On December 5, 1484, Pope Innocent VIII's famous "Vedovskaya bull" - Summis desiderantes was published. From that day on, the Holy Inquisition, which until now enthusiastically monitored the purity of the Christian faith and the observance of dogmas, took up the task of destroying all witches and generally strangling witchcraft. And in 1486 the book "The Hammer of Witches" was published. And soon it overtook even the Bible in circulation. Witch hunts are commonly referred to as the darkest delusions of the Middle Ages. However, the height of mass persecutions of dissenting esotericists, the time of the most cruel torture and destruction of people for involvement in witchcraft falls on the beginning of the New Age. Especially in the XVII-XVIII centuries. That is, during the time of Newton, Descartes, Kant, in the age of scientific revolutions, all these grandiose burnings and tortures took place. And often university professors were the judges.
Dissent is persecuted even now. For example, "Chascor" is often reproached for publishing an astrological forecast. Some particularly scientifically minded readers point out to us that astrology is a pseudoscience, demanding that we eradicate its traces from our enlightened pages. But the fact is that "Chaskor" is for blossoming complexity, for many ways of knowing the world. And the more there are, the more diverse they are, the better. The times of the Inquisition (as well as, for example, the times of iconoclasm) taught humanity a sufficient lesson.
The Hexenhammer is called the fateful book of the Middle Ages, and for good reason. This work was a kind of obligatory reading, exact instructions, which were carefully checked by the inquisitors during the sentencing of convicts for witchcraft. Ancient legends about black magic in this book were passed through the prism of church dogma about heresy, and the "Hammer of the Witches" became one of the most important sources of information and a guide to action for those who undoubtedly condemned witchcraft and strove with all their might to implement the biblical "do not leave wizards of the living”(Exodus, 22, 18). This witch hunt manual went through several reprints between the 16th and 17th centuries. The authors of "Hammer" were the Dominicans Jacob Sprenger, Dean of the University of Cologne, and Prior Heinrich Kramer. The Witches' Hammer consists of three parts.
The first discusses the need for officials to be deeply aware of the vileness of witchcraft, which includes renunciation of the Catholic faith, devotion and worship to the devil, the offering of unbaptized children to him, and carnal intercourse with an incubus or succubus. In the second part, the three types of atrocities committed by witches are established, and the opposition to each of them. Here Sprenger and Kramer confirm all the stories about the deeds of witches, a pact with the devil, sexual relations with devils, movement, transformation, ligature, damage to crops and livestock - in fact, the widest range of sorceries. The third part (apparently written by Kramer, who had more practical experience) contained formal rules for initiating legal action against a witch, ensuring her conviction and sentencing. Chascor publishes the first chapter of the first part of this wonderful document.
Question I. Is there witchcraft?
Is the claim that witches exist so Catholicly orthodox that a stubborn denial of it must be considered definitely heretical?
1. Canon Episcopi says: "Whoever believes in the possibility of changing any creature to a better or worse state, or transforming it into another species, or in the possibility of giving it a different appearance without the intervention of a creator, is worse than pagans and unbelievers." If they say that such transformations are performed by witches, then this cannot be Catholic orthodox and seems heretical.
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2. There is no witchcraft on earth. Proof: “If there were such, it would be the work of the devil. It is not true to say that demons can make bodily transformations or prevent them, because in this case they could destroy the whole world."
3. Any change in the body, be it illness or health, is reduced to the movement of substances in space. This is clear from physics. This includes, first of all, the movement of the heavenly bodies, but the demons cannot produce this movement (see the Epistle of Dionysius to Polycarpulus), since this is accessible only to God. From this it is clear that demons cannot produce any, at least actual bodily change, and that by virtue of this such transformations must be attributed to some secret cause.
4. As the work of God, so the power of God is greater than the work and power of the devil. If witchcraft existed in the world, it would be the work of the devil in the fight against the power of God. Just as it is wrong to think that the supposed power of the devil affects the creations of God, it is impossible to believe that the creations and deeds of God can be changed by the hands of the devil, both in relation to humans and animals.
