Compendium Maleficarum/Book 2/Chapter 16

by Francesco Maria Guazzo

Chapter XVI.

The Devil Deceives and Seduces by means of False Revelations or Apparitions.

Argument.

Touching revelations or visions and as to the character of the person who sees them, much must be taken into consideration if the true are to be distinguished from the false. In the first place it must be discovered whether such a person is of the true Catholic faith; for no credence can be placed in the visions of devil-worshippers or heretics. In the town of Gretz, in the year 1601, there were a man and his wife who persistently declared that it was through them alone that the Church had endured. Therefore the father baptised their children, with the mother acting as sponsor. They foretold that the world would come to an end in that year; but they were hanged, and by their own death anticipated that of the world.

Secondly, it must be considered fanatic, for no belief may be placed in the revelations or prophecies of such. Firmilian^[1] sent to S. Cyprian many who had been deluded by a woman of this sort (Epistola lxxiv.).

Thirdly, it must be examined whether the person’s honesty and virtues point to the sincerity of his faith, or whether his vices and notable imperfections constitute a contrary indication. For we must not believe the proud and ambitious, the impatient, the carnally minded, drunkards, those who cherish anger or stir up hatred and spread dissent, or those who defame others; nor hypocrites who display and parade some exceptional proof of devotion and penitence, against the approval of their superiors in the Church.

Fourthly, the state of his body must be considered. For if his health is not robust, if he suffers from a retching of the black bile, if his body is wasted through excessive fasting or want of sleep; if he is injured in the brain, or is excessively timid and subject to a violent clouding of the imagination; none such are to be credited. For it is said that such men, even when they are awake, think they see, hear or taste that which is not there to be seen or heard or tasted; for the devil easily deludes them, since they eagerly accept and believe the images of false appearances.

Fifthly, the consideration of their age and sex must not be neglected. For in their declining years persons are often delirious; and if they are children there is the risk of a light and morbid imagination, since the brains of children are more humid than the normal, and are full of vapours and are influenced by a little thing. Therefore in times past the demons used to love to utter their oracles through children’s mouths, as being more adapted to their work. And as for the female sex, it is agreed that this must be regarded with the greater suspicion, as is noted by Johann Nider^[2] in the Praeceptorum, I, 11, in the Question De Diuinatione.

Sixthly, it should be considered whether the person is an old practitioner of such spiritual exercises, or whether she is only a novice; whether the devil has in other ways attempted, with or without success, to deceive her; and whether her former prophecies were true, and, if not, which of them were false. If she is a novice there must be suspicion of fraud. For, according to Gerson, the fervour of a novice is soon misled if she has none to control her, especially in the case of the young and of women, whose fervour is too eager, captious and unbridled, and therefore suspect. By this indication Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola (De rerum praenotione, IX. 3) discovered the falsity of a certain revelation or vision, after other indications had tended to prove its truth; for the devil, to give his vanities an appearance of verity, had begun to speak in the likeness of our Lord Christ.

I said above that the sex is to be taken into consideration; for, other things being equal, greater faith is to be placed in the revelations of men. The feminine sex is more foolish, and more apt to mistake natural or demoniacal suggestions for ones of Divine origin. Women, too, are of a more humid and viscous nature, more easily influenced to perceive various phantoms, and slower and more loath to resist such impulses. Therefore women are quicker to imagine, but men are less obstinate in holding to their imaginings; and since women have less power of reasoning and less wisdom, it is easier for the devil to delude them with false and deceptive apparitions.

Further, since women are lascivious, luxurious and avaricious in their manner of life (as Apollonius has remarked), it must be noted whether such prophetesses are particularly garrulous, of a roaming disposition, evildoers, greedy of praise, passionate, and whether in their teaching or in their attitude towards the Sacraments of the Church they show themselves in any way opposed to the Apostolic doctrine. For women of this sort not only deceive themselves, but drag even learned men to destruction when these place too much credence in them, as will be shown in the examples.

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Examples.

