Dissertation on ghosts, demons and vampires
Dissertation on ghosts, demons and vampiresINTRODUCTION.PREFACE.CHAPTER I.CHAPTER II.CHAPTER III.CHAPTER IV.CHAPTER V.CHAPTER VI.CHAPTER VII.CHAPTER VIII.CHAPTER IX.CHAPTER X.CHAPTER XI.CHAPTER XII.CHAPTER XIII.CHAPTER XIV.CHAPTER XV.CHAPTER XVI.CHAPTER XVII.CHAPTER XVIII.CHAPTER XIX.CHAPTER XX.CHAPTER XXI.CHAPTER XXII.CHAPTER XXIII.CHAPTER XXIV.CHAPTER XXV.CHAPTER XXVI.CHAPTER XXVII.CHAPTER XXVIII.CHAPTER XXIX.CHAPTER XXX.CHAPTER XXXI.CHAPTER XXXII.CHAPTER XXXIII.CHAPTER XXXIV.CHAPTER XXXV.CHAPTER XXXVI.CHAPTER XXXVII.CHAPTER XXXVIII.CHAPTER XXXIX.CHAPTER XL.CHAPTER XLI.CHAPTER XLII.CHAPTER XLIII.CHAPTER XLIV.CHAPTER XLV.CHAPTER XLVI.CHAPTER XLVII.CHAPTER XLVIII.CHAPTER XLIX.CHAPTER L.CHAPTER LI.CHAPTER LII.CHAPTER LIII.CHAPTER LIV.CHAPTER LV.CHAPTER LVI.CHAPTER LVII.CHAPTER LVIII.CHAPTER LIX.CHAPTER LX.CHAPTER LXI.CHAPTER LXII.CHAPTER LXIII.Approbation.LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEICopyright
Dissertation on ghosts, demons and vampires
Augustin Calmet
INTRODUCTION.
Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few
are more interesting than those which regard the realities of the
invisible world. If the opinions which have been held on this
subject were written and gathered together they would form hundreds
of volumes—if they were arranged and digested they would form a
few, but most important. It is not merely because there is in
almost every human error a substratum of truth, and that the more
important the subject the more important the substratum, but
because the investigation will give almost a history of human
aberrations, that this otherwise unpromising topic assumes so high
an interest. The superstitions of every age, for no age is free
from them, will present the popular modes of thinking in an
intelligible and easily accessible form, and may be taken as a
means of gauging (if the expression be permitted) the philosophical
and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this light, the
volumes here presented to the reader will be found of great value,
for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time of great
interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the
ecclesiastical affairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of
demoniacal possession, and instances of returns from the world of
spirits, were reputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church
was continually called on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the
instances gathered by Calmet, and related in this work, may be
taken as fair specimens of the rest. It is then, first, as a
storehouse of facts, or reputed facts, that Calmet compiled the
work now in the reader's hands—as the foundation on which to rear
what superstructure of system they pleased; and secondly, as a
means of giving his own opinions, in a detached and desultory way,
as the subjects came under his notice. The value of the first will
consist in theirevidence—and
of this the reader will be as capable of judging as the compiler;
that of the second will depend on their truth—and of this, too, we
are as well, and in some respects better, able to judge than Calmet
himself. Those accustomed to require rigid evidence will be but ill
satisfied with the greater part of that which will be found in this
work; simple assertion for the most part suffices—often first made
long after the facts, or supposed facts, related, and not
unfrequently far off from the places where they were alleged to
have taken place. But these cases are often thebestauthenticated, for in the more
modern ones there is frequently such an evident mistake in the
whole nature of the case, that all the spiritual deductions made
from it fall to the ground.Not a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession
are capable of being resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not
unlike that produced by mesmerism, and in which many of the same
phenomena seem naturally to display themselves; the well-known
instance of the young servant girl, related by Coleridge, who,
though ignorant and uneducated, could during her sleep-walking
discourse learnedly in rabbinical Hebrew, would furnish a case in
point. The circumstance of her old master having been in the habit
of walking about the house at night, reading from rabbinical books
aloud and in a declamatory manner; the impression made by the
strange sounds upon her youthful imagination; their accurate
retention by a memory, which, however, could only reproduce them in
an abnormal condition—all teach us many most interesting
psychological facts, which, had this young girl fallen into other
hands, would have been useless in a philosophical point of view,
and would have been only used to establish the doctrine of
diabolical possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We should have
been told how skilled was the fallen angel in rabbinical tradition,
and how wholesome a terror he entertained of the Jesuits, the
Capuchins, or theFratres Minimi, as the case might be. Not a few of the most remarkable
cases of supposedmodernpossession are to be accounted for by involuntary or natural
mesmerism. Indeed the same view seems to be taken by a popular
minister of the church (Mr. Mac Niel), in our own day, viz., that
mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequently identical. Our
difference with him is that we should consider the cases called by
the two names as all natural, and he would consider them as all
supernatural. And here, to avoid misconception, or rather
misinterpretation, let me at once observe, that I speak thus
ofmodernandrecordedcases only, acceptingliterallyall related in the New
Testament, and not presuming to say that similar casesmightnot occur now. Calmet, however,
may be supposed to have collected all the most remarkable of modern
times, and I am compelled to say I believe not one of them. But
when we pass from the evidence of truth, in which they are so
wanting, to the evidence of fraud and collusion by which many are
so characterized, we shall have less wonder at the general spread
of infidelity in times somewhat later, on all subjects not
susceptible of ocular demonstration. Where a system claimed to be
received as a whole, or not at all, it is hardly to be wondered at
that when some portion was manifestly wrong, its own requirements
should be complied with, and the whole rejected. The system which
required an implicit belief in such absurdities as those related in
these volumes, and placed them on a level with the most awful
verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use of them
in an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained within
itself the seeds of destruction, and which could not fail to
germinate as soon as light fell upon them. The state of Calmet's
own mind, as revealed in this book, is curious and interesting. The
beliefof the intellectin much
which he relates is evidently gone, the beliefof
the willbut partially remains. There is a
