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Particularity and Discernment

Richard Parish

in Catholic Particularity in Seventeenth-Century French Writing: 'Christianity is Strange'

The preceding chapter introduced but did not fully address a central issue in the Christian experience, namely that of the assessment of what is claimed to be direct inspiration from God. This ... More

The preceding chapter introduced but did not fully address a central issue in the Christian experience, namely that of the assessment of what is claimed to be direct inspiration from God. This chapter therefore begins with an account of one of the most influential figures in the period, St François de Sales, whose devotional manuals, conceived in the spirit of Christian humanism, marked the century, albeit in ways that did not always correspond to his own spiritual ethos of accommodation to the circumstances of the believer. A range of writing is examined in this perspective. The second part of the chapter deals with experience that appears to fall outside the common realm, in particular that of visions (in particular of the Sacred Heart), possessions (especially those recorded at Loudun) and miracles (such as that of the Holy Thorn).Less

Synopsis

Darren Arnold

in Devil’s Advocates

This chapter details the synopsis of Ken Russell's The Devils (1973). Set in seventeenth-century France, the film tells the story of influential secular priest Urbain Grandier, who holds interim ... More

This chapter details the synopsis of Ken Russell's The Devils (1973). Set in seventeenth-century France, the film tells the story of influential secular priest Urbain Grandier, who holds interim powers in the city of Loudun following the death of Governor Sainte-Marthe. A chronic womaniser, the vainglorious Grandier begins a relationship with the daughter of a plague victim. The film also tells the story of Sister Jeanne, the abbess of the local Ursuline convent, who entertains wild sexual fantasies about Grandier and invites him to be the order's new confessor. After being disappointed when Father Mignon became the new confessor instead of Grandier, Sister Jeanne tells Mignon that Grandier is a servant of Satan who has placed her, and the rest of the convent, under a spell of lewd desire. A kangaroo court finds Grandier guilty of sorcery, and he's sentenced to death by burning.Less

The Devil in the Convent

in Believe Not Every Spirit: Possession, Mysticism, & Discernment in Early Modern Catholicism

The mass demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of Loudun in 1633–1640 is among the most famous (or infamous) episodes in the history of diabolic possession and witchcraft accusations in early ... More

The mass demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of Loudun in 1633–1640 is among the most famous (or infamous) episodes in the history of diabolic possession and witchcraft accusations in early modern Europe. Using the Loudun case and similar cases of demonic possessions of nuns, this chapter argues that conventual possessions, even more than cases of possessions among the laity, demonstrated the difficulties of discerning between divine and diabolic spirits, between truth and fraud, and between licit and illicit spiritual practices. It was in convents that women pursued the new spiritual exercises and techniques that characterized interiorized contemplation in all its different configurations: passive, Jesuit, Teresian, Salesian, Theatine, and so on. It was therefore in convents that the growing anxiety concerning unauthorized practices, with its accompanying fears of diabolic illusions and temptations, came to the fore. They also became sites of ecclesiastical (male) interventions, when male clerics, be they exorcists or Inquisitors, pondered the nature and reliability of possessions. The male clerics cast out demons, reprimanded simulating nuns, and, importantly, left written records of the unfolding of such events.Less