The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist

by Matt Baglio

  For this information, I am indebted to the research conducted by Father Jeffrey Grob, and his unpublished dissertation, “A Major Revision of the Discipline on Exorcism.”

  74: the Ritual has gone through a few adjustments: In 1952 Pope Pius XII released the new edition of the Roman Ritual, slightly updating some of the language in the criteria section pertaining to mental illness and psychology. In addition, the strictures on what constitutes demonic possession were loosened up. Where the original states, “Signs of possession are the following …,” the revised language states, “Signs of possession maybe the following …” Considerable consternation followed the release of the 1998 Ritual. Father Amorth was perhaps the most vocal critic of the revision, characterizing it as watered down.

  Much less important, the order of the prayers was also reversed. In January 1999, a year after the Revised Ritual was released, the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments announced that if requested by the diocesan bishop, it would grant a priest the permission to use the former rite of exorcism contained in the 1952 edition of the Roman Ritual. Many exorcists prefer to pray the older Ritual for a variety of reasons, some simply because they know the older Ritual by heart. The 1998 Ritual has also gone through various revisions since it was released, the most recent in 2005 (Grob, “A Major Revision of the Discipline on Exorcism”).

  74: only when he is “morally certain”: In certain difficult cases where the presence of a demon may be hard to diagnose, some exorcists, including Father Amorth and Father Bamonte, prefer to use the deprecatory prayer as a tool for discernment. In addition, other exorcists might incorporate elements of the deprecatory prayer into spontaneous prayers of deliverance. Not, however, the imperative formula.

  75: confused with a magic ceremony: Praenotanda No. 19, De exorcismis et sup-plicationibus quibusdam, trans. Pierre Bellemare of Saint Paul University.

  77: indicative of full demonic possession: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, pp. 79-80.

  77: there are five traps: Father Nanni, Il dito di Dio e il potere di Satana: L'esorcismo, pp. 257-62.

  77: Father Amorth has been threatened: Being threatened by demons is quite common, so much so that some exorcists have devised little “tricks.” One exorcist prefers to recite Luke 10:17-20 when intimidated: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan like lightning falling from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the powers of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

  78: who is almost always a woman: Anthropologists, such as I. M. Lewis and Lesley A. Sharp, have also noted the frequency of spirit possession among women in native societies, which they claim can be attributed to its use as a tool of empowerment. For instance, in some male-dominated societies, there is no outlet for a woman to express her outrage except through possession. For example, Somalis believe that evil spirits (¡inns) often lie in wait to take possession of unsuspecting passersby. “These malevolent sprites are thought to be consumed by envy and greed and to hunger especially after dainty foods, luxurious clothing, jewelry, perfume and other finery … The prime targets for the unwelcome attentions of these malign spirits are women, and particularly married women” (Ecstatic Religion, A Study of Shamanism ana Spirit Possession, p. 67).

  80: after the demon threatened him: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, pp. 194-95.

  80: this last point has perhaps been exaggerated: For its sheer level of hysteria, no book has perhaps surpassed Malachi Martin's Hostage to the Devil, in which the author, a former Jesuit priest, describes in lurid prose the physical and spiritual dangers that await any priest who dares to perform this ministry. Numerous critics have cast doubt on the veracity of Malachi's claims, including even some of his disciples. In his book People of the Lie, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, who credits Martin as one of his sources for his knowledge about exorcism, writes: “From my experience I suspect Martin may have overemphasized the physical dangers [of exorcism]” (M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie, p. 189).

  CHAPTER SEVEN: SEARCHING FOR AN EXORCIST

  84: outside the Scala Santa: The building was once a part of the Lateran Palace. In the sixteenth century, Pope Sixtus V renovated the site and had the steps moved to their present location. Upon entering the building, the visitor is immediately faced with three flights of stairs, the one in the center being the Holy Steps. The sanctum sanctorum, which is protected by a large grille, and a small chapel are all located on the second floor.

