CHAPTER XXXVI

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Leading Churchmen subjected to the Onslaught of Demons--Warfare with the Devil in corporeal shape--Triumph of Churchmen--St. Maurus rebuking a Troop of Evil Spirits--St. Romualdus' Five Years' Conflict with Satan--The Faculty of St. Frances--St. Gregory's Detection of the Devil entering a Man--A Greedy Monk denied Christian Burial--Monk in Purgatory--Institution of the Thirty Masses for the Dead--An Excommunicated Gentleman of Rome hiring Pagan Witches and Sorcerers--What befell them--St. Benedict and the Blackbird's Song--A Monk restored to Life--St. Benedict's Sister ascending to Heaven like a White Dove--St. Francis' Dominion over Living Creatures and the Elements--St. Catherine's Power over Evil Spirits--St. Stanislaus' Miracles--A Dead Man giving Evidence in a Court of Justice--The Dead refusing a Renewal of Life--St. Philip Nerius and Evil Spirits--Spirits ministering to St. Erasmus--St. Norbert closing the Mouths of Evil Spirits--Story relating to Henry I.--St. Margaret's Triumph--St. Ignatius' Command over Devils--St. Stephen curing Persons possessed of Devils--Satan's Hatred of St. Dominick--St. Donatus endowing a Corpse with Speech--St. Cyriacus, St. Largus, and St. Smaragdus, the Martyrs--St. Clare--St. Bernard's Power--St. Cæsarius' Wonder-working Crook--St. Giles and the Hind--St. Euphemia's Guardian Angels--St. Francis' Spirit in Chariot of Fire--Devils blowing the Fire of Discord--St. Bridget's Intercourse with Angels--St. Denis' Spirit--St. Teresa and the Angels--St. Hilarian a Match for Satan and his Sorcerers--Her Miracles--St. Martin's Wonderful Power--St. Catherine's Body carried by Angels to Mount Sinai--St. Francis Xaverius' Belief in Virtue of Bells--St. Nicholas' Piety and Powers--St. Ambrose's Power over Necromancers and Spirits--St. Lucy raising her Mother from the Dead--St. Anastasia sustained by Bread from Heaven--St. Thomas enduring Martyrdom in Life and after Death--Penance of Henry II.--Barbarous Conduct of Henry VIII.--A Hungarian Legend.

If reliance can be placed on tradition and the writings of biographers, good men (particularly those of them who took a leading

## part in the ancient Church) were subjected to dreadful onslaughts by

Satan. Not only had they to contend with invisible spirits of darkness, but they were compelled to carry on a continual warfare with the devil, in corporeal shape, seeking to seduce them from their faith. None were more frequently or fiercely assailed than the canonised saints of the old Catholic Church. To their praise, however, be it remembered, that almost invariably the Churchmen, sooner or later, triumphed. Having good consciences, and being protected by wonder-working relics, the saints defied the enemy of mankind. Those seeking lengthened information on the subject should consult _The Lives of the Saints, and the Calendars_, published by learned men, who believed what they wrote, and spoke that which they thought to be true. The subjoined sketches, read in connection with