painful sense of uncertainty as to whether certain thingsoughtnot to be received more fully
than he felt himself able to receive them, and he gladly follows in
many cases the example of Herodotus of old, merely relating stories
without comment, save by stating that they had not fallen under his
own observation.The time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief
on subjects such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the
Holy Inquisition defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the
investigators of Calmet's day were permitted to hold, with some
limitation, the Copernican theory, it was far otherwise with regard
to the world of spirits, and its connection with our own. The
rotundity of the earth affected neither shrines nor exorcisms;
metaphysical truth might do both one and the other; and the cry of
"Great is Diana of the Ephesians," was not raised in the capital of
Asia Minor, till the "craft by which we get our wealth" was proved
to be in danger.Reflections such as these are painfully forced on us by the
evident fraud exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of
exorcism narrated by Calmet, the vile purposes to which the
services of the church were turned, and the recklessness with which
the supposed or pretended evil, and equally pretended remedy, were
used for political intrigue or state oppression.Independent of these conclusions, there is something
lamentable in a state of the public mind, which was so little prone
to examination as to receive such a mass of superstition without
sifting the wheat, for such there undoubtedly is, from the chaff.
Calmet's work contains enough, had we the minor circumstances in
each case preserved, to set at rest many philosophic doubts, and to
illustrate many physical facts; and to those who desire to know
what was believed by our Christian forefathers, and why it was
believed, the compilation is absolutely invaluable. Calmet was a
man of naturally cool, calm judgment, possessed of singular
learning, and was pious and truthful. A short sketch of his life
will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the reader.Augustine Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village near
Commerci, in Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study,
and an opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a
life of learning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of
the Congregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and
such philosophical studies as the time allowed with great success.
He was soon appointed to teach the younger portion of the
community, and gave in this employment such decided satisfaction to
his superiors, that he was soon marked for preferment. His chief
study was the Scriptures; and in the twenty-second year of his age,
a period unusually early, in an age when all benefices and
beneficial employments were matters of sale, he was appointed to be
sub-prior of the monastery of Munster, in Alsace, where he presided
over an academy. This academy consisted of ten or twelve monks, and
its object was the investigation of Scripture. Calmet was not idle
in his new position; besides communicating so much valuable
information as to make his pupils the best biblical scholars of the
country, he made extensive collections for his Commentary on the
Old and New Testaments, and for his still more celebrated work, the
History of the Bible. These materials he subsequently digested and
arranged. The Commentary, a work of immense value, was published in
separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labors attracted renewed
and increased attention, and the offer of a bishopric was made to
him, which he unhesitatingly declined.In 1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in
Nancy; and ten years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent
the remainder of his days. His writings are numerous—two have been
already mentioned—and so great was the popularity attained by his
Commentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than six
languages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of the
author's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One
cause which tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its
singular freedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as
Romanists may use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it
is considered a work of standard authority in England as much as on
the continent.In addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the
Bible, and Fragments, (the best edition of which latter work in
English, is by Isaac Taylor,) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and
Civil History of Lorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of
Lorraine;" "Universal History, Sacred and Profane;" a small
collection of Reveries; and a work entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and
Historical Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict," a work which is
full of curious information on ancient customs, particularly
ecclesiastical. He is among the few, also, who have written on
ancient music. He lived to a good old age; and died regretted and
much respected in 1757.Of all his works, the one presented here to the reader,
is perhaps the most popular; it went rapidly through many editions,
and received from the author's hand continual corrections and
additions. To say that it is characterized by uniform judgment,
would be to give it a praise somewhat different as well as somewhat
greater than that which it merits. It is a vast repertory of
legends, more or less probable; some of which have very little
foundation—and some which Calmet himself would have done well to
omit, thoughnow, as a picture
of the belief entertained in that day, they greatly add to the
value of the book. For the same reasons which have caused the
retention of these passages, no alterations have been made in the
citations from Scripture, which being translations from the
Vulgate, necessarily differ in phraseology from the version in use
among ourselves. The apocryphal books too are quoted, and the story
of Bel and the Dragon referred to as a part of the prophecy of
Daniel; but what is of consequence to observe, is, thatdoctrinesare founded on these
translations, and on those very points in which they differ from
our own.If the history of popery, and especially that form and
development of it exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever
written, this work will be of the greatest importance:—it will show
the means by which dominion was obtained over the minds of the
ignorant; how the most sacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds,
which can hardly be termed pious, used to support institutions
which can scarcely be called religious. That the spirits of the
dead should be permitted to return to earth, under circumstances
the most grotesque, to support the doctrines of masses for the
dead, purgatory and propitiatory penance; that demons should be
exorcised to give testimony to the merits of rival orders of monks
