Clara Germana Cele (c. 1890–1912) was a South African
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
orphan
An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died.
In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...
of African origin and was
baptised
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
as an
infant
An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
. At the age of sixteen, the girl allegedly made a pact with Satan and this is said to be the cause of her demonic possession. Clara later revealed this information to her
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death. In an account written by a
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
, Clara was said to be able to speak languages of which she had no previous knowledge. This fact was also witnessed by others, who recorded that she "understood
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
and all other languages." The nun reported that Clara demonstrated
clairvoyance
Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
by revealing the most intimate secrets and transgressions of people with whom she had no contact. Moreover, Clara could not bear the presence of blessed objects and seemed imbued with extraordinary strength and ferocity, often hurling nuns about the convent rooms and beating them up. The nun reported that the girl's cries had a savage bestiality that astonished those around her. In regards to the girl's voice, an
attending
In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an Doctor of Medicine, M.D. or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O.) who has completed Residency (medicin ...
nun even wrote:
No animal had ever made such sounds. Neither the lions of East Africa nor the angry bulls. At times, it sounded like a veritable herd of wild beasts orchestrated by Satan had formed a hellish choir.
Attending
In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an Doctor of Medicine, M.D. or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O.) who has completed Residency (medicin ...
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
The girl, according to some, was said to have levitated five feet in the air, sometimes vertically and sometimes horizontally; when sprinkled with
holy water
Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...
, the girl is reported to have come out of this state of her satanic possession.
According to a ''
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Pastoral Handbook'', one possessing these symptoms is an indication that an individual is truly
possessed
Possessed may refer to:
Possession
* Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else
** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body
*** ...
, rather than suffering from a
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
. Consequently, two
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
priests
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...
, Rev. Mansueti (Director of the St. Michael's Mission) and Rev. Erasmus (her confessor), were appointed to perform an
exorcism
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
on Clara Germana Cele; this
deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapted ...
lasted for two days. During the exorcism, Clara's first action was to knock the
Holy Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
from the priest's hands and grab his stole in an attempt to choke him with it. At the end of the exorcism, it was said that the
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...
was forced out and the girl was healed.
For six years, Clara lived a demonic possession-free life. She felt ashamed for her behavior, asking for forgiveness while seeking humble pursuits. She died in 1912 from
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
, at age 22. However, history had lost track of and forgotten Clara in some versions of her story.
See also
*
Anneliese Michel
Anna Elisabeth "Anneliese" Michel (21 September 1952 – 1 July 1976) was a German woman who underwent 67 Catholic exorcism rites during the year before her death. She died of malnutrition, for which her parents and priest were convicted of neg ...
*
Johann Blumhardt
Johann Christoph Blumhardt (16 July 1805 – 25 February 1880) was a German Lutheran theologian, best known for his contribution in thought towards a kingdom-now or kingdom-come theology and his motto and centralization of Christianity around th ...
George Lukins
George Lukins, also known as the Yatton daemoniac, was a tailor infamous for his alleged demonic possession and the subsequent exorcism that occurred in 1788 when he was aged 44; his case occasioned great controversy in England.
Biography
The R ...
References
Further reading
*''Demon Children'',
Martin Ebon
Martin Ebon (May 27, 1917 – February 11, 2006) was the pen-name of Hans Martin Schwarz, a German American journalist and author of non-fiction books and articles from the paranormal to politics, particularly as an anti-communist.
Backgroun ...
, ed., pp. 154–164
*''Possessed by Satan'', Adolf Rodewyk, pp. 120–127
*"Mysteries of the unexplained", ''Reader's Digest'', pp. 103–104