‘Wild man – like’ Creatures

source :  wikipedia.com

1. Basajaun

2. Am  Fear  Liath  Mòr

3. Straw  bear

4. Leshy / Lesovik

5. Moss  people.

 

Basajaun

In Basque mythology, ‘Basajaun’ is a huge, hairy creature dwelling in the woods who protects flocks of livestock and teaches skills such as agriculture and ironworking to humans.
The Basques themselves are an ethnic group which primarily inhabits an area traditionally known as the Basque Country (Basque: ‘Euskal Herria’), a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.

‘Basajaunak’, and other characters within the Basque mythology, largely did not survive the arrival of Christianity in the Basque Country between the 4th and 12th century AD.

 

Am  Fear  Liath  Mòr

Am Fear Liath Mòr (also known as the ‘Big Grey Man’ of Ben MacDhui or simply the ‘Greyman’) is the name of a presence or creature which is said to haunt the summit and passes of Ben Macdui, the highest peak of the Cairngorms and the second highest peak in Scotland (also the British Isles). It has been described as an extremely tall figure covered with short hair, or as an unseen presence that causes uneasy feelings in people who climb the mountain. Evidence of the existence of this creature is limited to various sightings and a few photographs of unusual footprints.

It was traditionally seen as a supernatural being, but Am Fear Liath Mòr has been compared to the Yeti of the Himalaya and the Sasquatch or Bigfoot of North America. References to wild ‘Greymen’ in Scotland and similar creatures elsewhere in Europe, sometimes called Wudewas or ‘Wood Men’, date back to the 13th century, and are believed by some to represent relict hominids.

–   In 1925, the noted climber John Norman Collie recounted a terrifying experience he had endured while alone near the summit of Ben MacDhui some 35 years before. “I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. For every few steps I took I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own.” Collie was unable to make out the source of the noises because of mist, and continued “… [as] the eerie crunch, crunch, sounded behind me, I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles.” Other climbers have also reported similar experiences, many describing uncontrollable feelings of fear and panic, some actually seeing a huge grey figure behind them, and others only hearing sounds or even succumbing to inexplicable feelings of terror while in the area.

–   In the Matt Lamy book 100 Strangest Unexplained Mysteries, Lamy notes a sighting in the early 1990s in which three men caught sight of a bipedal creature with an eerie, inhuman face in a forest near Aberdeen. Several weeks later, whilst driving through the area at night, the creature appeared again and ran alongside their car even at speeds of 45 miles per hour, seemingly trying to enter the vehicle.

Similar panic responses have been reported in many North American Sasquatch encounters, and explanations involving infrasound or pheromones have been advanced. Cryptozoologist Karl Shuker has expressed belief that the creature is the guardian of an inter-dimensional portal in his 1997 book, The Unexplained. However, hallucinations and panic brought on by isolation and exhaustion, or an optical illusion similar to the Brocken spectre, are very plausible explanations for the Big Grey Man legend. A Brocken spectre, or ‘glory’, can occur in certain atmospheric conditions when the sun is at a particular angle. The subject’s shadow can be cast onto low lying clouds around them, creating the illusion of a large shadowy humanoid figure. This is the most commonly advanced theory to explain the reported sightings.

 

Straw  bear

A ‘straw bear’ (German: ‘Strohbär’, plural ‘Strohbären’) is a traditional character that appears in carnival processions or as a separate seasonal custom in parts of Germany, mainly at Shrovetide but sometimes at Candlemas or Christmas Eve.
The people playing the bears either dress in costumes made of straw, or are actually wrapped in straw. The straw used may be that of wheat, rye, oats, spelt or peastraw; twigs and modern artificial materials have also been used. The bears may be relatively realistic in appearance, with detailed masks, or fully rounded headpieces, or they may be more abstract, with narrow heads like a long, tapering sheaf.

Straw bears may be derived from the medieval carnival figure of the Wild Man. They were also interpreted by early folklorists as personifications of Winter, and their appearance in late winter or early spring was seen as a ritual expulsion of winter from the community. Others think they were merely intended to represent the real “dancing” bears that used to be taken from place to place for entertainment.
The bears were originally accompanied by groups of costumed attendants and musicians and visited houses, begging from door to door. One of the earliest known references is from Wurmlingen in 1852. In most cases they were rewarded with gifts of eggs, lard and flour (it may have been significant that these three items were white in colour), or fasnetsküchle (carnival fritters), or money. At the end of the day the group would share or consume their gifts in a tavern. This quête (begging) style of custom is no longer practiced; most bears now appear as part of carnival processions, although there are some which still remain independent of the carnival itself.

–   Straw bears appeared particularly in agricultural communities. Although the tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, straw bears can still be found in Baden-Württemberg, Hessen (particularly the Vogelsberg), Lower Saxony, Bavaria, the Hunsrück and Eifel areas of Rheinland-Palatinate, and Thuringia.

Today they are particularly associated with the “Swabian-Alemannic Carnival” or Fastnacht of southwestern Germany in the area between the upper Neckar River and Lake Constance of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Formerly there were also straw bears in Pomerania, Rheinland and West Germany. In some places the straw-swathed characters are not intended to represent bears, and are simply known as straw men.

The decline in popularity of straw characters in carnival today is thought to be largely due to the difficulty of obtaining straw of suitable length and quality. Modern farmers generally prefer cultivars with shorter straw, or use chemical sprays to make the straw grow shorter so that their crops are less prone to damage by storms. Artificial materials have replaced straw in a few places. In other places, such as Hirschauer, where the Äschadreppler is traditionally clad in peastraw, crops are being specially planted to ensure the supply of the appropriate straw for the costumes.
Modern straw bear costumes may be kept from year to year; formerly they were often burned at the end of the day on which they were used. This still happens in some places.

 

Leshy  / Lesovik

The Leshy or Lesovik is a male woodland spirit in Slavic mythology who protects wild animals and forests. There are also ‘leshachikha’/’leszachka’ (wives of the leshak) and leshonky (children of the leszy). He is roughly analogous to the Woodwose of Western Europe and the Basajaun of the Basque Country.

The Leshy is known by a variety of names and spellings including ‘Lesiy’, ‘Leshii’, ‘Leszi’, ‘Lesovik’, etc.

A leshy usually appears as a tall man, but he is able to change his size from that of a blade of grass to a very tall tree. He has hair and a beard made from living grass and vines, and is sometimes depicted with a tail, hooves, and horns. He has pale white skin that contrasts with his bright green eyes. A leshy has a close bond with the gray wolf, and is often seen in the company of bears as well. He is the Forest Lord and carries a club to express that he is the master of the wood. He has blue blood, which makes his cheeks the color blue. Legend describes him as having a red scarf and his left shoe on his right foot. He also had no shadow.

–   Leshy protects the animals and birds in the forest and tells them when to migrate. He can shapeshift into many different forms. As a human, he looks like a peasant with glowing eyes, and his shoes are on backwards.

–   A person who befriends a leshy can learn the secrets of magic. Farmers and shepherds would make pacts with the leshy to protect their crops and sheep. The leshy has many tricks, including leading peasants astray, making them sick, or tickling them to death. They are also known to hide the axes of woodcutters. A person gets lost in the woods when a leshy crosses their path. To find the way out, you have to turn your clothes inside out and wear shoes on opposite feet.

–   Leshies are terribly mischievous beings: they have horrible cries, and can imitate voices of people familiar to wanderers and lure them back to their caves, where the leshies will tickle them to death; they also remove signs from their posts. Leshies aren’t evil: although they enjoy misguiding humans and kidnapping young women, they are also known to keep grazing cattle from wandering too far into the forests and getting lost. Sometimes cow herders will make pacts with a leshy by handing him their crosses from around their necks and sharing communion with him after Christian church gatherings; these pacts are said to give the cowherds special powers.

–   Sometimes more than one leshy inhabits a forest, and then they will fight for their territory, knocking down trees and scaring animals.

A leshy is a demon or spirit in the Dictionnaire Infernal. There he is a Slavic forest being, similar in nature to the Polevik sprites. He protects the birds, trees, and animals of the forest; he appears in the shape of a human with blue skin, two great horns, green hair, and a long green beard across his face, carrying a club or whip indicating his mastery of the forest.
Should one ever encounter a leshy, one must thwart him immediately by turning all one’s clothes inside out and backwards, and placing one’s shoes on the opposite feet.

 

Moss  people

The moss people or moss-folk (German: ‘Moosleute’, “moss-folk”, wilde Leute, “wild folk”), also referred to as the wood people or wood-folk (Holzleute, “wood-folk”) or forest-folk (Waldleute, “forest-folk”), are a class of fairy-folk, variously compared to dwarves, elves, or spirits, described in the folklore of Germany as having an intimate connection to trees and the forest. In German the words Schrat and Waldschrat are also used for a moss person. (Compare Old Norse skratti, “goblin”.)

–   They are sometimes described as similar to dwarves, being the same size as children, “grey and old-looking, hairy, and clad in moss.” In other descriptions they are said to be pretty or even have butterfly wings.
According to legend, these fairies would occasionally borrow items from people but would always compensate the owners generously. In certain myths, the moss folk would ask humans for breast milk to feed their young.
They were often but not always the object of the Wild Hunt. According to folklore, in order to escape the hunt they enter the trees that woodsmen have marked with a cross that will be chopped down.

The moss people are similar to hamadryads. Their lives are “attached to the trees; if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen a Wood-woman dies.”

Jacob Grimm believed that Gothic skohsl,”demon”, in the New Testament, was related to Old Norse skogr and Old English sceaga, both meaning “forest”, and therefore represented a cognate of the moss people in Gothic folklore. Subsequent authors, however, have related skohsl with English “shuck” (from Old English scucca, “evil spirit”) and German Scheusal, “monster” (from Middle High German schusel, though by folk etymology identified with scheuen, “to dread”, and -sal, a noun suffix).

Parallels have been drawn between the moss people and woodwoses. Early descriptions of Germanic beliefs include descriptions of “wood people” by the 6th century Roman historian Jordanes and “woodland women” by the 11th-century Rhenish bishop Burchard of Worms. Furthermore, Grimm recorded the terms wildiu wip, wildero wibo, wilder wibe, wilden wibe, wildaz wip (all meaning “wild wife”) and wilde fröuwelin (“wild maiden”) from various early medieval texts.

According to Jacob Grimm :

       ”   Between Leidhecken and Dauernheim in the Wetterau stands the high mountain, and on it a stone, der welle fra gestoil (the wild woman’s chairs); there is an impression on the rock, as of the limbs of human sitters. The people say the wild folk lived there ‘wei di schtan noch mell warn,’ while the stones were still soft; afterwards, being persecuted, the man ran away, the wife and child remained in custody at Dauernheim until they died.   “

Des Knaben Wunderhorn records “folk-songs [that] make the huntsman in the wood start a dark-brown maid, and hail her: ‘whither away, wild beast?’, but his mother did not take to the bride.”

Wild man

source  :  wikipedia.com

The wild man (also ‘wildman’, or  ‘wildman of the woods’, archaically ‘woodwose’ or ‘wodewose’) is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.
The defining characteristic of the figure is its ‘wildness’; from the 12th century they were consistently depicted as being covered with hair. Images of wild men appear in the carved and painted roof bosses where intersecting ogee vaults meet in the Canterbury Cathedral, in positions where one is also likely to encounter the vegetal Green Man. The image of the wild man survived to appear as supporter for heraldic coats-of-arms, especially in Germany, well into the 16th century.

Renaissance engravers in Germany and Italy were particularly fond of wild men, wild women, and wild families, with examples from Martin Schongauer (died 1491) and Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) among others.

*     The first element of woodwose is usually explained as from wudu “wood”, “forest”. The second element is less clear. It has been identified as a hypothetical noun *wasa “being”, from the verb wesan, wosan “to be”, “to be alive”. The Old English form is unattested, but it would have been *wudu-wasa or *wude-wasa.

–     Terminology in the Middle Ages was more varied. In Middle English, there was the term ‘woodwose’ (also spelled wodewose, woodehouse, wudwas etc.). ‘Wodwos’ occurs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1390). The Middle English word is first attested in the 1340s, in references to the “wild man” decorative artwork popular at the time, in a Latin description of an embroidery of the Great Wardrobe of Edward III, but as a surname it is found as early as 1251, of one Robert de Wudewuse. In reference to an actual legendary or mythological creature, the term is found in the 1380s, in Wycliffe’s Bible, translating (Latin pilosi) in Isaiah 13:21. The occurrences in Gawain and the Green Knight dates to shortly after Wycliffe’s Bible, to ca. 1390.

–     Old High German had schrat, scrato or scrazo, which appear in glosses of Latin works as translations for fauni, silvestres, or pilosi, identifying the creatures as hairy woodland beings. Some of the local names suggest connections with figures from ancient mythology. Common in Lombardy and the Italian-speaking parts of the Alps is the term salvan or salvang, which derives from the Latin Silvanus, the name of the Roman tutelary god of gardens and the countryside. Similarly, folklore in Tyrol and German-speaking Switzerland into the 20th century included a wild woman known as Fange or Fanke, which derives from the Latin fauna, the feminine form of faun. Medieval German sources give as names for the wild woman lamia and holzmoia (or some variation); the former clearly refers to the Greek wilderness demon Lamia while the latter derives ultimately from Maia, a Greco-Roman earth and fertility goddess who is elsewhere identified with Fauna and who exerted a wide influence on medieval wild-man lore. Slavic has leshy “forest man”.

–     Various languages and traditions include names suggesting affinities with Orcus, a Roman and Italic god of death. For many years people in Tyrol called the wild man Orke, Lorke, or Noerglein, while in parts of Italy he was the orco or huorco. The French ogre has the same derivation, as do modern literary orcs. Importantly, Orcus is associated with Maia in a dance celebrated late enough to be condemned in a 9th- or 10th-century Spanish penitential.

–     The term was usually replaced in literature of the Early Modern English period by classically-derived equivalents, or “wild man”, but it survives in the form of the surname Wodehouse or Woodhouse (see Woodhouse family). “Wild man” and its cognates is the common term for the creature in most modern languages; it appears in German as wilder Mann, in French as homme sauvage and in Italian as uomo selvatico “forest man”.

*     Figures similar to the European wild man occur worldwide from very early times. The earliest recorded example of the type is the character Enkidu in the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh.

The portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar II in the Book of Daniel (2nd century BC) greatly influenced the medieval European concepts. Daniel 4 depicts God humbling the Babylonian king for his boastfulness; stricken mad and ejected from human society, he grows hair on his body and lives like a beast. This image was popular in medieval depictions of Nebuchadnezzar. Similarly, late medieval legends of Saint John Chrysostom (died 407) portray the saint’s asceticism as making him so isolated and feral that hunters who capture him cannot tell if he is man or beast.

The medieval wild-man concept also drew on lore about similar beings from the Classical world such as the Roman faun and Silvanus. Several folk traditions about the wild man correspond with ancient practices and beliefs. Notably, peasants in the Grisons tried to capture the wild man by getting him drunk and tying him up in hopes that he would give them his wisdom in exchange for freedom. This suggests a connection to an ancient tradition – recorded as early as Xenophon (died 354 BC) and appearing in the works of Ovid, Pausanias, and Claudius Aelianus – in which shepherds caught a forest being, here called Silenus or Faunus, in the same fashion and for the same purpose.

On top of mythological influences, medieval wild man lore also drew on the learned writings of ancient historians, though likely to a lesser degree. These ancient wild men are naked and sometimes covered in hair, though importantly the texts generally localize them in some faraway land, distinguishing them from the medieval wild man who was thought to exist just at the boundaries of civilization. The first historian to describe such beings, Herodotus (c.?484 BC – c.?425 BC), places them in western Libya alongside the men with no heads and with eyes in their chests and dog-faced creatures. After the appearance of the former Persian court physician Ctesias’s book Indika (on India), which recorded Persian beliefs about the subcontinent, and the conquests of Alexander the Great, India became the primary home of fantastic creatures in the Western imagination, and wild men were frequently described as living there. Megasthenes, Seleucus I Nicator’s ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya, wrote of two kinds of men to be found in India whom he explicitly describes as wild: first a creature brought to court whose toes faced backwards; second a tribe of forest people who had no mouths and who sustained themselves with smells. Both Quintus Curtius Rufus and Arrian refer to Alexander himself meeting with a tribe of fish-eating savages while on his Indian campaign.

*     Some of the earliest evidence for the wild-man tradition appears in the above-mentioned 9th- or 10th-century Spanish penitential. This book, likely based on an earlier Frankish source, describes a dance in which participants donned the guise of the figures Orcus, Maia, and Pela, and ascribes a minor penance for those who take part in what was clearly a resurgence of an older pagan custom. The identity of Pela is unknown, but the earth goddess Maia appears as the wild woman (Holz-maia in the later German glossaries), and names related to Orcus were connected to the wild man through the Middle Ages, indicating that this dance was an early version of the wild-man festivities celebrated through the Middle Ages and surviving in pockets of Europe through modern times.

