Robert Henry Murray

“ We all know that Mithraism constituted a serious rival to Christianity, and we all are aware that the church took over the birthday of Mithra as the birthday of Jesus Christ. The old persisted in the new, and this lesson Miss Murray enforces in unexpected ways. Mingled with the Christianity of the middle ages much of the old paganism remained. The witch-cult persisted, and with its persistence rites for rain-making and for causing or blasting fertility survived. Inevitably Dianists sought to encourage fertility among themselves, and to restrain it among their enemies. ”

“ To a Dutchman like Adrian VI it was inevitable that he should denounce witches 'as a Sect deviating from the Catholic Faith, denying their Baptism, and showing Contempt of the Ecclesiastical Sacraments, treading Crosses under their Feet, and, taking the Devil for their Lord, destroyed the Fruits of the Earth by their Enchantments, Sorceries, and Superstitions'. ”

“ In 1488 Innocent VIII held that witches 'blight the marriage bed, destroy the births of women and the increase of cattle; they blast the corn on the ground, the grapes of the vineyard, the fruits of the trees, the grass and herbs of the field'. ”