ad been entrusted
to Jean Mignon and Pierre Barre, who had in the most unmistakable manner
shown themselves to be the mortal enemies of the petitioner; that in
the reports drawn up by the said Jean Mignon and Pierre Barre, which
differed so widely from those made by the bailiff and the civil
lieutenant, it was boastfully alleged that three or four times devils
had been driven out, but that they had succeeded in returning and taking
possession of their victims again and again, in virtue of successive
pacts entered into between the prince of darkness and the petitioner;
that the aim of these reports and allegations was to destroy the
reputation of the petitioner and excite public opinion against him; that
although the demons had been put to flight by the arrival of His Grace,
yet it was too probable that as soon as he was gone they would return
to the charge; that if, such being the case, the powerful support of
the archbishop were not available, the innocence of the petitioner, no
matter how strongly established, would by the cunning tactics of his
inveterate foes be obscured and denied: he, the petitioner, therefore
prayed that, should the foregoing reasons prove on examination to be
cogent, the archbishop would be pleased to prohibit Barre, Mignon, and
their partisans, whether among the secular or the regular clergy, from
taking part in any future exorcisms, should such be necessary, or in the
control of any persons alleged to be possessed; furthermore, petitioner
prayed that His Grace would be pleased to appoint as a precautionary
measure such other clerics and lay persons as seemed to him suitable,
to superintend the administration of food and medicine and the rite of
exorcism to those alleged to be possessed, and that all the treatment
should be carried out in the presence of magistrates.

The archbishop accepted the petition, and wrote below it:

"The present petition having been seen by us and the opinion of our
attorney having been taken in the matter, we have sent the petitioner in
advance of our said attorney back to Poitiers, that justice may be done
him, and in the meantime we have appointed Sieur Barre, Pere l'Escaye,
a Jesuit residing in Poitiers, Pere Gaut of the Oratory, residing at
Tours, to conduct the exorcisms, should such be necessary, and have
given them an order to this effect.

"It is forbidden to all others to meddle with the said exorcisms, on
pain of being punished according to law."

It wi