The 9th-century Irish tale Buile Shuibhne (The Madness of Sweeney) describes how Shuibhne or Sweeney, the pagan king of the Dál nAraidi in Ulster, assaults the Christian bishop Ronan Finn and is cursed with madness as a result. He begins to grow feathers and talons as the curse runs its full course, flies like bird and spends many years travelling naked through the woods, where other madmen live, where he composes verse. In order to be forgiven by God, King Suibhne composes a beautiful poem of praise to God before he dies. There are further poems and stories recounting the life and madness of King Suibhne. The Welsh told a similar story about Myrddin Wyllt, the origin of the Merlin of later romance. In these stories Myrddin is a warrior in the service of King Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio at the time of the Battle of Arfderydd. When his lord is killed at the battle, Myrddin takes to the Caledonian Forest in a fit of madness which bestows him with the ability to compose prophetic poetry; a number of later prophetic poems are attributed to him. The Life of Saint Kentigern includes almost the same story, though here the madman of Arfderydd is instead called Lailoken, which may be the original name. The fragmentary 16th-century Breton text An Dialog Etre Arzur Roe D’an Bretounet Ha Guynglaff (Dialog Between Arthur and Guynglaff) tells of a meeting between King Arthur and the wild man Guynglaff, who predicts events which will occur down to the 16th century.

Geoffrey of Monmouth recounts the Myrddin Wyllt legend in his Latin Vita Merlini of around 1150, though here the figure has been renamed “Merlin”. According to Geoffrey, after Merlin witnessed the horrors of the battle :

      ”  …a strange madness came upon him. He crept away and fled to the woods, unwilling that any should see his going. Into the forest he went, glad to lie hidden beneath the ash trees. He watched the wild creatures grazing on the pasture of the glades. Sometimes he would follow them, sometimes pass them in his course. He made use of the roots of plants and of grasses, of fruit from trees and of the blackberries in the thicket. He became a Man of the Woods, as if dedicated to the woods. So for a whole summer he stayed hidden in the woods, discovered by none, forgetful of himself and of his own, lurking like a wild thing. “

A wild man is described in Konungs skuggsjá (Speculum Regale or “the King’s Mirror”), written in Norway around 1250 :

      ”  It once happened in that country (and this seems indeed strange) that a living creature was caught in the forest as to which no one could say definitely whether it was a man or some other animal; for no one could get a word from it or be sure that it understood human speech. It had the human shape, however, in every detail, both as to hands and face and feet; but the entire body was covered with hair as the beasts are, and down the back it had a long coarse mane like that of a horse, which fell to both sides and trailed along the ground when the creature stooped in walking. “

King Charles VI of France and five of his courtiers were dressed as wild men and chained together for a masquerade at the tragic Bal des Sauvages which took place in Paris at the Hôtel Saint-Pol, 28 January 1393. They were “in costumes of linen cloth sewn onto their bodies and soaked in resinous wax or pitch to hold a covering of frazzled hemp, “so that they appeared shaggy & hairy from head to foot”. In the midst of the festivities, a stray spark from a torch set their highly flammable costumes ablaze, burning several courtiers alive; the king’s own life was saved through quick action by his aunt, Joann, Duchesse de Berry, who covered him with her dress.

*     The wild man was used as a symbol of Mining in late medieval and Renaissance Germany. It appears in this context in the coats of arms of Naila and of Wildemann. The town of Wildemann in the Upper Harz was founded in 1529 by miners who according to legend met a wild man and wife when they ventured into the wilds of the Harz range.

In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1611) the dance of twelve “Satyrs” at the rustic sheep-shearing (IV.iv), prepared by a servant’s breathless account :

      ”  Masters, there is three carters, three shepherds, three neat-herds, three swine-herds, that have made themselves all men of hair, they call themselves Saltiers, and they have a dance which the wenches say is a gallimaufrey of gambols… “

– conflates wild men and satyrs. Shakespeare may have been inspired by the episode in Ben Jonson’s masque Oberon, the Faery Prince (performed 1 January 1611), where the satyrs have “tawnie wrists” and “shaggy thighs”; they “run leaping and making antique action”.

The term wood-woses or simply Woses is used by J. R. R. Tolkien to describe a fictional race of wild men, which are called also Drúedain, in his books on Middle-earth. According to Tolkien’s legendarium, other men, including the Rohirrim, mistook the Drúedain for goblins or other wood-creatures and referred to them as Púkel-men (Goblin-men). He allows the fictional possibility that his Drúedain were the “actual” origin of the wild men of later traditional folklore. British poet Ted Hughes used the form wodwo as the title of a poem and a 1967 volume of his collected works.

*     Distorted accounts of apes may have contributed to both the ancient and medieval conception of the wild man. In his Natural History Pliny the Elder describes a race of silvestres (wild) creatures in India who had humanoid bodies but a coat of fur, fangs, and no capacity to speak – a description that fits gibbons indigenous to the area. The ancient Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator (fl. 500 BC) reported an encounter a tribe of savage men and hairy women in what may have been Sierra Leone; their interpreters called them “Gorillae”, a story which much later gave rise to the name of the gorilla species and could indeed have related to a great ape. Similarly, the Greek historian Agatharchides describes what may have been chimpanzees as tribes of agile, promiscuous “seed-eaters” and “wood-eaters” living in Ethiopia.

As the name implies, the key characteristic of the wild man is his wildness. “Civilised” citizens regarded wild men as beings of the wilderness, and as such as representing the antithesis of civilization. Scholar Dorothy Yamamoto has noted that the “wilderness” inhabited by the wild man does not truly indicate a place totally beyond human reach, but rather the liminal zone at the edge of civilization, the place inhabited by hunters, criminals, religious hermits, herdsmen, and others who frequent the margins of human activity. Other characteristics developed or transmuted in different contexts. From the earliest times our sources associated wild men with hairiness; by the 12th century they were almost invariably described as having a coat of hair covering their entire bodies except for their hands, feet, faces above their long beards, and the breasts and chins of the females.

“The Exorcism Of Nicola Aubrey”

Source : catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com

TRIUMPH  OF  THE  BLESSED  SACRAMENT  OVER  BEELZEBUB

by Father Michael Muller,1877

***   NICOLA AUBRY was born of Catholic parents in the year 1549, in the town of Vervius, in France. She received a good Catholic education, and was married at the age of sixteen.
Nothing very remarkable happened to her until November 1565, on the feast of “All Souls”.On that day she went to the churchyard, and, kneeling on the grave of her grandfather, who had died two years previously, she began to pray for the repose of his soul. Whilst she was thus praying, she suddenly saw,standing before her, a man entirely enveloped in a long, white shroud.

‘ I am your grandfather’ ,said this strange apparition,in a solemn voice. Nicola rushed home in terror, and hid herself in a corner of the house. (Her relations, supposing that she was sick, gave her medicine, but Nicola could find no relief.) But the spirit haunted her and tormented her continually.

BLESSED SACRAMENT

On the seventh of November this spirit appeared to her again, but now his face was uncovered. It was unmistakably the  face of her grandfather, Joachim Villot.

‘ Fear not,’  said the spirit, “I am your grandfather”.

Nicola fainted away, and seemed at the very point of death. During the swoon,the spirit told her that he had to suffer very much in purgatory, because, during life, he had vowed to make several pilgrimages, and was suddenly taken away from this lite without having fulfilled his promise.
He requested that her husband Louis, and her two uncles Nicholas and Augustine, should make the pilgrimages he had promised. Three of the places which he named were in France, and the fourth was St. James of Compostella, in Spain. He also requested her to have almost given, and masses offered for the repose of his soul. He then said :

‘ Fear nothing,my child ; pray to God and the Virgin Mary. You will yet behold wonderful things, for sreat are the mysteries of God? ‘

Nicola recovered from her swoon, and related all that the spirit had told her, but said not a word about the pilgrimage to Spain. She then conjured those present to comply with his wishes. Her relations at first looked upon all that Nicola said as the effect of a disordered imagination ;but at last they consented to comply with her request, in the hope that she would thereby regain her peace of mind.

On the ninth of November, her husband and two uncles of Nicola set out on their pilgrimage. During the journey, Nicola accompanied them in spirit. She related,to those around her, everything that the three pilgrims said and did.
Her words were not believed at the time,but nine days after, when the pilgrims returned, they confirmed the truth of all that she had said. A solemn Requiem Mass was now offered up for the repose of the grandfather’s soul, and the friends of Nicola returned from church, expecting to find her entirely restored to health. Imagine their terror,when, on their return, they found that she had disappeared. They sought her every where, and at last found her crouched
under the bed, with her hands clinched convulsively.
Nicola at last came to herself, and related how, as she was about to go to church, she was suddenly seized by an invisible hand, hurled to the ground, and dragged under the bed. She said that she should have been killed outright, had not some higher power saved her.
It was pitiful to see how the poor young woman wept and moaned, as if in the greatest agony.

“- Ask the spirit,” said the mother, “to tell you what he wants. We are willing to make every sacrifice, in order to bring you relief”.

“- My grandfather tells me”, said Nicola, “at last,that those who have made the other pilgrimages must also go to St. James
of Compostella, in Spain. I did not speak of it before, as I did not wish to give trouble to my husband and my uncles.
But my grandfather says that he will torture me, and make me deaf, dumb and blind, until the pilgrimages are made”.

The parents of Nicola were greatly troubled at these words, but they thought still that it might be all the effect of a disordered imagination. So they hit upon a very simple plan, which they thought would satisfy her. Her husband and her uncles came to her dressed as pilgrims ready for a long journey, and affectionately took leave of her. But instead of going to Spain, which was well-nigh impossible at that cold winter season, each went to his work as usual. The pretended pilgrims
had been gone scarcely an hour when Nicola screamed out :

“- Oh father, Oh mother,mother, have you no pity on me? See,my grandfather says he will torture me,and wrench all my limbs, because the pilgrimage is not made”.

“- But, my child”, answered  the mother, “did you not seu them yourself starting on their journey ?”

“- No” cried Nicola, “they have not yet left the city. Louis is in his father’s house sitting near the fire,and my uncles are at work”.

The parents were thunderstruck. What Nicola said was literally true. The parents now sent for the priest,and it was resolved to use the exorcism of the Church, in order to find out whether the spirit was from God or not. While they were consulting about the matter,Nicola fell into a swoon, and, on coming to herself again, she said :

“- My grand father says that whoever wishes to exorcise him should have a clear conscience.He desires that F. Lautrichet should undertake the task”.

The mother hastened to F. Lautrichet,and told him what her daughter had said,and begged him to free her, if possible,from this troublesome spirit. F. Lautrichet refused, at first,out of humility,but at last he yielded to the good woman’s repeated entreaties. He consulted all the priests of the city, and prepared himself for his terrible task by confession, prayer,and lasting.
He then went to the house of Nicola, and there, in the presence of several of the most prominent citizens of the place, he began the :

FIRST  EXORCISM

” – Who art thou? ” said the priest in a solemn voice, “speak, I command thee, in the name of God”.

The spirit answered through the half-opened mouth of Nicola;he spoke in a deep, hollow voice, without even once moving her lips.

” – I am” replied he ,“from God, I am from the Blessed Virgin and all the saints of heaven. I am the soul of Joachim Villot”.

He then related how his wife had been once very sick, so that he even bought the shroud for her burial. He vowed at the time that if she should recover, he would make a pilgrimage to Compostella,in Spain. But he died suddenly, one evening, after supper, without ever telling any one of his vow. He also spoke of the fearful suiFerings he had to endure in purgatory.
The wife of the deceased Joachim was present, and confirmed the truth of what the spirit had said :

“- Is it then really necessary”, asked the priest,once more,  “is it absolutely necessary that this long pilgrimage should be made?”

“- Yes” , answered the spirit, “absolutely necessary”.

“- But”, asked the priest, m”will it not do if some one else makes this pilgrimage ?”

“- No” ! answered the spirit , “the very same ones must go who have made the other pilgrimages”.

A few days after, the parents of Nicola were speaking with the priest about the great difficulty of making a pilgrimage to Spain in midwinter, and especially at a time when the whole country was in a state of revolution. The spirit interrupt ed them, and said :

“- Why! don’t you know that this pilgrimage can be changed into some other good work?”

“- To what other good work?” asked the priest.

“- Why, they can go to the Church of St. Claude, to St. Gervasius, or to St. Nicholas”,answered the spirit.

“- Or you can have eight solemn masses offered up, seven at cravins and the eighth at St. Nicholas.
Or, better still, you can have a low mass said at St. Nicholas ; and, at the same time, you must make an offering of a piece of wax. The three pilgrims should set out immediately ; they will have fine weather during their journey. As soon as they return, Nicola and her grandmother must go to Liesse, and have a mass offered up for my soul. There they will see me hovering over the altar in the shape of a dove. I will bid them farewell three times, and then enter the joys of heaven.
Moreover, every Friday you must offer up, at my grave, a Requiem Mass and a “le profundis”. Of course it will not help me any more, for I shall be in heaven,but it will be of great advantage to you.”

All these strange and contradictory orders gave rise to the strongest suspicions that the spirit was not, after all, the soul of Joachim Villot.Rev. F. Lourdet, one of the priests present, said :

“- I can hardly believe that thou art the soul of Joachim Villot.

“- Are thou not, perhaps, an angel?”

“- Yes” answered the spirit , “I am the good angel of the deceased”.

“- A good angel !”, exclaimed the priest , “I can hardly believe that; good angels never take forcible possession of the human body, and they do not torment the children of God”.

“- I have not taken possession of Nicola’s body” answered the spirit , “I only speak through her month. I do so by the permission of God. The saints must be served, and the vows we make must be fulfiled.”

“- But thou art in her body” replied the priest  “since thou speakest through her mouth”. What thou sayest about serving the saints, is false. They do not seek their own honor, they desire only the honor of God. It is clear, then, that then art not the soul of Joachirn Villot, nor hIs good angel, but that thou art an evil spirit a demon of hell”.

The spirit was silent, and Nicola fainted away.
The priests of the city consulted together once more ; at last they resolved to send for a learned and holy missionary,named de Motta. They requested him to exorcise the spirit. Motta inquired into all the particulars of the case, obtained from the Vicar-General full powers to employ the exorcisms of the Church,and came to Yervins on the twenty-sixth of November.
Next morning, he went to the house of Nicola. As soon as he entered, the poor woman was instantly tormented by the spirit. Six strong men were scarcely able to hold her down.Father de Motta began the exorcism in Latin, but the spirit would not answer.
The priest then said in French :

“- I command thee, in the name of the living God,to tell me who thou art”.

“- I am the good angel of Joachim Villot” answered the spirit.

“- No,” said the priest, “first you said that thou were the grandfather of Nicola, but that is false,for one body does not take possession of another. Thou then saidst that thou wert the soul of Joachim Villot, but that is also false, for a human soul never takes possession of the body of another. Thou next said that thou were the good angel of Joachim Villot, but this again is false,for good angels do not take possession of the bodies of men to torture them, as thou hast done. Thou art, then, neither ahuman soul nor an angel, but a lying spirit, a demon of hell”.

“- I am not in her body” replied the spirit , “I am only near her”.

“- Thou lie” said the priest, “thou are really in her body, and thou torment her. I adjure thee, then, by these holy gospels”,  here, the priest laid his hands upon the holy book, “confess the truth! thou are a demon of hell”.

The evil spirit was silent. He was found out at last. It luas really the devil.Nicola again fell into a swoon.

SATAN  UNMASKED

A few days after, some one, unknown to Nicola, sprinkled her bed with holy water. Immediately Nicola sat upright,and made one thousand crosses upon her shoulders, her breast, and upon every place which the holy water had touched.
Some one gave her a rosary. She recited it with the greatest apparent devotion.She then arranged it in the shape of a cross, and the rosary stood upright without any visible aid. She then placed the rosary “around her neck, and no human power could take it away”.
This was the last effort of Satan to disguise himself and gain credit, but the exorcisms of the Church at last forced him to throw off the mask.
On the thirtieth of November, Nicola was walking all alone in her father’s garden. Suddenly a horrid lilack spectre (goblin) stood before her.

“- Aha !”  cried he, gnashing his teeth and grinning horribly :                        ” Look at me! Am not a nice grandfather? ”  He then seized her and carried her off.

Her parents sought her everywhere. At last her little brother, who was only three years old, pointed to the top of the garden-wall, and cried out,”Up there ! up there !”
Then rushed into the garden, but Nicola was not to be seen. At length the father, in despair, burst open a small door that was firmly bolted on the inside, and there, on the brink of a deep pit, he found his daughter. She was still and cold as ablock of marble.
At another time, whilst Nicola was in a swoon or lethargy, those around her heard her speaking to the spirit.

“- What” she cried  “give thee a lock of my hair? No !never! A piece of my clothes? No, I cannot…Some of my father’s corn ? No,it does not belong to me. A piece of the window-glass? No ! no ! I will give thee nothing nothing. I will make no compact with thee.”

On coming to herself, Nicola- said that a horrid black man had appeared to her.
She was now fully convinced that the spirit who appeared to her so often was not her grandfather, but the devil himself !
She was, then, realty possessed of the devil; but she always struggled, like a martyr, against all his wicked suggestions.

     On the first of December Nicola was walking up and down the room in which her husband was working. Suddenly shturned to him, and said :

“- Louis, do you not hear my little brother crying? Go and see what’s the matter”.

Louis, knowing the tricks of Satan,walked back wards to the neighboring room,without ever once taking his eyes off his wife. He glanced for an instant towards the cradle in which the child was lying ;and, when he turned round, his wife had disappeared. Her friends and relatives looked for her everywhere, high and low,but she was not to be found. At last one of the neighbors, who had gone up stairs,threw open a door which was bolted on the outside, and there he found Nicola,crouching in a corner of the room. The demon had carried her thither through the chimney, and yet she bore not the least mark or stain of her strange journey.
On the second of December, Nicola asked for a drink. Her husband gave her a glass of wine, into which he had, without her knowledge, poured a few drops of holy water. Nicola raised the glass to her lips,but suddenly she was seized with the most violent convulsions.
Her features changed they were no longer human it was now the face of a demon. The glass, too,remained hanging to her lips.
On the third of December, Nicola was carried to church by six strong men. It was as much as they could do to hold her.
Rev. Father Motta, after havingfasted and prayed, began the :

FIRST  PUBLIC  SOLEMN  EXORCISM

The church was crowded with Protestants as well as Catholics. Father de Motta began with the exorcisms used in baptism.

