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Exorcism in an Age of Doubt: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

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A History of Exorcism in Catholic Christianity

Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic ((PHSWM))

Abstract

In the aftermath of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which saw Pope Pius VI deposed, Rome declared a Republic and Pope Pius VII imprisoned, the Papacy reinvented itself as the opponent of secular government and increasingly presented Catholicism as a political ideology in its own right. The overthrow of the Papal States in 1870 intensified Pius IX and Leo XIII’s convictions that the Catholic church was the victim of a demonically inspired international conspiracy. Yet the basic attitude of extreme caution towards exorcism established by Pope Benedict XIV prevailed until the very end of the nineteenth century, when Leo XIII placed the fight against Satan at the centre of the church’s mission. Even then, the burgeoning disciplines of psychology and psychiatry raised so many doubts concerning the reality of possession that the majority of local bishops were reluctant to authorize exorcisms, and the rite promoted by Leo XIII was an attenuated form of exorcism for a sceptical age rather than a revival of the ancient practice. Catholic biblical scholars were also critical of the continued practice of exorcism, and although the condemnation of the Modernists in 1907 temporarily silenced these voices, Vatican II gave a licence to renewed scepticism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tausiet (2005), p. 277.

  2. 2.

    Harris (1997), pp. 472–3.

  3. 3.

    State authorities intervened to arrange an exorcism of two Alsace boys in 1869; see Cristiani, L. (trans. C. Roland), Satan in the Modern World (London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1961), pp. 95–104; Rodewyk, A., Possessed by Satan: The Church’s Teaching on the Devil, Possession and Exorcism (New York: Doubleday, 1975), pp. 9–11.

  4. 4.

    On the Piacenza case see Cristiani (1961), pp. 109–23.

  5. 5.

    Ibid. pp. 124–36. This could only have been Leo XIII’s Exorcism of Satan and the Apostate Angels.

  6. 6.

    Ibid. pp. 137–55.

  7. 7.

    Harris (1997), pp. 453–4. On belief in possession in nineteenth-century rural France see Devlin, J., The Superstitious Mind: French Peasants and the Supernatural in the Nineteenth Century (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 120–39.

  8. 8.

    Cristiani (1961), p. 32.

  9. 9.

    Ibid. pp. 80–2. On Vianney’s exorcism of Gay see also Rutler, G. W., The Curé of Ars Today (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius, 1988), pp. 174–6.

  10. 10.

    Cristiani (1961), pp. 74–5.

  11. 11.

    On Gay’s subsequent career and prophetic pronouncements see ibid. pp. 83–91.

  12. 12.

    Woollen, C. J., ‘The Case for Exorcism’, New Blackfriars 30:347 (February 1949), pp. 59–62.

  13. 13.

    Frankfurter (2008), p. 118.

  14. 14.

    Cristiani (1961), pp. 179–80.

  15. 15.

    Hutton, R., The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 257–61.

  16. 16.

    On French Satanism see Cristiani (1961), pp. 188–98; Chave-Mahir (2011), p. 19. Hutton (1999), p. 268 argued that acts of sacrilege designed to simulate evidence of Satanic worship were stimulated by the press’s promotion of the existence of Satanism.

  17. 17.

    Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to Bishops on Certain Aspects of Christian Meditation (Orationis Formas) (Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1989). On Satanist groups since the 1960s see La Fontaine, J., ‘Satanism and Satanic Mythology’ in De Blécourt, W., Hutton, R. and La Fontaine, J. (eds), Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century (London: Athlone, 1989), pp. 81–140, at pp. 94–109.

  18. 18.

    Introvigne, M., ‘Le Satanisme modern et contemporain en Italie’, Social Compass 56 (2009), pp. 541–51, at pp. 541–2.

  19. 19.

    Huysmans, J.-K. (trans. B. King), Là-Bas (Sawtry: Dedalus, 2001), p. 75.

  20. 20.

    Ibid. pp. 143–4.

  21. 21.

    Huysmans (2001 [1891]), pp. 194–5.

  22. 22.

    Ibid. pp. 198–9.

  23. 23.

    Maxwell-Stuart, P. G., Wizards: A History (Stroud: Tempus, 2004), pp. 174–5. A. E. Waite in Devil-worship in France: or, The Question of Lucifer (London: G. Redway, 1896), p. 17 thought that Dr Johannès was based on Vintras. Jean Sempe, known as the Abbé Julio, was another unofficial exorcist of this period whose works remain popular (Sempe, J., Livre Secret des Grands Exorcismes et Bénédictions (Paris: Bussière, 1908)).

