Combining thorough research, practical insights, and personal experience, Father Girolamo Menghi has given the Church a masterful tool to prudently “know thy enemy.”
Translated by Father Robert Nixon, OSB, with a foreword by Father Cliff Ermatinger, this classic manual by Father Menghi, known as the “Father of the Exorcist’s Art,” will open your eyes as it presents the many ways in which the enemy of our souls seeks to trap and ensnare and destroy those destined to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
In all that, is there an answer to a hot theological and mystical debate—namely, whether demons and other negative spirits can “read” our thoughts?
Most modern theologians say no. But where does theory give way to observation and experience? For example, there is the widely known and even scientifically “proven” occult ability called telepathy.
“Telepathy” is supposed to be mind-to-mind communication. If someone can pick up good thoughts from others, why wouldn’t a spirit—a dark one, which operates always on the spiritual-psychic level—be able to do the same?
And if, aside from their dark aspect, devils are like angels (for they were angels before they fell), and we can silently transmit thoughts to our angels (the guardian variety), why wouldn’t dark spirits also have access to our minds?
These are questions to ask, at any rate. And in this book (The Scourge of Demons), which we highly recommend for all kinds of spiritual advice, is the note, in discussing how to dispel evil, that “where there has not been contrition and proper forgiveness of sins, demons (who perceive the hidden thoughts and movements of the human heart) will often raise such sins before the priest who attempts to exorcise them, thereby creating confusion and shame.”
Note that line, from a man who had dealt with innumerable such cases, that demons don’t rely on body language but that as Father Menghi says, they “perceive the hidden thoughts and movements of the human heart.”
“The priest may know for certain that a demon is present when the person possessed is witnessed to say or to know something which, in their own capacity, they would not be able to know or say.”
In other words, the spirits infesting them are silently transmitting the knowledge.
This classic 16th century manual on exorcism and spiritual warfare was widely read by both parish priests and the laity. It enjoyed vast popularity both in its own time and in the three centuries which followed, appearing in well over twenty editions. During this time, it served as the definitive textbook and manual for priests involved in the conduct of exorcisms. It was popular even in nations that had recently become Protestant.
Written in a relatively accessible style, readily comprehensible to the average parish priest, and firmly grounded in scholastic theology, it is an incredible resource for the entire Church today.
The Scourge of Demons covers many practical aspects of our spiritual combat and our pursuit of virtue and holiness:
- finding the balance between devotion and superstition
- the importance of humility in avoiding the tricks of demons
- the power of music to fortify us against temptations and diabolical attacks
- the power that the Saints wield against demons
- how demons tend toward infighting and often attack each other
- the importance of avoiding curiosity on the topic of the diabolical
- and many more!
- (Father Girolamo Menghi (1529– 1609) was a learned and devout Italian Franciscan friar, priest, and theologian, with particularly extensive experience as an exorcist. Indeed, his reputation and authority on the practice of exorcism was such that he gained the appellation “The Father of the Exorcist’s Art.”)
- [resources: The Scourge of Demons]