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4 BEGONE SATAN
cases of possession have been denied as myths of the
dark ages. Even if Christ and the Apostles repeatedly
emphasized the powers of the evil spirit, these are
looked upon as purely superstitious. That Satan has
succeeded in making man so indifferent regarding his
actions of misleading men is one of his greatest and
most advantageous accomplishments. People rarely
Rev. Theophilus Riesinger,
O.M. Cap.—1868-1941
listen to anything of a supernatural
nature.
Actual happenings of the
supernatural order in our
times are all the more striking
therefore and cannot
so readily be dismissed by a
mere shrug of the shoulders
—facts such as the numerous
and indisputable miracles
at Lourdes, the extraordinary
visions, stigmata,
abstention from food, and
gift of languages of Theresa
Neumann, the life of
the Cure of Ars who w T as
recently proclaimed a saint
of the church, to whom for
35 years the sight of hell was constantly and really an
ordinary experience. No less worthy of note are the
facts in the cases of possession occurring in our times
the case of a possessed boy in Wemding, Suabia,
Bavaria, 1891; the case in St. Michael's Mission in
Africa in 1906 of two girls possessed, one of whom
is still living; the noted case of the Chinese woman
Lautien in Honan, China, in 1926 and 1929, which
was under the direction of Father Peter Heier, S.V.D.,
of Hague, N. D., now a Missioner in China, and several
cases in Rockford, 111., since 1940.
The priest has frequent opportunities for using
his power of exorcism. The blessings of holy water,
its various uses in the blessing of houses and in the
many other blessings and benedictions of the church