For four months Grandier languished in prison, and, according to the
report of Michelon, commandant of Angers, and of Pierre Bacher, his
confessor, he was, during the whole period, a model of patience and
firmness, passing his days in reading good books or in writing prayers
and meditations, which were afterwards produced at his trial. Meanwhile,
in spite of the urgent appeals of Jeanne Esteye, mother of the accused,
who, although seventy years of age, seemed to recover her youthful
strength and activity in the desire to save her son, Laubardemont
continued the examination, which was finished on April 4th. Urbain was
then brought back from Angers to Loudun.
An extraordinary cell had been prepared for him in a house belonging to
Mignon, and which had formerly been occupied by a sergeant named
Bontems, once clerk to Trinquant, who had been a witness for the
prosecution in the first trial. It was on the topmost story; the windows
had been walled up, leaving only one small slit open, and even this
opening was secured by enormous iron bars; and by an exaggeration of
caution the mouth of the fireplace was furnished with a grating, lest
the devils should arrive through the chimney to free the sorcerer from
his chains. Furthermore, two holes in the corners of the room, so formed
that they were unnoticeable from within, allowed a constant watch to be
kept over Grandier's movements by Bontem's wife, a precaution by which
they hoped to learn something that would help them in the coming
exorcisms. In this room, lying on a little straw, and almost without
light, Grandier wrote the following letter to his mother:
"MY MOTHER,--I received your letter and everything you sent me except
the woollen stockings. I endure any affliction with patience, and feel
more pity for you than for myself. I am very much inconvenienced for
want of a bed; try and have mine brought to me, for my mind will give
way if my body has no rest: if you can, send me a breviary, a Bible, and
a St. Thomas for my consolation; and above all, do not grieve for me. I
trust that, God will bring my innocence to light. Commend me to my
brother and sister, and all our good friends.--I am, mother, your
dutiful son and servant, "GRANDIER"
While Grandier had been in prison at Angers the cases of possession at
the convent had miraculously multiplied, for it was no longer only the
superior and Sister Claire who had fallen a prey to the evil spirits,
but also several other sisters, who were divided into three groups as
follows, and separated:--
The superior, with Sisters Louise des Anges and Anne de Sainte-Agnes,
were sent to the house of Sieur Delaville, advocate, legal adviser to
the sisterhood; Sisters Claire and Catherine de la Presentation were
placed in the house of Canon Maurat; Sisters Elisabeth de la Croix,
Monique de Sainte-Marthe, Jeanne du Sainte-Esprit, and Seraphique Archer
were in a third house.
A general supervision was undertaken by Memin's sister, the wife of
Moussant, who was thus closely connected with two of the greatest
enemies of the accused, and to her Bontems' wife told all that the
superior needed to know about Grandier. Such was the manner of the
sequestration!
The choice of physicians was no less extraordinary. Instead of calling
in the most skilled practitioners of Angers, Tours, Poitiers, or Saumur,
all of them, except Daniel Roger of Loudun, came from the surrounding
villages, and were men of no education: one of them, indeed, had failed
to obtain either degree or licence, and had been obliged to leave Saumur
in consequence; another had been employed in a small shop to take goods
home, a position he had exchanged for the more lucrative one of quack.
There was just as little sense of fairness and propriety shown in the
choice of the apothecary and surgeon. The apothecary, whose name was
Adam, was Mignon's first cousin, and had been one of the witnesses for
the prosecution at Grandier's first trial; and as on that occasion--he
had libelled a young girl of Loudun, he had been sentenced by a decree
of Parliament to make a public apology. And yet, though his hatred of
Grandier in consequence of this humiliation was so well known,--perhaps
for that very reason, it was to him the duty of dispensing and
administering the prescriptions was entrusted, no one supervising the
work even so far as to see that the proper doses were given, or taking
note whether for sedatives he did not sometimes substitute stimulating
and exciting drugs, capable of producing real convulsions. The surgeon
Mannouri was still more unsuitable, for he was a nephew of Memin de
Silly, and brother of the nun who had offered the most determined
opposition to Grandier's demand for sequestration of the possessed
sisters, during the second series of exorcisms. In vain did the mother
and brother of the accused present petitions setting forth the
incapacity of the doctors and the hatred of Grandier professed by the
apothecary; they could not, even at their own expense, obtain certified
copies of any of these petitions, although they had witnesses ready to
prove that Adam had once in his ignorance dispensed crocus metallorum
for crocus mantis--a mistake which had caused the death of the patient
for whom the prescription was made up. In short, so determined were the
conspirators that this time Grandier should be done to death, that they
had not even the decency to conceal the infamous methods by which they
had arranged to attain this result.
