EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL.
We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possession
and obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of the
possession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which such
different opinions were given, both at the time and since. Martha
Broissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin,[255] made as much noise
in her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered the
fraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making them
present to her a key wrapped up in red silk, which was said to be a
piece of the true cross; and in reciting some lines from Virgil, which
Martha Broissier's demon took for exorcisms, agitating her very much
at the approach of the hidden key, and at the recital of the verses
from Virgil. Henri de Gondi, Cardinal Bishop of Paris, had her
examined by five of the faculty; three were of opinion that there was
a great deal of imposture and a little disease. The parliament took
notice of the affair, and nominated eleven physicians, who reported
unanimously that there was nothing demoniacal in this matter.
In the reign of Charles IX.[256] or a little before, a young woman of
the town of Vervins, fifteen or sixteen years of age, named Nicola
Aubry, had different apparitions of a spectre, who called itself her
grandfather, and asked her for masses and prayers for the repose of
his soul.[257] Very soon after, she was transported to different
places by this spectre, and sometimes even was carried out of sight,
and from the midst of those who watched over her.
Then, they had no longer any doubt that it was the devil, which they
had a great deal of trouble to make her believe. The Bishop of Laon
gave his power (of attorney) for conjuring the spirit, and commanded
them to see that the proces-verbaux were exactly drawn up by the
notaries nominated for that purpose. The exorcisms lasted more than
three months, and only serve to prove more and more the fact of the
possession. The poor sufferer was torn from the hands of nine or ten
men, who could hardly retain their hold of her; and on the last day of
the exorcisms sixteen could not succeed in so doing. She had been
lying on the ground, when she stood upright and stiff as a statue,
without those who held her being able to prevent it. She spoke divers
languages, revealed the most secret things, announced others at the
moment they were being done, although at a great distance; she
discovered to many the secret of their conscience, uttered at once
three different voices, or tones, and spoke with her tongue hanging
half a foot out of her mouth. After some exorcisms had been made at
Vervins, they took her to Laon, where the bishop undertook her. He had
a scaffolding erected for this purpose in the cathedral. Such immense
numbers of people went there, that they saw in the church ten or
twelve thousand persons at a time; some even came from foreign
countries. Consequently, France could not be less curious; so the
princes and great people, and those who could not come there
themselves, sent persons who might inform them of what passed. The
Pope's nuncios, the parliamentary deputies, and those of the
university were present.
The devil, forced by the exorcisms, rendered such testimony to the
truth of the Catholic religion, and, above all, to the reality of the
holy eucharist, and at the same time to the falsity of Calvinism, that
the irritated Calvinists no longer kept within bounds. From the time
the exorcisms were made at Vervins, they wanted to kill the possessed,
with the priest who exorcised her, in a journey they made her take to
Notre Dame de Liesse. At Laon, it was still worse; as they were the
strongest in numbers there, a revolt was more than once apprehended.
They so intimidated the bishop and the magistrates, that they took
down the scaffold, and did not have the general procession usually
made before exorcisms. The devil became prouder thereupon, insulted
the bishop, and laughed at him. On the other hand, the Calvinists
having obtained the suppression of the procession, and that she should
be put in prison to be more nearly examined, Carlier, a Calvinist
doctor, suddenly drew from his pocket something which was averred to
be a most violent poison, which he threw into her mouth, and she kept
it on her stomach whilst the convulsion lasted, but she threw it up of
herself when she came to her senses.
All these experiments decided them on recommencing the processions,
and the scaffold was replaced. Then the outraged Calvinists conceived
the idea of a writing from M. de Montmorency, forbidding the
continuation of the exorcisms, and enjoining the king's officers to be
vigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession, and
again the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to the
bishop the trick of this suppositious writing, named those who had
taken part in it, and declared that he had again gained time by this
obedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God.
Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it was
against his own will that he remained in the body of this woman; that
he had entered there by the order of God; that it was to convert the
Calvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate in
being obliged to act and speak against himself.
