At first it may truly seem that it is not in accordance with the Catholic Faith to maintain that children can be begotten by devils, that is to say, by Incubi and Succubi: for God Himself, before sin came into the world, instituted human procreation, since He created woman from the rib of man to be a helpmeet unto man: And to them He said: Increase, and multiply, Genesis ii, 24. Likewise after sin had come into the world, it was said to Noe: Increase, and multiply, Genesis ix, 1. In the time of the new law also, Christ confirmed this union: Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female? S. Matthew xix, 4. Therefore, men cannot be begotten in any other way than this.
But it may be argued that devils take
their part in this generation not as the essential cause, but as a
secondary and artificial cause, since they busy themselves by
interfering with the process of normal copulation and conception, by
obtaining human semen, and themselves transferring it.
Objection. The devil can perform this act in
every state of life, that is to say, in the matrimonial state, or not
in the matrimonial state. Now he cannot perform it in the first
state, because then the act of the devil would be more powerful than
the act of God, Who instituted and confirmed this holy estate, since
it is a state of continence and wedlock. Nor can he effect this in
any other estate: since we never read in Scripture that children can
be begotten in one state and not in another.
Moreover, to beget a child is the act
of a living body, but devils cannot bestow life upon the bodies which
they assume; because life formally only proceeds from the soul, and
the act of generation is the act of the physical organs which have
bodily life. Therefore bodies which are assumed in this way cannot
either beget or bear.
Yet it may be
said that these devils assume a body not in order that they may
bestow life upon it, but that they may by the means of this body
preserve human semen, and pass the semen on to another body.
Objection. As in the action of angels,
whether they be good or bad, there is nothing superfluous and
useless, nor is there anything superfluous and useless in nature. But
the devil by his natural power, which is far greater than any human
bodily power, can perform any spiritual action, and perform it again
and again although man may not be able to discern it. Therefore he is
able to perform this action, although man may not be able to discern
when the devil is concerned therewith. For all bodily and material
things are on a lower scale than pure and spiritual intelligences.
But the angels, whether they be good or whether they be evil, are
pure and spiritual intelligences. Therefore they can control what is
below them. Therefore the devil can collect and make use as he will
of human semen which belongs to the body.
However, to collect human semen from one person and to transfer it to
another implies certain local actions. But devils cannot locally move
bodies from place to place. And this is the argument they put
forward. The soul is purely a spiritual essence, so is the devil: but
the soul cannot move a body from place to place except it be that
body in which it lives and to which it gives life: whence if any
member of the body perishes it becomes dead and immovable. Therefore
devils cannot move a body from place to place, except it be a body to
which they give life. It has been shown, however, and is acknowledged
that devils do not bestow life on anybody, therefore they cannot move
human semen locally, that is, from place to place, from body to
body.
Moreover, every action is
performed by contact, and especially the act of generation. But it
does not seem possible that there can be any contact between the
demon and human bodies, since he has not actual point of contact with
them. Therefore he cannot inject semen into a human body, and
therefore since this needs a certain bodily action, it would seem
that the devil cannot accomplish it.
Besides, devils have no power to move those bodies which in a natural
order are more closely related to them, for example the heavenly
bodies, therefore they have no power to move those bodies which are
more distant and distinct from them. The major is proved, since the
power that moves and the movement are one and the same thing
according to Aristotle in his Physics. It follows, therefore,
that devils who move heavenly bodies must be in heaven, which is
wholly untrue, both in our opinion, and in the opinion of the
Platonists.
Moreover, S. Augustine, On
the Trinity, III, says that devils do indeed collect human semen,
by means of which they are able to produce bodily effects; but this
cannot be done without some local movement, therefore demons can
transfer semen which they have collected and inject it into the
bodies of others. But, as Walafrid Strabo says in his commentary upon
Exodus vii, II: And Pharao called the wise men and the
magicians: Devils go about the earth collecting every sort of seed,
and can by working upon them broadcast various species. See also the
gloss on those words (Pharao called). And again in Genesis vi
the gloss makes two comments on the words: And the sons of God saw
the daughters of men. First, that by the sons of God are meant the
sons of Seth, and by the daughters of men, the daughters of Cain.
Second, that Giants were created not by some incredibly act of men,
but by certain devils, which are shameless towards women. For the
Bible says, Giants were upon the earth. Moreover, even after the
Flood the bodies not only of men, but also of women, were
pre-eminently and incredibly beautiful.
Answer. For the sake of brevity
much concerning the power of the devil and his works in the matter of
the effects of witchcraft is left out; for the pious reader either
accepts it as proved, or he may, if he wish to inquire, find every
point clearly elucidated in the second Book of Sentences, 5.
For hw will see that the devils perform all their works consciously
and voluntarily; for the nature that was given them has not been
changed. See Dionysius in his fourth chapter on the subject; their
nature remained intact and very splendid, although they cannot use it
for any good purpose.
And as to their
intelligence, he will find that they excel in three points of
understanding, in their age-long experience, and in the revelation of
the higher spirits. He will find also how, through the influence of
the stars, they learn the dominating characteristics of men, and so
discover that some are more disposed to work witchcraft that others,
and that they molest these chiefly for the purpose of such works.