and friars; that relics, many of them supposititious, and many of
the most disgusting and blasphemous character, should have power to
affect the eternal state of the departed; and thatallsaints, angels, demons, and the
ghosts of the departed, should support, with great variations
indeed, the corrupt dealings of a corrupt priesthood—form a creed
worthy of the darkest and most unworthy days of
heathenism.There is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for the
superstition of that time. In periods of great public depravity—and
few epochs have been more depraved than that in which Calmet
lived—Satan has great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke of
Orleans, with a Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would
appear that the civil and ecclesiastical authority of France had
sold itself, like Ahab of old, to work wickedness; or, as the
apostle says, "to work all uncleanness with greediness." In an age
so characterized, it does not seem at all improbable that
portentous events should from time to time occur; that the servants
of the devil should be strengthened together with their master;
that many should be given over to strong delusions and to believe a
lie; and that the evil part of the invisible world should be
permitted to ally itself more closely with the men of an age so
congenial. Real cases of demoniacal possession might, perhaps, be
met with, and though scarcely amenable to the exorcisms of a clergy
so corrupt as that of France in that day, they would yet justify a
belief in the reality of those cases got up for the sake of filthy
lucre, personal ambition, or private revenge. If the public mind
was prepared for a belief in such cases, there were not wanting men
to turn it to profitable account; and the quiet student who
believed the efficacy of the means used, and was scarcely aware of
the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might easily be
induced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by the
power of a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do so
had undoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to him
at least greatly veiled.Calmet was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen,
but he passed an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion;
he mixed little with the world at large, resided remote "from
courts, and camps, and strife of war or peace;" and there appears
occasionally in his writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest
the dogmas of the church to which he was pledged should be less
capable than he could wish of satisfactory investigation. When he
meets with tales like those of the vampires or vroucolacas, which
concern only what he considered a heretical church, and with which,
therefore, he might deal according to his own will—apply to them
the ordinary rules of evidence, and treat them as mundane
affairs—there he is clear-sighted, critical and acute, and
accordingly he discusses the matter philosophically and logically,
and concludes without fear of sinning against the church, that the
whole is delusion. When, on the other hand, he has to deal with
cases of demoniacal possession, in countries under the rule of the
Roman hierarchy, he contents himself with the decisions of the
scholastic divines and the opinions of the fathers, and makes
frequent references to the decrees of various provincial
parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind upon scientific
and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easily imagined,
and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every page of the
work before us.To conclude: books like this—the "Disquisitiones Magicæ" of
Delrio, the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus Maleficarum" of
Sprengel, and the like, are at no time to be regarded merely as
subjects of amusement; they have their philosophical value; they
have a still greater historical value; and they show how far even
upright minds may be warped by imperfect education, and slavish
deference to authority.The edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the
latest corrections of the author, and several additional pieces,
which are all included in the present volumes.Sion College, London Wall,
PREFACE.
Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices,
its maladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize
them, and which pass away, and succeed to one another; often that
which has appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and
ridiculous at another. We have seen that in some ages all was
turned towards a certain kind of devotion, of studies and of
exercises. It is known that, for more than one century, the
prevailing taste of Europe was the journey to Jerusalem. Kings,
princes, nobles, bishops, ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither
in crowds. The pilgrimages to Rome were formerly very frequent and
very famous. All that is fallen away. We have seen provinces
over-run with flagellants, and now none of them remain except in
the brotherhoods of penitents which are still found in several
parts.We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers,
who every moment jumped and danced in the streets, squares or
market-places, and even in the churches. The convulsionaries of our
own days seem to have revived them; posterity will be surprised at
them, as we laugh at them now. Towards the end of the sixteenth and
at the beginning of the seventeenth century, nothing was talked of
in Lorraine but wizards and witches. For a long time we have heard
nothing of them. When the philosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what
a vogue it had! The ancient philosophy was despised; nothing was
talked of but experiments in physics, new systems, new discoveries.
M. Newton appears; all minds turn to him. The system of M. Law,
bank notes, the rage of the Rue Quinquampoix, what movements did
they not cause in the kingdom? A sort of convulsion had seized on
the French. In this age, a new scene presents itself to our eyes,
and has done for about sixty years in Hungary, Moravia, Silesia,
and Poland: they see, it is said, men who have been dead for
several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, infest villages,
ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their near
relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that
people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and
their hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their
heads, tearing out the heart, or burning them. Theserevenansare called by the name of
oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and such particulars
are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and invested with
such probable circumstances and such judicial information, that one
can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is held in those
countries, that theserevenanscome out of their tombs and produce those effects which are
proclaimed of them.Antiquity certainly neither saw nor knew anything like it.