The examination was carried on with vigour. As one of the first
formalities would be the identification of the accused, Grandier
published a memorial in which he recalled the case of Saint-Anastasius
at the Council of Tyre, who had been accused of immorality by a fallen
woman whom he had never seen before. When this woman entered the hall of
justice in order to swear to her deposition, a priest named Timothy went
up to her and began to talk to her as if he were Anastasius; falling
into the trap, she answered as if she recognised him, and thus the
innocence of the saint was shown forth. Grandier therefore demanded that
two or three persons of his own height and complexion should be dressed
exactly like himself, and with him should be allowed to confront the
nuns. As he had never seen any of them, and was almost certain they had
never seen him, they would not be able, he felt sure, to point him out
with certainty, in spite of the allegations of undue intimacy with
themselves they brought against him. This demand showed such conscious
innocence that it was embarrassing to answer, so no notice was taken of
it.
Meanwhile the Bishop of Poitiers, who felt much elated at getting the
better of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who of course was powerless
against an order issued by the cardinal-duke, took exception to Pere
l'Escaye and Pere Gaut, the exorcists appointed by his superior, and
named instead his own chaplain, who had been judge at Grandier's first
trial, and had passed sentence on him, and Pere Lactance, a Franciscan
monk. These two, making no secret of the side with which they
sympathised, put up on their arrival at Nicolas Moussant's, one of
Grandier's most bitter enemies; on the following day they went to the
superior's apartments and began their exorcisms. The first time the
superior opened her lips to reply, Pere Lactance perceived that she knew
almost no Latin, and consequently would not shine during the exorcism,
so he ordered her to answer in French, although he still continued to
exorcise her in Latin; and when someone was bold enough to object,
saying that the devil, according to the ritual, knew all languages
living and dead, and ought to reply in the same language in which he was
addressed, the father declared that the incongruity was caused by the
pact, and that moreover some devils were more ignorant than peasants.
Following these exorcists, and two Carmelite monks, named Pierre de
Saint-Thomas and Pierre de Saint-Mathurin, who had, from the very
beginning, pushed their way in when anything was going on, came four
Capuchins sent by Pere Joseph, head of the Franciscans, "His grey
Eminence," as he was called, and whose names were Peres Luc, Tranquille,
Potais, and Elisee; so that a much more rapid advance could be made than
hitherto by carrying on the exorcisms in four different places at
once--viz., in the convent, and in the churches of Sainte-Croix,
Saint-Pierre du Martroy, and Notre-Dame du Chateau. Very little of
importance took place, however, on the first two occasions, the 15th and
16th of April; for the declarations of the doctors were most vague and
indefinite, merely saying that the things they had seen were
supernatural, surpassing their knowledge and the rules of medicine.
The ceremony of the 23rd April presented, however, some points of
interest. The superior, in reply to the interrogations of Pere Lactance,
stated that the demon had entered her body under the forms of a cat, a
dog, a stag, and a buck-goat.
"Quoties?" (How often?), inquired the exorcist.
"I didn't notice the day," replied the superior, mistaking the word
quoties for quando (when).
It was probably to revenge herself for this error that the superior
declared the same day that Grandier had on his body five marks made by
the devil, and that though his body was else insensible to pain, he was
vulnerable at those spots. Mannouri, the surgeon, was therefore ordered
to verify this assertion, and the day appointed for the verification was
the 26th.
In virtue of this mandate Mannouri presented himself early on that day
at Grandier's prison, caused him to be stripped naked and cleanly
shaven, then ordered him to be laid on a table and his eyes bandaged.
But the devil was wrong again: Grandier had only two marks, instead of
five--one on the shoulder-blade, and the other on the thigh.
Then took place one of the most abominable performances that can be
imagined. Mannouri held in his hand a probe, with a hollow handle, into
which the needle slipped when a spring was touched: when Mannouri
applied the probe to those parts of Grandier's body which, according to
the superior, were insensible, he touched the spring, and the needle,
while seeming to bury itself in the flesh, really retreated into the
handle, thus causing no pain; but when he touched one of the marks said
to be vulnerable, he left the needle fixed, and drove it in to the depth
of several inches. The first time he did this it drew from poor
Grandier, who was taken unprepared, such a piercing cry that it was
heard in the street by the crowd which had gathered round the door. From
the mark on the shoulder-blade with which he had commenced, Mannouri
passed to that on the thigh, but though he plunged the needle in to its
full depth Grandier uttered neither cry nor groan, but went on quietly
repeating a prayer, and notwithstanding that Mannouri stabbed him twice
more through each of the two marks, he could draw nothing from his
victim but prayers for his tormentors.
