The Possession of Lady Elisabeth de Ranfaing – The Possession Diaries part IV

Mademoiselle de Ranfaing was perhaps the first person to be considered “truly” possessed by something, and her predicament was all seemingly caused by love potions.

Her story was investigated and included in the book “Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants of Hungary, Moravia, et al” by an Abbot named Antoine Augustin Calmet, or Dom Calmet, who was a Benedictine scholar.

Welcome to part four of the Possession Diaries.

Dom Calmet, disbelieving of the case of the Loudun Possessions, compared and contrasted them to other cases of possession which he believed were more likely to be genuine.

One of these was a judicial case of the possession of Elisabeth de Ranfaing, who was widowed in 1617 aged 24 and later offered marriage by a doctor (or “physician” in those days) named Charles Poirot. Later on, that selfsame doctor was burned to death for practicing magic.

Marie Elisabeth de Ranfaing (born 30th October 1592 at Remiremont, Lorraine to lesser nobles Jean-Lienard Ranfaing and Claude de Magnieres) was also known as Marie Elisabeth de la Croix de Jesus, and was the French founder of the Order of Refuge. She was a Catholic.

Her parents forced her to marry Francois Dubois, a much older nobleman. She had no interest in marrying him, so she ran away to the monastery.

In 1618, they found her, she was married to Dubois, and had three children with him.

Later in the year Elisabeth became “demonically possessed” at a social event. The possession lasted until 1625. A French professor and early sceptic, Claude Pithoys, was summoned to exorcise her but suspected Ranfaing’s behaviour was influenced by drugs provided by Charles Poirot. She was having convulsions that looked similar to the stereotypical idea of demonic possession.

After Elisabeth rejected Poirot, he had been giving her philtres to try to make her become infatuated with him. The philtres or potions caused strange changes to her health, for which she asked him for help, and he then gave her other forms of medicine.

The strange illnesses she suffered from were not curable by the different physicians who tried to treat her and eventually she underwent a series of exorcisms, prescribed by some of the physicians who had examined her.

Professor Pithoys was dismissed and they sent for another doctor, Remy Pichard, to perform the exorcism.

They began the exorcisms in September 1619.

During the rites, the demon possessing her spoke detailed and eloquent replies in various languages – French, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Italian.

The demon was reportedly able to read and speak aloud the thoughts and sins of the individuals who were attempting to help her.

Mademoiselle Ranfaing was also able to describe (in detail, using different languages), the rites and secrets of the Church to experts.

At one point during an exorcism, the demon interrupted the exorcist who made a mistake while reciting the rite in Latin, and corrected his speech, mocking him for the error.

Charles Poirot was burned in 1622 for his “witchcraft”. Ranfaing claimed Poirot had bespelled her into demonic possession.

In more modern times, skeptics questioned how the drugs could have continued to affect Elisabeth for seven years and posited the theory that she faked her possession to integrate herself into France’s religious society.

On the 1st of January, 1631 Elisabeth founded the Order of Refuge (Ordre de Notre-Dame du Refuge) for women trying to heal from a life of prostitution. In 1634, Pope Urban VIII approved the Order.

Elisabeth passed away on the 14th January 1649 in Nancy, France.

In the second book of The Nighthunter series (a work in progress), the children who are cursed with the ability to summon Ghosts and Witches have similar signs of possession to what Elisabeth portrayed whenever they are under stress, though the Ghosts and Witches don’t actually possess them… they just feed on the fear in the surroundings and wreak havoc.

– The Possession Diaries Part I

– The Possession Diaries Part II

– The Possession Diaries Part III

More parts of The Possession Diaries:

There will be more about Dom Calmet’s book very soon…