{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm02b01a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm02b01a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02b01a.htm","text":"The Remedies prescribed by the Holy Church against Incubus and Succubus Devils.\nIN the foregoing chapters on the First Question we have treated of the\nmethods of bewitching men, animals and the fruits of the earth, and especially\nof the behaviour of witches in their own persons; how they seduce young\ngirls in order to increase their numbers; what is their method of profession\nand of offering homage; how they offer to devils their own children and the\nchildren of others; and how they are transported from place to place. Now I\nsay that there is no remedy for such practises, unless witches be entirely\neradicated by the judges, or at least punished as an example to all who may\nwish to imitate them; but we are not immediately treating of this point,\nwhich will be dealt with in the last Part of this work, where we set forth\nthe twenty ways of proceeding against and sentencing witches.\nFor the present we are concerned only with the remedies against the injuries\nwhich they inflict; and first how men who are bewitched can be cured;\nsecondly, beasts, and thirdly, how the fruits of the earth may be secured\nfrom blight or phylloxera.\nWith regard to the bewitchment of human beings by means of Incubus and\nSuccubus devils, it is to be noted that this can happen in three ways.\nFirst, when women voluntarily prostitute themselves to Incubus devils.\nSecondly, when men have connexion with Succubus devils; yet it does not\nappear that men thus devilishly fornicate with the same full degree of\nculpability; for men, being by nature intellectually stronger than women,\nare more apt to abhor such practises.\nThere is in the town of Coblenz a poor man who is bewitched in this way.\nIn the presence of his wife he is in the habit of acting after the manner\nof men with women, that is to say, of practising coition, as it were, and\nhe continues to do this repeatedly, nor have the cries and urgent appeals\nof his wife any effect in making him desist. And after he has fornicated\nthus two or three times, he bawls out, \u201cWe are going to start all\nover again\u201d; when actually there is no person visible to mortal sight\nlying with him. And after an incredible number of such bouts, the poor man\nat last sinks to the floor utterly exhausted. When he has recovered his\nstrength a little and is asked how this happened to him, and whether he has\nhad any women with him, he answers that he saw nothing, but his mind is in\nsome way possessed so that he can by no means refrain from such priapism.\nAnd indeed he harbours a great suspicion that a certain woman bewitched him\nin this way, because he had offended her, and she had cursed him with\nthreatening words, telling him what she would like to happen to him.\nBut there are no laws or ministers of justice which can proceed to the\navenging of so great a crime with no other warrant than a vague charge or a\ngrave suspicion; for it is held that no one ought to be condemned unless he\nhas been convicted by his own confession, or by the evidence of three\ntrustworthy witnesses, since the mere fact of the crime coupled with even the\ngravest suspicions against some person is not sufficient to warrant the\npunishment of that person. But this matter will be dealt with later.\nAs for instances where young maidens are molested by Incubus devils in this\nway, it would take too long to mention even those that have been known to\nhappen in our own time, for there are very many well-attested stories of\nsuch bewitchments. But the great difficulty of finding a remedy for such\nafflictions can be illustrated from a story told by Thomas of Brabant in his\nBook on Bees.\nI saw, he writes, and heard the confession of a virgin in a religious habit,\nwho said at first that she had never been a consenting party to fornication,\nbut at the same time have been known in this way. This I could not believe,\nbut narrowly charged and exhorted her, with the most solemn adjurations, to\nspeak the truth on peril of her very soul. At last, weeping bitterly, she\nacknowledged that she had been corrupted rather in mind than in body; and\nthat though she had afterwards grieved almost to death, and had daily\nconfessed with tears, yet by no device or study or art could she be delivered\nfrom an Incubus devil, nor yet by the sign of\nthe Cross, nor by Holy Water, which are specially ordained for the expulsion\nof devils, nor even by the Sacrament of the Body of Our Lord, which even the\nAngels fear. But at last after many years of prayer and fasting she was\ndelivered.\nIt may be believed (saving a better judgement) that, after she repented and\nconfessed her sin, the Incubus devil should be regarded rather in the light\nof a punishment for sin than as a sin in itself.