5. What is subject to bodily laws does not have the power to influence bodily beings. Demons are subject to the forces of influence. This is evident from the fact that some spellcasters, when invoking demons, pay attention to a certain position of the stars. It follows that demons are powerless to influence bodily beings. Even fewer witches have this opportunity.
6. We know that demons act only through artificial measures, and they cannot change the actual appearance. Therefore, in the chapter de inineris it says: "The masters of alchemy know about the impossibility of changing forms." That is why demons, who work by artificial means, do not create real properties of health or illness. If a change in health takes place, then it depends on some other, hidden reasons that are beyond the influence of demons and witches. However, Decret. XXXIII, issue. I, reads: "If with the help of sorceries and sorceries, partly with God's permission and through Satan," etc. This is about the hindrance that witches put on their spouses in the performance of their marital duties. This requires the following three forces: the witch, the devil and God's allowance.
7. The stronger can affect the less powerful. And the power of demons is greater than any bodily power. In this regard, the book of Job (ch. 41) says: “There is none on earth like him; he was made fearless."
Answer. Here it is necessary to refute three heretical false teachings. After refuting them, the truth will be clear. Following the teachings of the saint. Thomas (IV dist.), Where he spoke about the sabotage of witches, some tried to argue that sorcery does not exist in the world and that it lives only in the imagination of people who attribute natural phenomena to the machinations of witches, the cause of which is hidden. Others acknowledge the existence of witches, but believe that their witchcraft act only on imagination and fantasy. Still others argue that sorcery is generally a fantasy, even if the devil helped the witch.
These false doctrines will be revealed and refuted in the following. As for the first of them, scholars, especially Saint Thomas, recognize his defenders as heretics in the full sense of the word. Thomas Aquinas speaks in the indicated place about the contradiction of this false teaching to the basic teachings of the saints and about the fact that it is rooted in unbelief. After all, the Holy Scripture says that demons have power over the physical world and over the imagination of people, if there is God's permission. This is evident from many places of scripture. The defenders of this false teaching assert the non-existence of witchcraft in the world, and only admit the play of imagination in man. They do not believe in the existence of demons, except in the imagination of the masses, who attribute their own false teachings to the devil. The various forms that are drawn to the mind arise as the fruit of a strong imagination. It only seems to a personthat he sees demons or witches. All this contradicts the true belief that the angels, cast down from heaven, turned into demons, that therefore they, having greater power than we, can also achieve more, and that those who help them in their affairs are called sorcerers. So it says there. Since the unbelief of a baptized person is called heresy, then such is considered a heretic.
The other two false doctrines do not deny demons and their natural strength, but they disagree with each other regarding witchcraft and the nature of witches. One of them recognizes the need for the participation of a witch for witchcraft, but denies the reality of the results of this latter. Another false teaching asserts the reality of corruption, but believes that the witch's participation in this is only apparent. Both of these false doctrines take as their starting point two passages of Episcopi (XXVI), where women are blamed for believing in their nightly races with Diana or Herodias. Due to the fact that this often happens only in the imagination, the defenders of this false teaching mistakenly think that this happens with all other actions. Whoever believes or teaches that any creature can be transformed into a better or worse state, or its appearance can be changed besides the creator of the universe,he should be considered an unbeliever and worse than a Gentile. Based on the fact that the canon literally says: "or turned into a worse state", the defenders of false doctrine and talk about the play of the imagination, and not about the reality when bewitched.
That these false doctrines are heretical and contrary to the common sense of the canon will be proved on the basis of divine ecclesiastical and civil rights, this is generally, and in particular - from the interpretation of the words of the canon. Divine law prescribes in many places not only to avoid witches, but also to put them to death. It would not have prescribed such punishments if witches were not accomplices of demons in the commission of actual witchcraft misdeeds. After all, the mortification of the body is due only to bodily grave sin, while the death of the spirit can occur as a result of glamor or through temptation. This is the opinion of Saint Thomas (dist.) On the question of whether it is a sin to use the services of demons. Deuteronomy prescribes the death of all sorcerers and spellcasters; Leviticus says: “Whose soul bows to magicians and sorcerers and fornicates with them,Against this I want to lift up my face and cast out my people from the flock. " Also in Ch. 20 says: "That man or woman in whom the pythonic or divinatory spirit dwelt must be put to death" (pythons, as you know, are called those through which the demon produces amazing phenomena).
