{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm02a13a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm02a13a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02a13a.htm","text":"How Witch Midwives commit most Horrid Crimes when they either Kill Children or Offer them to Devils in most Accursed Wise.\nWe must not omit to mention the injuries done to children by witch midwives,\nfirst by killing them, and secondly by blasphemously offering them to devils.\nIn the diocese of Strasburg and in the town of Zabern there is an honest\nwoman very devoted to the Blessed Virgin MARY, who tells the following\nexperience of hers to all the guests that come to the tavern which she\nkeeps, known by the sign of the Black Eagle.\nI was, she says, pregnant by my lawful husband, now dead, and as my time\napproached, a certain midwife importuned me to engage her to assist at the\nbirth of my child. But I knew her bad reputation, and although I had\ndecided to engage another woman, pretended with conciliatory words to agree\nto her request. But when the pains came upon me, and I had brought in another\nmidwife, the first one was very angry, and hardly a week later came into my\nroom one night with two other women, and approached the bed where I was\nlying. And when I tried to call my husband, who was sleeping in another room,\nall the use was taken away from my limbs and tongue, so that except for\nseeing and hearing I could not move a muscle. And the witch, standing\nbetween the other two, said: \u201cSee! this vile woman, who would not take\nme for her midwife, shall not win through unpunished.\u201d The other two\nstanding be her pleaded for me, saying: \u201cShe has never harmed any of\nus.\u201d But the witch added: \u201cBecause she has offended me I am\ngoing to put something into her entrails; but, to please you, she shall not\nfeel any pain for half a year, but after that time she shall be tortured\nenough.\u201d So she came up and touched my belly with her hands; and it\nseemed to me that she took out my entrails, and put in something which,\nhowever, I could not see. And when they had gone away, and I had recovered\nmy power of speech, I called my husband as soon as possible, and told him\nwhat had happened. But he put it down to pregnancy, and said: \u201cYou\npregnant women are always suffering from fancies and delusions.\u201d And\nwhen he would by no means believe me, I replied: \u201cI have been given\nsix months' grace, and if, after that time, no torment comes to me, I shall\nbelieve you.\u201d\nShe related this to her son, a cleric who was then Archdeacon of the district,\nand who came to visit her on the same day. And what happened? When exactly\nsix months had passed, such a terrible pain came into her belly that she\ncould not help disturbing everybody with her cries day and night. And\nbecause, as has been said, she was most devout to the Virgin, the Queen of\nMercy, she fasted with bread and water every Saturday, so that she believed\nthat she was delivered by Her intercession. For one day, when she wanted to\nperform an action of nature, all those unclean things fell from her body;\nand she called her husband and son, and said: \u201cAre those fancies? Did\nI not say that after a half a year the truth would be known? Or who ever saw\nme ear thorns, bones, and even bits of wood?\u201d For there were brambles\nas long as a palm, as well as a quantity of other things.\nMoreover (as was said in the First Part of the work), it was shown by the\nconfession of the servant, who was brought to judgement at Breisach, that\nthe greatest injuries to the Faith as regards the heresy of witches are done\nby midwives; and this is made clearer than daylight itself by the confessions\nof some who were afterwards burned.\nFor in the diocese of Basel at the town of Dann, a witch who was burned\nconfessed that she had killed more than forty children, by sticking a\nneedle through the crowns of their heads into their brains, as they came out\nfrom the womb.\nFinally, another woman in the diocese of Strasburg confessed that she had\nkilled more children than she could count. And she was caught in this way.\nShe had been called from one town to another to act as midwife to a certain\nwoman, and, having performed her office, was going back home. But as she\nwent out of the town gate, the arm of a newly born child fell out of the\ncloak she had wrapped around her, in whose folds the arm had been concealed.\nThis was seen by those who were sitting in the gateway, and when she had\ngone on, they picked up from the ground what they took to be a piece of\nmeat; but when they looked more closely and saw that it was not a piece of\nmeat, but recognized it by its fingers as a child's arm, they reported it\nto the magistrates, and it was found that a child had died before baptism,\nlacking an arm. So the witch was taken and questioned, and confessed the\ncrime, and that she had, as has been said, killed more children than she\ncould count.