Table of Contents
The Church and the Witches
Canon Episcopi - 10th c
“some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and profess themselves, in the hours of the night, to ride upon certain beasts, with Diana the goddess of pagans … and in the silence of the dead of night to traverse great spaces of earth…” [1 (29)]
“an innumerable mulititude, decieved by this false opinion, believe this to be true,and so believing, wander from the right faith and are involved in the error of the pagans when they think that there is anything of divinity or power except the one God” [1 (29)]
“Wherefore the priests throughout their churches should preach with all insistence to the people that they may know this to be in every way false and that such phantasms are imposed on the minds of infidels and not by the divine but by a malignant spirit.” [1 (29)]
Vox in Rama - 1232
“When a novice is to be initiated and is brought before the assembly of the wicked for the first time, a sort of frog appears to him; a toad according to some. Some bestow a foul kiss on his hind parts, others on his mouth, sucking the animal’s tongue and slaver.” [3 (48)]
When this ceremony is over the lights are put out and those present indulge in the most loathsome sensuality, having no regard to sex. If there are more men than women, men satisfy one another’s depraved appetites. Women do the same for one another. “ [3 (49)]
“Each year at Easter when they receive the body of Christ from the priest they keep it in their mouths and throw it in the dirt as an outrage against their Saviour.” [3 (49)]
Summis desiderantes affectibus: Pope Innocent VIII
It has recently come to our ears…that in some parts of upper Germany…many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the Catholic faith, give themselves to devils male and female…and at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not fear to commit and perpetrate many abominable offences.” [6 (108)]
We, therefore, desiring, as is our duty, to remove all impediments by which in any way the said inquisitors are hindered in the exercise of their office, and to prevent the taint of heretical pravity and other like evils from spreading their infection to the ruin of others who are innocent…it shall be permitted to the said inquisitors in these regions to exercise their office of inquisition and to proceed to the correction, imprisonment and punishment of the aforeseaid persons for their said offences and crimes.” (7 (110)]
Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches)
Three Parts: Part I
Parts II & III
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Author: Immanuel
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