“- Ho ! ho !” cried  the devil in a mocking tone, “are you going to baptize me? Go on. All your exorcisms will not drive me out of this creature”.

After all, it was evident that these exorcisms tormented the devil horribly.Nicola s body twisted about like a serpent. She then stood on her feet, and hurled  keepers to the ground. Her bones cracked fearfully ; it was as if every limb in her body were breaking.
The bystanders were filled, they could not bear to look at her.Whilst the exorcism was going on, a large stone fell from the ceiling upon the head of a woman who was present, and wounded her jverely. The devil laughed mockingly, and said that it was he who had caused the stone to fall. He then began to prate and titter. He turned to the Protestants, and called them his friends,his children, his faithful servants. He then ridiculed them, and said that they had, on his account, broken the oath they had taken never again to enter a Catholic Church.
Father do Motta now asked Satan :

“- Why didst thon not answer me when I spoke to thee in Latin ?”

“- Because I did not wish to be known” ,answered the demon. “Besides, I must speak in a language which the people can all understand”.

“- But,” asked the priest again,  “why didn’t thou order masses and prayers to be said, pilgrimages to be made, and alms to be given ?”

“- Because I knew,” answered the spirit,  “that if I told Nicola to kill her father and mother, or to commit some other great crime, she would not obey me, and I should have been found out immediately. But I do not reveal myself until I am forced to do so. Had they obeyed me, they would have carried me in triumph on their shoulders. My business is to lie and to deceive, otherwise, I should not be a demon”

“- Why, then, did thou ask Nicola for a lock of her hair, a piece of her clothes,and the  like ?”

“- Because,” answered Satan , “I wished to make a compact with her, and thereby gain power over her soul. If she had only yielded to me a little, I would have taken entire possession of her heart. But the wretched creature would not consent, for she knows now that I am a devil.”

Next day, Nicola was again taken to church, and placed upon a platform so that all could see her. Father cle Motta was assisted during the exorcism by two priests. One of them carried some relics,among which was a particle of the holycross, and the other carried the sacred body of our Lord enclosed in the corporal.
Father de Motta now begged the people to pray fervently with him. He then recited the Litany, and read the four gospels and the exorcisms prescribed by the Church. Then, pointing to the relics and to the Blessed Sacrament, he said :

“…in the name, and by the power,of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the real presence of His sacred body and blood here in the Sacrament of the altar, I command thee, evil spirit, to depart from the body of this creature of God !”

At these solemn words the devil raved and barked, bellowed and howled, in the most frightful manner. And as the sacred Host was brought near to Nicola her whole body became horribly swollen, her eyes and tongue protruded, and her whole face was shockingly distorted.
The priest then commanded the devil,by the power of the thrice holy God, to reveal his name. After many evasive answers, and various efforts to conceal himself, the devil was at last forced to tell the truth.

“- I am,” he said  in a terrible voice, “I am Beelzebub.”

The priest, then, according to the prescription of the ritual,wrote the name of Beelzebub on several pieces of paper, which he burned in the flame of a blessed candle. Whilst he was doing this the devil howled and shrieked,as if suffering the greatest torture.
During one of the exorcisms, the priest asked the devil where he went when he quitted the body of Nicola.

“- I go walking,” answered the spirit .

“- Where have you been, then, today?”  asked Motta.

“- I have been in the forest of Montreuil.In this forest there are plenty of robbers,” said Beelzebub. He then mentioned the names of these robbers, and the various crimes they had committed. He also accused some of the women present of the crime of witchcraft ; and, as soon as they heard the accusation, they instantly took their departure.

When he saw any Protestants or bad Catholics in the church, he told publicly all their sins, even the most secret and shameful, and then he mockingly called them his friends and his children.

“- Yes,yes !” he cried, “you are mine; you are my servants, and I am your master.”

The impure spirit then endowed Nicola with all the charms of sensual beauty ; he made unseemly gestures, uttered unclean jests, and words of double meaning. Then turning to the husband of Nicola, he said :

“- Ha! ha! you didn t know that I was such a fine fellow.He thus tried to excite the vilest passions in the hearts of those around him”  but suddenly, at the command of the priest, he was struck dumb.

On another occasion Beelzebub was commanded to tell the reasons why he was permitted to take possession of Nicola.

“- It is now about four years ago,” said the demon, “that Nicola went outwalking with her little sister Isabel. Isabel wore around her neck. a rosary which her mother had given her. They went to the house of a neighboring woman”, (here the devil mentioned her name,)   “and little Isabel’s rosary was stolen. When they came home, the mother noticed that the rosary was gone, and, in a fit of rage,she cursed Nicola :

“”May the devil take you! she cried. If you had stayed at home, the rosary would not have been lost.””

“- From that time,” continued Beelzebub, “I had power over Nicola. I often tried to steal her away, for the mother gave her to me. I often threw her down, in order to kill her. I threw her into the fire, in order to burn her, and into the river, to drown her. I tempted her to say foolish and wicked words. I tempted her to steal money from her grandfather. I urged her to steal from her parents, and  she stole money, clothes, meat, butter everything that she could lay her hands on and then gave them to her neighbors.” (Here the devil mentioned their names.)

Nicola afterwards acknowledged that she had committed these thefts. The devil then continued :

“- I was not permitted to take full possession of Nicola,untill her husband gave her over to me.” (Here he turned towards her husband, and said) :

“- Do you not remember how once,when  we were very angry, you cursed your wife, and wished that the devil should take her? From that moment I have possessed her and tormented her”.

“- Now,” said the priest,  as thou has taken possession of her, thou shalt instantly leave her ; for she will confess ah her sins, and ask pardon of God, and of her husband and her parents. She will also restore whatever she has stolen.”

“- I shall take good care that she shall not be able to confess,” answered Beelzebub,  “for, before I leave her, I shall make her deaf, dumb and blind.”

Nicola soon fell again into a strange, unnatural lethargy.                            Next day Father de Motta exhorted the people to pray for the unhappy woman ; he then applied a relic of the holy cross to her eyes, and instantly they were opened. He next applied the holy relic to her ears, and her hearing was instantly restored. Finally he applied the relic to her lips, and immediately her tongue was loosed, and she begun topraise and thank God with great fervor.
She then made her confession, and asked pardon of her husband and her parents.
On the following week the devil again took possession of Nicola, and tortured her. On being commanded, by the exorcist, to tell the cause of this new possession, the evil spirit answered, with a look of fiendish hate :

“- Aha ! you intend to use stronger weapons against me !Very well ! I, too, will employ more powerful means against you. See ! I shall call all the devils of hell to my aid !

“- And I,”  said the priest ,  “shall invoke the angels of heaven to assist me. I fear neither thee, nor Lucifer, nor all the spirits of hell !”

At these words Satan bellowed like an ox, and made the most frightful grimaces at the courageous priest.
Nicola again fell into a swoon, and be came deaf, dumb and blind.
Father de Motta tried once more to expel the devil by applying the sacred relic of the cross, but this time ho could not succeed ; Satan would not depart. The priest now betook himself again to prayer, and exhorted all the faithful to pray fervently with him. At last, in spired by the Holy Ghost, he resolved to expel the devil by means of the Sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood.
Whilst Nicola was lying in the state of unnatural lethargy, Father de Motta placed the Blessed Sacrament upon her lips, and instantly the infernal spell was broken,Nicola was restored to consciousness, and received Holy Communion with every mark of devotion. As soon as Nicola had received the Sacred Body of our Lord, her face became bright and beautiful as the face of an angel, and all who saw her were filled with joy and wonder, and they blessed God from their inmost hearts.
Nicola related that, during her trance,she saw herself surrounded by a crowd of horrid black men, who held glittering daggers in their hands, and threatened to kill her. She also beheld a number of wild grizzly monsters, who threatened to tear her to pieces. Flames of fire and brimstone shot forth from their eyes and nostrils, and almost suffocated her.

POWER  OF  AN  INNOCENT  CHILD  OVER  SATAN

One morning the parents of Nicola left her alone with her little sister Marie,who was about ten years of age. Suddenly Nicola flew across the room, without touching the ground, and bolted thedoor. The child began to cry out:

“- Mamma, mamma, sister is going away !”  and she caught hold of Nicola in order to keep her back. The devil, overcome by the innocence of the child, was unable to carry Nicola away. He therefore said to the little one in an angry tone :

“- Ha !you little hussy, will you not let your sister go?”

Terrified at these words,the child let go her hold, and instantly the devil threw open the window, whisked Nicola away, and threw her upon the snow beneath. Here she was found by her parents, stiff and cold, and almost frozen to death.

On another occasion, as Father de Motta had not come at the appointed time,a priest who was present took it into his head to exorcise the devil. Now this priest had not received the jurisdiction required on such occasions, and consequently Satan only ridiculed all his efforts. Turning towards the priest, he said with a malicious leer :

“- Now come here, my dear,you ll play the devil, and I’ll be the exorcist. Go on your knees !quick ! I will exorcise you !”

Then the devil repeated the words of the exorcism,and made the sign of the cross just as correctly as if he had the ritual before him.

“- Adjuro te per Deum + vivum, per Deum+verum, per Deum  sanctum,” etc. But suddenly he stopped short,like one who had been struck by a heavy blow. Father de Motta was standing before him.

One day one of those standing near Nicola, saw a large black iiy in the room.
It was a cold winter sunday, when flies are rarely, if ever, seen. The good man caught the fly, in order to kill it, but un fortunately it slipped through his fingers,and fell on the bed in which Nicola waslying sick. Louis, Nicola’s husband,tried to catch the fly, but suddenly it disappeared, and, at the very same instant,he received a blow on the cheek that made his ears tingle, and the devil cried in a mocking tone :

“- Aha ! you’ll not catch me again !”  It was evidently Beelzebub himself.Beelzebub means, in the Hebrew language, the god of flies.

THE  BISHOP

On the third of January, 1566, the Bishop arrived at Vervins, and began the exorcism in the church, in presence of an immense multitude.

“- What is the name ?” asked the Bishop.

“- Beelzebub, prince of devils, next to Lucifer,” answered the evil spirit.

 “- How many companions hast thou here at present ?”

 “- There are nineteen of us now,” answered Satan, “tomorrow there will be twenty. But this is not yet all, for I see that I must call all hell to my assistance.”

 “- I command thee, in the name and by the power of God,” said the Bishop in a solemn voice ,“to depart instantly with thy infernal companions !”

 “- Yes, we shall depart,” replied the evil spirit,  “but not now, and not here. My work is not yet done in this city.”

 “- Where goest thou when expelled by the power of the Eeal Presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?” asked the Bishop.

“- You want to know where I go, do you ? Well ! last night I paid you a visit,” answered Satan,and then he related the very words the Bishop had said on hearing a noise in his room.

Satan was, at last, expelled again, by means of the Blessed Sacrament. On leaving, he paralyzed the left arm and the right foot of Nicola, and also made her left arm longer than her right and no power on earth could cure this strange infirmity, until some weeks after, when the devil was at last completely and irrevocably expelled.

PROTESTANT  PREACHERS

As the strange circumstances of Nicola’s possession became known everywhere,several Calvinist preachers came with their followers, to “expose this popish cheat,”  as they said. On their entrance, the devil saluted them mockingly, called them by name, and told them that they had come in obedience to him. One of the preachers took his Protestant prayer-book, and began to read it with a very solemn face. The devil laughed at him, and, putting on a most comical face, he said :

“- Ho ! ho ! my good friend, do you intend to expel me with your prayers and hymns? Do you think that they will cause me any pain ? Don t you know that they are mine ? I helped to compose them!”

“- I will expel thee in the name of God,” said the preacher solemnly.

“- You !” said the devil mockingly. “You will not expel me either in the name of God, or in the name of the devil. Did you ever hear, then, of one devil driving out another?”

“- I am not a devil,” said the preacher angrily. “I am a servant of Christ.”

“- A servant of Christ, indeed ! said Satan with a sneer. “What! I tell you,you are worse than I am a believer, and you do not want to believe. Do you suppose that you can expel me from the body of this miserable wretch? Ha! go first and expel all the devils that are in your own heart !”

The preacher took his leave, somewhat discomfited. On going away, he said,turning up the whites of his eyes :

“- Oh Lord, I pray thee, assist this poor creature !”

“- And I pray Lucifer,” cried the spirit,  “that he may never leave yon, but may always keep you firmly in his power, at he does now. Go about your business now. You are all mine, and I am your master.”

On the arrival of the priest, several of the Protestants went away they had seen and heard more than they wanted.
Others, however, remained, and great was their terror when they saw how the devil writhed and howled in agony, as soon as the Blessed Sacrament was brought near him. At last the evil spirit departed,leaving Nicola in a state of unnatural trance. While she was in this state, several of the preachers tried to open her eyes, but they found it impossible to do so.
The priest then placed the Blessed Sacrament on Nicola s lips, and instantly she was restored to consciousness.
Rev. Father de Motta then turned to the astonished preachers, and said :

“- Go now, ye preachers of the new gospel,go and relate everywhere what you have seen and heard. Do not deny any longer that our Lord Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Go now, and let not human respect hinder you from confessing the truth.”

SUSPICIOUS  STRANGER

One evening a stranger came to the house of Nicola. He looked like a simple peasant, and was apparently about forty years of age. He told Nicola s father that he knew a certain remedy which would infallibly cure her, but that he must be left alone with her for some time. The priest, hearing of this, told Mr. Aubry to have nothing to do with the man, as he was probably a wizard, or perhaps even the devil himself. The stranger, on being invited to supper, partook of some food.
He then went to church, knelt before the high altar, muttered some prayers, and then went towards Nicola, who was lying in the sacristy. At first he remained standing behind the keepers of Nicola, but the priest, on seeing him, told him to come forward.
Scarcely had Satan perceived the stranger when he cried out :

“- What ! are you here, Baltazo ? What a poor devil you are !How miserable you look today !”

“- Yes, I am poor and miserable” , answered the stranger.Late in the evening, this stranger went to one of the priests and offered to cure Nicola, on condition that her friends would make use of some charm, and enter into a compact with the devil. The priest rejected such a proposition with horror.

“- Never !” cried he,  “those who make use of charms, or enter into any compact with the devil, are guilty of a grievous sin.
And as for you, wicked man, I would advise you to leave this place as quickly as possible.”

Next morning the stranger had disap peared. During the following night the devil scolded Nicola’s husband for sending away his companion Baltazo.

“- Aha !” cried the evil spirit,  ” it is well that you have always some one watching over Nicola, “Had you left that loose fellow alone with her, you would never have seen her again.”

“- But whose body was that in which Baltazo appeared ?” risked one of the keepers.

“- It was the body of a man hanged at Arlon,” answered the evil spirit.

“- But this man,Baltazo ate, and the devils do not eat,” said the keeper.

“- What is that to you?” answered the devil, impudently. “That is none of your business.”

CONFESSION

One day, during one of the exorcisms in church, the evil spirit was chattering and uttering all kinds of nonsense. Suddenly he stopped short and grazed fixedly at a young man who was eagerly forcing his way through the crowd, in order to have a nearer view of the possessed woman.
The devil saluted him in a mocking tone :

“- Good morning, Peter !”  said he, calling him also by his family   name : “- Come here and take a good view of me.Ah, Peter ! I know that you are a free thinker, but tell me where were you last night?”

And then the devil related, in presence of every one in church, a shame full sin that Peter had committed the preceding night. He described all the circumstances with such precision, that Peter was overwhelmed with confusion,and could not utter a word.

“- Yes,” cried the devil, in a mocking tone, “you have done it; you dare not deny it.”

Peter hurried away as fast as he could,muttering to himself,”The devil tells the truth this time ; I thought that no one knew it but myself, and God.”
Peter seemed to have forgotten that the devil is the witness of our evil actions,that he remembers them all well, and that, at the hour of death, he will bring them all against us, as he himself declared.

“- For it is the,” who added in a rage, “that I force revenge on sinners.” 

Peter had not been to confession for many years, and, a natural consequence, his morals were  not exactly of the purest order.
The public accusation of the devil tilled him with whole some confusion. Ho rushed into the confessional, cast himself at the feet of a priest,confesed all his sins with true contrition,and received absolution. After having finished his confession, Peter had the boldness to press tough the crowd once more ; but this time he kept at a respectful distance from his infernal accuser. The exorcist saw Peter, and knowing that he had been at confession, he told him to draw near.
Than pointing to him, the exorcist said to the devil :

“- See here, do you know this man ?”

The devil raised his eyes and leisurely surveytd Peter from head to foot, and from right to left. At last he said :

“Why !really,” it is PEter.”

“- WEll!” said the exorcist,  “do you know anything else about him?”

“- No,” answered the devil, “nothing else.”

Tho devil had no longer any of Peter’s sins, because they had been entirely blotted out by the Blood of JEsus Christ, in the holy Sacrament of Confession. What the priest forgives on earth,God forgives in heaven. During the exorcisms of the following days, the devil was forced to confess that he was not to be expelled at Vervins, and that he had with him twenty-nine devils, among whom were three powerful demons : “Cerberus, Astaroth, and Legio.”

