Before leaving the subject, let us give one or two more instances from the _Chronicles of the Lives of the Saints_, selected from such narratives as are fully accepted by the Church. We might fill volumes with proofs of undeniable confederacy between the exorcisers and the demons. Their very nature betrays them. Instead of being independent, crafty entities, bent on the destruction of men’s souls and spirits, the majority of them are simply the elementals of the kabalists; creatures with no intellect of their own, but faithful mirrors of the WILL which evokes, controls, and guides them. We will not waste our time in drawing the reader’s attention to doubtful or obscure thaumaturgists and exorcisers, but take as our standard one of the greatest saints of Catholicism, and select a bouquet from that same prolific conservatory of pious lies, _The Golden Legend_, of James de Veragine.[103] St. Dominick, the founder of the famous order of that name, is one of the mightiest saints on the calendar. His order was the first that received a solemn confirmation from the Pope,[104] and he is well known in history as the associate and counsellor of the infamous Simon de Montford, the papal general, whom he helped to butcher the unfortunate Albigenses in and near Toulouse. The story goes that this saint and the Church after him, claim that he received from the Virgin, _in propriâ personâ_, a rosary, whose virtues produced such stupendous miracles that they throw entirely into the shade those of the apostles, and even of Jesus himself. A man, says the biographer, an abandoned sinner, was bold enough to doubt the virtue of the Dominican rosary; and for this unparalleled blasphemy was punished on the spot by having 15,000 devils take possession of him. Seeing the great suffering of the tortured demoniac, St. Dominick forgot the insult and called the devils to account. Following is the colloquy between the “blessed exorcist” and the demons: _Question._--How did you take possession of this man, and how many are you? _Answer of the Devils._--We came into him for having spoken disrespectfully of the rosary. We are 15,000. _Question._--Why did so many as 15,000 enter him? _Answer._--Because there are fifteen decades in the rosary which he derided, etc. _Dominick._--Is not all true I have said of the virtues of the rosary? _Devils._--Yes! Yes! (_they emit flames through the nostrils of the demoniac_). Know all ye Christians that Dominick never said one word concerning the rosary that is not most true; and know ye further, that if you do not believe him, great calamities will befall you. _Dominick._--Who is the man in the world the Devil hates the most? _Devils._--(_In chorus._) Thou art the very man (_here follow verbose compliments_). _Dominick._--Of which state of Christians are there the most damned? _Devils._--In hell we have merchants, pawnbrokers, fraudulent bankers, grocers, Jews, apothecaries, etc., etc.