"MARY CRUSHES THE SERPENT -30 Years of Experiences As An Exorcist Told In His Own Words" --Sequel to “Begone Satan”. Edited by Rev. Theodore Geiger. Translated: by Rev. Celestine Kapsner, O.S.B.
This article contains some excerpts from an old booklet “Mary Crushes the Serpent”, originally distributed by Keefe's Catholic Gift Shop, 372 Selby Avenue, St. Paul, Minn. 55102 and obtainable on the internet for $3.00 from Spirit Daily here. The booklet was written under obedience by a German priest who was an exorcist for over 30 years; from 1874 to his holy death in 1909. The booklet was begun after his first 25 years of experience.
The part of this booklet that I want to focus on is a common subject on this website: the influence of the devil and the demons in the lives of the victim souls, and the Blessed Virgin Mary’s important role in relation to the victim souls, and the demons that attack and oppress them. All the information below is taken directly from this booklet.
The Virgin Mary, the Victim Souls and the demons
In “Mary Crushes the Serpent” we read:
“The Blessed Virgin has selected a little army of noble souls who are prepared to suffer everything and to offer themselves freely to God as a holocaust in atonement for souls. She has selected them to fight directly against the demons. They will break the might of Lucifer's legions upon earth and will deprive him of at least a part of the victims he already counts as his own.
"These selected souls will bear up courageously under the attacks of the demons. They will suffer possession in order to free the souls of fellowmen from the yoke of the evil one. They take the place of the guilty to free them from the power of the demon who has darkened their understanding and who is trying to harden their misguided will. It is a worldwide battle between the ferocity of the demon and the victim souls' love for the cross.
"The victim souls endure bodily sufferings as well as attacks directed against the sensitive powers of the soul. They will, however, conquer with their spiritual aids. Their lower nature will, so to say, be crushed by demoniacal tortures, but the higher spiritual nature will triumph over the infernal spirits through their generous submission to suffering. Their spiritual powers will increase in proportion to the amount of suffering they, endure, for in every loving suffering they will receive an increase of love.
"The power of the demons will gradually decrease, at least externally. All their energy will be exhausted in their onslaughts against these victim souls. Should the victim soul persevere in her sacrifice, then her influence will increase, and that of the demon will diminish gradually. Whence it follows that the victim soul will be victorious and the enemy will be completely crushed. The battle between such a victim soul and the demon is a real duel to the death. They are as two gladiators forced to fight until one remains a victim upon the battlefield. The demon is full of hatred towards all good.
"With you everything is love, but with us it is all hatred." He loves the bad only out of hatred for the good. A demon told me that he seduces men to different vices not because he likes these vices but because he despises their virtues. Whenever he sees a virtuous or well-meaning soul whom God might use to accomplish something worthwhile, his hatred becomes in-flamed and he tries every possible device to deprive that soul of her virtue and to make her incapable of doing good. He is unable to foretell what the results of his attacks will be. He said to me: "We do not know whither we go." He uses every opportunity to do evil and blindly pursues his hatred against the good without knowing whither his madness and his striving after evil will lead him.
"Led by pride he always hopes for success and victory. "I am too proud," he said, "to believe that I will fail in my attempt." Thus he proceeds blindly and to his own shame he is instrumental in bringing about a lot of good. The demon himself told me that there are many things he would not do if he could know beforehand what the outcome would be. All these statements were verified in the actual battle of the demons with their victims.
"The demon is aware of these virtuous souls who offer themselves as victims and knows that they are capable of doing much good. Driven by hatred he attacks them without knowing what the consequences will be, but he does not doubt his own success. He gets them into his control in order to corrupt them and to deprive God of their honor. God permits this, but once the demons have freely undertaken to combat these souls, God forces His emissaries to continue the battle to the very end. The demon will either conquer or be conquered. He said to me: "It seems as if God tells us: 'Go ahead!' 'I have to continue." Despite his pride to undertake a battle to a possible victory, he knows and admits that love will win. "Because," he says, "love is more powerful than hatred."
"The battle of these victim souls against the demons brings about the very sanctification of these souls. The demon states that a certain number of souls is under the mastery of every demon prowling about the earth. The purpose is not the demoniacal possession itself in the narrow sense, but rather to control the soul through sin and a willing attachment of evil. He regards such souls as his own prizes of spoliation, because he beclouds their heart thereby gradually making their return to the good [almost] morally impossible.
"About those souls whose wills have been subjected to his control the demon says: "Whenever I have the will of an individual, then I deride your God." Yet he admits that the conversion of that soul is not impossible. "They can repent, but it is very difficult."
"Fortunately there are victim souls on hand to wrest these tortured souls from the demon's clutches. If not all, at least a great number of them are delivered in the following manner:
"According to the confessions of the demons, they lose their power in the battle with these victim souls. Not only do they lose the victim, but they themselves are made helpless. They also lose control over the souls that have become their slaves through sin. After their release these souls for whom the victims have suffered and have made satisfaction to Divine Justice, they can again benefit through God's mercy and can easily convert themselves. The devil no longer has any power to prevent them from doing so.
"I asked one of the conquered demons who was forced to liberate all the souls whom he kept in the slavery of sin: "Are all these souls converted?" To which he replied : "Some, indeed; the others can be if they want to."
The helpless demons remain in their victims as in a prison, without being able to go elsewhere, or to be externally active. They are awaiting the defeat of their entire band, which is accomplished when their chief is completely overcome. As soon as their leader has lost everything that he and his associates possessed on earth, he has to return to hell, taking all his attendants with him. For the demons said to me: "We cannot remain on earth if we are no longer here in control."
"A demon once remarked to me after I had forced him to leave a nun over whom I had performed the ritual of exorcism: "Let me have what I possess on earth and I will leave her at once. But if I have to depart from her, then we must give up everything and return back to hell. For this reason God permits us to defend ourselves to the very last."
"The demons maintain that the sins of men give them power over men. They say that God permits demons to keep what they have won through the misdirected will of man, and only the free will of man can take from them what the free will of man has given them. Through the wilful suffering of victim souls the demons are deprived of that which men have given them through sin.
"During the exorcism of a victim soul I asked the demon when the sufferings of this victim would cease. He answered that it depended entirely upon the victim soul herself. She merely had to desire the discontinuance of her suffering and leave the demons in peace instead of battling with them to rob them of these captive souls. "She should remain with her beloved (Jesus)," said the demon of the victim, "and we will let her in peace ... Why does she pry into our family? Because she does not want it any other way. It satisfies her."
"This confession showed that the victim soul loved to suffer and that through suffering she entered into the realm of the demon and wrested souls from him that he had gained to his side. According to the constant confessions of the demons it is the Blessed Virgin who leads the suffering souls against the demons and forces them to battle with the victim souls until they are overpowered. The Blessed Virgin ties a host of these to this or that victim. When one horde is made helpless, another one follows to meet the same fate ..
"That a weak human creature, a victim soul, should ever overpower them humiliates the pride of the demons. "She (Blessed Virgin) should come herself to crush us," shrieked the conquered and humiliated demon, "but to think that two weaklings like yourself and she (the exorcist and the victim) must humble me in such a manner ... !"
"When the power of the demon is exhausted through rage, he becomes a coward. Courage is a virtue and the demon has no such virtue. Hence he is not courageous but wild, just so long as his energy lasts. As soon as his strength leaves him, he becomes a weakling. "Mercy, mercy! Oh, how I suffer I Enough! Enough! I can't stand it any more! I am lost! I am miserable! Have pity on me and do not let me suffer so terribly!" Such are the cries of the demon, even the strongest, as soon as he is overpowered.
