164 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



When the exorcism was resumed at one o'clock in the after- 

 noon, the devil was evidently considerably dispirited ; occasion- 

 ally he roused himself and " tore " the boy, but less violently than 

 before, and no longer showed his spite by spitting at the priest. 

 After having gone through with the usual forms of conjuration 

 with the cross, and having brought the magic power of the Host 

 to bear upon the stubborn imp, the capuchin called upon him in 

 the name of God, and the mother of God, and the holy archangel 

 Michael, to say whether he would now depart, and received the 

 answer uttered in a humble tone, "Yes." This question was 

 repeated three times, with the same result. " The first time," says 

 Father Aurelian, " that the devil expressed his willingness to go 

 out of the boy, I conjured him not to enter into any of the per- 

 sons present nor into any living creature, not even into the woman 

 Herz, who had banned him into the boy, but to depart to the 

 place which God had assigned him. After a short pause I put 

 the question, ' Have you departed from the boy ? ' and received 

 the answer, ' Yes/ ' And also your companions ? ' ' Yes.' ' For 

 the third time I conjure you to tell the whole truth : have you 

 and your companions departed from the boy ? ' ' Yes.' ' Where 

 are you now ? ' ' In hell.' ' And your companions, too ? ' 

 ' Yes/ ' In the name of the most holy Trinity, and this sign of 

 the cross, I conjure you to confess whether you and your compan- 

 ions are really in hell!' 'Yes, we are in hell!' was the horrify- 

 ing reply. And it really seemed as though the voice came from 

 hell. In his former answers the demon had spoken in a sharp and 

 insolent tone, but this last response was utterly subdued and 

 extremely mournful." 



Michael Zilk, thus freed from the unclean spirit, quietly 

 kneeled before the altar, kissed the crucifix, partook of the holy 

 sacrament, and devoutly repeated the Pater noster and Ave Maria. 

 A Te Deum was sung at the high altar, and on the following 

 morning a special service of thanksgiving, consisting of high 

 mass with rosary, was held in recognition of the " mighty work " 

 that had been so successfully accomplished. 



To Father Aurelian's mind, such as it is, the cause of the de- 

 moniacal possession is perfectly clear, and he states his views 

 without reserve. The father of the boy, he says, was a Catholic, 

 and the mother a Protestant ; they were married by a Protestant 

 clergyman, and the children were educated in the Protestant 

 faith. The father afterward repented of his grievous fault, and 

 endeavored to repair it by sending his three children to a Cath- 

 olic school. This step excited the anger of his Protestant neigh- 

 bors, one of whom, a woman named Herz, took to cursing and 

 banning, and sent the devil into the eldest child by giving him 

 on Shrove Tuesday a quantity of dried pears (Hutzeln) to eat, 



