The Malleus Maleficarum

by The Malleus Maleficarum (lit)

  Equitius. In 487 Equitius was Bishop of Matelica, a diocese now joined to Fabriano. Only one other Bishop (Florentius) of the ancient see is known.

  Pius II. Enea Silvio de Piccolomini was born at Corsignano, near Siena, 18 October, 1405; and elected to the Chair of S. Peter, 19 August, 1459. He died at Ancona, 14 August, 1464.

  S. Praxedes. Praxedes and Pudentiana were the daughters of the Senator Pudens, a pupil of S. Peter. There was an old title-church of Rome, titulus Pudentis, called also the ecclesia Pudentiana. The two female figures in the mosaic of the apse of S. Pudenziana, via Urbana, are Pudentiana and Praxedes. In the fourth century a new church, titulus Praxedis, was built near Santa Maria Maggiore, and when Paschal I in 822 rebuilt the church in its present form (the basilica and title-church S. Prassede all Esquilino) he translated to it the bodies of S. Praxedes, S. Prudentiana, and of many other martyrs. Under the High Altar are the chief Relics of the Saints. In the Chapel of S. Zeno, which dates from the ninth century, is the Holy Pillar of the Scourging brought in 1223 from Jerusalem by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna. Another portion of the Holy Pillar is preserved in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, where it is publically venerated each year on Easter Eve. S. Prassede is one of the richest churches in Rome in Relics. It contains the Bodies of S. Zoe, S. Feldian, S. Candid, S. Basil, S. Celestine I, S. Nicomedius; important Relics of S. Matthew, S. Luke, S. Bartholomew, S. Philip, S. Andrew, S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. John Baptist; some of the garments of Our Lady; a piece of the seamless robe of Our Lord; thee Thorns from the Crown of Thorns; and four fragments of wood from the True Cross.

  Nicolas of Lyra. Doctor planus et utilis, the famous exegete, was born at Lyra in Normandy, 1270; and died at Paris, 1340. He is the author of numerous theological works, by far the most famous of which is his monumental Postillae perpetuae in uniuersam S. Scripturam, which was so popular that it gained the distinction of being the first biblical commentary to be printed.

  Book of Precepts. Praeceptorum diuinae legis Liber, of which there were seventeen editions before 1500. I have used that of Douai, 1612.

  Sigisbert. Sigebert of Bembloux, the celebrated Benedictine historian, was born at Gembloux (pr. Namur) about 1035, and died at the same place, 5 November, 1112. He was a prolific author, and his most famous work, Chronicon siue Chronographia, is the basis of many other histories. It has frequently been reprinted. The works of Sigebert may be conveniently found in Migne, Patres Latini, CLX. There is a study by Hirsh, De uita et scriptis Sigeberti Monachi Gemblacensis, Berlin, 1841.

  Louis II. Son of Lothaire I, was born about 822. He became associated with his father in the Empire in 849, and succeeded to the Imperial Crown in 855. He died in 875.

  Strong Man. S. Luke xi, 21.

  Pain of loss. Poena damni.

  Head. Psalm lxxxii, 2.

  Genesis. Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius: ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo eius.

  Gratian. The little that is known concerning the author of the Concordantia discordantium canonum, more generally called the Decretum Gratiani, must be gathered from the work itself. Gratian was born in Italy, perhaps at Chiusi. He became a Camaldolese monk and taught at Balogna. It is uncertain at what time he compiled the Decretum, but it was commonly held to have been completed in 1151. More recent authorities, however, are inclined to suggest 1140. Gratian died before 1179, some think as early as 1160. He is regarded as the true found of the science of canon law.

  Spirit. Psalm l, 19.

  Alexis. S. Alexis, Confessor. Feast, 17 July. The Basilica and title-church of SS. Bonifacio ed Alessio all Aventino, Rome, contains the bodies of S. Boniface and S. Alexis under the High Altar. S. Aglae is buried in the confessional.