On another occasion, the devil was hotly pressed, by the priest, to tell the hourof his final departure.

“- At three o clock in the afternoon,” answered the three demons, Cerberus, Astaroth, and Legio.

“- On what day ?” asked the priest ; but the demons would give no answer.
Beelzebub then began to howl wildly,and curse the hour when he first entered into the body of that wretched creature.

“- Ah !” shrieked he, ” if God would permit me, I would leave instantly, but I cannot. My task is not yet done.”

“- Dost thou, then, not know the hour of thy final departure?” asked the priest.

“- Ah, yes ! but if you promise that you will not take me to Licsse, I will leave instantly, and will not return until this clay a year.”

“- God forbid that I should make thee any such promise,” said the priest, “with the help of God, them shalt leave this very instant” and, taking the Holy Eucharist in his hand, he compelled the evil spirits to depart.

LIESSE  and  PIERREPORT

22nd to 23h of January, 1566.

The priests now resolved to take Nicola to the celebrated pilgrimage of our Lady at Liesse, especially since the devil seemed to fear the place so much. During the journey,the evil spirit opposed them in every possible way. At one time an accident happened ; at another, the horses stood still, and would not budge an inch. At other times the horses would rear and plunge in the most frantic manner. Sometimes the devil uttered the most frightful sounds at times they were as loud as a clap of thunder. At last, by means of prayer and the exorcisms, and especially by thepower of the Blessed Sacrament, all the obstacles of Satan were overcome, and the travellers arrived safely at Liesse.

LAYMAN  EXORCIST

That night Augustin de Moustier, the uncle of Nicola, remained watching beside her. As he was all alone, and the time dragged on heavily, he thought he would have some amusement. So he put on the priest s cassock, took the ritual in one hand, and in the other the holy-water sprinkler, and went over to the bed in which Nicola lay quietly sleeping.

“- Now come, old boy,” said Augustin, laughingly, “come ! I will exorcise you!”

Scarcely had he uttered these words when Satan, who fully controlled the possessed woman, sprang upon him like a tiger,seized him by the throat, and dashed his head against the walls, the tables, and chairs, till at length the poor exorcist,half dead with pain and terror, tore off the cassock, and rushed out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

“- Aha !” cried the devil,  “don’t you know how I mauled those vile Jews that tried to expel me in the name of that God whom Paul preached ?”

Satan here evidently refers to what is related in the Acts of the Apostles, xix.13.17 Some Jewish exorcists tried to drive the devil out of a possessed man by a Vjuring him “in the name of Jesus,Whom I preached.”

The devil answered in a rage : “Jesus I know, and Paul I know too, but who are you?”  And, seizing two of them, he threw them down and tore their clothes, and beat them unmercifully, till at last thoy ran away all torn and bleeding.

FIRST  EXORCISM  IN  LIESSE

1st day Father de Motta began the exorcism in the church of Our Lady at Liesie, in presence of an immense multitude.

“- How many are you in the body of this poor creature ?” asked the priest.

“- There are thirty of us.”  answered the evil spirit. The priest then sprinkled Nicola with holy water, and the devil spat upon it in contempt.

“- As servant of the living God,” cried the priest,  “I command thee and thy associates to quit the body of this poor woman.”

“- No !”  answered Satan, in an impudent tone ; “twenty-six of my companions will depart, but as for me, I shall not go.”

The priest then took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and, showing It to the demon, he said :

“- I command thee, in the name of the living God, the great Emannel Whom thou scest here present, and in Whom thou believest”

“- Ah, yes!”  shrieked the demon, “believe in Him.”  And the devil howled again as he made tais confession, for it was wrung from him by the power of Almighty God.

“- I command the 3, then, in His name,” said the priest,  “to quit this body instantly.”

At these words, and especially at the sight of the Blessed Sacrament, the devil suffered the most frightful torture. At one moment the body of Nicola was rolled up like a ball ; then again she became fearfully swollen. At one time her face was unnaturally lengthened, then exces sively widened, and sometimes it was us red as scarlet. Her eyes, at times, protruded horribly, and then again sunk deep into her skull. Her tongue hung down to her chin ; it was sometimes black, sometimes red, and sometimes spotted, like a toad’s. The priest still continued to urge and torture Satan :

“- Accursed spirit!” he cried,  “I command thee, in the name of the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ here in the Blessed Sacrament, to depart instantly from the body of this poor creature !”

“- Ah, yes !” cried Satan, howling wildly;  “twenty-six of my companions shall leave this instant, for they are forced to do so.”

The people in church now began to pray with great fervor. Suddenly Nicola’s limbs began to crack, as if every bone in her body were breaking, a pestilential vapor came forth from her mouth, and twenty-six devils departed from her, never more to return. Nicola then fell into an unnatural swoon, from which she was roused only by the Blessed Sacrament. On recovering her senses, and receiving Holy Communion, Nicholas’s face shone like the face of an angel.

TEMPTED  GYPSIES

Nicola was taken to the house of a friend, where she could rest a little While the good people were at dinner they heard a strange noise in the neighboring room, in which Nicola was lving. It sounded as if some one were choking. They rushed in, and found Nicola half strangled, with her head buried,under the pillows. On coming to herself, she cried out :

“- Oh, what horrible goblins were here ! I saw them standing at the four comers of my bed. One of them held a hundred gold dollars in his shaggy paws, and said” :  “Will yon have these? Don’t you want them? See, I ll give you all this money if you will promise mo not to go where they intend to take you tomorrow.”    “No, no!” cried Nicola,  “I don’t want your money. I’ll make no compact with you.”

“- If you don’t,” said they, “we ll choke you, you miserable wretch! and immediately they began to throttle me, and to push my head under the pillow”.

After a while the priest, seeing that Nicola enjoyed the full use of her senses, began to question here :

“- Now tell me, my good woman,” said he,  “did you never consult fortune tellers?”

“- Oh, yes!” answered Nicola,  “I once went to an old woman, who was looked upon as a sorceress, in order to have my fortune told “

“- And what did this woman say to you ?” asked the priest ;

“- Oh, she said that I was bewitched,” answered Nicola,  “and then she stole some  money out of my pocket, and when she did that I began to cry she gave me back some of it.”

We can see from this fact how true it is that the devil has power over all those who consult fortune tellers, or who make use of charms and other superstitious practices.
At about two o clock in the afternoon Nicola was again taken to church, and when the exorcism was renewed, twenty six devils had been expelled. But four of the most powerful demons still retained possession of her. During the exorcism,the priest asked Satan :

“- Where did the evil spirits go after beins: expelled from Nicola?”

“- They went to Geneva, in obedience to my orders,”  answered Beelzebub.

“- What sign have they given in proof of their departure ?”

“- Go and look at the pine tree that is growing before the priest’s   house,”   answered the spirit.

“- You will find that my companions have broken off and carried away two branches of it. They have also carried away three tiles from the roof of the church.”

These signs were found exactly as Satanhad said. During the exorcism the demon turned to one of the gentlemen present and said, in a mocking    tone :

“- What ! are you here, Louis Courtier? You are a widower; what business have you, then, to be living with a widow?”

He thus revealed the most secret sins of several of those in church. The priest still continued to urge the demon, and used every means to expel him. Satan grinned at him horribly, and shrieked at him in a rage.

“- Is it not enough for you to have expelled twenty six of my companions? That is honor enough for the woman of this house !”

By  “this woman”  Satan meant the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was especially honored in this place.

“- I tell you,” the devil shrieked ,  “that even if you remain here till midnight, even if you stay here a hundred years, I will not leave at your bidding.”

“- At whose bidding, then ?” asked Father de Motta.

“- I will not leave unless commanded by the Bishop of Laon.” answered the demon, angrily.

That evening the priest gave orders that the church doors should be opened next morning at five o clock, so that the people could assemble early, and imito with him in prayer. During the night, the devil who hates to see the people pray, stopped the clock in the church tower, as he after wards confessed, so that the doors were not opened till an hour after the appointed time.

PIERREPONT

Nicola was now taken to Pierrepont, where one of the demons, named Legio, was expelled by means of the Blessed Sacrament. On leaving, a black smoke was seen issuing from Nicola’s mouth, and the demon, in token of his departure, broke some tiles on the belfry. Here the Calvinists, urged on by the evil spirit, tried to kill Nicola and the good priest who accompanied her ; but a well armed force came just in time, and dispersed these cowardly murderers.

THE  BISHOP

Nicola was now brought to the town of Laon. On her arrival there the people locked their doors; no one wished to receive her into his house, for all feared that the devil might reveal their most secret sins.
At last, after long and urgent entreaties, and especially after having placed a good sum of money in the hand of the inn-keeper, Nicola was permitted to stay over-night in an inn not far from the church. Next morning Nicola was brought to church. Scarcely had she quitted the house, when the devil again took posses sion of her. On their way to church the devil sang and whistled, and called several persons by their names. To one of the servants he said :

“- Aha ! you got a beating this morning, because you did not clean your masters shoes.”  And to another he said :  “And you got a good scolding because you broke a glass.”

This was really the case.

The Bishop who was requested to exorcise Nicola, prepared himself for this terrible task by prayer and fasting, and other works of penance. On the arrival of Nicola in the church, the exorcism began.

“- How many are you in this body?”  asked the Bishop.

“- There are three of us,” answered the evil spirit.

“- What are your names ?”

“- Beelzebub, Cerberus, and Astaroth.”

“- What lias become of the others ?” asked the Bishop.

“- They have been expelled,”  answered Satan.

“- Who expelled them?”

“- Ha!” cried the devil, gnashing his teeth, “it was lie whom you hold in your hand, there, on the paten.”  (The devil meant our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.)

“- What were the names of those,who were expelled ?” asked the Bishop.

“- What is that to you ?” answered the devil, gruffly. “They were my dogs, my slaves ; they have no name.”

“- Who is speaking now ?” asked the Bishop.

“- It is Beelzebub, the prince of devils.”

“- Let the other two speak also.”

“- They shall not,” answered the proud spirit.

The Bishop then, in a solemn voice,commanded Cerberus and Astaroth to speak :

“- You may talk till you crack your throat,”  answered Beelzebub,  “I tell you they shall not speak in my presence.They are my servants, my slaves ; I am their master. Did you ever see a slave speak in presence of his lord?”

“- I will force them to speak,” said the Bishop, “they must obey God.”

“- Very well ! They will obey God ;but I tell you they shall not speak.I am here for that. Go on, I will satisfy you.”

“- When wilt thou leave the body of this poor creature ?” demanded the Bishop.

“- Astaroth will leave next Sunday,” answered the spirit.

“- Thou shalt leave this very instant.”

“- No, I will not leave.”

The Bishop then held the Blessed Sacrament near the face of Nicola. The demon writhed and howled in irony.

“- Ah, yes! I will go, I will go” he shrieked “but I shall return.”

Suddenly Nicola became stiff and motionless as marble. The Bishop then touched her lips with the Blessed Sacrament, and in an instant she was fully restored to consciousness. She received Holy Communion, and her countenance now shone with a wondrous, supernatural beauty.
Next day Nicola was brought again to church, and the exorcism began as usual.
The Bishop sprinkled Nicola with holy water.

“- Faugh! you filthy papist!” shrieked the the devil in a rage, “away with your salt water !”

He then grinned horribly, and spat upon the holy water. The Bishop now began to read the gospel of St. John, and the devil mocked and mimicked him all the while, and repeated the very same words, sometimes before, sometimes after,the Bishop.
The Bishop then took the Blessed Sacraineiit in his hand, held it near the face of Nicola, and said :

“- I command thee in the name of the living God, and by the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ here in the Sacrament of the altar, to depart instantly from the body of this creature of God, and never more to return.”

“- No ! no !” shrieked the devil, “I will not go. My hour is not yet come.”

“- I command thee to depart. Go forth,” and the Bishop held the Blessed Sacrament close to Nicola’s face.

“- Stop! stop!” shrieked Satan, “let me go ! I will depart but I shall return.”  And instantly Nicola fell into the most frightful convulsions. A black smoke was seen issuing from her mouth,and she fell again into a swoon.

SATAN’s  TRICKS

One evening, as Rev. Father Despinois, one of the priests of Laon, was taking supper with a few friends, they all heard a loud report, as if a heavy stone had fa]len upon the floor above them. They did not heed it much at first, as they thought that it was perhaps caused by the cat,or by some accident. Very soon,however, two loud, distinct knocks wrere given on a tin basin which stood in the middle of the floor, and the sound of whistling was distinctly heard throughout the entire house, which lasted for some time. It was Satan himself, who came to annoy the good priest. During the night this mischievous spirit broke the spring of the priest’s watch, and put the wheels in disorder. About midnight two flames of fire shot up from the hearth and lighted up the whole room, though there was not a spark of fire to be found there.
The devil tried also to annoy the Bishop, and the priests of the city, in various other ways.

PHYSICIANS

During her stay in Laon, Nicola was carefully examined by Catholic and Protestant physicians. Her left arm, which had been paralyzed by the devil, was found entirely without feeling. The doctors cut into the arm with a sharp knife,they burnt it with lire, they drove pins and needles under the nails of the lingers, but Nicola felt no pain ; her arm was utterly insensible. Once, while Nicola was lying in a state of unnatural lethargy, the doctors gave her bread soaked in wine (it was what the Protestants call their communion, or Lord’s Supper),they rubbed her limbs briskly, they threw water in her face, they pierced her tongue till the blood flowed ; they tried every possible means to arouse her, but in vain ! Nicola remained cold and motionless as marble. At last the priest touched the lips of Nicola with the Blessed Sacrament, and instantly sho was restored to consciousness, and began to praise God.
This miracle was so clear, so palpable,that one of the doctors, who was a bigoted calvinist, immediately renounced his errors, and became a Catholic.
Several times, also, the Protestants touched Nicola’s face with a host which was not consecrated, and which, consequently, was only bread, but Satan was not in the least tormented by this. He only ridiculed their efforts.
On the twenty-seventh of January, the Bishop, after having walked in solemn procession with the clergy and the faithful, began the exorcism in church, in presence of a vast multitude of Protestants and Catholics.

“- I command thee, in the name of the living God,” said the Bishop solemnly  “answer truthfully to all that I shall ask thee.”

“- Speak on, I will answer.” replied the evil spirit.

“- Who art thou that art now speaking?”

“- It is myself.”

“- What is thy name?”

“- I have told you before. My name is Beelzebub.”

“- Who are thy companions?”

“- Astaroth and Cerberus.”

“- When wilt thou depart from the body of thiy creature of God?”

“- Astaroth shall leave today. His hour is fixed, but I shall remain.”

“- What sign will he give of his departure ?”

“- He will break one of the window panes, and take a piece of it with him.”

“- Whither will he go?”

“- He will go to my brave Calvinist, Captain Dandelot, who would gladly put you all to death if he had the men at his command.”

“- Why do you keep possession of the body of this poor creature ?”

“- I do it to harden my Calvinists, or to convert them ; and I swear, by the Sacred Blood, that I shall yet drive them to the last extremity.”

The names of Beelzebub, Astaroth, and Cerberus were now written on pieces of paper. The Bishop burned them in the flame of a blessed candle, and said :

“- Oh, wicked spirits ! accursed of God ! I here burn these names as a sign of the eternal torments to which you have been condemned ; and you shall be tortured until you depart from this body.”

At this the demon shrieked and writhed in fearful agony. Three distinct voices were clearly heard ; they resembled the bellowing of an ox, the howling of a dog, and the shrill  squealing of swine.
The Bishop now holds the Blessed Sacrament close to the face of Nicola.
Suddenly a wild, unearthly yell rings through the air a black, heavy smoke issues from the mouth of Nicola.
The demon Astaroth is expelled forever. At the same instant, the crash of breaking glass is heard ; a window-pane is broken and carried away. Nicola again falls into a deadly swoon, and is restored to consciousness only by the Blessed Sacrament.

CALVINISTS  TRY  TO  POISON  NICOLA

Nicola was now arrested, by order of the chief magistrate, and cast into prison. This was clone at the instigation of the Calvinists, who wished to get Nicola into their power, to poison her. The chie magistrate visited Nicola in prison. Hewas accompanied by Dr. Carlier, a most bigoted Calvinist, together with several of the most prominent officials of the place,and some of the clergy. The Calvinist physician tried every means to discover the source of “this popish trickery”as he called the possession of Nicola, and he subjected the poor creature to the most rigid scrutiny.

Nicola was evidently sound asleep. Suddenly the demon took possession of her.
In a lit of raving madness, she now bounded into the middle of the room, seized the Calvinist physician by the throat, and mauled and throttled him most unmercifully. The doctor was wild with rage ; he struck out right and left. He tried to defend himself with might and main but all his efforts availed him little; he was, at length, forced to confess that the woman was really possessed.
The chief magistrate and his companions rushed into a corner of the room. They were pale with terror. They no longer doubted the terrible reality of the possession. Sometimes Nicola was rolled up like a ball, and moved about without touching the ground. The terror-stricken magistrate crossed himself again and again, and screamed out :

“- O Jesus and Mary,help us ! Ha ! this the devil, tis reallv the devil. Ha! Satan! back! back!”.

