Saint Theophilus the Penitent or Theophilus of Adana (died c. 538) made a pact with the devil to gain an ecclesiastical position. His story is significant as it is the oldest story of a devil contract, and was an inspiration for the Faust legend. His feast day is February 4.
Legend
Eutyches, who claimed to be an eyewitness of the events, is the first to record Theophilus' story. Although Theophilus is considered to be an historical personage, the tale asociated with him is of an apocryphal nature.
Theophilus was the archdeacon of Adana, Cilicia which is part of modern Turkey. He was unanimously elected to be a bishop, but turned the position down out of humility. Another man was elected in his stead. When the new bishop unjustly deprived Thophilus of his position as archdeacon, Theophilus regreted his humilty and sought out a wizard to help him contact Satan. In exchange for his aid, Satan demanded that Theophilus renounce Christ and the Virgin Mary in a contract signed with his own blood. Theophilus complied, and the devil gave him the position as bishop.
Years later, fearful for his soul, Theophilus repented and prayed to the Virgin for forgiveness. After 40 days of fasting, the Virgin appeared to him and said, "O Theophilus, what hast thou done? Thou hast renounced My friendship and that of My Son, and for whom? For His and My enemy." To which Theophilus replied, "O Lady, thou must pardon me, and obtain my forgiveness from Thy Son." And Mary said, "Be of good heart; I will intercede for thee with God." He then fasted a further thirty days, at which time Mary appeared to him again, and granted him absolution. However, Satan was unwilling to relinquish his hold over Theophilus, and it was a further three days before Theophilus awoke to find the damning contract on his chest. He then took the contract to the legitimate bishop and confessed all that he had done. The bishop burned the document, and Theophilus expired, out of sheer joy to be free from the burden of his contract.
Variations
Different retellings of the tale introduce variations of certain details, including:
- Theophilus' motivation for pursuing a deal with the devil is simple jealousy.
- The magician is specifically refered to as a Jew. This is an important variation in that it introduces a sub-text of anti-semitism into the story.
- The magician is omited completely, Theophilus deals with the devil alone.
- Theophilus repents the day after he makes his deal, as the bishop appologizes to him.
- Mary appears immediately after Theophilus begins to pray.
- Mary doesn't appear at all, but Theophilus' contract appears on his chest the morning after he first prays.
- The devil provided Theophilus with great wealth in additon to his position in the church. This wealth is then distributed to the poor before Theophilus' ecstatic death.
Importance
This story played a role in establishing the importance of the intercession of the Virgin Mary, in addition to providing a basis for later tales involving the conjuration of devils.
The Virgin Mary increased in importance throughout the 11th century. The story was used to illustrate the power and necessity of her intercession by Peter Damian, Bernard of Clairvaux, Anthony of Padua, Bonaventure and much later on by Alphonsus Liguori.
The story of Saint Theophilus is an important example in the development of the theology of witchcraft. As seen in the tale, the summoning of devils was not originally considered to be a damning sin, this changed during the 14th century when Nicolas Eymeric codified the mandate of the Inquisition in the Directorium Inquisitorum, after which, Theophilus would have been branded a heretic for his association with the devil. In contrast the tale of Doctor Faust, which evolved during and after the 16th century and was based on the tale of Saint Theophilus ends with Faust being carried off to hell despite his pleas to the Virgin.
References
External Links
The National Library of the Netherlands has a collection of images pertaining to Saint Theophilus.
