This mistake, which no sixth-form boy would make, gave rise to bursts of
laughter in the church; and Daniel Douin, the provost’s assessor, was
constrained to say aloud—
“There’s a devil for you, who does not know much about transitive
verbs.”
Barre perceiving the bad impression that the superior’s nominative had
made, hastened to ask her—
“Quis est iste quem adoras?” (Who is it whom thou dost adore?)
His hope was that she would again reply “Jesus Christus,” but he was
disappointed.
“Jesu Christe,” was her answer.
Renewed shouts of laughter greeted this infraction of one of the most
elementary rules of syntax, and several of those present exclaimed:
“Oh, your reverence, what very poor Latin!”
Barre pretended not to hear, and next asked what was the name of the
demon who had taken possession of her. The poor superior, who was
greatly confused by the unexpected effect of her last two answers, could
not speak for a long time; but at length with great trouble she brought
out the name Asmodee, without daring to latinise it. The exorcist then
inquired how many devils the superior had in her body, and to this
question she replied quite fluently:
“Sex” (Six).
The bailiff upon this requested Barre to ask the chief devil how many
evil spirits he had with him. But the need for this answer had been
foreseen, and the nun unhesitatingly returned—
“Quinque” (Five).
This answer raised Asmodee somewhat in the opinion of those present; but
when the bailiff adjured the superior to repeat in Greek what she had
just said in Latin she made no reply, and on the adjuration being
renewed she immediately recovered her senses.
The examination of the superior being thus cut short, a little nun who
appeared for the first time in public was brought forward. She began by
twice pronouncing the name of Grandier with a loud laugh; then turning
to the bystanders, called out—
“For all your number, you can do nothing worth while.”
As it was easy to see that nothing of importance was to be expected from
this new patient, she was soon suppressed, and her place taken by the
lay sister Claire who had already made her debut in the mother
superior’s room.
Hardly had she entered the choir than she uttered a groan, but as soon
as they placed her on the little bed on which the other nuns had lain,
she gave way to uncontrollable laughter, and cried out between the
paroxysms—
“Grandier, Grandier, you must buy some at the market.”
Barre at once declared that these wild and whirling words were a proof
of possession, and approached to exorcise the demon; but Sister Claire
resisted, and pretending to spit in the face of the exorcist, put out
her tongue at him, making indecent gestures, using a word in harmony
with her actions. This word being in the vernacular was understood by
everyone and required no interpretation.
The exorcist then conjured her to give the name of the demon who was in
her, and she replied—
“Grandier.”
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account