As a result of this sin, the apostates Ahaziah and Saul perished (see 2 Kings, Ch. I, and 1 Chronicles). Do the commentators of the divine word in their writings say anything different about the power of the devil and sorcery? Let's see the works of each of the scientists. In the "Sentences" we will find that sorcerers and witches, through the medium of demons, with God's permission, can undoubtedly produce real, not imaginary sorceries. I am not talking about many other places where St. Thomas speaks in detail about such phenomena. Book. 3, ch. 1 and 2, part I, issue. 114, arg. 4; II question. Let them also have a look at the authors of the postils and glossators about the Pharaoh's sorcerers. Exodus 7, the words of Augustine in his City of God (ch. 17), as well as in his Christian doctrine. Other scientists speak in the same spirit, contradicting them is absurd and heretical. It is not for nothing that in canon law a heretic is one who falsely interprets the Holy Scriptures.
The contradiction between these false teachings and the common sense of the canon is evident from church law. Likewise the learned canonists, in their interpretations of the chapter Si per sortiarias et maleficas artes 24, qu. I, as well as De frigidis et maleficiatis, do not want anything else but to explain the obstacles to the performance of marital duties caused by witches and destroying an already concluded or just concluded marriage. They say, like St. Thomas, that if witchcraft penetrates into a marriage even before carnal intercourse, then in case of duration it interferes with the concluded marriage and even destroys it. It goes without saying that such an opinion of the canonists could not take place if it were only about the imaginary effects of witches.
Compare Gosyensis in his Summa copiosa, and also Goffred and Raimund. They never questioned the question of the reality of sorcery and took it for granted. And when asked when it is necessary to consider obstacles to the performance of marital duties long, they indicate a three-year period. They also do not doubt that these obstacles are in fact caused either by the power of the devil as a result of the conclusion of a contract with the witch, or simply by the devil without the mediation of the witch, although the latter very rarely happens among believers, where the sacrament of marriage refers to merit. This happens most often among unbelievers, since the devil notices that they rightfully belong to him. So, Peter Paludanus, in a commentary on the 4th book of "Sentences", reports about one man who married an idol and wished, in spite of this,to have intercourse with a young girl, but who could not do this due to the fact that every time the devil assumed the form of a human body and lay between them. Among believers, the devil uses in such cases primarily the services of witches to capture souls.
How he conducts this and by what means, this will be discussed below, exactly where it will be about seven methods of harming a person. The same follows also from other questions raised by theologians and canonists, when they, for example, talk about how the enchantment can be removed or whether it is permissible to resort to such sorceries that paralyze the effect of damage already sent, and equally and how to act when the witch who sent the corruption has already died. Goffred talks about this in his Summa, which we will talk about in the third part of this book. Finally, why should the canonists so zealously offer various punishments for sorcery, if the latter were unreal? Why also do they distinguish between the hidden and obvious sin of sorcerers or, more correctly, sorcerers (since.these harmful teachings are of various types) and prescribe, in the case of its explicitness, excommunication from communion, and in the case of secrecy, forty days of repentance?
It further states: “There are those who harm the lives of the pious with sorceries and seduce the hearts of women to sinful pleasures. Such criminals throw themselves at the mercy of wild beasts”(Cod. P. I. multi). The laws further prescribe that everyone should be allowed to initiate charges against these criminals, as we find in canon p. in favorem fidei, lid 6 de haeresi. It says: "Anyone is admitted to such an accusation, just as in the accusation of insulting the majesty." After all, these criminals insult to a certain extent the divine majesty. They also have to go through a preliminary investigation. No position and dignity can protect against this. Whose crime is proven, but who, despite this, denies his guilt, he is tortured. His body unfolds with iron torture claws, and he endures, thus,appropriate punishment for their misdeeds (Cod. p. I, I si ex etc).
