Book Review: Begone Satan!

The book Begone Satan follows two priests' ordeal with an exorcism of a forty year-old woman in Earling, Iowa. In the beginning of the book, Father Theophilus Riesinger O.M.Cap., asks Father Joseph Steiger if he can use his parish as the setting of an exorcism. Fr. Steiger agrees the use of the facility only if Mother Superior of the convent, which was attached to the church, complied. She consents and the scene is set for the exorcism.

The women being exorcised is a forty year old woman who had been filled with the demons since she was fourteen years-old. At first the priests do not know the cause of the demons but later find out that both her Aunt Mina, who was one of the demons, and her father Jacob, also a demon, placed curses on her when she was young. She was a very pious woman but the demons prevented her from leading a normal life. She had been examined by doctors of all sorts to try and discover a reason for her behavior but none could be found. So she agrees to go along with the exorcism.

The book is a battle between the forces of good and evil right from the start. As soon as the first prayer is said on the first day she jumped and clung to a wall in the church. For most of the book the woman is unconscious and the demons are talking through her. The priests encounter 4 powerful demons along with countless weaker demons. The four demons are Mina, the woman's aunt and Jacob's mistress, Jacob, her father who tried to rape her when she was younger, Judas Iscariot, disciple of Jesus¹, and Beelzebub, chieftain of the forces of evil. These are spirits who the priests converse with among the screaming and other sounds.

The exorcism lasted for 23 days. It was a very consuming process of all parties involved. In the book Fr. Theophilus is said to be in excellent condition but by the end he looks as if he aged twenty years. The exorcism is a trying time for everyone involved. It almost claimed the life of Fr. Steiger when Satan tried to scare him out of completing the exorcism. After over 3 three weeks, and lots of praying, the demons leave the woman.

At first I thought that this book would be boring and dull. However, it was surprisingly interesting and a good read. It really is amazing how the power of God can be used to accomplish such an amazing task as driving demons from someone. I think that if the media portrayed exorcisms as they really are, more people would be interested it what really goes on. This book was far more graphic than any movie that I have seen on the topic. It really is a gruesome experience and the book vividly paints a picture of what happened.