{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm02a11a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm02a11a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02a11a.htm","text":"Of the Method by which they can Inflict Every Sort of Infirmity, generally Ills of the Graver Kind.\nBut there is no bodily infirmity, not even leprosy or epilepsy, which cannot\nbe caused by witches, with God's permission. And this is proved by the fact\nthat no sort of infirmity is excepted by the Doctors. For a careful\nconsideration of what has already been written concerning the power of\ndevils and the wickedness of witches will show that this statement offers\nno difficulty. Nider also deals with this subject both in his\nBook of Precepts and in his\nFormicarius, where he asks: Whether witches can actually injure men\nby their witchcraft. And the question makes no exception of any infirmity,\nhowever incurable. And he there answers that they can do so, and proceeds\nto ask in what way and by what means.\nAnd as to the first, he answers, as has been shown in the First Question of\nthe First Part of this treatise. And it is proved also by S. Isidore where\nhe describes the operations of witches (Etym. 8, cap. 9), and says\nthat they are called witches on account of the magnitude of their crimes;\nfor they disturb the elements by raising up storms with the help of devils,\nthey confuse the minds of men in the ways already mentioned, by either\nentirely obstructing or gravely impeding the use of their reason. He adds\nalso that without the use of any poison, but by the mere virulence of their\nincantations, they can deprive men of their lives.\nIt is proved also by S. Thomas in the Second Book of Sentences, dist.\n7 and 8, and in Book IV, dist. 34, and in general all the Theologians write\nthat witches can with the help of the devil bring harm upon men and their\naffairs in all the ways in which the devil alone can injure or deceive,\nnamely, in their affairs, their reputation, their body, their reason, and\ntheir life; which means that those injuries which are caused by the devil\nwithout any witch, can also be caused by a witch; and even more readily so,\non account of the greater offence which is given to the Divine Majesty, as\nhas been shown above.\nIn Job i and ii is found a clear case of the injury in temporal\naffairs. The injury to reputation is shown in the history of the Blessed\nJerome, that the devil transformed himself into the appearance of S.\nSilvanus, Bishop of Nazareth, a friend of S. Jerome. And this devil\napproached a noble woman by night in her bed and began first to provoke and\nentice her with lewd words, and then invited her to perform the sinful act.\nAnd when she called out, the devil in the form of the saintly Bishop hid\nunder the woman's bed, and being sought for and found there, he in lickerish\nlanguage declared lyingly that he was the Bishop Silvanus. On the morrow\ntherefore, when the devil had disappeared, the holy man was scandalously\ndefamed; but his good name was cleared when the devil confessed at the tomb\nof S. Jerome that he had done this in an assumed body.\nThe injury to the body is shown in the case of the Blessed Job, who was\nstricken by the devil with terrible sores, which are explained as a form of\nleprosy. And Sigisbert and Vincent of\nBeauvais (Spec. Hist. XXV, 37) both tell that in the time of the\nEmperor Louis II, in the diocese of Mainz, a\ncertain devil began to thrown stones and to beat at the houses as if with a\nhammer. And then by public statements, and secret insinuations, he spread\ndiscord ad troubled the minds of many. Then he excited the anger of all\nagainst one man, whose lodging, where he was resting, he set on fire, and\nsaid that they were all suffering for his sins. So at last that man had to\nfind his lodging in the fields. And when the priests were saying a litany\non this account, the devil stoned many of the people with stones till he\nhurt them to bleeding; and sometimes he would desist, and sometimes rage;\nand this continued for three years, until all the houses there were burned\ndown.\nExampled of the injury to the use of the reason, and of the tormenting of\nthe inner perceptions, are seen in those possessed and frenzied men of whom\nthe Gospels tell. And as for death, and that they deprive some of their\nlives, it is proved in Tobias vi, in the case of the seven husbands\nof the virgin Sara, who were killed because of their lecherous lust and\nunbridled desired for the virgin Sara, of whom they were not worthy to be\nthe husbands. Therefore it is concluded that both by themselves, and all the\nmore with the help of witches, devils can injure men in every way without\nexception.