not conceive that at the present time many, if any, Bishops of the Church of England would license exorcism. Certainly the more scientifically minded and modernistic Lords Spiritual of the Anglican bench have rid themselves of such an idle superstition. How they would explain Our Blessed Lord’s words and actions I do not pretend to know, but I suppose that according to their wider knowledge Christ—sit uenia uerbis—was mistaken in this as in other particulars.
[69] Colloquia Mensalia, passim.
[70] It is difficult to see how the teachings of such a Protestant leader as Gaspar von Schwenckfeld (1489-90—1561) are anything save tantamount to mere personal morality and a vague individual pietism. A critical edition of his numerous works is in course of publication under the editorship of Hartranft, Schlutter, and Johnson: Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum, I, Leipzig, 1907.
[71] Parker’s Correspondence, Parker Society, Cambridge, 1856, pp. 465-6.
[72] By vomiting pins and straws they had made many believe that they were bewitched, but the tricks were soon found out and they were compelled to public penance at S. Paul’s. There is a black letter pamphlet The discloysing of a late counterfeyted possession by the devyl in two maydens within the Citie of London [1574], which describes this case. See also Holinshed, Chronicles (ed. London, 1808), IV, 325, and Stow Annales, London, 1631, p. 678. But the fact that there are malingerers does not mean there are none sick.
[73] Marie Glover’s late woefull case.... A defence of the truthe against D. J. his scandalous Impugnations, British Museum, Sloane MSS., 831. Sinclar, Satan’s Invisible World Discovered, Edinburgh, 1685, Relation XII quotes an account of Mary Glover from Lewis Hughes’ Certaine Grievances (1641-2); and hence Burton, The Kingdom of Darkness, and Hutchinson, Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, both assign a wrong date (1642) to the occurrence.
[74] Enlarged edition, 1720.
[75] The Other World, London, 1875, I, pp. 59-69. The incident is narrated by Fortescue Hitchins, The History of Cornwall, Helston, 1824, II, pp. 548-51; and also in fuller detail by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall, London, 1870, who quotes from Ruddle’s MS. Diary.
[76] Six miles north of S. Columb and three miles due south from Padstow.
[77] A full and documented account of these strange happenings may be found in Lucifer, or the True Story of the Famous Diabolic Possession in Alsace, London, 1922, with the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Brentwood. Compiled from original documents by the abbé Paul Sutter and translated by the Rev. Theophilus Borer.
[78] Jesus ... comminatus est spiritui immundo, dicens illi: Surde et mute spiritus, Ego præcipio tibi, exi ab eo: et amplius ne introcas in eum. Euan. sec. Marcum. IX. 25.
[79] 1726-1755. This great Saint was then Venerable; he was beatified by Leo XIII, 29 January, 1893, and canonized by Pius X, 11 December, 1903. His feast is kept on 16 October.
[80] Peter Paul Stumpf succeeded Andreas Räss as Bishop of Strasburg, 1887-1890.
[81] Une Possédée Contemporaine (1834-1914). Hélène Poirier de Coullons (Loiret). Paris, Téqui, 1924. An ample study, profusely documented, of 517 pages, edited by M. le Chanoine Champault of the diocese of Orleans.
[82] A partir de cette époque, la vie d’Hélène s’écoulera au milieu de souffrances physiques et morales si grandes, que dans sa bouche les plaintes de Job ne seraient point déplacées.
[83] Mr. G. R. S. Mead, however, in this connexion not impertinently recalls the “controlling” of members of the Shaker communities by what purported to be spirits of North American Indians. This was prior to 1848.
[84] Ses souffrances physiques et morales, commencées le 25 mars, 1850, se poursuivirent jusqu’à sa mort, 8 janvier, 1914, soit pendant soixante-quatre ans. Toutefois les vexations diaboliques cessèrent vers la fin de 1897. Ces vexations durèrent donc près de quarante-sept années, dont six de possession.
[85] Du 25 mars, 1850, au courant de mars, 1868, Hélène fut seulement obsédée. Cette obsession dura donc 18 années. Au bout de ce temps et pendant 13 mois elle fut obsédée et possédée tout ensemble.
De I’obsession et de la possession elle fut complètement délivrée par les exorcismes officiels, à Orléans, le 19 avril, 1869.
Suivirent quatre mois de tranquillité, jusqu’au recommencement volontaire et généreux de ses peines.
A la fin d’août, 1869, elle accepta de la main de Notre Seigneur les tourments d’une nouvelle obsession et possession afin d’obtenir la conversion du célèbre général Ducrot. La conversion obtenue, elle fut délivrée à Lourdes le 3 septembre, 1875, par les prières des 15,000 pèlerins qui s’y trouvaient réunis. Obsession et possession renouvelées avaient duré cinq ans.
Plus jamais, pendant les quarante ans qu’elle avait encore à vivre, elle ne fut possédée; mais elle continua à être obsédée tantôt plus, tantôt moins. Les souffrances de toutes sortes, qu’elle endura alors, eurent pour but d’obtenir le salut et le triomphe du clergé.