  S. Nicolas of Tolentino, O.S.A., circa 1246-1306. was born of gentlefolk, Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, pious and devout, living in great seclusion on very moderate means. He was the child of prayer, his mother being advanced in years and vowing her son, should she bare one, to God from the womb. His parents joyfully consented to his joining the Order of Augustinian Hermits, of which he is one of the greatest glories. S. Nicolas was distinguished by angelic meekness and celestial purity. He died 10 September, and his feast is celebrated on that day.

  Number of Witches. Francesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum, Milan, 1608, tells us that the witches promise the devil to strive with all their power and to use every inducement and endeavour to draw other men and women to their detestable practices and the worship of Satan. So in the case of Janet Breadheid of Auldearne it was her husband who enticed her into that craft. (Pitcairn, Criminal Trials, Edinburgh, 1833.) At Salem, George Burroughs, a minister, was accused by a large number of women as the person who had Seduc'd and Compell'd them into the snares of Witchcraft. See my History of Witchcraft, Chap. III, pp. 83-84.

  Oxen. I. Corinthians, ix. 9.

  Psalmist. Psalmists xxxv, 7, 8.

  Formicarius, Chap. iii.

  Cross-Roads. In the trial of Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, 1324, it was shown that she had sacrificed at the cross-roads live animals (Holinshed says nine red cocks) to her familiar, Robert Artisson, qui se facit appellari Artis Filium. In Greek tradition the , a poltergeist, haunted the cross-ways. Lemoine, VI, p. 109, tells us: Celui qui veut devenir sorcier doit aller un quatre chemins avec une poule noire, ou bien encore au cimetire, sur une tombe et toujours minuit. Il vient alors quelquun qui demande: Qui venez-vous faire ici? Jai une poule vendre, rpond-on. Ce quelquun (est) le Mchant.

  Staufer. Staufus. Formicarius, Chap. iii. The edition Frankfort, 1588, Vol. I, p. 722, reads Scavius and in the margin Schasius. (Marginal note: De Schasio in murem se conuertente.)

  Shoot an Arrow. This old tradition was made the subject of the celebrated opera Der Freischutz, the libretto of which is by Kind, the music by Weber. It was originally produced at Berlin in 1821, and on 22 July, 1824, first performed in England at the Lyceum Theatre, London, as Der Freischutz; or, The Seventh Bullet.

  Began to Bleed. On 29 May, 1187, a number of mercenaries and bandits were playing with dice before the door of the church at Dols. One of these fellows, who had lost a throw, cursing and swearing, took up a stone, which he flung at the figure of Our Lady with the Child over the sacred portal. The arm of the Infant JESUS was snapped in twain. A stream of blood poured from the arm of the broken image and made a pool on the earth below. The wretch who flung the stone was seized with madness, and dropped down dead upon the spot. The blood was carefully collected in a phial which was deposited in an Oratory dedicated to Our Lady. Numberless cures were effected, and a Confraternity which was founded in honour of the miracle flourished until the Revolution. It was reorganized in 1830, and on 31 May there is a solemn Commemoration of the Blood-shedding of Notre Dame de Dols.

  After S. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775) had preached for the last time in the church of Piagaro, a Crucifix over one of the side-altars was seen to be oozing with blood. Hundreds witnessed the miracle, and later a chapel was built to enshrine the Miraculous Cross. In 1630 at Spoleto, drops of blood flowed from the head of a figure of Our Lord Crowned with Thorns. Even in this unbelieving age the Most Holy Crucifix of Limpias, El Santo Cristo de la Agonia, sweats blood, whilst tears have been observed in the eyes, which turn from side to side, and the head sometimes moves as in all the weariness of bitter pain. Very many other instances of similar miracles mighy be cited.

  Miracle. The sense is completely mistaken here. It should rather be, Lady, what is it to Me and to Thee if these people lack wine? Our Lord marvels at the supreme charity of Our Lady. The first miracle was wrought at the request of MARY. Quod Deus imperio tu prece, Virgo, potes. It may be argued that all miracles are performed at the request of Our Lady, since, as S. Bernard says, God wishes us to obtain everything through Her. Totum now uoluit habere per MARIAM.

  Devils. If the exorcism is not effective it is owing to lack of faith.

