Exorcist: Father Ernest Fischer, retired missionary, Gossau (Saint-Gall, Switzerland.)
Demon: Verdi-Garandieu, a human demon.
MESSAGE TO PRIESTS - EXHORTATIONS TO RETURN TO THE LIFE OF THE GOSPEL
At the end of the exorcism of Leo XIII used, in this instance, by Fr. Fischer, numerous invocations were pronounced, including that of Saint Vincent Ferrier,[18] the great Spanish Dominican missionary of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; he traveled throughout Spain, Italy, Switzerland and France, where he died at Vannes in 1419. He was a formidable opponent of the devil, from whom he wrestled many souls,[19]through his life of love and penance and his stirring sermons.
In short: Saint Vincent Ferrier, a model to imitate; Abbot Verdi-Garandieu, an example not to follow.
The demon is going to speak for nearly two and a half hours on end. We reproduce here the text of his adjurations, by order of Heaven, to the priests of our time.[20]
Verdi-Garandieu after having pointed out that he also has become “a demon among the demons”, suddenly begins to cry out, saying): “What a stupid thing I did not responding to grace and leading the life that I led!”
(Then while uttering woeful cries, he exclaims, making the possessed woman jump to her feet): “Why did I let myself go that way, why? Why did I agree to being admitted to the Priesthood, this very heavy responsibility, since I was not equal to it if I was not prepared to take the trouble to lift myself up to the heights of this great ideal? Why did I give bad example as thousands and thousands of priests do today, by not acting in accordance with my priesthood? Why didn't I teach the catechism as I should have done?
I spent my time looking at the women's dresses, rather than in observing the commandments of God. The truth of it is, I was neither hot nor cold, I was lukewarm and the Lord vomited me from His mouth.[21] In my youth, I was still good, I still responded to grace.”
(While he was speaking, we heard his cries through the possessed woman.)
“It was later that I became lukewarm. It was when I entered onto the wide and easy road of pleasure and abandoned the narrow road of virtue, by not responding to grace any more; and from then on, I fell lower and lower.
At the beginning, I used to still confess my sins; I wanted to change myself, but I did not succeed because I no longer knew how to pray adequately. I did not respond to grace because of this tepidity, I went further down to the stage of coldness. Between this tepidity and coldness, there is only the distance of an onionskin. If I had been warm and ardent, I would not have known this wretched destiny.
If the priests of our time do not pull themselves together - Ah, well! They will experience the same fate that I have. At the present time, there are thousands, tens of thousands of priests in the world who are like me, who give bad example, who are lukewarm and who no longer respond to God's grace. All, if they do not change themselves, will have a destiny no better than that which I, Verdi-Garandieu, have had.
Ah! What a destiny for me in Hell! If, at least, I had not been born.[22] If I were able to come back to life again! Ah! How I would love to return to earth in order to live a better life! Ah! How I would love to spend my nights and my days on my knees, in prayer, calling on the Most High! I would invoke the Angels and Saints of Heaven, in order for them to help me to leave the road to perdition, but I can no longer go back, I am condemned (he finishes in a woeful voice).
Alas, the priests do not know what it is to he condemned to Hell, and what Hell is. At the present time, nearly everyone on earth takes the line of least resistance. They want to enjoy the pleasures of life. They are convinced that practicing humanism, as they call it, being of the mentality of their time, is something that is now established forever.
Bishops, cardinals and abbots give an example that is no better than that given by their subordinates. Do they live according to the simplicity that Christ used to practice in his meals and the kind of food he ate? As the Gospel says, Jesus Christ did indeed participate in banquets, to which He was invited by various people, but at these meals, He did not eat very much. And if He did eat a little during the course of these banquets, it must also be stressed that, many times, He chose to suffer from hunger.
The Holy Family and the Apostles too, fasted a great deal. Otherwise, they would not have received all the graces with which they were blessed. And yet, Jesus did not need to acquire grace, since He was Himself the Author of grace, but He wanted to give an example: to His Apostles certainly, but also to all the cardinals. bishops and priests of all the centuries. But what good was that, since in our time cardinals, bishops and priests sit down to their meals in luxurious surroundings and enjoy delicious dishes.
They go so far as to ruin their health in following this way of life, but they imagine that this befits their position as bishop, cardinal or provincial. Poor cooks, who imagine that because they are serving bishops or important people, they must present complicated things on the table! They imagine, poor souls, that it would be a disgrace for them if they were not able to bring all these dishes to the table. They forget that by doing this, they are not helping the bishops to imitate Christ any more than the priests do. It would be better if these cooks could tell such personages that Christ (too) used to be alive, and that He lived much more simply.
Those from On High (he points upward) value whatever is in accordance with the imitation of Jesus Christ; and what is being done at the present time is completely contrary to the imitation of Jesus Christ. Many live in refinement, luxury, and abundance, to the point of excess, to the point even of sinfulness. Sin has often had its beginnings at the table. Sinning begins there where a certain asceticism should be practiced, but this asceticism is rejected.
