The history of witchcraft and demonologySummers, Montague
History
The history of witchcraft and demonology
Summers, Montague
Demonology; Demonology -- History; Witchcraft; Witchcraft -- History
levitated from the predella, which manifestation I have myself witnessed,
although the father was himself unconscious thereof until the day of his
death.
But, as Görres most aptly remarks,[55] although many examples may be
cited of Saints who have been levitated in ecstasy, and although it is
not impossible that this phenomenon may be imitated by evil powers—as,
indeed, it undoubtedly is in the cases of spiritistic mediums—yet nowhere
do we find in hagiography that a large number of Saints were in one
company raised from the earth together or conveyed through the air to
meet at some appointed spot. Is it likely, then, that the demons would
be allowed seemingly to excel by their power a most extraordinary and
exceptional manifestation? It must be remembered, also, that save in very
rare and singular instances, such as that of S. Joseph of Cupertino,
levitation is only for a height of a foot or some eighteen inches, and
even this occurs seldom save at moments of great solemnity and psychic
concentration.
A question which is largely discussed by the demonologists then arises:
Do the witches actually and in person attend the Sabbat or is their
journey thither and assistance thereat mere diabolic illusion? Giovanni
Francesco Ponzinibio, in his _De Lamiis_,[56] wholly inclines to the
latter view, but this is superficial reasoning, and the celebrated
canonist Francisco Peña with justice takes him very severely to task for
his temerity. Peña’s profound work, _In Bernardi Comensis Dominicani
Lucernam inquisitorum notæ et eiusdem tractatum de strigibus_,[57]
a valuable collection of most erudite glosses, entirely disposes of
Ponzinibio’s arguments, and puts the case in words of weighty authority.
Sprenger in the _Malleus Maleficarum_, I, had already considered
“How witches are bodily transported from one place to another,”
and he concludes “It is proven, then, that sorcerers can be bodily
transported.”[58] Paul Grilland inquires: “Whether magicians & witches
or Satanists are bodily & actually conveyed to and fro by the Devil,
or whether this be merely imaginary?” He freely acknowledges the
extraordinary difficulty and intricacy of the investigation, beginning
his answer with the phrase “Quæstio ista est multum ardua et famosa.”[59]
(This is a very difficult and oft-discussed question.) But S. Augustine,
S. Thomas, S. Bonaventure, and a score of great names are agreed upon the
reality of this locomotion, and Grilland, after balancing the evidence to
the nicety of a hair wisely concludes: “Myself I hold the opinion that
they are actually transported.”[60]
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