''Le Miracle de Théophile'' (The Miracle of Theophilus) is a thirteenth-century miracle play written in

Langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' (; ) are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. These belong to the larger ...

, circa 1261 by the trouvère

Rutebeuf Rutebeuf (or Rustebuef) (fl. 1245 – 1285) was a French trouvère (poet-composers who worked in France's northern dialects). Early life He was born in the first half of the 13th century, possibly in Champagne (he describes conflicts in Troyes i ...

. The play is a religious drama, drawn from traditional accounts of the lives of the Saints and the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. In the play, Théophile sells his soul to the Devil. Overcome by remorse, he prays to the Virgin Mary, who delivers him from the cursed pact. The play refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints' legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it. This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language). The original text from the French play is given to the character Salatin – apparently a version of Saladin – who in this play is labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to

invoke Invoke may refer to: * Invocation, a form of supplication or prayer * Invoke Solutions, a market research company founded in 1999 and based in the United States * Invoke (smart speaker), developed by Harman Kardon and powered by Microsoft's inte ...

the Devil: :''(Ci conjure Salatins le deable.)'' :''Bagahi laca bachahé,
Lamac cahi achabahé,'' ::''Karrelyos.'' :''Lamac lamec bachalyos,
Cabahagi sabalyos,'' ::''Baryolas.'' :''Lagozatha cabyolas,
Samahac et famyolas,'' ::''Harrahya.'' Another French miracle play from the same time period by Jean Bodel, ''Jeu de Saint Nicolas'', also contains an invocation to the Devil in an unknown language.Both invocations are discussed in:

In other media

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

makes use of the imagery of this play in his novel ''Swann's Way'', while mentioning workers toiling among statues of the main characters.

References

French plays Medieval drama Medieval French theatre 13th-century plays {{france-theat-stub