M de Laubardemont was present at this scene.
The next day the devil was addressed in such forcible terms that an
acknowledgment was wrung from him that Grandier's body bore, not five,
but two marks only; and also, to the vast admiration of the spectators,
he was able this time to indicate their precise situation.
Unfortunately for the demon, a joke in which he indulged on this
occasion detracted from the effect of the above proof of cleverness.
Having been asked why he had refused to speak on the preceding Saturday,
he said he had not been at Loudun on that day, as the whole morning he
had been occupied in accompanying the soul of a certain Le Proust,
attorney to the Parliament of Paris, to hell. This answer awoke such
doubts in the breasts of some of the laymen present that they took the
trouble to examine the register of deaths, and found that no one of the
name of Le Proust, belonging to any profession whatever, had died on
that date. This discovery rendered the devil less terrible, and perhaps
less amusing.
Meantime the progress of the other exorcisms met with like
interruptions. Pere Pierre de Saint Thomas, who conducted the operations
in the Carmelite church, asked one of the possessed sisters where
Grandier's books of magic were; she replied that they were kept at the
house of a certain young girl, whose name she gave, and who was the same
to whom Adam had been forced to apologise. De Laubardemont, Moussant,
Herve, and Meunau hastened at once to the house indicated, searched the
rooms and the presses, opened the chests and the wardrobes and all the
secret places in the house, but in vain. On their return to the church,
they reproached the devil for having deceived them, but he explained
that a niece of the young woman had removed the books. Upon this, they
hurried to the niece's dwelling, but unluckily she was not at home,
having spent the whole day at a certain church making her devotions, and
when they went thither, the priests and attendants averred that she had
not gone out all day; so notwithstanding the desire of the exorcists to
oblige Adam they were forced to let the matter drop.
These two false statements increased the number of unbelievers; but it
was announced that a most interesting performance would take place on
May 4th; indeed, the programme when issued was varied enough to arouse
general curiosity. Asmodeus was to raise the superior two feet from the
ground, and the fiends Eazas and Cerberus, in emulation of their leader,
would do as much for two other nuns; while a fourth devil, named
Beherit, would go farther still, and, greatly daring, would attack M. de
Laubardemont himself, and, having spirited his councillor's cap from his
head, would hold it suspended in the air for the space of a Misereye.
Furthermore, the exorcists announced that six of the strongest men in
the town would try to prevent the contortions of the, weakest of the
convulsed nuns, and would fail.
It need hardly be said that the prospect of such an entertainment filled
the church on the appointed day to overflowing. Pere Lactance began by
calling on Asmodeus to fulfil his promise of raising the superior from
the ground. She began, hereupon, to perform various evolutions on her
mattress, and at one moment it seemed as if she were really suspended in
the air; but one of the spectators lifted her dress and showed that she
was only standing on tiptoe, which, though it might be clever, was not
miraculous. Shouts of laughter rent the air, which had such an
intimidating effect on Eazas and Cerberus that not all the adjurations
of the exorcists could extract the slightest response. Beherit was their
last hope, and he replied that he was prepared to lift up M. de
Laubardemont's cap, and would do so before the expiration of a quarter
of an hour.
We must here remark that this time the exorcisms took place in the
evening, instead of in the morning as hitherto; and it was now growing
dark, and darkness is favourable to illusions. Several of the
unbelieving ones present, therefore, began to call attention to the fact
that the quarter of an hour's delay would necessitate the employment of
artificial light during the next scene. They also noticed that M. de
Laubardemont had seated himself apart and immediately beneath one of the
arches in the vaulted roof, through which a hole had been drilled for
the passage of the bell-rope. They therefore slipped out of the church,
and up into the belfry, where they hid. In a few moments a man appeared
who began to work at something. They sprang on him and seized his
wrists, and found in one of his hands a thin line of horsehair, to one
end of which a hook was attached. The holder being frightened, dropped
the line and fled, and although M. de Laubardemont, the exorcists, and
the spectators waited, expecting every moment that the cap would rise
into the air, it remained quite firm on the owner's head, to the no
small confusion of Pere Lactance, who, all unwitting of the fiasco,
continued to adjure Beherit to keep his word--of course without the
least effect.