Father José de Acosta,^[3] in the De temporibus nouissimis, Bk. II, ch. ii., relates the following:—

In the Kingdom of Peru there was a man who was at that time held to be of great ability, a learned professor of Theology, a pious Catholic of long standing, and almost esteemed the marvel of his age. This man became familiar with a woman who declared that she had been taught certain mysteries by an Angel and was not infrequently thrown into a trance (or rather she pretended to be rapt) like another Priscilla^[4] or a Maximilla among the Montanists: and he was so enslaved by her that he often consulted her upon the deepest points of Theology and in all things treated her as an oracle, proclaiming that she was filled with mighty revelations and was very dear to God. Yet in other respects she was mundane enough and had very little intelligence except for constructing lies. But whether she was possessed by the devil (as is the easier to believe) when she went into this sort of ecstasy, or whether she cleverly simulated it (as many prudent men have thought), the result was that the Theologian, hearing from the woman many wonders concerning himself and wishing greatly to enhance his future importance, freely avowed himself a disciple of him whom the woman called her spiritual father. What followed? The man was so far led astray that he tried to perform miracles, and was persuaded that he did perform them, although there was never even the slightest indication of a miracle. For this reason, and because he had taken from that prophetess certain doctrines foreign to the teaching of the Catholic Church, he was, to the amazement of the whole Kingdom, seized by the Judges of the most Holy Inquisition, and was for five years patiently heard and examined, until finally he was clearly proved to be the proudest and maddest of all men. For although he most obstinately maintained that he had been divinely gifted with an Angel from whom he learned all that he wished, and that he was on terms of the most familiar conversation with God Himself, yet he proclaimed the wildest absurdities which no one could believe it possible for any man to give utterance to unless he were quite out of his mind. None the less, as to his intellect, it seemed to all that no one could be saner. He soberly affirmed that he would be King and Pope, when the Apostolic See had been transferred to that Kingdom; that he had been endowed with a sanctity above all Angels and Celestial Choirs and Apostles, and that God had even offered him a hypostatic union with Himself, but that he had declined this: that he had been sent to be the redeemer of the world in point of efficacy, whereas Christ (as he said) had been so only in point of sufficiency. All the laws of the Church were to be abrogated, and he would make new laws which would be easy and clear: the celibacy of the clergy should be abolished, and plurality of wives allowed, and holy confession should no longer be obligatory. These and other arguments he maintained so strongly that all were astonished that a man with such opinions should not be mad. Finally after a long exposure of his frantic behaviour and when he had been found guilty of more than a hundred and ten doctrines which were heretical or foreign to the true teaching of the Church, skilled theologians were bidden, after the manner of that holy Tribunal, to reason with the man and try to bring him back to his senses and his faith. Accordingly the Judges and the Bishop of Quito^[5] and three other doctors met together, and the man was brought into their presence, where he defended his most pernicious cause with such fluency and eloquence that to this very day, says the writer, I am astounded that the pride of the human mind could proceed to such lengths. He professed that he could not prove his doctrine except by the Holy Scriptures and by miracles, which were above all human reasoning; yea, that he had indeed proved his arguments by the authority of the Scriptures far more clearly and effectively than S. Paul proved that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah: that he had performed so many and such mighty miracles that the resurrection of Christ was no greater. For he said that he had actually died and risen again, and that he had most clearly manifested this. He quoted from memory (for he had no book, and even his breviary had been taken from him) so many long passages from the Prophets, the Apocalypse, the Psalms, and other Books, that it was wonderful merely as a feat of memory: but he so twisted them to his argument, and so allegorised, that it would have made anyone either laugh or weep. Finally he said that, if we wished him to prove his case by miracles, he was ready to perform them at once. And then the poor fellow proceeded to speak in a manner that suggested either that he thought we were mad, or that he was mad himself. For he said that it had been revealed to him that the Archduke John of Austria had been defeated at sea by the Turks, and that the Kingdom of Spain had been nearly lost by the invincible Philip, and that a Council had been held at Rome to consider the deposition of Pope Gregory^[6] and the election of another. All that he told us that we might know just as surely as if we had received certain news of them, saying that he could only through some divine quality have had knowledge of them. And although all this was so false that nothing could be falser, yet he maintained it all as very truth. Finally when after two days’ reasoning we could do no good, and he had been taken as the Spanish law directs, to be shown to the public with the other criminals, he kept looking up to Heaven waiting for the fire to descend upon the Inquisitor and everyone else as the devil had promised him it should. No fire from above seized upon us, however; but the fire from below seized upon that King, that Pope, Redeemer, and Legislator, and burned him to ashes. So says Father José.

