POSSESSION

Question 1

Explain the soul body composite?

Answer 1

Alignment of Aristotelian and Galenic phyiological soul / spirit with theological spiritualism.

Question 2

What makes someone possessed in either a holy or demonic manner?

Answer 2

Nancy Caciola “Mystics, Demoniacs and the Physiology of Spirit Possession” 2000

The science of possession is a science of contextual interpretation.

Question 3

When did Clare of Montefalco die?

Answer 3

August 1308

Question 4

What was Clare of Montefalco’s most famous vision?

Answer 4

1294: Christ pushes his cross into her heart whilst Clare helps him to guide the cross into her chest.

The heart proved strong enough for him to rest inside and he accepted her invitation to lean on her and make her body his home.

Question 5

Who dissected Clare of Montefalco’s body?

Answer 5

Sister Francesca

Used sharp knife approaching from the back.

Found miniature image of Christ crucified formed by miraculous intertwining of the cardiac nerves and muscles.

Crown of thorns.

3 stones found in gallbladder, physicians assured there was no natural explanation for this so believed to be the holy trinity.

Heart cured a man with a diseased leg and a woman who was blind.

Question 6

Who suspected foul play on behalf of the nuns?

Answer 6

The Catholic Church

Bishop of Spoleto travelled to Montefalco summoning a commission of physicians, jurors and theologians to conduct scientific investigation.

Question 7

Explain the process of canonisation in the Catholic Church?

Answer 7

Servant of God

Venerable

Blessed (beatification)

Saint

Question 8

Explain the process of canonisation for Clare of Montefalco?

Answer 8

1328 begins

1737 beatified by Pope Clement XII

1881 canonised by Pope Leo XIII

Question 9

How did Ida of Louvain refuse to act in orderly ways?

Answer 9

Lived in small cell in parents home

Refused to marry

Wore dirty rags out in the street and spoke gibberish

‘strutted about as if mad or a fool, offering a monstrous spectacle of herself to the people’.

Question 10

What vision of Ida’s was described in her vita by her hagiographer?

Answer 10

Pauper approached her cell, reached out and peeled back the skin of her chest to reveal her heart

Climbed inside and took up residence ‘enjoying her hospitality’.

Question 11

How has Nancy Caciola compared Ida and Clare?

Answer 11

“Mystics, Demoniacs and the Physiology of Spirit Possession” 2000

Because Ida was not in the nunnery environment she is seen as a social disruption.

Question 12

What is Aristotelian psychology?

Answer 12

Study of soul / psyche

Study of the nature of the soul which is the basis of all life

The soul is the essence of all living things that makes them behave in a way distinctive to living things

Question 13

What are Aristotle’s 3 souls?

Answer 13

1. Vegetative / Nutritive soul: nutrition, growth, reproduction
   Found in the liver
   Served by veins and auxiliary members such as bladder and genitals
   Plants
2. Sensitive Soul: movement and emotion and 10 internal and external senses
   Found in heart
   Served by arteries
   Sponges, worms, Bivalves
3. Intellective / Rational soul: rational powers of intellect, intellective memory and will.
   Found in brain
   Served by nerves, sense organs and muscles
   Human beings

Question 14

What is Galen’s pneuma?

Answer 14

Hot vapour fused in the blood which animates the different functions.

Question 15

What is the Galenic spiritual system?

Answer 15

1. Natural Spirit: Liver (nutrition and metabolism)
2. Vital Spirit: Heart (Blood-flow regulation, heartbeat, respiration and body temperature)
3. Animal Spirit: Brain (sensory perception and movement)

Question 16

What happens to classical pagan ideas of the physiological spirit in the 14th and 15th century?

Answer 16

Appropriation of these none religious explanations of natural functions and organs related to the spirit / soul system.

Question 17

What was the fundamental difference between holy and demonic possession?

Answer 17

Holy possession took place in the heart.

Thomas of Cantimpre: ‘let us no-one have any doubt that demons are in the body, not the soul’.

Question 18

Describe the theory of vision and human cognition in relation to possession?

Answer 18

Species (objects / forms radiated out by each sensible thing)

Everything perceived produces an invisible copy in the form of species

Species are picked up by the optic nerve

Transported to the 3 sections of brain and 5 internal senses (common sense, imagination, estimation, cognition and memory)

Imagination is the faculty in which species are confused.

Question 19

Give a visual example of demonic possession through the optic nerve?

Answer 19

Georg Bartisch (1535-1607) “Ophtalmodouleia” 1583

Man’s eyes turned inwards through demonic possession.