Levack, Brian

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The past is never dead. It's not even pastNOT EVEN PASTSearch the site ...  Like 0 Tweet Brian Levack on Possession andExorcismEver since the beginning of Christianity, the belief has existed that demons can enter thebodies of human beings and take control of their physical movements and mentalfaculties. Those people who reportedly have experienced such possessions, known asdemoniacs, have displayed a wide variety of symptoms, including convulsions, rigidity ofthe limbs, and vomiting extraneous substances such as pins, nails, or stones. A fewdemoniacs were reported to have levitated. The possessed also reportedly conversed inlanguages of which they had no previous knowledge, spoke in deep voices that weredifferent from their normal voices, displayed contempt for sacred objects, utteredblasphemies, went into trances, and foresaw the future. During the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries, the period of the Reformation, there was an “epidemic” of suchpossessions. Some of them were group possessions in which many people in smallcommunities, such as convents and orphanages, displayed the same symptoms.The challenge for historians is to make sense of this bizarre, pathological behavior. Formost people living at the time, the a ictions experienced by demoniacs made perfectsense, since they believed that the Devil or one of his demonic subordinates had thepower to enter people’s bodies against their will. Others, however, including many whobelieved in the existence of the Devil, posed alternative rational, natural explanations whythese demoniacs acted the way they did. The most common “rational” explanation ofwhat was “really happening” to the possessed was that they were either physically ormentally ill: either epileptics or victims of hysteria. In the view of most modernpsychiatrists, demoniacs were simply experiencing some sort of disorder, such asdissociative identity disorder, commonly known as multiple personality syndrome.Brian Levack on Exorcism in Early Modern Europe Privacy  - Terms Another rational explanation was that demoniacs were faking their possessions so thatthey could engage in anti-social or anti-religious behavior without being prosecuted for acriminal or religious offense. They were able to do so because demoniacs were notlegally or morally responsible for anything done or said while possessed, since the Devilwas believed to have forced them to speak or act.Catherine gets sister of Christ Palmerín released from her pact with the devil before dying.Girolamo di Benvenutto (1470-1524), Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA.The only human being who could be held responsible for causing a possession was awitch who commanded the Devil to enter the body of another person. Many of the casesof witchcraft in the Reformation era began when demoniacs accused a person ofcausing their possession by means of witchcraft.Medical and other rational explanations of possession can contribute to an explanationof some possession cases, but they cannot account for all the symptoms displayed bydemoniacs, especially those that re ected the religious views of the possessed. The keyto understanding this phenomenon is to recognize that all demoniacs, eitherconsciously or unconsciously, were following scripts that were encoded in their religiouscultures. They were, in a sense, performers in a sacred drama. Demoniacs learned theirscripts from observing other demoniacs or by reading the many published narratives ofother possessions or by hearing sermons that related the details of famouspossessions. Some of them acquired knowledge of possession scripts from theirexorcists, who suggested things they might say or do while in the state of possession.Nuns in convents often imitated the symptoms of those who had already exhibitedsome of the signs of possession.  In the most famous case of possession inseventeenth-century Europe, the nuns in a convent at Loudun in France, after witnessingthe convulsions and sexual gestures of the Mother Superior, Jeanne des Anges, beganto act in a similar manner. This group possession resulted in a mass exorcism, and it ledto the execution of a parish priest, Urbain Grandier, in 1634 for having caused theirpossession by means of witchcraft.Second part of the pact allegedly signed between Urbain Grandierand the Devil. This half is also signed by Satan, Leviathan,Astaroth, and a number of other demons. This image is fromDictionnaire infernal ou Bibliothèque universelle… by Collin dePlancy (1826)The scripts followed by Catholic and Protestant demoniacs and by the exorcists whotried to dispossess them were different. Catholic demoniacs, for example, were repulsedby the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which is the most distinctive feature ofCatholic sacramental culture. Protestant demoniacs on the other hand often reactedviolently to hearing or even seeing a copy of the Bible, which was the foundation ofProtestant faith. Catholic exorcists appealed to the Virgin Mary and other saints to helpthem expel the invasive demons, whereas Protestants, who emphasized the sovereigntyof God to whom individuals prayed directly, left that task to God alone.  Catholicdemoniacs, especially young Catholic women, tended to display unconventional orprohibited sexual behavior during their possessions, whereas Protestants, who did notbelieve in a hierarchy of moral offenses, exhibited a wide range of sinful activities,including disobedience and playing cards. In more general terms, Catholics emphasizedthe innocence of demoniacs, whereas Protestants stressed their sinfulness. This helpsexplain why there were far more Catholic than Protestant demoniacs, since admittingone’s guilt might lead to the assumption that they were predestined to eternaldamnation.Life of Saint Martin of Tours, Blessed Martin, you are saving a man vexed by a devil. One ofthe four sculptures on the face of the St Martin Duomo in Lucca, Italia.The incidence of demonic possession declined notably in the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies, but in the late twentieth century the number of reported cases increaseddramatically. Celebrity exorcists in Italy, Poland, and Latin America have been in largepart responsible for this increase.  The demoniacs who have  ocked to these exorcistshave not, however, displayed many of the classic symptoms of possession. They havenot, for example vomited pins or blasphemed.  In most cases they were plagued bymedical or psychological problems and have sought the assistance of exorcists whopromised to cure them. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries remain “The GoldenAge” of demonic possession.A panel painting of an exorcism, 1512. For more on this painting see Brian Levack’s articleon Not Even Past, “Exorcism.“Further ReadingFilms about Possession & ExorcismPhoto Credits:Via Wikimedia Commons:Life of Saint Martin of Tours, Blessed Martin, you are saving a man vexed by a devil. One of the four sculptures on the face of the St MartinDuomo in Lucca, Italia.Catherine gets sister of Christ Palmerín released from her pact with the devil before dying. Girolamo di Benvenutto (1470-1524), Fogg ArtMuseum, Cambridge, MA.San Francisco de Borja y el moribundo impenitente. Capilla de San Francisco de Borja de la Catedral de Valencia, by Francisco Goya, 1788Painting reproduced with permission from the Universalmuseum Joanneum:A panel painting of an exorcism, 1512. For more on this painting see Brian Levack’s article on Not Even Past, “Exorcism.”  Posted March 31, 2013More Features, Monthly Features19th century 20th Century African American History american history Asia Asia & Middle East book review BrazilBritish Empire China Civil War Cold War Colonialism communism cultural history digital history Early Modern Europe Europe  lm gender history History of Science immigration India Islam Latin America Latin American History Mexico Not Even Past Public History race religion Russia slavery Texas Texas History Texas History Day Transnational Twentieth Century History United States US History USSR Womens History world history World War IINOT EVEN PAST is produced by The Department of History THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN  We are supported by the College of Liberal Arts And our READERSDONATE  CONTACT  All content © 2010-present NOT EVEN PAST and the authors, unless otherwise notedSign up to receive the monthly Not Even Past newsletterSUBSCRIBEYour email addressFEATURES BOOKS TEACHING DIGITAL & FILMBLOG IHS & PUBLIC HISTORY TEXAS ABOUT

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