At last Nicola fell into a death-like swoon,and was laid upon the couch; Dr. Carlier was now determined to be revenged. He drew forth a small phial, filled with a black, offensive liquid, containing the most deadly poisons, and poured the contents into the half-open mouth of Nicola. He then drew forth another phial,containing a white liquid, and wished to give it also to her, but the priest interfered.Dr. Carlier now shook Nicola,and struck her hands together, called her by name, and made every effort to restore her to consciousness, but he could not succeed.
Whilst the doctor was trying these experiments, a large black beetle suddenly appeared upon the pillow, and was visible for several minutes to all. Dr. Carlier,not being able to restore Nicola to consciousness, hurried away as fast as he could. The other doctors present then tried to arouse Nicola, and, after trying in vain for a whole hour, they all confessed that her sickness was not natural. One of the priests now brought in the Blessed Sacrament, touched the lips of Nicola with the Sacred Body of our Lord, and instantly she was brought to life.

The poor creature now screamed out :

“- O Jesus, Mary ! what have you given me ? Oh ! I m burning, I m burning !”

She then threw up the poisonous liquid, and was instantly free from pain.
At the sight of this miracle, two Calvinists present cried out :

“- I believe now !I have seen the miracle with my own eyes ! I will remain Protestant no longer.”

And they became Catholics.
That very day Nicola was released from prison. The chief magistrate doubted no longer the reality of the diabolical possession. Every day, before beginning the exorcism, the Bishop made a solemn procession through the city, accompanied by the clergy and a large number of the citizens.
During these processions the devil called many of the bystanders by name, and told their most secret sins. One day a you if widow -wife of the deceased Mr. Paquot was in her father s house, looking down from a window upon the procession. The devil, on seeing her, called her by name, and said in a tone of bitter mockery :

“- Ha !you vain little puppet! are you there? You’ve already laid aside your mourning weeds, and your husband is dead scarcely three weeks! away with you!”

During the exorcism, which took place in the church, the Bishop asked of Satan :

“- Tell me, where were thou last night?”

“- Don t you know it?” answered Satan.

“- I was in the prison. The magistrate will not forget it so soon. Ha,ha ! How often did he not cry out : Nesus! (The devil would not pronounce the holy name of Jesus.)  “Nesus! Mary! It is Satan back I’m back !”

And then Mr. Carlier gave this wretched creature some medicine.

“- Ho ! ho ! It was I who helped Miss Sisonne to prepare it.”

This Miss Sisonm was a very bigoted Calvinist ; she had really prepared the medicine, and than given to Dr. Carlier.

“- Of what was this medicine composed?” asked the Bishop.

“- Ha ! it was strong enough to poison twenty persons !”

The devil then began to mimic Miss Sisonne, and repeated the very words she had used, with the very same gesture” said the Bishop.

“- Yes, I am a liar,” answered Satan, “but I sometimes speak the truth.”

“- When do you speak the truth?”

“- When I am commanded and forced to do so, as I am today.”

When I do,speak the truth, I borrow it from others.”

CONSEQUENCE  of  HUMAN  RESPECT

The Calvinists having failed in their plan to poison Nicola, were now more furious than ever. They threatened to put her to odeath by force. The good Bishop,fearing some sudden outbreak, and wishing to preserve peace and good order,resolved to stop the processions, and continue the exorcisms in a private chapel.
He was included to do this especially by the request of the chief magistrate, who was evidently of a very peaceful turn of mind.

On the twenty-ninth of January, then,the Bishop began the exorcism in a private chapel.

“- Art thou alone ?” asked the Bishop of Satan.

“- No,” was the reply, “Cerberus is yet with me.”

“- When will thou depart from this poor creature ?”

“- You may now say and do whatever you please,” answered Satan, “I will not depart in this place. Aha ! I see that you,too, Bishop, fear men more than God.I tell you that neither I nor my companion will ever depart in this place ; and now,because you have yielded through human respect, the time of my dwelling in the body of this wretched creature has been prolonged.”

“- I care not for this prating,” answered the Bishop, “them shall depart on this very spot.”

“- I swear by the Sacred Blood I shall not,” shrieked the demon, in a rage, ” tell you that, on your account, the days of my possession have been prolonged.I will depart only in that infamous house.” (Here Satan made use of a vile term, to express the Church of God.)

“- You have taken away the platform, but, by the Sacred Blood, you must put it up again. Whether you will or not, you must obey God.
Accursed be this hour, in which I must tell you the truth I but I am forced to do it.”

“- When will Cerberus depart?”asked the Bishop.

“- If you bring the wretch where I”ve told you,” answered Satan.

“he will leave next Saturday.”

“- And thou, when will thou leave?”

“- Next Tuesday. But first, I want you to take all those idols out of the church those pictures and images of yours.”

Satan has a horror of holy pictures and images, because he knows that they remind us of our Lord and His saints,and encourage us to imitate their virtues. The Bishop was moved, at last, by the prayers of the Catholics, and by the treaties of hundreds who came from distant cities, to continue the exorcism again in the Cathedral. The devil, however, protested that he would not leave unless they would resume the solemn processions which they had at first,”for such was the will of God.”
The Bishop and the clergy after much hesitation, resolved, at length,to begin the processions once more. In order to stop the mouths of the raving Calvinists, who misinterpreted and blasphemed everything sacred,Mr. Win. Gorret,the Royal Notary, was summoned to observe and note down everything that Nicola said and did. The exorcisms took place in the presence of from ten to twelve thousand witnesses.
During the exorcism which took place on Friday, the first of February, the Bishop asked :

“- When will Cerberus depart?”

“- I’ve told you before,”  answered Satan sudllenly.

“- When will Cerberus depart?”

“- I’ve told you before,” answered Satan “He will leave tomorrow.”

“- What sign will Cerberus give of his departure ?”

“- He will carry away a pane of glass from the window of the side chapel.”

“- When will thou depart?”

“- Next Tuesday; and I ll carry off the head of the little bailiff of Vervins. Yes,by then I will do it, for he has given it to me.”  The bailiff was one of those who would not believe that Nicola was possessed. He had said several times, in a boasting tone :    “- Well ! if that’s the devil,then let him go to and he may take my head along with him.”

The abbat of St. Vincent now wrote the names of Beelzebub and Cerberus on some slips of paper, in order to burn them, and thereby torture the evil spirit.The devil turned towards him in a fury :

“- He! abbot of St. Vincent!” he shrieked, “you son of a whore! what are you doing here ? I’ll make you stop that !”

He then added, in a mocking tone :  “Ha, my boy! you’ve made a mistake.  You’ve put an “h” instead of a “r”.

This was really the case. The Bishop burned the names, and Satan writhed in agony. The Bishop now held a cross close to Nicola’s face, and said :

“- Behold,here, the image of that cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for us ! I now command thee, in His name,to depart from the body of this creature of God.”

“- I will not depart !”  answered the evil spirit, in a horse voice.

“- Go forth, unclean spirit ! I adjure thee, go forth!”

The demon turned away the face of his victim from the cross, and shrieked in rage :

“- Away with the gallows ! Take it out of my sight ! I will not depart. My hour is not yet come.”

“- Oh, accursed spirit !” said the Bishop, solemnly, “since neither prayer, nor the holly gospels, neither the exorcisms of the Church, nor the holy relics, can’t compell thee to depart, I will now show thee thy Lord and Master, and by His power I command thee.”

“- What do you mean?” shrieked Satan,gnashing his teeth.

“- Do you mean your ‘white’ ?”  (Here the devil used a very unbecoming expression for the Blessed Sacrament)

“- How dearest them call our Blessed Lord by such a vile name?”

“- Ha! ha! I’ve taught my Calvinists to nickname Him thus.”

“- Why, then, doesn’t thou fear Him so much ? Why doesn’t thou fly in terror before His face?”

“- Ha !” shrieked the devil,  “it is that hoc, that hoc, that forces me to flee.”

The devil here refers to the divine words of consecration by which the breadind wine are changed, in holy Mass, into the Body and Blood of oar Lord Jesus Christ.

CERBERUS  EXPELLED

Next morning the keepers of Nicola went to Confession and Communion.
During the procession, the devil turned towards them several times, and said in a contemptuous tone :

“Faugh ! you filthy papist toads ! You’ve eaten the white again!” cried Satan : “it is not the white; It is the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, hidden under the sacramental veils.
Well, I call him so; and there are many others among my brave Calvinists who call him so too.”

The devil then turned to Kev. Father Cotte, and said :

“- Aha! Cotte Cottelin, didn’t you hear something flying about and whistling while you were saying Mass this morning ? Ha ! I tried hard to distract you, but I could not.”

This was really the case. Satan then laughed mockingly, and related the trick he had played on Dr. Carlier.

“- Ho ! ho !” he cried :  “didn’t I pay the doctor for trying to poison me? As he was riding out in the country, on his way to the wedding, I hid myself in his horses ear. When didn’t the horse rear and plunge ! And how often the old doctor cried  out” :

“- O, Lord God ! O, Lord God !Ho ! ho ! once he was pitched to the ground, and got a kick that injured his ribs a little ! He had to go part of the way on foot. I then appeared to him in the shape of a lackey, told him I. was a Calvinist, and urged him to kill this wretched papist Nicola. Oh ! said he,don’t fear ; she’s got her share. Shell not trouble us much longer. I then disappeared from him; and he was forced,in spite of himself, to ride three times around the gallows on the hill. His horse reared and trembled, and would not go any farther ; so my brave doctor had to turn back. Ho ! ho ! he could not go to the wedding.”

There were several persons present who declared that they had seen the doctor speaking to a stranger, who disappeared suddenly, and that the doctor rode three times around the gallows and then returned home.
The devil kept on talking quite loud during the holy Mass.

“- Will you not stop talking?” said one of the priests.

“- No!” answered Satan, impudently.

“- I will not.”

“- If you do not stop, I will give you a blow that will make you.”

“- Come on! Strike! strike!” said Satan ; and he turned Nicola’s face towards the priest.

The priest raised his hand, but, instead of striking Nicola’s cheek, he made a cross upon her forehead.The devil was angered by this unexpected action he shook his head, and growled with rage.
The moment of consecration came, and Satan was instantly struck dumb. Nicola was now seized with the most frightful convulsions. Fifteen strong men were holding her down ; and so great was tho strength of the demon, that they were all draped with her aloft into the air. Nicola,her face turned away from the altar, remained suspended in space,over six feet
above the platform, during the entire time of consecration. As soon as the consecration was over, she fell back heavily upon the platform. During the exorcism which took place; after Mass, the Bishop asked :

“- Where were thou last night?”

“- I paid a visit to my Calvinists” answered Satan.

“- Thou are a liar,” said the Bishop.

“- I’ve told you before,” answered Satan, “that if I did not lie, I should not be a devil.
But I tell you again, I visited my Calvinists, and they resolved to murder this wretched creature and all her accomplices.
John Carlier and Anthony Etienne are the leaders of the plot. I know it is so. I myself was with them last night.
It was I who advised them to do this.”

The Bishop now held the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and said : “O accursed spirit ! arch enemy of the ever Blessed God ! I command thee, by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ here present, to depart from this poor woman I Depart,accursed, into the everlasting flames of hell.”
At these words, and especially at the sight of the Blessed Sacrament, the demon was so fearfully tormented, and the appearance of Nicola was so hideous and revolting, that the people turned away their eyes in horror. At last a heavy sigh was heard, and a cloud of black smoke Issued from the mouth of Nicola. Cerberus was expelled, and, in sign of his departure,he broke and carried away a pane of glass from one of the side-chapels.
Again Nicola fell into a death like swoon, and again she was brought to consciousness only by means of the Blessed Sacrament.

SACRILEGIOUS  ROBBERY

During the afternoon exorcism, the devil gave an account of a horrible sacrilege that had been perpetrated by the Calvinists.

“- Yes,” cried he,  “Nicholas and Anthony Etienne, and Nicholas Maigret, and Hubert Ducheinin, my hardened Calvinists,stole a Host out of the church, and took it to Ducheinin’s house. There were no women present, because they could not keep it secret. There these men broke the host into three pieces, and after having boiled these pieces, they threw them to the cats and dogs, but the animals would not touch them.”

“- Thou lies, Satan!”said the Bishop indignantly, “such a crime was not committed.”

“- Thou lies thyself, my ‘shell-pate’ ,” answered Satan, “I know it for certain ; I was present.”

The devil gave the Bishop the nickname shell-pate, on account of the ‘mitre’ he wore, which bore some resemblance to a section of a shell.

“- Why did these Calvinists break and burn the Sacred Host?” asked the Bishop, and the devil shrieked, with a friendish laugh. “If  He were to appear on earth again, I and my brave Calvinists wouldn’t treat Him worse than even the Jews.”

“- Thou are a liar!” said the Bishop,  “thou desire is only to excite the people by thy prating.”

“- Yes, I am a liar,” answered Satan. “it was I, who first invented lying.  But when my master forces me, I can also tell the truth.”

“- Who is thy Lord and Master ?”

“- Do you not know Him ?”

“- Why dosn’t thou accuse these men since thou hast urged them to commit atrocious crime?”

“- I do it because I am compelled,” answered Satan.

CALVINISTS  FORGERY

In order to put an end to the exorcisms,the Calvinists forged two letters, written in the name of Marshal Montmorency, ofParis. These letters were addressed to the Bishop, and to the Chief Magistrate and government officials of Laou. They were written in a very bitter tone, which clearly betrayed their Calvinistic source.
In these letters the Bishop and government officials were commanded to put an end to this “silly mummery” of possession and public exorcisms.
The devil afterwards revealed the names of those who had forged these letters. There is,besides, clear and certain proof that Marshal Montmorency had nothing to do with them.The good Bishop was deceived by these letters. In order to satisfy the Calvinists,he gave orders that the public processions should cease, and that the exorcisms should be carried on as privately as possible.
Next day, during the exorcism, the Bishop asked of Satan :

“- When wilt thou depart?”

“- I shall not depart today,” answered the demon, with a defiant look:  ” on the contrary, my days have been prolonged on your account. Ah, my shell-pate !you are too credulous. You Avish to please men rather than God. Know,then, that I have now gained a respite of two days longer. I shall not depart today.”

“- Why so?” asked the Bishop, in astonishment. ” Ha! you gave credit to letters that were forged by my brave Calvinists. It was who tempted you to do this.”  (To give credit to the letters.)

“- Silence, thou lying spirit !” said the Bishop, indignantly, “I will soon expel thee by the power of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.”

“- By whom ?” asked the devil in a rage, “by your white” ?

“- Cease thy blasphemies, accursed spirit!” cried the Bishop. ” He is thy Lord. His very presence puts thee to inlight.”

“- Ah! yes, yes!”  howled the demons wildly , ” it is true. It is that hoc,that forces me to flee.”

Next day, during the exorcism, Satan gave the names of the Calvinists who had forged these letters : they were Mr.Bayard, Anthony and Nicholas Etienne,and Dr. Carlier. He related many other circumstances, which were found to be perfectly true.
The name of Beelzebub was then burned by the Bishop in the flames of a blessed candle. This caused the demon the most fearful torments. How reared like a wild ox, he writhed like a wounded serpent, he gnashed his teeth, and shrieked :

“- Oh ! you hound of a bishop ! I’ll pay you for that !”

“- Be gone, Satan !” answered the Bishop.

“- I fear thee not.”

The Bishop now began to read the holy gospels, and the solemn words of the exorcism. Satan instantly began to mimic his tone and gestures. He put on a comic air of piety, bowed the head,mumbled some prayers, and repeated the words of the Bishop with comic gravity. When the Bishop said :

“- Ergo, maledicte diabole, da honorem Deo vivo,” 

Satan answered :  “- No! I will honor none but myself. Do you honor Him, if you choose.”  At the words,  ” Maledicte diabole,damnate atquo damnande,”  Satan said :  “- Why do you repeat these words so often? I know already that I am damned !”  At the words : “Becognosce sententiam tuam,”  Satan answered : “- Do not trouble yourself, I know my sentence already.”

The Bishop once made a slight mistaketn reading an exorcism, and Satan corrected him instantly :

“- Ah, my shell-pate!” cried he,in a mocking tone,  ” you’ve made a mistake; it is not ‘magister doemonum’, but ‘doemonum magister’. Look a little closer put on your spectacles.”

At the words : “Dux furum, bonorum,insidiator,” and the like, the demon clapped his hands and burst forth into a wild satanic laugh, that made the church walls ring again :

“- Ha! ha!”  he screamed, “what pleasure you give me!Ho ! repeat those words. Ha ! they are my titles of honor.”

The Bishop then held the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and expelled Satan once more by means of our Lord’s Sacred Body.
In the afternoon of the fifth of February, the usual procession was begun.
As the devil saw the procession forming,he began to ridicule the clergy.

“- He ! he !” cried he in mockery,  ” what are you doing? making a procession in the afternoon?”

During the first round of the procession, Satan whistled and sang,and mimicked the choir boys who sang the Lithany.
During the second round of the procession, Satan became a little quieter.
Very soon he began to gnash his teeth,and spit in the faces of those around him.
He writhed, and shrieked in a rage to the mayor, who carried the cross :

“- Ha,mayor ! turn back ! that’s a good fellow ;don’t go any farther !”

But the mayor would not heed him, and continued his way leisurely.
During the third round of the procession, the demon shrieked :

“- Oh, mayor!abominable mayor ! turn back ! Ah !you miserable wretch ! you will make me furious. Will you turn back? A thousand million devils, and children of the devils, take you, mayor, and your wife !”  He also called out to the choir boys,who accompanied the Blessed Sacrament  with lighted tapers :          “- Ha, you bastards!blow out those candles ! You will make me wild !”

