03 Urusilne Nuns and Devils of Loudun

Chapter 3 The Urusline Nuns and the Devils of Loudun IN the account of the famous "Devils of Loudun," one history of which is called by the Protestant minister who wrote it "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists," 1 the ability to speak in other languages is much in evidence as a sign of demon possession. ’

It is a sad story a tragic story. But all these stories which we are telling are pitifully sad stories of human ignorance and sin. Loudun had long enjoyed that popularity and that prosperity of a material nature which is the privilege of the miracle-making.

"The Carmelites of Loudun heretofore had been possessed of the power of working Miracles; they had an image of our Lady, call’d our Lady of Recovery, who fail’d not any one of those in what they required of her devoutly, and in the requisite form. But since the image of Ardilliers came to be set up at Sawmmw, in the Neighbourhood of the former, as if she had been her Rival, she usurped all her Power and Credit; and ’tis f no great wonder; for doubtless there’s no body in the World, who does not agree, that the Priests of the Oratory are more able and cunning People than the Carmelites. At that time all one Quarter and a suburb of Loudun, I which was fill’d with Inns for Pilgrims, remain’d unpeopled and desolate, and the Carmelites without Presents, Votaries, and Gospel-money." 2

1 Aubin, Nicolas: "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists, Discovered in the History of the Devils of Loudun." (Translated into English.) London, 1703.
2 Same, p. 188. In Loudun also was a convent of Ursuline nuns, founded in 1626, likewise under the depressing influence of poverty. The women who were its inmates were of good families, but brought no considerable portions with them to enrich the convent. The confessor of the convent in the year 1632 was one Canon Mignon. At the time this honour was bestowed upon Mignon, the name of Urban Grandier had also been suggested and had received some considerable support. It is said that Grandier’s name had been urged at the request of some of the nuns. For this request there was a reason obvious in the moral ideas of the time. Grandier not only opposed the dogma of the celibacy of the clergy, but, like the vast majority of his fellow clergy, maintained notorious sexual relations with a number of women. 1 When later he was burned at the stake, a treatise which he had written against the celibacy of the clergy, and which his inquisitors found among his papers, was burned with him. It is not to be doubted that Grandier, because of his prominent position, his personal charm, his heretofore inaccessibility, and his well-known sexual experiences, had for some of the nuns of the convent that fascination and charm which a roue has always for a type of adolescent female mind. This is especially evident when we realize that in these young women the idea of sex had been exalted unduly by the fact that their vows constituted a prohibition against anything which seemed to be a normal expression of the vita sexualis.

Grandier was both an able man and a successful man.

"He perform’d the course of his Studies under the Jesuits of Bourdeaux, who, observing in him very con1 See Lea, Henry Charles: "History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church." Third Edition. New York, 1907. Vol. II, p. 297. siderable Endowments, took an affection to him, and procur’d to him the parsonage of Saint Peter, in the Market of Loudun, which is in the presentation of the Jesuits of Poictiers. He had also obtain’d a Prebend in the Chapter of the Church of Saint Crosse. The uniting of these two Benefices in one Person, who was not of that Province, expos’d him to the Envy of many Churchmen, who would have been well satisfied with one of the two. This he was sufficiently sensible of, when he saw himself accus’d, for he often said to his Friends, that one part of those of that Order, who had declared themselves against him, had a Quarrel with his Benefices, rather than his Person." * He is described by Aubin as

"Of a tall Stature, and of a good Presence, of a steady Mind, and subtil Wit, always Comely and well drest, never going but in a long Garment; this outward neatness was accompanied with a polite Wit; He exprest himself with much Ease and Eloquence." 2

It is to be expected that he was a man with enemies. His amours, his successes and the fact that he was a man of independent thought soon raised up for him many enemies. That he was not always a man of discretion is evident in the story told by his friendly biographer, Aubin, 3 that after he had been acquitted of a charge of immorality, he rode back to Loudun, openly proclaiming his triumph over his enemies by carrying a branch of laurel in his hand.

