Excerpt from the Exorcism
of Sr. Magdalena de la Cruz 1546
This is one of the best documented exorcisms of the Church
Sister Magdalena of the Cross
admits to a 40 year pact with the devil
Next, an Inquisitor is sent to
investigate the thorny matter by the express order of Cardinal Juan Pardo de
Tavera, the Primate of Spain. He is much younger than the Rev. Don Juan of
Cordova and he inspires her with confidence.
Sister Magdalena reveals to him
that the beautiful dark-haired young man who appeared to her at the age
of five was in fact the devil. He had promised her fame and the respect of
everyone, if she would consent to obey him always.
It is also satan who leaves his
mark by touching her two fingers which from then forward stop growing. And it
is also he who teaches her the subterfuge of the wafers, and he assists her with the simulation of ecstasies. Her cries in
the night are in no way inspired by the ecstatic love that she has for the Creator,
but by the demon’s evil caresses.
Upon hearing such disconcerting
admissions, the Inquisitor is horrified and almost instinctively, he makes the
sign of the Cross upon himself. Immediately, Sr. Magdalena starts to insult the
priest with vile and abhorrent words. She then begins to roll around the floor
in her cell, and bites anything she can, while striking indecent poses and
mimicking the vile copulations that she has performed with the demon Balban for
nearly forty years. Because he is an experienced Inquisitor, the good monk had
asked the older, more experienced nuns to stay in the corridor to write down
the fallen Magdalena's words, so as to be able to document and later serve as
witnesses. From here, Sr. Magdalena de la Cruz' case is well documented and
quickly prepared.
The Exorcisms of Sister Magdalena begins
During the extended course of
interrogations that were part of the ongoing exorcism during which Balban is
very reluctantly dislodged from Magdalena, it is discovered that the most
wicked and hideous means were used to undermine Magdalena’s soul as a child. It
was believed that he originally chose her because she was in fact very pious
and devoted to God, and so in his terrible wickedness he earnestly sought to
despoil God of one of His favorites. But, we shall soon see how God wins
triumphantly in the end.
During the ongoing exorcisms it
is learned that when Magdalena became a young adult, the demon Balban ceased to
appear to her as a beautiful young man, as he had been doing since she was age
five. One night, when the young girl was waiting for him as usual, he presented
himself to her in the form of a shimmering mist which condenses and takes
the form of a very tall man with long hair, who radiates a reddish light.
She cries out “Jesus”, but this, of course, greatly displeases Balban, who
lifts her with his burning hand and drops her on the ground. She is then
forced to contemplate this horrid creature who now rises before her in a
horrible metamorphisis, from a man into a vile beast. The infernal creature is
repulsive and the possessed nun describes in horror his wide, flat nose, his
twisted horns and his toothless mouth. He
commanded her to immediately become his wife, and he assures her
that she will not lose her virginity, and he
promises that her apparent sainthood would only grow in measure with the
supposed unimaginable pleasures that she would enjoy
with him. Lacking in spiritual fortitude; vanquished, Magdalena then
gives in, and it is again the dark-haired, and very
attractive young man that she now receives in her.
Next she confesses that it was
also the devil who came to feed her in secret, and that she had really been
pregnant by him. She had been told by him that she risked nothing if she
followed his instructions. It was to play a joke by troubling the minds of the
nuns and the Spanish clergy and laity that he had made her pregnant with an
monstrous caterpillar, which escaped from her body with a loud wind,
before changing into Balban, and re-possessing her with unprecedented vigor.
A few holy and well known
individuals were not fooled
And so it is that the whole of
Christendom discovers with horror that she of whom most everyone thought was
God’s most-beloved, was in fact the most-beloved creature of the devil. Yet
some of Sr. Magdalena's contemporaries were not so
easily fooled by her false mysticism, like the great St Ignatius Loyola who was
incredulous and in 1541, it is said that he severely reproved Martin de la
Santa Cruz, who endeavored to win him over towards Sr. Magdalena, for accepting
exterior signs without seeking for the true interior ones; and the great St
John of Avila (who is soon to be declared a Doctor of the Church) was also very
sceptical and, when he was in Cordova, he was discreetly denied access to her.
Sr. Magdalena of the Cross
becomes like her namesake, St. Mary Magdalene and deeply repents of the demons
that were possessing her As the Scriptures relate, Jesus
had cast out seven horrible demons that were possessing St. Mary
Magdalene,(Mark 16:9) and she became known as the great, repentant sinner.
Tradition tells us that she spent the rest of her life in a cave
making penance and reparation for her manifold sins, and she became a most
extraordinary Saint. In fact, Jesus chose St Mary Magdalene to be one of the
first witnesses to His glorious Resurrection, as Holy Scripture
tells us.