Anneliese Michel30

Atvainojos par to, ka nav latviešu valodā.

Anneliese Michel (September 21, 1952 – July 1, 1976) was a German Catholic woman who was said to be possessed by demons and subsequently underwent an exorcism. Two motion pictures, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Requiem, are loosely based on Michel's story.

Anneliese Michel was born on September 21, 1952 in Leiblfing, Bavaria, Germany. Michel was raised in a strict Catholic family. A devout girl, she tried to make reparations for the sins of wayward priests and drug addicts by sleeping on a bare floor in the dead of winter.

In 1968, when Anneliese was 16 and still in high school, she began to suffer from convulsions. Court findings had her experiencing her first epileptic attack in 1969.

Soon, Anneliese started experiencing hallucinations while praying.She also began to hear voices, which told her that she was damned.By 1973 Anneliese was suffering from depression and considering suicide. Her behavior became increasingly bizarre; she tore off her clothes, ate coal and spiders off the floor, and licked up her own urine.

In 1975, when Anneliese Michel was 23 years old, an older woman who accompanied her on a pilgrimage concluded that Michel was suffering from demonic possession because Michel was unable to walk past a certain icon of Jesus Christ and refused to drink the water of a holy spring. An exorcist in a nearby town examined Michel and believed she was suffering from demonic possession. The bishop issued permission to perform the rite of exorcism according to the Rituale Romanum of 1614.

After years of unsuccessful psychiatric treatments, they gave up on medical treatment and chose to rely solely on the exorcisms for healing. The rites of exorcism were performed over the course of about ten months in 1976. A total of sixty-seven exorcism sessions were held, one or two each week, some lasting up to four hours.At some point she began talking increasingly about dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church, and refused to eat. Though she had received treatment for epilepsy, by this time, at her own request, doctors were no longer being consulted. This was because Anneliese mentioned the "demons" to the doctors, explaining that they started to give her orders.The doctors seemed unable to help, and Anneliese lost hope that medicine was going to be able to cure her.

On July 1, 1976, Anneliese Michel died in her sleep. The autopsy report stated that her death resulted from the malnutrition and dehydration due to almost a year of semi-starvation during which time the rites of exorcism were also performed.

Sīkāka informācija:

Anneliese Michel enjoyed the life of a normal, religiously nurtured young girl.

She going tobe an elementary teacher.Without warning, her life changed one day in 1968 when she began shakingand found she was unable to control her body.

She could not call out for her parents, Josef and Anna, or any of her 3 sisters. A neurologist at the Psychiatric Clinic Wurzburgdiagnosed her with "Grand Mal" epilepsy. Because of the strength of the epileptic fits,and the severity of the depression that followed, Anneliese was admitted for treatment at the hospital.Soon after the attacks began, Anneliese started seeing devilish faces during her daily praying. It was the fall of 1970, and while the young people of the world were enjoying the liberal freedoms of the time, Anneliese was battling with the belief that she was possessed. It seemed there was no other explanation for the appearance of devilish visions during her prayers. Voices also began following her, saying Anneliese will "stew in hell". She mentioned the "demons" to the doctors only once, explaining that they have started to give her orders. The doctors seem unable to help, andAnneliese lost hope that medicine was going to be able to cure her.

In the summer of 1973, her parents visited different pastors to request an exorcism. Their requests were rejected andthey were given recommendations that the now 20 year old Anneliese should continue with medication and treatment.

It was explained that the process by which the Church proves a possession (Infestatio) is strictly defined, and untilall the criteria are met, the church could not approve an exorcism. The requirements, to name a few, include an rebellionto religious objects, speaking in a language the person has never learned, and supernatural powers.

In 1974, after supervising Anneliese for some time, Father Ernst Alt requested a permit to perform the exorcism fromthe Bishop of Wurzburg. The request was rejected, and a recommendation soon followed saying that Anneliese shouldlive even more of a religious lifestyle in order to find peace. But the attacks didn't quit and her behavior become moreerratic. At her parents' house in Klingenberg, she insulted, beat, and began biting the other members of her family.

She refused to eat because the demons would not allow it. Anneliese slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal,bit the head off a dead bird, got down on all fours and barked like a dog for days on end and even began drinking her own urine. She could be heard screaming throughout the house for hours while breaking crucifixes, destroying paintings of Jesus,and pulling apart rosaries. Anneliese began committing acts of self-mutilation at this time, by tearing off her clothes andurinating on the floor became regular.

After making an exact verification of the possession in September 1975, the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl,assigned Father Arnold Renz and Father Ernst Alt with the order to perform "The Great Exorcism" on Anneliese Michel.

The basis for this ritual was the "Rituale Romanum", which was still, at the time, a valid Cannon Law from the 17th century.

It was determined that Anneliese must be saved from the possession by several demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot,

Nero, Cain, Hitler, Balial and Fleischmann, a disgraced Frankish Priest from the 16th century, and some other damned souls

which had manifested through her. From September '75 until July '76, one or two exorcism sessions were held each week.

Anneliese's attacks were sometimes so strong that she would have to be held down by 3 men, or even chained up.

During this time, Anneliese found her life somewhat return to normal as she could again go to school,take final examinations at the Pedagogic Academy in Wurzburg, and go to church.

The attacks, however, did not stop. In fact, she would more often find herself paralyzed and falling unconscious than before.

The exorcism continued over many months, always with the same prayers and incantations. Sometimes family members andvisitors, like one married couple that claims to have "discovered" Anneliese, would be present during the rituals. For severalweeks, Anneliese denied all food. Her knees ruptured due to the 600 genuflections(falling to the knees in prayer like stage)she ranted obsessively during the daily exorcism. Over 40 audio tapes record the process, in order to preserve the details.The last day of the Exorcism Rite was on June 30th, 1976, and Anneliese was suffering at this point from Pneumonia.

She was also totally emaciated, and running a high fever. She had claimed that the Virgin Mary came to her and told her thatshe would go in peace if she contiuned with the possesion so everyone in the world would know that heaven and hellare real. Poor Anneliese choose that fate in hopes that people would understand her story. Exhausted and unable tophysically perform the genuflections herself, her parents stood in and helped carry her through the motions."Beg for Absolution" is the last statement Anneliese made to the exorcists. To her mother, she said, "Mother, I'm afraid."

Anna Michel recorded the death of her daughter on the following day, July 1st, 1976, and at noon, Father Ernst Alt informed the authorities in Aschaffenburg. The senior prosecutor began investigating immediately.