Francesco Maria Guazzo
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2021) |
Francesco Maria Guazzo, aka Guaccio, aka Guaccius (1570[1]–16??) was an Italian priest. He is most well known for authoring the Compendium Maleficarum.
Life and work
He was a member of one of the oldest of the Catholic Ambrosian orders. These religious brotherhoods had appeared at various times since the 14th Century in and around the city of Milan and were quite plentiful, but the only one to attain more than simply local importance was the ‘Fratres Sancti Ambrosii ad Nemus’ sometimes known as 'The Brethren of the Grove'.
Before 1441 there were various monasteries that were canonically recognized under the name ‘Fratres Sancti Ambrosii ad Nemus’ but there was little link between them. However, in 1441 Pope Eugene IV merged them into one congregation called ‘Congregatio Sancti Ambrosii ad Nemus’ of which Francesco Maria Guazzo was a member under the papacy of Pope Sixtus V and Pope Paul V.
Guazzo was highly regarded in the field of possessions and demonology and the cures thereof.
During his life he is credited with performing several exorcisms including to members of several ducal and princely families, notably the bewitched
On another occasion Guazzo was called to Düsseldorf in order to exorcise the mad
It was these direct experiences that inspired Guazzo to write his
In this work, Guazzo was greatly influenced by Duke Charles III of Lorraine’s leading lawyer and demonologist,
Major works
- Compendium Maleficarum (1628; new edition London 1929, republished 2004 by Book Tree), limited preview online
References
- ^ "GUAZZO, Francesco Maria in "Dizionario Biografico"". www.treccani.it.
Bibliography
- Guazzo, Francesco Maria; Compendium Maleficarum; 1608
- Behringer, Wolfgang; Witches & Witchhunts. A Global History (Themes in History)); Polity; 2004
- Lindemann, Mary; Medicine & Society in Early Modern Europe; Cambridge University Press; 2010 (2nd edition);
- Samuel Macauley Jackson, Schaff-Herzog, Lefferts Augustine Loetscher; The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Volume 1; Baker Book House; 1984
See also
- Daemonolatreiae libri tres
- Guazzo's classification of demons
- Witchcraft and children