Art of the Devil. Arturo Graf
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living, or already dead, and raised to the honours of the altar. Ofttimes, too, he would reveal himself in the semblance of an angel, resplendent with light and glory. Capping the climax of his audacity, he appeared to some in the likeness of the Virgin Mary, of Christ, crucified, or risen from the dead, of God the Father himself; and, in company with his satellites, he sometimes succeeded in staging the entire Court of Heaven.
The demons were able, by condensing the air about them, or by fashioning at need some other element, to form for themselves the kind of body that best suited them; but they could also introduce themselves into a body already formed, and employ it exactly as if it were their own. I do not intend to speak here of diabolic possession – of which I will treat in its proper place – , a power which the demons exercised by entering bodies that were still alive; but I am speaking of their invasion of dead bodies, which through their agency gave the appearance of life. Dante makes Friar Alberigo de’ Manfredi[29] say that the betrayers of their fatherland, undergoing punishment in Ptolemaea, suffer such a fate that, while their souls are languishing in the lowest depths of Hell, their bodies, directed by demons, remain for a certain season in the world, still, in appearance, alive. This has been regarded as an ingenious invention of Dante himself, but such is not the case. Caesarius relates the melancholy history of a dead clerk whose body was animated and sustained by a devil. This counterfeit clerk used to sing with so sweet a voice that all who heard him were entranced; but one fine day a certain holy man, after listening a while to his singing, said without hesitation: “This is not the voice of a man; ‘tis the voice of a doubly damned devil!” And having performed his efficacious exorcisms, he compelled the devil to come out; and when the devil was out, the corpse dropped to the ground. Thomas Cantipratensis tells how the demon entered the body of a dead man that had been deposited inside a church and endeavoured with his chicaneries to terrify a holy virgin who was praying there; but the holy virgin, perceiving the trick, gave the dead man a sound rap on the head and made him lie quiet. The story of a devil who, in order to tempt a poor recluse, appropriated the body of a dead woman, is told by Giacomo da Voragine (died in 1298) in his Legenda Aurea. But this idea is quite ancient. Concerning a devil who, entering the corpse of a felon, used to carry travellers across a river in the hope of drowning them, we read in The Life of Saint Gildwin; concerning another, who kept alive the body of a wicked man, we read in The Life of Saint Odran. The theologians admitted the truth of what was related in these legends; only, in their wisdom, they affirmed that devils could not invade the corpses of persons of good repute and approved by the Church. The belief, with or without this restriction, is not as harmless as it might appear at first. Closely connected with it are various others concerning the evil that can be wrought by dead bodies; also various horrible practices intended to prevent these bodies from doing harm. If a person believed to be dead made the slightest movement, this was at once thought to be an illusion of the Devil, and burial was given in all haste to the dead who wished to be alive. This belief persisted well into the Renaissance, and even in the eighteenth century it had not entirely disappeared.
Raffaello Sanzio, also known as Raphael, St. Margaret, 1518. Oil on poplar wood, 192 × 122 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child, c. 1480. Tempera and gold on wood, 37.8 × 25.4 cm (painted surface: 36.5 × 23.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
The Devil could, at will, assume honourable and pleasing forms, but none the less he did not cease to be a devil; though rendered invisible, his devilishness did not cease to emanate from his whole person, as an evil influence. Even when he concealed himself under the shape of a beautiful girl, or that of an angel, of the Virgin Mary, or of Christ himself, by his approach he perturbed and dismayed human nature, inspired unaccountable aversions, or left behind him profound apprehensions and terrors. This pernicious influence could be greatly strengthened if he also let himself be seen under his own, or any other, monstrous aspect.
The good Caesarius cites various instances to show how great danger is involved in a sight of the Devil. Two youths fell ill after seeing the Devil in the form of a woman; several, after seeing him, died. Thomas Cantipratensis says that the sight of the Devil will strike one with dumbness. Dante, in the presence of Lucifer, became “frozen and faint”; he does not die, and he is not alive. Nor should this surprise us, when we remember that to the White Lady and other spectres was often given the power of slaying with a look or a mere glance.
Numberless were the shapes under which the Devil could hide himself, and numberless the tricks which, by using these shapes, he could play on others; but there were some who, like Saint Martin, knew how to rout him out, even when hidden under the most unusual and most deceptive forms. When discovered, the disguised demon would either incontinently vanish or reassume his ordinary aspect.
Such was the physical nature of the Devil; of his moral nature I will not speak now, for we shall see that nature expounded in the following chapters. I will only say, in passing, that – contrary to the opinion of Thomas Aquinas, who charged him with no other sin than pride and envy – , popular belief attributed to the Devil all of the seven deadly sins.
Anonymous, Mission Table, also known as a “taolennou”: The State of Sin, 19th century. Oil on canvas, 76 × 63 cm. Évêché, Quimper, France.
Anonymous, Hell and the Seven Deadly Sins, published by La Bonne Presse, end of 19th century. Private collection, Paris, France.
The Number, Abodes, Qualities, Orders, Hierarchy, Knowledge and Power of Devils
TO speak of the Devil, as if there were but one devil, is inaccurate; the devils were many, and when we use the word “devil” in the singular we refer to the prince of devils, or else to the whole diabolic race taken collectively and represented by the individual.
Not only were the devils many, they were innumerable. It was generally admitted by theologians that a tenth part of the angels rebelled against God; but there were some who were not satisfied with so vague an estimate, and who subjected the infernal population to a regular census. One theologian, more diligent than the rest, after making a thorough examination of the subject, found that the devils must number not less than ten thousand billions.
For so great a multitude, room was needed; and the abodes of the devils were accordingly two: the sphere of the air and Hell; the former, that they might have an opportunity to tempt and to torment the living; the latter, for their own proper punishment and that they might inflict merited chastisement upon the dead. The aerial abode was granted to them only until the Judgment Day; when the final doom is pronounced, they must all be thrust into Hell, to come forth no more.
The devils were not all of one class or of one condition. There were aquatic demons, who were called Neptuni; there were some that dwelt in caves and woods, and they were called Dusii; there were also the Incubi, the Succubi and so forth. Furthermore, not all had the same aptitudes; one was more successful in one thing, another in another. Hence, the division of labour and the necessity for a certain social organisation. It has seemed to some that among the demons, who are the very personification of disorder and confusion, an organisation of this sort should not and could not exist; but such is not the opinion of Saint Thomas and the most accredited theologians, who insist that there is a hierarchy among the devils, just as there is a hierarchy among the angels that remained loyal. Indeed, the hierarchy of the devils would seem to be more firmly established and more complete than that of the angels; since the former have one chief who stands above all and commands all, while the latter have none, or have one only in God, who is a universal monarch and not theirs alone. The prince and monarch of the devils is Beelzebub, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke[30] and the general belief of theologians, but it must be said that considerable uncertainty prevails in this regard. Sometimes their chief appears to be Satan; at other times, Lucifer; and Dante – perhaps to escape this difficulty – makes of Satan, Lucifer and Beelzebub,
Matthew xii, 24; Luke xi, 15. Also, Mark iii, 22.