Saint Expelled 15,000 Devils from Heretic

Saint Expelled 15,000 Devils from Heretic

From the Secret of the Rosary, pp. 76-79 by St. Louis De Montfort

When Saint Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carassone, in Southern France, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by devils. Saint Dominic exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people. His fame was spreading, and it appears that over twelve thousand people had come to hear him preach.

The devils in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer Saint Dominic’s question, in spite of themselves. They said that:

There were 15,000 of them in the body of this poor man, because he had attacked all of the fifteen mysteries of the most Holy Rosary.

They went on to testify that by preaching the Rosary, St. Dominic had put fear and horror into the very depths of hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the whole world, because of the souls which he snatched from them through devotion to the Holy Rosary.

They then revealed several other things.

The Greatest Saint
Saint Dominic put his Rosary around the Albigensian’s neck and asked the devils to tell him who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared the most, and who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men. At this, they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, faint from fear.

Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way that many of the people wept also, out of purely natural pity. The devils spoke through the mouth of the Albigensian, pleading in a heart-rending voice, saying:

Dominic Dominic, have mercy on us – we promise you that we will never hurt you. You have always had compassion for sinners and those in distress, have pity on us, for we are in grievous straits. We are suffering so very much already, so why do you delight in heightening our pains? Can’t you be satisfied with our suffering without adding to it? Have pity on us! Have pity on us!

Saint Dominic was not one bit moved by the pathos of these wretched spirits, and told them that he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said that they would whisper the answer in such a way that only Saint Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and out loud.

Silence
Then the devils were able to keep quiet and refused to say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders…. So he knelt down and prayed thus to Our Lady:

Oh, all powerful and wonderful Virgin Mary, I implore You by the power of the Most Holy Rosary, order these enemies of the human race to answer me.

No sooner had he made this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils, and mouth of the Albigensian. Everyone shook with fear, but remarkably, the fire did not hurt the man or anyone near him.

Let Us Leave!
Then the devils cried:

“Dominic, we beseech you, by the passion of Jesus Christ and by the merits of His Holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further – for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars? So why should you want to believe us? Please do not torture us any more; have pity on us.”

Woe unto you wretched spirits, who do not deserve to be heard,” Saint Domic said, and kneeling down he prayed to Our Lady: 

Oh most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. Please. I beg of You, force Your enemies to proclaim the whole truth about this, and nothing but the truth, here and now, before the multitude.

Saint Dominic had hardly finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand, surrounded by a multitude of angels. She gently struck the possessed man with a golden rod that She held, and said:

Answer My servant Dominic at once.

 (The people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, but only Saint Dominic.) 

Then the devils started screaming:

O, You who are our enemy, our downfall, and our destruction, why have You come from Heaven just to torture us so grievously? Oh, Advocate of sinners, You who snatch them from the very jaws of hell, You who are the surest path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness…..all right…..:

Listen Well!

Then listen well, you Christians: the Mother of Jesus Christ is all-powerful, and She can save Her servants from falling into hell. She is the Sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is She who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our most intense temptations useless and ineffectual. 

We have to say, however reluctantly, that not a single soul who has really persevered in Her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that She offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the other saints combined.

We fear Her more than all the saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with Her faithful servants Many Christians who call upon Her when they are at the hour of death, and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards, are saved by Her intercession.

Oh, if only that MARY (it is thus, in their intense fury, that they called Her) had not pitted Her strength against ours, and had not upset our plans, we could have conquered the Church and have destroyed it long before this…… and we would have seen to it that all the Orders in the Church fell into error and disorder.

Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you this: nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because She obtains for Her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins, and by means of this, they obtain God’s forgiveness and mercy.

The Devils Leave
Then a wonderful thing happened! Saint Dominic had all the people say the Rosary together very slowly and with great devotion. At each Hail Mary that he and the people said together, a hundred devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body under the guise of red-hot coals, which neither burned nor harmed the man. This happened until all 15,000 devils left the man’s body!

When the devils had all been expelled and the heretic was at last entirely free of them, Our Lady, who was still invisible to everyone else except Saint Dominic, proceeded to give Her blessing to the assembled company. They could all somehow feel the blessing, and they became filled with even more joy because of this extraordinary experience.

A large number of heretics were converted because of this miracle. Many heretics and previous non-believers then became ardent devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a good number of them even became faithful members of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary.