As with any
sceptically mythical historical event, there are many versions of how it all
began, or whose responsibility it is, but I will try and give a purely unbiased
and factual telling of the 1634 Loudun Possessions.
It has been said that
the Loudun witch trials are one of the most infamous cases of mass demonic
possessions in history. It took place in a French town 20 km West of Richelieu,
and 60 km West of La Haye. Father Urbain Grandier was convicted of sorcery,
immortality, and calling on demonic spirits to possess the Ursuline nuns.
Allegedly, Grandier
came to Loudun in 1617 as he was appointed parish priest of
St-Pierre-du-Marche. One theory believes he was chosen to be the ‘victim’ of
this case as he was wealthy, handsome, and well-educated and so he was a person
of envy for others around the town. Another theory is that Father Mignon was
approached by the Bishop of Pointiers, who wanted Grandiers position as parish
priest, and so asked for Mignon to call on the Nuns to become ‘possessed’. The
final theory is that the Nuns were actually possessed, and everything was as it
has been written, Grandier a worker of Satan, etc.
In September 1632, the
possessions of the Nuns began after Sister Jeanne and her compadres confirmed
that illicit hallucinations and visions came to them in the night because of
Grandier and he brought feeling of lust with him - other sources confirm they
were brought by ‘[a] man of the cloth’. From there on, strange disturbances
occurred; seual revelations and exploitations by the nuns, receiving physical
harm from mysteriously unseen sources, hearing voices, speaking in tongues,
uncontrollable fits of laughter, convulsions. The Nuns claimed to have been
vivisted by a multitude of demons, such as; Asmodeus, Zabulon, Isacaaron,
Astaroth, Gresil, Amand, Leviatom, Behemot, Beherie, Easas, Celsus, Acaos, Cedon,
Alex, Naphthalim, Cham, Ureil and Achas. The first exorcisms took place on 5th
October 1632 and continued until 1638
In November 1633,
Urbain Grandier was arrested at the Castle of Angiers. He was shaved bare,
tortured, and his legs broken – a humiliated man., and on 16th
August 1634 Grandier was found guilty of sorcery and burned at stake.
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