Rumours had been current for some time in the town, of something unusual in the Ursuline convent, and it had been whispered about that demons had entered into some of the nuns. The whispered rumour seemed only too 1 Aubin, op. cit., pp. 5-6.
2 Op cit., p. 6.
3 Op. cit., p. 18. true. The new father confessor, Mignon, the appointee of the Mother Superior, who had indignantly refused to appoint the scandalous Grandier, had learned with horror (feigned or unfeigned) that not only one of the lay sisters, the daughter of one Maignoux, but the Mother Superior herself, was under demoniacal possession. This had occurred after "the Nuns had been disturbed for fifteen Days with Apparitions and frightful Visions." 1 The first public, or semi-public, exhibition of the phenomena of possession was in the presence, inter alia, of two magistrates, William de Cerizai de la Gueriniere, Bailiff of the Loudunois, and Lewis Chauvet, Lieutenant Civil. These found the Superior and the lay sister lying in bed:

"The Superior had no sooner discovered the two Magistrates, but she had violent Commotions, and perform’d strange Actions; She made a noise which was like to that of a Pig; She sunk down into the Bed, and contracted herself into the Postures and Grimaces of a Person who is out of his Wits; A Carmelite Friar was at her right Hand, and Mignon at her left, the last of these put his Two Fingers into her Mouth, and presupposing that she was possess’d, us’d many Conjurations, and spake to the Devil, who answer’d him after this Manner, in their First Dialogue. Mignon demanded, Propter quam Causam ingressus es in Corpus hujus Virginis? For what Reason hast thou entered into the Body of this Virgin? Answ. Causa animositatis; Upon the Account of Animosity. Q. Per quod Pactum? By what Pact? A. Per Flores. By Flowers. Q. Quales? What Flowers? A. Rosas. Roses. Q. Quis misit? Who sent them? A. Urbanus. Urban. She pronounc’d not this Word before she had stammer’d many times, as if she had done it by constraint. Q. Die Cognomen. Tell his Surname. A. Grandier.

1 Aubin: op. cit. p. 22. This was again a Word which she pronounced not till she had been very much urged to Answer. Q. Die qualitatum. Mention his Quality. A. Sacerdos. A Priest. Q. Cujus ecclesiaef Of what Church f A. Sancti Petri. Of Saint Peter’s. She utter’d these last Words very boldly. Q. Qua Persona attulit Floresf What Person brought the Flowers? A. Diabolica. A Diabolical Person.” 1 In view of the fact that these women had been under the care of Mignon for some time before they were permitted publicly to be interrogated, it is not to be wondered at that the demonized Superior was able to answer these set questions put to her only by him. The learning of these rote answers would be certainly no very great feat. Enough had been accomplished, however, in publicly accusing Grandier of the responsibility for the possession. The general public, however, was not easily convinced, and showed an inclination to look upon the whole matter as a pious fraud. In spite of the accusations against Grandier, however, his enemies were able to accomplish nothing for some time. At length pressure was brought to bear upon Cardinal Richelieu and through him upon the King. By this time the possession had so spread that a great number of the nuns were now involved.

"Louis XIII, naturally pious and just, perceived the greatness of the evil, and deemed it his duty to put a stop to it. He appointed M. de Laubardemont to investigate the matter without appeal; with orders to choose in the neighbouring jurisdictions the most straightforward and learned judges." 2

1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 23-4.
2 Des Nian: "The History of the Devils of Loudun," etc. (Translated by Edmund Goldsmid.) Edinburgh, 1887 (a Poitiers, 1634). II, p. 7.

These judges began the hearing of witnesses on December 17th, 1633, after they had first imprisoned Grandier and robbed him of every means of defense. The nuns who were heard

"deposed that Grandier had introduced himself into the convent by day and night for four months, without anyone knowing how he got in; that he presented himself to them whilst standing at divine service and tempted them to indecent actions both by word and deed; that they were often struck by invisible persons; and that the marks of the blows were so visible that the doctors and surgeons had easily found them. 1 . . . In a word, 2 besides the nuns and six lay women, sixty witnesses deposed to adulteries, incests, sacrileges, and other crimes, committed by the accused, even in the most secret places of his church, as in the vestry, where the Holy Host was kept, on all days and at all hours."

