Since October 13th, the day on which the demons had been expelled, life
at the convent seemed to have returned to its usual quiet; but Grandier
did not let himself be lulled to sleep by the calm: he knew those with
whom he was contending too well to imagine for an instant that he would
hear no more of them; and when the bailiff expressed pleasure at this
interval of repose, Grandier said that it would not last long, as the
nuns were only conning new parts, in order to carry on the drama in a
more effective manner than ever. And in fact, on November 22nd, Rene
Mannouri, surgeon to the convent, was sent to one of his colleagues,
named Gaspard Joubert, to beg him to come, bringing some of the
physicians of the town with him, to visit the two sisters, who were
again tormented by evil spirits. Mannouri, however, had gone to the
wrong man, for Joubert had a frank and loyal character, and hated
everything that was underhand. Being determined to take no part in the
business, except in a public and judicial manner, he applied at once to
the bailiff to know if it was by his orders that he was called in. The
bailiff said it was not, and summoned Mannouri before him to ask him by
whose authority he had sent for Joubert. Mannouri declared that the
'touriere' had run in a fright to his house, saying that the nuns had
never been worse possessed than now, and that the director, Mignon,
begged him to come at once to the convent, bringing with him all the
doctors he could find.
The bailiff, seeing that fresh plots against Grandier were being formed,
sent for him and warned him that Barre had come over from Chinon the day
before, and had resumed his exorcisms at the convent, adding that it was
currently reported in the town that the mother superior and Sister
Claire were again tormented by devils. The news neither astonished nor
discouraged Grandier, who replied, with his usual smile of disdain, that
it was evident his enemies were hatching new plots against him, and that
as he had instituted proceedings against them for the former ones, he
would take the same course with regard to these. At the same time,
knowing how impartial the bailiff was, he begged him to accompany the
doctors and officials to the convent, and to be present at the
exorcisms, and should any sign of real possession manifest itself, to
sequester the afflicted nuns at once, and cause them to be examined by
other persons than Mignon and Barre, whom he had such good cause to
distrust.
The bailiff wrote to the king's attorney, who, notwithstanding his bias
against Grandier, was forced to see that the conclusions arrived at were
correct, and having certified this in writing, he at once sent his clerk
to the convent to inquire if the superior were still possessed. In case
of an affirmative reply being given, the clerk had instructions to warn
Mignon and Barre that they were not to undertake exorcisms unless in
presence of the bailiff and of such officials and doctors as he might
choose to bring with him, and that they would disobey at their peril; he
was also to tell them that Grandier's demands to have the nuns
sequestered and other exorcists called in were granted.
Mignon and Barre listened while the clerk read his instructions, and
then said they refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the bailiff in
this case; that they had been summoned by the mother superior and Sister
Claire when their strange illness returned, an illness which they were
convinced was nothing else than possession by evil spirits; that they
had hitherto carried out their exorcisms under the authority of a
commission given them by the Bishop of Poitiers; and as the time for
which they had permission had not yet expired; they would continue to
exorcise as often as might be necessary. They had, however, given notice
to the worthy prelate of what was going on, in order that he might
either come himself or send other exorcists as best suited him, so that
a valid opinion as to the reality, of the possession might be procured,
for up to the present the worldly and unbelieving had taken upon
themselves to declare in an off-hand manner that the whole affair was a
mixture of fraud and delusion, in contempt of the glory of God and the
Catholic religion. As to the rest of the message, they would not, in any
way prevent the bailiff and the other officials, with as many medical
men as they chose to bring, from seeing the nuns, at least until they
heard from the bishop, from whom they expected a letter next day. But it
was for the nuns themselves to say whether it was convenient for them to
receive visitors; as far as concerned themselves, they desired to renew
their protest, and declared they could not accept the bailiff as their
judge, and did not think that it could be legal for them to refuse to
obey a command from their ecclesiastical superiors, whether with
relation to exorcism or any other thing of which the ecclesiastical
courts properly took cognisance. The clerk brought this answer to the
bailiff, and he, thinking it was better to wait for the arrival of the
bishop or of fresh orders from him, put off his visit to the convent
until the next day. But the next day came without anything being heard
of the prelate himself or of a messenger from him.
Early in the morning the bailiff went to the convent, but was not
admitted; he then waited patiently until noon, and seeing that no news
had arrived from Dissay, and that the convent gates were still closed
against him, he granted a second petition of Grandier's, to the effect
that Byre and Mignon should be prohibited from questioning the superior
and the other nuns in a manner tending to blacken the character of the
petitioner or any other person. Notice of this prohibition was served
the same day on Barre and on one nun chosen to represent the community.
Barre did not pay the slightest attention to this notice, but kept on
asserting that the bailiff had no right to prevent his obeying the
commands of his bishop, and declaring that henceforward he would perform
all exorcisms solely under ecclesiastical sanction, without any
reference to lay persons, whose unbelief and impatience impaired the
solemnity with which such rites should be conducted.
The best part of the day having gone over without any sign of either
bishop or messenger, Grandier presented a new petition to the bailiff.
The bailiff at once summoned all the officers of the bailiwick and the
attorneys of the king, in order to lay it before them; but the king's
attorneys refused to consider the matter, declaring upon their honour
that although they did not accuse Grandier of being the cause, yet they
believed that the nuns were veritably possessed, being convinced by the
testimony of the devout ecclesiastics in whose presence the evil spirits
had come out. This was only the ostensible reason for their refusal, the
real one being that the advocate was a relation of Mignon's, and the
attorney a son-in-law of Trinquant's, to whose office he had succeeded.
Thus Grandier, against whom were all the ecclesiastical judges, began to
feel as if he were condemned beforehand by the judges of the royal
courts, for he knew how very short was the interval between the
recognition of the possession as a fact and the recognition of himself
as its author.
Nevertheless, in spite of the formal declarations of the king's advocate
and attorney, the bailiff ordered the superior and the lay sister to be
removed to houses in town, each to be accompanied by a nun as companion.
During their absence from the convent they were to be looked after by
exorcists, by women of high character and position, as well as by
physicians and attendants, all of whom he himself would appoint, all
others being forbidden access to the nuns without his permission.
The clerk was again sent to the convent with a copy of this decision,
but the superior having listened to the reading of the document,
answered that in her own name and that of the sisterhood she refused to
recognise the jurisdiction of the bailiff; that she had already received
directions from the Bishop of Poitiers, dated 18th November, explaining
the measures which were to be taken in the matter, and she would gladly
send a copy of these directions to the bailiff, to prevent his pleading
ignorance of them; furthermore, she demurred to the order for her
removal, having vowed to live always secluded in a convent, and that no
one could dispense her from this vow but the bishop. This protest having
been made in the presence of Madame de Charnisay, aunt of two of the
nuns, and Surgeon Mannouri, who was related to another, they both united
in drawing up a protest against violence, in case the bailiff should
insist on having his orders carried out, declaring that, should he make
the attempt, they would resist him, as if he were a mere private
individual. This document being duly signed and witnessed was
immediately sent to the bailiff by the hand of his own clerk, whereupon
the bailiff ordered that preparations should be made with regard to the
sequestration, and announced that the next day, the 24th November, he
would repair to the convent and be present at the exorcisms.
The next day accordingly, at the appointed hour, the bailiff summoned
Daniel Roger, Vincent de Faux, Gaspard Joubert, and Matthieu Fanson, all
four physicians, to his presence, and acquainting them with his reasons
for having called them, asked them to accompany him to the convent to
examine, with the most scrupulous impartiality, two nuns whom he would
point out, in order to discover if their illness were feigned, or arose
from natural or supernatural causes. Having thus instructed them as to
his wishes, they all set out for the convent.
They were shown into the chapel and placed close to the altar, being
separated by a grating from the choir, in which the nuns who sang
usually sat. In a few moments the superior was carried in on a small
bed, which was laid down before the grating. Barre then said mass,
during which the superior went into violent convulsions. She threw her
arms about, her fingers were clenched, her cheeks enormously inflated,
and her eyes turned up so that only the whites could be seen.
The mass finished, Barre approached her to administer the holy communion
and to commence the exorcism. Holding the holy wafer in his hand, he
said--
"Adora Deum tuum, creatorem tuum" (Adore God, thy Creator).
The superior hesitated, as if she found great difficulty in making this
act of love, but at length she said--
"Adoro te" (I adore Thee).
"Quem adoras?" (Whom dost thou adore?)
"Jesus Christus" (Jesus Christ), answered the nun, quite unconscious
that the verb adorn governs accusative.
This mistake, which no sixth-form boy would make, gave rise to bursts of
laughter in the church; and Daniel Douin, the provost's assessor, was
constrained to say aloud--
"There's a devil for you, who does not know much about transitive
verbs."
Barre perceiving the bad impression that the superior's nominative had
made, hastened to ask her--
"Quis est iste quem adoras?" (Who is it whom thou dost adore?)
His hope was that she would again reply "Jesus Christus," but he was
disappointed.
"Jesu Christe," was her answer.
Renewed shouts of laughter greeted this infraction of one of the most
elementary rules of syntax, and several of those present exclaimed:
"Oh, your reverence, what very poor Latin!"
