The practice of wearing or using protective charms, amulets, or objects in order to ward off evil has been around since ancient times. Sometimes the wearing of blessed medals or the use of certain sacred objects, a practice that still remains very common in Catholicism, is believed to offer protection against evil spirits and demonic entities.
Many believe special medals referred to as the “Medals of St. Benedict” are the most potent objects in the barring of malevolent or demonic entities. St. Benedict was the founder of the Benedictine monastic order, and many stories involving the barring or thwarting of evil or demonic forces are credited to him.
The front of a St. Benedict medal portrays him holding a cross in his right hand and an unfurled scroll on which he wrote the rules of behavior for the Benedictine monks in his left. Behind him is a cup of poison, which symbolizes a specific story regarding one of his miracles. According to the story, when a servant of evil offered St. Benedict a poisoned goblet, the man of God made the sign of the cross, and the goblet immediately shattered. A loaf of poisoned bread that the man had also offered to Benedict was then set upon by a raven that flew away with it, thwarting the man’s plan to kill the monk.
The back of a St. Benedict medal shows a cross along with a specific series of letters, VRS-NSMV-SMQL-IVB. These letters were first discovered written on crosses hung throughout the interior of the Benedictine Abbey of Metten. The discovery was made after several women who were being tried for witchcraft claimed to have been quite unable to work their spells near that building.
For some time, the meaning of the letters remained a mystery until a manuscript from 1417 was discovered. These letters, which stand for the words Benedict supposedly spoke when the agent of the devil attempted to poison him, were later used to form the following prayer of protection and exorcism:
Vade retro Satana (Step back Satan)
Numquam suade mihi vana (Tempt me not with vain things)
Sunt mala quae libas (What you offer is evil)
Ipse venena bibas (Drink the poison yourself)
Many other objects are considered effective in protecting oneself against malevolent spiritual influences. For the most part, any sacred religious object in which the wearer/holder has faith can offer protection against demonic forces.
Some of the most commonly used objects for protection against evil or demonic forces are as follows:
- Holy water
- Blessed salts
- Anointment oils
- Crosses, crucifixes, or rosaries
- A pentagram, pointing upward (for Wiccans)
While they can be powerful, demons are in no way all-powerful. As long as humans have been aware of the demonic, they’ve also been aware of the means to battle them