We read in Surius (1 June) that S. Simeon^[7] the Monk of Trèves was sent by divine command to live at the top of Mount Sinai. One night a demon appeared to him in the form of an angel and bade him celebrate Mass. Between sleeping and waking, he objected that no one who was not in Priest’s Orders must undertake that office; but the Enemy urged that he was a messenger from God, and that it was Christ’s will, for it was not right that the holy place should any longer be without such a celebration. While he yet argued and resisted, the demon, with the help of another demon, dragged him from his bed and set him, now fully awake, before the altar, and put an alb upon him; but there was a dispute about the stole. For the Enemy would have him wear it after the manner of a priest, but Simeon said he should wear it as a deacon. At length the servant of God came to himself by virtue of prayer, and drove off the Enemy by the sign of the Cross, and bemoaned that he had been deceived.

That Deceiving Spirit, seeing amongst the Premonstratensian Canons^[8] certain ignorant triflers whom he had long recognised as his own vessels since they devoted themselves to idleness and pleasure, so filled them with his false illusion of wisdom that they, who had before been scarcely able to read from a book, now quoted grave matters from books and prophesied even greater and more astounding things for the future. One of them maintained that he understood the prophecy of Daniel and, under a lying inspiration, made certain pronouncements with regard to the passage where the prophet writes of the four and the seven and the ten horns and the kings and Antichrist; and so he gained the ears of the more simple, and if it had been possible would have led into error even the man of God the Venerable Abbot Simon of S. Nicolas. For his arrogance went so far that, when they were sitting in the presence of the Superior, he dared to preach a sermon upon that Chapter. One who heard and saw it bears witness to the truth of this, and as a proof has given us the beginning of that sermon, as follows:—“Be ye valiant in war, and fight against that old Serpent.” These words did that lying spirit utter through this man’s mouth; but he was in no way able to proceed to the truth which follows, namely: “And ye shall receive the eternal Kingdom.” When the Deceiving Spirit saw that he could not wholly delude his hearers, being wonderfully full of guile he turned with the greater skill to other methods of deceit; so that if he could not openly subvert those who were on their guard, he might at least disturb them in their meditations. Accordingly that same cleric who was his minister in this work was seized with a sudden and very grave sickness; and whereas he had confined his pronouncements to visible matters, he now turned his face to Heaven and did not fear to speak of matters invisible and ineffable. The Brothers, as is the custom, ran up to give him Unction, and to hear his words; for he said much of himself, but more of many of those who stood round him. Of himself he said that on that same evening he would either be with the Angels in Heaven, or he would be standing restored to health with the Brothers in the choir. Of the others, he considered the character of each and said as if prophesying and prognosticating: “This man, when I was lately borne up to Heaven in the church, I saw called to eternity”; and so he foretold various things of the others.

Here note, reader, the degree of the devil’s pride when he chooses the ignorant and makes them appear learned. Then he causes them to interpret the Scriptures and to preach before their superiors in places where they should be silent.

Ribadeneira^[9] in his Life of S. Ignatius Loyola (V, 10) writes that a few years ago in Belgium in one of the cities of Hainault there was a nun who was thought to be possessed, and she was led to the Superior of her Order to be exorcised. But when the ceremony had already been proceeding a long time, she began to speak successively with different voices, in a gentler voice claiming that she was Christ Our Lord God, while her other voice was harsher and more like a demon: and (with this) she openly blurted out many impieties, and much that was apparently devout; and so some who should have known better came to believe that now Jesus and now the devil spoke through her. This matter so full of danger and deception was carried to such an extent that the woman, as if Christ were speaking through her, dared with solemn intention to utter the canonical words and consecrate the Bloodless Sacrifice; and (ah, woe!) certain pious but ignorant or rash persons bowed in adoration before the unleavened bread consecrated (or rather, let it be said, execrated) by this priestess (but not after the order of Melchisedech) and as if it were the live Body of the Lord brought and placed candles upon the altar and venerated it. Yet there were two indications that it was an imposture; first the fact that she was a possessed woman, and secondly that she dared to usurp the priestly office which belongs to men, not women. But God deliver us from the like!

In two of the above examples we have shown what fruit may come of intercourse with women of fictitious holiness. I will here in a very few words add a third instance, and Tertullian^[10] himself testifies is indeed a signal example. For he, most profound scholar of his time, trusting in the visions of women as concerning the quantity and colour of the soul, forgot all that he had most learnedly and truthfully written against such women and fell into gross and ridiculous errors.