Previously, such criminals indulged in a double punishment: the death penalty and tearing the body with torture claws or throwing them away for devouring by wild animals. Now they are being burned because these criminals are women. Any assistance to them is prohibited. The law says: “These criminals should not cross the threshold of someone else's house: whoever lets them in will be in danger of burning their property. Nobody has the right to accept them and give them advice. The perpetrators are exiled and their property is confiscated. " Here, the punishment for helping witches is expulsion and confiscation of property. When preachers inform the nations and rulers of the earth about these punishments, they do more against witches than any other references to the scriptures. In addition, the laws favor those who work against witches. See the works of the above canonists: “The same,who protect the labor of people from destruction by storm and hail (sent by witches), do not deserve punishment, but reward."
You cannot deny everything that has been said here or lightly contradict it without inciting charges of heresy against yourself. Let everyone decide if ignorance excuses him. What ignorance is the basis for an apology, we will now talk about this. There are witches who, with the help of the devil, by virtue of the agreement concluded with him and with God's permission, can perform sorcery, which does not exclude, however, the fact that they are able to fool the people with various illusions and deception of the senses. Due to the fact that this work touches on real witchcraft, which are significantly different from imaginary ones, we will not talk about the latter. For those who show these last arts are called magicians and sorcerers rather than witches.
Both the first and the other two previously indicated false teachings seek their basis in the words of the canon. The first of them undermines its correctness by the fact that it contradicts the words of Holy Scripture. Let's reveal the common sense of the canon and start with an analysis of the false teaching that the means used by the witches is fantastic, and the external effect is real.
It should be noted here that there are 14 main types of superstition, which time does not allow us to cite. They are detailed in Isidore of Seville ("Etymology") and in Thomas (II, 2). We will mention them below when we are talking about the meaning of this heresy and precisely when analyzing the last question of this first part. Python - through them the devil speaks or performs miracles. This species is often ranked first. Witches belong to the type of sorcerers (malifici). They are very different, and there is no need to classify those belonging to one species also to another species. The Canon speaks only of the above women, not witches. Whoever extends what was said there to all kinds of superstition misunderstands the canon. If these women act only in imagination, then this does not mean that all witches act in the same way. The meaning of the canon is even more distorted by those who conclude that only in the imagination they can enchant and send damage or illness.
These false teachers deserve all the more censure because they recognize external action, namely the active demon and the actual disease, but deny the mediating instrument in the person of the witch, while the means always has its share in the action. The statement that fantasy is something real does not help here either. After all, fantasy, as such, can not achieve anything and cannot be used with the machinations of a demon. Even at the conclusion of a contract with the devil, in which contract the witch surrenders and pledges to serve completely and sincerely and in reality, fantasy and imagination do not play a significant role. To fulfill the contract, the witch needs to physically cooperate with the devil, not in her imagination. The witch and the sorcerer use real, not imaginary, means for damage: an evil eye, spells, bewitched objects,placed under the threshold of the house, etc.
In addition, if you carefully look at the text of the canon, you can find there much that preachers and priests should energetically preach to the people in their churches. First, no one should believe that besides God there is another higher and divine being. Secondly: to ride with Diana or with Herodias means something different than to ride together in the devil, who only took on a different guise. Thirdly, such a ride is a figment of the imagination, when the devil so took possession of the mind of a man who succumbed to him that he takes fantasy for reality. Fourthly: people who succumbed to him must obey him in everything. Therefore, it is absurd to extend the above words of the canon to the actions of witches in general, since there are various types of witchcraft. The question of whether sorcerers can actually be carried through the air or only in imagination,as pythons, will be discussed in the third chapter of the second part.
It will indicate that they can do both. Thus, the second false doctrine will be eliminated in the analysis of its foundations from the point of view of a sound understanding of the canon. Likewise, the third false doctrine, based on the words of the canon and asserting that the spell of witches is only a figment of fantasy, is denied by the actual interpretation of the words of the same canon. If it says: "Whoever believes in the possibility of transforming any creature into a better or worse state or changing its appearance except by the creator himself, he stands below the pagans and unbelievers," then these three points, taken by themselves, run counter to the sacred scripture and with the definitions of scientists. To make sure that witches are able to create imperfect creatures, one need only look in the canon "Nec mirum", as well as in the canon "Episcopi" and in Augustine's interpretation of the pharaoh's wizards,who turned their staffs into snakes.