  24. 24.

    On Huysmans and Boullan see Brendan King’s notes on Huysmans’s text (Huysmans (2001 [1891]), p. 303).

  25. 25.

    Waite (1896), p. 11. On Boullan see also Cristiani (1961), pp. 185–7.

  26. 26.

    Waite (1896), pp. 14–17.

  27. 27.

    Meurin, L., La Franc-maçonnerie: Synagogue de Satan (Paris: Victor Retaux, 1893), pp. 120–1 (for the argument that Freemasons worshipped the devil).

  28. 28.

    Waite (1896), pp. 84–5.

  29. 29.

    Ibid. pp. 82–96.

  30. 30.

    Ibid. pp. 310–12.

  31. 31.

    Österreich (1930), p. 200. This exorcism did not appear in the Rituale Romanum as an addition to the liturgy of exorcism until 1925 (Kunzler, M., The Church’s Liturgy (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2001), p. 317). For the text see Rituale Romanum (Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1925), pp. 537–42.

  32. 32.

    Pechenino, D., La Settimana del Clero (30 March 1947) quoted in P., I., ‘Notae Practicae de Precibus post Missam imperatis’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 69 (1955), pp. 54–60, at p. 58: ‘Un mattino il grande Pontifice Leone XIII … aveva celebrato la S. Messa e stava assistendo ad un’altra di ringraziamento come al solito. Ad un tratto lo si vide drizzare energicamente il capo, poi fissare intensamente qualche cosa al di sopra del capo del celebrante. Guardava fisso, senza batter palpebra, ma con un senso di terrore e di meraviglia, cambiando colore e lineamenti. Qualcosa di strano, di grande avveniva in lui. Finalmente, come rivenendo in sè, e, dando un leggero ma energico tocco di mano, si alza. Lo si vede avviarsi verso il suo studio privato. I familiari lo seguono con premura e ansiosi. ‘Santo Padre!’—gli dicono sommessamente—‘non si sente bene? Ha bisogna di qualcosa?’—‘Niente, niente!’, risponde. E si chiude dentro. Dopo una mezz’ora fa chiamare il Segretario della S. Congregazione dei Riti, e, porgendogli un foglio, gli ingiunge di farlo stampare e pervenire a tutti gli Ordinari del mondo. Che cosa conteneva? La preghiera che recitiamo al termine della Messa col populo, con la supplica a Maria e l’infocata invocazione al Principe delle milizie celesti, s. Michele’.

  33. 33.

    ‘Notae Practicae’ (1955), pp. 58–9.

  34. 34.

    Rituale Romanum (1925), pp. 539–41: Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, in nomine et virtute Domini Nostri Jesu Christi … Non ultra audeas, serpens callidissime, decipere humanum genus, Dei Ecclesiam persequi, ac Dei electos excutere et cribrare sicut triticum. Imperat tibi Deus altissimus, cui in magna tua superbia te similem haberi adhuc praesumis … Imperat tibi Deus Pater; imperat tibi Deus Filius; imperat tibi Deus Spiritus Sanctus. Imperat tibi majestas Christi, aeternum Dei Verbum, caro factum … Imperat tibi sacramentum Crucis, omniumque christianae fidei Mysteriorum virtus. Imperat tibi excelsa Dei Genitrix Virgo Maria, quae superbissimum caput tuum a primo instanti immaculatae suae conceptionis in sua humilitate contrivit. Imperat tibi fides sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et ceterorum Apostolorum. Imperat tibi Martyrum sanguis, ac pia Sanctorum et Sanctarum omnium intercessio.

  35. 35.

    Ergo, draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica, adjuramus te per Deum vivum, per Deum verum, per Deum sanctum … cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae perditionìs venenum propinare: desine Ecclesiae nocere, et ejus libertati laqueos injicere. Vade, satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis. Da locum Christo, in quo nihil invenisti de operibus tuis; da locum Ecclesiae uni, sanctae, catholicae, et apostolicae, quam Christus ipse acquisivit sanguine suo. Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei; contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine Jesu, quem inferi tremunt, cui Virtutes caelorum et Potestates et Dominationes subjectae sunt; quem Cherubim et Seraphim indefessis vocibus laudant, dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

  36. 36.

    Woollen (1949), p. 62. There is little evidence that exorcism was thought to be risky before the Earling exorcism of 1928.

  37. 37.

