Regensburg · Anno Domini MDCCLXXV
Pater GaßnerExorcist & Healer by the Grace of God
Headaches, fits, cramps, fainting and every melancholy the physicians cannot name — if the Evil One is behind it, in the name of Jesus he shall depart. Consultations and visitations throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
Natural illnesses are sent back, with my blessing, to the physician.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
A country priest from the Arlberg
I was born on the 22nd of August 1727 at Braz in the Klostertal, studied with the Jesuit fathers at Innsbruck and Prague, and was ordained priest in 1750. Since 1758 I have been parish priest of Klösterle, below the Arlberg pass, where the snow lies half the year.
For years I suffered violent headaches and dizziness — at Holy Mass, in the pulpit, in the confessional — and no physician could help me. Only when I turned the Church’s own prayers of exorcism against my affliction did it leave me. From that day I have used the same means for my parishioners, and then for all who came.
Today, by the favour of His Highness Count Anton Ignaz Fugger, Prince-Bishop of Regensburg and Prince-Provost of Ellwangen, I serve as his court chaplain and spiritual counsellor, and receive the afflicted at his court.
Joh. Jos. Gaßner
Know Your Affliction
Not every sickness is of the Devil. But many are.
Before anything is done, the cause must be discerned. I distinguish the natural illness, which belongs to the physician, from three kinds of preternatural affliction, which belong to the Church.
i
Morbus naturalis
Natural illness
Fevers, wounds, broken limbs and the ordinary decay of the body. If the trial shows nothing preternatural, you go home with my blessing and the name of a good physician.
For the physician
ii
Circumsessio
Besetting
The Evil One troubles the body from without and imitates a natural illness: headaches, cramps, fainting, fits, a heaviness of heart. By far the most common case that comes before me.
Healing by command
iii
Obsessio
Bewitchment
An affliction laid upon a person, a household or its cattle by sorcery and malice. Milk that will not turn to butter, a child that will not sleep, a beast that wastes away.
Deliverance & benediction
iv
Possessio
Possession
The rarest and gravest case, when the enemy has taken up lodging in a person. It is treated only with the solemn rite of the Church and the licence of the bishop.
Solemn exorcism
Pater Gaßner at work. Engraving published in 1775, when all Swabia spoke of him.
How a Consultation Proceeds
The rite, in five parts
There is no secret to it and nothing hidden. Anyone may watch, and princes, physicians and Protestant gentlemen often do.
- IInterrogatioThe question
I ask the sufferer whether he believes that the holy name of Jesus has power over every evil, and whether he consents to the trial. Without faith and consent I do nothing.
- IIExorcismus probativusThe trial
In Latin I command: Si quid praeternaturale adsit, praecipio in nomine Jesu, ut statim appareat — if there be anything preternatural here, I command in the name of Jesus that it show itself at once.
- IIIDiscretioThe discernment
If the pains, the fits or the trembling come at the command, the affliction is preternatural. If nothing comes, it is natural, and I send the sufferer to the physician.
- IVPraeceptumThe command
I command the symptoms to move from limb to limb, to grow and to cease, and at last to depart altogether, in the name of Jesus. All is done before witnesses and written down by a notary.
- VInstructioThe instruction
Lastly I teach the healed to command the enemy themselves, by faith and the holy name, should he ever return. Every sufferer leaves able to fight his own battle.
Services & Stipends
What I offer, and what it costs
A labourer pays as he can; a prince as he should. No one has ever been turned away for want of a Kreuzer, and no one ever will be.
Exorcismus probativus
The Trial
A quarter of an hour that tells you whether your affliction is natural or preternatural — and whether you need me at all.
- For every sufferer, first
- Before witnesses
- Result told plainly
Circumsessio
Healing of the Besetting
For headaches, cramps, fainting, fits, palsy and melancholy that the trial has shown to be of the Evil One.
- Command and cure
- Repeated if he returns
- Instruction to resist
Obsessio
Deliverance from Bewitchment
For persons, households and cattle afflicted by sorcery: the curse broken, the house and stable blessed.
- Deliverance of persons
- Benediction of house & stable
- Blessed salt for the cattle
Possessio
Solemn Exorcism
The full rite of the Rituale Romanum for the rare and grave case of true possession, with the licence of the bishop.
