Preface

The immense reunion of subjects all adherent by some point, which the Infernal Dictionary
includes, forms such a pandemonium of aberrations and germs or causes of errors, which almost
always coincide with truth, that there is only The Church, whose torch never palliates, can be, in
these eccentricities, a guide on. The writings which, before this book, have dealt with these
variegated subjects, and which are in every specialty extremely numerous, are generally, with
very few exceptions, only indigestible clusters of extravagant or incomplete ideas Compilations,
or interminable disorganized discussions, or bad books in every sense of the word. The reader,
who wishes to acquaint himself with this mysterious maze of false or natural beliefs, and to make
a collection of the rare and researched works, but very little read, of which they are the subject,
must consequently spend great sums, consecrate And to venture his faith in several cases. All
these expenses, all this trouble and peril will be spared by this new edition of the Infernal
Dictionary.
We say this new edition, because in the first two, published in 1818 and 1825, the author, in
combating the enormous phalanx of popular errors and mysterious impostures, has himself fallen
into equally disastrous mistakes. He then sought the truth out of his center; Instead of relying on
the Church, where it is always inalterable, he has dazzled himself by the light of a proud and
unprincipled philosophy, the teachings of which are taken from below for a long time to
frivolous minds.
Trained too long, he had, in 1841, the badge to go out of the steppes or the light it lacked and to
find it in the only doctrines where it is indefectible and always safe. He has therefore entirely
recast his works, recognizing that superstitions, mad beliefs, occult sciences and practices, more
or less tacit insurrections against religion, have come only from the deserters of the faith, or from
heresy, or by schism, or by less determined routes.
Any man who studies history with right intentions will recognize that the Church has constantly
struggled against superstitions and infernal tricks; That it never ceased to spread the light on
false beliefs, on the mad terrors, and on the perilous practices of the doctors of the secret
sciences.
To quote only a few testimonies, St. Augustine says that superstitions are the opprobrium of the
human race. Origin condemns them with greater force than the encyclopedists, and especially
with greater weight. Pope Leon X noted with infamy those who indulged in divination and
superficial practices. The fourth council of Carthage excluded them from the assembly of the
faithful. The provincial council held at Toulouse in 1590 orders the confessors and preachers to
derail, by frequent exhortations and solid reasons, the superstitious practices which ignorance has
introduced into religion. The Council of Trent, after having condemned these various errors,
formally enjoins the bishops to defend to the faithful all that can lead them to superstition and to
scandalize their neighbor.
We would meet, if necessary, a thousand such testimonies. Let us content ourselves with adding,
without fear of a denial of any weight that the Church has only the means and graces necessary
to dispel these mistakes, so often dangerous and always abominable.
What perhaps has not been sufficiently remarked in the midst of the interessed clamors of the
philosophers, is, that the only men who live free from superstition are the faithful children of the
Church, because they alone possess the truth. The doubtful, on the contrary, all seem to justify
this great word, that those who separate themselves from God are misled; For among them the
most incredulous are also the most superstitious. They reject the dogmas revealed, and they turn
to the ghosts; They are afraid of the number 13, they have a prejudice against Friday; They seek
the explanation of dreams; They consult card readers; They study the future in combinations of
figures; They dread presages. We have quoted a scholar of our day who pursues the elixir of life;
A famous mathematician who believes peoples elements by cabalistic essences; A philosopher
who does not know if he believes in God and who executes the ceremonies of the book to bring
the devil.