Nine Tenths of the Law
Thursday May 1, 2008 8:32 AM
A Capuchin, a Franciscan, and Jesuit go to an exorcism ...
It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but in seventeenth century France it was a deadly serious business for Urbain Grandier. Grandier was a parish priest in Loudun, France, accused of sending demons to possess a convent of Ursuline nuns. A worldly priest, Grandier was tall and attractive with a reputation for not exactly upholding his vow of celibacy to the letter. He had made a lot of enemies both through his sexual indiscretions and his political leanings. In 1618, he penned a sarcastic little piece criticizing Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu was not a man easily trifled with, and he was to become one of the most powerful political figures in France at the time. Known for his skills at intrigue and subterfuge, Richelieu may very well have been the driving force behind a scheme to destroy Grandier, using the wide-spread belief in demons and witchcraft to shatter Urbain's reputation.
In 1630, a group of Ursuline nuns accused Grandier of summoning demons to torment and possess them. To prove this, they went into convulsions and threw wild fits, often performing lewd acts and exposing themselves in a demonically inspired frenzy. One of Grandier's many enemies, a Father Mignon, undertook the task of exorcising the nuns. His work produced a number of curious documents, allegedly written by the demons in possession of the nuns. Asmodeus, writing in bad French in a delicate woman's hand, apparently penned a contract promising to leave the body of the nun in his possession. Later, when Grandier's case came to trial, this would be submitted as evidence against him. A contract was similarly penned, alleged to be Grandier's pact with the Devil. It is countersigned by a variety of well-known demons, including Baalberith, Astaroth, and Beelzebub. This document also was later produced as evidence in Grandier's trial. Mignon's efforts at exorcism seemed only to encourage the nuns, and eventually he was forbidden to continue with his work. However, Grandier continued to be a thorn in the side of Cardinal Richelieu. Before the whole thing was over, the Cardinal got directly involved in the Loudun case, ordering an full investigation and setting aside funds to hire further exorcists. Cue the Capuchin, the Franciscan, and the Jesuit, who all engaged in dramatic and zealous public displays of exorcising the nuns. The entire event became a spectacle, and as the public heard accusation after accusation coming from the mouths of the supposedly possessed nuns, the people of Loudun began to suspect that Grandier had indeed signed a pact with the Devil.
Grandier was arrested, and Richelieu himself took control of the proceedings. The Cardinal was not one to forgive an insult, and thus things did not go well for Grandier. He was tortured horribly and then burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1634. The entire case is very adequately recounted in Aldous Huxley's famous work, The Devils of Loudun. The nuns continued to behave as though possessed even after Grandier's death. Richelieu was the only member of the clergy able to finally drive the devils out of them. He threatened to cut off their funding if they did not cease and desist.