During the exorcism the Bishop said to Satan :

“- Tell me, when will thou depart?”

“- Next Thursday afternoon, at three o clock. But I will not leave the city,you understand. I will go to Mr. Carlier.”

“- Thou shalt not go to Mr. Carlier.”

“- Thou lie !”  shrieked the demon, ” If Carlier and all the Calvinists are mine,I repeat it again, If Jesus Christ were yet on earth, I and my Calvinists would treat Him worse than the Jews did?”

“- Why dost thou speak so bitterly of the Calvinists?” asked the Bishop.

“- Because they are hardened in sin, and I will make them still more hardened.”

The Bishop burned the name of Beelzebub once more. At this Satan shrieked  in a rage :

“- May the thunderbolt strike thee, dog of a Bishop !”

It is worthy of notice that Satan became more furious as the hour of his departure drew nearer.
During the exorcism which took place next morning, the sixth of February,
the Bishop said to Satan :

“- Where will thou go when expelled from the body of this creature of God?”

“- I will go to St. Nicholas Du Bois, to enter the body of a woman, for the possession of whom two devils are already quarrelling; for, when we are driven out of one person, we go to take possession of some one else.”

“- Who are those two devils?”  asked the Bishop.

“- They are Cerberus, and a little devil poor wretch ! a puppy who has no name.”

“- To whieh rank does he belong?”

“- To that of Cerberus.”

“- Are there, then, a reatreat of  many devils?”

“- Yes! more than there are flakes of snow in a heavy snow-storm.”

At these words, a murmur of astonishment was heard throughout the church.

“- Oh, accursed spirit !” said the Bishop.  “I command thee, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to leave the body of this woman, and to depart to the flames of hell.”

“- No, I will not !” answered the demon, ” it is not yet time. I must first do more mischief.”

“- Thou shalt not !” replied the Bishop,  “I will expel thee instantly.”

“- Ah, yes ! I know that I must depart,but not today. Before I leave I must get back the piece of money which I gave to the little monk of Vervins, and I swear, by the Sacred Blood, I will not leave until I get it.”

(The little monk of whom Satan here spoke, was de Motta.)
During the exorcism which took place at Vervins, Satan had given him a piece of money. No one knew where the evil spirit got this money. On giving it to de Motta,who said :

“- Here, my little preacher, keep this money. I must get it back when I am leaving this body.”

A messenger was instantly sent to de Motta, who was then at Velly, for the piece of money. Satan, seeing the messenger depart, screamed after him :

“- Hey,you bastard! I see you. By there if you go to Velly, I will send you home in a hurry !”

The priest encouraged the messenger,and hung around his neck a golden cross which was filled with relic. No harm befell the good man on his journey, as he was protected by the precious relics, air by the holy angels, to whom he continually recommended himself. Satan was again expelled by means of the Blessed Sacrament.
During the evening, as Nicola was undisturbed by the evil spirit, the priest advised her to make her confession. After she had finished her confession, the priest was about to give her absolution, when suddenly the devil took possession of her, and sprang upon the priest, struck
and kicked him, and screamed, in a rage :

“- Ha, liar ! do you think you are more cunning than I am? I saw you; you wanted to give her absolution, but I will not allow it. Go about your business,now !”

The bystanders were filled with terror on seeing the great power of Satan.
What fearful harm would he not do, if God would not restrain him ?
During the exorcism which took place on the morning of the seventh of February,the Bishop asked Satan once more :

“- When will thou depart?”

“- Very soon,” answered Satan, “this very evening, at the same hour in which I took possession of this wretch.
Oh, my shell-pate ! my shell-pate ! I tempted you to get angry at your servant.I watched you yesterday, and the days previous.You took no supper. But this is not yet all. I will do you more harm before I leave this place.”

During the exorcism, the devil suddenly looked around, and said :

“- He, he !stop ! stop ! There is a sorcerer in the church, and some pickpockets.”

He then looked fixedly in a certain direction, and said, at last :

“- This done the pocket is picked.”  He then spat in the face of Mr.Gorret, the Royal Notary, and said :

“- You’ve had enough to do these last few days, Mr. Notary ! Is it not so?”

The Bishop then said to Satan :

“- What sign wilt thou give of thy departure ?”

“- I will cure Nicola’s left arm, so that she can use it as well as ever. Is not this a some kind of miracle? You will find another sign on the roof of the belfry.”

“- What hast thou gained by taking possession of this body?” asked the Bishop.

“- Many have been converted by witnessing the great  power of the Blessed Sacrament.”

“- Depart, then ! every one hates and despises thee.”

“- I know it,” answered Satan. “Many have been converted ; but there are also many who remain hardened in their sins.”

“- Tell me, then, why hast thou taken possession of this honest and virtuous Catholic woman?”

“- I have done so by permission of God. I have taken possession of her on account of the sins of the people. I have done it to show my Calvinists that there are devils who can take possession of men whenever God permits it. I know they do not want to believe this ; but I will show them that I am a devil. I have taken possession of this creature in order to convert them,or to harden them in their sins; and, by the Sacred Blood, I shall perform my task.”

This answer filled all who heard it with horror.

“- Yes,”  answered the Bishop, solemnly, “God desires to unite all men in the one holy faith. As there is but one God, so there can be but one true religion.A religion like that which the Protestants have invented, is but a hollow mockery.It must fall. The religion established by our Lord Jesus Christ is the only true one,which shall last forever; it shall increase.
It is destined to unite all men within its sacred embrace, so that there shall be but one sheepfold and one Shepherd. This Divine Shepherd is our Lord Jesus Christ,the invisible Head of the holy Roman Catholic Church, whose visible Head is our holy Father the Pope, successor of St. Peter.”

The devil was silent he was put to shame before the entire multitude. He was expelled, once more, by means of the Blessed Sacrament.
In the afternoon of the same day, the devil began to prate and make merry during the procession :

“- Ah! ha!” cried he, “you re mistaken, this time. Do you think you can expel me, after having taken your dinner? I forgot to tell you my shell-pate, that you should have fasted today. Had you done so, I should have been obliged to leave today. Now I have gained one day more. Hu, hu ! ha, ha!he, he ! I have gained another day ! I am more cunning than you, my shell-pate.You do not understand the Scriptures.”

Satan here refers to the words of our Lord in the gospels : that there are some devils who can be expelled only by prayer and fasting. The devil then laughed,sang, and whistled, in the greatest glee.
As soon as the procession was ended,the exorcism began as usual :

“- Pthou shall depart at last,” said the Bishop.

“- Ah, yes ! I would have done so, had you not taken your dinner. He! tell me : don’t you know that you cannot expel a prince of devils like myself, after you have eaten and drunk your fill ?”

“- I have not eaten so much that I cannot expel thee,” said the Bishop.

“- Oh yes, yes ! you have eaten much ! I saw you, and those who were at table with you. The devil here mentioned the names of the Bishop’s guests.

“- Thou shalt not deceive me by thy prating,” said the Bishop, “thou are a liar !I will soon expel thee.”

“- Yes, I am a liar. But I shall not depart, for you have not been to confession.”

“- Holliest!” said the Bishop, indignantly, “I have been to confession.”

(We may remark here, that the Bishop and clergy went to confession every morning, before beginning the exorcism. Experience shows that the purer and more free from sin one is, the more terrible is he to Satan.)

“- You have confessed,” said the devil,  ” but what kind of confession was it? You accused yourself only in a general way. You only said that you were angry with your servant and with the chaplain. Had you told this sin, and this,”  said the devil,said the demon, mentioning certain faults, “I should not know anything of them, and I could not reproach you as I do now.”

At these Words of Satan, a loud murmur of astonishment was heard throughout the church.

“- Ha!”  said the devil,  “you think that you can expel me in this way ? You have not the proper attendance of a Bishop.
Where are the Dean and the Archdean ? Where are the Royal Judges ? Where is the Chief Magistrate, who was frightened out of his wits at night, in the prison? Where is the Procurator of the King? Where are his Attorneys and Counsellors? Where is the Clerk of the Court?”

(The devil mentioned each of these by name.)

“- I will not depart until all are assembled. Were I to depart now, what proof could you give to the king of all that has happened? Do you think that people will believe you so easily ? No! no ! There are many who would make objections. The testimony of these common country people here will have but little weight. It is a torment to me that I must tell you what you have to do. I am forced to do it. Ha ! cursed be the hour in which I first took possession of this vile wretch !”

“- I find little pleasure in thy prating,”answered the Bishop, “there are witnesses enough here. Those whom you have mentioned are not necessary. Depart, then ! give glory to God. Depart go to the flames of hell !”

“- Yes, I shall depart, but not today. I know full well that I must depart. My sentence is passed ; I am compelled to leave ; but, before I do so, you must fast a little more. You are not lean enough yet.”

“- I care not for thy jabbering” said the Bishop, “I shall expel thee by the power of God ; by the precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“- Yes, I must yield to you,” shrieked the demon,windly  ” It tortures me that I must give you this honor. It is now twelve hundred years since a Bishop like you expelled the prince of devils.”

“- Thou are a liar !” said the Bishop solemnly. ” Every day the holy Roman Catholic Church triumphs over thee and thy hellish spirits.”

“- Thou liest thyself, my shell-pate!” answered Satan. “Poor, contemptible devils, nameless wretches, may have been expelled, but the prince of devils has not been expelled.”

The Bishop now burned the name of Beelzebub, but Satan only laughed at him,and said :

“- Oh, my shell-pate, you are burning only paper and ink !”

At this every one was astonished, as the burning of the demon s name had hitherto always caused him the most frightful tortures.

“- I see,” said the Bishop,  “that thou heedest neither the exorcisms nor the burning of thy  name ; I will, therefore,show thee thy Lord and Master.”

“- Whom do you mean ?” shrieked the demon, in a fury. “Do you mean your white ?”

Satan was at length expelled. On leaving, he cried out :

“- I depart, but I shall return again. My hour is not yet come.”

The next day, as Nicola was being taken to the church, the demon instantly took possession of her.

“Aha !”  cried he, in a mocking tone, “I am not gone away yet.” Then he ridiculed all that had been done the day previous.
During the exorcism, the Bishop said :

“- Why dost thou not depart? The appointed day and hour has come.”

“- I will not go, because you are not fasting, because you have not been to confession, because you have not assembled witnesses enough.”

The Bishop now took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and held it close to me face of the possessed woman.

“- A thousand million devils take you, wretched shell-pate ! Why do you torture me so horribly?” 

At last, Satan was compelled to flee once more.

The next morning, after the procession was ended, the holy sacrifice of the Mass was offered up, as usual. As soon as the possessed woman was brought upon the platform, the devil looked around the church and said :

“- Ha ! there are only papists here! The assembly is notyet full. Where is the magistrate Du Manche, who was in such mortal terror, at night, in the prison? Where is Bochet, the State’s attorney? Where is the Archdean ? I shall not leave until all are present ; for, by the Sacred Blood, I have good reasons for it.”

During holy Mass, a German Protestant,named Stephen Voske, happened to be in church. Hearing his name called by the demon, he went up to the platform to speak to him. Voske spoke in German,but the demon answered him in French.

“- Ha ! you want me to speak German with you ; but I will not do it. Were I’m in your country, I would speak German better than you do. I can easily see that you were not brought up in Germany?”

(This was really the case.)

“- Here,” said Satan,  “I speak only the language of the country, so that every one can understand me. You may speak German ; I will answer you in my own language.”

They continued thus to talk together for about half an hour, one speaking German, and the other French. When the time for the consecration approached,Satan said to Yoske :

“- Stop, now ! keep silence ! They are going to show the white . Ha, I it is my white .It is I who have nicknamed Him thus. I have taught all my servants and disciples to do the same.”

Suddenly, Satan was struck dumb. The possessed woman is raised over six feet into the air, and then falls back heavily upon the platform. The same scene is repeated at the Elevation of the Chalice.
The demon, wild with rage, shrieked :

“- Ha! Bishop, you shell-pate! if I had you now I would make you suffer for this. You torture me horribly.”

(We must remark here, that the Bishop purposely prolonged the time of consecration, in order to cause Satan greater tor ment.)

As the Bishop, just before the ‘Pater Noster’, took the Sacred Host once more in his hand, and raised it with the chalice,the possessed woman was again whisked into the air, carrying with her the keepers,Qfteen in number, at least six feet above the platform; and, after awhile, she fell heavily back to the ground.
At this sight, all present were filled with amazement and terror.

The German Protestant fell on his knees : he burst into tears ; he was converted.

“- Ah !”  cried he, ” I now believe firmly that the devil really possesses this poor creature. I believe that it is really the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which expels him. I believe firmly. I will no longer remain a Protestant.”

After Mass, the exorcism began as usual. As soon as the Bishop appeared on the platform, Satan cried, in a mocking tone :

“- Ah, ha ! my shell-pate ! you made a good confession this morning to the dean. I saw you, but I could not understand your words.”

“- Now, at last,” said the Bishop, “thou must depart. Away with the, evil spirit !”

“- Yes,” said Satan,  “it is true that I must depart, but not yet. I shall not go before the hour is come in which I first took possession of this wretched reatare. Have patience, then ; wait until three o clock. Oh, accursed be that hour ! Do not push on the clock. I know the hour well. My sentence is already passed.”

“- What sign wilt thou give of thy departure?” asked the Bishop.

“- Never mind!” answered Satan, sulleuly, “you shall have signs enough. I shall heal the left arm of this creature.
She has not been able to use it for three months, because I possessed it. And yon.,my shell-pate ! you shall have your sign. I shall strike such a terror to your heart as you never felt before, and which you will not soon forget.”

“- Where wert thou last night?”

“- I was in your palace,” answered Satan. “I saw you right well. You got up last night to pray. It was about three o clock. I know that your prayers have helped much to expel me.”

Satan then turned to a gentleman present named Lancelot May, and publicly accused his brother Robert of some very grievous sins, which he named.

“- Yes,” cried Satan in a rage, “I swear by the Sacred Blood that what I say is true, even though he is your brother.”

He then turned to a woman, who stood near by, and said:  “He ! Margaret, your husband, Lancelot, lost two dollars last night. It is Nelly who won them.”  At this, Lancelot, who was himself present, hung his head in shame, and all present were greatly surprised. He continued, for some time, to reveal thus the sins of those around him.
At last the Bishop took the Sacred Host in his hand, and said :

“- In the name of the Adorable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost the name of the Sacred Body of Jesus Christ here present I command thee,wicked spirit, to depart.”

“- What !”  shrieked Satan,  “you wish to expel me with your white ?”

“- Accursed spirit !”  said the Bishop, indignantly, “who has taught thee to blaspheme God thus ?”

“- It was I who taught it to my Calvinists,who are my obedient servants,” answered Satan.

“- But it is the Sacred Body of thy Lord and Master ; it is the Blessed Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His power thou shall be expelled.”

“- Yes, yes, it is true!” shrieked the demon, wildly; “it is true. It is the Body of God. I must confess it, for I am forced to do so. Ha ! it tortures me that I must confess this ; but I must. I speak the truth only when I am forced to do it. The truth is not from me. It comes from my Lord and Master. I have entered this body by the permission of God.”

The Bishop now held the Blessed Sacrament close to the face of the possessed woman. The demon writhed in fearful agony. He tried in every way to escape from the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
At length a black smoke was seen is suing from the mouth of Nicola. She fell into a swoon, and was restored again to consciousness only by means of the Blessed Sacrament.

LAST  EXORCISM

5th of February

During the procession, which took place in the afternoon of the same day, the devil said to the Bishop :

“- Oh Bishop, my shell-pate ! you have taken no dinner. You are sick and weary;” and then he began to sing : “Oh, he has eaten nothing ! I knew that you had to fast before you could drive me out of the body of this worthless wretch.”

After the procession, Nicola was again placed on the platform, where she was held by fifteen strong men. The Bishop and clergy then offered up a solemn prayer in Latin, in which they called the devil a spirit accursed.

“- Why do you use that word accursed?” asked the devil, angrily.

“- Because,” answered the Bishop, “thou hast offended God so grievously, that thou canst never hope for pardon. Thou art lost to all love and hope ; thou hast nought but eternal damnation to expect. Thy sentence is passed forever.”

At these words Satan became silent, and turned away.
The Bishop now began the last solemn adjuration. During the exorcism, the devil said several times to the Bishop :

“- Ah, you have taken no dinner today !You are very weak.” He then looked around, and said : ” Ha, ha ! are you here,Attorney-General Bochet ? You were not here this morning !”   He then blew out the blessed candle which stood near the Bishop, and said, with a mocking laugh :  “Ha, ha! how stupid you are to burn candles in the broad day light !”

The Bishop read the gospels, prayers and exorcisms ; he burned Beelzebub’s name, showed him the relic of the holy cross, and solemnly commanded him to depart.
The devil answered impudently, that he did not feel like going yet.

“- I shall not ask thee any longer,” said the Bishop,  “when thou inteuclest to leave?”

“- I shall expel thee instantly by the power of the living God, and by the precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, His be loved Son, here present in the Sacrament of the Altar.”

“- Ha, yes!” shrieked the demon,  “I confess that the Son of God is here really and truly present. He is my Lord and Master. It tortures me to confess it, but I am forced to do so.”  Then he repeated several times, with a wild, unearthly howl :

“- Yes, it is true. I must confess it. I am forced to leave, by the power of God’s Body here present. I must I must depart. It torments me that I must go so soon, and that I must confess this truth. But this truth is not from me ; it comes from my Lord and Master, who has sent me hither, and who commands and compels me to confess the truth publicly. I shall go, but I shall not go empty-handed. By the Sacred Blood, I shall have my booty. I shall take along with me the head of the little bailiff of Vervius. Perhaps I could also take with me some of my Calvinists body and soul for they belong to me. He ! give me your head !”  cried he, turning to the Bishop :

“- let meeee whether I cannot carry it off?”