The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper to
make the processions and the conjurations twice a-day, to excite still
more the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it, and
everything was done with the greatest _eclat_, and in the most
orthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he had
gained time; once because the bishop had not confessed himself;
another time because he was not fasting; and lastly, because it was
requisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present,
as well as the court of justice and the king's officers, in order that
there might be sufficient testimony; that he was forced to warn the
bishop thus of his duty, and that accursed was the hour when he
entered into the body of this person; at the same time, he uttered a
thousand imprecations against the church, the bishop, and the clergy.
Thus, at the last day of possession, everybody being assembled in the
afternoon, the bishop began the last conjurations, when many
extraordinary things took place; amongst others, the bishop desiring
to put the holy eucharist near the lips of this poor woman, the devil
in some way seized hold of his arm, and at the same moment raised this
woman up, as it were, out of the hands of sixteen men who were holding
her. But at last, after much resistance, he came out, and left her
perfectly cured, and thoroughly sensible of the goodness of God. The
_Te Deum_ was sung to the sound of all the bells in the town; nothing
was heard among the Catholics but acclamations of joy, and many of the
Calvinists were converted, whose descendants still dwell in the town.
Florimond de Raimond, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, had the
happiness to be of the number, and has written the history of it. For
nine days they made the procession, to return thanks to God; and they
founded a perpetual mass, which is celebrated every year on the 8th of
February, and they represented this story in _bas-relief_ round the
choir, where it may be seen at this day.
In short, God, as if to put the finishing stroke to so important a
work, permitted that the Prince of Conde, who had just left the
Catholic religion, should be misled on this subject by those of his
new communion. He sent for the poor woman, and also the Canon
d'Espinois, who had never forsaken her during all the time of the
exorcisms. He interrogated them separately, and at several different
times, and made every effort, not to discover if they had practiced
any artifice, but to find out if there was any in the whole affair. He
went so far as to offer the canon very high situations if he would
change his religion. But what can you obtain in favor of heresy from
sensible and upright people, to whom God has thus manifested the power
of his church? All the efforts of the prince were useless; the
firmness of the canon, and the simplicity of the poor woman, only
served to prove to him still more the certainty of the event which
displeased him, and he sent them both home.
Yet a return of ill-will caused him to have this woman again arrested,
and he kept her in one of his prisons until her father and mother
having entreated an inquiry into this injustice to King Charles IX.,
she was set at liberty by order of his majesty.[258]
An event of such importance, and so carefully attested, both on the
part of the bishop and the chapter, and on that of the magistrates,
and even by the violence of the Calvinistic party, ought not to be
buried in silence. King Charles IX., on making his entry into Laon
some time after, desired to be informed about it by the dean of the
cathedral, who had been an ocular witness of the affair. His majesty
commanded him to give publicity to the story, and it was then printed,
first in French, then in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German, with the
approbation of the Sorbonne, supported by the rescripts of Pope Pius
V. and Gregory XIII. his successor. And they made after that a pretty
exact abridgment of it, by order of the Bishop of Laon, printed under
the title of _Le Triomphe du S. Sacrament sur le Diable_.
These are facts which have all the authenticity that can be desired,
and such as a man of honor cannot with any good-breeding affect to
doubt, since he could not after that consider any facts as certain
without being in shameful contradiction with himself.[259]
Footnotes:
[255] Jean de Lorres, sur l'an 1599. Thuan. Hist. l. xii.
[256] Charles IX. died in 1574.
[257] This story is taken from a book entitled "Examen et Discussion
Critique de l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la
Menardaye." A Paris, chez de Bure l'Aine, 1749.
[258] Tresor et entiere Histoire de la Victime du Corps de Dieu,
presentee au Pape, au Roi, au Chancelier de France, au Premier
President. A Paris, 4to. chez Chesnau. 1578.
[259] This account is one of the many in which the theory of
possession was made use of to impugn the Protestant faith. The
simplicity and credulity of Calmet are very remarkable.--EDITOR.