767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMwJ8ITlEx
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSWAkONyHU
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdtBKIxtPV
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0cYaUbJGk
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRBaWgvVO8
According to court findings, she experienced her first epileptic attack in 1969, and by 1973 was suffering from depression and considering suicide. Soon she was seeing the faces of demons on the people and things around her, and voices told her she was damned.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNf7Qv3upd
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcXaJmvAwe
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKikvsGnYB
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhu8JszNjzx
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66IdEnabaV
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNxbFE5Xmv
Under the influence of her demons, Michel ripped the clothes off her body, compulsively performed up to 400 squats a day, crawled under a table and barked like a dog for two days, ate spiders and coal, bit the head off a dead bird and licked her own urine from the floor.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7T5WrJMJa
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB4J009SEr
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRiWLHDU62
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtItdJYxDQ0
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhJC2xoJCv
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQnEcHCaoI
By 1975 Michel was asking for an exorcism. The Revs. Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz performed the rite 67 times over the first half of 1976. Some of the sessions took up to four hours. Forty-two sessions were recorded on tape.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjg4itctkj
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2Uj0IzYZf
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0s1pXOoBk
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLz22XUXYq
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxqdy0X7Qw
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3DICp1Lgx
Michel’s recorded voice can still send shivers up your spine. It is the voice of a demon, growling, barking, inhuman — and surprisingly like the voice of Linda Blair in “The Exorcist,” which had been released in Germany two years earlier.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMNBwQriag
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxg1a3RUiK
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSfJzCJhBx
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuP88LOhOz
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLgAzSgDC4
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAMfhQNSTU
Sometimes the demons identified themselves — as Cain, Nero, Judas, Lucifer, Hitler and others — and even answered the exorcists’ questions, explaining what was wrong with the church or why they were in Hell. “People are stupid as pigs,” spat Hitler. “They think it’s all over after death. It goes on.” Judas said Hitler was nothing but a “big mouth” and had “no real say” in Hell.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1h8BLeMWvu
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh77iJROws0
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvRDTG4eWe
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4X7Wc9oEpG
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYph3HMjOb
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWWY9RduOJ
Anyway, it wasn’t the exorcism that killed Anneliese Michel.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIBKu6m5e1
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObfQhHbjn2
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzt5mOIL7ba
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5IIvzrXHy
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QQJW0GzjO
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgylD4QGRLY
At some point she began talking increasingly about dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church, and refused to eat. Though she had received treatment for epilepsy, by this time, at her own request, doctors were no longer being consulted.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9hwd9LyCh
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ecASBRNEy
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡks0CKbRQZX
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08mSDyb9hv
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKO9wBmFZNL
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32meWLTD00
She, her parents and the exorcists decided to rely completely on exorcism. By the time Michel died of starvation, she weighed only 68 pounds.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrRkMnspIS
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkrMzVsbF8
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcBCQoHAwx
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1YO1HCcR4
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5iAWtDzIA
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxrOn1hjDe
After her death, the Anneliese Michel trial also set reason against faith.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05pHXbKyST
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYX6MJm0OAY
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC592TljcP6
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4tN7xt7gN
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduse4Fu0ni
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1FiwWSSa5
“I personally believe that this case was handled in such a way as to play down the reality of the Devil,” says Norbert Baumert, Jesuit priest and chairman of the theological commission of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Germany, which cannot perform exorcism but practices “prayers for deliverance” from “demonic nuisance.”767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc76hN7kS5M
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8lmHGj0HT
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmoA7anFq5
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeWdG3CZZN
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApw81xtdvy
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kDyASXchc
The trial went to the heart of faith: If the Bible is true, then the miracles must have really happened, and Satan must be real.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBuKQm0WqP
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSutO3os1hJ
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOuqfInh4i
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LEcLQ4NAp
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcTFSD74Kc
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPedkk3LS0
But it’s not easy preaching the existence of the Devil to one of the most secularized countries in Europe. A study by research institute Infratest and published in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel last month showed that even among churchgoers, approximately a third of baptized Catholics and half of baptized Protestants do not believe in life after death.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleiHWwMDvO
