This article is adapted from Fr. Stanzione’s introduction to a chapter in
The Devil is Afraid of Me: The Life and Work of the World’s Most Popular Exorcist. It is available as an ebook or paperback from
Sophia Institute Press.
Fr. Marcello Stanzione
Father
Gabriele Amorth’s very first exorcism remained especially impressed in his mind. He spoke of it in various interviews and in his book
The Last Exorcist: My Battle against Satan, in which he narrates in depth what happened with so many other important exorcisms.
His first solo exorcism was very particular, because he immediately
clashed with Satan himself. After having assisted Father Candido
Amantini for many years, he exorcised a simple man. The man was very
young and slim and came accompanied by a priest and a third person, a
translator.
Initially, Father Amorth did not understand the reason for the
translator, so the priest explained to him that when the demoniac was
under possession, he spoke in English, and therefore it would be useful
to have the translator present in order to understand what he was
saying.
Once the exorcism began, the young peasant did not communicate with
words or gestures; it was as if nothing affected him, not even when
Father Amorth invoked the help of the Lord. But after the invocation,
when the exorcist priest asked specifically for the help of Jesus, the
young man fixed his gaze on him and began to yell in English.
His curses and threats were aimed solely at the exorcist; then he
began spitting at him and preparing to attack him physically; only when
Father Amorth arrived at the prayer
Praecipio tibi (I command
you), did the demon seem to placate himself a bit. But then, screaming
and howling, the demon burst forth and looked straight at him, drooling
saliva from the young man’s mouth. The exorcist, at that point,
continued with the rite of liberation, asking and ordering the demon to
tell him his name and reveal who he was. Because this was his first
exorcism,
Father Amorth did not expect to receive such a terrifying response: “I am Lucifer.”
Thus, with great stupor, Father Amorth discovered that who he had in
front of him in those moments was Lucifer in person, but at that point,
he certainly could not give up or end the exorcism, so he engaged
himself even more. He was convinced that he had to keep going as long as
he had the strength.
So, while he continued with the prayers of liberation, the demon
resumed his shrieks, making the possessed turn his head back and his
eyes roll; and he remained like this with his back arched for a quarter
of an hour. Who could imagine what Father Amorth felt in those moments?
Changes also occurred in the environment. All of a sudden, the room
became extremely cold and ice crystals formed on the windows and the
walls. The exorcist, refusing to give up, ordered Lucifer to abandon
the peasant. But almost in response, the young man’s body stiffened so
much that he became hard and at a certain point began to levitate; and
for several minutes, he remained hovering three feet in the air.
Meanwhile, the exorcist continued with the prayers of liberation. Then,
at a certain point, the possessed fell down onto a chair, and a little
before disappearing, Lucifer announced the day and the exact hour that
he would leave the body of the peasant.
Father Amorth continued to exorcise the young man each
week until the fatal day arrived. Then he let another week pass, and he
rescheduled him. Upon his arrival, the young man seemed very tranquil, and in
the course of the exorcism, he did not make any objections to the liberations,
and indeed, he prayed tranquilly. Father Amorth asked him to explain how
Lucifer left him, and he replied that on the day and at the hour that the devil
had indicated he would leave, he began to howl like never before. Then, at the
end of this, he felt new and light.
Father Amorth Speaks of the Good Angels
Since
exorcism must also be understood in the context of the good angels, Father
Amorth wrote one of his columns in the weekly
Credo
on
the good angels:
The
angelic creatures who chose to remain faithful to their nature and to
the goal for which they were created — that is, to praise God eternally
— did a very simple thing: they remained obedient. They accepted being
submissive to God the Creator, and they made their choice in the just
view, not the diabolical view of feeling humiliated by this act of
submission. To the contrary, in choosing to remain faithful to God, the
angels were true to their nature and their end. It was an act of
fidelity to the truth for which they were created by God, which is to
love Him. This attitude does not humiliate them, because it does not
infer a lack of something; rather, it reflects a fullness. The angels
have continued to be faithful to their nature, which refers them
directly to God the Creator, the one who has inscribed in creation the
laws that He considers best for the good of the creature. Thus, the way
we read it in the book of Revelation (12:7 and further on) is the way it
occurred. There was a giant war between the angels who remained
faithful to God and those who rebelled against Him; in other words, the
[good] angels against the demons. In those passages, the Bible tells us
that the Archangel Michael led the angels into battle, and the rebel
angels were guided by the dragon (the devil) and at the end were
defeated. As a result, and I cite from memory, “for them there was no
longer a place in heaven.”
Something happened here that the Bible does not declare, but that I
have no reason to doubt: the demons created hell — that is, they put
themselves in a situation, in a state, that placed them in opposition to
God, and in doing so, harmed themselves. Their new condition, known in
the Bible as “hell,” means that the devils are forever excluded from
paradise — that is, the vision of God, and the goals of enjoyment and
eternal happiness for which they were created.
Therefore, the demons are definitively condemned; for them, there is
no longer any possibility of salvation. Why? Because their intelligence,
which is much superior to ours, since they are pure spirits, makes
their choice definitive, because it was done with full awareness and is
therefore not retractable. But the demons do not wish to take back such a
choice.
The same is true, but to the contrary, for the angels who have chosen
God and enjoy Him in eternity; and it is also true for the saints,
those who are already admitted to the eternal vision of God. And this is
true also for us, who are called to sanctity here on earth and, if
necessary, in purgatory.
How the Demon Enters Souls
The
journalist Marco Tosatti asked Father Amorth which are the paths preferred by
the devil when entering the soul of men. Amorth responded:
There
are four methods the demon utilizes to enter souls; one regards saints,
and two are extremely rare. When the demon tempts a person who seems
holy, he attempts to make him renounce his godly ways. This case is
extremely rare. The other extremely rare case is that of leading a
person into a complex of extremely serious sins in a way that is nearly
irreversible. In my view, this was the method [that Satan used] with
Judas Iscariot. . . . The most frequent case — and I put it at 90
percent — is that of the evil spell. It happens when someone sustains an
evil caused by the demon that has been provoked by some person who has
turned to Satan or someone who has acted with satanic perfidy. The
remaining, 10 to 15 percent — I do not have an exact number — regard
persons who have participated in occult practices, such as séances or
satanic sects, or have contacted wizards and fortune-tellers. These
forms of Satanism are widely diffused, and I think that today they are
spread by stars and celebrities who have a huge following… I have
nothing against rock music; it is very respectable music; I am against
satanic rock.
✠