Barre pretended not to hear, and next asked what was the name of the
demon who had taken possession of her. The poor superior, who was
greatly confused by the unexpected effect of her last two answers, could
not speak for a long time; but at length with great trouble she brought
out the name Asmodee, without daring to latinise it. The exorcist then
inquired how many devils the superior had in her body, and to this
question she replied quite fluently:
"Sex" (Six).
The bailiff upon this requested Barre to ask the chief devil how many
evil spirits he had with him. But the need for this answer had been
foreseen, and the nun unhesitatingly returned--
"Quinque" (Five).
This answer raised Asmodee somewhat in the opinion of those present; but
when the bailiff adjured the superior to repeat in Greek what she had
just said in Latin she made no reply, and on the adjuration being
renewed she immediately recovered her senses.
The examination of the superior being thus cut short, a little nun who
appeared for the first time in public was brought forward. She began by
twice pronouncing the name of Grandier with a loud laugh; then turning
to the bystanders, called out--
"For all your number, you can do nothing worth while."
As it was easy to see that nothing of importance was to be expected from
this new patient, she was soon suppressed, and her place taken by the
lay sister Claire who had already made her debut in the mother
superior's room.
Hardly had she entered the choir than she uttered a groan, but as soon
as they placed her on the little bed on which the other nuns had lain,
she gave way to uncontrollable laughter, and cried out between the
paroxysms--
"Grandier, Grandier, you must buy some at the market."
Barre at once declared that these wild and whirling words were a proof
of possession, and approached to exorcise the demon; but Sister Claire
resisted, and pretending to spit in the face of the exorcist, put out
her tongue at him, making indecent gestures, using a word in harmony
with her actions. This word being in the vernacular was understood by
everyone and required no interpretation.
The exorcist then conjured her to give the name of the demon who was in
her, and she replied--
"Grandier."
But Barre by repeating his question gave her to understand that she had
made a mistake, whereupon she corrected herself and said--
"Elimi."
Nothing in the world could induce her to reveal the number of evil
spirits by whom Elimi was accompanied, so that Barre, seeing that it was
useless to press her on this point, passed on to the next question.
"Quo pacto ingressus est daemon." (By what pact did the demon get in?).
"Duplex" (Double), returned Sister Claire.
This horror of the ablative, when the ablative was absolutely necessary,
aroused once more the hilarity of the audience, and proved that Sister
Claire's devil was just as poor a Latin scholar as the superior's, and
Barre, fearing some new linguistic eccentricity on the part of the evil
spirit, adjourned the meeting to another day.
The paucity of learning shown in the answers of the nuns being
sufficient to convince any fairminded person that the whole affair was a
ridiculous comedy, the bailiff felt encouraged to persevere until he had
unravelled the whole plot. Consequently, at three o'clock in the
afternoon, he returned to the convent, accompanied by his clerk, by
several magistrates, and by a considerable number of the best known
people of Loudun, and asked to see the superior. Being admitted, he
announced to Barre that he had come to insist on the superior being
separated from Sister Claire, so that each could be exorcised apart.
Barre dared not refuse before such a great number of witnesses,
therefore the superior was isolated and the exorcisms begun all over
again. Instantly the convulsions returned, just as in the morning, only
that now she twisted her feet into the form of hooks, which was a new
accomplishment.
Having adjured her several times, the exorcist succeeded in making her
repeat some prayers, and then sounded her as to the name and number of
the demons in possession, whereupon she said three times that there was
one called Achaos. The bailiff then directed Barre to ask if she were
possessed 'ex pacto magi, aut ex Aura voluntate Dei' (by a pact with a
sorcerer or by the pure will of God), to which the superior answered
"Non est voluutas Dei" (Not by the will of God).
Upon this, Barre dreading more questions from the bystanders, hastily
resumed his own catechism by asking who was the sorcerer.
"Urbanus," answered the superior.
"Est-ne Urbanus papa" (Is it Pope Urban?), asked the exorcist.
"Grandier," replied the superior.
"Quare ingressus es in corpus hujus puellae" (Why did you enter the body
of this maiden?), said Barre.
"Propter praesentiam tuum" (Because of your presence), answered the
superior.
At this point the bailiff, seeing no reason why the dialogue between
Barre and the superior should ever come to an end, interposed and
demanded that questions suggested by him and the other officials present
should be put to the superior, promising that if she answered three of
four such questions correctly, he, and those with him, would believe in
the reality of the possession, and would certify to that effect. Barre
accepted the challenge, but unluckily just at that moment the superior
regained consciousness, and as it was already late, everyone retired.