Let us read through the histories of the Hebrews, the Egyptians,
the Greeks, and the Latins; nothing approaching to it will be met
with.It is true that we remark in history, though rarely,
that certain persons after having been some time in their tombs and
considered as dead, have returned to life. We shall see even that
the ancients believed that magic could cause death and evoke the
souls of the dead. Several passages are cited, which prove that at
certain times they fancied that sorcerers sucked the blood of men
and children, and caused their death. They saw also in the twelfth
century in England and Denmark, somerevenanssimilar to those of Hungary.
But in no history do we read anything so usual or so pronounced, as
what is related to us of the vampires of Poland, Hungary, and
Moravia.Christian antiquity furnishes some instances of
excommunicated persons who have visibly come out of their tombs and
left the churches, when the deacon commanded the excommunicated,
and those who did not partake of the communion, to retire. For
several centuries nothing like this has been seen, although it is
known that the bodies of several excommunicated persons who died
while under sentence of excommunication and censure of the Church
are buried in churches.The belief of the modern Greeks, who will have it that the
bodies of the excommunicated do not decay in their tombs or graves,
is an opinion which has no foundation, either in antiquity, in good
theology, or even in history. This idea seems to have been invented
by the modern Greek schismatics, only to authorize and confirm them
in their separation from the church of Rome. Christian antiquity
believed, on the contrary, that the incorruptibility of a body was
rather a probable mark of the sanctity of the person and a proof of
the particular protection of God, extended to a body which during
its lifetime had been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and of one who
had retained in justice and innocence the mark of
Christianity.The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are
againrevenansof a new kind. We
can hardly persuade ourselves that a nation so witty as the Greeks
could fall into so extraordinary an opinion. Ignorance or
prejudice, must be extreme among them since neither an ecclesiastic
nor any other writer has undertaken to undeceive
them.The imagination of those who believe that the dead chew
in their graves, with a noise similar to that made by hogs when
they eat, is so ridiculous that it does not deserve to be seriously
refuted. I undertake to treat here on the matter of therevenansor vampires of Hungary,
Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, at the risk of being criticised
however I may discuss it; those who believe them to be true, will
accuse me of rashness and presumption, for having raised a doubt on
the subject, or even of having denied their existence and reality;
others will blame me for having employed my time in discussing this
matter which is considered as frivolous and useless by many
sensible people. Whatever may be thought of it, I shall be pleased
with myself for having sounded a question which appeared to me
important in a religious point of view. For if the return of
vampires is real, it is of import to defend it, and prove it; and
if it is illusory, it is of consequence to the interests of
religion to undeceive those who believe in its truth, and destroy
an error which may produce dangerous effects.
CHAPTER I.
THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD
ONLY.After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter
of the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the
connection of the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts
and excommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects
from her bosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia,
Moravia, and Poland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall
report first of all, what has been said and written of them; then I
shall deduce some consequences, and bring forward the reasons or
arguments that may be adduced for, and against, their existence and
reality.Therevenansof
Hungary, or vampires, which form the principal object of this
dissertation, are men who have been dead a considerable time,
sometimes more, sometimes less; who leave their tombs, and come and
disturb the living, sucking their blood, appearing to them, making
a racket at their doors, and in their houses, and lastly, often
causing their death. They are named vampires, or oupires, which
signifies, they say, in Sclavonic, a leech. The only way to be
delivered from their haunting, is to disinter them, cut off their
head, impale them, burn them, or pierce their
heart.Several systems have been propounded to explain the return,
and these apparitions of the vampires. Some persons have denied and
rejected them as chimerical, and as an effect of the prepossession
and ignorance of the people of those countries, where they are said
to come back or return.Others have thought that these people were not really dead,
but that they had been interred alive, and returned naturally to
themselves, and came out of their tombs.Others believe that these people are very truly dead, but
that God, by a particular permission, or command, permits or
commands them to come back to earth, and resume for a time their
own body; for when they are exhumed, their bodies are found entire,
their blood vermilion and fluid, and their limbs supple and
pliable.Others maintain that it is the demon who causes
theserevenansto appear, and by
their means does all the harm he occasions both men and
animals.In the supposition that vampires veritably resuscitate,
we may raise an infinity of difficulties on the subject. How is
this resurrection accomplished? It is by the strength of therevenant, by the return of his soul
into his body? Is it an angel, is it a demon who reanimates it? Is
it by the order, or by the permission of God that he resuscitates?
Is this resurrection voluntary on his part, and by his own choice?
