As promised, here is your blog post on the subject of Exorcism. This covers quite a bit of the Catholic literature on the subject. I've ranked them in order of importance/quality, but that is admittedly a subjective ranking, combining factors such as quality of writing, doctrinal accuracy, and terror quotient.
I've provided handy dandy Amazon product links that support my Catholic book habit. Any money you donate will be used to buy books for my edification, enlightenment, or amusement. At some point, I will put up an Amazon wish list of religious books if any of you are feeling generous. I am getting my Master's degree in theology, and book are not, unfortunately, cheap.
But let's go to the exorcists.
An Exorcist Tells His Story, by Fr. Gabriele Amorth
First up is probably the best balanced book on the topic. Fr. Gabriele Amorth is the chief exorcist of the Rome diocese, and without a doubt, is the most famous exorcist in the world. He is pretty much the go-to guy on the subject for members of the press, and if you Google his name, you'll get a half-dozen or so news stories about him. Fr. Amorth began his career as an exorcist under Fr. Candido Amantini, as an apprentice. It is common in exorcisms to have, as in the movie, "an old priest and a young priest" as a team -- because exorcism is a fairly uncommon activity, typically the old priest has a lot of experience and the young priest is there to assist and learn, so that knowledge of the sacramental is passed on. Fr. Amorth took over Fr. Amantini's practice when the latter retired. In An Exorcist Tells His Story, Fr. Amorth focuses on the practical side of the rite, and gives clues on how to diagnose demonic oppression and possession. His view of the rite is workmanlike, and he takes a view that differs from a number of prominent exorcists in diagnosing the demonic. In Fr. Amorth's view, it isn't always obvious if a person is possessed, so often times he will proceed with a simple exorcism, which often reveals whether a person is possessed (possessed people have a strong aversion to sacramentals such as holy oil, holy water, the cross, and holy salt). Fr. Amorth is of the "when in doubt, exorcise" school, and maintains that an exorcism does no harm to a person who is not possessed, which a number of other writers on the subject disagree with. Like most writers on the topic, he believes that any occult activity (seances, Ouija boards, visiting a fortune teller or medium, New Age spirituality, etc.) is potentially dangerous; he also subscribes to the possibility of curses and cursed objects, which apparently is how a lot of Italian witchcraft is practiced. He also does not believe in ghosts; he believes that any paranormal activity is essentially demonic.
The second book on the topic is Fr. Amorth's sequel,
An Exorcist: More Stories, by Fr. Gabriele Amorth
Which is a book written to respond to questions generated from Fr. Amorth's first book. It is a companion book to the first book, and goes into greater depth on the topic of demonic infestations of places. Another strong emphasis in Fr. Amorth's writings is the necessity for the demonized to spend time in confession and prayer; he is a strong believer that the modern trend toward more exorcisms is due to a falling away from the church in general. This is a common theme among all the exorcists -- repentance from sin, frequent confession, frequent attendance of mass, and forgiveness of others, particularly people who have harmed you, are strong preventatives against the Devil.
Fr. Amorth's books will generally have two effects on you. First, they will ramp up your paranoia; as you go through and read about symptoms of demonic oppression, you'll begin to wonder about people and events in your own life. You'll begin to wonder if some of the stranger negative occurences and/or interactions in your life haven't had some hidden push behind them from unseen actors. The book will therefore challegne your fundamental understanding of reality, I've found it has led me to question a lot of things in my own mind. The second effect is to make one want to pray and get a stronger relationship to the Church. In this sense, Fr. Amorth's books do inspire a certain amount of fear, but it is generally fear of a good kind.
His emphasis on forgiveness is also very beneficial. If you have been hurt by people in the past, it is important to forgive these people and pray for them. I can tell you, this has helped my own peace of mind tremendously; I carried some bitter old wounds for many years that I can attest have been helped by simply forgiving the person and moving on. Both of Fr. Amorth's books are recommended.