  87: Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina: Similar to Fatima in Portugal, six villagers at Medjugorje claim to have seen Mary on the mountainside daily since 1981. While the Catholic Church still has yet to make any kind of official statement as to the authenticity of the claims, the site has become a major pilgrimage destination on par with other Marian sites. Many people have claimed that their rosary beads have turned to gold, or that they have seen strange lights. On a trip to Medjugorje in 1998, Father Gary, along with his parents, saw the sun spin (a common miracle associated with the site), although nothing similar happened this trip.

  89: “These charismatic gifts”: Lumen Gentium, No. 12, from Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, p. 157.

  92: little about the building has changed: The porch had to be rebuilt when the church, which was located next to a Nazi supply dump, was accidentally bombed during World War II by the Allies in 1943. More than three thousand citizens were killed during the attack.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: THE FIRST NIGHT

  100: Padre Pio: Born in Pietrelcina, in the south of Italy, in 1887, Padre Pio became a Capuchin novice at sixteen and was ordained in 1910. In 1920 Padre Pio was purported to have been kneeling in front of a crucifix when he received the stigmata. The blood from the wounds carried with it the particular scent of flowers, and when he died in 1968, the wounds miraculously healed without leaving a mark. Padre Pio was also said to have the ability to read the inner hearts of the people who confessed to him, and numerous miracles—such as bilocation—were attributed to him. The gloves that Padre Pio wore to cover the stigmata were also said to effect miraculous cures. On more than one occasion during his life, he was said to have fought with the Devil who appeared to him in various forms—including a “monstrous dog” with smoke billowing from its mouth—in order to torment him.

  CHAPTER NINE: DISCERNMENT

  108: “fixing” them in this state: Cognitive therapists use this rationale to illustrate how a person claiming to have Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) might have that condition reinforced by a therapist who requires that an individual “inhabit” these personalities through hypnosis and past-life regression. This in turn not only legitimizes those personalities in the person's mind, they say, but also can create an “alter” where none existed. As Nicholas Spanos points out, a majority of MPD cases (80 percent in one study) do not enter therapy complaining about having more than one personality. It's because of this that Spanos says, “the procedures used to diagnose MPD often create rather than discover the multiplicity” (Multiple Identities ¿r False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective, p. 235). Another problem, according to academic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gallagher, is that a person suffering from a mental disease might not get the proper medical treatment if he is led to believe his problem is “spiritual.”

  109: “the exorcist should not proceed”: No. 16 of the Praenotanda, De exorcis-mis et supplicationihus quibusdam (DESQ), translated into English by Pierre Belle-mare of Saint Paul University.

  109: “must above all exercise necessary”: No. 14 of the Praenotanda, DESQ, translated into English by Pierre Bellemare of Saint Paul University.

  110: It is like a “holy light”: Matteo La Grua, Lapreghieradi liberazione, p. 70. “II discernimento e una ‘luce’ particolare che cija vedere in Dio come stanno le cose.”

  110: fruits of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, knowl
edge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, understanding tongues.

  110: demons often disguise their attacks: Saint Teresa of Avila writes: “The devil comes with his artful wiles, and, under color of doing good, sets about undermining [the soul] in trivial ways, and involving it in practices which, so he gives it to understand, are not wrong; little by little he darkens its understanding, and weakens its will, and causes its self-love to increase, until in one way and another he begins to withdraw it from the love of God and to persuade it to indulge its own wishes” (Interior Castle, 4. 4, 5).

  Along with the impulses sent by spirits, theologians say, a person must take into consideration the state of the soul itself, especially because of the imperfections that have resulted from original sin. Concupiscence drives us toward committing “sins of the flesh,” while the higher functions of the soul such as the intellect receive graces from God that lead us back to goodness (Romans 7:22-25).

  110: “These signs can offer some indication”: No. 16 of the Praenotanda, DESQ, translated into English by Pierre Bellemare of Saint Paul University.