Is it for a long time, like that of the persons who were restored
to life by Jesus Christ? or that of persons resuscitated by the
Prophets and Apostles? Or is it only momentary, and for a few days
and a few hours, like the resurrection operated by St. Stanislaus
upon the lord who had sold him a field; or that spoken of in the
life of St. Macarius of Egypt, and of St. Spiridion, who made the
dead to speak, simply to bear testimony to the truth, and then left
them to sleep in peace, awaiting the last, the judgment
day.First of all, I lay it down as an undoubted principle, that
the resurrection of a person really dead is effected by the power
of God alone. No man can either resuscitate himself, or restore
another man to life, without a visible miracle.Jesus Christ resuscitated himself, as he had promised he
would; he did it by his own power; he did it with circumstances
which were all miraculous. If he had returned to life as soon as he
was taken down from the cross, it might have been thought that he
was not quite dead, that there remained yet in him some remains of
life, that they might have been revived by warming him, or by
giving him cordials and something capable of bringing him back to
his senses.But he revives only on the third day. He had, as it were,
been killed after his death, by the opening made in his side with a
lance, which pierced him to the heart, and would have put him to
death, if he had not then been beyond receiving it.When he resuscitated Lazarus,[445] he waited until he had been four days in the tomb, and
began to show corruption; which is the most certain mark that a man
is really deceased, without a hope of returning to life, except by
supernatural means.The resurrection which Job so firmly expected,[446] and that of the man who came to life, on
touching the body of the prophet Elisha in his tomb;[447] and the child of the widow of Shunem, whom
the same Elisha restored to life;[448]
that army of skeletons, whose resurrection was predicted by
Ezekiel,[449] and which in spirit he
saw executed before his eyes, as a type and pledge as the return of
the Hebrews from their captivity at Babylon;—in short, all the
resurrections related in the sacred books of the Old and New
Testament, are manifestly miraculous effects, and attributed solely
to the Almighty power of God. Neither angels, nor demons, nor men,
the holiest and most favored of God, could by their own power
restore to life a person really dead. They can do it by the power
of God alone, who when he thinks proper so to do, is free to grant
this favor to their prayers and intercession.Footnotes:[445] John xi.
39.[446] Job xxi.
25.[447] 1 Kings xiii. 21,
22.[448] 2 Kings
iv.[449] Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 2,
3.
CHAPTER II.
ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD.
The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be
dead, and who were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and
of those who were supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who
came to life again through the care taken of them, or by medical
skill. Such persons must not pass for being really resuscitated;
they were not dead, or were so only in appearance.
We intend to speak in this place of another order of
resuscitated persons, who had been buried sometimes for several
months, or even several years; who ought to have been suffocated in
their graves, had they been interred alive, and in whom are still
found signs of life: the blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire,
the complexion fine and florid, the limbs flexible and pliable.
Those persons who return either by night or by day, disturb the
living, suck their blood, kill them, appear in their clothes, in
their families, sit down to table, and do a thousand other things;
then return to their graves without any one seeing how they
re-enter them. This is a kind of momentary resurrection, or
revival; for whereas the other dead persons spoken of in Scripture
have lived, drank, eaten and conversed with other men after their
return to life, as Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha,[450] and the son of the widow of Shunem,
resuscitated by Elisha.[451] These
appeared during a certain time, in certain places, in certain
circumstances; and appear no more as soon as they have been
impaled, or burned, or have had their heads cut off.
If this last order of resuscitated persons were not
really dead, there is nothing wonderful in their revisiting the
world, except the manner in which it is done, and the circumstances
by which that return is accompanied. Do theserevenanssimply awaken from their sleep, or do
they recover themselves like those who fall down in syncope, in
fainting fits, or in swoons, and who at the end of a certain time
come naturally to themselves when the blood and animal spirits have
resumed their natural course and motion.
But how can they come out of their graves without opening the
earth, and how re-enter them again without its appearing? Have we
ever seen lethargies, or swoons, or syncopes last whole years
together? If people insist on these resurrections being real ones,
did we ever see dead persons resuscitate themselves, and by their
own power?
If they are not resuscitated by themselves, is it by the
power of God that they have left their graves? What proof is there
that God has anything to do with it? What is the object of these
resurrections? Is it to show forth the works of God in these
vampires? What glory does the Divinity derive from them? If it is
not God who drags them from their graves, is it an angel? is it a
demon? is it their own spirit? Can the soul when separated from the
body re-enter it when it will, and give it new life, were it but
for a quarter of an hour? Can an angel or a demon restore a dead
man to life? Undoubtedly not, without the order, or at least the
permission of God. This question of the natural power of angels and
demons over human bodies has been examined in another place, and we
have shown that neither revelation nor reason throws any certain
light on the subject.
Footnotes:
[450] 1 John xii.
2.
[451] 2 Kings viii.
5.
CHAPTER III.
REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE
YEARS, AND WAS RESUSCITATED BY ST.
STANISLAUS.All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the
dead; thick volumes might be composed on the subject.These resurrections have a manifest relation to the
matter which we are here treating of, since it relates to persons
who are dead, or held to be so, who appear bodily and animated to
the living, and who live after their return to life. I shall
content myself with relating the history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop
of Cracow, who restored to life a man that had been dead for three
years, attended by such singular circumstances, and in so public a
manner, that the thing is beyond the severest criticism. If it is
really true, it must be regarded as one of the most unheard of
miracles which are read of in history. They assert that the life of
this saint was written either at the time of martyrdom,[452] or a short time afterwards, by different
well-informed authors; for the martyrdom of the saint, and, above
all, the restoration to life of the dead man of whom we are about
to speak, were seen and known by an infinite number of persons, by
all the court of king Boleslaus. And this event having taken place
in Poland, where vampires are frequently met with even in our days,
it concerns, for that reason, more particularly the subject we are
treating.The bishop, St. Stanislaus, having bought of a gentleman,
named Pierre, an estate situated on the banks of the Vistula, in
the territory of Lublin, for the profit of his church at Cracow,
gave the price of it to the seller, in the presence of witnesses,
and with the solemnities requisite in that country, but without
written deeds, for they then wrote but seldom in Poland on the
occasion of sales of this kind; they contented themselves with
having witnesses. Stanislaus took possession of this estate by the
king's authority, and his church enjoyed it peaceably for about
three years.In the interim, Pierre, who had sold it, happened to die. The
king of Poland, Boleslaus, who had conceived an implacable hatred
against the holy bishop, because he had freely reproved him for his
excesses, seeking occasion to cause him trouble, excited against
him the three sons of Pierre, and his heirs, and told them to claim
the estate which their father had sold, on pretence of its not
having been paid for. He promised to support their demand, and to
cause it to be restored to them. Thus these three gentlemen had the
bishop cited to appear before the king, who was then at Solech,
occupied in rendering justice under some tents in the country,
according to the ancient custom of the land, in the general
assembly of the nation. The bishop was cited before the king, and
maintained that he had bought and paid for the estate in question.
