Exorcising houses

  • Thread starter Thread starter MarcoPolo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MarcoPolo

Guest
Father Amorth in his book An Exorcist Tells His Story speaks of possessed houses or non-human things, referring to it as “infestation.” (see also article here).

There is a rite used for exorcising humans. Is there a different rite for exorcising a house?

Who could I ask?
 
House exorcisms can be done by a priest without special permission of the bishop, and they can be done by lay persons as well. Below is a pdf to a house cleansing and blessing that can be done by a priest, deacon, or layperson.

House Cleansing and Blessing (PDF file)

Solemn exorcisms of people, on the other hand, can only be done by a priest under permission from his bishop.
 
Thank you beckymarie. I shared this with the folks at CF and that thread has blossomed with quite a few first-hand stories!!
 
The way I understand it the Catholic Church teaches that inanimate objects cannot be possessed. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you later.
 
Mel_Stones said:
The way I understand it the Catholic Church teaches that inanimate objects cannot be possessed. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you later.
Click to expand...
They can. Please refer to the article linked in the OP by Rome’s exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth. However, he uses the term “infestation” when the demonic has taken up a non-human thing or animal.
 
Hello,
Code: 
    A house, area, or object can become infested or possessed by evil because of grievous sin.   There is a real fight that occurs between the Church and the evil spirit.  Sometimes people are hurt,  physcially and  mentally. 

    I   believe that God allows these things to  occur to bring the Church Community together in prayer.
 
beckycmarie said:
House exorcisms can be done by a priest without special permission of the bishop, and they can be done by lay persons as well. Below is a pdf to a house cleansing and blessing that can be done by a priest, deacon, or layperson.

House Cleansing and Blessing (PDF file)

Solemn exorcisms of people, on the other hand, can only be done by a priest under permission from his bishop.
Click to expand...
For my own reference and anyone else. It appears the above link has moved to here. :o
 
Hi Marco,

I remember from my reading way back when about hauntings that there were several high-profile cases of infestation of houses and castles in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that teams of Priests were actually sent out to the house to camp out. They would offer Masses in the main rooms of the house until the phenomenon ceased. It was believed that the Masses did one of two things:
  1. Either the houses were truly infested with evil spirits, and the constant proximity to the Holy Sacrifice eventually drove them out; or
  2. The disturbances were truly from ghosts (i.e. departed humans) in Purgatory who God was allowing to “reach out” to the living to beg for prayers. In this instance the Masses would be accepted by God for the benefit of these poor souls.
In some of the cases the hauntings would cease entirely, but in others they would go “dormant” for a long while after the Masses were said, then “wake up” again months or years later.
 
BluesPicker said:
Hello,
Code: 
    A house, area, or object can become infested or possessed by evil because of grievous sin.   There is a real fight that occurs between the Church and the evil spirit.  Sometimes people are hurt,  physcially and  mentally. 

    I   believe that God allows these things to  occur to bring the Church Community together in prayer.
Click to expand...
Could this happen to a church, or the area a church is in? Thanks.
 
Hi Marco,

Just have to put me on the spot, dont’cha? 😊

All those books (if I still have em - I really need to go through my old stuff) are currently buried in boxes in the garage. I tried googling but came up pretty empty.

I know I read about this. But NOTHING on Google? Maybe I’m losing my mind? :takeoff:
 
raises hand No lie, they’re doing that for my house right now. We have evil spirits inhabiting our house. The one priest came to do a house blessing and it didn’t go away. The other priest in my parish is doing casting out prayers and saying Mass in my house 'til the things go away. They are apparently not gone yet, so he’ll have to say more Masses.
 
Annemariels said:
I just went to your thread at CF and joined the group. Is it a friendly place over there?
Click to expand...
Relative to most other forums on the web, it is probably the friendliest besides here at Catholic Answers (which is by far the best forum on the web :o). Don’t get me wrong, you will come across your share of anti-Catholics, but there are plenty of allies there that you won’t get ganged up on (as long as you know what you’re talking about and you are charitable). :o Or you could just lurk in the Catholics-only section.
 
DihydrogenOxide said:
raises hand No lie, they’re doing that for my house right now. We have evil spirits inhabiting our house. The one priest came to do a house blessing and it didn’t go away. The other priest in my parish is doing casting out prayers and saying Mass in my house 'til the things go away. They are apparently not gone yet, so he’ll have to say more Masses.
Click to expand...
Prayers for you.
 
DihydrogenOxide said:
raises hand No lie, they’re doing that for my house right now. We have evil spirits inhabiting our house. The one priest came to do a house blessing and it didn’t go away. The other priest in my parish is doing casting out prayers and saying Mass in my house 'til the things go away. They are apparently not gone yet, so he’ll have to say more Masses.
Click to expand...
Don’t know if you have done this or not…but how about letting everyone here know when the priest will be coming to you home and we can all unite our prayers at the same time…
 
MarcoPolo said:
Prayers for you.
Click to expand...
Thanks. 🙂
DJgang said:
Don’t know if you have done this or not…but how about letting everyone here know when the priest will be coming to you home and we can all unite our prayers at the same time…
Click to expand...
That sounds like a great idea. I think I’ll do that. He probably won’t come again until next month. I know a few friends of the family will be coming and praying with us. Any extra prayer power would be very much appreciated. I’d love to have these things kicked of here as soon as possible.
 
I said that I would tell everyone when the priest comes again to have a Mass in my house for the intentions I stated above.

Please pray for me, the priest and my family this week, because the priest will be saying Mass in my house and trying to help rid us of these “problems”.
 
Dihydrogen is very fortunate to find a priest to help. I needed one and found no help from my local parish, neighboring parishes, or the diocese. Thank God for that man.

I was advised not to use the house blessing on the Saint-Mike web site because it is not approved by the church. I used it anyway. It worked, but the result was only temporary.
 
there are differing understanding as to what the lay person can do in this situation…certainly they can pray…and use sacramentals such as exorcized salt and holy water…
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top