Altogether, this performance of May 4th, went anything but smoothly.
Till now no trick had succeeded; never before had the demons been such
bunglers. But the exorcists were sure that the last trick would go off
without a hitch. This was, that a nun, held by six men chosen for their
strength, would succeed in extricating herself from their grasp, despite
their utmost efforts. Two Carmelites and two Capuchins went through the
audience and selected six giants from among the porters and messengers
of the town.
This time the devil answered expectations by showing that if he was not
clever he was strong, for although the six men tried to hold her down
upon her mattress, the superior was seized with such terrible
convulsions that she escaped from their hands, throwing down one of
those who tried to detain her. This experiment, thrice renewed,
succeeded thrice, and belief seemed about to return to the assembly,
when a physician of Saumur named Duncan, suspecting trickery, entered
the choir, and, ordering the six men to retire, said he was going to try
and hold the superior down unaided, and if she escaped from his hands he
would make a public apology for his unbelief. M. de Laubardemont tried
to prevent this test, by objecting to Duncan as an atheist, but as
Duncan was greatly respected on account of his skill and probity, there
was such an outcry at this interference from the entire audience that
the commissioner was forced to let him have his way. The six porters
were therefore dismissed, but instead of resuming their places among the
spectators they left the church by the sacristy, while Duncan
approaching the bed on which the superior had again lain down, seized
her by the wrist, and making certain that he had a firm hold, he told
the exorcists to begin.
Never up to that time had it been so clearly shown that the conflict
going on was between public opinion and the private aims of a few. A
hush fell on the church; everyone stood motionless in silent expectancy.
The moment Pere Lactance uttered the sacred words the convulsions of the
superior recommenced; but it seemed as if Duncan had more strength than
his six predecessors together, for twist and writhe and struggle as she
would, the superior's wrist remained none the less firmly clasped in
Duncan's hand. At length she fell back on her bed exhausted,
exclaiming!"
"It's no use, it's no use! He's holding me!"
"Release her arm!" shouted Pere Lactance in a rage. "How can the
convulsions take place if you hold her that way?"
"If she is really possessed by a demon," answered Duncan aloud, "he
should be stronger than I; for it is stated in the ritual that among the
symptoms of possession is strength beyond one's years, beyond one's
condition, and beyond what is natural."
"That is badly argued," said Lactance sharply: "a demon outside the body
is indeed stronger than you, but when enclosed in a weak frame such as
this it cannot show such strength, for its efforts are proportioned to
the strength of the body it possesses."
"Enough!" said M. de Laubardemont; "we did not come here to argue with
philosophers, but to build up the faith of Christians."
With that he rose up from his chair amidst a terrible uproar, and the
assembly dispersed in the utmost disorder, as if they were leaving a
theatre rather than a church.
The ill success of this exhibition caused a cessation of events of
interest for some days. The result was that a great number of noblemen
and other people of quality who had come to Loudun expecting to see
wonders and had been shown only commonplace transparent tricks, began to
think it was not worth while remaining any longer, and went their
several ways--a defection much bewailed by Pere Tranquille in a little
work which he published on this affair.
"Many," he says, "came to see miracles at Loudun, but finding the devils
did not give them the signs they expected, they went away dissatisfied,
and swelled the numbers of the unbelieving."
It was determined, therefore, in order to keep the town full, to predict
some great event which would revive curiosity and increase faith. Pere
Lactance therefore announced that on the 20th of May three of the seven
devils dwelling in the superior would come out, leaving three wounds in
her left side, with corresponding holes in her chemise, bodice, and
dress. The three parting devils were Asmodeus, Gresil des Trones, and
Aman des Puissances. He added that the superior's hands would be bound
behind her back at the time the wounds were given.
On the appointed day the church of Sainte-Croix was filled to
overflowing with sightseers curious to know if the devils would keep
their promises better this time than the last. Physicians were invited
to examine the superior's side and her clothes; and amongst those who
came forward was Duncan, whose presence guaranteed the public against
deception; but none of the exorcists ventured to exclude him, despite
the hatred in which they held him--a hatred which they would have made
him feel if he had not been under the special protection of Marshal
Breze. The physicians having completed their examination, gave the
following certificate:--
"We have found no wound in the patient's side, no rent in her vestments,
and our search revealed no sharp instrument hidden in the folds of her
dress."