Francesco Benci^[11] adds the following example. During the year 1590, in a certain outlying district near the town of Arona, some thirty women were tormented by the devil. Most of them were girls of the humblest station, and those especially were afflicted who were bound by a vow of virginity; for it was wonderful with what wiles he surrounded them and with what arts he attacked them, assuming various forms to tempt them to sin or to deter them from honesty. Now he would take the appearance and piety of a monk, or even (a thing which the ears shudder to hear) that of Christ Himself upon the Cross persuading them to impious deeds. Now he would appear as a bear or a lion or a serpent about to rush with gaping mouth upon the virgins and devour them in one gulp. At other times he appeared as a soldier with his dishonourable weapon thrust out, threatening them with fire and thunder if he could not achieve his aim. But their virgin simplicity, with the help of God, overcame all his subtleties. Great indeed was their faith, and with that shield they quenched the fiery darts of the Evil One. Let us relate two of the many stories which are told of these virgins. One of them, who was born of noble parents and had been gently reared, was much disturbed one night by the devil’s temptings; and therefore, though it was mid-winter and bitterly cold, she left her bed and slept naked on the bare floor. But when the flame of her desire in no way decreased (for a mighty fire does but burn the more when water is thrown upon it), she stole from her bedroom into the garden and there, in emulation of the great S. Francis who she had heard had done the same, threw her body into a bank of snow; and, although the demon (who was visible to her) raved and gnashed his teeth, she rolled in the snow so long that she wholly quenched her internal fire with the external cold. To another of these virgins the demon likewise appeared at night in the form of S. Ursula bearing the banner of the Cross with a company of many virgins, and spoke to her as follows: “God sees and loves your zeal in keeping your chastity. But because it is somewhat difficult for you in your father’s house, with so much bustle of people coming and going, and so many dangers to be encountered, to avoid contaminating your mind in some part, He has sent us to take you to a Convent of Holy Virgins who have put aside all other cares to serve His will with all their strength.” The virgin, with the breath of God upon her, feared some ambush of the devil and drew her right hand from her brow to her breast, and then from left to right in the form of the Cross, and protested that she was most unworthy of such a vision and so great an honour. And she added: “Neither have I very great faith in you, for I fear some hidden guile in your specious counsel. But if you are the messengers of God, then humbly adore these Relics of the Saints.” (For she was wearing these about her neck.) Strange to say, the devils knelt in worship before them, and urged her all the more to hasten her departure with them. But she said: “I may not come to any grave decision without the advice of my spiritual father, and it is not seemly for me to go to him at this hour of the night. Do you, therefore, approach him and make known the commands of God; and when it is day I will come and abide by his advice.” At this answer the demons threw off all disguise and hid themselves in their own darkness, raging at, and attacking with their tongues only, and pouring insults and vituperations upon the maiden, who mocked at them and humbly gave thanks to God. What greater wisdom could there be than that of this virgin? But indeed true wisdom became hers who bound herself with the girdle of chastity.

I will add an example of a remarkable precaution, by which we are taught that nothing is safer for a man than to mistrust his own judgement, and to preserve his obedience to his superior even in the face of a vision which compels his belief. S. Genebald,^[12] Bishop of Laon, formed a friendship, which arose from the best of motives, with a woman; but such is human frailty that at last he had carnal intercourse with her. Afterwards he came to his senses and confessed to S. Remigius of Reims. He was shut in a narrow cell like a tomb, and there did bitter penance for seven years. In the seventh year at the vigil of the Lord’s Supper, while S. Genebald was spending the night in prayer and lamentation, about the middle of the night an Angel of the Lord came to him in a great light in the cell where he lay, and said to him: “Genebald, the prayers of your father Remigius for you have been heard, and the Lord has accepted your penitence and your sin is absolved. Arise and go hence, and perforin your Episcopal duties and reconcile penitent sinners with the Lord.” But S. Genebald was too terrified to answer anything. Then the Angel of the Lord comforted him and told him not to fear, but to rejoice in the mercy of God shown to him. Thus encouraged, he said to the Angel: “I cannot go from here; for my Lord and father Remigius carries with him the key of this door, and he has sealed it with his seal.” And the Angel said to him: “Do not doubt: I am sent from the Lord. Even as Heaven is open to you, so also will this door open.” And at once the door was opened, the wax of the seal being yet unbroken. Here, then, are the signs of a true vision: for first he was afraid, and then he was comforted; and the unbroken seal and wax was a true and patent miracle.

Ah, how different was that virgin of Ghent in our own times!

