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 the appearance of a smooth body unprovided with the virile
member, in such a way that the sense believe it to be an actual fact.
Secondly, some other methods are to
be noted which are easier to understand and to explain. For, according to S.
Isidore (Etym. VIII, 9), a glamour is nothing but a certain delusion of
the senses, and especially of the eyes. And for this reason it is also called
a prestige, from prestringo, since the sight of the eyes is so fettered
that things seem to be other than they are. And Alexander of Hales, Part 2,
says that a prestige, properly understood, is an illusion of the devil, which
is not caused by any change in matter, but only exists in the mind of him who
is deluded, either as to his inner or outer perceptions.
Wherefore, in a manner of speaking,
we may say even of human prestidigitatory art, that it can be effected in
three ways. For the first, it can be done without devils, since it is
artificially done by the agility of men who show things and conceal them, as
in the case of the tricks of conjurers and ventriloquists. The second method
is also without the help of devils; as when men can use some natural virtue in
natural bodies or minerals so as to impart to such objects some other
appearance quite different from their true appearance. Wherefore, according to
S. Thomas (I, 114, 4), and several others, men, by the smoke of certain
smouldering or lighted herbs, can make rods appear to be serpents.
The third method of delusion is
effected with the help of devils, the permission of God being granted. For it
is clear that devils have, of their nature, some power over certain earthly
matters, which they exercise upon them, when God permits, so that things
appear to be other than they are.
And as to this third method, it is
to be noted that the devil has fives ways in which he can delude anyone so
that he thinks a thing to be other than it is. First, by an artificial tricks,
as has been said; for that which a man can do by art, the devil can do even
better. Second, by a natural method, by the application, as has been said, and
interposition of some substance so as to hide the true body, or by confusing
it in man's fancy. The third way is when in an assumed body he presents
himself as being something which he is not; as witness the story which S.
Gregory tells in his First Dialogue of a Nun, who ate a lettuce, which,
however, as the devil confessed, was not a lettuce, but the devil in the form
of a lettuce, or in the lettuce itself. Or as when he appeared to S. Antony in
a lump of gold which he found in the desert. Or as when he touches a real man,
and makes him appear like a brute animal, as will shortly be explained. The
fourth method is when he confuses the organ of sight, so that a clear thing
seems hazy, or the converse, or when an old woman appears to be a young girl.
For even after weeping the light appears different from what it was before.
His fifth method is by working in the imaginative power, and, by a disturbance
of the humours, effecting a transmutation in the forms perceived by the senses,
as has been treated of before, so that the senses then perceive as it were
fresh and new images. And accordingly, by the last three of these methods, and
even by the second, the devil can cast a glamour over the senses of a man.
Wherefore there is no difficulty in his concealing the virile member by some
prestige or glamour. And a manifest proof or example of this, which was
revealed to us in our Inquisitorial capacity, will be set forth later, where
more is recounted of these and other matters in the Second Part of this
Treatise.
How a Bewitchment can be Distinguished from a Natural Defect.
An incidental question, with
certain other difficulties, follows. Peter's member has been taken off, and he
does not know whether it is by witchcraft or in some other way by the devil's
power, with the permission of God. Are there any ways of determining or
distinguishing between these? It can be answered as follows. First, that those
to whom such things most commonly happen are adulterers or fornicators. For
when they fail to respond to the demand of their mistress, or if they wish to
desert them and attach themselves to other women, then their mistress, out of
vengeance, through some other power causes their members to be taken off.
Secondly, it can be distinguished by the fact that it is not permanent. For if
it is not due to witchcraft, then the loss is not permanent, but it will be
restored some time.
But here there arises another doubt,
whether it is due to the nature of the witchcraft that it is not permanent. It
is answered that it can be permanent, and last until death, just as the
Canonists and Theologians judge concerning the impediment of witchcraft in
matrimony, that the temporary can become permanent. For Godfrey says in his Summa:
A bewitchment cannot always be removed by him who caused it, either because he
is dead, or because he does not know how to remove it, or because the charm
has been lost. Wherefore we may say in the same way that the charm which has
been worked on Peter will be permanent if the witch who did it cannot heal him.
For there are three degrees of
witches. For some both heal and harm; some harm, but cannot heal; and some
seem able only to heal, that is, to take away injuries, as will be shown later.
For thus it happened to us: Two witches were quarreling, and while they were
taunting each other one said: I am not so wicked as you, for I know how to
heal those whom I injure. The charm will also be permanent if, before it has
been healed, the witch departs, either by changing her dwelling or by dying.
For S. Thomas also says: Any charm may be permanent when it is such as can
have no human remedy; or if it has a remedy, it is not known to men, or
unlawful; although God can find a remedy through a holy Angel who can coerce
the devil, if not the witch.
However, the chief remedy against
witchcraft is the sacrament of Penitence. For bodily infirmity often proceeds
from sin. And how the charms or witches can be removed will be shown in the
Second Part of this Treatise, and in the Second QUestion, chapter VI, where
other different matters are treated of and explained.
Solutions of the Arguments.
For the first, it is clear that
there is no doubt but that, just as, with God's permission, they can kill men,
so also can devils taken off that member, as well as others, truly and
actually. But then the devils do not work through the medium of witches,
concerning which mention has already been made. And from this the answer to
the second argument is also made clear. But this is to be said: that God
allows more power of witchcraft over the genital forces because, etc.; and
therefore even allows that that member should be truly and actually taken off.
But it is not valid to say that this always happens. For it would not be after
the manner of witchcraft for it to happen so; and even the witches, when they
do such works, do not pretend that they have not the power to restore the
member when they wish to and know how to do so. From which it is clear that it
is not actually taken off, but only by a glamour. As for the third, concerning
the metamorphosis of Lot's wife, we say that this was actual, and not a
glamour. And as to the fourth, that devils can create certain substantial
shapes, and therefore can also remove them: it is to be said with regard to
Pharaoh's magicians that they made true serpents; and that devils can, with
the help of another agent, produce certain effects on imperfect creatures
which they cannot on men, who are God's chief care. For it is said: Does God
care for oxen? They can, nevertheless, with the permission of God, do to men
true and actual harm, as also they can create a glamour of harm, and by this
the answer to the last argument is made clear.