Defeats of the Devils: The Battle Between Good and Evil

The text below is the excerpt of the book Art of the Devil (ISBN: 9781783107698), written by Arturo Graf, published by Parkstone International.

SATAN had, as we have seen, numerous partisans; but he had also numerous adversaries: the former in Hell and on earth, the latter on earth and in Heaven. Partisans of Satan were all the other demons and all wicked men, especially heretics and wizards; his adversaries were all good men, and in a particular manner the saints, living or dead, the ecclesiastics, if not by virtue of their character, by virtue of their calling, also, the various orders of angels, the Virgin Mary and the Lord God. God took – as in the time of Satan’s first rebellion – but little part in this struggle, awaiting the fullness of time and the destined limit set for his diabolic arrogance; against His unworthy enemy He suffered the battle to be waged by His Mother, by the saints, by all the heavenly hosts, and by the men who did not lack His grace or the aid of Holy Church. And it was a daily battle, perpetually renewed; hardly had Satan been beaten when he would rise again, and driven from one position, he would reappear in another. Occasionally, Satan exchanged the role of vanquished for that of victor.

Let us see, first, what victories were gained over the great adversary by men of flesh and blood; later, we will see what victories were gained over him by the inhabitants of Heaven.

The Christian, who fought against Satan for the salvation of his own soul, had no lack of weapons, whether for attack or for defence, such as were required for so fearful a combat; and of these weapons, some were spiritual, some material. He had, also, all the support of divine grace, without which there was no hope of salvation; furthermore, he had faith and virtue, behind which he defended himself as behind the ramparts of a strongly fortified citadel. The practices of religion to which he diligently devoted himself – prayer, attendance on sacraments, fastings, prolonged vigils – were like so many operations of warfare, calculated to keep the enemy at a distance or cause him to give ground if he had already advanced too far. A formidable weapon, ever at hand in time of need, was the sign of the cross, no less useful for attack than for defence. Innumerable were the devils who had to confess with their own lips that it was not possible for them to withstand the virtue of this most sacred symbol which filled them with terror and confusion. With the sign of the cross, not only were devils put to flight, but conflagrations were extinguished, tempests were laid, the sick were healed and many other difficult things were accomplished. Great efficacy, also, had the names of God the Father, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, if invoked with the fervour of faith and flung like a challenge in the very faces of the fiends. Next came holy water, more scalding for their accursed necks and backs than were the boiling pitch and molten lead of their own hellish caldrons. Bells, which filled the air with their pealing voices, calling the faithful to the rites of worship, to meditation, to prayer or announcing the festivals so filled with grace, routed the demons far and wide, ofttimes scattered the storms the fiends had raised, and produced many other marvellous effects; hence, the hymn of the bell:

Laudo Deum verum,

Plebem voco,

Congrego clerum.

Defunctos ploro,

Pestem fugo,

Festa decoro.

Funera plango,

Fulgura frango,

Sabbata pango.

Excito lentos,

Dissipo ventos,

Paco cruentos;

and sometimes, at the end, the fearful line:

Est mea cunctorum terror vox daemoniorum.

The relics of the saints who had triumphed over all the assaults and all the wiles of Satan aided countless others in winning similar triumphs; and the same may be said of certain blessed writings, to be worn about the neck or sewed into garments, and of certain amulets. Nor was there a lack of purely natural objects which were opposed and injurious to the devils: such were certain gems, as the chrysolite and the agate, which put them to flight, and the sapphire, which reconciled one with God; such were certain plants, as garlic and rue, and an herb called by the French permanable, which had power to enchant the demons. Salt was one of the things of which they showed themselves most afraid. The cock, as has already been noted, was a great adversary of the devils; with his morning clarion call, precursor of the day, he forced them (but not all of them) to hide themselves away. Finally, in certain cases, the Christian could use to good effect, as we shall see, either his fists or a stout cudgel. Moreover, one who had fallen into the power of the enemy could, with more or less lengthy and severe penances, rescue himself and put his cruel master under his feet.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that these weapons and these defences did not always avail, as may be seen from famous examples in the lives of many saints, and not merely of the lesser or mediocre ones, but of those of highest standing. It happened all too often, whatever may have been the reason, that the devils impudently and impiously repeated, word for word, in mockery, the holy prayers with which the saint was endeavouring to cow them and even the psalms of the sacred Psalter; that they sniggered outrageously at the sight of that cross, a glimpse of which usually caused them to turn their backs and flee; that they danced and capered under the drops of holy water; and that their assaults grew more furious and more frequent, the greater the means of defence employed.

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