  De Moribus. De Moribus eccl
esiae catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum was written 388-89.

  Duns Scotus. John Duns Scotus, Doctor Subtilis, the famous Franciscan scholastic, died 8 November, 1308. He lived and taught at Oxford, and for a time at Paris. His complete work with commentaries appeared at Paris, 1891-95, in twenty-six volumes, quarto, being a reprint of the twelve folio volumes which were issued by Luke Wadding in 1639 at Lyons.

  Ubertinus. Ubertino of Casale, leader of the Spiritual Franciscans, who expressed extreme views regarding evangelical poverty. He was born in 1259, and died about 1330. Owing to his warm advocacy of the strictest ideas he was severely condemned by the authorities, and his history is a matter of considerable difficulty. His chief work is generally considered to be Arbor uitae crucifixae JESU Christi.

  Against themselves. S. Matthew xii, 26: Et si Satanas Satanam eiicit, aduersus se diuisus est: quomodo ergo regnum eius?

  Ochozias, who when sick sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Hecaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness. And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that he go to consult Beelzebub, the god of Hecaron? Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed on which thou art gone up thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.

  Burning pains. The following quotation is from an article Witchcraft, Past and Present, by Lady Peirse, that appeared in Word-Lord, Vol. I, No. 3 (pp. 122-28), May-June, 1926. The district to which reference is made is a south-country village in England. A local farmer, whose cows and sheep ailed mysteriously, and showed all the usual signs of being overlooked or bewitched, whilst things in general went wrong with him, consulted the witch doctor, and was told to repeat a certain charm last thing at night, to nail a sheep's heart to his front door, and on no account to open the door till morning, no matter what happened.

  This the farmer did, and when his family had repaired to bed, he commenced his lonely vigil by the kitchen fire. After a while there came a thunderous knocking on the door, and a voice crying Open and let me in. The voice was very urgent, but the farmer, though he trembled exceedingly, kept firm grip of himself and never moved from his chair. Then came the knocking a second time and a deplorable voice begging to be allowed in, but the farmer remained obdurate. Lastly came a feeble knocking and moaning. The farmer, who was greatly alarmed, remained at his post till the sun was up next morning. When he opened his door a neighbour lay stretched across his threshold dead.

  The doctor, so my friend was told, believed it to be a case of heart failure. We can only imagine that the farmer and his family remained silent about the voice and the knocking at the door; perhaps no one but the farmer had heard. To the doctor, a simple though regrettable episode; to the farmer, an awesome case of retribution. To the world at large, a story that may be interpreted in many different ways; but with a lesson for all who run to read, namely, that it does not pay to practise withcraft or the indulgence of personal spite if there happens to be a witch doctor in the neighbourhood, since it is apparently quite an easy thing, with a little occult knowledge, to do the witch to death! Throughout many centuries witches in the long run always seem to come off second best. Faith and fear in their victims seem to lend them strength, just as faith and love help righteousness.

  Not very many years ago a farmer and his wife who lived in the country just outside Milan came to the conclusion that their daughter, who had long been suffering from a mysterious ailment, which the best doctors in Milan seemed unable to diagnose and cure, was bewitched by an old woman dwelling in their villagem a wretch of notoriously bad reputation, whome the girl had unwittingly offended in some small way. Accordingly they resorted to a wise man, who lived in a small town a good many miles distant. He gave them a bundle of herbs, telling them to boil these in water and at the same times to recite a certain rune or rhyme which he taught them. He told them that if their daughter was indeed plagued by the malice of some individual, as the water boiled the witch who had cast the spell would be so tormented that she would hasten to their house and betray herself be begging them to take the cauldron from the fire. They could then refuse to do so unless she at once relived the girl from her sickness. They precisely obeyed the directions which had been given, and hardly had the water begun to bubble with the heat than there came running the hag whom they had suspected, imploring them with every symptom of intense agony to throw away the contents of the pot. This they would not do unless the charm was broken. In her despair the old woman promised to restore their daughter to health, and from that time the child rapidly began to mend until she was as stout and sturdy as any lass in the whole country-side.