Aubin gives us a little more explicit account of the charges: 3

"Amongst the Witnesses of this Accusation there were Five very considerable, viz. Three Women; the First whereof said, that one Day, after she had receiv’d the Communion from the Person accus’d, ^ho earnestly looked upon her during that Action, she was instantly seiz’d with a violent Love-Passion for him, which began with a little Shivering through all the Parts of her Body: The other said, that having been stop’d by him in the Street, he press’d her Hand, and that immediately she was seiz’d with a vehement Passion for him; The Third said, that after she had seen him at the Door of the Church of the Carmelites, when he enter’d with the Procession, she felt very great Commotions, and had 1 Des Nian: op. cit., II: pp. 10-14.
2 Same, pp. 19-21.
3 Aubin: op. cit., p. 161. such Inclinations, that she willingly desir’d to lie with him. . . ." Of the other two witnesses, one deposed that he had seen Grandier reading the works of Agrippa, and therefore studying magic. The other deposed that in Grandier’s study he had seen "a Book upon the Table open’d at the Place of a Chapter, which treated of the Means to make Women in Love." 1 The examinations of witnesses were further continued, and all the evidences of possession were easily found by those who had determined to find them. One of the first tests of possession, that of an ability to speak or understand a foreign language, was especially in evidence:

"Acquaintance with unknown tongues first showed itself in the Mother Superior. At the beginning, she answered in Latin, the questions of the Ritual proposed to her in that language. Later, she and the others answered in any language they thought proper to question in.

"M. de Launay de Razilli, who had lived in America, attested that, during a visit to Loudun, he had spoken to them in the language of a certain savage tribe of that country, and that they had answered quite correctly, and had revealed to him events that had taken place there.

"Some gentlemen of Normandy certified in writing that they had questioned Sister Clara de Sazilli in Turkish, Spanish and Italian, and that her answers were correct.

"M. de Nismes, Doctor of the Sorbonne, and one of the chaplains of the Cardinal de Lyon, having questioned them in Greek and German, was satisfied with their replies in both languages.

"Father Vignier, Superior of the Oratory at La 1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 162.

Rochelle, bears witness in his Latin Narrative, that, having questioned Sister Elizabeth a whole afternoon in Greek, she always replied correctly and obeyed him in every particular.

’The Bishop of Nimes commanded Sister Clara in Greek to raise veil and kiss the railings at a certain spot; she obeyed, and did many other things he ordered, which caused the prelate to exclaim that one must be an Atheist or lunatic not to believe in ’possession.’

"Some doctors questioned them also as to the meaning of some Greek technical terms, extremely difficult to explain, and only known to the most learned men, and they clearly expressed the real signification of the words." 1

We have just read one account of the linguistic abilities of the demonised. It is not, however, the only account of the same phenomena. On one occasion

"A Scotchman named Stracan, who was Principal of the College of Loudun, . . . requir’d that the Devil should say Aqua in the Scots language, for the convincing of all the Assistants, that there was not any Suggestion by anyone whatsoever. . . . But the Nun answer’d ’Nimia Curiositas,’ Tis too great a Curiosity, and after she had repeated it Twice or Thrice, she said Dens non volo; Some cry’d out that this was ill Syntax." This was not the only occasion when the demon showed that his education, even in Latin, had been exceedingly superficial, to say the least. But when the demon had refused to answer in Scotch, replying "Deus non volo"

"The Exorcist reply’d, that the Devil knew this language very well, but he would not speak it. But if you 1 Des Nian: op. cit. II, pp. 27-8. Aubin: op. cit., pp. 46-8. will, added he, that I command him to tell presently your Sins, he shall do it. . . .

