Monday 23 February 2009

The Devil's Scourge

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The Devil's Scourge: Exorcism During the Italian Renaissance (1576) was reprinted in 2002. Girolamo Menghi's work written in Latin is a worthy addition to the shelves of the Vampire Research Society's extensive library.

Girolamo Menghi (1529-1609) provides the reader with much information about the Devil and the complex rites of exorcism deemed necessary to combat and expel demons. We must never lose sight of the fact, as the preface to this book reminds us, that when Peter blocked the mission of Christ by physically defending him, Our Lord remonstrated: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an obstacle in My path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as man thinks." (Matthew 16: 23).
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So even our brother may exercise a diabolical function if he sets up an obstacle in our path toward God.
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Menghi opens with the words:
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"Devil, evil, sin. These words keep reappearing in our thoughts, our speech, our readings, our experience."
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Well might such thoughts have reverberated in sixteenth century Italy. Perhaps if we were more cognisant of them today the world would not so swiftly drift into the darkness of Satan's embrace?
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