The day was beginning to close, and the bishop ran great risk of
being condemned by the king and his counselors. Suddenly, as if
inspired by the Divine Spirit, he promised the king to bring him in
three days Pierre, of whom he had bought it, and the condition was
accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be
executed.The holy bishop repairs to Pictravin, remains in prayer, and
keeps fast with his household for three days; on the third day he
goes in his pontifical robes, accompanied by his clergy and a
multitude of people, causes the grave-stone to be raised, and makes
them dig until they found the corpse of the defunct all fleshless
and corrupted. The saint commands him to come forth and bear
witness to the truth before the king's tribunal. He rises; they
cover him with a cloak; the saint takes him by the hand, and leads
him alive to the feet of the king. No one had the boldness to
interrogate him; but he took the word, and declared that he had in
good faith sold the estate to the prelate, and that he had received
the value of it; after which he severely reprimanded his sons, who
had so maliciously accused the holy bishop.Stanislaus asked Pierre if he wished to remain alive to do
penance. He thanked him, and said he would not anew expose himself
to the danger of sinning. Stanislaus reconducted him to his tomb,
and being arrived there, he again fell asleep in the Lord. It may
be supposed that such a scene had an infinite number of witnesses,
and that all Poland was quickly informed of it. The king was only
the more irritated against the saint. He some time after killed him
with his own hand, as he was coming from the altar, and had his
body cut into seventy-two parts, in order that they might never
more be collected together in order to pay them the worship which
was due to them as the body of a martyr for the truth and for
pastoral liberty.Now then let us come to that which is the principal
subject of these researches, the vampires, orrevenans, of Hungary, Moravia, and
similar ones, which appear only for a little time in their natural
bodies.Footnotes:[452] The reverend fathers
the Bollandists, believed that the life of St. Stanislaus, which
they had printed, was very old, and nearly of the time of the
martyrdom of the saint; or at least that it was taken from a life
by an author almost his cotemporary, and original. But since the
first edition of this dissertation it has been observed to me that
the thing was by no means certain; that M. Baillet, on the 7th of
May, in the critical table of authors, asserts that the life of St.
Stanislaus was only written 400 years after his death, from
uncertain and mutilated memoirs. And in the life of the saint he
owns that it is only the tradition of the writers of the country
which can render credible the account of the resurrection of
Pierre. The Abbé Fleuri, tom. xiii. of the Ecclesiastical History,
l. 62, year 1079, does not agree either to what is written in that
life or to what has followed it. At any rate, the miracle of the
resurrection of Pierre is related as certain in a discourse of John
de Polemac, delivered at the Council of Constance, 1433; tom. xii.
Councils, p. 1397.
CHAPTER IV.
CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY?
If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the
question here proposed would be frivolous and useless; they would
reply to us directly—In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who
were dead and interred a long time, have been seen to return, to
appear, and torment men and animals, suck their blood, and cause
their death.
These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people
see them, know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off
their heads, burn them. It is then not only possible, but very true
and very real, that they appear in their own bodies.
It might be added in support of this belief, that the
Scriptures themselves give instances of these apparitions: for
example, at the Transfiguration of our Saviour, Elias and Moses
appeared on Mount Tabor,[453] there
conversing with Jesus Christ. We know that Elias is still alive. I
do not cite him as an instance; but in regard to Moses, his death
is not doubtful; and yet he appeared bodily talking with Jesus
Christ. The dead who came out of their graves at the resurrection
of the Saviour,[454] and who appeared
to many persons in Jerusalem, had been in their sepulchres for
several years; there was no doubt of their being dead; and
nevertheless they appeared and bore testimony to the resurrection
of the Saviour.
When Jeremiah appeared to Judas Maccabæus,[455] and placed in his hand a golden sword,
saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift from God, with which
you will vanquish the enemies of my people of Israel;" it was
apparently this prophet in his own person who appeared to him and
made him that present, since by his mien he was recognized as the
prophet Jeremiah.
I do not speak of those persons who were really restored to
life by a miracle, as the son of the widow of Shunem resuscitated
by Elijah; nor of the dead man who, on touching the coffin of the
same prophet, rose upon his feet and revived; nor of Lazarus, to
whom Jesus Christ restored life in a way so miraculous and
striking. Those persons lived, drank, ate, and conversed with
mankind, after, as before their death and resurrection.
