Demon Saint and the Ursulines Thread

I wrote this for a game I wanted to make, this is just a small backstory for on of the characters and the level basis. The character was to be lilith, and the level was to be a monestery that was haunted. About 80% of this actually happened which is the true scary part.

The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic Religious Order founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela De Merici in November 1535, primarily for the Education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their Patron saint is Saint Ursula.

Angela Merici was born at Desenzano del Garda, a small town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy. She and her younger sister were left orphans when she was about ten years old. Together they came to live with their uncle in the town of Salo. Young Angela was very distressed when her sister suddenly died without receiving the Last Sacraments. She joined the Third Order of Saint Francis, and increased her prayers to God so her sister's soul could rest in peace. Angela however was never satisfied. She would repeatedly have dreams and visions of her sister burning in hell and being tortured by demons. After many years of prayers she was convinced that her sister's soul was in the clutches of Satan and began to fall into despair. One night while she dreamed of her sister she fell into a deep trance. Her mind was set loose into the depths of hell where she could meet her sister once more and she ran to her with open arms. Her sister begged and pleaded with her for help and forgiveness but Angela was reluctant to ask God for anything. Her sister begged and out of desperation asked if Angela would give her soul to Lilith in service as a bargaining chip for her own. Angela tried everything and after much debate willingly gave her soul up so that her sister could go to heaven. Legend says that she was satisfied by a vision of her sister in the company of the saints in Heaven. Unannounced to Angela however was that Lilith had visited her in her sleep and portrayed herself as angela's sister in order to gain possession of her soul. The illusion of her sister in heaven was also fabricated by the mother of demons. As from that night on it was questionable whether or not the actions of Angela Merici were her own.

Angela's uncle died when she was twenty years old and she returned to her previous home in Desenzano. Angela believed that better Christian education was needed for young girls with an emphasis on protection from demonic forces. She dedicated her time to teaching in her home where it was rumored that she would have the girls perform religious acts that would denounce Satan however others have been on record to have seen them performing sexual acts with the devil. She later allegedly had another vision that revealed to her that she was to found an association of Virgins who were to devote their lives to the religious training of young girls. This was a success and she was invited to start another school in the neighboring city, Brescia. She happily accepted this offer.

On November 25, 1535, St Angela chose twelve virgins and started the foundation of the "Company of St Ursula" near the Church of St Afra, in a small house in Brescia. On March 18, 1537, she was elected "Mother and Mistress" (Superior) of the order. The twelve virgins were supposedly selected through a series of visions she had that came from the saints but at the time there was a rumor of demonic selection because she chose the fairest virgins for her flock. Three years later, she died on January 27, 1540. Her body was clothed in the habit of a Franciscan tertiary and interred in the Church of St Afra, Brescia. After her death she was rumored to visit the virgins she chose after dark in their private quarters.

Although there was some speculation the church dismissed the case as mere hear say, and without substantial evidence against her Saint Angela Merici was beatified in Rome on April 30, 1768, by Pope Clement XIII. She was later canonized on May 24, 1807, by Pope Pius VII.

In 1611 at Aix-en-Provence (South of France), Father Louis Gaufridi was burnt alive for sending demons into the Ursuline nuns at Aix. This case provided the legal precedent for the conviction and execution of Urbain Grandier at Loudun more than 20 years later. In both cases, sexual themes dominated the manifestations of the possessions. The first 20-25 years of the 17th century were host to the peak of accusations in France's witchcraft hunt. During this time-frame, the number of cases involving demonic possession, priests and nuns outnumber that of any other period.

