{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm03_15a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm03_15a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm03_15a.htm","text":"Of the Continuing of the Torture, and of the Devices and Signs by which the Judge can Recognize a Witch; and how he ought to Protect himself from their Spells. Also how they are to be Shaved in Parts where they use to Conceal the Devil's Masks and Tokens; together with the due Setting Forth of Various Means of Overcoming the Obstinacy in Keeping Silence and Refusal to Confess. And it is the Tenth Action\nTHE Judge should act as follows in the continuation of the torture. First he\nshould bear in mind that, just as the same medicine is not applicable to all\nthe members, but there are various and distinct salves for each several\nmember, so not all heretics or those accused of heresy are to be subjected to\nthe same method of questioning, examination and torture as to the charges laid\nagainst them; but various and different means are to be employed according to\ntheir various natures and persons. Now a surgeon cuts off rotten limbs; and\nmangy sheep are isolated from the healthy; but a prudent Judge will not\nconsider it safe to bind himself down to one invariable rule in his method of\ndealing with a prisoner who is endowed with a witch's power of taciturnity,\nand whose silence he is unable to overcome. For if the sons of darkness were\nto become accustomed to one general rule they would provide means of evading\nit as a well-known snare set for their destruction.\nTherefore a prudent and zealous Judge should seize his opportunity and choose\nhis method of conducting his examination according to the answers or\ndepositions of the witnesses, or as his own previous experience or native wit\nindicates to him, using the following precautions.\nIf he wishes to find out whether she is endowed with a witch's power of\npreserving silence, let him take note whether she is able to shed tears when\nstanding in his presence, or when being tortured. For we are taught both by\nthe words of worthy men of old and by our own experience that this is a most\ncertain sign, and it has been found that even if she be urged and exhorted by\nsolemn conjurations to shed tears, if she be a witch she will not be able to\nweep: although she will assume a tearful aspect and smear her cheeks and eyes\nwith spittle to make it appear that she is weeping; wherefore she must be\nclosely watched by the attendants.\nIn passing sentence the Judge or priest may use some such method as the\nfollowing in conjuring her to true tears if she be innocent, or in restraining\nfalse tears. Let him place his hand on the head of the accused and say: I\nconjure you by the bitter tears shed on the Cross by our Saviour the Lord\nJESUS Christ for the salvation of the world, and by the burning tears poured\nin the evening hour over His wounds by the most glorious Virgin MARY, His\nMother, and by all the tears which have been\nshed here in this world by the Saints and Elect of God, from whose eyes He has\nnow wiped away all tears, that if you be innocent you do now shed tears, but\nif you be guilty that you shall by no means do so. In the name of the Father,\nand of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.\nAnd it is found by experience that the more they are conjured the less are\nthey able to weep, however hard they may try to do so, or smear their cheeks\nwith spittle. Nevertheless it is possible that afterwards, in the absence of\nthe Judge and not at the time or in the place of torture, they may be able to\nweep in the presence of their gaolers.\nAnd as for the reason for a witch's inability to weep, it can be said that the\ngrace of tears is one of the chief gifts allowed to the penitent; for S.\nBernard tells us that the tears of the humble can penetrate to heaven and\nconquer the unconquerable. Therefore there can be no doubt that they are\ndispleasing to the devil, and that he uses all his endeavour to restrain them,\nto prevent a witch from finally attaining to penitence.\nBut it may be objected that it might suit with the devil's cunning, with God's\npermission, to allow even a witch to weep; since tearful grieving, weaving and\ndeceiving are said to be proper to women. We may answer that in this case,\nsince the judgements of God are a mystery, if there is no other way of\nconvicting the accused, by legitimate witnesses or the evidence of the fact,\nand if she is not under a strong or grave suspicion, she is to be discharged;\nbut because she rests under a slight suspicion by reason of her reputation to\nwhich the witnesses have testified, she must be required to abjure the heresy\nof witchcraft, as we shall show when we deal with the second method of\npronouncing sentence.\nA second precaution is to be observed, not only at this point but during the\nwhole process, by the Judge and all his assessors; namely, that they must not\nallow themselves to be touched physically by the witch, especially in any\ncontract of their bare arms or hands; but they must always carry about them\nsome salt consecrated on Palm Sunday and some Blessed Herbs. For these can be\nenclosed together in Blessed Wax and worn round\nthe neck, as we showed in the Second Part when we discussed the remedies\nagainst illnesses and diseases caused by witchcraft; and that these have a\nwonderful protective virtue is known not only from the testimony of witches,\nbut from the use and practice of the Church, which exorcizes and blesses such\nobjects for this very purpose, as is shown in the ceremony of exorcism when it\nis said, For the banishing of all the power of the devil, etc.