See also the gloss for Exodus 7: "Pharaoh called the wise men …", then - Strabo's gloss that demons rush through the world as soon as witches with spells wish to reach something through them and begin to collect various seeds, through the use of which they can arise different creatures. See also Albertus Magnus "On Animals", then St. Thomas 1, 114, 4. For brevity, we omit their reasoning. It should only be noted that the verb "fieri" (to be) means "to be created" (procreari). Secondly, we must take into account that only God, by virtue of his power, can turn something into a better or worse state, and precisely for the correction of a person or into punishment for him. This happens, however, often through the use of demons. The first case is described as follows: "God has mercy and punishes," and also: "I will put to death and I will revive."Regarding the second case, it says: "The message through the evil angels." In the specified canon "Nec mirum" pay attention to the words of Augustine, where witches and their spells are attributed not only to the sending of diseases, but also to death.
Thirdly, it does not hurt to take into account the following circumstance: today's witches, relying on the power of demons, often turn into wolves and other beasts. In addition, the canon also speaks of a real transformation, and not of an imaginary one, which also often takes place, as Augustine tells us in detail ("About the City of God"), such as, for example, about the famous sorceress Circe, about the companions of Diomedes and about the father Station. On this topic will be discussed in some chapters of the second part, as well as whether witches are present or absent, whether the devil takes on their guise and whether a person appears to himself in this new guise.
Is it heretical to recognize sorcerers?
Since the second half of the question at the beginning of this part of the book asserts the heretical nature of the stubborn denial of the existence of witches, one may ask, should these deniers be considered openly caught in hereticalism, or only under strong suspicion of hereticalism? It seems to us that the first will be more correct. After all, Bernard in his Glossa ordinaria (in cap. Ad abolendam, praesenti u vers. Deprehensi) says that exposure of heresy occurs in three ways, namely:
1) red-handed, if the accused openly preaches heresy, 2) through legal evidence of witnesses and finally
3) on his own admission of guilt.
Due to the fact that such people openly preach or openly protest against all of the above, claiming the non-existence of witches or their complete harmlessness to people, then they can therefore be counted among heretics. In the same sense Bernard says in Gloss to the chapter "Excommunicamus" concerning the word "deprehensi publise." The canon “Cuibusdam extra de ver. sig ". However, the punishment dictated in this case by the canon "Ad adoleedam, in praesenti extra de haer." and consisting in the deprivation of the priestly dignity for a clergyman and the transfer of secular power to the layman (for the death penalty), it seems too strict, given the ignorance and the large number of those who will be exposed in this false teaching. Because of this large number, it is necessary to soften the severity of the court, following the instruction dist 40 ut constitueretur.
Answer. We intend rather to find excuses for preachers for such vice and such heresy than to accuse them, as it is said in “Extra de praesum. from. eitteras, quodcirca mandamus ". Moreover, we do not want such a preacher, despite the strongest suspicion, to be convicted of such a grave crime. Against such a highly suspect, a trial could be initiated. But he must not necessarily be condemned. Since we cannot neglect suspicion and precisely because of their frivolous statements against the true faith, it is necessary to investigate the degree of suspicion of the preacher. There are three kinds of suspicion: weak, grave, and very grave. See on this occasion the chapter "Accusatus" and the chapter "sum Contumacia, lib VI, de haeret", as well as the notes of Archdeacon and John Andreas on chap. "Accusatus" and about the word "vehemens". On suspicion - Ch."Litteras". A very strong suspicion is mentioned in the canon dist, 24 quorundam. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate what kind of suspicion such a preacher falls under. Preachers making heretical statements cannot be taken by the same yardstick. Some of them speak out of their ignorance of divine law, others are quite enlightened, hesitate, indecisive and do not want to fully agree.