These preliminaries having been got through, Pere Lactance questioned
her in French for nearly two hours, her answers being in the same
language. Then he passed from questions to adjurations: on this, Duncan
came forward, and said a promise had been given that the superior's
hands should be tied behind her back, in order that there might be no
room for suspicion of fraud, and that the moment had now arrived to keep
that promise. Pere Lactance admitted the justice of the demand, but said
as there were many present who had never seen the superior in
convulsions such as afflicted the possessed, it would be only fair that
she should be exorcised for their satisfaction before binding her.
Accordingly he began to repeat the form of exorcism, and the superior
was immediately attacked by frightful convulsions, which in a few
minutes produced complete exhaustion, so that she fell on her face to
the ground, and turning on her left arm and side, remained motionless
some instants, after which she uttered a low cry, followed by a groan.
The physicians approached her, and Duncan seeing her take away her hand
from her left side, seized her arm, and found that the tips of her
fingers were stained with blood. They then examined her clothing and
body, and found her dress, bodice, and chemise cut through in three
places, the cuts being less than an inch long. There were also three
scratches beneath the left breast, so slight as to be scarcely more than
skin deep, the middle one being a barleycorn in length; still, from all
three a sufficient quantity of blood had oozed to stain the chemise
above them.
This time the fraud was so glaring that even de Laubardemont exhibited
some signs of confusion because of the number and quality of the
spectators. He would not, however, allow the doctors to include in their
report their opinion as to the manner in which the wounds were
inflicted; but Grandier protested against this in a Statement of Facts,
which he drew up during the night, and which was distributed next day.
It was as follows:
"That if the superior had not groaned the physicians would not have
removed her clothes, and would have suffered her to be bound, without
having the least idea that the wounds were already made; that then the
exorcists would have commanded the devils to come forth, leaving the
traces they had promised; that the superior would then have gone through
the most extraordinary contortions of which she was capable, and have
had a long fit of, convulsions, at the end of which she would have been
delivered from the three demons, and the wounds would have been found in
her body; that her groans, which had betrayed her, had by God's will
thwarted the best-laid plans of men and devils. Why do you suppose," he
went on to ask, "that clean incised wounds, such as a sharp blade would
make, 'were chosen for a token, seeing that the wounds left by devils
resemble burns? Was it not because it was easier for the superior to
conceal a lancet with which to wound herself slightly, than to conceal
any instrument sufficiently heated to burn her? Why do you think the
left side was chosen rather than the forehead and nose, if not because
she could not give herself a wound in either of those places without
being seen by all the spectators? Why was the left side rather than the
right chosen, if it were not that it was easier for the superior to
wound herself with her right hand, which she habitually used, in the
left side than in the right? Why did she turn on her left side and arm
and remain so long in that position, if it were not to hide from the
bystanders the instrument with which she wounded herself? What do you
think caused her to groan, in spite of all her resolution, if it were
not the pain of the wound she gave herself? for the most courageous
cannot repress a shudder when the surgeon opens a vein. Why were her
finger-tips stained with blood, if it were not that the secreted blade
was so small that the fingers which held it could not escape being
reddened by the blood it caused to flow? How came it that the wounds
were so superficial that they barely went deeper than the cuticle, while
devils are known to rend and tear demoniacs when leaving them, if it
were not that the superior did not hate herself enough to inflict deep
and dangerous wounds?"
Despite this logical protest from Grandier and the barefaced knavery of
the exorcist, M. de Laubardemont prepared a report of the expulsion of
the three devils, Asmodeus, Gresil, and Aman, from the body of sister
Jeanne des Anges, through three wounds below the region of the heart; a
report which was afterwards shamelessly used against Grandier, and of
which the memorandum still exists, a monument, not so much of credulity
and superstition, as of hatred and revenge. Pere Lactance, in order to
allay the suspicions which the pretended miracle had aroused among the
eye-wittnesses, asked Balaam, one of the four demons who still remained
in the superior's body, the following day, why Asmodeus and his two
companions had gone out against their promise, while the superior's face
and hands were hidden from the people.
"To lengthen the incredulity of certain people," answered Balaam.
As for Pere Tranquille, he published a little volume describing the
whole affair, in which, with the irresponsible frivolity of a true
Capuchin, he poked fun at those who could not swallow the miracles
wholesale.