\nA devout nun, named Christina, in the Low Country of the Duchy of Brabant,\ntold me the following concerning this same woman. On the vigil of one\nPentacost the woman came to her complaining that she dared not take the\nSacrament because of the importunate molestation of a devil. Christina,\npitying her, said: \u201cGo, and rest assured that you will receive the\nBody of Our Lord to-morrow; for I will take your punishment upon myself.\u201d\nSo she went away joyfully, and after praying the night slept in peace, and\nrose up in the morning and communicated in all tranquility of the soul. But\nChristina, not thinking of the punishment she had taken upon herself, went\nto her rest in the evening, and as she lay in bed hear, as it were, a violent\nattack being made upon her; and, seizing whatever it was by the throat,\ntried to throw it off. She lay down again, but was again molested, and rose\nup in terror; and this happened many times, whilst all the straw of her bed\nwas turned over and thrown about everywhere, so at length she perceived that\nshe was being persecuted by the malice of a devil. Thereupon she left her\npallet, and passed a sleepless night; and when she wished to pray, she was\nso tormented by the devil that she said she had never suffered so much\nbefore. In the morning, therefore, saying to the other woman, \u201cI\nrenounce your punishment, and I am hardly alive to renounce it,\u201d she\nescaped from the violence of that wicked tempter. From this it can be seen\nhow difficult it is to cure this sort of evil, whether or not it is due to\nwitchcraft.\nHowever, there are still some means by which these devils may be driven\naway, of which Nider writes in his Formicarius. He says that there\nare five ways by which girls or men can be delivered: first, by Sacramental\nConfession; second, by the Sacred Sign of the Cross, or by the recital of\nthe Angelic Salutation; third, by the use of exorcisms; fourth, by moving to\nanother place; and fifth, by means of excommunication prudently employed by\nholy men. It is evident from what has been said that the first two methods\ndid not avail the nun; but they are not on that account to be neglected,\nfor that which cures one person does not necessarily cure another, and\nconversely. And it is a recorded fact that Incubus devils have often been\ndriven away by the Lord's Prayer, or by the sprinkling of Holy Water, and\nalso especially by the Angelic Salutation.\nFor S. Caesarius tells in his Dialogue\nthat, after a certain priest had hanged himself, his concubine entered a\nconvent, where she was carnally solicited by an Incubus. She drove him away\nby crossing herself and using Holy Water, yet he immediately returned. But\nwhen she recited the Angelic Salutation, he vanished like an arrow shot\nfrom a bow; still he came back, although he did not dare to come near her,\nbecause of the Ave MARIA.\nS. Caesarius also refers to the remedy of Sacramental Confession. For he\nsays that the aforesaid concubine was entirely abandoned by the Incubus\nafter she was clean confessed. He tells also of a man in Leyden who was\nplagued by a Succubus, and was entirely delivered after Sacramental\nConfession.\nHe adds yet another example, of an enclosed nun, a contemplative, whom an\nIncubus would not leave in spite of prayers and confession and other\nreligious exercises. For he persisted in forcing his way to her bed. But\nwhen, acting on the advice of a certain religious man, she uttered the word\nBenedicite, the devil at once left her.\nOf the fourth method, that of moving to another place, he says that a\ncertain priest's daughter had been defiled by an Incubus and driven frantic\nwith grief; but when she went away across the Rhine, she was left in peace\nby the Incubus. Her father, however, because he had sent her away, was so\nafflicted by the devil that he died within three days.\nHe also maintains a woman who was often molested by an Incubus in her own\nbed, and asked a devout friend of hers to come and sleep with her. She did\nso, and was troubled all night with the utmost uneasiness and disquiet, and\nthen the first woman was left in peace. William of Paris notes also that\nIncubus seem chiefly to molest women and girls with beautiful hair; either\nbecause they devote themselves too much to the care and adornment of their\nhair, or because they are boastfully vain about it, or because God in His\ngoodness permits this so that women may be afraid to entice men by the very\nmeans by which the devils wish them to entice men.\nThe fifth method, that of excommunication, which is perhaps the same as\nexorcism, is exemplified in a history of S. Bernard. In Aquitaine a woman\nhad for six years been molested by an Incubus with incredible carnal abuse\nand lechery; and she heard the Incubus threaten her that she must not go\nnear the holy man, who was coming that way, saying: \u201cIt will avail\nyou nothing: for when he was gone away, I, who have till now been your\nlover, will become the cruellest of tyrants to you.