Loudun, Ursulines of

LOUDUN, Ursulines of. - The community founded in 1626 by the Ursulines of Poitiers (Congregation of Bordeaux) at L., a town in the diocese of Poitiers, with a boarding school for girls, was famous for the diabolical possessions that lasted from 1632 to 1638. Sister Joan of the Angels (in the world Jeanne de Belcier) was the prioress of the new community, composed of 17 religious belonging to the high aristocracy, among them a relative of Richelieu.

The dean of the canons of Holy Cross, Mignon, was chosen as chaplain of the Institute, a post coveted by the canon Urbain Grandier, parish priest of St. Peter's at L. Very influential because of his qualities, of ambiguous moral conduct, Grandier had many enemies: exiled forever from L., he managed to return there, arousing discontent in the town. In 1632 Sister Joan of the Angels accused [him] of diabolical infestation, with typical manifestations; the prior of Fresne and Grandier appeared to her, of whose affairs everyone was talking. In a short time all the religious felt themselves obsessed, with frightening excesses: they recounted the same visions, uttered the name of Grandier who was supposed to have unleashed hell in the monastery, throwing a bouquet of roses from the enclosing wall. Mignon, with two neighboring parish priests, on 11 October began the exorcisms in public in the presence of doctors and authorities, without any result. From an inquiry ordered in his capacity as metropolitan by the archbishop of Bordeaux, Henri de Sourdis, it emerged that it was not a case of obsession, but rather of hysteria: the exorcisms were therefore suspended and severe penalties were threatened against anyone who meddled in the affair. However, J. M. de Laubardement arrived at L., military intendant and counselor of Louis XIII, confidant of Richelieu, with the task of doing away with Grandier; the interrogations were begun, and the demons, which for some time had no longer molested anyone, again had free rein and took possession not only of the nuns, but also of some girls. Grandier was condemned to the stake, which he ascended on 23 August 1633, even though two nuns had retracted their accusations. The obsession continued even after Grandier's death: Fr. J. J. Surin, a Jesuit assigned to the exorcisms, came out of it obsessed, so much so that his superiors removed him from L. Finally in 1638, when Richelieu suspended the pensions, the exorcists dispersed and the obsessed women recovered their serenity.

The affair is very strange and leaves one perplexed, like the earlier one of Aix that led to the stake for "magic" of the abbé Jacques Gaufridy (1612). Today's historians do not ascribe responsibility for the possessions to Grandier, who never entered the monastery. Many reservations are imposed by the manner in which the events unfolded and by the persons who took part in them. The exorcists, under the authority of the civil power, were transformed into docile officials. While Catholics hoped to derive from it an easy means of converting heretics and "libertines," the latter denied the validity of the possessions of L. On the part of the religious, the epidemic character of the phenomenon does not escape notice. Sister Joan is a complex figure who does not present the marks of proven sanctity; she was dominated throughout her life by the desire to make people talk about her.

Mario Gaspari