"They had every reason to feel vexed," he said, "at the small courtesy
or civility shown by the demons to persons of their merit and station;
but if they had examined their consciences, perhaps they would have
found the real reason of their discontent, and, turning their anger
against themselves, would have done penance for having come to the
exorcisms led by a depraved moral sense and a prying spirit."
Nothing remarkable happened from the 20th May till the 13th June, a day
which became noteworthy by reason of the superior's vomiting a quill a
finger long. It was doubtless this last miracle which brought the Bishop
of Poitiers to Loudun, "not," as he said to those who came to pay their
respects to him, "to examine into the genuineness of the possession, but
to force those to believe who still doubted, and to discover the classes
which Urbain had founded to teach the black art to pupils of both
sexes."
Thereupon the opinion began to prevail among the people that it would be
prudent to believe in the possession, since the king, the cardinal-duke,
and the bishop believed in it, and that continued doubt would lay them
open to the charges of disloyalty to their king and their Church, and of
complicity in the crimes of Grandier, and thus draw down upon them the
ruthless punishment of Laubardemont.
"The reason we feel so certain that our work is pleasing to God is that
it is also pleasing to the king," wrote Pere Lactance.
The arrival of the bishop was followed by a new exorcism; and of this an
eye-witness, who was a good Catholic and a firm believer in possession,
has left us a written description, more interesting than any we could
give. We shall present it to our readers, word for word, as it stands:--
"On Friday, 23rd June 1634, on the Eve of Saint John, about 3 p.m., the
Lord Bishop of Poitiers and M. de Laubardemont being present in the
church of Sainte-Croix of Loudun, to continue the exorcisms of the
Ursuline nuns, by order of M. de Laubardemont, commissioner, Urbain
Grandier, priest-in-charge, accused and denounced as a magician by the
said possessed nuns, was brought from his prison to the said church.
"There were produced by the said commissioner to the said Urbain
Grandier four pacts mentioned several times by the said possessed nuns
at the preceding exorcisms, which the devils who possessed the nuns
declared they had made with the said Grandier on several occasions:
there was one in especial which Leviathan gave up on Saturday the 17th
inst., composed of an infant's heart procured at a witches' sabbath,
held in Orleans in 1631; the ashes of a consecrated wafer, blood, etc.,
of the said Grandier, whereby Leviathan asserted he had entered the body
of the sister, Jeanne des Anges, the superior of the said nuns, and took
possession of her with his coadjutors Beherit, Eazas, and Balaam, on
December 8th, 1632. Another such pact was composed of the pips of
Grenada oranges, and was given up by Asmodeus and a number of other
devils. It had been made to hinder Beherit from keeping his promise to
lift the commissioner's hat two inches from his head and to hold it
there the length of a Miseyere, as a sign that he had come out of the
nun. On all these pacts being shown to the said Grandier, he said,
without astonishment, but with much firmness and resolution, that he had
no knowledge of them whatever, that he had never made them, and had not
the skill by which to make them, that he had held no communication with
devils, and knew nothing of what they were talking about. A report of
all this being made and shown to him, he signed it.
"This done, they brought all the possessed nuns, to the number of eleven
or twelve, including three lay sisters, also possessed, into the choir
of the said church, accompanied by a great many monks, Carmelites,
Capuchins, and Franciscans; and by three physicians and a surgeon. The
sisters on entering made some wanton remarks, calling Grandier their
master, and exhibiting great delight at seeing him.
"Thereupon Pere Lactance and Gabriel, a Franciscan brother, and one of
the exorcists, exhorted all present with great fervour to lift up their
hearts to God and to make an act of contrition for the offences
committed against His divine majesty, and to pray that the number of
their sins might not be an obstacle to the fulfilment of the plans which
He in His providence had formed for the promotion of His glory on that
occasion, and to give outward proof of their heartfelt grief by
repeating the Confiteor as a preparation for the blessing of the Lord
Bishop of Poitiers. This having been done, he went on to say that the
matter in question was of such moment and so important in its relation
to the great truths of the Roman Catholic Church, that this
consideration alone ought to be sufficient to excite their devotion; and
furthermore, that the affliction of these poor sisters was so peculiar
and had lasted so long, that charity impelled all those who had the
right to work for their deliverance and the expulsion of the devils, to
employ the power entrusted to them with their office in accomplishing so
worthy a task by the forms of exorcism prescribed by the Church to its
ministers; then addressing Grandier, he said that he having been
anointed as a priest belonged to this number, and that he ought to help
with all his power and with all his energy, if the bishop were pleased
to allow him to do so, and to remit his suspension from authority. The
bishop having granted permission, the Franciscan friar offered a stole
to Grandier, who, turning towards the prelate, asked him if he might
take it. On receiving a reply in the affirmative, he passed it round his
neck, and on being offered a copy of the ritual, he asked permission to
accept it as before, and received the bishop's blessing, prostrating
himself at his feet to kiss them; whereupon the Veni Creator Spiritus
having been sung, he rose, and addressing the bishop, asked--
"'My lord, whom am I to exorcise?'"
