INQUIRY INTO WITCHES

...[conclusi]on. The first point is that, regarding physical movement through space, the matter of bodily things obeys angels—both good and bad—at their command. This was first posited by Augustine original: "Augu. in 3. de Trin."; St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), one of the most influential Latin Church Fathers. in the third book of On the Trinity, in essence. If you perhaps desire a full proof of this truth, see the holy Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the "Angelic Doctor" whose work became the standard for Catholic theology. in [the Summa Theologiae] Part 1, Question 110, Articles 2 and 3; On Power, Question 6, Article 3; On Evil, Question 16, Article 10; and Quodlibetal Questions 9, Article 5. The second point is that in demons, their natural gifts remained most brilliant and in their original perfection. This is taught by the prince of theologians, Dionysius Dionysius the Areopagite, a 5th-century author whose "Celestial Hierarchy" and "Divine Names" defined how the Middle Ages understood angels and demons., in the fourth chapter of On Divine Names. On this point, see the Divine Thomas [Aquinas] in Part 1, Question 64, Article 1; and Book 2, Distinction 7, Question 2, Article 1; and extensively in his questions on demons. From these two points, it is clearly concluded that both good and bad angels can carry men bodily from place to place without any difficulty. This is also proven from those things we know through philosophy regarding the movement of the heavens. For those who can move the heavens—as angels actually do even according to the philosophers, and even more so according to the holy theologians—will be able to transfer a person at will to any distant place. Although malignant spirits cannot move the heavens, this is not due to a lack of natural power, but because of their own guilt, as Saint Thomas says in On Evil, Question 16, Article 10. According to the holy theologians, any angel could even cast the greatest mountains into the ocean if God permitted it. Why then would demons—who are equal to good angels in their natural powers, and many of whom are superior to many of the good angels—not be able to transfer even mountains, and much more so men, from place to place with all ease? That this has indeed happened at times, both with good and bad angels, has example and testimony in the Sacred Scriptures. We have an example regarding good angels in Daniel 14 The text says "Dan. 15," but this refers to the story of Bel and the Dragon, which is Chapter 14 in the Vulgate Bible. concerning the angel who, having seized the prophet Habakkuk by the hair of his head, led him from Judea into Babylon in a brief space of time, and likewise brought him back from there. Augustine on?
the City of God?
Chapter 11?
and Daniel 3?
Matthew 4?
Job 41?
...? Regarding the bad angels, however, we have Matthew 4, concerning the devil who took the Lord Jesus and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple; and from there, having taken him up, led him upon a high mountain, the Lord himself permitting this for the devil's greater confusion when he departed, defeated in all things. We also have testimony regarding the power of the devil from the Sacred Scriptures in Job 41, where the Lord says that there is no power upon the earth that may be compared to him. How great that power is appeared especially in the things he did against the holy man Job in almost imperceptible time, so that there is no reason why all demons could not, by equal power, do that which is lesser—namely, carrying human bodies from place to place, even to a distant one. Toward this end serve the things held in the Rule [of Law], "to whom the [greater] is allowed," original: "regu. cui licet quod est minus..." Spina is referencing the legal maxim "Cui licet quod est plus, licet utique quod est minus" (He who is permitted the greater is also permitted the less), found in the Regulae Iuris of the Canon Law. regarding the matter of law in the [Liber] Sextus, where the modern [commentators]... Hence, if dromedaries Spina uses the speed of camels as a natural comparison to illustrate that if physical animals can move quickly, supernatural beings can do so much more effectively. can quickly carry men, as is commonly said, how much more so demons...