Signs of a demon invasion were believed to appear at Aix-en-Provence during the year 1609 through the victim Madeleine de Demandolx de la Palud. Madeleine, a 17-year-old Ursuline nun with a history of emotional instability, was returned often to the care of her parents to recover from attacks of depression. Father Louis Gaufridi was a friend of Madeleine's family and it is believed that he and Madeleine became lovers. It was then that Madeleine was admitted to the Ursuline convent at Marseilles, under the direct supervision of Mother de Gaumer. To de Gaumer, Madeleine revealed the full story of her relations with Father Gaufridi. In order to prevent further damage and to halt any association with Father Gaufridi, Madeleine was transferred to the distant convent at Aix. Two years later, at the age of 19, Madeleine fell victim to what those around her considered to be unmistakable demonic possession; her body was contorted, and in a fit of rage she destroyed a crucifix. Common convent practice at the time prescribed an exorcism to banish Madeleine's demons. Not only were the first attempts futile, but further attempts brought damning accusations that Father Gaufridi was a devil worshipper that had copulated with her since she was 17. Three more nuns were soon found to be possessed by demons, and by the end of the year that number had risen to eight. Sister Louise Capeau was considered to be the most extremely afflicted; her ravings and bodily contortions were more hideous than Madeleine's. After Vérin accused Father Gaufridi of causing Madeleine's possession, reporting to the amazed exorcist Father Domptius that 6666 demons were in possession of her body, Gaufridi was summoned from his parish to exorcise Sister Louise Capeau. For his efforts, the priest was rewarded with denouncement as a sorcerer and cannibal. To the dangerous accusation, Gaufridi replied, "If I were a witch, I would certainly give my soul to a thousand devils." Taken by the inquisitors as a confession of guilt, Gaufridi was taken immediately to prison. Court proceedings saw both Sisters Madeline and Louise behave in, according to 17th century standards, fashion typical of an advanced state of possession. Madeleine in particular was seen to maniacally swing from violently denouncing Gaufridi as a devil worshipper and sorcerer to retracting the accusations. She would return to charges of cannibalism, and then turn to begging him for a single word of kindness. Twice, Madeleine attempted suicide after the courts found the Devil's Mark on her body. In court, Father Gaufridi strongly recanted the confession extracted from him by torture. In the eyes of the court and 17th century Christians, the protest was useless: the signed confession and alleged pact were evidence weighty enough to sentence the priest to death by fire. April 30, 1611 was the day of Father Gaufridi's execution. With head and feet bare, a rope around his neck, Gaufridi officially asked pardon of God and was handed over to torturers. Still living after the torture of strappado and squassation, Gaufridi was escorted by archers while dragged through the streets of Aix for five hours before arriving at the place of execution. The priest was granted the mercy of strangulation before his body was burned to ashes. Sister Madeleine Demandolx de la Palud renounced God and the saints before the church, going so far as to renounce all prayers ever said on her behalf and immediately following Gaufridi's execution was suddenly free of all possession. Her fellow demoniac, Sister Louise Capeau, was possessed until she died. Both of the sisters were banished from the convent, but Madeleine remained under the watch of the Inquisition. She was charged with witchcraft in 1642 and again in 1652. During her second trial, Madeleine was again found to have the Devil's mark and was sentenced to imprisonment.

The Aix case was the first in which the testimony of an allegedly possessed person was taken into account. Prior to the 17th century, a demonically possessed (demoniac) person was considered unreliable when they laid accusations because most clerics believed that any words spoken by the demoniac were from the mouth of "the father of lies" (John 8:44). By its very nature, the utterances of a demoniac was not considered able to stand up as evidence. The hysteria begun at Aix didn't end with Gaufridi's sentence and the banishment of the nuns. In 1613, two years later, the possession hysteria spread to Lille where three nuns reported that Sister Marie de Sains had bewitched them. Sister Marie's testimony was a near copy of Sister Madeleine's renouncement two years earlier. More than 20 years later, in 1634, the Aix-en-Provence possessions set precedent for the conviction and execution of Urbain Grandier.

The 1634 case of demonic possession in Loudun, France, is arguably the most famous case of multiple or mass possession in history. This case involved the Ursuline nuns of Loudun who were allegedly visited and possessed by demons. Father Urbain Grandier was convicted of the crimes of sorcery, evil spells, and the possessions visited upon the Ursuline nuns, based on the words of possessed nuns. Until the Aix-en-Provence possessions of 1611, the words of the possessed nuns would have failed to become evidence.

Urbain Grandier was appointed parish priest of St-Pierre-du-Marche in Loudun, a town in Poitiers, France, in 1617. Grandier was considered to be a very good-looking man, and was both wealthy and well-educated. The combination made the priest a target for the attention of girls in Loudun. Grandier was also a very well-connected man, high in political circles. When he was arrested and found guilty for immorality on June 2, 1630, it was these connections that restored him to full clerical duties within the same year.

Mother Superior, Jeanne des Anges had illicit dreams about Father Grandier, who appeared to her as a radiant angel. As an angel, he enticed her to sexual acts, causing her to rave loudly at night. Jeanne suffered flagellation and did penance for the night-time disturbances, but she was no less troubled and soon it was found that other nuns were being haunted by hallucinations and vulgar dreams. It was then, this version claims, that Mother Superior Jeanne des Anges called for Father Mignon to hear her confession and purge the convent of demons. Several of the nuns, including Jeanne des Anges, suffered violent convulsions during the procedure, shrieking and making sexual motions toward the priests. Following the lead of Jeanne des Anges, many of the nuns reported illicit dreams. The accusers would suddenly bark, scream, blaspheme, and contort their bodies. During the exorcisms, Jeanne swore that she and the other nuns were possessed by two demons named Asmodeus and Lilith. Desperate, Grandier wrote to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who sent his personal doctor to examine the nuns. No evidences of true possession were found, and the Archbishop ordered the exorcisms to cease on March 21, 1633. The nuns were sequestered in their cells.