    On Diana Vaughan and the Taxil hoax see Closson, M., ‘Le Diable au XIXe siècle de Léo Taxil: ou les “mille et un nuits” de la démonologie’ in Lavocat, F., Kapitaniak, P. and Closson, M. (eds), Fictions du Diable: Démonologie et Littérature de Saint Augustin à Léo Taxil (Paris: Droz, 2007), pp. 313–32, at pp. 326–7; Ziegler, R., Satanism, Magic and Mysticism in Fin-de-siècle France (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp. 50–73.

  38. 38.

    Tyrell, G., Christianity at the Crossroads (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1909), pp. 71–2.

  39. 39.

    Ratté, J., Three Modernists: Alfred Loisy, George Tyrrell, William L. Sullivan (London: Sheed and Ward, 1968), pp. 229–30.

  40. 40.

    Sullivan, W. L., Letters to His Holiness Pope Pius X (Chicago, IL: Open Court, 1910), pp. 109–10.

  41. 41.

    Lépicier, A. H. M., The Unseen World: An Exposition of Catholic Theology in Reference to Modern Spiritism (London: Sheed and Ward, 1929), pp. ix–x.

  42. 42.

    Ibid. pp. 248–53.

  43. 43.

    Codex Iuris Canonici (ed. P. Gasparri) (Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1963), pp. 385–6.

  44. 44.

    Harris (1997), pp. 451–2.

  45. 45.

    Charcot, J.-M. and Richer, P., Les Démoniaques dans l’Art (Paris: Delahaye et Lecrosnier, 1887). On Charcot see Céard, J., ‘Démonologie et Démonopathies au temps du Charcot’, Histoire des Sciences Médicales 28 (1994), pp. 337–43; Ferber, S., ‘Charcot’s Demons: Retrospective Medicine and Historical Diagnosis in the Writings of the Salpêtrière School’ in Gijswijt-Hofstra, M., Marland, H. and De Waardt, H. (eds), Illness and Healing Alternatives in Western Europe (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 120–40; Levack (2013), pp. 127–9. On exorcism and psychology in the nineteenth century see Vandermeersch, P., ‘The Victory of Psychiatry over Demonology: The Origin of the Nineteenth-Century Myth’, History of Psychiatry 2 (1991), pp. 351–63; Guillemain, H., Diriger les Consciences, Guérir les Âmes: Une Histoire comparée des Pratiques Thérapeutiques et Religieuses (1830–1939) (Paris: La Découverte, 2006).

  46. 46.

    On the debate in the French church see De Tonquédec, J., Les Maladies Nerveuses ou Mentales et les Manifestations Diaboliques (Paris: Beauchesne, 1938); Chave-Mahir (2011), pp. 18–9.

  47. 47.

    De Tonquédec, J., ‘Some Aspects of Satan’s Activity in this World’ in Satan (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1951), pp. 40–51; see also Maquart, F. X. and De Tonquédec, J., ‘Exorcism’; Sheed, F. J. (ed.), Soundings in Satanism (Mowbrays: London, 1972), pp. 72–91. On De Tonquédec see Kelly (1968), pp. 93–4.

  48. 48.

    Lhermitte, J. (trans. P. J. Hepbourne-Scott), Diabolical Possession: True and False (London, 1963), pp. 72–88; Lhermitte, J., ‘Pseudo-Possession’ in Sheed, F. J. (ed.), Soundings in Satanism (London: Mowbrays, 1972), pp. 12–35.

  49. 49.

    On demonological debates in twentieth-century France see Cristiani (1961), pp. 156–7; Guillemain, H., ‘Déments ou Démons? L’exorcisme face au sciences psychiques’, Revue d’Histoire de l’Eglise en France 87 (2001), pp. 439–71.

  50. 50.

    Balducci (1959), p. 391; Kelly (1968), p. 84.

  51. 51.

    Woollen (1949), p. 61.

  52. 52.

    Rodewyk (1975), pp. 120–7. On the Umzinto possessions see also Cristiani (1961), pp. 106–7.

  53. 53.

    Rodewyk (1975), pp. 127–33.

  54. 54.

    Ibid. pp. 133–4.

  55. 55.

    On the introduction of demonology into non-European societies see Frankfurter (2008), pp. 31–7.

  56. 56.

    Benson, R. H., A Mirror of Shalott in The Supernatural Stories of Monsignor Robert H. Benson (Landisville, PA: Coachwhip Publications, 2010), pp. 129–38.

  57. 57.