The rejection of the spirit of sacrifice is not the sin, but the open door to sin through which it can enter. It is this lack of asceticism that slowly leads to sin. Between the two there is only an onionskin. If the priest does not follow the teachings of the Church, it is we who come along to pull him by the end of his robe[23] in order to lead him onto our path. It is only a little end of his robe that we take hold of, just for a moment, but with the hope of carrying off the whole habit.
For a long time, I fully intended to become a good priest; but it must be mentioned that priests are attacked by us (demons) much more than the lay people are. Certainly, the lay people are also in danger, especially those who are doing their utmost to be among the just and those who have an important responsibility. But since the priest has a very great power for blessing, we give preference to attacking the priest First of all.
As far as I was concerned, I used to remember that I was a priest and, at the beginning, I used to exercise my Priesthood responsibly. And then, as time went by, I found that monotonous and, forgetting prayer, I also forgot about celibacy. I cut out prayer, firstly because I believed I was too busy, and then I used to take it up again occasionally, and then, finally, I abandoned it altogether. I used to think that those long prayers in the breviary were tedious and useless and, in the end, I lost the taste for prayer.[24]
When I cut out the breviary, I fell into the sin of impurity, and from that moment on, I had no more taste for saying the Mass. This was a chain reaction. When I fell into impurity this was the chain reaction - I no longer said the Mass devoutly because I was no longer in the state of grace. In this condition, the reading of the Bible and of the Gospel, in particular, and also the sight of God's commandments, became a reproach to me.
There was a warning for me in that, and because I paid no attention to the warning, I resolved not to teach the children as it should have been my duty to teach them. How could I have been able to teach them about Good, if I myself was not practicing it? But those who, today, call themselves humanists and modernists, know all that just as well as I do.
How could they impose on lay people and children, things that they themselves do not believe and do not practice? How could they bear teaching them as they should, knowing that their teaching is not in accord with their interior life, and that they would therefore be telling enormous lies? Within many, in these times, the heart has become like an abyss of death. There are many more than one would think, who find themselves in this state. They are rotten apples; how could a rotten apple give off a good smell? It is only a priest who strives to attain virtue, who can touch souls and give them what they need.
If priests were to give an example of virtue, in particular to the young, we would have a world completely different from the one we know. You would have a world a thousand times and more better than the one you have at the present time. How can you want to spread Good if you do not have it in you? How can I speak of the Holy Spirit, if I myself am happy not to listen to Him? How can one point out the road to follow, when one has left if himself? It is a much deeper tragedy than you can imagine.
The tragedy is that it is at the very moment when the priest leaves the road of virtue, that he is tempted to draw many souls after him.
This begins with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is said from beginning to end without any taste for it. Consequently, no personal benefit is received from it. At all events, that is the way it was for me, and I developed an aversion for the Mass and for its sacred texts, which, for someone who is behaving badly, are a permanent reproach.
In my case, as for thousands of other priests, there was at least the Transubstantiation which allowed the faithful to assist truly at Mass, because these people cannot know the depths of a priest's heart; but woe betide priests who no longer say what they should say to ensure that the Mass is valid, and who no longer live by it.
Woe betide anyone who leads the faithful onto the road of error. These priests would do better to shout publicly from the height of the pulpit: “I have sinned. I am no longer capable of practicing virtue. Pray for me, so that I may be converted, and once again teach the ways of virtue.”
Speaking in this way would be much better, and we demons would no longer have this power to dominate these priests, because they would have made an act of humility.
Even if some people were going to develop a contempt for a priest who would speak this way, the majority of those hearing him would be edified by his humility and would be able to help him to pull himself together. The majority of the faithful would have respect for a priest who would express himself in this manner; this would be much better than continuing along the way of lying and hypocrisy.
What is the use of celebrating Mass facing the people, and telling them: “Come near! God pardons you all your sins. He understands you. Come to the Father of Light; and if you are in the darkness, He will bring you back into grace again.”
They all forget that something must be done beforehand, in order for the Father to take you back into His arms and bring you back into His grace.
It is true that the Father takes His children back into His arms, but before this happens, it is necessary for them to repent and to promise to change the direction of their lives.
It is necessary to avoid the roads that lead to perdition.
The priest ought to think: “I must begin with myself. That would be the only way to be a model for each one, and to be able to preach the teaching of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Christ to the whole community. That would also be the mission which the. Most High considers that I should preach and carry out among the people.”
Much too much is said about the love of neighbor, while forgetting that this love results from the love which one has for God. How can one speak of loving one's; neighbor, of drawing nearer to one another, if one forgets the first commandment, the principal commandment: “You must love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”[25] The directive to love your neighbor comes only in second place.
If the priest were to first of all make peace with Those from On High (he points upward), love of neighbor would immediately start to flow out. It is the freemasonic masquerade which says: “It is necessary to love each other, to help each other, to support each other.” But where does all that lead to? Even if one speaks of charity, or of forgiving, or of mutual support, see the result, should this only be the number of present-day suicides.
It is true that there is a commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, but that comes after the one to honor and adore God first of all. It is necessary to begin at the very beginning of this commandment, and to love God first, which in fact, includes love of neighbor. It is in the first part that the whole commandment is found.