\nBut if it is asked whether injuries of this sort are to be ascribed rather\nto devils than to witches, it is answered that, when the devils cause\ninjuries by their own direct action, then they are principally to be\nascribed to them. But when they work through the agency of witches for the\ndisparagement and offending of God and the perdition of souls, knowing that\nby this means God is made more angry and allows them greater power of doing\nevil; and because they do indeed perpetuate countless witchcrafts which the\ndevil would not be allowed to bring upon men if he wished to injure men\nalone by himself, but are permitted, in the just and hidden purpose of God,\nthrough the agency of witches, on account of their perfidy and abjuration\nof the Catholic Faith; therefore such injuries are justly ascribed to\nwitches secondarily, however much the devil may be the principal actor.\nTherefore when a woman dips a twig in water and sprinkles the water in the\nair to make it rain, although she does not herself cause the rain, and\ncould not be blamed on that account, yet, because she has entered into a\npact with the devil by which she can do this as a witch, although it is the\ndevil who causes the rain, she herself nevertheless deservedly bears the\nblame, because she is an infidel and does the devil's work, surrendering\nherself to his service.\nSo also when a witch makes a waxen image or some such thing in order to\nbewitch somebody; or when an image of someone appears by pouring molten\nlead into water, and some injury is done upon the image, such as piercing it\nor hurting it in any other way, when it is the bewitched man who is in\nimagination being hurt; although the injury is actually done to the image\nby some witch or some other man, and the devil in the same manner invisibly\ninjures the bewitched man, yet it is deservedly ascribed to the witch. For,\nwithout her, God would never allow the devil to inflict the injury, nor\nwould the devil on his own account try to injure the man.\nBut because it has been said that in the matter of their good name the\ndevils can injure men on the own account and without the co-operation of\nwitches, there may arise a doubt whether the devils cannot also defame\nhonest women so that they are reputed to be witches, when they appear in\ntheir likeness to bewitch someone; from which it would happen that such a\nwoman would be defamed without cause.\nIn answering this we must premise a few remarks. First, it has been said\nthat the devil can do nothing without the Divine permission, as is shown in\nthe First Part of this work in the last Question. It has also been shown\nthat God does not allow so great power of evil against the just and those\nwho live in grace, as against sinners; and as the devils have more power\nagainst sinners (see the text: When a strong man\narmed, etc.) so they are permitted by God to afflict them more than the\njust. Finally, although they can, with God's permission, injure the just in\ntheir affairs, their reputation, and their bodily health, yet, because they\nknow that this power is granted them chiefly for the increase of the merits\nof the just, they are the less eager to injure them.\nTherefore it can be said that in this difficulty there are several points to\nbe considered. First, the Divine permission. Secondly, the man who is\nthought to be righteous, for they who are so reputed are not always actually\nin a state of grace. Thirdly, the crime of which an innocent man would be\nsuspected; for that crime in its very origin exceeds all the crimes of the\nworld. Therefore it is to be said that it is granted that, with God's\npermission, an innocent person, whether or not he is in a state of grace,\nmay be injured in his affairs to this particular crime and the gravity of\nthe accusation (for we have often quoted S. Isidore's saying that they\nare called witches from the magnitude of their crimes), it can be said that\nfor an innocent person to be defamed by the devil in a way that has been\nsuggested does not seem at all possible, for many reasons.\nIn the first place, it is one thing to be defamed in respect of vices which\nare committed without any expressed or tacit contract with the devil, such\nas theft, robbery, or fornication; but quite another matter to be defamed\nin respect of vices which it is impossible to accuse a man of having\nperpetrated unless he has entered upon an expressed contract with the\ndevil; and such are the works of witches, which cannot be laid at their\ndoor unless it is by the power of devils that they bewitch men, animals and\nthe fruits of the earth. Therefore, although the devil can blacken men's\nreputations in respect of other vices, yet it does not seem possible for him\nto do so in respect of this vice which cannot be perpetrated without his\nco-operation.\nBesides, it has never hitherto been known to have happened that an innocent\nperson has been defamed by the devil to such an extent that he was\ncondemned to death for this particular crime. Furthermore, when a person is\nonly under suspicion, he suffers no punishment except that which the Canon\nprescribes for his purgation, as will be shown in the Third Part of this\nwork in the second method of sentencing witches.