Why are Saint Patrick and St. George Exorcists?

I mean, the question posted in the title kind of answers itself:

Because exorcisms are fascinating.

In all seriousness, I’ve been studying and at times practicing some form of shamanism that started with Thomas Cowan’s expanded concepts of Core Shamanism connected to his Celtic Reconstruction before it branched out into more archaic traditions (drum and dance, psychedelic journeying, meditation and mantra, along with a little bit of Hoodoo and Vodun), but going back to the shaman, we can see that healers, mystics, and medicine-folk throughout human history have usually been skilled in particular areas of shamanic practice: healing both the physical and metaphysical self or their patients, sojourns of the spirit realms as it relates to the needs of their communities, maintaining cultural practice (specially seasonal, death, and after-death customs), and exorcism.

Exorcism is separate from the category from healing because it is a uniquely distinct practice given two definitions (by Merriam-Webster) that I find are generally accurate:

1. a. To expel (an evil spirit) by adjuration.
2. b. To get rid of (something troublesome, menacing, or oppressive)

And,

1. To free an evil spirit.

Following the example of Christ, who has been studied and compared to shamans by way of his often-times parallel practices (which is a different blog post), the Bible features multiple instances of the man himself practicing exorcism in the Levant during his life and ministry. These practices were later transferred to the care of his Apostles and their followers, and continued to evolve, transform, and be administered by the clergy of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, as well as other versions that can found in Greek and Russian Orthodox, as well as other mainline/Protestant traditions that include a diversity of ritual and scriptures, as well as myriad definitions of what it means to be “possessed” by a “demon.” Judaism also features exorcism rites, as does Islam. Every culture has some form of exorcism someone, if they hold value in the notion of the spirit.

Yet for the sake of the story starring a reincarnated the Catholic saint, I constrained my study to the modern rites used by the Catholic Church as deemed appropriate by its licensing organization (which is an interesting idea in itself), the International Association of Exorcists, or the AIE. This is essentially the governing body ordained by the Vatican to train, certify, and permit priests to perform exorcisms. There’s an entire college attached to it and they only take candidates recommended by bishops, though there are a few representatives taken from outside denominations.

The most surprising aspect of actual Catholic exorcisms in the modern day is how medicalized it is—and that’s not a bad thing. After some mishaps post-Vatican II, the Church decided that exorcisms could only be performed after the person claiming possession had first been evaluated by professional medical and mental health specialists. No stoned is unturned before a determination is made whether or not a person should undergo the rites of exorcism as it is laid out in a Church document called “Of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications.”

Because of such strenuous effort taken to make sure they are dealing with someone who are possessed versus someone who needs to be a patient in a hospital setting, exorcisms today are very rare and few. However, when an exorcism is deemed appropriate by a bishop and a medical team has ruled out any natural cause, a priest and his second will enter a weeks, possibly months-to-years-long process to attempting to liberate the afflicted’s soul from the clutches of whatever demon has taken hold.

There were a few books that I used for my research into Catholic exorcism along with primary documents like “Of Exorcisms…”. Mark Baglio’s book The Rite was a real starting point for me, as was the Anthony Hopkins film based off this great non-fiction book that surveys the process, training, and confirmation of an exorcist and his later cases. That book provided a bibliography I relied a lot on. I also think the books by Father Gabriele Amorth (who is clearly not Russel Crow but the subject of a pretty good and fun film called The Pope’s Exorcist), while propagandistic from a theological perspective, were quite illuminating to the reality of what exorcists in the modern world experience in their practice.

But one aspect of Catholic doctrine surrounding the reason for exorcisms—the explanation to why God would create this mechanism to liberate his children from the exploitations of his fallen angels—became the impetus behind the story of a reincarnated Saint Patrick, the last Nephilim standing beside him, and a story about who has the right to decide another person’s fate and who doesn’t.

Warning, this is where I become somewhat uncomplimentary to a certain strain of theology.

Dating back to the 15^th century, one belief among practitioners and proponents of the Catholic rite of exorcism is central to the practice today but is complicated, so we have to break it into some easier-to-digest pieces first. Let’s dare:

1. God is the Creator and permitter of all things. Everything happens according to God’s will. Nothing can exist or continue without his will.
2. God removes his grace from those who turn from him and in doing so allows demons and pernicious spirits to take attack a person and possess their body. I should mention that among the Catholics and their theology there is some debate on what possession means, especially whether or not the actual soul is involved. Either way, there is a spirit-based/demonic takeover of the flesh/the body.
3. By allowing apostles chosen through his Son to perform exorcisms in his name (there’s a fancy term religious scholars use called “apostolic succession”, which is also at the center of huge great debate), God allows the soul to be liberated under the rite of exorcism as a means of showing the fullness of his grace and mercy.