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfmEzaL4Uh
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkrlYTRJcQ
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtqscTrM8y
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqsG8X7nQp
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9J5uUqNqt9
“I understand the complaint that German theologians are too rational,” says Klemens Richter, professor for liturgical science in Muenster. “But exorcism is all about helping the sick. In Anneliese Michel’s case, the sickness was supported. When I go to a patient and support her in her delusion, she gets the impression that she really is possessed.”767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9vA8HygZU
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrWHYX99hf
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpTuenE2Ue
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3x0qxiYQyI
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSOwI5kne4
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dwk2yrRfM
Exorcism is far more widespread today than most people imagine. According to Richter, there are about 70 practicing exorcists in France and just as many employed in Italy. In July this year, a congress in Poland was reportedly attended by about 350 practicing exorcists.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIV4UGKQJO
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2V8FUTGnF
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNrlpy4OZV
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznUESe7eiQ
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UwZB7L3VG
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqMz1Hk7rc
Germany is the major European exception. Here, there are only two or three practicing exorcists, and though they have the approval of their bishops, they operate in secret.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDeW6gQtgd
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsriBfkVIE
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawSGD14obr
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgFrFhJCBW
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16cSmslmFF
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlImoPW9YI
Secularization has the church in its grip,” says Ulrich Niemann, a Jesuit priest, medical doctor and psychiatrist who often has been called into exorcism cases by clergymen. “We do a lot for the Third World, but little for faith in a transcendent God. . . . The German church is far too cerebral.”767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59aDbJr22c
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq5OwAin8G
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1hObWm0Gg
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8eyCcF2bM
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zysjO9NuA
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxX2DAY1T2
Niemann doesn’t consider himself an exorcist and doesn’t perform the Roman ritual of 1614. “As a doctor, I say there is no such thing as possession,” he says. “In my view, these patients are mentally ill. I pray with them, but that alone doesn’t help. You have to deal with them as a psychiatrist. But at the same time, when the patient comes from Eastern Europe and believes that he’s been impaired by evil, it would be a mistake to ignore his belief system.”767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaUyA6coME
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwlnYb3CzT
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDue0nBQgv
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7MYQt882E
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmQh9EUWrs
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4sINvuhm0
After the Michel trial, German bishops and theologians formed a commission to review the exorcism rite, and in 1984 they petitioned Rome to change it.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SaoA0Nyr6
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MGZR4oTFD
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajZLUq8VW7
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuvBWtCfXP
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuR9c7bPG5a
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZ5Zj9SWKv
The heart of the problem, they found, was the practice of speaking directly or “imperatively” to the Devil, that is, “I command thee, unclean spirit . . . ” That part of the rite seemed to do the most damage, since it confirmed to the patient that he or she truly was possessed.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TUN1jx38W
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EaFhc4Gon
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gEMcRVgfN
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsNEtRFC9t
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTNAdlIQPr
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6Dcmw8GDh
The Germans didn’t get what they wanted.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6zQxnp3Q1
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dTtvH1Pm6
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMF9cBViPh
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8kHeHjc1ez
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbYrWZ2Wjw
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdjieB8IxS
“We were astonished when Rome issued a changed exorcism formula in 1999 which left open the possibility of speaking to the Devil directly,” says Richter. “But you can’t know for certain that a patient is truly possessed of the Devil.”767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOY4JFWd06E
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmA3bLH7h7V
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7SZDYtwPt
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl15W3uqzQs
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyedxjMegY
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEkOEmla9I
Today, 30 years after Michel’s death, with both exorcists and her father also dead (her mother couldn’t be reached for this article), Michel is still revered by small groups of Catholics who believe she atoned for wayward priests and sinful youth, and honor her as an unofficial saint.767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuw2YWdVH0y
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jRG0HTEvC
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2UVOtBsx0
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QrahmH9ul
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeK6mAvrpb
767Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHyIIigBDV
“Buses, often from Holland, I think, still come to Anneliese’s grave,” Barthel says. “The grave is a gathering point for religious outsiders. They write notes with requests and thanks for her help, and leave them on the grave. They pray, sing and travel on.”
Penana
search
Loginarrow_drop_down
Registerarrow_drop_down