“- No, never !” answered the Bishop, “thou shalt depart, and thou shalt take nothing with thee. These men are baptized thou can’t not touch them.”

“- Yes,” cried Satan, in a mocking tone, “they are baptized ; but, after having renounced me in baptism, they gave them selves up to me again. Therefore they are mine they are surely    mine !”

“- I forbid thee, in the name of the living God,” said the Bishop,    ” to hurt either them or any one here present.”

The Bishop then took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and, holding It on high, he said, with a solemn voice :

“- O you wicked, unclean spirit, Beelzebub ! you arch-enemy of the eternal God ! behold, here present, the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Lord and Master ! I adjure thee, in the name and by the power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, true God and true man, Who is here present; I command thee to depart instantly and forever, from this creature of God. Depart to the deepest depth of hell, there to be tormented forever. Go forth, unclean spirit, go forth behold here thy Lord and Master !”

At these solemn words, and at the sight of our Sacramental Lord, the poor possessed woman writhed fearfully.

Her limbs cracked as if every bone in her body were breaking. The fifteen strong men who held her, could scarcely keep her back. They staggered from side to side, they were covered with perspiration. Satan tried to escape from the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The mouth of Nicola was wide open, her tongue hung down below her chin, her face was shockingly swollen and distorted. Her color changed from yellow to green, and became even gray and blue, so that she no longer looked like a human being ; it was rather the face of a hideous, incarnate demon. All present trembled with terror, especially when they heard the wild cry of the demon, which sounded like the loud roar of a wild bull.
They fell on their knees, and, withtears in their eyes, began to cry              out : “Jesus, have mercy !”

The Bishop continued to urge Satan. At last the evil spirit departed, and Nicola fell back senseless into the arms of her keepers. She still, however, remained shockingly distorted. In this state she was shown to the judges, and to all the people present ; she was rolled up like a ball. The Bishop now fell on his knees, in order to give her the Blessed Sacrament as usual. But see ! suddenly the demon returns, wild with rage, endeavors to seize the hand of the Bishop,and tries even to grasp the Blessed Sacrament Itself. The Bishop starts back Nicola is carried into the air, and the Bishop rises from his knees, trembling with terror and pale as death.
The good Bishop takes courage again; he pursues the demon, holding the Blessed Sacrament in his hand. Satan endeavors to escape, and hurls the keepers to theground.
The people call upon God for aid.
Satan departs once more, with a noise which resembles a crash of thunder.Suddenly he returns again in a fury,and casts a look of rage on some Calvinists present, who stood the whole time with covered heads.

“- On your knees !” cried the people,  “it uncover your heads ; kneel down in the presence of the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Scarcely had these words been uttered,when a wild cry was heard :  “To arms ! to arms !”

In an instant all was in confusion. The Catholics thought that the Calvinists had come armed to church, in order to massacre them. The Calvinists, on the other hand, were filled with mortal terror. Soon this fear and confusion spread throughout the city. Every one was terrified, but no one could tell the real cause of such a sudden uproar.
The Bishop remained calmly at his post.Still holding the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, he turned towards the people,and said, in a loud voice :

“- My friends, do not be disturbed. Remain where you are.
Here is the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ; He will assist  us ; on your knees,and pray to God. I beg you, in the name of God, do not hurt one another.”

Scarcely had the Bishop uttered these words, when all was instantly calm again.
The people fell on their knees, and prayed to God for the possessed woman. The Bishop still pursued and urged Satan, holding the Blessed Sacrament in his hand,till at length the demon, overcome by the power of our Lord’s Sacred Body,went forth amidst smoke,and lightning,and thunder.
Thus was the demon at length expelled forever, on Friday afternoon, at three o clock,the same day and hour on which our Lord triumphed over hell by His everblessed death.

Nicola was now completely cured ; she could move her left arm with the greatest ease. She now fell on her knees,and thanked God, and the good Bishop, for all he had done for her.
The people wept for joy, and sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving in honor of God, and of our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
On all sides were heard the exclamations :

“- Oh, what a great miracle ! Oh,thank God that I witnessed it ! Who is there now that could doubt of the real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar !”

Many Protestants present also said :

“- I believe now in the Presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament ; I have seen it with my eyes !I will remain a Calvinist no longer. Accursed be those who have hitherto kept me in error ! Oh,now I can understand what a good thing is the holy sacrifice of the Mass !”

A solemn Te Deuni was intoned ; the organ pealed forth, and the bells rung a merry chime. The whole city was filled with joy.    ***

‘The Triumph of the Blessed Sacrament
or History of Nicola Aubry’  by Fr. Michael Muller, C.S.S.R., 1877

Feral children

source :  wikipedia.com

A feral child (also,  “wild child”) is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and crucially, of human language. Some feral children have been confined by people (usually their own parents); in some cases this child abandonment was due to the parents’ rejection of a child’s severe intellectual or physical impairment. Feral children may have experienced severe child abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. Feral children are sometimes the subjects of folklore and legends, typically portrayed as having been brought up by animals.
Myths, legends, and fictional stories have depicted feral children reared by wild animals such as wolves, apes, and bears. Famous examples include Ibn Tufail’s Hayy, Ibn al-Nafis’ Kamil, Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan, and the legends of Atalanta, Enkidu and Romulus and Remus.

Legends  and   Reality

*     Legendary and fictional feral children are often depicted as growing up with relatively normal human intelligence and skills and an innate sense of culture or civilization, coupled with a healthy dose of survival instincts; their integration into human society is made to seem relatively easy. One notable exception is Mowgli, for whom living with humans proved to be extremely difficult.
The mythical children are often depicted as having superior strength, intelligence and morals compared to “normal” humans, the implication being that because of their upbringing they represent humanity in a pure and uncorrupted state: similar to the noble savage.

The subject is treated with a certain amount of realism in François Truffaut’s 1970 film L’Enfant Sauvage (UK: The Wild Boy, US: The Wild Child), where a scientist’s efforts in trying to rehabilitate a feral boy meet with great difficulty.

*     Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their life, and display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language. The impaired ability to learn a formal language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the critical period hypothesis.

There is little scientific knowledge about feral children. One of the best-known examples, the “detailed diaries” of Reverend Singh, who claimed to have discovered Amala and Kamala (two girls who had been “brought up from birth by wolves”) in a forest in India, has been proven a fraud to obtain funds for his orphanage. Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim states that Amala and Kamala were born mentally and physically disabled.

Ancient  reports  and  Controversy  and criticism

*     The historian Herodotus wrote that Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus I (Psamtik) sought to discover the origin of language by conducting an experiment with two children. Allegedly, he gave two newborn babies to a shepherd, with the instructions that no one should speak to them, but that the shepherd should feed and care for them while listening to determine their first words. The hypothesis was that the first word would be uttered in the root language of all people. When one of the children cried “becos” (a sound quite similar to the bleating of sheep) with outstretched arms the shepherd concluded that the word was Phrygian because that was the sound of the Phrygian word for bread. Thus, they concluded that the Phrygians were an older people than the Egyptians.
Roman legend has it that Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Rhea Silvia and Mars, were raised by wolves. Rhea Silvia was a priestess, and when it was found that she had been pregnant and had children, King Amulius, who had usurped her father’s throne, ordered her to be buried alive and for the children to be killed. The servant who was given the order set them in a basket on the Tiber river instead, and the children were taken by Tiberinus, the river god, to the shore where a she-wolf found them and raised them until they were discovered as toddlers by a shepherd named Faustulus. He and his wife Acca Larentia, who had always wanted a child but never had one, raised the twins, who would later feature prominently in the events leading up to the founding of Rome (named after Romulus, who eventually killed Remus in a fight over whether the city should be founded on the Palatine Hill or the Aventine Hill).

*     Following the 2008 disclosure by Belgian newspaper Le Soir that the bestselling book Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years and movie Survivre avec les loups (“Surviving with Wolves”) was a media hoax, the French media debated the credulity with which numerous cases of feral children have been blindly accepted. Although there are numerous books on these children, almost none of them have been based on archives; the authors instead have used dubious second- or third-hand printed information. According to the French surgeon Serge Aroles, who wrote a general study of feral children based on archives (L’Enigme des Enfants-loups or The Enigma of Wolf-children, 2007), many alleged cases are totally fictitious stories.

Documented  or  alleged  cases :

*  ‘Hessian wolf-children’ (1304, 1341 and 1344).

*  ‘The Bamberg boy’ who grew up among cattle (late 16th century).

*  ‘Hans of Liege’.

*  An ‘Irish boy’ – brought up by sheep, reported by Nicolaes Tulp in his book Observationes Medicae (1672).(Serge Aroles gives evidence that this boy was severely disabled and exhibited for money).

*  ‘The three Lithuanian bear-boys’ (1657, 1669, 1694) – Serge Aroles shows from the archives of the Queen of Poland (1664–1688) that these are false. There was only one boy, found in the forests in spring 1663 and then brought to Poland’s capital).

*  ‘The girl of Oranienburg’ (1717).

*  ‘The two Pyrenean boys’ (1719).

*  ‘Peter the Wild Boy of Hamelin’ (1724) – mentally handicapped boy, affected with Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. He lived only one year in the wild.

*  ‘Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc, the Wild Girl of Songi’ –  also known as the Wild Girl of Champagne (France, 1731).(This is the only case of a child having survived 10 years in the forests (from November 1721 to September 1731), and the only feral child who succeeded in a complete intellectual rehabilitation,having learned to read and to write. According to biographer Serge Aroles, Marie-Angelique was 19 years old when she was captured, learned to read and write, and died rich on December 15, 1775 at the age of 63. An Amerindian from Wisconsin (then a French colony), she was brought to France by a lady living in Canada and then escaped into the woods of Provence in 1721.

*  ‘The bear-girl of Krupina’, Slovakia (1767) – Serge Aroles found no traces of her in the Krupina archives.

*  ‘The teenager of Kronstadt’ (1781) – according to the Hungarian document published by Serge Aroles, this case is a hoax: the boy, mentally handicapped, had a goitre and was exhibited for money.

*  ‘Victor of Aveyron’ (1797) –  portrayed in the 1969 movie, The Wild Child (L’Enfant sauvage), by François Truffaut.Once more, Serge Aroles gives evidence in this famous case indicating that Victor does not match the description of a genuine feral child.

*  ‘Kaspar Hauser’ (early 19th century) – portrayed in the 1974 Werner Herzog film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle).
The Lobo Wolf Girl of Devil’s River (1845) was captured in 1846, but escaped. She was last spotted at age 17 in 1852.

*  ‘ The “ostrich boy” ‘ – a boy named Hadara was lost by his parents in the Sahara desert at the age of two, and was apprehended by ostriches. At the age of 12, he was captured and taken back to society and his parents. He later married and had children. The story is popular in west Sahara. In 2000, Hadara’s son Ahmedu told his father’s story to the Swedish author Monica Zak, who compiled it to a book. The book is a mixture of the stories told by Ahmedu and Zak’s own fantasy.

*  ‘Amala and Kamala’ – claimed to have been found in 1920 by missionaries near Midnapore, Calcutta region, India, later proved to be a hoax to gain charity for Rev. Singh’s orphanage.

*  ‘Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw and wolf children’ – abandoned or escaped children in northeastern Europe during and after World War II.

*  ‘Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja’ –  (ca. 1946, Sierra Morena, Spain) lived for 12 years with wolves until he was 19 in the mountains of Southern Spain. Rodriguez story was depicted in the 2010 Spanish-German film Entrelobos. For his portrayal of Rodriguez, young actor Manuel Camacho received a Best New Actor nomination at the 2011 Goya Awards.

*  ‘Syrian Gazelle Boy’ (1946) – a boy aged around 10 was found in the midst of a herd of gazelles in the Syrian desert in the 1950s, and was only caught with the help of an Iraqi army jeep, because he could run at speeds of up to 50 km/h. This is a hoax, as are all the gazelle-boys.

*  ‘Vicente Caucau’ (1948) – chilean boy found in a savage state at age 12, allegedly raised by pumas.

*  ‘Ramu’, Lucknow, India, (1954) – taken by a wolf as a baby, raised until the age of seven. Aroles made inquiries on the scene and classifies this as another hoax.

*  ‘Saharan Gazelle Boy’ (1960) – found in Rio de Oro in the Spanish Sahara, written about by Basque traveller Jean-Claude Auger, using the pseudonym Armen in his 1971 book L’enfant sauvage du grand desert, translated as Gazelle Boy. When Serge Aroles made inquiries concerning this case in 1997, gathering testimonies in Mauritania, Armen himself admitted that he had written “a book of fiction”.

*  ‘Genie’, Los Angeles, California, discovered 1970 – Confined to one room and abused by her father for 13 years.

*  ‘Robert’ (1982) – he lost his parents in the Ugandan Civil War at the age of three, when Milton Obote’s looting and murdering soldiers raided their village, around 50 miles (80 km) from Kampala. Robert then lived in the wild, presumably with vervet monkeys, for three years until he was found by soldiers.

*  ‘Ramachandra’ (1970s and 1980s) – first reported in 1973 in the Uttar Pradesh region of India, at roughly 12 years old, and as living an amphibian lifestyle in the Kuano river. He was captured in 1979 and taken to a nearby village. He only partly adapted to a conventional lifestyle, still preferring raw food, walking with an awkward gait, and spending most of his time alone in nearby rivers and streams. He died in 1982 after approaching a woman who was frightened by him, and who badly scalded Ramachandra with boiling water. Historian Mike Dash speculates that Ramachandra’s uncharacteristically bold approach to the woman was sparked by a burgeoning sexual attraction coupled with his ignorance of cultural mores and taboos.

*  ‘Baby Hospital’ (1984) – this seven-year-old girl was found by an Italian missionary in Sierra Leone. She had apparently been brought up by apes or monkeys. Baby Hospital was unable to stand upright and crawled instead of walking, and ate directly from her bowl without using her hands. She made the chattering noises of apes or monkeys. Baby Hospital’s arms and hands were reported to be well developed, but not her leg muscles. She resisted attempts to civilise her, instead spending much of her time in an activity that is very unusual for feral children: crying.

*  ‘Saturday Mthiyane’ (or Mifune) (1987) – a boy of around five was found after spending about a year in the company of monkeys in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. He was named Saturday as he was apprehended on a Saturday, and Mthiyane was the name of the headmistress of the Special School which took him in. In 2005, at the age of around 17, he could still not talk, and still walked and jumped like a monkey. He never ate cooked food and refused to share or play with other children.

*  ‘Oxana Malaya’, Ukraine, (1990s) – girl bonded with stray dogs and imitating their behaviour. Although hoaxed as being “raised with dogs until the age of eight”, Oxana could actually have acquired her condition in an orphanage due to developmental disorder. Upon adulthood, Oxana has been taught to subdue her doggish behaviour and trained for basic skills, but remains mentally underabled.

*  ‘Daniel, Andes Goat Boy’ (1990) – found in Peru, and was said to have been raised by goats for eight years.

*  ‘John Ssebunya’, Uganda, (1991) – raised by monkeys for several years in the jungle.

*  ‘Belo, the Nigerian Chimp Boy’ (1996) – about two years of age, raised by chimpanzees for a year and a half.

*  ‘Ivan Mishukov’ (1998) – found near Moscow, raised by dogs for two years, and had risen to being “alpha male” of the pack.

*  ‘Alex the Dog Boy’ (2001) – found in Talcahuano, Chile.

*  ‘Traian Căldărar’, Romania/Poland (2002) – gypsy child born in Poland; he lived for three years with wild dogs in the wilderness. Now he is a “normal” child who likes football and mathematics.

*  ‘Andrei Tolstyk’ (2004) of Bespalovskoya, near Lake Baikal, Russia – was abandoned by parents, to be raised by a guard dog.

*  ‘Cambodian jungle girl’ (2007) – alleged to be Rochom P’ngieng, who lived 19 years in the Cambodian jungle. Other sources questioned these claims.

*  ‘Name Unknown’, Uzbekistan, (2007) – Found after eight years.

*  ‘Lyokha’, Kaluga, Central Russia (December 2007) – he had been living with a pack of wolves, and had typical wolflike behavior and reactions. He was unable to speak any human language. Taken to a Moscow hospital, he received some medical treatment, a shower and manicure, and several meals before escaping from the building.

*  ‘Danielle Crockett’, Plant City, Florida, United States (2007–2008)- Dani had been locked in her room and deprived of human interaction for the first 7 years of her life. She was found and adopted and is currently undergoing efforts to acclimate her to human conditioning including learning English and effective communication.

*  ‘Name Unknown’ (“Russian bird boy”), Russia, (2008) – a seven-year-old boy was found who spent his entire life living in a tiny two bedroom apartment surrounded by birds. His mother never spoke to him and treated him as a pet, and when found he was unable to communicate except for chirping and flapping his arms like wings.

*  ‘Natasha’, Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia (2009) – a five-year-old girl who spent her entire life locked in a room with cats and dogs, and no heat, water, or sewage system. When she was found, she could not speak Russian, would jump at the door and bark as caretakers left, and had “clear attributes of an animal”.

*  ‘Ng Chhaidy’, Theiva near Saiha, Mizoram (2012) – a four-year-old girl who went missing in a jungle, returning only 38 years later.