"In the meantime, the Assistants being very eager to know if the Devil understood strange languages, the Bayliff upon their importunities proposed the Hebrew Tongue as a dead Language and the most ancient of all Languages, which the Devil ought to know better than any other, which being followed by a General Applause the Exorcist commanded the possess’d to say in the Hebrew tongue the word Aqua, Water. She answer’d not; but some understoood that she pronounced very low these Words, ’Ah ! je renie, Curse on’t.’ It was affirm’d by a Carmelite, who was a little way from her, that she did say Zaquaq, and that it was an Hebrew Word, which signifies Effudi aquam, I have pour’d out water; although they who were nearest her, unanimously attested that she said Ah! je renie, which caused the Superior of the Carmelites to reprove publicly the Friar." On another occasion, 1 after testing the demon in Latin, which proved itself as bad as usual, the exorcist commanded the devil to state in Greek what had already been stated in Latin.

"She made no Answer, though the Adjurations were often repeated, and she also presently return’ d to her natural State. . . ." When the Duke of Lauderdale asked as a test for witchcraft that one of the demons should speak a strange language, a Jesuit, to whom he made the request,

"asked, ’What language?’ I told him, ’I would not tell; but neither he nor all those devils should understand me/ He asked, ’If I should be converted upon the tryal/ (for he had discovered I was no papist). I told him 1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 42.

’that was not the question, nor could all the devils in hell pervert me; but the question was, if that was a real possession, and if any could understand me, I shall confess it under my hand/ His answer was, ’These devils have not travelled and this I replied to with a loud laughter, nor could I get any more satisfaction." x

Enough has been said, however, to indicate very clearly that as far as the devils of Loudun are concerned in the speaking of unknown languages, we are dealing with a pious fraud. The other tests were equally valueless. When Sister Claire was in "convulsions,"

"She was pricked in the Arm by a Pin which pinn’d her sleeve. It did not at all appear that the Devil had made her insensible of bodily Pains, for she cry’d out, ’Take away this Pin, it pricks me.’ When she was recover ’d out of her Convulsions, She said to the Assessor of the Provostship, that she remembered all that was past" 2 The devils made frequent promises which remained unfulfilled.

"In the beginning of May, one of the Devils of the Superior had promis’d to raise her up Two feet high; Lactance call’d upon him often to perform his Promise, which he did not however, because the Nun having been willing to dazzle the Eyes of the People, by trying one time to do something near it, There was one of the Spectators who lifted up the Bottom of her Garment, and made all the others see that she touched the Ground with the End of one of her Feet. The Devil Eazas had 1 Quoted in Des Nian: op. cit. First Appendix, p. 37. * Aubin: op. cit., p. 43. also promised to raise tip la Nogeret Three Foot from the Ground, and another Devil nam’d Cerberus, to lift up his Nun Two Foot; but neither the one nor the other were Devils of their Word." * In short, there was nothing in this whole case of demon possession which might not have been simulated with the aid of a few hysterical nuns as dramatis persona. When we add to this the fact that the Mother Superior 2 and several of the nuns 3 confessed that their accusations against Grandier had been untrue, as well as the fact that the chief movers in the plot against Grandier took special pains to call maledictions down upon themselves 4 if they had conjured up false charges and thus confessed to their own mental conflicts, 5 we know that we are dealing with a case of fraud. The Duke of Lauderdale, who went to see the great sight of the possessed nuns, wrote of them 6 that he "could hear nothing but wanton wenches singing bawdy songs in French." And he told the truth.

It was an obvious fraud, and yet Grandier, after cruel tortures, was burned to death. It is said 7 that Grandier, turning to Lactance, who had played a perfidious and despicable part through the whole tragedy, as the fire was lighting up before his face, said:

’There is a God in heaven who will Judge thee and me. I summon thee to appear before Him within a Month.’

1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 96.
2 Same, p. 165.
3 Same, pp. 120-1.
4 Same, p. 45.
5 See Healy, William: "Mental Conflicts and Misconduct." Boston, 1917.
6 Quoted in Des Nian: op, cit. First Appendix, III, p. 36.
7 Aubin: op. cit., p. 156.

Then addressing himself to God, he utter’d these Words, Deus meus, ’ad tc Vigilo, miserere mei Deus." And in a month, to the very day, we are told that Father Lactance was dead.