- Episcopal licence obtained
- Several days if needed
- Notarial protocol
Benedictio
Benediction of House & Cattle
For new houses, troubled houses, stables, mills and fields. Against storms, sickness of beasts and the malice of neighbours.
- House, stable & well
- Holy water & blessed salt
- Prayers for the household
Visitatio
Visitation to Noble Houses
For lords and ladies who cannot travel to Regensburg. I come to your house or castle with a notary, and stay as long as needed.
- Private consultations
- Your household too
- Discretion assured
Sundries
Blessed articles & small services
| Phial of oil blessed against the Evil Oneto anoint the place of pain | 6 kr. |
| Water blessed by the Patera quart flask | 3 kr. |
| Nützlicher Unterricht wider den Teufel zu streitenmy book of instruction, latest edition | 15 kr. |
| Notarial attestation of your healingsigned and sealed | 20 kr. |
| Letter of counsel by postfor those too far away to come | 30 kr. |
60 Kreuzer make one Gulden. The poor are received without payment, as at Ellwangen.
Journeys
Where the afflicted have found me
I go where I am called and where my superiors permit. Prince-abbots, bishops and counts have opened their houses; whole villages have followed me along the road.
Klösterle am Arlberg
Sixteen winters as parish priest below the pass. Here the first sufferers came — from the Klostertal, then from Tyrol, Swabia and Switzerland.
Ellwangen
Called by the Prince-Provost, I received the afflicted daily. In December 1774 alone, some 2,700 came; the inns could not hold them all.
Regensburg
Court chaplain and spiritual counsellor to the Prince-Bishop. Consultations each day after Holy Mass at the court and in the churches of the city.
- 1727Braz
- Innsbruck
- Prague
- 1758Klösterle
- 1774Meersburg
- Kempten
- Ellwangen
- 1775Regensburg
Testimonies
Attested before notary and witnesses
Every consultation is written down, signed by those present and kept. A few voices from the protocols:
For three years I fell down in fits at Mass. At the Pater’s command they came upon me before all the people — and at his command they left, and have not returned.
Sister M. A.a nun of Swabia, Ellwangen, January 1775Attested
My head ached day and night so that I could not work at the loom. He told me it was no natural pain and bade it go in the name of Jesus. I wove that same evening.
Barbara K.weaver’s widow of DinkelsbühlAttested
I came a sceptic and a Protestant, with a physician at my side. I leave without an explanation, but with my wife restored to me.
Baron F. von H.Swabian estates, 1775Attested
Our cows gave blood for milk since Candlemas. The Pater blessed the stable and gave us salt for the beasts. All is well now, God be thanked.
Johann M.carter of AalenAttested
Our little Anna could not sleep for terrors. He laid his hand upon her brow and taught her to say the holy name. She sleeps like a lamb.
Maria S.farmer’s wife, KlostertalAttested
I am a physician and believe in the circulation of the blood. I must nonetheless set down that I saw what I saw.
Dr. J. W.physician of AugsburgAttested
On my critics
Learned gentlemen disagree. The sick do not.
Has told the Munich Academy that my cures are nothing but animal magnetism, and that he can do the same with his magnets. He may keep his magnets; I shall keep my crucifix.
Writes that the Devil is no longer what he was. I am glad to hear it, and only wish the Devil had been informed.
A Protestant gentleman who has never seen me at work, yet writes of nothing else. He is welcome at Regensburg any morning after Mass.
Pastor Lavater of Zürich, who is no friend of superstition, has written that what happens here is worthy of the greatest attention.
Request a Visitation
Write to me, or simply come.
I receive the afflicted every day after Holy Mass, from the eighth hour, at the court of His Highness the Prince-Bishop in Regensburg. Those who cannot travel may write, and I will answer, send counsel or come myself.
Pater Joh. Jos. Gaßner
Court Chaplain & Spiritual Counsellor
at the Court of the Prince-Bishop, Regensburg
Letters by the imperial post
Send with your letter
- Your name, estate and place of dwelling
- The affliction: what, where and since when
- Which physicians you have consulted, and what they said
- A testimony from your parish priest
- Whether you will come to Regensburg, or ask me to come to you
