All you need to know about Italian history is that Italian has 9 (nine) words to describe someone who’s been possessed by demons, and each and every one of those words describes a different kind of demonic possession.
Okay, so – posseduto would be your garden-variety demonic possession. Like in English, it literally means owned, and the general idea is that the demon has full control of your mind and body. Ossesso is what we call a person who is possessed enough to be led to act in a very weird way (ossessi usually do spectacular, theatrical or obscene things) but in this case, the demon’s control is not strong enough to force the person to commit a sin. The word comes from a Latin root meaning ‘to be under siege’.
(It should be noted that, according to the Catholic Church, a demon cannot blot out a person’s free will completely and cannot sully their soul, either, because both of those things were given to us by God.)
Next we have invasato, which, sadly, has nothing to do with pots (vasi) and is instead an old version of the past participle of invadere (’to invade’). An invasato is similar to an ossesso in that the person possessed does not have the capacity to act rationally because the demon doesn’t have full control over them. For this reason, the word can also be used metaphorically when describing someone who’s behaving erratically under the influence of strong emotions (invasato di gelosia, di rabbia). Another word which is normally used metaphorically but actually indicates a demonic possession is indemoniato, which can be used to describe a full surrender of control to an evil entity. It’s easy to see the etymology there – it comes from demonio (demon or Devil) – and since the Devil has many names, his attacks can be termed accordingly – hence assatanato or insatanassato, from Satanasso (a nickname for Satana), which can also mean ‘horny’ (sadly, that has to do with actual horns, not with demons).
Spiritato (inhabited by a spirito) is a fun word, and native English speakers learning Italian shouldn’t confuse it with spirited (Italian: acceso, vivo) – that can lead to some very akward conversation. Spirito is always difficult to translate, but in this case it is synonym with spirito maligno, and therefore ‘demon’ – even if regional folklore still recognizes a number of supernatural creatures that aren’t traditional Christian demons.
On top of all that, there are two other kinds of demonic possession in which a demon doesn’t have full control of the person: the tentazione (when a person is pushed towards sinning) and the vessazione (when a person is tormented or made to be sick). Furthermore, there are plenty of other delightful words which indicate that some kind of funny business may be going on and a person may not be fully in control of, or responsible for, their own actions and opinions, but in these cases, demons are not to blame – could be God, or maybe some kind of mental health issue, or simply what humans are like: a few of them are esaltato (for stuff that trascends the human experience), acceso, infervorato and infuocato (all three words have to do with heat), forsennato (fuori senno, ie ‘out of mind’) and fanatico (from Latin fanum, temple). A special mention is warranted for infatuato, because at first glance it is connected with fairies (fata) but sadly, that would be a false association: fata come from Latin fata (’destiny’), while infatuato has to do with Latin fatuus (’feeble-minded’), so the idea is more losing your mind than surrendering it to someone else.
Just as background information – the Catholic Church considers demonic possession a real phenomenon. Symptoms include:
- to be able to speak or understand previously unknown languages;
- to know things one shouldn’t know;
- to show supernatural or superhuman strength;
- and to be violently opposed to the name and images of the saints.
That said, nowadays the ritual of exorcism can be carried out only with the approval of a Bishop and after a medical diagnosis has excluded the presence of mental illnesses. At the moment, there are 404 exorcists who are officially certified by the Vatican; 240 of them live and work in Italy. There are no statistics on how many people request an exorcism, but that number is thought to be very high – in Milan, for instance, the local exorcist receives more than 7000 calls a year (according to the same office, which can now boast of a sound-proof room, around 2% of cases originate in actual demon possession, while the others can be traced back to medical problems).
Also, as someone who’s generally agnostic in her approach to the supernatural – okay, maybe there’s something to these stories, who knows, but please – never give money or power over your life to ‘healers’ or priests who claim they can rid you of evil influences, curses and/or demonic possession. There are many things the Catholic Church does I don’t agree with, but I have to admit they’re sort of reasonable in how they approach this issue in that they always consult with doctors and psychologists before wheeling out the holy water. So, really – if you’re interested in this subject, go and read about it, but remember to keep your head firmly attached to your body at all times.
Published
funeral-biscuit 