\nAnd it is set down there that, if such a man fails in his purgation, he is\nto be considered guilty, but that he should be solemnly adjured before the\npunishment due to his sin is proceeded with and enforced. But here we are\ndealing with actual events; and it has never yet been known that an\ninnocent person has been punished on suspicion of witchcraft, and there is\nno doubt that God will never permit such a thing to happen.\nBesides, He does not suffer the innocent who are under Angelic protection\nto be suspected of smaller crimes, such as robbery and such things; then all\nthe more will He preserve those who are under that protection from\nsuspicion of the crime of witchcraft.\nAnd it is no valid objection to quote the legend of S. Germanius, when\ndevils assumed the bodies of other women and sat down at table and slept\nwith the husbands, deluding the latter into the belief that those women were\nin their own bodies eating and drinking with them, as we have mentioned\nbefore. For the women in this case are not to be held guiltless. For in the\nCanon (Episcopi 26. q. 2) such women are condemned for thinking that\nthey are really and actually transported, when they are so only in\nimagination; although, as we have shown above, they are at times bodily\ntransported by devils.\nBut our present proposition is that they can, with God's permission, cause\nall other infirmities, with no exception; and it is to be concluded from\nwhat we have said that this is so. For no exception is made by the Doctors,\nand there is no reason why there should be any, since, as we have often\nsaid, the natural power of devils is superior to all corporeal power. And\nwe have found in our experience that this is true. For although greater\ndifficulty may be felt in believing that witches are able to cause leprosy\nor epilepsy, since these diseases arise from some long-standing physical\npredisposition or defect, none the less it has sometimes been found that\neven these have been caused by witchcraft. For in the diocese of Basel, in\nthe district of Alsace and Lorraine, a certain honest labourer spoke roughly\nto a certain quarrelsome woman, and she angrily threatened him that she\nwould soon avenge herself on him. He took little notice of her; but on the\nsame night he felt a pustule grow upon his neck, and he rubbed it a little,\nand found his whole face and neck puffed up and swollen, and a horrible form\nof leprosy appeared all over his body. He immediately went to his friends\nfor advice, and told them of the woman's threat, and said that he would\nstake his life on the suspicion that this had been done to him by the magic\nart of that same witch. In short, the woman was taken, questioned, and\nconfessed her crimes. But when the judge asked her particularly about the\nreason for it, and how she had done it, she answered: \u201cWhen that man\nused abusive words to me, I was angry and went home; and my familiar began\nto ask the reason for my ill humour. I told him, and begged him to avenge\nme on the man. And he asked what I wanted him to do to him; and I answered\nthat I wished he would always have a swollen face. And the devil went away\nand afflicted the man even beyond my asking; for I had not hoped that he\nwould infect him with such sore leprosy.\u201d And so the woman was\nburned.\nAnd in the diocese of Constance, between Breisach and Freiburg, there is a\nleprous woman (unless she has paid the debt of all flesh within these two\nyears) who used to tell to many people how the same thing had happened to\nher by reason of a similar quarrel which took place between her and another\nwoman. For one night when she went out of the house to do something in front\nof the door, a warm wind came from the house of the other woman, which was\nopposite, and suddenly struck her face; and from that time she had been\nafflicted with the leprosy which she now suffered.\nAnd lastly, in the same diocese, in the territory of the Black Forest, a\nwitch was being lifted by a gaoler on to the pile of wood prepared for her\nburning, and she said: \u201dI will pay you\u201d; and blew into his face.\nAnd he was at once afflicted with a horrible leprosy all over his body, and\ndid not survive many days. For the sake of brevity, the fearful crimes of\nthis witch, and many more instances could be recounted, are omitted. For we\nhave often found that certain people have been visited with epilepsy or the\nfalling sickness by means of eggs which have been buried with dead bodies,\nespecially the dead bodies of witches, together with other ceremonies of\nwhich we cannot speak, particularly when these eggs have been given to a\nperson either in food or drink.\nNext: Chapter XII Of the Way how in Particular they Afflict Men with Other Like Infirmities.","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 2 Chapter XI","type":"page"}