  The text of this passage seems corrupt and varies considerably in the later editions. The earliest edition of the Malleus in the British museum reads: Nam die dnico sotularia iuuenu fungia seu pinguedie proci vt moris e p restauratoe fieri pungut et sic vbi ecclesia intrat tadiu malefice exire eccias non poterut quo adusq: exploratores aut exeunt aut illis licentia sub expssione ut sup exeundi peedat. Die dnico was almost immediately altered to die dominica. The usual reading is die Dominica Sotularia, iuuenum fungia . . . Venice, 1576, introduces a fresh error: die dominica Solutaria iuuenum fungia. . . . The Lyons text of 1669 has an excellent emendation, which is, no doubt, correct: die Dominica Sotularia iuuenum axungia. . . .

  Incubus. Sinistrari tells of a case which came under his own notice when a deacon, a monk of the Certosa at Pavia, was sorely vexed by an Incubus. Exorcisms seemed unavailing; the Incubus himself in the shape of Father Prior blessed the place with Holy Water. However, the demon was at last banished. See my translation, Demoniality, pp. 57-59, and passim.

  Caesarius. A learned monk of the Cistercian monastery of Heisterback near Bonn, born about 1170 at Cologne, died about 1240 as Prior of Heisterbach. Abbot Henry requested Caesarius to draw up an abstract of his teaching, and this resulted in the famous Dialogue magnus uisionum atque miraculorum, Libri XII, which it is no exaggeration to say was probably the most popular book in Germany of its period. More than fifty MSS. are extant, and seven printed editions are known. The latest, two volumes, was edited by Strange, Cologne, 1851; an index to this followed, Cologne, 1857.

  “Tobias.” “Tobias” vi, 16 and 17: Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail. For they who in such manner receive matrimony as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power.

  ”Abimelech.” “Genesis” xx.

  S. Hildegard. Born at Böckelheim on the Nahe, 1098; died on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, 1179. This great Benedictine seeress and prophetess has beenc alled the Sibyl of the Rhine. From her earliest years she was favoured with visions, and when she was aged about forty she received a Divine command to publish to the world what she had seen and heard. After much hesitation owing to her humility she obeyed, and in 1141 she commenced her profound treatise Scivias (scire uias Domini), which occupied her for ten years. It is ecstatic and prophetic throughout, and demands profoundest study. Herwegen, Kirchl. Handlexikon (1908), remarks that in order fully to appreciate this marvellous writer a new and critical edition of her writings must be prepared, a task entailing immense labour and research. No formal canonization of S. Hildegard has taken place, but many miracles were wrought at her intercession, and her name is in the Roman Martyrology. The feast is celebrated on 17 September in the dioceses of Speyer, Mainz, Trier and Limburg, and by the Solesmes monks on 18 September with a proper Office. The Relics of the Saint are at Eibingen, of which town she is patron. The convent of S. Hildegard there was formally constituted on 17 September, 1904.

  Hermitage. The famous shrine of Our Lady of the Hermit, at the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. S. Meinrad, who was assassinated by bandits in 861, had embraced the so
litary life and established his hermitage on the slopes of Mount Etzel, when he built a small oratory for the wonder-working statue of Our Lady which had been given him by Abbess Hildegard of Zurich. Several anchorites succeeded him, and one of these, by name Eberhard, erected a monastery and church there. This fane was miraculously consecrated in 948 by Christ Himself, assisted by the Four Evangelists, S. Peter and S. Gregory the Great. Even the rationalistic Father Thurston, S.J., will be unable to impugn this holy marvel, as it was investigated and confirmed by Pope Leo VIII, and subsequently ratified by many a Pontiff, the last being Pius VI, who in 1793 confirmed the acts of all his predecessors. The miraculous statue is enthroned in a little chapel which stands within the great abbey church in much the same way as the Holy House at Loreto, encased in marbles and elaborate wood-work, the goal of ten thousand pilgrimages. The two chief days are the fourteenth of September and the thirteenth of October, the first being the anniversary of the Divine consecration of Eberhard's basilica, the second that of the translation of the Relics of S. Meinrad from Reichenau to Einsiedeln in 1039.