ciferians. These are not surmises, but actual facts of history.
Towards the end of the twelfth century Luciferianism spread eastwards
through Styria, the Tyrol, and Bohemia, even as far as Brandenburg; by
the beginning of the thirteenth century it had invaded western Germany,
and in the fourteenth century reached its zenith in that country, as
also in Italy and France. The cult had now reached a further stage in
its development, and it was not the mere propitiation of Satanael as the
prince of this world practised by the Luciferians, but actual
Satanism--the love of evil for the sake of evil--which formed the
doctrine of the sect known in Italy as _la vecchia religione_ or the
"old religion." Sorcery was adopted as a profession, and witches, not,
as is popularly supposed, sporadic growths, were trained in schools of
magic to practise their art. These facts should be remembered when the
Church is blamed for the violence it displayed against witchcraft--it
was not individuals, but a system which it set out to destroy.

The essence of Satanism is desecration. In the ceremonies for infernal
evocation described by Eliphas Levi we read: "It is requisite to profane
the ceremonies of the religion one belongs to and to trample its holiest
symbols under foot."[223] This practice found a climax in desecrating
the Holy Sacrament. The consecrated wafer was given as food to mice,
toads, and pigs, or denied in unspeakable ways. A revolting description
of the Black Mass may be found in Huysmans's book _La-bas_. It is
unnecessary to transcribe the loathsome details here. Suffice it, then,
to show that this cult had a very real existence, and if any further
doubt remains on the matter, the life of Gilles de Rais supplies
documentary evidence of the visible results of black magic in the Middle
Ages.

Gilles de Rais was born at Machecoul in Brittany about the year 1404.
The first period of his life was glorious; the companion and guide of
Jeanne d'Arc, he became Marechal of France and distinguished himself by
many deeds of valour. But after dissipating his immense fortune, largely
on Church ceremonies carried out with the wildest extravagance, he was
led to study alchemy, partly by curiosity and partly as a means for
restoring his shattered fortunes. Hearing that Germany and Italy were
the countries where alchemy flourished, he enlisted Italians in his
service and was gradually drawn into the further region of magic.
According to Huysmans