\nNow the reason for such practices is as follows: It is to be presumed that\nwitches are compelled to do such things at the command of evil spirits, and\nsometimes against their own wills. For the devil knows that, because of the\npain of loss, or original sin, such children are\ndebarred from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. And by this means the Last\nJudgement is delayed, when the devils will be condemned to eternal torture;\nsince the number of the elect os more slowly completed, on the fulfilment of\nwhich the world will be consumed. And also, as has already been shown,\nwitches are taught by the devil to confect from the limbs of such children\nan unguent which is very useful for their spells.\nBut in order to bring so great a sin into utter detestation, we must not\npass over in silence the following horrible crime. For when they do not kill\nthe child, they blasphemously offer it to the devil in this manner. As soon\nas the child is born, the midwife, if the mother herself is not a witch,\ncarries it out of the room on the pretext of warming it, raises it up, and\noffers it to the Prince of Devils, that is Lucifer, and to all the devils.\nAnd this is done by the kitchen fire.\nA certain man relates that he noticed that his wife, when her time came to\ngive birth, against the usual custom of women in childbirth, did not allow\nany woman to approach the bed except her own daughter, who acted as midwife.\nWishing to know the reason for this, he hid himself in the house and saw the\nwhole order of the sacrilege and dedication to the devil, as it has been\ndescribed. He saw also, as it seemed to him, that without any human support,\nbut by the power of the devil, the child was climbing up the chain by which\nthe cooking-pots were suspended. In great consternation both at the terrible\nwords of the invocation of the devils, and at the other iniquitous ceremonies,\nhe strongly insisted that the child should be baptized immediately. While it\nwas being carried to the next village, where there was a church, and when\nthey had to cross a bridge over a certain river, he drew his sword and ran\nat his daughter, who was carrying the child, saying in the hearing of two\nothers who were with them: \u201cYou shall not carry the child over the\nbridge; for either it must cross the bridge by itself, or you shall be\ndrowned in the river.\u201d The daughter was terrified and, together with\nthe other women in company, asked him if he were in his right mind (for he\nhad hidden what had happened from all the others except the two men who were\nwith him). Then he answered: \u201cYou vile drab, by your magic arts you\nmade the child climb the chain in the kitchen; now make it cross the bridge\nwith no on carrying it, or I shall drown you in the river.\u201d And so,\nbeing compelled, she put the child down on the bridge, and invoked the devil\nby her art; and suddenly the child was seen on the other side of the bridge.\nAnd when the child had been baptized, and he had returned home, since he now\nhad witnesses to convict his daughter of witchcraft (for he could not prove\nthe former crime of the oblation to the devil, inasmuch as he had been the\nonly witness of the sacrilegious ritual), he accused bother daughter and\nmother before the judge after their period of purgation; and they were both\nburned, and the crime of midwives of making that sacrilegious offering was\ndiscovered.\nBut here the doubt arises: to what end or purpose is the sacrilegious\noffering of children, and how does it benefit the devils? To this it can be\nsaid that the devils do this for three reasons, which serve three most\nwicked purposes. The first reason arises from their pride, which always\nincreases; as it is said: \u201cThey that hate Thee have lifted up the\nhead.\u201d For they try as far as possible\nto conform with divine rites and ceremonies. Secondly, they can more easily\ndeceive men under the mask of an outwardly seeming pious action. For in the\nsame way they entice young virgins and boys into their power; for though\nthey might solicit such by means of evil and corrupt men, yet they rather\ndeceive them by magic mirrors and reflections seen in witches' finger-nails,\nand lure them on in the belief that they love chastity, whereas they hate\nit. For the devil hates above all the Blessed Virgin, because she\nbruised his head. Just so in this oblation\nof children they deceive the minds of witches into the vice of infidelity\nunder the appearance of a virtuous acts. And the third reason is, that the\nperfidy of witches may grow, to the devils' own gain, when they have\nwitches dedicated to them from their very cradles.