‘As I came in the house, the young possessed girl saw me and she suddenly erupted with demonic evil. She began screaming profane language and started to growl and hiss. She slithered across the floor and went up the wall,’ said Monsignor John Esseff, a retired exorcist and guest speaker at last night’s Veritas event, ‘Deliver Us From Evil.’
Though it sounds like a scene directly from the 1972 horror flick ‘The Exorcist,’ students, Priest, community members, and faculty gathered in the Union multipurpose room last night to listen to a man who said he has witnessed the darkest phenomena human life has to offer.
Esseff has been an ordained Roman Catholic Priest for nearly 40 years and has performed over a hundred exorcisms. His preachings have taken him all over the world, working beside many religious figures, such as Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.
The event was hosted by Veritas, the Catholic student group on campus. Veritas President Jon Marc Grodi said the group was very lucky to have a real life exorcist speak on campus.
‘At first, Monsignor John was reluctant to come to the University,’ Grodi said. ‘There was a grad student who was a former member of Veritas and saw Monsignor John speak at a church retreat. He was so moved by what [Esseff] had to say, that he told us we had to get him come talk at the University. [Esseff] wasn’t interested at first, but then he prayed and decided our group of students was special.’
Biblical scriptures were read and prayers were chanted as the audience of all religious backgrounds absorbed Esseff’s sermon. He started the presentation reading the Book Of Revelations, which professes the origins of evil on earth.
‘In the scriptures he is called Lucifer, the bearer of light,’ Esseff said. ‘God created this magnificent choir of angels, pure spirits without assigned sex. Chapter 12 in the Book of Revelations says, a great battle broke out in the heavens. A huge red dragon arose from the sky with seven heads and ten horns. It’s tail swept a way a third of the stars in the sky and created darkness. The angels battled against the dragon and prevailed. The devil and his army, were thrown down to earth where his temptations have been lingering in our world since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.’
Esseff also spoke of his eyewitness account where he baptized a newborn child and experienced his first demonic encounter.
‘The family frantically called me immediately after the baptism,’ Esseff said. ‘I pulled up to the house and seen there was a fire. I went up to the second floor and asked what happened. The family told me they went up to the baby’s room and seen a small demonic creature. I thought okay, how about we come up with a name to call the spirit, for some reason the name Sixty Schwartz was said. I exorcised the spirit directly out of the home, and the next day, a stack of papers came to my desk with information about a local murderer named Sixty Schwartz who died fifteen years earlier.’
Some students who attended thought it was an impressive speech. ‘I thought the presentation was interesting and captivating,’ junior Andrea Ford said. ‘ I was disappointed that Monsignor John didn’t really get too in-depth about his actual exorcisms, but I thought the event was very positive and a great experience I enjoyed very much.’ ‘