Hostage to the Devil, by Malachi Martin
Second on the list is a book that is easily one of the most disturbing things I have ever read: Malachi Martin's Hostage to the Devil. If you read the reader reviews on the Amazon site, you'll find that a lot of people have the same opinion. The author is a controversial figure. Malachi Martin was a Jesuit priest who was released from his vows as a Jesuit, but was not fully laicized, either -- and the reasons for this are a matter of some debate. In later life, he became known for being a bit of a crank, being a regular guest on the Art Bell radio show. There are generally two schools of thought on Hostage to The Devil -- some people maintain it is a work of fiction, and therefore a pious fraud, while others maintain it is a work of non-fiction. Martin presents the five case studies in the book, which describe exorcisms conducted in the sixties and seventies, as being factual. That being said, he presents the stories in a highly dramatic fashion, describing places and events as they occur from different points of view -- those of the victims, the exorcists, and their families. This technique, while tending to blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction, is nonetheless highly effective. The book is genuinely frightening, especially in describing the process of possession, which in the cases of all the victims, occurs gradually. Each of the victims is targeted by a demon who uses a slightly different approach -- preying on a weakness in the person's character which the demon then uses to progressively gain more control over the person. It can be anything from a person's desire to be loved to a person's fascination with psychic abilities, to, in the case of a possessed priest described, doctrinal errors that subvert the truth. The book also advances a notion that is somewhat at odds with the works of other exorcists in describing the effects of the exorcism on the priests involved -- where Fr. Amorth and Fr. Fortea's books do not show any kind of toll on the priest from the process, Malachi Martin's book maintains that exorcism takes a terrible toll on the exorcist -- some of them are retired, broken men when Martin interviews them. As a result, the book is darker than some of the others.
This is a book that will trouble you for months after you read it. If you are of a fairly strong psychic constitution, I think it can be of benefit, but otherwise, stick to Fr. Amorth's works.
I tend to think the stories in the book are true, though I think they have been embellished for maximum dramatic effect. I have also read Malachi Martin's book The Jesuits, which I found to be an excellent read, so I am not prepared to dismiss the book. It is fascinating and terrifying.
Interview With An Exorcist, Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
Spain's leading exorcist, Fr. Fortea, weighs in with Interview With An Exorcist. Fr. Fortea is probably, after Fr. Amorth, the next most famous exorcist in the Church. His book is a question and answer session that answers over 100 common questions on the topic. His book is a scholarly, matter of fact view of the subject, and as such, is very doctrinally sound and factual. He engages in little storytelling and drama, so the book doesn't ratchet up the terror quotient, but is instead a solid, informational work.
People of the Lie, M. Scott Peck, and
Glimpses of the Devil, M. Scott Peck
Although not technically a book about exorcism, psychologist M. Scott Peck's People of the Lie is an interesting book on the problem of human evil. In his psychology practice, Peck would occasionally run into people whom he ended up defining as simply evil -- they had no regard for other people whatsoever, and were unwilling to face up to any sort of self-examination. Each of these people had built for themselves a reality based on lies, and were completely unwilling to accept any blame or fault for their actions, even when they were harmful to other people. Peck then ended up becoming interested in the practice of exorcism, as he felt that some of his patients had symptoms that made no medical sense, but were indicative of great evil at work in the person's life. His second book on the topic, Glimpses of the Devil, are his account of a number of exorcisms he participated in. I have actually not read Glimpses of the Devil, but a number of comments on Amazon have led me to conclude that the work was not as well done as People of the Lie, which is a small classic in dealing with the problem of evil. It is a good book for a psychologist to read who might be interested in the subject.
The Dark Sacrament, by David Kiely and Christina McKenna
I actually reviewed it here. A solid work in the style of Malachi Martin, with ten stories of exorcisms from modern day Ireland. If you enjoy Hostage To The Devil, it makes a good follow-on work, though the stories are not quite as dramatic as those in Martin's book.
Deliverance from Evil Spirits: A Practical Manual, by Francis MacNutt
A former Dominican priest, subsequently laicized and married, Mr. MacNutt runs a charismatic deliverance and healing ministry with his wife. His book is primarily about the use of prayer to deliver people from curses, oppression, infestation and possession. His views tend to be similar to those of evangelical Protestant deliverance ministers on the topic; he also believes in generational curses. My own thoughts on reading him is that his advice on prayer is good, but traditional Catholicism is much more guarded on the topic of deliverance ministry, as Catholicism restricts imprecatory exorcisms to the clergy. My fear is that a person might read his book and then go out and start confronting demons, where a more measured approach might be safer and wiser. Still, it is a pretty interesting book, and deals a lot with getting at the root causes of an infestation of evil.
The Vatican's Exorcists, by Tracy Wilkinson
More of a journalistic work, The Vatican's Exorcists is written by the Rome bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. Although she is respectful of the practice, Ms. Wilkinson does not seem fully convinced, and maintains a note of detachment and skepticism throughout. The book features interviews with Fr. Amorth, Bishop Andrea Gemma, and several other exorcists, and also features a section on the exorcism practice of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who was subsequently excommunicated by Rome for getting illicitly married, taking up with the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, and illegally ordaining married priests and bishops. Worth buying just for the section on Milingo alone; I have to wonder if maybe a demon didn't get the better of him.
I'm waiting for the book from Fr. Thomas Euteneuer from Human Life International to come out. Fr. Euteneuer recently revealed that he has been performing exorcisms, and he feels there is a tie between the demonic and abortion. Naturally, this is a pretty controversial view, but I expect when his book comes out, it will be an interesting read.