This miserable woman spent much time in prayer and frequently assisted at Mass, but either she did not go often enough to a confessor or, if she did, she did not unfeignedly open to him the secrets of her heart, or else she did not follow his good advice. In any case, by degrees and in various visions the devil filled her with spiritual pride, and at last persuaded her that in all other merits she was the equal of the Virgin Mary, but that the one thing lacking to her was fertility joined with spotless virginity; and that, if she persevered, she would achieve that also. Oh madness, worthy of the folly of women! After that she no longer despised confession but used it regularly for some years, at the same time partaking of the Holy Communion. What followed? Once when she was in church awaiting her Communion, and was fervently praying for that one remaining benefit, she heard a voice say: “Be of good heart, beloved; for know that your prayer is heard and you are permitted to become pregnant with all the prerogatives of chastity. Have faith that you have conceived from heaven.” (For she had lain with the demon who was pretending to be an Angel.) She went home, and felt her womb swelling; and after the due period of gestation she went to a pious and discreet citizen who was well known, and told him all, and asked that she might give birth in the interior of his house, begging him to keep it secret. The man did not believe her story about her visions, yet he would not thrust the woman from his house; for the Sectarians were just then gaining ground, and he feared that if this matter were made public it would give rise to blasphemous and injurious utterances by the heretics. Therefore he took her in and, having engaged a trustworthy midwife, awaited her deliverance. The unhappy woman was afflicted with violent pains, and at length, instead of a human child, shed from her womb a great quantity of horrible, ugly and vile worms, so terrible to see that all were appalled, and of so foul a stench that it nearly killed all who were present. So at last the wretched woman understood that she had been deluded, and that she had reaped the merited fruit of her pride from the Prince of Pride. In this way was the woman deceived.

S. Friard^[13] and his companion, the Deacon Secondel, remained perfectly stable in their anchoretic vocation upon an island, each having his own cell at a long distance from the other’s. As they were labouring in strenuous prayer, the Tempter appeared at night to the Deacon Secondel in the likeness of the Lord, saying: “I am Christ to whom you continually pray. And now you are a Saint, and I have written your name in the Book of Life with the rest of my Saints. Depart now from this island, and go among the people healing the sick.” Deceived by this illusion he departed from the island without telling his companion; and when he placed his hands upon the sick in the name of Christ they were moreover healed, after a long time he returned to the island and came with great glory to his companion, saying: “I went from the island and have done many mighty works among the people.” The other was appalled, and asked what he meant; and he told him simply all that he had done. But the old man was amazed, and said with sighs and tears; “Woe to us! How terribly do I hear that you have been deceived by the Tempter! Come now and do penance, lest his wiles prevail over you.” Secondel, understanding his error, fell weeping at his feet and begged him to intercede for him with God; and the Saint said to him; “Come, let us both pray the Almighty for the safety of your soul: for He is not a hard God to those who trust in His mercy, as He said by the Prophet.^[14] I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn and live.” While they were praying the Tempter came again in the same likeness to the Deacon Secondel, saying: “Did I not tell you, because my sheep were sick and without a shepherd, to go out and visit them and heal their sickness?” But he answered: “I know now of a truth that you are a seducer, and I do not believe that you are God, whose image you falsely assume. But if you are Christ, show me your Cross which you have left behind, and I will believe you.” And when he could not show it, and the Deacon had made the sign of the Cross upon his face, he vanished in confusion.