The fallacy of opinion does not yet make a heretic, if the obstinacy of the will does not join it. Therefore, one cannot speak of the same degree of suspicion of the crime of heresy. If the suspects believe that, due to their ignorance, they can get rid of the court, then they must nevertheless admit how grave the sin of those who were guilty for the sake of this ignorance is. After all, no matter how diverse ignorance is, however, it cannot be considered by spiritual shepherds an irresistible ignorance. It cannot be called partial ignorance (as the philosophers say), which theologians and lawyers call “ignorantia facti”. Their ignorance of that of the divine law, the knowledge of which is obligatory for each of them. See dist. 43 Pope Nicholas: “The sowing of the heavenly seed is given to us; woe to us if we do not sow it; woe if we are silent. After all, they must know the Holy Scriptures (cf. dist. 36 pertotum) and about the guardianship of the souls of the flock (ibid., P. 2, esse u. Siquis vult). Even if enormous knowledge is not required of them, as Raimund, Gostiensis and Thomas say. But sufficient knowledge is required to carry out their duties.
For their some consolation, we can add the following: if they only begin to spread the correct teaching in the future instead of the previous erroneous, then their ignorance of legal issues, whether it be with intent or not, can still be called non-malignant. As a matter of fact, the first of the named types of ignorance does not justify, but condemns. After all, the psalmist says: "He does not want to be wise in order to do good." The second kind mitigates sin, since it occurs when a person is instructed to know something, but he does not know that it is indicated to him. This was the case, for example, with the apostle Paul. This is stated in the first post. to Timothy: "Mercy was shown to me, because I acted in ignorance in unbelief."
Due to the fact that this person, due to business burdens, does not care about acquiring the necessary knowledge, despite the warnings and does not want to acquire them, this only partially excuses him. Compare Ambrose of Mediolana in his interpretation of the text of the Epistle to the Romans: "Do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" Ambrose says there: “You sin gravely if you do not know very much. Therefore, now, especially in our time, we want, coming to the aid of souls in a moment of danger, to dispel ignorance and always have before our eyes the harshest judgment that we have to face so that proud ignorance does not take over us. " that the holy spirit is ready to teach such a person the direct, true path of salvation.
“Because of his great envy, in his struggle with man, the devil would destroy everything if it were God's permission.” But God allows him to do one thing, and does not allow another. This causes the devil a great shame and discontent, since God uses him in everything to reveal his glory against the will of the devil. A painful change in the body or some other damage is preceded by some movement in space. After all, a demon, prompted by a witch, collects known active properties that can harm, and they are combined with passive ones in order to arouse pain, damage, or other abominations. The question of whether this movement occurs in space, depending on the flow of heavenly bodies, must be answered negatively, since this movement is set in motion not by natural force, but by natural obedience to the demon who has power over bodies. His power over them lies in his nature. This does not mean that he can impart significant or random changes to matter without the help of another natural cause.
But he can, with God's permission, move things and through their connection cause pain or make other similar changes in properties. Therefore, witchcraft depends on heavenly movements as little as the demon himself, even if he had power over the indicated things and tools. For the fourth argument, the following should be said. The creations of God can suffer from the wiles of the devil, as, for example, during sorcery. But this is possible only with God's permission. Therefore, the devil is not stronger than God. Moreover, he cannot act with violence, otherwise he could destroy everything.
Fifth. Everyone knows that heavenly bodies do not have the power to influence demons. But these latter are nevertheless called by magicians at a known position of the stars. This happens for two reasons. On the one hand, sorcerers know that a certain arrangement of stars favors the actions they intend to perform. On the other hand, they question the luminaries in order to seduce people to worship the stars as to something divine. From this veneration arose once idolatry.
Finally, sixth, regarding the meaning of the alchemists' argument about gold, the following should be said, according to the teachings of St. Thomas. Even if some substantial forms can be artificially created with the help of the natural motor principle, then this has no general distribution, since it is not always possible to combine active principles with passive ones. This art can only create something similar. And alchemists produce something similar to gold, something that has its external properties. But they don't make real gold. After all, the substantial form of gold does not come from the heat of the fire used by the alchemists, but from the heat of the sun at a certain place where the power of the mineral acts. It is the same with other similar actions of alchemists.
To the essence. Demons use witchcraft and therefore cannot create a substantial or incidental form without the aid of an active principle. By this, however, we do not want to say that witchcraft in general cannot occur without the help of another active principle. And with this help of the active principle, it becomes possible for them to cause real diseases and damage. What is necessary to perform such a sorcery, and whether demons should participate here, will become clear from the following.
Yai Evgeniya