Those who practiced the cult of ancestor worship and general worship of the dead were thereby enabled to attribute either good or bad fortune to the direct interference of these ghosts, or demons. The belief in demonism spread from these two countries and directly or indirectly influenced all the nations of Europe and western Asia. It was a familiar conception among the ancient Hebrews and held an important place in the life of the Christian peoples until the end of the 18th century. The necessity for curing possession by expelling the demon occurred even to early peoples and created the function of exorcist, or sorcerer. In early Christian times, energumens, or those demoniacally possessed, were grouped into a class under the care of a special order of clerical exorcists, and after the time of St. Augustine the rite of exorcism came to be administered to all infants before baptism.
Exorcists still form one of the minor orders of the Roman Catholic church.