Thereupon the woman's
husband brought suit against Father Aurelian for slander. The
latter urged in his defence that the boy was possessed of an evil
spirit, if anybody ever was; that what had been said and done was
in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Church, as
laid down in decrees, formulas, and rituals sanctioned by popes,
councils, and innumerable bishops during ages. All in vain. The
court condemned the good father to fine and imprisonment. As in a
famous English case, "hell was dismissed, with costs." Even more
significant is the fact that recently a boy declared by two
Bavarian priests to be possessed by the devil, was taken, after
all Church exorcisms had failed, to Father Kneipp's hydropathic
establishment and was there speedily cured.[[128]]
But, although the old superstition had been discarded, the
inevitable conservatism in theology and medicine caused many old
abuses to be continued for years after the theological basis for
them had really disappeared. There still lingered also a feeling
of dislike toward madmen, engendered by the early feeling of
hostility toward them, which sufficed to prevent for many years
any practical reforms.
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