It is not of such persons that we now speak. I speak, for
instance, of Pierre resuscitated by Stanislaus for a few hours; of
those persons of whom I made mention in the treatise on the
Apparitions of Spirits, who appeared, spoke, and revealed hidden
things, and whose resurrection was but momentary, and only to
manifest the power of God, in order to bear witness to truth and
innocence, or to maintain the credit of the church against
obstinate heretics, as we read in various instances.
St. Martin, being newly made Archbishop of Tours, conceived
some suspicions against an altar which the bishops his predecessors
had erected to a pretended martyr, of whom they knew neither the
name nor the history, and of whom none of the priests or ministers
of the chapel could give any certain account. He abstained for some
time from going to this spot, which was not far from the city; but
one day he repaired thither accompanied by a few monks, and having
prayed, he besought God to let him know who it was that was
interred there. He then perceived on his left a hideous and
dirty-looking apparition; and having commanded it to tell him who
he was, the spectre declared his name, and confessed to him that he
was a robber, who had been put to death for his crimes and acts of
violence, and that he had nothing in common with the martyrs. Those
who were present heard distinctly what he said, but saw no one. St.
Martin had the tomb overthrown, and cured the ignorant people of
their superstitions.
The philosopher Celsus, writing against the Christians,
maintained that the apparitions of Jesus Christ to his apostles
were not real, but that they were simply shadowy forms which
appeared. Origen, retorting his reasoning, tells him[456] that the pagans give an account of various
apparitions of Æsculapius and Apollo, to which they attribute the
power of predicting future events. If these appearances are
admitted to be real, because they are attested by some, why not
receive as true those of Jesus Christ, which are related by ocular
witnesses, and believed by millions of persons?
He afterwards relates this history. Aristeus, who belonged to
one of the first families of Proconnesus, having one day entered a
foulon shop, died there suddenly. The having locked the door, ran
directly to inform the relations of the deceased; but as the report
was instantly spread in the town, a man of Cyzica, who came from
Astacia, affirmed that it could not be, because he had met Aristeus
on the road from Cyzica, and had spoken to him, which he loudly
maintained before all the people of Proconnesus.
Thereupon the relations arrive at the foulon's, with all the
necessary apparatus for carrying away the body; but when they
entered the house, they could not find Aristeus there, either dead
or alive. Seven years after, he showed himself in the very town of
Proconnesus; made there those verses which are termed Arimaspean,
and then disappeared for the second time. Such is the story related
of him in those places.
Three hundred and forty years after that event, the same
Aristeus showed himself in Metapontus, in Italy, and commanded the
Metapontines to build an altar to Apollo, and afterwards to erect a
statue in honor of Aristeus of Proconnesus, adding that they were
the only people of Italy whom Apollo had honored with his presence;
as for himself who spoke to them, he had accompanied that god in
the form of a crow; and having thus spoken he disappeared.
The Metapontines sent to consult the oracle of Delphi
concerning this apparition; the Delphic oracle told them to follow
the counsel which Aristeus had given them, and it would be well for
them; in fact, they did erect a statue to Apollo, which was still
to be seen there in the time of Herodotus;[457] and at the same time, another statue to Aristeus, which
stood in a small plantation of laurels, in the midst of the public
square of Metapontus. Celsus made no difficulty of believing all
that on the word of Herodotus, though Pindar and he refused
credence to what the Christians taught of the miracles wrought by
Jesus Christ, related in the Gospel and sealed with the blood of
martyrs. Origen adds, What could Providence have designed in
performing for this Proconnesian the miracles we have just
mentioned? What benefit could mankind derive from them? Whereas,
what the Christians relate of Jesus Christ serves to confirm a
doctrine which is beneficial to the human race. We must, then,
either reject this story of Aristeus as fabulous, or ascribe all
that is told of it as the work of the evil spirit.
Footnotes:
[453] Matt. ix.
34.
[454] Matt. xxvii.
53.
[455] Macc. xiv. 14,
15.
[456] Origen. contra
Celsum, lib. i. pp. 123, 124.
[457] Herodot. lib.
iv.
CHAPTER V.
REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME
MONTHS.
Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian,[458] in the fragment of the book which he wrote
on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, in Asia, a certain man
named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with a girl named
Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. This girl
being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come every night
for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep with
him. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she was
sitting by Machates. The nurse ran to give notice of this to
Chariton, the girl's mother, who, after making many difficulties,
came at last to the inn; but as it was very late, and everybody
gone to bed, she could not satisfy her curiosity. However, she
recognized her daughter's clothes, and thought she recognized the
girl herself in bed with Machates. She returned the next morning,
but having missed her way, she no longer found her daughter, who
had already withdrawn. Machates related everything to her; how,
since a certain time, she had come to him every night; and in proof
of what he said, he opened his casket and showed her the gold ring
which Philinium had given him, and the band with which she covered
her bosom, and which she had left with him the preceding
night.
Chariton, who could no longer doubt the truth of the
circumstance, now gave way to cries and tears; but as they promised
to inform her the following night, when Philinium should return,
she went away home. In the evening the girl came back as usual, and
Machates sent directly to let her father and mother know, for he
began to fear that some other girl might have taken Philinium's
clothes from the sepulchre, in order to deceive him by the
illusion.
