From the fourth century on the sign of the cross became one of the most potent means of effecting cures. It was and still is regarded as a charm usually sufficient in itself to cure, but many times its use is accompanied by prayer, the name of Jesus, holy water or oil, a kiss or touch and the like. Beginning about the sixth century the crucifix was used in the same way.
A few illustrations of methods used by the saints must suffice to show how closely these were copied from Bible accounts. In raising the dead the saints either stretched themselves upon the body as did Elijah or taking the person by the hand called him by name or commanded him to arise. The use of saliva or holy water was the common means of restoring sight; pilgrimages to the tombs of dead saints were the resort of cripples; exorcism was the usual procedure in casting out demons; touch in the cure of king's evil.
Some originality may be granted to the saint who exorcised a demon by drawing its picture and then burning it. The mere sight of a saint caused one demon to flee from the ear of the possessed in the shape of a mouse. Profession of faith and baptism were frequent means of cure for disease. Exorcism was long a part of the formula of baptism in the Catholic Church as well as the use of saliva (16, p. 295). St. Francis (1416-1507) we are told used saliva and the sign of the cross in a remarkable miracle performed on a child born without eyes or mouth. The record says: (16, p. 232) "St. Francis marked with his spittle the place where these features ought to have been, and then making the sign of the cross the infant became possessed of two brilliant eyes and a model mouth."
Several of the saints are said to have stayed the plague, and Pope Leo IX (16, p. 264) gave wine in which relics had been steeped to those who were afflicted and it is said that "all who drank in faith recovered" although we are not told how many were thus cured. As has already been stated the plague was regarded by many besides the Christians as a stroke of divine displeasure, but Procopius's description of it shows so well the immediate agency believed by people of his time to be its cause that I must quote. He says : (16, p. 438) "the manner of attack was this : visions of spirits in all sorts of human shapes were seen, and these spirits struck with a blow the victim who was forthwith taken ill.
At first men tried to turn away the demons by uttering holy names and hallowing themselves as best they could; but they gained nothing by so doing . . . not a few saw the phantom demon in their dreams at night; it stood over them and struck them, and they were numbered among the dead."
The belief in demon possession, as we shall see, has not died out, but during the middle ages and early renaissance centuries it played a much more important role than now. Some things in regard to the treatment of such cases have already been noted, but the following quotation from a book entitled "A Club for Exorcising Demoniacs," written by Mengus in 1600, throws so much light on the methods of that time that we cannot afford to omit it. "If after mass has been signed with five crosses, sprinkled with holy water, and there have been invocated over her (the possessed) the name of the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, the devill still shews himselfe refractarie, and will neither depart, nor tell his name, -- then you must come upon him with as many nicknames as you can possibly devise, and thou shalt say: 'Heare thou sencelesse, false, and lewd spirit, maister of devills, miserable creature, defrauder of souls, captaine of heretiques, father of lyes, bestial ninnie, drunkard, infernal thiefe, wicked serpent, ravening wolfe, leane hungerbitten son, seely beast, truculent beast, cruell beast, bloody beast, beast of all beasts most bestiall, Acherontall spirit, smoakie spirit, Tartareous spirit, and so on, I command thee to tell me thy name, and to depart hence into thyne own place' " ( 16, p. 103). As will readily be seen, these directions combine several of the most potent means known to the Christian exorcist of the dark ages : the mass, sign of the cross, holy water, the use of holy names, knowledge of the demon's name, and abusive language. All these means, singly and together, were many times used and it seems quite probable that their effectiveness was thought to follow about the order in which they are here mentioned.
Miracles of Healing
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By Charles W. Waddle (1909)
Primitive Christian Worship
Hereditary genius