    Vogl, C. (trans. C. Kapsner), Begone Satan! A Soul-Stirring Account of Diabolical Possession (Hong Kong: Catholic Truth Society, 1970 [first published 1935]), p. 47.

  58. 58.

    Ibid. pp. 5, 9.

  59. 59.

    Ibid. p. 7.

  60. 60.

    For the apocalyptic prophecies of the coming of Antichrist see ibid. pp. 40–1.

  61. 61.

    Ibid. p. 47.

  62. 62.

    Ibid. pp. 19–20.

  63. 63.

    For the text of the diary, see Allen (2000), pp. 243–91.

  64. 64.

    Ibid. pp. 82–4.

  65. 65.

    For an alternative to Allen’s account see Kelly, H. A., The Devil, Demonology and Witchcraft, 2nd edn (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2004), pp. 94–100.

  66. 66.

    Vogl (1970 [1935]), pp. 31–2; Allen (2000), p. 33.

  67. 67.

    On Hughes’s first exorcism see Allen (2000), pp. 35–8.

  68. 68.

    Ibid. pp. 86–90.

  69. 69.

    Ibid. pp. 216–20.

  70. 70.

    Allen (2000), pp. 72–5.

  71. 71.

    Ibid. p. 289.

  72. 72.

    Vogl (1970 [1935]), pp. 24, 43.

  73. 73.

    Ibid. p. 27.

  74. 74.

    Corrado Balducci listed these theologians in ‘Parapsychology and Diabolic Possession’, International Journal of Parapsychology 8 (1966), pp. 193–212, at p. 203.

  75. 75.

    Hazelgrove, J., Spiritualism and British Society between the Wars (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 53.

  76. 76.

    [Whitehead, A. E.], ‘A Convert through Spiritualism’, The Month (August 1893), reprinted in Thurston, H., The Church and Spiritualism (Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing Co., 1933), pp. 368–84.

  77. 77.

    Miller, A. V., Sermons on Modern Spiritualism (London: Kegan Paul, 1908), pp. 132–8.

  78. 78.

    Hazelgrove (2000), p. 60. The Californian medium Carl Wickland spoke of ‘obsession’ by misguided souls (Wickland, C. A., Thirty Years among the Dead (Los Angeles, CA: Wolfer, 1924), p. 21). On Wickland’s use of exorcistic terminology see Hazelgrove (2000), pp. 66–8.

  79. 79.

    See Young, F., ‘The Dangers of Spiritualism: The Roman Catholic Church’s Campaign against Spiritualism during and after the First World War’, Paranormal Review 71 (June 2014), pp. 18–20.

  80. 80.

    Raupert, J. G., Christ and the Powers of Darkness (London: Heath, Cranton and Ouseley, 1914), pp. 83–96.

  81. 81.

    Ibid. pp. 128–9.

  82. 82.

    Raupert, J. G., ‘The Truth about the Ouija Board’, American Ecclesiastical Review (November 1918), pp. 463–78, at p. 475; see also Raupert, J. G., The New Black Magic and the Truth about the Ouija Board (New York: Devin-Adair, 1919), pp. 205–34. On Raupert see Hazelgrove (2000), pp. 136–7.

  83. 83.

    Hazelgrove (2000), p. 133.

  84. 84.

    Summers, M., A History of Witchcraft and Demonology (London: Kegan Paul, 1926), pp. 211–19.

  85. 85.

    Ibid. pp. 250–69.

  86. 86.

    Thurston. H., The Church and Spiritualism (Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing Co., 1933), p. 21. On this correspondence see Kollar, R., ‘Spiritualism and Religion: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Critique of Christianity and a Roman Catholic Response’, Recusant History 24 (1999), pp. 397–413.

  87. 87.

    Wiesinger, A. (trans. B. Battershaw), Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology (London: Burns and Oates, 1957), pp. 253–5.

  88. 88.

    Balducci (1959), pp. 324–5, 393–425.

  89. 89.

    Thurston (1933), pp. 143–66; Wiesinger (1955), pp. 170–2.

  90. 90.

    Balducci (1966), p. 193.

  91. 91.

    Ibid. pp. 195–7.

  92. 92.

    Ibid. pp. 198–200.

  93. 93.

    Ibid. p. 202.

  94. 94.

    Ibid. pp. 203–5.

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    Francis Young

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Young, F. (2016). Exorcism in an Age of Doubt: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. In: A History of Exorcism in Catholic Christianity. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29112-3_7

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