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Medieval Nuns Gone Wild: Was It Possession or Psychosis?
What made nuns “howl like dogs, meow like cats, and jump from trees like birds” during the Middle Ages
It was 1627. A woman, Jeanne, started feeling attracted to a man called Urbain. But this was not going to be a love story. Jeanne des Anges was the Mother Superior of the Loudun Monastery in Southern France. And Urbain Grandier was the local priest.
Jeanne faced her romantic feelings like it would have been expected from a nun: with denial and horror. She had devoted herself to a life of holiness, and yet, despite all efforts, she was unable to shake off her longing for Urbain. She later confessed in her autobiography,
“When I did not see him, I burned with love for him and when he presented himself to me, I lacked the faith to combat the impure thoughts and movements that I felt. Never had the demons created such a disorder in me.”
This torturous slow burn lasted several years. It was now 1632. Jeanne had been feeling increasingly guilty and unworthy. She had resigned to penance and introspection, slowly succumbing under the weight of shame.
And then the dam broke.
The demoniac nuns of Loudun
On September 22, 1632, two nuns in the Loudun monastery encountered a spirit during the night. Two days later, a “large black ball” appeared in the refectory and pushed several nuns to the ground. A skeleton was seen walking in the convent’s corridors the following week.
A few weeks later, the nuns were getting continuously and mercilessly attacked. They kept hearing voices. They were slapped and beaten by invisible spirits. But things went completely out of control when the possessions started.
The nuns foamed, screamed, and laughed “immodestly,” suffered from violent seizures and convulsions, fainted, and exhibited supernatural strength. They would howl and race around like dogs, meow and claw up tree trunks like cats, and jump out of trees in imitation of birds. They also…
