Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1893-10-09
CASTING OUT DEVILS.
TESTIMONY THAT EXC 7cIsM HAS
 REASONS FOR EXIST ENcE.

and Other Strange Formulas Employed
 by the Good Monks.
 The possessed woman of Gif is cured now not by the doctors, who were un- able to dc anything for her, but by the theological science of the cure of the parish and the frmness of Mgr. Goux, bishop of Versailles, which shows that exorcisn has it's reasons for existence and that possession" is as real as hys teria As a matter of fact, the church has never laid down her arms in the presence of the devils.
 There are four principal signs through which the possessed one is recognized: 1. No known remedy relieves him. 2. He speaks of incidents and facts beyond his natural reach and which nobody has revealed to him. 3. He foretells events and speaks several languages unknown to him before his afiiction. 4. h the presence of | priest and at sacred cere- monies he trembles, suffers pain, writhes and blasphelnes.
 The Catholic priests, and especially the Dominicans, have from away back practieed exorcism. According to the canons, the exorcist belongs to one of the minor orders which preeede the priest hood He must be humble of heart in his ministry. and if be operates with any thought of display he risks for him. self the contagion of the evil spirits that still remain to be cast out.
 Ordinarily the ceremony takes place in the church in the presence of the faithful assembled at prayer, particular ly at the feasts of the Nativity, of the Resurrection, of the Ascension, of Pen tecost, of the Virgin Mary and of the Apostles After the morning mass, to which the possessed one assists, the ex- orcist puts on the surplice and assists the priest who puts on the violet colored cope, the symbol of the pains of purga- tory The patient who has confessed then approaches A stole is passed around his neck to tie the devils that have become the masters of his body. Then the sign of the cross is made upon him, and he is sprinkled with holy wa- ter. In Latin the devil is commended to tell his name, to say whether or not he is alone and why he is there. Finally he is ordered to depart. The conjura- tion in any other language and espe- cially in Hebrew is useless. Hebrew is reserved for satan himself.
 The Flagellum dRmonum contains the most complete formula of exorcism, consisting of well known prayers min gled with the most ancient and strangest appellations of God, such as 'Oh, Ado vR, TnaRy r.g Y,, VI, o {g,y,s1 o1,3 @kows come in part from Chaldea, from Phe- necia and from Greece. The words are supposed to possess in themselves a cer- tain power of eYoeation of celestial vir= tues which terrify the internal legions Certain words of Christ, according to St. Matthew, are used to drive ont evil spirits.
 If the demon does not retire imme- diately, the exoreist takes a painted inn age representing him and throws it into the consecrated fire along with incense, rue and sulphur, with strong mystic odors, intending to prove by this act that be will send the evil spirit back into bis natural element-hell. This done, he places upon the head of the possessed one the book, the relics, the crucifx and sometimes even the host-the last and invincible remedy. According to the authority of certain demonographs, the devil then comes out through the nose of the patient.
 In the ancient monasteries they made the exorcist carry upon his person cer- tain amulets containing protective formulas. Sometimes these formulas, written upon pieces of parchment, were swallowed. In the process of digestion the exorcism was accomplished without fatigue.
 In our days exorcism has taken ref uge in La Trappe. The clergy are somewhat averse to it, while at the same time they do not refuse to admit 1t. The man who breaks the spells is very old. But the devils cast out by the good monks are reduced to the tor menting of animals. Pigs are their favorites. Then the old spell smasher whips them with beads and sprinkles them with holy water, and the pigs, re- cover and become happy, because the devils go away.
 MT j. K. Huysmans has been able to i 6fNfeA NtC f&9As VI A44O kHOfFC4 OA NA1A4A0A&1 and the efficacity of exorcisms. More over, the eminent writer was well ac- quainted with one of the most learned demonographers of his time, the Abbe Boullan, who ran through hell in his bare feet, holding the host in his hands.
 Either at the church of Sanetot or the church of Senneville, I received this cu- rious document from M. Gilbert Angus tin Thierry, the author of "Une Anne en Peine." The cure of Petites-Dalles in cur ing the possessed says a special mass called the ''red mass, or mass of the martyrs" Red flowers are placed upon the altar, and the priest wears a red stole The church is draFed in purple.
 But. stranger still, few years ago the wife of the editor of leading Catholic journal in Paris, being troubled by evil spirits, witnessed the death of the Do minican priest who was endeavoring to