\u201d None the less\nshe went to S. Bernard, and he said to her: \u201cTake my staff and set it\nin your bed, and may the devil do what he can.\u201d When she had done this,\nthe devil did not dare to enter the woman's room, but threatened her terribly\nfrom outside, saying that he would persecute her when S. Bernard had gone\naway. When S. Bernard heard this from the woman, he called the people\ntogether, bidding them carry lighted candles in their hands, and, with the\nwhole assembly which was gathered, excommunicated the devil, forbidding him\nevermore to approach that woman or any other. And so she was delivered from\nthat punishment.\nHere it is to be noted that the power of the Keys granted to S. Peter and\nhis successors, which resounds on the earth, is really a power of healing\ngranted to the Church on behalf of travellers who are subject to the\njurisdiction of the Papal power; therefore is seems wonderful that even the\nPowers of the air can be warded off by this virtue. But it must be remembered\nthat persons who are molested by devils are under the jurisdiction of the\nPope and his Keys; and therefore it is not surprising if such Powers are\nindirectly kept at bay by the virtue of the Keys, just as by the same virtue\nthe souls in purgatory can indirectly by delivered from the pains of fire;\ninsasmuch as this Power availeth upon the earth, ay, and to the relief of\nsouls that are under the earth.\nBut it is not seemly to discuss the Power of the Keys granted to the Head\nof the Church as Christ's Vicar; since it is know that, for the use of the\nChurch, Christ granted to the Church and His Vicar as much power as it is\npossible for God to grant to mere man.\nAnd it is piously to be believed that, when infirmities inflicted by witches\nthrough the power of devils, together with the witches and devils themselves,\nare excommunicated, those who were afflicted will no longer be tormented;\nand that they will be delivered all the sooner by the use of other lawful\nexorcisms in addition.\nThere is a common report current in the districts of the river Etsch, as\nalso in other places, that by the permission of God a swarm of locusts came\nand devoured all the vines, green leaves and crops; and that they were\nsuddenly put to flight and dispersed by means of this kind of excommunication\nand cursing. Now it any wish that this should ascribed to some holy man, and\nnot to the virtue of the Keys, let ie be so, in the name of the Lord; but of\none thing we are certain, that both the power to perform miracles and the\npower of the Keys necessarily presuppose a condition of grace in him who\nperforms that act of grace, since both these powers proceed from grace\ngranted to men who are in a state of grace.\nAgain, it is to be noted that, if none of the aforesaid remedies are of any\navail, then recourse must be had to the usual exorcisms, of which we shall\ntreat later. And if even these are not sufficient to banish the iniquity of\nthe devil, then that affliction must be considered to be an expiatory\npunishment for sin, which should be borne in all meekness, as are other ills\nof this sort which oppress us that they may, as it were, drive us to seek\nGod.\nBut it must also be remarked that sometimes persons only think they are\nmolested by an Incubus when they are not so actually; and this is more apt\nto be the case with women than with men, for they are more timid and liable\nto imagine extraordinary things.\nIn this connexion William of Paris is often quoted. He says: Many\nphantastical apparitions occur to person suffering fro a melancholy disease,\nespecially to women, as is shown by their dreams and visions. And the reason\nfor this, as physicians know, is that women's souls are by nature far more\neasily and lightly impressionable than men's souls. And he adds: I know that\nI have seen a woman who thought that a devil copulated with her from inside,\nand said she was physically conscious of such incredible things.\nAt time also women think they have been made pregnant by an Incubus, and\ntheir bellies grow to an enormous size; but when the time of parturition\ncomes, their swelling is relieved by no more than the expulsion of a great\nquantity of wind. For by taking ants' eggs in drink, or the seeds of spurge\nor of the black pine, an incredible amount of wind and flatulence is\ngenerated in the human stomach. And it is very easy for the devil to cause\nthese and even greater disorders in the stomach. This has been set down in\norder that too easy credence should not be given to women, but only to\nthose whom experience has shown to be trustworthy, and to those who, by\nsleeping in their beds or near them, know for a fact that such things as we\nhave spoken of are true.\nNext: Chapter II Remedies prescribed for Those who are Bewitched by the Limitation of the Generative Power.","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 2 Chapter I","type":"page"}