\nAnd this sacrilege affects the child in three ways. In the first place,\nvisible offerings to God are made of visible things, such as wine of bread\nor the fruits of the earth, as a sign of honour and subjection to Him, as it\nis said in Ecclesiasticus xxv: Thou shalt not appear empty before\nthe Lord. And such offerings cannot and must not afterwards be put to\nprofane uses. Therefore the holy Father, S. John Damascene, says: The\noblations which are offered in church belong only to the priests, but not\nthat they should divert them to their own uses, but that they should\nfaithfully distribute them, partly in the observance of divine worship, and\npartly for the use of the poor. From this it follows that a child who has\nbeen offered to the devil in sign of subjection and homage to him cannot\npossibly be dedicated by Catholics to a holy life, in worthy and fruitful\nservice to God for the benefit of himself and others.\nFor who can say that the sins of the mothers and of other do not redound in\npunishment upon the children? Perhaps someone will quote that saying of the\nprophet: \u201cThe sons shall not bear the iniquity of the father.\u201d\nBut there is that other passage in Exodus xx: I am a jealous God,\nvisiting the sins of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth\ngeneration. Now the meaning of these two sayings is as follows. The first\nspeaks of spiritual punishment in the judgement of Heaven or God, and not in\nthe judgement of men. And this is the punishment of the soul, such as loss\nor the forfeiture of glory, or the punishment of pain, that is, of the\ntorment of eternal fire. And with such punishments no one is punished except\nfor his own sin, either inherited as original sin or committed as actual\nsin.\nThe second text speaks of those who imitate the sins of their father, as\nGratian has explained (I, q. 4, etc.); and\nthere he gives other explanations as to how the judgement of God inflicts\nother punishments on a man, not only for his own sins which he has committed,\nor which he might commit (but is prevented by punishment from committing),\nbut also for the sins of others.\nAnd it cannot be argued that when a man is punished without cause, and\nwithout sin, which should be the cause of punishment. For according to the\nrule of law, no one must be punished without sin, unless there is some cause\nof punishment. And we can say that there is always a most just cause, though\nit may not be known to us: see S. Augustine, XXIV, 4. And if we cannot in\nthe result penetrate the depth of God's judgement, yet we know that what He\nhas said is true, and what He has done is just.\nBut there is this distinction to be observed in innocent children who are\noffered to devils not by their mothers when they are witches, but by\nmidwives who, as we have said, secretly take from the embrace and the womb\nof an honest mother. Such children are not so cut off from grace that they\nmust necessarily become prone to such crimes; but it is piously to be\nbelieved that they may rather cultivate their mothers' virtues.\nThe second result to the children of this sacrilege is as follows. When a\nman offers himself as a sacrifice to God, he recognizes God as his Beginning\nand his End; and this sacrifice is more worthy than all the external\nsacrifices which he makes, having its beginning in his creation and its end\nin his glorification, as it is said: A sacrifice to God is an afflicted\nspirit, etc. In the same way, when a witch\noffers a child to the devils, she commends it body and soul to him as its\nbeginning and its end in eternal damnation; wherefore not without some\nmiracle can the child be set free from the payment of so great a debt.\nAnd we read often in history of children whom their mothers, in some passion\nor mental disturbance, have unthinkingly offered to the devil from the very\nwomb, and how it is only with the very greatest difficulty that they can,\nwhen they have grown to adult age, be delivered from that bondage which the\ndevil has, with God's permission, usurped to himself. And of this the\nBook of Examples, Most Blessed Virgin MARY, affords many illustrations;\na notable instance being that of the man whom the Supreme Pontiff was unable\nto deliver from the torments of the devil, but at last he was sent to a holy\nman living in the East, and finally with great difficulty was delivered from\nhis bondage through the intercession of the Most Glorious Virgin Herself.\nAnd if God so severely punishes even such a thoughtless, I will not say\nsacrifice, but commendation used angrily by a mother when her husband, after\ncopulating with her, says, I hope a child will come of it; and she answers,\nMay the child go to the devil! How much greater must be the punishment when\nthe Divine Majesty is offended in the way we have described!\nNext: Chapter XIV Here followeth how Witches Injure Cattle in Various Ways.","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 2 Chapter XIII","type":"page"}