Many Religious People Believed These Girls Were Possessed By the Devil
In multiple cases that we have mentioned thus far, there were several people who didn’t believe this was a gift from God. Many believed that it was actually the opposite, and that these girls were possessed by the Devil, who was stopping them from wanting to eat. In the case of Martha Taylor, Protestant Dr. John Reynolds scoffed at the idea that the Devil would even bother to possess a young girl. He believed that the Devil would go after bigger targets in seats of power. However, there are multiple Catholic texts that support this theory. Saint Prosper, of Aquitaine, speaks of a young girl possessed by a devil, and who went seventy days without eating. Notwithstanding this long fast, she did not become emaciated, because every night at twelve o’clock a bird sent by the devil took a mysterious nourishment to her.