Whether Witches may work some Prestidigatory Illusion so that the
Male Organ appears to be entirely removed and separate from the Body.
Here is declared the truth about
diabolic operations with regard to the male organ. And to make plain the facts
in this matter, it is asked whether witches can with the help of devils really
and actually remove the member, or whether they only do so apparently by some
glamour or illusion. And that they can actually do so is argued a fortiori;
for since devils can do greater things than this, as killing them or carrying
them from place to place - as was shown above in the cases of Job and Tobias -
therefore they can also truly and actually remove men's members.
Again, an argument is taken from
the gloss on the visitations of bad Angels, in the Psalms: God punishes by
means of bad Angels, as He often punished the People of Israel with various
diseases, truly and actually visited upon their bodies. Therefore the member
is equally subject to such visitations.
It may be said that this is done
with the Divine permission. And in that case, it has already been said that
God allows more power of witchcraft over the genital functions, on account of
the first corruption of sin which came to us from the act of generation, so
also He allows greater power over the actual genital organ, even to its
removal.
And again, it was a greater thing
to turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt than it is to take away the male
organ; and that (Genesis xix) was a real and actual, not an apparent,
metamorphosis (for it is said that that pillar is still to be seen), And this
was done by a bad Angel; just as the good Angels struck the men of Sodom with
blindness, so that they could not find the door of the house. And so it was
with the other punishments of the men of Gomorrah. The gloss, indeed, affirms
that Lot's wife was herself tainted with that vice, and therefore she was
punished.
And again, whoever can create a
natural shape can also take it away. But devils have created many natural
shapes, as is clear from Pharao's magicians, who with the help of devils made
frogs and serpents. Also S. Augustine, in Book LXXXIII, says that those things
which are visibly done by the lower powers of the air cannot be considered to
be mere illusions; but even men are able, by some skilful incision, to remove
the male organ; therefore devils can do invisibly what others do visibly.
But on the contrary side, S.
Augustine (de Ciuitate Dei, XVIII) says: It is not to be believed that,
through the art or power of devils, man's body can be changed into the
likeness of a beast; therefore it is equally impossible that that should be
removed which is essential to the truth of the human body, Also he says (de
Trinitate, III): It must not be thought that this substance of visible
matter is subject to the will of those fallen angels; for it is subject only
to God. Answer. There is no doubt
that certain witches can do marvellous things with regard to male organs, for
this agrees with what has been seen and heard by many, and with the general
account of what has been known concerning that member through the senses of
sight and touch. And as to how this thing is possible, it is to be said that
it can be done in two ways, either actually and in fact, as the first
arguments have said, or through some prestige or glamour. But when it is
performed by witches, it is only a matter of glamour; although it is no
illusion in the opinion of the sufferer. For his imagination can really and
actually believe that something is not present, since by none of his exterior
sense, such as sight or touch, can he perceive that it is present.
From this it may be said that there
is a true abstraction of the member in imagination, although not in fact; and
several things are to be noted as to how this happens. And first as to two
methods by which it can be done. It is no wonder that the devil can deceive
the outer human senses, since, as has been treated of above, he can illude the
inner senses, by bringing to actual perception ideas that are stored in the
imagination. Moreover, he deceives men in their natural functions, causing
that which is visible to be invisible to them, and that which is tangible to
be intangible, and the audible inaudible, and so with the other senses. But
such things are not true in actual fact, since they are caused through some
defect introduced in the sense, such as the eyes or the ears, or the touch, by
reason of which defect a man's judgement is deceived.
And we can illustrate this from
certain natural phenomena. For sweet wine appears bitter on the tongue of the
fevered, his taste being deceived not by the actual fact, but through his
disease. So also in the case under consideration, the deception is not due to
fact, since the member is still actually in its place; but it is an illusion
of the sense with regard to it.
Again, as has been said above
concerning the generative powers, the devil can obstruct that action by
imposing some other body of the same colour and appearance, in such a way that
some smoothly fashioned body in the colour of flesh is interposed between the
sight and touch, and between the true body of the sufferer, so that it seems
to him that he can see and feel nothing but a smooth body with its surface
interrupted by no genital organ. See the sayings of S. Thomas (2 dist. 8.
artic. 5) concerning glamours and illusions, and also in the second of the
second, 91, and in his questions concerning Sin; where he frequently quotes
that of S. Augustine in Book LXXXIII: This evil of the devil creeps in through
all the sensual approaches; he gives himself to figures, he adapts himself to
colours, he abides in sounds, he lurks in smells, he infuses himself into
flavours.
Besides, it is to be considered
that such an illusion of the sight and touch can be caused not only by the
interposition of some smooth unmembered body, but also by the summoning to the
fancy or imagination of certain forms and ideas latent in the mind, in such a
way that a thing is imagined as being perceived then for the first time. For,
as was shown in the preceding question, devils can by their own power change
bodies locally; and just as the disposition or humour can be affected in this
way, so can the natural functions. I speak of things which appear natural to
the imagination or senses. For Aristotle in the de Somno et Uigila says,
assigning the cause of apparitions in dreams, that when an animal sleeps much
blood flows to the inner consciousness, and thence come ideas or impressions
derived from actual previous experiences stored in the mind. It has already
been defined how thus certain appearance convey the impressions of new
experiences. And since this can happen naturally, much more can the devil call
to the imagination t