THE CURIOUS CASE OF CATS AND THE DEVIL

I had the privilege of hearing Father John Farao hold forth on his experience as an exorcist. Fr John was born in Portugal, and his parents came to the West Coast of America when he was a little boy of 4. He became a Franciscan priest, later a prison chaplain and then went to Rome to train as an exorcist. 

Fr John has a wonderful sense of humor, a humility that makes him seem as though he is floating and yet he is so down to earth. He is an animal lover and has a pet dog who is often cared for by his vet's daughter. Once, on October 31st, he was picking up his dog from the vet, and his vet showed him round the cages with cats. The vet told him that he is very careful to keep recovering cats longer at this time of year and ensures they stay overnight on the 31st, "so that they are safe." Fr John then explained that, "Cats get a very bad time on Halloween, they are used in satanic rites and can sometimes be taken and then found later". His vet knew he was an exorcist and told him of his prevention is better than cure strategy, that it is better to keep cats inside, under lock and key, because cats can be "very badly abused by people following the devil". Fr John advises people to take special care of their cats during late October so that they are not taken and used in such satanic rituals. And Fr John has spoken to police officers who know the same thing to be true. "They have seen cats hurt so bad these same men don't like to talk about it," said John as he shook his head. 

Fr John presented the testimonies of a conscientious vet and police officers who seem genuinely scared by what they've seen done to cats. These are two valuable sources that can't be easily dismissed. The vet and the police have seen cats that had been abducted and abused in a ritualistic way. Father John earmarked late October as a time to guard your cats. But I'm mindful that Fr Chad Ripperger recently revealed that the satanists who practice on Halloween are low-level, or at least lower-level. 

But what Fr John said reminded me of Dr Richard Gallagher's unnerving encounter with a self-proclaimed, Queen of Satan, a middle-aged woman called Julia who attended him as her psychiatrist so she could get the necessary psychological analysis done so a Catholic priest could go forward with her exorcism. The night before Dr Gallagher was to meet Julia, he and his wife were deep asleep, their usually placid dog and two cats were curled up on their bed. Up to that night, their cats had always liked each other and been docile. Then at 3 am, the doctor and his wife woke in horror to find that their cats were, "going at it like champion prizefighters, smacking and clawing at each other, intent on inflicting some serious harm." He and his wife had to tear them apart and put them in separate rooms, but they continued to snarl loudly and were spoiling for a continued clawing. Conversely, Dr Gallagher had a little bulldog who behaved normally.

The next morning, the possessed woman, Julia knocked at his door, and asked impishly, "How'd you like those cats last night?" Dr Gallagher and his wife had not had a chance to tell anyone. But Julia had orchestrated - by way of satanic spell - the scrap between the cats where they were intent on clawing the other's guts out and she could see how it had played out. 

The brawling cats in Dr Gallagher's bedroom is reminiscent of the way the devil has sought revenge on our greatest saints by appearing to them as a savage black cat - very often at 3 am. Brother Andre Bessette had the routine punishment of having the devil attack him as a cat - always after Brother Andre had prepared a body for burial. Brother Andre developed a fear of cats, but if we are to take Fr John's words to heart, cats can also be victims. Fr John has a pet dog and so is different from expert on demonology, Adam Blai who has said on many occasions that he cannot own a pet. This might be because the demons that are being driven out with Blai's assistance could later take vengeance on an innocent animal. 

The relationship between the satanic and the feline begs for better inquiry and discernment. Our best Saints have seen the devil take a fur disguise and attack as a cat, which shows the devil may become a cat as one of his powers. The ability of a satanic queen like Julia to provoke cats from afar and turn them into vicious, mauling beasts suggests that this is a facility that the devil can lend his followers like her. Yet, even though the devil may become as a cat and even take revenge as one, those seeking his favors have been known to torture cats as an offering to him. The cats on Dr Gallagher's bed were not content, in fact, they were thrown into a fit of frenzy. The devil can be malevolent in the form of a cat and inspire malevolence to cats. Just because he can take the form of a member of the cat family, does not mean he inspires kindness to them.  As always, the devil bites his own tail. 

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The painting Fighting Cats was executed by Francisco Goya. This post was informed by Dr Richard Gallagher's Demonic Foes, which are the memoirs of an MD who is the essential nexus between the priest and the possessed person; if Dr Gallagher diagnoses a person as having a mental illness and not being possessed then an exorcism does not take place. There was one fascinating case of a girl who was coached into exhibiting signs of possession. If, as in the story of Julia and several others in the book, the good doctor finds that medical science cannot explain (or treat) the person's actions, then an exorcism will usually ensue.