  Ill: People seek exorcists: This information is based on personal interviews with exorcists.

  113: while in a real possession: Adolf Rode wyk, Daemonische Besessenheit heute, pp. 17-18, as quoted in Gabriele Nanni, Il dito di Dio e il potere di Satana: l'Esorcismo, p. 272.

  114: “one of the determining factors”: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, p. 70.

  115: “Most demons will manifest with a simple prayer”: If the demon does not manifest during the initial diagnosis but the exorcist suspects that he is present, then he will most likely advise the person to return to church, pray daily, receive the Eucharist as often as possible, and above all, go to confession. If, after two months, the person continues to have problems but the demon has not manifested, then the cause is most likely “natural,” say exorcists; therefore the person doesn't need an exorcism.

  115: “There are cases in which [obsession]”: Francesco Bamonte, Possessioni diaholiche ed esorcismo, pp. 77-78.

  116: Historically, epilepsy: Barry L. Beyerstein, “Dissociative States: Possession and Exorcism,” The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, Gordon Stein, ed. (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995), pp. 544-52, reprinted on the Web site for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, www.csicop.org/.

  117: In simple terms, disassociation: David H. Cleaves, “The Sociocognitive Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Reexamination of the Evidence,” Psychological Bulletin 120, no. 1 (1996): 42. See also, “An Examination of the Diagnostic Validity of Dissociative Identity Disorder,” by David H. Cleaves, Mary C. May, and Etzel Càrdena, Clinical Psychology Review 21, no. 4 (2001): 577-608.

  117: underestimate just how much of our behavior: Barry L. Beyerstein, “Dissociative States: Possession and Exorcism,” p. 3.

  118: Dr. Beyerstein is also on the board: Dr. Beyerstein was often quoted on the correlation between dissociation and demonic possession, and interviewed on the History Channel among others. These comments by Beyerstein are taken principally from two sources, an article he wrote for The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal (1995), and two interviews conducted over the phone in the fall of 2006. In the spring of 2007, Dr. Beyerstein died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

  118: traditional disease view: For a summation of this position, see Cleaves, May, and Càrdena, “An Examination of the Diagnostic Validity of Dissociative Identity Disorder;” and Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis, 5th edition, Chapter 13, “Dissociative Disorders” by Etzel Càrdena and David H. Cleaves, 2007.

  118: the sociocognitive model: For a description of the sociocognitive perspective, read Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective, by Nicholas Spanos, 1996.

  119: According to proponents of this view: The sociocognitive theory of how dissociation works offers the best answer about a number of phenomena associated with possession, including why the victim may not remember what transpired during an exorcism, and feel as if he or she had been taken over by an “alien” presence. In explaining how this might work, Spanos compares the process to “a stage actor who becomes immersed in his character [and who] tries to see the world the way his character would see it. The actor attempts to feel what his character would feel and to take on the mind-sets that his character would likely develop in different situations” (Multiple Identities ir False Memones: A Sociocognitive Perspective, p. 217).

  119: In Puerto Rico, for instance, espiritistas: Spanos, Multiple Identities ir False Memones, p. 150-51.

  119: These experiences teach them the behaviors: Spanos, Multiple Identities ir False Memories, pp. 150-151.

  119: “The notion provided a culturally”: Spanos, Multiple Identities ir False Memories, p. 171.

  119: Anthropologists, for instance, have documented: For more, see I. M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession, 3rd ed., p. 77.

  120: “produces strongly cued demon self-enactments”: Spanos, Multiple Identities && False Memories, p. 162.

  120: In one such study: Giuliana A. L. Mazzoni, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Irving Kirsch, “Changing Beliefs about Implausible Autobiographical Events: A Little Plausibility Goes a Long Way,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 7, no. 1 (2001): 51-59.

  CHAPTER TEN: CROSSING OVER

  125: her name would later be revealed: The woman's identity has been changed to ensure her anonymity.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE FALL

  136: “Whenever we are with people”: Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Gift of Peace, p. 47.