Göbekli Tepe – THE Neolithic Sanctuary

source : wikipedia.com

Göbekli Tepe (“Potbelly Hill”), is an archaeological site at the top of a mountain ridge in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, northeast of the town of Sanliurfa. The tell has a height of 15 m (49 ft) and is about 300 m (984 ft) in diameter. It is approximately 760 m (2,493 ft) above sea level. Since the mid-1990s, it has been excavated by a German archaeological team that since 1996 has been under the direction of Klaus Schmidt.
–   The tell includes two settlement phases dating back to the 10th-8th millennium BC. During the first phase (PPNA), circles of massive T-shaped stone pillars were erected. More than 200 pillars in about 20 circles are currently known through geophysical surveys. Each pillar has a height of up to 6 m (20 ft) and a weight of up to 20 tons. They are fitted into sockets that were hewn out of the bedrock. In the second phase (PPNB), the erected pillars are smaller. They stood in rectangular rooms. These rooms had floors of polished lime. Obviously, the site was abandoned after the PPNB-period. Younger structures date to classical times.

The function of the structures is not yet clear. The most common opinion, shared by excavator Klaus Schmidt, is that they are early neolithic sanctuaries.

The site was first noted in a survey conducted by Istanbul University and the University of Chicago in 1963. American archaeologist Peter Benedict identified it as being possibly neolithic. He further postulated that the Neolithic layers were topped by Byzantine and Islamic cemeteries. This might be the reason why no excavations started then. The survey noted numerous flints. Huge limestone slabs, upper parts of the T-shaped pillars, were thought to be grave markers. The hill had long been under agricultural cultivation; generations of local inhabitants had frequently moved rocks and placed them in clearance piles, possibly destroying much archaeological evidence in the process.

In 1994, Klaus Schmidt, now of the German Archaeological Institute, who had previously been working at Nevali Çori, was looking for another site to dig, leading a team of his own. He reviewed the archaeological literature on the surrounding area, found the Chicago researchers’ brief description of Göbekli Tepe, and decided to give it another look. With his knowledge of comparable objects at Nevali Çori, he recognized the possibility that the rocks and slabs were parts of T-shaped pillars.
The following year, he began excavating there in collaboration with the Sanliurfa Museum. Huge T-shaped pillars were soon discovered. Some had apparently been subjected to attempts at smashing, probably by farmers who mistook them for ordinary large rocks. The nearby Gürcütepe site – also Neolithic – was excavated until 2000.

The imposing stratigraphy of Göbekli Tepe attests to many centuries of activity, beginning at least as early as the epipaleolithic, or Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), in the 10th millennium BC. The PPNA buildings have been dated to about the close of the 10th millennium BCE. There are remains of smaller houses from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) era and a few epipalaeolithic finds as well.
There are a number of radiocarbon dates (presented with one standard deviation errors and calibrations to BCE):

LAB-NUMBER     DATE BP     CAL BCE     CONTEXT

Ua-19561                   8430 ± 80        7560–7370     enclosure C
Ua-19562                  8960 ± 85        8280–7970     enclosure B
Hd-20025                9452 ± 73         9110–8620      Layer III
Hd-20036               9559 ± 53          9130–8800     Layer III.

–   The Hd samples are from charcoal in the lowest levels of the site and would date the active phase of occupation. The Ua samples come from pedogenic carbonate coatings on pillars and only indicate a time after the site was abandoned—the terminus ante quem.

*   Göbekli Tepe is situated on a flat and barren plateau. Buildings fan in all directions. In the north, the plateau is connected to a neighboring mountain range by a narrow promontory. In all other directions, the ridge descends steeply into slopes and steep cliffs. On top of the ridge, there is a lot of evidence of human impact in addition to the actual tell. Excavations took place at the southern slope of the tell, south and west of a mulberry that marks an Islamic pilgrimage,but archaeological finds come from the entire plateau.

The plateau has been transformed by erosion and quarrying. Quarrying took place not only in the Neolithic, but also in classical times. There are four 10 m (33 ft) long and 20 cm (8 in) wide channels on the southern part of the plateau, interpreted as the remains of an ancient quarry from which rectangular blocks were taken. These are possibly related to a square building in neighborhood, of which only the foundations are preserved. Presumably, these are the remains of a Roman watchtower which belonged to the Limes Arabicus. However, this is not known with certainty at this time.
Most structures on the plateau seem to be caused by Neolithic quarrying. These quarries were used as sources for the huge monolithic architectural elements. Their profiles were pecked into the rock, with the detached blocks then levered out of the rock bank. Several quarries where round workpieces had been produced were identified. Their interpretation was confirmed by the find of a 3 by 3 m piece at the southeastern slope of the plateau. Their function is not yet clear. Unequivocally Neolithic are three T-shaped pillars that have not been levered out of the bedrock. The biggest of them lies on the northern plateau. It has a length of 7 m (23 ft) and its head has a width of 3 m (10 ft). Its weight might be around 50 tons. The two other unfinished pillars lie on the southern Plateau.

At the western edge of the hill, a lion-like figure was found. In this area, flint and limestone fragments occur more frequently. It was thus suggested that this could have been some kind of sculpture workshop. It is unclear, on the other hand, how to classify three phallic depictions from the surface of the southern plateau. They are near to the quarries from classical times, making their dating quite difficult.
Apart from the tell, there is an incised platform with two sockets that could hold pillars, and a surrounding flat bench. This platform corresponds to the complexes from Layer III at the actual tell. Continuing the naming pattern, it is called complex E. Owing to its similarity to the cult-buildings at Nevali Çori it has also been called “Temple of the Rock”. Its floor has been carefully hewn out of the bedrock and smoothed. That is reminiscent of the terrazzo floors of the younger complexes at Göbekli Tepe. Immediately northwest of this area are two cistern-like pits, believed to be part of complex E. One of these pits has a table-high pin as well as a staircase with five steps.

At the western escarpment, a small cave has been discovered in which a small relief was found. It depicts a bovine. It is the only relief found in this cave.

*   At this early stage of the site’s history circular compounds or temenoi first appear. They range from 10 to 30 meters in diameter. Their most notable feature is the presence of T-shaped limestone pillars evenly set within thick interior walls composed of unworked stone. Four such round structures have been unearthed so far; geophysical surveys indicate that there are 16 more, enclosing up to eight pillars each, amounting to nearly 200 pillars in all. The slabs were transported from bedrock pits located approximately 100 meters (330 ft) from the hilltop, with workers using flint points to cut through the bedrock.

Two taller pillars are at the centre of each circle. The circles were probably roofed, and the pair of central pillars may have helped support the roof but this is conjectural. Stone benches designed for sitting line the interior. Many of the pillars are decorated with abstract, enigmatic pictograms and carved animal reliefs. The pictograms may represent commonly understood sacred symbols, as known from Neolithic cave paintings elsewhere. The reliefs depict lions, bulls, boars, foxes, gazelles, donkeys, snakes and other reptiles, insects, arachnids, and birds, particularly vultures. (At the time the shrine was constructed, the surrounding country was much lusher and capable of sustaining this variety of wildlife, before millennia of settlement and cultivation led to the near–Dust Bowl conditions prevalent today.) Vultures also feature prominently in the iconography of Çatalhöyük and Jericho; it is believed that in the early Neolithic culture of Anatolia and the Near East the deceased were deliberately exposed in order to be excarnated by vultures and other carrion birds. (The head of the deceased was sometimes removed and preserved—possibly a sign of ancestor worship.) This, then, would represent an early form of sky burial, as still practiced by Tibetan Buddhists and by Zoroastrians in Iran and India.

Few humanoid figures have surfaced at Göbekli Tepe. However, some of the T-shaped pillars have human arms carved on their lower half, suggesting that they are intended to represent the bodies of stylized humans (or perhaps gods). Loincloths also appear on the lower half of a few pillars. The horizontal stone member on top is thought to symbolize a human head. The pillars as a whole therefore have an anthropomorphic identity. Whether they were intended to serve as surrogate worshipers, symbolize venerated ancestors, or represent supernatural, anthropomorphic beings is not clear.
The discovery of a predator—a crocodile, perhaps, built low to the ground, very muscular, shown with teeth bared and distinguished by a long tail that nearly doubles back on itself—has excited particular interest for being carved almost in the round, hinting at a degree of artistic training and division of labor again surprising in a hunter-gatherer society. (Pillar 27, Enclosure 2, Layer III).

Some of the floors in this, the oldest layer, are made of terrazzo (burnt lime), others are bedrock from which pedestals to hold the large pair of central pillars were carved in high relief. Radiocarbon dating places the construction of these early circles in the range of 9600 to 8800 BC; carbon dating suggests that (for reasons unknown) the enclosures were also backfilled during the Stone Age.

*   Creation of the circular enclosures in layer III later gave way to the construction of small rectangular rooms in layer II. Rectangular buildings make a more efficient use of space compared with circular structures. They are often associated with the emergence of the Neolithic. But the T-shaped pillars, the main feature of the older enclosures, are also present here, indicating that the buildings of Layer II continued to serve as sanctuaries. Layer II is assigned to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). The several adjoining rectangular, door- and windowless rooms have floors of polished lime reminiscent of Roman terrazzo floors. Carbon dating has yielded dates between 8800 and 8000 BC. Several T-pillars up to 1.5 meters occupy the center of the rooms. A pair decorated with fierce-looking lions is responsible for the name “lion pillar building” by which their enclosure is known. Here too is found a Venus accueillante figure roughly incised on the surface of a bench between two interior pillars. Comparing it with the careful execution of the bas-reliefs found on the pillars, Schmidt characterizes it as “graffiti”.

*   Layer I is the uppermost part of the hill. It is the shallowest, but accounts for the longest stretch of time. It consists of loose sediments caused by erosion and the virtually uninterrupted use of the hill for agricultural purposes since it ceased to operate as a cult center.
The site was deliberately backfilled sometime after 8000 BCE: the buildings were buried under debris, mostly flint gravel, stone tools, and animal bones that must have been imported from elsewhere. In addition to Byblos points (weapon heads, i.e. arrowheads etc.) and numerous Nemrik points, Helwan-points and Aswad-points dominate the backfill’s lithic inventory.

Chronological  context  and  Interpretation

All statements about the site must be considered preliminary, as less than 5% of the site has so far been excavated, and Schmidt plans to leave much of it untouched to be explored by future generations (when archaeological techniques will presumably have improved). While the site formally belongs to the earliest Neolithic (PPNA), up to now no traces of domesticated plants or animals have been found. The inhabitants are assumed to have been hunters and gatherers who nevertheless lived in villages for at least part of the year. So far, very little evidence for residential use has been found. Through the radiocarbon method, the end of Layer III can be fixed at c. 9000 BCE (see above) but it is believed that the elevated location may have functioned as a spiritual center c. 11,000 BCE or even earlier.

The surviving structures, then, not only predate pottery, metallurgy, and the invention of writing or the wheel; they were built before the so-called Neolithic Revolution, i.e., the beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry around 9000 BCE. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organization of an advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic, PPNA, or PPNB societies. Archaeologists estimate that up to 500 persons were required to extract the heavy pillars from local quarries and move them 100–500 meters (330–1,640 ft) to the site. The pillars weigh 10–20 metric tons (10–20 {{{u}}}; 11–22 {{{u}}}), with one still in the quarry weighing 50 tons. It is generally believed that an elite class of religious leaders supervised the work and later controlled whatever ceremonies took place. If so, this would be the oldest known evidence for a priestly caste—much earlier than such social distinctions developed elsewhere in the Near East.

Around the beginning of the 8th millennium BCE “Potbelly Hill” lost its importance. The advent of agriculture and animal husbandry brought new realities to human life in the area, and the “Stone-age zoo” (Schmidt’s phrase applied particularly to Layer III, Enclosure D) apparently lost whatever significance it had had for the region’s older, foraging, communities. But the complex was not simply abandoned and forgotten to be gradually destroyed by the elements. Instead, each enclosure was deliberately buried under as much as 300 to 500 cubic meters (390 to 650 cu yd) of refuse consisting mainly of small limestone fragments, stone vessels, and stone tools; many animal, even human, bones have also been identified in the fill. Why the enclosures were buried is unknown, but it preserved them for posterity.

Schmidt’s view, shared by most experts, is that Göbekli Tepe is a stone-age mountain sanctuary. Radiocarbon dating as well as comparative, stylistic analysis indicate that it is the oldest religious site found to date. Schmidt believes that what he calls this “cathedral on a hill” was a pilgrimage destination attracting worshipers up to 100 miles (160 km) distant. Butchered bones found in large numbers from local game such as deer, gazelle, pigs, and geese have been identified as refuse from food hunted and cooked or otherwise prepared for congregants.
Schmidt considers Göbekli Tepe a central location for a cult of the dead. He suggests that the carved animals are there to protect the dead. Though no tombs or graves have been found so far, Schmidt believes that they remain to be discovered in niches located behind the sacred circles’ walls. Schmidt also interprets it in connection with the initial stages of an incipient Neolithic. It is one of several sites in the vicinity of Karaca Dag, an area which geneticists suspect may have been the original source of at least some of our cultivated grains (see Einkorn). Recent DNA analysis of modern domesticated wheat compared with wild wheat has shown that its DNA is closest in sequence to wild wheat found on Mount Karaca Dag 20 miles (32 km) away from the site, suggesting that this is where modern wheat was first domesticated. Such scholars suggest that the Neolithic revolution, i.e., the beginnings of grain cultivation, took place here. Schmidt and others believe that mobile groups in the area were compelled to cooperate with each other to protect early concentrations of wild cereals from wild animals (herds of gazelles and wild donkeys). Wild cereals may have been used for sustenance more intensively than before and were perhaps deliberately cultivated. This would have led to early social organization of various groups in the area of Göbekli Tepe. Thus, according to Schmidt, the Neolithic did not begin on a small scale in the form of individual instances of garden cultivation, but developed rapidly in the form of “a large-scale social organization”

Schmidt has engaged in some speculation regarding the belief systems of the groups that created Göbekli Tepe, based on comparisons with other shrines and settlements. He assumes shamanic practices and suggests that the T-shaped pillars may represent mythical creatures, perhaps ancestors, whereas he sees a fully articulated belief in gods only developing later in Mesopotamia, associated with extensive temples and palaces. This corresponds well with an ancient Sumerian belief that agriculture, animal husbandry, and weaving were brought to mankind from the sacred mountain Ekur, which was inhabited by Annuna deities, very ancient gods without individual names. Schmidt identifies this story as a primeval oriental myth that preserves a partial memory of the emerging Neolithic. It is also apparent that the animal and other images give no indication of organized violence, i.e. there are no depictions of hunting raids or wounded animals, and the pillar carvings ignore game on which the society mainly subsisted, like deer, in favor of formidable creatures like lions, snakes, spiders, and scorpions.

Importance  and  Conservation

Göbekli Tepe is regarded as an archaeological discovery of the greatest importance since it could profoundly change the understanding of a crucial stage in the development of human society. Ian Hodder of Stanford University said, “Göbekli Tepe changes everything”. It shows that the erection of monumental complexes was within the capacities of hunter-gatherers and not only of sedentary farming communities as had been previously assumed. As excavator Klaus Schmidt puts it, “First came the temple, then the city.”
Not only its large dimensions, but the side-by-side existence of multiple pillar shrines makes the location unique. There are no comparable monumental complexes from its time. Nevali Çori, a Neolithic settlement also excavated by the German Archaeological Institute and submerged by the Atatürk Dam since 1992, is 500 years later; its T-shaped pillars are considerably smaller, and its shrine was located inside a village. The roughly contemporary architecture at Jericho is devoid of artistic merit or large-scale sculpture, and Çatalhöyük, perhaps the most famous Anatolian Neolithic village, is 2,000 years younger.

At present, though, Göbekli Tepe raises more questions for archaeology and prehistory than it answers. It remains unknown how a force large enough to construct, augment, and maintain such a substantial complex was mobilized and compensated or fed in the conditions of pre-sedentary society. Scholars cannot “read” the pictograms, and do not know for certain what meaning the animal reliefs had for visitors to the site. The variety of fauna depicted, from lions and boars to birds and insects, makes any single explanation problematic. As there is little or no evidence of habitation, and the animals pictured are mainly predators, the stones may have been intended to stave off evils through some form of magic representation. Alternatively, they could have served as totems. The assumption that the site was strictly cultic in purpose and not inhabited has also been challenged by the suggestion that the structures served as large communal houses, “similar in some ways to the large plank houses of the Northwest Coast of North America with their impressive house posts and totem poles.” It is not known why every few decades the existing pillars were buried to be replaced by new stones as part of a smaller, concentric ring inside the older one. Human burial may or may not have occurred at the site. The reason the complex was carefully backfilled remains unexplained. Until more evidence is gathered, it is difficult to deduce anything certain about the originating culture or the site’s significance.

Future plans include construction of a museum, and converting the environs into an archaeological park, in the hope that this will help preserve the site in the state in which it was discovered.
In 2010, Global Heritage Fund (GHF) announced it will undertake a multi-year conservation program to preserve Göbekli Tepe. Partners include Klaus Schmidt and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, German Research Foundation, Sanliurfa Municipal Government, and the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
The stated goals of the GHF Göbekli Tepe project are to support the preparation of a site management and conservation plan, construction of a shelter over the exposed archaeological features, training community members in guiding and conservation, and helping Turkish authorities secure UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for GT.