The Catholic World, Vol. 18, October, 1873, to March, 1874.: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and ScienceVarious
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 18, October, 1873, to March, 1874.: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
I, with two witnesses to back
me, will relate what I myself experienced when a boy at school. One
night, we were four of us sleeping in one bed; my companion rose from
beside me, as asleep as ever he was, the moon in its fifteenth night
shining in upon us, and wandered all over the house as though he were
awake, with his eyes shut. He climbed the walls more nimbly than a
squirrel. He a second and a third time clambered up on the bed, and
trampled upon all of us with his feet; but we felt no more of his
weight than if he had been a little mouse. Wherever his sleeping body
came, at once all the fastenings of the doors fell back of their own
accord. With exceeding swiftness, he got to the top of the house, and,
sparrow-fashion, clave to the roof. I am telling what I saw, not what I
heard in idle talk. This would seem to be the part, not of a body, but
of a spirit which freely uses its native power, so to speak, when the
corporal senses are bound, and it wanders outside the mansion of the
body.... We do not suppose that this will appear wonderful to the wise,
who have a true conception of the power and nobility of the human mind,
which in some respects is accounted the equal of the angels, being only
separated from them by the interposition of the body."
After speaking of the miracles wrought, first by the invocation of
faith, second by sanctity, which commands the ministration of angels,
third by the assistance of demons through explicit or implicit compact,
he continues: "Some persons add to these three ways a fourth, saying
that the mind or spirit of the man himself can naturally work its
miracles, provided only it knows how to withdraw itself from the
accidental, in upon itself, above the exercise of the senses, into
unity. Those who can compass this undertake to work marvels, to
predict the future, to lay open the secrets of men's hearts, to dispel
diseases, and suddenly to change men's counsels." Trithemius is willing
to admit that some such power exists, whilst denying that it can attain
to any perfect exercise without some external assistance from good or
evil spirits. He gives the same account with Görres of the ecstatic
_volatus_, viz., that the power of God co-operates with the energy of
the saint's soul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account