  143: EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing): A treatment combining known psychotherapies with external stimuli, in which the patient is asked to identify a negative memory and then to focus on that image, while at the same time rapidly moving the eyes back and forth, following the fingers of the therapist. For more on EMDR read Francine Shapiro and Margot Silk Forrest's EMDR: The Breakthrough “Eye Movement” Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma (New York: Basic Books, 1997).

  CHAPTER TWELVE: SUFFERING OF THE SOUL

  153: pure spirits do not occupy space: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia I, 52, 1.

  153: “In this way, [the demon] tries to”: Francesco Bamonte, Possessioni diaholiche ed esorcismo, p. 40.

  153: “Every exorcism is like hitting the demon”: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, p. 97.

  154: “Of course the object itself has no power”: Father José Antonio Fortea, Interview with an Exorcist, pp. 66-67.

  154: “The strongest and most lasting impression”: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist: More Stories, p. 11.

  154: Anna, now thirty-five: Her name has been changed at her request to protect her anonymity.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: A PASTORAL APPROACH

  163: enters through the person's senses: Other exorcists have observed the unusual connection demons have with the senses of their victim. “It is as if the demon, while possessing the body, feels whatever the body senses at a given moment. Whatever upsets the body also upsets the demon,” José Antonio Fortea, Interview with an Exorcist, p. 69. In this way, however, the demon will also unwittingly reveal his presence, by reacting to the prayers of the exorcism.

  164: Hebrew tradition is believed to give: Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion, p. 91. For more on names see Gabriele Nanni, Il dito di Dio e il potere di Sotana: L'esorcismo, p. 186; and S. Vernon Mc-Casland's By the Finger of God: Demon Possession and Exorcism in Early Christianity in the Light of Modern Views of Mental Illness, pp. 96-109.

  164: “the number and name of the spirits”: No. 14 in the guidelines of the 1952 Roman Ritual.

  168: “I always say that the exorcism is ten percent”: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, p. 112.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WINDOWS TO THE SOUL

  174: threw herself out the window: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, pp. 83-84
.

  175: “He need only enter into”: Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges, Catechism des Incroyants I, 186, from Who Is the Devil? by Nicolas Corte, The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholidsm, p. 88.

  176: “partly so that he may do that”: Pie-Raymond Régamey, O.P., What Is an Angel? Translated from the French by Dom Mark Pontifex, p. 75.

  177: “A priest who is afraid”: Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, p. 194.

  177: “If this Lord is powerful”: Saint Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life, Chapter 25, p. 19, as quoted in Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, pp. 64-65.

  177: “Throughout her life”: Catechism of the Catholic Church 149, p. 46.

  177: “God made [Satan] magnificent”: Fr. José Antonio Fortea, Interview with an Exorcist, p. 42.

  178: “if she weren't stopping me!”: Many people accuse the Catholic Church of practicing idolatry in its veneration of Mary. The dogma of the Church is quite clear. Mary should be honored for her service to God, but never worshiped. To establish a relationship with Mary, theologians say, is to be better united with Jesus Christ, who chose Mary as a partner to his earthly ministry. Pope Paul VI confirmed this when he said in an address on April 24, 1970, “If we want to call ourselves Christians we must be Marian, that is, we must recognize the essential, vital and providential relationship that unites Our Lady to Jesus, and that opens up a pathway to us that leads to him.”

  In one exorcism Father Bamonte recorded the demonic voice saying: “Under the cross, she gathered with her hands the flooding blood [of Christ] and with those hands she prayed to God, she praised and thanked the Father, she forgave and loved the ones who nailed her son [to the cross] and said that she wanted to feel that pain to alleviate the pain of her son but she knew she couldn't and I suffered, I've never suffered that much.” Another time, “We wanted to rejoice [at Christ being crucified] but instead she killed us with her crying; her tears are like fire that kills us.”