The Armour of Faith

"Throughout the whole vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, so dreaded and abhorred, yet endowed with such fearful fascination as the vampire." — Montague Summers ("The Origin of the Vampire," The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, 1928)

In November 1215, the Catholic Church officially recognised the existence of vampires during the Fourth Lateran Council of Catholic Church Leaders in Rome. They are defined as predatory demons manifesting in corporeal form which appearance is sustained through the quaffing of the blood of the living.

Demons can take any desired appearance, even that of an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11: 14).

"13. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."

(2 Corinthians 11: 13-15)

They are nevertheless generally described as ugly and monstrous beings by Christian demonologists. Many of these descriptions have inspired famous painters such as Luca Signorelli, Hieronymus Bosch, Goya, the artist who made the drawings for the Dictionnaire Infernal, amongst others.

The Devil in particular has been popularly symbolised as various animals, including the serpent, the goat and the dragon.

Incubi and succubi are described as being beautiful in order to accomplish their mission of seduction.

The idea that demons have horns seems to have been taken from the Book of Revelation (chapter 13).

Albertus Magnus said of demonology: "A daemonibus docetur, de daemonibus docet, et ad daemones ducit."

Christian demonology states that the mission of demons is to induce humans to commit sin, often by testing their faith in God. However, that most malign of them all is both predatory and biocidal.

It is also believed that demons torment people during their life or through possession (Matthew 17: 15-16), or simply by showing themselves before persons to terrify them, or by provoking visions that could induce people to sin or to be afraid.

Demons are also believed to try to tempt people into abandoning their faith, commit heresy or apostasy, remain or turn themselves pagan or venerate evil idols and objects (cult images), and gain the highest number of adversaries of God. (Ephesians 6: 12)

In the Gospel of Luke, it is stated that demons walk "arid places," and finding no rest return to their previous home.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11: 24-26)

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." — C S  Lewis