Europe's inner demons

Demons specialize in sending afflictions that lead monks into indecorous or irreverent behaviour. Often at holy communion Richalmus has had to rush from the church and vomit up the host he has just received.⁽⁷⁰⁾ Fortunately he has found a partial remedy in the sign of the cross; but even this is of limited use against the infinite resourcefulness of demons. One day demons provoked an attack of giddiness to prevent the abbot from celebrating mass; and the following night he overheard two demons plotting together: “One demon ashed another to make me hoarse. The latter replied that he lacked the opportunity for that, but could arrange for flatulence.”⁽⁷¹⁾ This is a special skill of theirs: “Often they make my belly swell so much that, contrary to custom, I have to loosen my belt. Later when they stop — perhaps from forgetfulness — I tighten the belt again in the usual manner. But if they return and find it like that, they torment and harass me so that I really suffer.”⁽⁷²⁾

They also tempt him to sleep at unsuitable times. As he sits over holy books he begins to doze; if, to wake himself up, he takes his hands from under his habit and holds them out to the cold air, the demons promptly send a flea into his habit, so that he has to put his hands in again.⁽⁷³⁾ When he sits in the choir, demons tempt him to sleep — although, as he hastens to assure the novice, they fail in this, and the snores that come from him are really the work of the demons themselves.⁽⁷⁴⁾ Demons will also make a monk sing feebly, or even out of tune, during the service.⁽⁷⁵⁾

In every way demons strive to prevent the proper discharge of religious duties. When a priest is preparing to celebrate mass, they will send unsuitable thoughts to confuse and irritate him.⁽⁷⁶⁾ They will put a plaster on the ears of a lay brother just when he should be having the rule of the order explained to him.⁽⁷⁷⁾ The abbot would like to keep his head covered by his cowl, for the outer light extinguishes the inner light; but demons make his head itch, so that he has to uncover it to scratch.⁽⁷⁸⁾

When there is heavy work to be done, such as building a wall, demons make the monks unwilling to do it. They will pretend to sympathize: “You poor people! You have to work like slaves! What unbearable work! Isn’t it a shame to have to work so hard!”⁽⁷⁹⁾—with the result that the monks start complaining. It can even happen that demons will lead a monk out of the monastery and into the nearest town, where they will saddle a horse and send him riding off.⁽⁸⁰⁾ Brooding on all these demonic strategems, Richalmus has little help or hope to offer. He knows, of course, that good spirits surround us as well as evil ones, and that each of us has, in addition, a special guardian angel; but he has little confidence in their powers, and insists that when good spirits help or warn us, the evil ones promptly redouble their efforts.⁽⁸¹⁾

As for self-help, the only counter-measure that he recommends is the sign of the cross. When a monk lost his voice while singing the response, the abbot made the sign of the cross — and watched how the demons scuttled off, in great indignation, as the singer regained his voice.⁽⁸²⁾ The fleas and lice that torment a man are really demons; and the abbot, on the strength of his own experience, advises the novice to use the sign of the cross against them too.⁽⁸³⁾ The sign of the cross is indeed powerful, particularly if it is made properly and not scamped; yet there are strict limits to what even this remedy can achieve. It has little or no effect when many demons are acting in concert.⁽⁸⁴⁾ And in any case its power is short-lived — the demons soon return to the struggle “like a brave warrior, who has to be wounded and pierced through, before he will give way”.⁽⁸⁵⁾