Okay, I’m going to lay this straight out, and while it may sound a little bit like Bart Ehrman, this is me:

You’re going to tell me that the Creator of all things, the sire of all children and their children and their children, who are born with sin but somehow forgiven because of the Son sacrificing himself on the cross cleansed us of this inequity one must argue he made (and he says so in multiple places), will still willingly pull his favor/grace from his children, allowing them to be exposed to harm/possession, and will only rescue them from the spirits he not only knows are evil (he created them), but permits them to attack until the victim acknowledges the master of the universe that he is?

All to establish a notion of grace?

At worst, it’s a silly tyrant terrorizing his own soul. At best, it’s the tactics of an abusive parent.

And what is God if not parent to all things?

Pardon me, but no matter how cool exorcisms are, or the culture of religion (which I obviously love because I’ve spent most of my life in study of them), that doesn’t sound like it serves anyone but a miserable god, and a petty one at that, seeking to be affirmed.

God is greater than such base behavior.

It honestly clashes with the story of Christ found in the Gospels. The rules set up by religions often leave them trapped by contradictions that harm more than they heal. The notion that Christ/God died for all of our mortal sins, but cannot forgive the ones committed by his angels (technically his constituent parts), who are damned eternally to be the denizens of a realm the Bible is actually pretty murky on, doesn’t segue either.

Nor does the idea that he would employ *those prisoners* to assault his own kids.

That’s supposed to be Christ?

There’s a story there, though, and it helped birth The Blessed & Possessed, which is about the difficulty of faith, especially when it is confirmed like it is for many, many exorcists.

But for the sake of storytelling, sometimes one has to forsake accuracy in certain places for pacing, characterization, and the story I wanted to tell. I kept some of the more important aspects/rules: that to exorcise a demon is to discover its name, and that a Marian vision (i.e. you see Christ’s Mom aka The Virgin) occurs before the renewal of the possessed and the banishment of darkness. Which, you know, is quite sweet. It shows that at least God really loves his mom, and I’ll admit personally, her character in the Bible is among my favorites.

But I had to condense down for speed. Where Catholic priests in the real world expect to take weeks and months, possibly years, in the fight against Satan and his infernal forces in Perdition, St. Patrick and St. George (The Dragonslayer of England) often have minutes.

Yet what I tried to do, and perhaps I succeeded in some places and failed in others, was to try to keep the integrity of what the ritual is for the saints, the sinners, and everyone involved. These people aren’t here for, pardon the pun, the hell of it—someone is afflicted. There are no answers medical science or modern psychology/psychiatry can use in the moment to deduce the cause. The suffering have turned to God, and God’s soldiers are trying their absolute best with the tools they have to free the person grasped by evil.

There’s a sacredness there that I, a student of shamanism, recognize instantly for the act of goodness and community and healing. We can have and will have multiple debates about its meanings and mechanism, but at the end of the day someone is in trouble and saints like Patrick and George, like the true Christ, are there to honestly help. And I honestly have no doubt that there are priests today, within the Holy Roman Catholic Church, in the Orthodox Church, and in the mainline denominations that truly believe they are fighting evil and providing grace, and do so without recognition, fame, and at great spiritual risk. I’ve met a few in the research of this series, and save for one (that’s another post), most of them are genuine people seeking to help.

I’m also an Epic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery author as well as an Urban Fantasy writer. It’s easy to write heroes that are out there in front, fighting the fight before their troops and/or party members, and finding fame. That’s classical myth at its finest and most noble. Those genres are based on that, but one thing I find beautifully unique about Urban Fantasy is that it takes anonymity, duty, and the purpose of its characters more seriously than people expect. And when it comes to the cultural concerns of their magic systems, I find Urban Fantasy puts more time and honest research into it. Supernatural is a great example of this, as is Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series. But more importantly, there’s little glory in what they do. Justice, redemption, and liberation in the modern world are found behind the closed doors, in the back alleys, and in the middle of the woods with no one around. Urban Fantasy features a lot of heroes that get very little thanks, but what they do get feeds their souls to keep fighting.

Just like real exorcists across the gamut. It was important to me to keep that fight sacred and serious when it came to Patrick and George and how they dealt with the idea of removing demons from the afflicted.

However, it also allowed a certain level of comedy. I have seen videos of actual exorcisms. What happens in those events are not fun or funny, but are scary and deadly serious, and the entire story quickly surrounds “how do we get this person past spitting up nails and screaming in Aramaic?”

In those cases the demons frankly sound the same—it seems, from my observation as an educated outsider, Hell is actually in on the gag and likes to play along. Why? I don’t know, man.

What I do know is that the possessed characters allowed me to indulge in building characters and humor that I couldn’t get away with in Epic Fantasy or Sword & Sorcery. It’s why I compare The Driver of Serpents to Constantine and Kevin Smith’s Dogma—possession is something that allows different voices to propel the story, even if it is just a funny gag in the freezer of a dirty Chinese restaurant.

But we’ll settle here for now. Thank you for reading my blog and if you liked what you read, consider picking up The Driver of Serpents here! I also have a new newsletter signup page coming soon where you’ll be able to get a novella and a novel for free!

Until then!