The Chain that Sets Free

Father Francesco Bamonte’s witness to the power of the Holy Rosary in his book, Possessioni diabolici ed esorcismo (Paoline, 2006) so impressed me that I decided to translate it for the readers of Vultus Christi. Father Bamonte is one of the teachers of the course on Exorcism and the Prayer of Deliverance given at the Pontifical Atheneum Regina Apostolorum in Rome.

Concerning the Holy Rosary, once while the priest placed a rosary around the neck of the person who was being exorcised, all of a sudden the demon began crying out, “It is crushing me, it weighs on me, it is crushing me, this chain with the Cross on the end of it.” The exorcist exclaimed, “From this day forward this sister of ours will pray the Rosary every day.” Immediately the demon replied, “But you are so few who say it (the Rosary), compared to the whole world!” It is just as well for me that it should be so, because it (the Rosary) harms me. You invoke That One (referring to our Lady), you make me remember the life of That One (referring to the life of Jesus meditated in the mysteries of the Rosary).

Another day, while exorcising the demon, the exorcist pulled a rosary out of his pocket; immediately the demon cried out: “Take away that chain, take away that chain!” “What chain?” “The one with the Cross on the end. She whips us with that chain.” This, of course is metaphorical language; it makes us understand, all the same, in very concrete terms, the power of the Rosary and how much the devil fears it.

There are certain situations of spiritual bondage and patterns of sin that, by a mysterious disposition of God’s providence, are broken only by perseverance in the humble prayer of the Rosary. A holy Passionist priest here in Rome, one of the chief exorcists of the diocese, teaches that the Rosary is the most powerful of prayers in overcoming the forces of evil in one’s life. The Rosary is, in fact, a “preaching to the meek.” It “heals the contrite of heart,” and “brings release to the captives.” It is “deliverance to those who are shut up” (cf. Is 61:1).