and sued in the Courts for a return of her dowry, and was thereafter reckoned as a man.
Phlegon writes: “A virgin born at Smyrna named Philotis was, on reaching maturity, given by her parents in marriage to a man: but a masculine organ appeared and she changed into a man. Also in Laodicea in Syria a woman named Aeteta was changed into a man while in the very act with her husband, Aetetus. This was when Macrinus was Governor of Athens, and Lucius Lamia and Aelianus were Consuls at Rome.”
Michel de Montaigne says that in his time there was at Viering a girl named Maria who, as she was dancing rather vigorously, was suddenly made a man by the sprouting of male organs, and was given in the Sacrament of Confirmation by the Bishop of Soissons the name of Germain, by which she began to be known. A beard grew upon her chin, and she lived long, even to a decrepit old age, but never married a wife.
If this can come about naturally, as so many authors maintain, I should think that with God’s permission it is possible to the devil, relying upon natural causes.
☆
Chapter XVII
Whether the Spirits of the Dead can Appear to Men.
Argument.
All the faithful of Christ are agreed that, through the power and might of God, the souls of the departed can and do at times appear to the living. For we read that Christ appeared to S. Peter when the Apostle was fleeing from persecution, and said that He was going to Rome to be crucified again.
Our Holy Father Ambrose bears witness to the appearance of spirits in his Contra Auxentium de basilicis tradendis. Dionysius the Areopagite writes that Jesus appeared with a great company of Angels and blamed him for his harshness in seeking to punish the sins of his brother and seducer.
S. Justin Martyr testifies that the souls of the dead return and at times appear, maintaining that the spirit of Samuel was actually called up. Tertullian supports this view in the following words: “But if the Divine Power has recalled the souls of some to their bodies to witness to His truth, we must not on that account give credence to the claims of witches, to illusive dreams, or to poetic fables.” Origen speaks as follows in refutation of Celsus: “The wicked spirit, which is bound to the, earth by horrid crimes so that it may not aspire to Heaven, goes wandering about the earth haunting graveyards; and in such places shadowy ghosts are most often seen dwelling upon this earth. And it is to be thought that of such sort are the spirits of those in every age who have been snared and bound in witchcraft.” And in the time of Origen, the Blessed Potamiaena appeared to the murderer Basilides and converted him to the faith, as we are told by Eusebius, and by Origen himself, contra Celsum, Bk. I.
S. Gregory of Nyssa, in his most authoritative Life of S. Gregory the Thaumaturge, writes that the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. John the Evangelist appeared to him. See also S. Cyprian, De Uisionibus Nocturnis, Epist. 12 and 69, where he argues against those who despise such visions. S. Ambrose, in Sermon 90, says that while her family were watching by the tomb of S. Agnes one night, she appeared to them and said: “Do not mourn for me as dead, my kinsmen,” etc.
In the year of Our Lord 300 Christ appeared to S. Peter of Alexandria in the form of a boy asking for his robe which had been torn by Arius (Surius,
