BROTHER BARTHOLOMEW SPINA

[The goal] is to show how these things, whether true or false, harmonize with the Catholic faith or deviate from it, and thus whether such matters fall under the judgment of the Inquisitors or not. In this question, we shall principally prove three things. First, that the things asserted by these persons are not contrary to Holy Scripture but are rather possible according to it; indeed, it is revealed in the Sacred Letters that several similar things have happened. Second, we shall deduce from the Sacred Letters that all these things, according to the reported manner, cannot happen only in dreams. Third, we shall prove that it must be believed by all, and in no way doubted, that these things happen in the manner asserted by the Inquisitors. At the end of the question, we shall resolve the arguments previously introduced to the contrary, showing in the solution of the first argument how the aforementioned determination of the question does not oppose the determination of the Council of The text says "Acquirenfis," likely a corruption of "Ancyrensis," the Council of Ancyra (314 AD), which was often cited in debates about the reality of witchcraft. Ancyra, nor the aforementioned chapter Episcopi The Canon Episcopi, a famous medieval legal text that claimed the flight of witches was a diabolical illusion rather than a physical reality.; rather, it is in harmony with them.

Regarding the first point we intend to prove, it should be known that there are three principal wonders asserted to be done by striges Witches; from the Latin "strix," a mythical screech-owl said to suck the blood of infants. which are disbelieved by some as being either impossible for the power of demons, or not done—or not to be done—due to divine prohibition. There are also three other accessory matters likewise disbelieved by the aforementioned critics.

The first principal matter is the bodily transport by a demon, whether assisting invisibly or transfigured into the form of any beast or human, even across long distances, as is asserted. An accessory to this is eating, drinking, dancing original: corrizare, a medieval term for choral or circle dancing, and enjoying every kind of pleasure; truly and bodily obeying or assisting a demon appearing in the form of a great prince; and also, in his presence, showing contempt for the Catholic faith and its sacred rites in many ways.

The second principal matter is the appearance of demons in human or even beastly form, and the performance of the sexual act with them in various ways according to the apparent difference of sex. An accessory to this is everything else said to be fulfilled by them while present in such a form: for example, the restoration of food or liquids that had been consumed, or the apparent resurrection of any animal that had been killed and eaten.

The third principal matter is the apparent conversion of men and women into cats. An accessory to this is the strigatio The harming or "bewitching" of children, traditionally associated with the "strix" or witch sucking their breath or blood. of children.

Yet all these things, and others like them (given a sound understanding of some of them), are expressly contained in the Sacred Letters, or are most clearly deduced from them, or certainly do not oppose them.

That humans can be transported by demons across long distances of land; likewise,

that the accessories to this act do not contradict the Sacred Letters, but

In order that the first principal matter with its accessory may become manifest, two things must be presupposed from the doctrine of all the theologians...