\nBut let it not be thought that physical contact of the joints or limbs is the\nonly thing to be guarded against; for sometimes, with God's permission, they\nare able with the help of the devil to bewitch the Judge by the mere sound of\nthe words which they utter, especially at the time when they are exposed to\ntorture.\nAnd we know from experience that some witches, when detained in prison, have\nimportunately begged their gaolers to grant them this one thing, that they\nshould be allowed to look at the Judge before he looks at them; and by so\ngetting the first sight of the Judge they have been able so to alter the minds\nof the Judge or his assessors that they have lost all their anger against them\nand have not presumed to molest them in any way, but have allowed them to go\nfree. He who knows and has experienced it gives this true testimony; and would\nthat they were not able to effect such things!\nLet judges not despise such precautions and protections, for by holding them\nin little account after such warning they run the risk of eternal damnation.\nFor our Saviour said: If I had not come, and spoken to them, they would not\nhave sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Therefore let the judges protect themselves\nin the above manner, according to the provisions of the Church.\nAnd if it can conveniently be done, the witch should be led backward into the\npresence of the Judge and his assessors. And not only at the present point,\nbut in all that has preceded or shall follow it, let him cross himself and\napproach her manfully, and with God's help the power of that old Serpent will\nbe broken. And no one need think that it is superstitious to lead her in\nbackwards; for, as we have often said, the Canonists allow even more than this\nto be done for the protections against witchcraft, and always say that it is\nlawful to oppose vanity with vanity.\nThe third precaution to be observed in this tenth action is that the hair\nshould be shaved from every part of her body. The reason for this is the same\nas that for stripping her of her clothes, which we have already mentioned; for\nin order to preserve their power of silence they are in the habit of hiding\nsome superstitious object in their clothes or in their hair, or even in the\nmost secret parts of the their bodies which must not be named.\nBut it may be objected that the devil might, without the use of such charms,\nso harden the heart of a witch that she is unable to confess her crimes; just\nas it is often found in the case of other criminals, no matter how great the\ntortures to which they are exposed, or how much they are convicted by the\nevidence of the facts and of witnesses. We answer that it is true that the\ndevil can affect such taciturnity without the use of such charms; but he\nprefers to use them for the perdition of souls and the greater offence to the\nDivine Majesty of God.\nThis can be made clear from the example of a certain witch in the town of\nHagenau, whom we have mentioned in the Second Part of this work. She used to\nobtain this gift of silence in the following\nmanner: she killed a newly-born first-born male child who had not been\nbaptized, and having roasted it in an oven together with other matters which\nit is not expedient to mention, ground it to powder and ashes; and if any\nwitch or criminal carried about him some of this substance he would in no way\nbe able to confess his crimes.\nHere it is clear that a hundred thousand children so employed could not of\ntheir own virtue endow a person with such a power of keeping silence; but any\nintelligent person can understand that such means are used by the devil for\nthe perdition of souls and to offend the Divine Majesty.\nAgain, it may be objected that very often criminals who are not witches\nexhibit the same power of keeping silence. In answer to this it must be said\ntat this power of taciturnity can proceed from three causes. First, from a\nnatural hardness of heart; for some are soft-hearted, or even feeble-minded,\nso that at the slightest torture they admit everything, even some things which\nare not true; whereas others are so hard that however much they are tortured\nthe truth is not to be had from them; and this is especially the case with\nthose who have been tortured before, even if their arms are suddenly stretched\nor twisted.\nSecondly, it may proceed from some instrument of witchcraft carried about the\nperson, as has been said, either in the clothes or in the hairs of the body.\nAnd thirdly, even if the prisoner has no such object secreted about her\nperson, they are sometimes endowed with this power by other witches, however\nfar they may be removed from them. For a certain witch at Issbrug used to\nboast that, if she had no more than a thread from the garments of any\nprisoner, she could so work that however much that prisoner were tortured,\neven to death, she would be unable to confess anything. So the answer to this\nobjection is clear.