Albert Leander^[15] tells us that when Blessed Jordan^[16] of Saxony, the Master General of the Order of Preaching Friars, was suffering from an acute fever, there chanced to be with the venerable Father the Superior, or Prior, of a certain friary of the same Order, a discreet man, skilful, provident, learned and of sober behaviour, who brought him some medical assistance. But he could read the mind of Father Jordan and knew that in his very sickness he bore himself very stiffly towards him. Therefore he said: “Father, a sick man must in all things be subject to his physician if he wishes to recover his former health. Wherefore, although you are the chief and head of our religious Order, now that you are sick you must lay aside your headship and subject yourself to me and obey me. And, if you do this, I have no fear but that in a short time you will go away from here cured.” The Venerable Father agreed, and at the order of the prudent Prior lay upon a bed of feathers, contrary to the custom of the Order. In the night the devil came in the form of an Angel and said to him, as if in astonishment: “Is this the famous Jordan so renowned among all men? Is this the Master and Father of the esteemed Order of Preachers? I should doubt it if I had not known you before. Oh how vile and imprudent you have become, that you lie upon a bed of feathers and silken stuffs like one of the Lords of the earth. Unhappy man, what an example you give to the Brethren of your Order! Yet God has not forgotten you, for He has sent me to correct you. Rise therefore from your bed and cast yourself in prayer upon the ground.” And at once, when the devil had vanished, Jordan threw himself in terror to the ground, and after the dawn he was found so lying by the Prior and the Brethren. The Prior seized him roughly and compelled him, on his obedience, to lie upon the bed prepared for him. On the following night the devil came again in the same likeness, and chid him more than before for his disobedience, and ordered him to jump down on to the ground. When the Prior again saw him in the morning lying on the ground he was at first angry, saying: “I wonder at your simplicity, not to say ignorance, that you have presumed to act thus in disobedience and to the danger not only of your body but of your soul. For I call God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, to witness that, for my part, I would not for the whole world sin so gravely against God and the Order.” And so saying he burst into a flood of tears. Seeing this, the Venerable Father himself wept and fell at his feet, and told him of his visions, or rather illusions, and how, as he guessed, it had been the devil, transfigured into the form of an Angel of Light. The Prior was then seized with astonishment and became softened to him through pity, and told him to climb into bed: for these happenings had brought him such a weakness of the limbs and such an induration of his humours that he hardly had breath left for sleep. On the third night the devil came as before, but as soon as he saw him the Holy Man said: “O shameless dog! O most wicked foe to the human race! O filthy beast! How have you dared to delude my simplicity under a cloak of zeal for our Order? Had it not been permitted by the dispensation of Almighty God, I should have been more prudent in noting that obedience is far better than the sacrifices of fools.” And spitting in his face, he put him to flight.

Not long after his death S. Meinolf^[17] the canon of Paderborn and Confessor appeared in a vision to one of his sacristans, urging him quickly to renounce the world and its pomps, and to fight under the banner of the Eternal King. But the man took the vision to be an illusion, and made no attempt to mend his life. The Saint had pity on his infirmity and again warned him as before: but when even so he took no thought for correcting his life, he appeared the third time and said: “You know not, unhappy wretch, you know not how the savage Thief is claiming your soul for himself; for he it is who has persuaded you to disobey the message of God and of me who am sent by Him. When you were plainly going astray in evil living and would not of your own will desist from sinning, a Divine revelation warned you so that you might thus betake yourself to better fruits. But, fool that you are, you allowed yourself to be miserably and perniciously deluded, taking a true revelation to be a fantastic illusion. For none of the faithful can be in doubt that there is no illusion about that revelation which invites a man to Christian piety and religion. But if such a vision were to come to you while you were awake, you ought in no wise to despise it: and since words will not serve to correct you, we must proceed to deeds. Therefore, that I may make it plain that the vision which you affect to misunderstand was a very true one, you shall be left in no doubt at all.” When the Saint had said this, the man arose and found that his entire beard had been torn from his chin, and all sleep fled far from his eyes.

Cardinal Jacques de Vitry,^[18] in his Book de Mulieribus Leodiensibus, I, 9, tells that a friend of Blessed Marie d’Oignies was notably infested by an evil spirit which walked in darkness at noon-tide and was sometimes violently and sometimes cunningly dangerous. For the subtle Enemy transfigured himself into an Angel of light and appeared to him familiarly in dreams under the cloak of piety, sometimes reproving him for certain faults, sometimes fraudulently urging him to good works; so giving him as it were a false seeming antidote that anon he might the more secretly instil his poison, and caressed him with a honeyed tongue that he might afterwards sink his teeth in and bind him securely to his tail. For when the man had put a complete trust in him, then that Betrayer, like a sophist or impostor, so covered his falsehoods with a shadow of truth that at length by his machinations he led that Brother to what would have been a disastrous conclusion of his life, had not the handmaiden of Christ learned through the revelation of the Holy Spirit the deceits of that cunning Enemy. For she told the man that those revelations of his were not from God but were illusions of a wicked demon: but he on the other part objected, guided by his own spirit instead of the Holy Spirit, saying: “That spirit has brought me so many benefits, and has truthfully foretold so much of the future, that I am sure he does not wish to impose upon me.” The woman then had recourse to her customary weapon of prayer (see, what a sure remedy and shield it is!), and watered with her tears the feet of the Crucifix, assailing Heaven with her prayers; nor did she cease until that wicked Impostor with much groaning and shame came to her as she prayed in her cell at night. Seeing him thus clothed in false splendour, she said: “Who are you, and what are you called?” He looking proudly and balefully at her said: “I am he whom you with your cursed prayers have compelled to come to you; and you are trying to take from me my friend by force. I am called Dream; for I appear in visions in the likeness of Lucifer to many, especially to Religious, and they obey me and by my consolations are driven from their senses and consider themselves worthy to converse with Gods and Angels. And I was just about to lead from righteousness that friend of mine who is lost to me through your will.” And so it proved in the event. But the adder’s eggs were broken, and the evil counsels of the Wicked One were brought to light.