If one were to love God truly, one would not talk incessantly about loving one's neighbor, supporting him, helping him.[26]
Those from On High (he points upward) are not only Mercy, they are 'also Justice, and I, Verdi-Garandieu, know what I'm talking about! If I had exercised virtue, prayed, done penance, I would not have learned the hard way what I now know. I would have been obliged to ask for crosses in order to help my sheep to sanctify themselves and also to sanctify myself; but I forgot to ask for those things.
In our times, the majority of priests forget that it is necessary to put into practice the way of the cross, to make self-sacrifices, to pray for others, to forget about oneself. In our times, it should be proclaimed, from the height of the pulpits, to our faithful, that they must do penance to make reparation for and to raise up from the gutter all those who are wallowing there at the present time. This would be a way of practicing Charity in its true sense.
All that,[27] to be sure, has its importance, but it all sinks into the dust, more especially as God Himself has promised to give us what we need to live, particularly in our era where material things are dispensed in a remarkably organized way. That is why they must not be the main goal of our charity, but the means which allow us to have access to the other, that of God.
Certainly, it is necessary to help him who is in need, but to proceed from that to over-rating it to the point of thrusting aside duty towards God is too much. It would be much preferable to give one's attention from the height of the pulpit, to leading the people:
to pray for so and so who finds himself in great spiritual difficulty, and therefore in great danger; to ask them to light a blessed candle, or to make use of the cross, the cross of the dead[28] and of holy “water, not forgetting the Rosary in order to bring help from afar to this person.
All that brings blessings even when it is done by lay people; it flourishes in discretion and silence. And we (demons), when confronted by such things, have to withdraw our involvement in the affair.
Men should be reminded from the height of the pulpit, that it is necessary to take religion seriously, to sacrifice themselves for each other in order to keep up perseverance in each one's heart, and thus to keep men on the path of virtue.
The lay people should also be told that they must pray for the members of the clergy and for all their responsibilities, in order that they may be preserved in the service of God and not fall into the traps of the demon. They must pray for the priests to guide the faithful well. I, too, am a priest, and it is for that reason I suffer terribly in Hell because of the mark of my consecration.
The priests should also ask the faithful, from the height of the pulpit, to pray for themselves, because they should make it known to the faithful that the demons are attacking them much more strongly than they believe. They should pray for the priests in order that they may persevere in their ministry and in the right direction until the hour of their death. It is necessary also for the lay people to pray for each other, in order that they may continue on the road of virtue and of everything that is good, not just occasionally, but all of the time.
It is the tragedy of thousands and thousands of priests and lay people that they have grown like tender-weeds. Without warning, at the moment of temptation, they are trampled on by the demon, as Jesus Christ has pointed out to us in the Gospel: because they lack either sun or water, or because the sun has scorched them. This happens more and more as the lay people of our time are turned away from the right road by the priests themselves, who tell them that what used to be done previously has today been cast aside. Among them all (priests and lay people) there used to be some who practiced great virtue, then suddenly, they have wilted because they were not rooted sufficiently deeply in the good earth.
It is I, Verdi-Garandieu, who am telling you that it is necessary to pray constantly so that priests and lay people may continue in perseverance. It is necessary for priests in particular to know that it must be announcedfrom the height of the pulpit, that prayer is more and more essential in our days. It is necessary to recall that perseverance along the road of the cross is the law of happiness, because he who knows how to bear (trials) is placing himself on the road to Heaven.
In particular, people who are poor must be told that they have to be content to bear their misfortune because it is later on that they will be profoundly happy in Heaven. Even if the poor have to bear (privations), these are, all things considered, still a long way away from the fastings and sacrifices which were accepted by, for example, the Curé of Ars, and other great Saints, right up to the very end of their lives. It is necessary to tell the poor that they should thank the Lord for the lot in which He has placed them, because acceptance of poverty can help them to imitate Jesus Christ more.
Thank the Good God,[29] because in accordance with the kind of poverty that you have, you also have much less time when you could, be succumbing to temptations, since it is necessary for you to work all the time. Those who are endowed with a large family, and who, as a consequence, have much to do to educate and feed them, must thank the Good God three times a day, because in these circumstances, they have every chance of escaping from the pleasures of the world and of preparing themselves better for the Kingdom of Heaven where their place is reserved.
When the fourth child comes into some families, then there is a drama both for the people around and for the family itself. What is to be done? What is true for the fourth is true for the second or the third; and, unfortunately, the priests enter into a spirit of understanding when-these complaints are presented to them and agree that the faithful may make use of the pill to avoid the child. The faithful do not realize the danger into which they are putting themselves, because between the taking of the pill (already a serious fault) and abortion (an even more serious fault), the distance is short.
ABORTION IS MURDER and, consequently, a very grave sin. In our times, people are unwilling to accept as the truth, what has been believed for thousands and thousands of centuries beforehand.[30] So, even if God does not punish onanism straight away, as He punished the crime of Onan,[31] our God considers the means of birth control to be as serious as anything which is done. You just imagine then, what He thinks of abortion! FOR ALL THESE MISDEEDS ARE CONTRARY TO THE PLAN OF SALVATION CONCEIVED BY GOD.