Nuns possessed by the devil! In the 17th century, several convents were the scene of a major Satanic panic. The nuns enclosed within their walls convinced they had been ravaged by Satan – usually conjured by a good-looking local priest. In each case, the inquisition and the local authorities got involved and the outcome was one burned priest and a lot of disgraced sisters.
The Devil comes to Aix-en-Provence
Sébastien Michaelis operated as an inquisitor in the late 16th and early 17th century. He wrote a book in 1612 that classified demons: Histoire admirable de la possession et conversion d’une penitente. This was based on his work in Avignon where he had fourteen women burned as witches in 1581 and 1582.
In 1612, he was called to an Ursuline convent in Aix-en-Provence where a nun, Madeleine de Demandolx de la Palud, was possessed by the devil. She claimed that her priest confessor in the city of Marseille, Louis Gaufridy, had hypnotised her in a sexual manner. He was able to do this because the devil had given his breath aphrodisiac properties. Gaufridy allowed her body to be taken over by demons and only his death or punishment would banish them. She specified that the demon controlling her was Beelzebub.
Madeleine had entered her first convent at Marseille in 1607 as a teenager. This is where she met Gaufridy and the two clearly had some kind of affair that she then regretted. The distressed young nun confessed all to her mother superior who moved Madeleine to another convent at Aix-en-Provence.
The hope was to end the matter by separating her from the priest. However, things did not turn out well. Very soon, Madeleine and the other nuns were convulsing madly, showing signs of demonic possession. Attempts at exorcism proved fruitless.
The Inquisition then moved in. Michaelis interrogated the nuns in a cave at Sainte-Baume where Mary Magdalene was said to have lived when she came to France after the crucifixion to spread the gospel. This seemed to provoke the nuns into even greater madness.
One nun, Louise Capeau Amira, screamed a prediction of the apocalypse but later said her voice was that of a demon named Verin. Madeleine Demandols said that there was a breathtaking total of 6,600 devils involved in possessing nuns at the convent.
The statements of the nuns were believed over the priest – who was examined by the inquisition for signs of the “devil’s mark”. Jacques Fontaine, professor of medicine at the University of Aix, found the said mark. This was more than likely a defect that Madeleine could describe due to the two of them having been naked together in the past. At that moment, a terrified Gaufridy must have been regretting his fling with the teen nun.
The inquisition subjected him to torture in early 1611 and Gaufridy confessed after the Strappado had been used on him including a process called ‘squassation’ where the arms are bound behind the victim, weights applied to his feet, and he is then hauled up and jerked up and down. Gaufridy was burned to death on 11 April 1611.
In the wake of the case, Michaelis produced two books which classified demons according to the nuns’ testimonies. These classifications are widely used in esoteric and Satanist circles to the present day.
Sister Madeleine’s future was not bright. She was accused of witchcraft in 1642 and again in 1652, by which time she was abandoned by her family. After serving a ten-year prison sentence, she died in 1670.
Nuns barking like dogs
Another Ursuline convent at Loudun was hit by mass demonic possession in 1634. When the Inquisition investigated, they implicated a handsome and rich local priest, Urbain Grandier, as the man who had summoned the devils. He had remained in the area during a recent outbreak of plague when most of the wealthier residents had fled. The nuns had locked themselves up in the convent for months on end.
What could possibly go wrong? Plenty it turned out.
The nuns began behaving very oddly. They were shouting, swearing, and barking like dogs. Local people turned up to watch this strange spectacle. When asked what they were doing, the nuns claimed that a demon – Asmodeus – was responsible for their weird conduct. He was in control of their bodies and voices.
Grandier was implicated as the wizard behind this even though he had never met the nuns. Or at least, that’s what he claimed. Unfortunately, as the Inquisition soon discovered, Grandier had written a book criticising priestly celibacy – which did not help his case.
He was tortured using the Boot – the placing of wooden boards around the foot and lower leg and use of wedges to increase pressure until bones broke. It was long recognised that the feet – toes especially – are very sensitive to pain.
Condemned to death, he was led out into the public square with a rope around his neck, holding a burning taper in his right hand, and told to beg for God’s mercy. He cut a pathetic sight, barely able to walk. After this humiliation, Grandier was ordered to be burned.
The priest made one last plea for clemency. The judges responded that if he gave the names of his accomplices, he might be killed in a less painful manner. Grandier decided not to lie and implicate innocent people – saying he had no accomplices.
He then tried to make a final statement, but the monks threw huge amounts of holy water in his face to literally drown out his words. Grandier was supposed to be strangled before being burned but the execution was botched – deliberately, one suspects – and he was fully conscious while incinerated.
Screaming and gurgling nuns
A teenage nun, Madeleine Bavent, claimed to have been bewitched by Mathurin Picard – director of the convent at Louviers in 1647. She described being taken by Picard, and a priest called Father Thomas Boulle, to a witches’ sabbath where she was married to a demon, Dagon. She was forced to commit various sexual acts with him on an altar. Madeline related that while this happening, two men were being ritually crucified and disembowelled.
The Inquisition investigated and other nuns stepped forward, having also been taken to secret sabbaths by Picard and Boulle. Sister Barbara of St Michael had been seduced by yet another demon, Ancitif. The nuns found themselves writhing on the ground and speaking in tongues. Satan himself appeared to convince them that Christianity was a false religion, and they should worship him alone.
The Inquisition tortured and questioned Boulle but not Picard as he suddenly died. Public exorcisms of the nuns were conducted with lots of screaming and gurgling. This proved to be contagious and very soon, all Louviers experienced demonic contortions.
Sentencing was carried out by the secular authorities with Madeleine imprisoned for life in a church dungeon, Boulle was burned alive, while Picard was exhumed and his mouldering body also burned.
If you would like to know more about the history of the Knights Templar – the publishers Pen & Sword have very kindly brought out in hardback my latest work: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. You can buy it on Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith, and Barnes & Noble. Enjoy!
