When she approached the tomb containing the sacred bodies, the
priest, according to custom, read the formula of exorcism over her
head. When he began to ask how and when the demon had entered her,
she answered, not in the tongue of the barbarians, which alone the
girl knew, but in the Roman tongue. And when the priest was
astonished and asked how she came to know Latin, when her parents,
who stood by, were wholly ignorant of it, "Thou hast never seen my
parents," was the reply. To this the priest, "Whence art thou,
then, if these are not thy parents?" And the demon, by the mouth of
the girl, "I am a follower and disciple of Satan, and for a long
time I was gatekeeper (janitor) in hell; but, for some years, along
with eleven companions, I have ravaged the kingdom of the Franks."
(Cap. v. 49.)
He then goes on to tell how they blasted the crops and scattered
pestilence among beasts and men, because of the prevalent wickedness of
the people.[21]
The enumeration of all these iniquities, in oratorical style, takes up a
whole octavo page; and at the end it is stated, "All these things the
demon spoke in Latin by the mouth of the girl."
And when the priest imperatively ordered him to come out, "I shall
go," said he, "not in obedience to you, but on account of the power
of the saints, who do not allow me to remain any longer." And,
having said this, he threw the girl down on the floor and there
compelled her to lie prostrate for a time, as though she slumbered.
After a little while, however, he going away, the girl, by the
power of Christ and the merits of the blessed martyrs, as it were
awaking from sleep, rose up quite well, to the astonishment of all
present; nor after the demon had gone out was she able to speak
Latin: so that it was plain enough that it was not she who had
spoken in that tongue, but the demon by her mouth. (Cap. v. 51.)
If the "Historia Translations" contained nothing more than has been laid
before the reader, up to this time, disbelief in the miracles of which
it gives so precise and full a record might well be regarded as
hyper-scepticism. It might fairly be said, Here you have a man, whose
high character, acute intelligence, and large instruction are certified
by eminent contemporaries; a man who stood high in the confidence of one
of the greatest rulers of any age, and whose other works prove him to be
an accurate and judicious narrator of ordinary events. This man tells
you, in language which bears the stamp of sincerity, of things which
happened within his own knowledge, or within that of persons in whose
veracity he has entire confidence, while he appeals to his sovereign and
the court as witnesses of others; what possible ground can there be for
disbelieving him?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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