Curse of the Monks of St. Martial
In a Catholic ambience teeming with ecumenism and erroneous romantic ideas of charity, it is opportune to bring to TIA’s readers the full text of one of the most complete medieval curses that History has conserved. It reveals that there is nothing wrong with cursing the enemies of Holy Mother Church so long as they do not convert and continue to harm her. We publish this text with the hope that many Catholics can realize how incomplete and partial is the notion of charity that we have received, which tells us to always forgive enemies and never wish evil for anyone.
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Historical notice: St. Martial came from Rome to Gaul in the 3rd century. He preached the Gospel in Limoges, France, formed a Catholic community there and became its first Bishop. He suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Roman authorities. His tomb, just outside the city, became the focal point of pilgrimages for many generations. In 848 the canons in charge of the site and his relics became monks and adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. The Abbey of St. Martial was one of the most prosperous and influential religious communities in Western France.
Below is the text of a curse the monks issued against unnamed enemies. The parts in italics are transcriptions from or mentions to the Holy Scriptures.
We hereby inform you, brothers, that certain evil men are devastating the land of our lord [Abbot] Martial. They are invading, preying upon and destroying it; they are harming our poor tenants, taking from them what little they have and that which is designated to serve St. Martial, the lord Abbot and the monks. They behave like those who said: “Let us take possession for ourselves of the sanctuary of God” (Ps 82:13). So those who
have overrun and taken the land of St. Martial do not serve the lord Abbot and the monks.
May they be cursed and excommunicated and anathematized from the consortium of all the faithful Christians of God. May the curse of all the Saints of God come upon them (Deut 28:15, 45). May the Angels and Archangels of God curse them. May the Patriarchs and Prophets curse them. May all the Apostles and all the Martyrs and all the Confessors and all the Virgins and especially St. Martial – who they are treating so badly – curse them. May he destroy and confound them, and dispel them from the face of the earth (cf. Jer 1:10; Ps 1:4; Josh 23:13, 15).
May all these curses come upon them and seize them (Deut 28:15, 45). May they be cursed in the town. May they be cursed in the fields (Deut 28:16). May they be cursed inside their houses and outside their houses. May they be cursed standing and sitting. May they be cursed lying down and walking. May they be cursed when asleep and when awake. May they be cursed while eating and while drinking. May they be cursed in the castles and in the villages (cf. Gen 25:16; 2 Macc 8:6; Matt 9:35; Luke 8:1, 9:12, 13:22). May they be cursed in the forests and in the waters. May their wives and their children (cf. Deut 28:4, 18; Ps 108:9) and all who associate with them be cursed (Esther 14:13; Acts 5:36, 37). May their cellars be cursed (cf. Deut 28:8), as well as their casks and all the vessels from which they drink and eat.
May their vineyards and their crops and their forests be cursed. May their servants, if they remain loyal to them (Esther 14:13; Acts 5:36, 37), be cursed. May all their cattle and their work animals, both inside and outside the stables, be cursed (cf. Deut 28:4, 11, 51, 30:9). May the Lord send upon them hunger (Deut 28:20) and thirst, pestilence and death until they are wiped off the earth (Deut 28:21). May the Lord strike them with heat and cold (Deut 28:22). May the Lord fling their bodies as bait to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the land (Deut 28:26).May the Lord strike them from the bottoms of their feet to the tops of their heads (Deut 28:35). May their homes be deserted and may no one inhabit them (Ps 68:25).
May they lose what they have, and may they not acquire what they do not have. Without, may the sword lay them waste, and terror within (Deut 32:25). If they sow seeds in the earth may they reap little (Deut 28:38) and if they plant vines may they not drink wine from them (Deut 28:30, 39). May the Lord send great plagues upon them, and the worst, most relentless illnesses (cf. Deut 28:39) unless they change their ways (cf. Deut 28:38). But if they are unwilling to change (Deut 28:15), then. Let them accept from God and St. Martial damnation with the Devil and his angels in Hell and may they burn in eternal fire (Matt 25:41) with Dalthan and Abiron (Num 16:1-33).
Amen, amen (Deut 27:15-26). Thus may all memory of them be extinguished forever and ever (Deut 32:26; Job 18:17; Ps 9:7, 33:17, 108:15; Eccles 10:17, 44:9).
Lester K. Little, Benedictine Maledictions – Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France,
Cornell University Press, 1993, pp. 60-61; Historical notice, pp. 10-11.
Posted on June 22, 2024
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