And as to their will, the reader will find that
it cleaves unchangeably to evil, and that they continuously sin in
pride, envy, and gross covetousness; and that God, for his own glory,
permits them to work against His will. He will also understand how
with these two qualities of intellect and will devils do marvels, so
that there is no power in earth which can be compared to them: Job
xli. There is no power on the earth which can be compared with
him, who was created that he should fear no one. But here the gloss
says, Although he fears no one he is yet subject to the merits of the
Saints.
He will find also how the
devil knows the thoughts of our hearts; how he can substantially and
disastrously metamorphose bodies with the help of an agent; how he
can move bodies locally, and alter the outward and inner feelings to
every conceivable extent; and how he can change the intellect and
will of a man, however indirectly.
For
although all this is pertinent to our present inquiry, we wish only
to draw some conclusion therefrom as to that nature of devils, and so
proceed to the discussion of our question.
Now the Theologians have ascribed to them certain qualities, as that
they are unclean spirits, yet not by very nature unclean. For
according to Dionysius there is in them a natural madness, a rabid
concupiscence, a wanton fancy, as is seen from their spiritual sins
of pride, envy, and wrath. For this reason they are the enemies of
the human race: rational in mind, but reasoning without words; subtle
in wickedness, eager to hurt; ever fertile in fresh deceptions, they
change the perceptions and befoul the emotions of men, they confound
the watchful, and in dreams disturb the sleeping; they bring
diseases, stir up tempests, disguise themselves as angels of light,
bear Hell always about them; from witches they usurp to themselves
the worship of God, and by this means magic spells are made; they
seek to get a mastery over the good, and molest them to the most of
their power; to the elect they are given as a temptation, and always
they lie in wait for the destruction of men.
And although they have a thousand ways of doing harm, and have
tried ever since their downfall to bring about schisms in the Church,
to disable charity, to infect with the gall of envy the sweetness of
the acts of the Saints, and in every way to subvert and perturb the
human race; yet their power remains confined to the privy parts and
the navel. See Job xli. For through the wantonness of the
flesh they have much power over men; and in men the source of
wantonness lies in the privy parts, since it is from them that the
semen falls, just as in women it falls from the navel.
These things, then, being granted for a proper
understanding of the question of Incubi and Succubi, it must be said
that it is just as Catholic a view to hold that men may at times be
begotten by means of Incubi and Succubi, as it is contrary to the
words of the Saints and even to the tradition of Holy Scripture to
maintain the opposite opinion. And this is proved as follows. S.
Augustine in one place raises this question, not indeed as regards
witches, but with reference to the very works of devils, and to the
fables of the poets, and leave the matter in some doubt; though later
on he is definite in the matter of Holy Scripture. For in his De
Ciuitate Dei, Book 3, chapter 2, he says: We leave open the
question whether it was possible for Venus to give birth to Aeneas
through coition with Anchises. For a similar question arises in the
Scriptures, where it is asked whether evil angels lay with the
daughters of men, and thereby the earth was then filled with giants,
that is to say, preternaturally big and strong men. But he settles
the question in Book 5, chapter 23, in these words: It is a very
general belief, the truth of which is vouched for by many from their
own experience, or at least from heresay as having been experienced
by men of undoubted trustworthiness, that Satyrs and Fauns (which are
commonly called Incubi) have appeared to wanton women and have sought
and obtained coition with them. And that certain devils (which the
Gauls call Dusii) assiduously attempt and achieve this filthiness is
vouched for by so many credible witness that it would seem impudent
to deny it.
Later in the same book he
settles the second contention, namely, that the passage in Genesis
about the sons of God (that is Seth) and the daughters of men (that
is Cain) does not speak only of Incubi, since the existence of such
is not credible. In this connexion there is the gloss which we have
touched upon before. He says that it is not outside belief that the
Giants of whom the Scripture speaks were begotten not by men, but by
Angels or certain devils who lust after women. To the same effect is
the gloss in Esaias xiii, where the prophet foretells the
desolation of Babylon, and the monsters that should inhabit it. He
says: Owls shall dwell there, and Satyrs shall dance there. By Satyrs
here devils are meant; as the gloss says, Satyrs are wild shaggy
creatures of the woods, which are a certain kind of devils called
Incubi. And again in Esaias xxxiv, where he prophesies the
desolation of the land of the Idumeans because they persecuted the
Jews, he says: And it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court
for owls. The wild beasts also of the desert shall meet . . . The
interlinear gloss interprets this as monsters and devils. And in the
same place Blessed Gregory explains these to be woodland gods under
another name, not those which the Greeks called Pans, and the Latins
Incubi.
Similarly Blessed Isidore, in
the last chapter of his 8th book, says: Satyrs are they who are
called Pans in Greek and Incubi in Latin. And they are called Incubi
from their practice of overlaying, that is debauching. For they often
lust lecherously after women, and copulate with them; and the Gauls
name them Dusii, because they are diligent in this beastliness. But
the devil which the common people call an Incubus, the Romans called
a fig Faun; to which Horace said, “O Faunus, love of fleeing
nymphs, go gently over my lands and smiling fields.”