We have long known that mention of Mary during exorcisms often evokes a strong response.
The devil — a serpent whose head she is destined to crush — hates her.
But interesting it was to note a recent comment by an Italian priest and exorcist, Sante Babolin, who in an interview with a Catholic news outlet not only mentioned the power of her intercession, and the devil’s fear of her, but that “the strongest reactions” of the devil during the exorcism occur “when references are made to her apparitions” [our italics].
This becomes a bit meatier — is more the “news” — and makes perfect sense in light of historic and current apparitions (and alleged ones).
At Guadalupe, as one case in point, the Blessed Mother’s apparitions led to the conversion of seven to twelve million pagan Aztecs — Indians who were worshiping snake gods and other demonic deities. Some even believe that the name “Guadalupe” came from a phonetic spelling of a Nahuatl word for she “who crushes the serpent” (coatlaxopeuh, which is pronounced “quatlasupe”), though it is perhaps more likely that Guadalupe in Mexico was named for an apparition site of the same name in Spain, from whence the early explorers came.
The point: there is no higher level of spiritual combat. The Blessed Mother’s apperance ended massive human blood sacrifice!
During the Miraculous Medal apparitions, Our Blessed Mother warned of great coming evils, as she also did, in that same nation, at LaSalette. And during the apparitions at Lourdes, there was an outright struggle in the grotto between Heaven and deceptive spirits who vied for the holy spot.
Growls and roars were heard from false seers inside the cave…
At Fatima, local Masons sought to quash the apparitions, and authorities even jailed the three children, preventing them from being at Cova da Iria for the August apparition.
At one point, after the apparitions, little Francisco was badly shaken by the appearance of a demon who he told cousin Lucia was like “one of those huge beasts that we saw in hell. He was right here breathing out flames!”
We know how powerful Mary is by how much Satan panics at her appearances.
In Rwanda, statues of her were smashed nationwide just before her apparitions at Kibeho.
Fatima, Akita, San Nicolas.
At Laus, in France, seer Benoite (Benedicta) Rencurel was born on St. Michael’s feast day (September 29, 1647). Explains a sign at this Church-sanctioned spot:
“Part of her ministry was fighting against forces of evil.”
Demons have been seen by seers as apes or monkey-like, hopping as if a kangaroo, or resembling snakes and insects. Satan has appeared to seers as a tremendously handsome man promising success here on earth in “love and life” if they will follow him instead of her — the dreaded “her” being Mary. Yet, he flees, this handsome con artist, as soon as Mary reappears.
At Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Blessed Mother issued warnings about Satan from the very onset of her appearances and informed the seers on many occasions, especially in the early days, that Satan sought with all his power to stifle her plan there — something certainly witnessed, one could argue, in years since.
Those who are possessed often scream out and lapse into convulsions while visiting there (but also find deliverance).
A battle it is.
Rare is the seer and alleged seer who, besides recounting appearances of Mary, does not also depict struggles with an evil spirit. One current alleged one in Australia recently found a dead, mutilated cat near her laundry door.
On her very deathbed, on Easter Monday, Bernadette was heard shouting, “Get out, Satan…! Get out, Satan…!” She confided the next day to the chaplain that “the devil had tried to hurl himself on her, but she had invoked the Name of Jesus and had regained confidence.”
Mary is the woman who gave birth to the Man Whose mission was to break the devil’s hold, she is the new Eve in the sense of responding to temptation this time in a way that is holy and correct, and she is etched and emblazoned in the Book of Revelation as a key agent in warfare.
Because of this, Father Babolin frequently pronounces the name of Holy Mary with her titles of Lourdes, Fatima or Guadalupe. In the latter case, he said, “I use this formula: ‘Holy Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Tepeyac.’”
“Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Tepeyac, release it,” he recalled saying during exorcism, according to another news outlet. “At that moment the devil replied violently: ‘Before her, all this was mine there,’ referring to Mexico.”
Babolin says that he then remembered Tonanzin — a land of pagan Mexican Indian mythology — and made the following invocation: “Our Lady of Guadalupe, you who have destroyed the empire of Tonanzin …”.
The exorcist told the Catholic newspaper Portaluz that he could not finish the sentence because … “immediately the devil responded with force: ‘Coatlicue,’ which means serpent and (as a sacred concept of evil) is part of that mythology.”
In the priest’s opinion, invoking the Virgin of Guadalupe causes great damage to forces of evil because it “expresses a maternal tenderness and builds its empire with love and not with terror,” and because her image of mother exalts the family, united by her maternal spirit, “which offers love to parents and children; and this same motherly spirit works in order that all the people act in a human fraternity. All this annoys the devil. “
The words during one deliverance:
“Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God’s elect and sift them as wheat (…) The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you, as does also the power of the mysteries of the Christian Faith (…) The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; she who by her humility and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception crushed your proud head.”
— Michael H. Brown
[resources: powerful deliverance prayer recommended by the later exorcist Father Gabriele Amoth: here; see also Life Missions, Family Healings; prayer is in appendix]