The Mass of Saint-Sécaire
The Mass of Saint-Sécaire is a ritual supposed to have been performed in Gascony, France. The best-known account of the Mass is that of James George Frazer in his 1890 omnibus The Golden Bough;[1] Frazer's description, in turn, was taken nearly verbatim from a less well-known French book published in 1883, Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne[2] ("Fourteen Popular Superstitions of Gascony"), by Jean-François Bladé.
The ritual was a form of Black Mass, a parody of the Roman Catholic Mass, and is notable for its unusual parody of the Eucharist as compared to other accounts of Black Masses. It was said to be employed as a method by which a wronged party could supernaturally avenge himself. Bladé's informant indicated that fear of the Mass was still prevalent at the time of their interview.
Description
According to the recorded account, the Mass could only be said in a ruined or deserted church. At precisely the first stroke of 11 o'clock the corrupt
References
- ^ Frazer, James The Golden Bough, 1890; Ch. IV: Magic and Religion
- ^ Bladé, Jean-François. Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne, 1883; Contes populaires de la Gascogne, Paris, Maisonneuve, 1886
- ^ Luminist Publications: Visionary Fiction: The Mass of Saint Secaire by Aleister Crowley