In his De schismate Anglicano Nicholas Sander^[19] relates how the heretics formed an unheard of Plot^[20] to rouse a turbulent mob to disturb the people of London and urge them to sedition and heresy. They persuaded a girl eighteen years of age, corrupted both by heresy and bribes, to act the following abominable lie. She permitted herself to be shut up for a time between two walls in an obscure corner of a certain house, and through a suitable crack to utter such words as were suggested to her by the plotters. The girl’s name was Elizabeth Croft, and the name of the author of the plot was Drake. Accordingly, having been thus instructed and posted in the place convenient for the deception, the girl kept making wonderful utterances from her hiding place, so loudly that all the neighbours could hear her. They ran up from all directions to see what it was, and in their wonder declared that it was not a mortal voice, but the voice of an Angel. That spirit threatened the city and the country with misery, suffering and every misfortune if they permitted the Spanish marriage, or communion with the Pope of Rome. The voice also uttered much in the manner of an oracle against the Holy Sacrifice and the rest of the Catholic Faith. Some of the conspirators took care to mingle with the crowd and interpret the prophetic and darker sayings of this spirit as admonitions for the subversion of religion and the stirring up of sedition. The Lord Mayor, to appease the multitude and to see what the matter was, found some difficulty in exposing the fraud: but at last he decided to pull down the wall and those next to it, whence the voice seemed to come. The wretched girl was then discovered and was questioned as to who had induced and persuaded her to act in that way; and she at once confessed that she had been led to that horrible wickedness by certain seditious sectaries, and especially by the villain who was called Drake.

