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on august 11 1676
a group of nuns were enjoying a choir
performance in a convent in sicily's
palma di monte chiaro
when they noticed one of their members
sister maria was missing
they quickly left to go find her
searching through the hallways and rooms
of the large monastery
after looking around for a time maria
was still missing so the nuns decided to
search her living quarters
as they neared the door they became
enveloped in fear
hearing screams and gasps coming from
the other side the nuns flung open the
door
and what they saw would become part of a
horrifying and bizarre mystery for the
next 300 years
demonic possession has been a popular
tale of horror through the centuries
rising up in popularity every few years
in the form of books movies and
television
shows in reality true cases of demonic
possession throughout history were few
and far between
this is especially true in more recent
history with ever advancing medical
science to explain human behavior and
other phenomena
before the days of modern science
however mankind often looked to their
faith and religious leaders to help cope
with things they couldn't understand
while the scientific revolution was in
full swing by the tail end of the
renaissance and reformation periods
europe was largely still a world of
angels and demons during the late 1600s
faith was an important aspect of
everyday life and prominent members of
the church were revered for the strength
of their faith
the nuns of palma de monte chiaro were
no exception
every aspect of their lives were devoted
to the service of god above and beyond
the piety of average members of society
being so close to god one would think
they'd be the last to have their faith
go astray
so it was especially harrowing when one
of their own began struggling with her
faith
acting erratically and eventually
falling victim to possible demonic
forces
that used her body to leave behind a
cryptic coded message
this is the story of sister maria
crucificia de la contezone's letter from
the devil
sister maria was born isabella tomasi to
prince giulio tomasi di lampedusa in
sicily who was an ancestor to the
renowned italian writer
giuseppe tomasi de lampedusa not much is
known about maria's mother or what her
own childhood was like before she joined
the monastery
she entered the convent at age 15
beginning her spiritual journey of
devoting her life to god while she was
still just a child
the palma di monte chiara was a
benedictine convent which meant it
followed the teachings of saint benedict
who founded the benedictine order in the
6th century making it the oldest
religious order of the western church
the life of a nun is not an easy path
usually involving vows of poverty
chastity and obedience with many waking
hours devoted to prayer in an isolated
monastery
it's credible that the 17th century
benedictine teachings
were especially severe for the nuns at
the palma di monte chiaro with high
expectations to prefer nothing
to the work of god
at first sister maria seemed to fall in
line and adjust to her new life with the
other nuns at the convent
keeping up with her studies and
following along with their customs and
traditions
she was involved in the choir and over
time became a skilled linguist
studying latin greek and arabic
languages amongst others
it's unknown exactly when her behavior
began to change but at some point
sister maria began to suffer from
alarming fainting spells during prayer
at the altar
she would let out a chilling scream that
echoed off the walls before passing out
cold
maria's behavior became more erratic
over time and she became paranoid and
fearful
warning the other nuns that the devil
would tempt her to serve evil rather
than the good of god
at one point sister maria decided to go
to confession where she would sit behind
a divider and confess her sins to a
priest and ask for god's forgiveness
confession is a crucial aspect to
keeping one's faith strong and maria
likely hoped this would help ease her
escalating troubles
during this particular session however
her behavior changed suddenly and she
began speaking disrespectfully to the
priest
as if someone else was controlling what
she said she didn't realize her
transgression until after the session
and became increasingly distraught a few
days later
everything would come to a head after
maria would fail to show up to a choir
performance
the night before her absence sister
maria was alone in her room when she
began experiencing a slew of fainting
spells
more overwhelming than usual fading in
and out of consciousness
she felt as though a force was taking
over her body without realizing what was
happening
maria grabbed a quilt and some parchment
and began scribbling out strange symbols
across the paper
the likes of which no human being had
seen before
maria continued etching out the symbols
hours into the night her mind not fully
present but her handwriting frantically
as if driven by a demonic force
by the time the nuns found her in her
room the next morning she was in such a
frightening state that she was almost
unrecognizable
she was seated on the floor exhausted
and gasping for breath
the left side of her face smeared black
with ink
besides the shock of her disheveled
appearance she was surrounded by pages
of a long bizarre letter
each page containing unintelligible
lines of obscure symbols that didn't
match any known language
unable to stand up the nuns helped maria
lay on the ground and asked her what
happened
what she told them was so shocking that
one of the nuns mother soar maria
ceravica
drew up a report of her story in the
haunting incident recounting
she said that having confessed days
before the demons told her that many
words had spoken of irreverence toward
her confessor
she saw herself surrounded by a great
number of furious evil spirits sent by
order of infernal lucifer
and taking the paper and the pen that
sister maria crucifissa had in order to
write and commanding one of those damned
spirits to write
lucifer was immediately obeyed and while
dictated what he wrote
the words were all against god
no one but sister maria herself knew the
specificity of what the letter said
the only legible were to contain alas
was found at the bottom of the page
positioned as if maria had signed the
letter off with it nonetheless from what
they had experienced together that day
the nuns concluded that the letter was
part of an elaborate scheme by lucifer
to turn maria away from god
besides the understood opposition to god
the specific words and phrases hidden in
the demonic symbols of the letters would
remain a mystery
for over 300 years it wasn't until 2017
that a group of researchers from the
ludum science center in sicily were able
to decode most of the pages
strangely enough they discovered an
algorithm on the dark web that they were
able to use to help decipher it
along with a military-grade decryption
software the symbols turn out to be a
scrambled combination of arabic greek
runic alphabet and latin
all languages maria had learned during
her studies while 30
of the letter was still indecipherable
the phrases that were able to be
translated were indeed demonic
the phrases have a cynical and
irreverent tone throughout one line
reads
god thinks he can free mortals this
system works for no one
the letter goes on to describe god jesus
and the holy spirit as deadweights and
created by man
god does not exist trinity is fake there
is only me
one of the strangest portions of the
translated letter cryptically references
something not a part of christianity
but the river that separates the living
from the underworld in ancient greek
mythology
perhaps now styx is certain
whether she eventually recovered from
her ordeal or continued to struggle
against her demons
sister maria's fate is unknown 345 years
later she's become mostly a figure of
mystery and legend but in the quest to
study as many details of this chilling
mystery as possible
ludum science center director daniele
abate was able to construct a
psychological profile of maria
that offers a possible medical
explanation for her torments
i personally believe that the nun had a
good command of languages
which allowed her to invent the code and
may have suffered from a condition like
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder which
made her imagine dialogue with the devil
we believe that life as a noblewoman in
the cloister caused her a lot of
psychophysical stress
and this letter is the result of a
bipolar disorder but we were surprised
to have found an overall logical sense
despite the fact that 30
of the document remained
incomprehensible
[Music]
it's very possible that sister maria's
lifestyle of strict devotion to piety
and isolation could have in some ways
aggravated her mental health
and plunged her into a crisis it's
feasible that with her eminent
linguistic skills
creating this letter was a way of coping
with the pressure of her life in the
stress of her condition
with the absence of modern medical
science we'll never know exactly how
many of these cases of possession
hysteria or other phenomena were
actually instances of a mental health
crisis
misunderstood and therefore feared
even in recent history our understanding
of mental health and its importance is
still rapidly evolving
with perspectives shifting from
neurotypical understandings of mental
wellness to an effort of centering
neurodivergent experiences and
destigmatizing mental illness
whether explained by science or the
paranormal sister maria's letter from
lucifer is certainly one of the most
hair-raising mysteries
to be born out of italian history
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