Free Daily Life During The Reformation by James M. Anderson

exorcism.
     
     
    PROTECTION FROM EVIL
     
    Evil was everywhere and had to be countered by any and all
means authorized by the Church. Talismen such as trinkets or candles, blessed
by a priest, would ward off evil spirits. On the day of the Feast of the
Purification of the Virgin, candles of all sizes were brought to the church to
be blessed. Large ones were brought by heads of households, slim, tapered ones
by women and girls, and penny candles by boys. They were piled up in baskets
before the altar and after being blessed, were taken home and used in family
devotions. The large house candle symbolizing Christ was lit by the death-bed
or carried along behind the bier in funeral processions. It was also lit during
bad weather to ward off crop-damaging hail, storms, or malevolent spirits. The
tapered candles of the women were lit during childbirth and placed by the hands
and feet of the mother to discourage the presence of malignant spirits. Penny
candles were lit on All-Souls Day and Advent for family devotions.
    Holy water, blessed by a priest, had similar properties to
charms and candles as protection against evil forces that caused hail,
lightning, thunder, and severe storms. The Augsburg ritual book relates that
whoever was touched or sprinkled by the water would be free from all
uncleanness and all attacks of evil spirits. Further, all places where it was
sprinkled would be preserved free from harm, and no pestilent spirits would
reside there. Holy water could heal sickness, shield domestic animals from wolves,
and protect plants and seedlings over which it was distributed. It had
beneficial power over homes, food, herbs, grain and threshing floors, and much
more.
    In Paris there were some fifty religious buildings in the Ile
de la Cite´ alone, many of which had been built to commemorate a saint.
Saints played a large role as everyone looked first to them to cure illnesses,
insure a good harvest or safe childbirth, as well as stave off evil spells and
malevolent spirits.
    Each saint was assigned certain responsibilities, and everyone
knew which one to appeal to for which ailments, which pilgrimages to undertake
to benefit their well being, and who would take care of them and watch over
them as they traveled. A great number of saints’ relics, some in the form of
powder or potions, were carried. Servants often kept a piece of bread in their
pocket, blessed by a priest, to protect them, prevent them from contracting
rabies, and to kill rats. Many people believed that the end of the world was
imminent, but meanwhile, God was keeping His eye on them. His pleasure was
manifested when the harvest was good; His ire when it was bad.
     
     
    CROWS, RAVENS, AND CATS
     
    Crows and ravens were both despised and revered. It was
forbidden in England to kill either of them. It was possible to incur a large
fine for harming ravens for if they did not consume carrion, the putrified
flesh would poison the air.
    It has been asserted that the English did not harm ravens
because they believed that the legendary King Arthur had been transformed into
one, and his return was awaited by the people. This belief, in fact, continued
in Wales and Cornwall until almost the end of the nineteenth century.
    In 1662, a Scottish woman, Isobel Gowdie, when confessing
to witchcraft, said that crows were a favorite form for witches to take when
traveling at night. The Brothers Grimm, in their collection of German legends,
reported that a man and woman from Luttich were executed in 1610 for traveling
about in the form of wolves while their son accompanied them as a raven.
    Cats, especially black ones, have always been a target of
superstition and cruelty and associated with witchcraft and magic. To come
across one at night signified the devil or a witch was nearby. It was believed
that witches transformed themselves into cats in order to cast spells. They
assembled at night and howled, copulated, and fought under the direction of a
huge tomcat thought to