The said bishop having replied--
"'These maidens.'
"Grandier again asked--
"'What maidens?'
"'The possessed maidens,' was the answer.
"'That is to say, my lord,' said he; 'that I am obliged to believe in
the fact of possession. The Church believes in it, therefore I too
believe; but I cannot believe that a sorcerer can cause a Christian to
be possessed unless the Christian consent.'
"Upon this, some of those present exclaimed that it was heretical to
profess such a belief; that the contrary was indubitable, believed by
the whole Church and approved by the Sorbonne. To which he replied that
his mind on that point was not yet irrevocably made up, that what he had
said was simply his own idea, and that in any case he submitted to the
opinion of the whole body of which he was only a member; that nobody was
declared a heretic for having doubts, but only for persisting in them,
and that what he had advanced was only for the purpose of drawing an
assurance from the bishop that in doing what he was about to do he would
not be abusing the authority of the Church. Sister Catherine having been
brought to him by the Franciscan as the most ignorant of all the nuns,
and the least open to the suspicion of being acquainted with Latin, he
began the exorcism in the form prescribed by the ritual. But as soon as
he began to question her he was interrupted, for all the other nuns were
attacked by devils, and uttered strange and terrible noises. Amongst the
rest, Sister Claire came near, and reproached him for his blindness and
obstinacy, so that he was forced to leave the nun with whom he had
begun, and address his words to the said Sister Claire, who during the
entire duration of the exorcism continued to talk at random, without
paying any heed to Grandier's words, which were also interrupted by the
mother superior, to whom he of last gave attention, leaving Sister
Claire. But it is to be noted that before beginning to exorcise the
superior, he said, speaking in Latin as heretofore, that knowing she
understood Latin, he would question her in Greek. To which the devil
replied by the mouth of the possessed:
"'Ah! how clever you are! You know it was one of the first conditions of
our pact that I was not to answer in Greek.'
"Upon this, he cried, 'O pulchra illusio, egregica evasio!' ( O superb
fraud, outrageous evasion!)
"He was then told that he was permitted to exorcise in Greek, provided
he first wrote down what he wished to say, and the superior hereupon
said that he should be answered in what language he pleased; but it was
impossible, for as soon as he opened his mouth all the nuns recommenced
their shrieks and paroxysms, showing unexampled despair, and giving way
to convulsions, which in each patient assumed a new form, and persisting
in accusing Grandier of using magic and the black art to torment them;
offering to wring his neck if they were allowed, and trying to outrage
his feelings in every possible way. But this being against the
prohibitions of the Church, the priests and monks present worked with
the utmost zeal to calm the frenzy which had seized on the nuns.
Grandier meanwhile remained calm and unmoved, gazing fixedly at the
maniacs, protesting his innocence, and praying to God for protection.
Then addressing himself to the bishop and M. de Laubardemont, he
implored them by the ecclesiastical and royal authority of which they
were the ministers to command these demons to wring his neck, or at
least to put a mark in his forehead, if he were guilty of the crime of
which they accused him, that the glory of God might be shown forth, the
authority of the Church vindicated, and himself brought to confusion,
provided that the nuns did not touch him with their hands. But to this
the bishop and the commissioner would not consent, because they did not
want to be responsible for what might happen to him, neither would they
expose the authority of the Church to the wiles of the devils, who might
have made some pact on that point with Grandier. Then the exorcists, to
the number of eight, having commanded the devils to be silent and to
cease their tumult, ordered a brazier to be brought, and into this they
threw the pacts one by one, whereupon the convulsions returned with such
awful violence and confused cries, rising into frenzied shrieks, and
accompanied by such horrible contortions, that the scene might have been
taken for an orgy of witches, were it not for the sanctity of the place
and the character of those present, of whom Grandier, in outward seeming
at least, was the least amazed of any, although he had the most reason.
