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Alexis Henry M. Cardinal Lépicier, O.S.M.
1. Having thus considered the power which angels possess over material elements, we must now inquire what the extent of that power is over man. And, in order to be able to solve this further question, we have to consider man under a twofold aspect: first, as a being having a body composed of material elements common more or less to all material beings; and secondly, as a creature endowed with sensitive and intellectual powers, for which reason he is called a rational being. It is our purpose to investigate, first of all, what power an angel can have over the members of the human body; secondly what influence he can exercise over our sensitive and intellectual faculties.
2. If we consider man under the first aspect, we must say that an angel has, naturally speaking, the same power over him which he has over, say a stone, a plant, or an animal. He can lift, therefore, or transfer him to whatever place or distance he may desire. He can also to some extent, alter his outward form and so modify his internal physical constitution as to produce in him health or sickness or even death. He can, moreover, make use of a man's limbs for purposes of his own, he can move his tongue to speak, his feet to walk, his hand to write. And all these things can be effected by the operation of both good and bad angels, but always, of course, subject to the condition that God, the Lord and Master of angels no less than of men, ordains or at least permits such a thing.
3. We have named both good and bad angels. Before proceeding further, however, we must note a marked difference between their actions. The good angels never act in any such way on man's body, or indeed on any other substance in creation, except by the command of Almighty God, Who is their beloved Lord; while, in the case of evil spirits, on the other hand, simple permission on God's part is a sufficient motive for such action. Let us try to understand as clearly as possible the difference between the first and second case.
Since God is the essential Good, His every wish and intention must always be good. But from this it does not follow that He cannot permit evil. God cannot command evil, otherwise He would co-operate directly with it; but He can permit it to take place, leaving the malice of the action to the perpetrator himself.
The permissive will of God, therefore, although good in itself and ordained to good, implies in the agent that executes it a sense of abuse and of moral culpability which God could prevent, but which in reality he does not always prevent. Therefore, a good angel while executing God's orders is like an instrument in His hand; an evil angel, on the contrary, while acting on his own initiative and for his own perverted end, is like a principal agent and consequently claims a personal responsibility in the work he is effecting.
From this it follows that, while those visible productions with which we are here concerned are miracles if performed by good angels, they are but mere imposture and evil doing if done by evil spirits of their own accord. We shall, however, return to treat of this subject more fully later on.
4. It happens at times that evil angels are allowed to exercise their power to a fuller extent over a man's body, so as to sway and dominate it according to their will. It is then that that phenomenon takes place which is termed possession or obsession, the individuals who fall under such influence being called energumens. We have many instances of this cruel tyranny exercised over man by evil spirits, not only in the Sacred Scriptures, but also in the records of history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modem; and Holy Church has a special rite for freeing man from this diabolical intervention.
5. We have thus far spoken of the extent of an angel's power over man when considered merely as a material being, that is to say, his power over the body. We must now investigate what power he may exercise over our sensitive and intellectual faculties, i.e. what power he possesses over the soul. This second point is far more difficult than the first and requires in consequence serious and attentive examination.
As man is a rational being, endowed with a sensitive nature that aids him in the use of his spiritual faculties—of the intellectual, namely, and of the will—in order to know just how far angelic power may extend with regard to the immaterial part of man, we must investigate not only whether he can in reality influence our spiritual faculties, but also to what extent he may exercise this influence. And, as the sensitive faculty is distinct from the intellectual, so we must inquire, first, whether our senses can be moved or modified by angels; and secondly whether these pure spirits can act upon our intellect and will according to their own desires.
6. Let us in the first place consider the senses. We have to distinguish between the internal senses such as the imagination and the sensitive memory, and the external senses such as sight, touch, hearing and the like. Now the question is this: can an angel act upon us directly with regard to both these sources of sensitive knowledge? To read more...