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1. “Firmilian.” Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, died c. 269.
2. “Nider.” I have used the Douai edition, 1612, of the “Praeceptorum diuinae legis.” There were seventeen editions of this book before 1500.
3. “José de Acosta.” 1540–1600. It has been said that few members of the Society of Jesus in the sixteenth century have been so uniformly eulogized as Father Acosta. His learning and the philosophic spirit pervading his many works attracted the widest attention. Born at Medina del Campo he became a Jesuit novice at thirteen, and in April 1569 he was sent to Lima, the Jesuits having been established in Peru during the preceding year. In Peru, through which country he travelled extensively, he occupied many important positions. Returning to Europe he filled the chair of theology at the Roman College in 1594, and at the time of his death he was rector of the College of Salamanca. A good biography and a short bibliography of José de Acosta will be found in Enrique Torres Saldanando’s “Los antiguos Jesuitas del Perú,” Lima, 1882.
4. “Priscilla.” Or Prisca (also called by Epiphanius Quintilla), and Maximilla, two prophetesses, together with the prophet Montanas founded the sect called Montanists, schismatics of the second century. The headquarters of these enthusiasts were in the village of Pepuza, and the ecstatics did not so much speak as messengers of God but vaunted that they were possessed by God and uttered oracles in His Person. It appears that the extravagances of the sect increased after the deaths of the founders (Maximilla must have died about the end 179, Montanus and Priscilla yet earlier); but Tertullian, the most famous of the Montanists who definitely broke away from the Church in 207, merely emphasised those particulars of the Montanist teaching that appealed to him and almost ignored the remainder which was presently to degenerate into Gnostic theosophy and other fantastical heresies.
5. “Quito.” The Diocese of Quito was created by Paul III on 8 January, 1545, at the request of Charles V, and made suffragan of Lima. By the Bull “Nos semper Romanis Pontificibus,” 13 January, 1848, Pius IX made Quito a Metropolitan See.
6. “Pope Gregory.” Gregory XIII, who reigned 1572–1585.
7. “S. Simeon.” In the “Roman Martyrology” under 1 June is inscribed: “At Trèves, of S. Simeon, a monk who was numbered among the Saints by Pope Benedict IX.”
8. “Premonstratensian Canons.” This history is from Surius under 6 June, the Feast of S. Norbert, the Founder of the Order of Premontri.
9. “Ribadeneira.” Pedro de Ribadeneira, S.J., 1526–1611, wrote his “Life of S. Ignatius” as an eye-witness of many of the events. It appeared for the first time in Latin at Naples, 1572. The first Spanish edition was 1583. The final text may be accounted the edition of 1594. This book was soon translated into almost all European languages.
10. “Tertullian.” Labriolle dates the “De Anima” 208–11, and by 207 Tertullian had definitely broken away from the Church to embrace Montanism, of which sect the prophetesses were Maximilla and Priscilla. Tertullian was indeed in Guazzo’s phrase “sui temporis doctissimus” for of him S. Jerome writes: “Quid Tertulliano eruditius, quid acutius? Apologeticus eius et contra Gentiles libri cunctam saeculi continent disciplinam.” “Epistola LXX.”
11. “Francesco Benci.” A Milanese writer of local gazettes and intelligences.
12. “S. Genebald.” As the nephew of S. Remigius, S. Genebald, first Bishop of Laon, who was appointed to that see in 497, is much venerated in the Diocese of Reims.
13. “S. Friard.” The two holy hermits S. Friard and S. Secondel of Besne (sixth century) are particularly honoured in the diocese of Nantes. Guazzo has his history from S. Gregory of Tours, “De uita Patrum,” X, and one may also consult Surius under 1 August.
14. “Prophet.” Ezechiel, xxxiii, 11.
15. “Albert Leander.” A Dominican writer and hagiographir of the sixteenth century. The history is from his “Uita B. lordanis,” xxi and xxii.
16. “Blessed Jordan.” The Second Master General of the Dominicans, which Order he ruled from 1222–1237. His cult was confirmed by Leo XII and his feast is kept on 15 February.
17. “S. Meinolf.” S. Meinolf was a canon of the Cathedral chapter of Paderborn in the first half of the ninth century, and the founder of the Böddeken monastery. His feast is kept on 5 October and his life by Person Gobelinus (“Uita Meinulphi”) will be found in the “Acta Sanctorum” of the Bollandists, October, vol. II, 216, sqq.
18. “Jacques de Vitry.” Historian of the Crusades, cardinal, Bishop of Acre, and later of Tusculum, was born c. 1160 and died at Rome 1240. After attending the University of Paris he visited Marie d’Oignies, a mystic of the Diocese of Liège, who had won a great reputation for sanctity. Acting upon her advice he became a Canon Regular and from 1210 to 1213 he was one of the most eminent preachers of the crusade against the Albigenses. His “Liber de Mulieribus Leodiensibus” is very famous. The most celebrated of these holy women was Marie d’Oignies, whose visions he relates; see “Acta Sanctorum,” June, vol. IV, 636, 666.

    S. Marie d’Oignies was born at Nivelles about 1177 and died at the béguinage of Oignies in 1213. Her feast is kept in the dioceses of Namur and Liège on 23 June. Her holy Relics were enshrined by order of Pope Paul V in 1603.

19. “Nicholas Sander.” 1530–1581. Educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, he graduated in 1551. Under Elizabeth he had to fly the country and was ordained at Rome. His writings are very valuable and he did much to help the oppressed Catholics during the Elizabethan persecutions. The most widely known of his books is the “De schismate Anglicano,” which was published after his death, first at Cologne in 1585 and in the following year with many additions by Father Parsons at Rome. It has been translated into various languages and frequently reprinted.
20. “Plot.” “De schismate Anglicano.” Rome, 1586, “Liber Secundus, Maria” (pp. 342–2), where Sander gives details of this silly and profane plot. Elizabeth Croft or Crofts, an idle wench of eighteen, has found a place in the “Dictionary of National Biography.” Early in 1554 she seems to have concealed herself in the thick wall of a house in Aldersgate Street, and through a whistle or trumpet her voice uttering denunciations of the Catholic Faith, King Philip, and the Queen herself sounded so hollow and loud that large crowds collected, amongst which confederates spread the rumour that the locutions were divinely inspired. Before July 1, 1554, the mysterious voice, “the spirit in the wall,” was traced, and Elizabeth sent to Newgate. Drake, Sir Antony Knyvett’s servant, had supplied the whistle and a rabble of low rascals were numbered among his accomplices. On Sunday, 15 July, Elizabeth Crofts was set on a scaffold by S. Paul’s Cross, and there she read her public confession and on her knees asked forgiveness of the Queen. She returned to prison very penitent, but owing to the clemency of Mary was soon released. See Stowe’s “Annals,” 1554, and the authorities cited in “The Dictionary of National Biography.”