\nBut what is to be said of a case that happened in the Diocese of Ratisbon?\nCertain heretics were convicted by their own confession not only as impenitent\nbut as open advocates of that perfidy; and when they were condemned to death\nit happened that they remained unharmed in the fire. At length their sentence\nwas altered to death by drowning, but this was no more effective. All were\nastonished, and some even began to say that their heresy must be true; and the\nBishop, in great anxiety for his flock, ordered a three days' fast. When this\nhad been devoutly fulfilled, it came to the knowledge of someone that those\nheretics had a magic charm sewed between the skin and the flesh under one arm;\nand when this was found and removed, they were delivered to the flames and\nimmediately burned. Some say that a certain necromancer learned this secret\nduring a consultation with the devil, and betrayed it; but however it became\nknown, it is probably that the devil, who is always scheming for the\nsubversion of faith, was in some way compelled by Divine power to reveal the\nmatter.\nFrom this it may be seen what a Judge ought to do when such a case happens to\nhim: namely, that he should rely upon the protection of God, and by the\nprayers and fasting of devout persons drive away this sort of devil's work\nfrom witches, in those cases where they cannot be made to confess under\ntorture even after their clothes have been changed and all their hair has been\nshaved off and abraded.\nNow in the parts of Germany such shaving, especially of the secret parts, is\nnot generally considered delicate, and therefore we Inquisitors do not use it;\nbut we cause the hair of their head to be cut off, and placing a morsel of\nBlessed Wax in a cup of Holy Water and invoking the most Holy Trinity, we give\nit them to drink three times on a fasting stomach, and by the grace of God we\nhave by this means caused many to break their silence. But in other countries\nthe Inquisitors order the witch to be shaved all over her body. And the\nInquisitor of Como has informed us that last year, that is, in 1485, he\nordered forty-one witches to be burned, after they had been shaved all over.\nAnd this was in the district and county of Burbia, commonly called Wormserbad,\nin the territory of the Archduke of Austria, towards Milan.\nBut it may be asked whether, in a time of need, when all other means of\nbreaking a witch's silence have failed, it would be lawful to ask the advice\nin this matter of sorceresses who are able to cure those who are bewitched. We\nanswer that, whatever may have been doe in that matter at Ratisbon, it is our\nearnest admonition in the Lord that no one, no matter how great may be the\nneed, should consult with sorceresses on behalf of the State; and this because\nof the great offence which is thereby caused to the Divine Majesty, when there\nare so many other means open to us which we may use either in their own proper\nform or in some equivalent form, so that the truth will be had from their own\nmouths and they can be consigned to the flames; or failing this, God will in\nthe meantime provide some other death for the witch.\nFor there remain to us the following remedies against this power of silence.\nFirst, let a man do all that lies in his own power by the exercise of his\nqualities, persisting often with the methods we have already mentioned, and\nespecially on certain days, as will be shown in the following Question. See\nII. Corinthians ix: That ye may abound in all good works.\nSecondly, if this should fail, let him consult with other persons; for perhaps\nthey may think of some means which has not occurred to him, since there are\nvarious methods of counteracting witchcraft.\nThirdly, if these two fail, let him have recourse to devout persons, as it is\nsaid in Ecclesiasticus xxxvii: Be continually with a godly man, whom\nthou knowest to keep the commandments of the Lord. Also let him invoke the\nPatron Saints of the country. But if all these fail, let the Judge and all the\npeople at once put their trust in God with prayers and fasting, that the\nwitchcraft may be removed by reason of their piety. For so Josaphat prayed in\nII. Paralipomenon xx: When we know no what we should do, we have this\none refuge, that we should turn our eyes to Thee. And without doubt God will\nnot fail us in our need.\nTo this effect also S. Augustine speaks (26, q. 7, non obseruabitis):\nWhosoever observes any divinations or auguries, or attends to or consents to\nsuch as observe them, or gives credit to such by following after their works,\nor goes into their houses, or introduces them into his own house, or asks\nquestions of them, let him know that he has perverted the Christian faith and\nhis baptism and is a pagan and apostate and enemy of God, unless he is\ncorrected by ecclesiastical penances and is reconciled with God. Therefore let\nthe Judge not fail always to use the lawful remedies, as we have said,\ntogether with these following final precautions.\nNext: Question XVI Of the fit Time and of the Method of the Second Examination. And it is the Eleventh Action, concerning the Final Precautions to be Observed by the Judge","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 3 Question XV","type":"page"}