The devils continued their accusations, citing the places, the days, and
the hours of their intercourse with him; the first spell he cast on
them, his scandalous behaviour, his insensibility, his abjurations of
God and the faith. To all this he calmly returned that these accusations
were calumnies, and all the more unjust considering his profession; that
he renounced Satan and all his fiends, having neither knowledge nor
comprehension of them; that in spite of all he was a Christian, and what
was more, an anointed priest; that though he knew himself to be a sinful
man, yet his trust was in God and in His Christ; that he had never
indulged in such abominations, end that it would be impossible to
furnish any pertinent and convincing proof of his guilt.
"At this point no words could express what the senses perceived; eyes
and ears received an impression of being surrounded by furies such as
had never been gathered together before; and unless accustomed to such
ghastly scenes as those who sacrifice to demons, no one could keep his
mind free from astonishment and horror in the midst of such a spectacle.
Grandier alone remained unchanged through it all, seemingly insensible
to the monstrous exhibitions, singing hymns to the Lord with the rest of
the people, as confident as if he were guarded by legions of angels. One
of the demons cried out that Beelzebub was standing between him and Pere
Tranquille the Capuchin, upon which Grandier said to the demon--
"'Obmutescas!' (Hold thy peace).
"Upon this the demon began to curse, and said that was their watchword;
but they could not hold their peace, because God was infinitely
powerful, and the powers of hell could not prevail against Him.
Thereupon they all struggled to get at Grandier, threatening to tear him
limb from limb, to point out his marks, to strangle him although he was
their master; whereupon he seized a chance to say he was neither their
master nor their servant, and that it was incredible that they should in
the same breath acknowledge him for their master and express a desire to
strangle him: on hearing this, the frenzy of the nuns reached its
height, and they kicked their slippers into his face.
"'Just look!' said he; 'the shoes drop from the hoofs of their own
accord.'
"At length, had it not been for the help and interposition of people in
the choir, the nuns in their frenzy would have taken the life of the
chief personage in this spectacle; so there was no choice but to take
him away from the church and the furies who threatened his life. He was
therefore brought back to prison about six o'clock in the evening, and
the rest of the day the exorcists were employed in calming the poor
sisters--a task of no small difficulty."
Everyone did not regard the possessed sisters with the indulgent eye of
the author of the above narrative, and many saw in this terrible
exhibition of hysteria and convulsions an infamous and sacrilegious
orgy, at which revenge ran riot. There was such difference of opinion
about it that it was considered necessary to publish the following
proclamation by means of placards on July 2nd:
"All persons, of whatever rank or profession, are hereby expressly
forbidden to traduce, or in any way malign, the nuns and other persons
at Loudun possessed by evil spirits; or their exorcists; or those who
accompany them either to the places appointed for exorcism or elsewhere;
in any form or manner whatever, on pain of a fine of ten thousand
livres, or a larger sum and corporal punishment should the case so
require; and in order that no one may plead ignorance hereof, this
proclamation will be read and published to-day from the pulpits of all
the churches, and copies affixed to the church doors and in other
suitable public places.
"Done at Loudun, July 2nd, 1634."
This order had great influence with worldly folk, and from that moment,
whether their belief was strengthened or not, they no longer dared to
express any incredulity. But in spite of that, the judges were put to
shame, for the nuns themselves began to repent; and on the day following
the impious scene above described, just as Pere Lactanee began to
exorcise Sister Claire in the castle chapel, she rose, and turning
towards the congregation, while tears ran down her cheeks, said in a
voice that could be heard by all present, that she was going to speak
the truth at last in the sight of Heaven. Thereupon she confessed that
all that she had said during the last fortnight against Grandier was
calumnious and false, and that all her actions had been done at the
instigation of the Franciscan Pere Lactance, the director, Mignon, and
the Carmelite brothers. Pere Lactance, not in the least taken aback,
declared that her confession was a fresh wile of the devil to save her
master Grandier. She then made an urgent appeal to the bishop and to M.
de Laubardemont, asking to be sequestered and placed in charge of other
priests than those who had destroyed her soul, by making her bear false
witness against an innocent man; but they only laughed at the pranks the
devil was playing, and ordered her to be at once taken back to the house
in which she was then living. When she heard this order, she darted out
of the choir, trying to escape through the church door, imploring those
present to come to her assistance and save her from everlasting
damnation. But such terrible fruit had the proclamation borne that noon
dared respond, so she was recaptured and taken back to the house in
which she was sequestered, never to leave it again.