Demostrates and Chariton, on arriving, recognized their
daughter and ran to embrace her; but she cried out, "Oh, father and
mother, why have you grudged me my happiness, by preventing me from
remaining three days longer with this innkeeper without injury to
any one? for I did not come here without permission from the gods,
that is to say, from the demon, since we cannot attribute to God,
or to a good spirit, a thing like that. Your curiosity will cost
you dear." At the same time, she fell down stiff and dead, and
extended on the bed.
Phlegon, who had some command in the town, stayed the crowd
and prevented a tumult. The next day, the people being assembled at
the theatre, they agreed to go and inspect the vault in which
Philinium, who had died six months before, had been laid. They
found there the corpses of her family arranged in their places, but
they found not the body of Philinium. There was only an iron ring,
which Machates had given her, with a gilded cup, which she had also
received from him. Afterwards they went back to the dwelling of
Machates, where the body of the girl remained lying on the
ground.
They consulted a diviner, who said that she must be interred
beyond the limits of the town; they must appease the furies and
terrestrial Mercury, make solemn funeral ceremonies to the god
Manes, and sacrifice to Jupiter Hospitaller, to Mercury, and Mars.
Phlegon adds, speaking to him to whom he was writing: "If you think
proper to inform the emperor of it, write to me, that I may send
you some of those persons who were eye-witnesses of all these
things."
Here is the fact circumstantially related, and invested with
all the marks which can make it pass for true. Nevertheless, how
numerous are the difficulties it presents! Was this young girl
really dead, or only sleeping? Was her resurrection effected by her
own strength and will, or was it a demon who restored her to life?
It appears that it cannot be doubted that it was her own body; all
the circumstances noted in the recital of Phlegon persuade us of
it. If she was not dead, and all she did was merely a game and a
play which she performed to satisfy her passion for Machates, there
is nothing in all this recital very incredible. We know what
illicit love is capable of, and how far it may lead any one who is
devoured by a violent passion. The same Phlegon says that a Syrian
soldier of the army of Antiochus, after having been killed at
Thermopylæ, appeared in open day in the Roman camp, where he spoke
to several persons.
Haralde, or Harappe, a Dane, who caused himself to be buried
at the entrance of his kitchen, appeared after his death, and was
wounded by one Olaüs Pa, who left the iron of his lance in the
wound. This Dane, then, appeared bodily. Was it his soul which
moved his body, or a demon which made use of this corpse to disturb
and frighten the living? Did he do this by his own strength, or by
the permission of God? And what glory to God, what advantage to
men, could accrue from these apparitions? Shall we deny all these
facts, related in so circumstantial a manner by enlightened
authors, who have no interest in deceiving us, nor any wish to do
so?
St. Augustine relates that, during his abode at
Milan,[459] a young man had a suit
instituted against him by a person who repeated his demand for a
debt already paid the young man's father, but the receipt for which
could not be found. The ghost of the father appeared to the son,
and informed him where the receipt was which occasioned him so much
trouble.
St. Macarius, the Egyptian, made a dead man[460] speak who had been interred some time, in
order to discover a deposit which he had received and hidden
unknown to his wife. The dead man declared that the money was slipt
down at the foot of his bed.
The same St. Macarius, not being able to refute in any other
way a heretic Eunomian, according to some, or Hieracitus, according
to others, said to him, "Let us go to the grave of a dead man, and
ask him to inform us of the truth which you will not agree to." The
heretic dared not present himself at the grave; but St. Macarius
went thither, accompanied by a multitude of persons. He
interrogated the dead, who replied from the depth of the tomb, that
if the heretic had appeared in the crowd he should have arisen to
convince him, and to bear testimony to the truth. St. Macarius
commanded him to fall asleep again in the Lord, till the time when
Jesus Christ should awaken him in his place at the end of the
world.
The ancients, who have related the same fact, vary in some of
the circumstances, as is usual enough when those things are related
only from memory.
St. Spiridion, Bishop of Trinitontis, in Egypt,[461] had a daughter named Irene, who lived in
virginity till her death. After her decease, a person came to
Spiridion and asked him for a deposit which he had confided to
Irene unknown to her father. They sought in every part of the
house, but could find nothing. At last Spiridion went to his
daughter's tomb, and calling her by her name, asked her where the
deposit was. She declared the same, and Spiridion restored
it.
A holy abbot named Erricles resuscitated for a moment a
man who had been killed,[462] and of
whose death they accused a monk who was perfectly innocent. The
dead man did justice to the accused, and the Abbot Erricles said to
him, "Sleep in peace, till the Lord shall come at the last day to
resuscitate you to all eternity."
All these momentary resurrections may serve to explain
how therevenansof Hungary come out of
their graves, then return to them, after having caused themselves
to be seen and felt for some time. But the difficulty will always
be to know, 1st, If the thing be true; 2d, If they can resuscitate
themselves; and, 3d, If they are really dead, or only asleep. In
what way soever we regard this circumstance, it always appears
equally impossible and incredible.
Footnotes:
[458] Phlegon. de
Mirabilib. 18. Gronov. Antiq. Græc. p. 2694.
[459] Aug. de Curâ pro
Mortuis.
[460
