... I exorcise ye,... that ye relinquish
the work ye have begun, dissolve the hail, scatter the clouds,
disperse the vapours, and restrain the winds.'" The rubric goes
on to order that then there shall be a great fire kindled in an
open place, and that over it the sign of the cross shall be
made, and the one hundred and fourteenth Psalm chanted, while
malodorous substances, among them sulphur and asafoetida, shall
be cast into the flames. The purpose seems to have been
literally to "smoke out" Satan.[341]
Manuals of exorcisms became important--some bulky quartos,
others handbooks. Noteworthy among the latter is one by the
Italian priest Locatelli, entitled _Exorcisms most Powerful and
Efficacious for the Dispelling of Aerial Tempests, whether
raised by Demons at their own Instance or at the Beck of some
Servant of the Devil_.[341b]
The Jesuit Gretser, in his famous book on _Benedictions and
Maledictions_, devotes a chapter to this subject, dismissing
summarily the scepticism that questions the power of devils over
the elements, and adducing the story of Job as conclusive.
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