When exorcisms resumed at Loudun, they were led by the expert exorcists Capuchin Father Tranquille, Franciscan Father Lactance, and Jesuit Father Jean-Joseph Surin, and they were held publicly; up to 7,000 spectators attended. The priests employed dramatic commands, threats, and rituals to both direct and encourage the nuns in their accusations against Grandier. Adding to the hysteria prompted by the public exorcisms were the stories told by both nuns and Father Grandier's former lovers. As in both the Louviers possessions and the Aix-en-Provence possessions, the claims made against Grandier were overtly sexual and showed visible physical responses. Because they were public and dramatic, the citizens of Loudun and surrounding areas were set against Grandier. In addition to the dreams that Jeanne des Anges and other nuns had related, Jeanne added a third demon to the array of possessors afflicting the nuns: Isacarron, the devil of debauchery. After admitting to this third demon possessor, Jeanne went through a psychosomatic pregnancy. In all, Jeanne and the other nuns claimed to be possessed by a multitude of demons: Asmodeus, Lilith, Isacaaron, Astaroth, Gresil, Amand, Leviatom, Behemot, Beherie, Easas, Celsus, Acaos, Cedon, Alex, Naphthalim, Cham, Ureil, and Achas.

On December 7, 1633, Father Grandier was put in prison at the Castle of Angiers. His body was shaved and a successful search for devil's marks was made by inquisitors. Protests by the Dr. Fourneau, the physician who prepared Grandier for torture, and the apothecary from Poitiers were ignored. These protests claimed the inspection a hoax, and stated that no such marks had been found. Jeanne des Anges appeared in court with a noose tied around her neck, violently stating that she would hang herself if she could not recant her earlier lies. All defenses were ignored, and some defense witnesses were pressured to keep silent. Publicly, Laubardemont announced that any citizens who testified in favour of Grandier would be arrested as traitors to the King and have their possessions confiscated. Many of these witnesses fled France.

Father Grandier was promised that he could have the chance to speak before he was executed, making a last statement, and that he would be hanged before the burning, an act of mercy. Instead, the friars who carried Grandier's crippled body to the stake had drenched him with large quantities of holy water so that his last words could not be heard, and the garotte used for hanging had no slip knot; it couldn't tighten. Grandier was left to burn alive.

Witnesses to the execution reported that a large fly buzzed around Grandier's head, symbolizing that Beelzebub, lord of the flies, had come to take Grandier's soul to hell.

Before Grandier perished, he did have the last word. Struggling, Grandier declared that Father Lactance, present, would die in 30 days. To the day, Lactance did die, reportedly crying out, "Grandier, I was not responsible for your death." Within the next five years, both Father Tranquille and Dr. Mannouri, the inquisitor, died in delirium. Father Surin became haunted by the exorcisms, eventually unable to eat, dress himself, walk, read, or write. He could not pray, instead seeing visions of demons and black wings. He tried to kill himself in 1645 and only recovered after the new head of the Jesuit College, Father Bastide, cared for Surin in 1648. Surin would not walk again until 1657, 8 years before he died.

The possessions failed to stop after Father Grandier's execution. Nuns would lift their skirts and beg for sexual attention, beat their heads, walk on their hands, and use obscene language. Jeanne allegedly had a vision that she would be freed from the Devil if she made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Angela De Merici, the fouding mother of the Ursuline nuns. This in fact was a ploy. Jeanne made her pilgrimage to the tomb and was allegedly freed of the demonic possession that had plagued her. She then convinced Father Tranquille that she could cure the others of their demonic possession by building a church where their founding mother lay. In 1635 it was commissioned that they would build a monastery to house the women during their trials. Work was started from 1635 and continued until 1638 when it was completed. In 1638 all of the nuns from Loudun were moved into the monastery that was adequately named after Angela De Merici. Several exorcisms were performed on the nuns but no one could force the demons to leave their bodies. More and more nuns were moved to the monastery as it gained notoriety as being the center of possessions. As the others displayed actions of possession the numbers grew out of control. Soon the population had grown to over 100 women and the monastery was overcrowded. In 1639 The Ursulines were moving to the new world and start a new convent there as well. The monastery had been left in shambles to the care of ill reputed physicians that treated the possessions from torture to routine burnings. The possessions were said to cease after a torture gained confession and a purge of spirit through fire. Throughout the remaining years however the inquisition began to ease the trials and hunt for witches and the remaining nuns were said to be released with charges dropped as speculation. Upon the release of this order a few days before the nuns were to move they were found hung in their quarters with several burn marks on their bodies. The physicians were found impaled with their own instruments used against the nuns in the torture chambers. The church then had the monastery condemned as blasphemy and removed it from the minds of the populous.

Edited by: sydrose