Quant aux raisons et au but des premières persécutions diaboliques qu’elle subit pendant dix-neuf ans et dont elle fut délivrée par les exorcismes officiels, ils sont restés inconnus. Une Possédée Contemporaine (1834-1914), pp. 171-2.
[86] A fragment of the soutane of this most holy Pontiff was taken to Hélène and during one of her fits placed upon her forehead. At the contact she cried out: “Le Pape est un saint, oui un grand saint.” (The Pope is a Saint, truly a great Saint!)
[87] Pour y être admis, il faut apporter une ou plusiers hosties consacrées, les remettre au démon qui, sous forme corporelle ou visible, préside l’assemblée. Il faut les profaner d’une manière horrible, adorer le démon lui-même et commettre avec lui et les autres sociétaires les actes d’impudicité les plus révoltants. Trois villes: Paris, Rome, et Tours sont les sièges de cette société infernale.
[88] La seconde possession fut plus terrible que la première. 1ᵉ: Par la durée; la première fut de treize mois, la seconde de cinq ans. 2ᵉ: La première fut adoucie par de nombreuses consolations surnaturelles; la seconde très peu. 3ᵉ: Les dévices abondèrent dans la première; dans la seconde les avanies morales l’emportèrent de beaucoup sur les avanies physiques. Une Possédée Contemporaine (1834-1914), p. 405.
[89] Spirit Possession, Henry M. Hugunin, published in Sycamore, Ill., U.S.A.
[90] One should note the implication that science and faith are opposed. Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell pointedly comments: “This question seems inept. To me the terms are not in antithesis, i.e. logical v. spiritual.”
[91] Edited by Huntly Carter. Fisher Unwin, 1920.
[92] Whose contribution, From Non-Religion to Religion, opens with the following ineptitude: “I think that the renewal of Spiritualism is mainly due to a real increase in our knowledge of psychical facts.” This phrase could only have been written by one wholly ignorant of mystical theology, and, it would seem, of historical Christianity.
[93] Spiritualism, Its Present-Day Meaning, p. 258.
[94] Idem, p. 269.
[95] Idem, pp. 270-1.
[96] Idem, p. 245.
[97] Idem, p. 206.
[98] Idem, pp. 206-7.
[99] Idem, p. 205. The words are those of Father Bernard Vaughan.
[100] “Seventeen Elementary Facts concerning Spiritualism.” Light, 21 February, 1925. Here we also have the frank avowal: “Modern Spiritualism is only a revival of phenomena and experiences that were well known in ancient times.” It should be remarked that similar phenomena, believed to be a genuine case of haunting, occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel Wesley, at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1716, and attracted universal attention. It is said that the knockings at the house of Parsons, Cock Lane, West Smithfield, in 1760, were proved to be fraud, but I do not know that the case has ever been candidly studied.
[101] She took part in a séance on 25 October, 1860, but this seems to have been exceptional.
[102] Washington Daily Star, 7 March, 1893, quoted in The Medium and the Daybreak, 7 April, 1893.
[103] In the “educational” primers prepared by certain spiritists for use by children the story of the Fox Sisters is told in glowing colours to a point, but the history of their downfall is suppressed.
[104] He died at Bedford, 5 September, 1892. His control was the spirit Imperator, who claimed to be the prophet Malachias. For a very full biography see Arthur Lillie’s Modern Mystics and Modern Magic. London. 1894.
[105] For Mrs. Bassett see The Medium, 11 April and 18 April, 1873, pp. 174 and 182; for Miss Showers, The Medium, 8 May and 22 May, pp. 294 and 326.
[106] Medium and Daybreak, 15 November, 1878, p. 730.
[107] L’Eclair, 6 April, 1909.
[108] Dr. Grasset, L’Occultisme, pp. 56, sqq.; p. 424.
[109] Procès des Spirites, 8vo. Paris. 1875.
[110] La Revue Spirite and L’Echo du Mentalisme, Nov., 1908.
[111] Who apparently believes that Spiritism is authorized by the Scriptures, and that many of the prophets, nay, even Our Divine Lord Himself, were but mediums.
[112] Light. Saturday, 21 February, 1925, p. 89.
[113] Organized in 1882 for the scientific examination of “debatable phenomena.”
[114] See the Report presented 11 May, 1922, and published by The Magic Circle, Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street.
[115] The Goligher Circle, May to August, 1921. Experiences of E. E. Fournier d’Albe, D.SC. London, Watkins, 1922.
[116] The Classification of Psychic Phenomena, by W. Loftus Hare. The Occult Review, July, 1924, p. 38.
[117] Her real name appears to be Marthe Béraud. Professor Richet is satisfied that in his experiments with this medium at the Villa Carmen (Algiers) in 1905 genuine materialization was effected.
[118] Who, as noted above, specializes in the Ouija-Board and Automatic Writing.
[119] He has written such works as The New Revelation, and compiled The Spiritualists’ Reader, “A Collection of Spirit Messages from many sources, specially prepared for Short Readings.”
[120] In all of whose documents the distinction is clearly drawn between legitimate scientific investigation and superstitious abuses.