The Devil Came Before His Execution

This Catholic Lent reflection shares a powerful true story of a condemned prisoner who faced the Devil on the night before his execution. In this 1700s Catholic account, Satan demands that he renounce Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, and the Virgin Mary — in exchange for his life.

Transcript

He was condemned to die. Execution was set for dawn. The night was almost over. Chains on his hands. No appeal remaining. And the only prayer that he continued to repeat in his cell was the one that his mother taught him when he was a young boy. So, how did this all happen? Welcome to episode 2 of Lent Daily, where we're sharing stories from Catholic tradition marked by a sign and wonder of God that call us to conversion. Today's story happens in the hour of death when a sinner calls out to the blessed virgin Mary and heaven answers.

Father Razi of the Camel De order records this account. A young man loses his father. His mother sends him to the court of a prince for education and the hope of advancement in life. She herself has a great devotion to the blessed virgin Mary. When they part, she asks for one promise that each day he recite a Hail Mary and that he adds these words, "Blessed virgin, help me in the hour of my death." She is concerned for his soul, so she gives him a daily prayer meant to endure whatever comes. At first, life at court goes well, but slowly his conduct changes. He begins to live dissolutely, not all at once, but enough that his master can no longer keep him. He is dismissed. With no position and no income, he leaves the court. Ashamed and alone, he drifts into the countryside. There he becomes a highway robber. The course of his life has changed. He has lost his place, any rule over his life, and the limits that once restrained him at the prince's court. But one thing remains that prayer his mother taught him to pray daily. In time his life catches up with him. He is arrested, brought before justice, condemned to death. The night before his execution, he is held in prison alone, knowing what awaits him at dawn. Everything has narrowed now. There is no escape, no delay, no distraction left. only the truth of what he has become and what he's about to lose. He thinks of his disgrace, of the grief his mother will suffer, of the death now certain. Overcome by sorrow, he weeps bitterly. Nothing stands between him and death now. And it is in this moment that someone appears. A young man, beautiful in appearance, calm in speech. He promises release, freedom from prison, escape from death. Everything about him suggests rescue. Nothing suggests danger. There is one condition. The prisoner must follow his directions. Desperate, the young man agrees. The visitor tells him the truth. He reveals that he is the devil and that no gift comes without a price. The first demand is made. The devil tells him to renounce Jesus Christ. Terrified, the prisoner consents. Christ is denied. Then a second demand. He must renounce the holy sacraments. Cut off from grace, he consents again. The sacraments are abandoned. Then comes the third demand. He must renounce the Virgin Mary in her protection. At this, the young man recoils. This I will never do. He turns to Mary and repeats the prayer his mother taught him. Blessed virgin, help me in the hour of my death. At those words, the offer collapses. The devil disappears. The cell is silent. But the night is not over because what follows is contrition. Before dawn, the young man weeps. The sentence is coming. He remembers what he has done. He turns again to the blessed virgin Mary. Through her intercession, he is given true sorrow for his sins. With tears, he makes a confession. He prepares to die.

Morning comes. He is led from prison toward the place of execution. As he walks, he passes before a statue of the Virgin Mary. As he always has, he prays, "Blessed virgin, help me in the hour of my death." Then comes an answer. In full view of the crowd, the statue lowers her head in response to his prayer. Moved, the young man begs to kiss her feet. Now, at first, the executioner refuses, but the crowds cry out and permission is granted. As he bends to kiss the statue's feet, the virgin extends her arm. She takes him by the hand. She holds him so firmly that no one can move him. Not the executioners, not the sentence, not death itself. The execution is interrupted. At the sight of this, the crowds shout, "Pardon! Pardon!" And pardon is granted. The pardon spares his life. He returns to his country. His life is changed, not because death was taken away, but because mercy was given. The Virgin Mary, whom he would not renounce, saved him. The refuge he did not abandon became his deliverance.

So this story comes to us from a doctor of the church St. Alonsosus Legori. And I think sometimes people hear the story, oh could could a statue move like that? I mean, first of all, I think if Jesus could be raised from the dead, God could make a statue move. So set that part aside. Is it trustworthy? Well, the doctor of the church, St. Alonsos Slegori trusts it enough to place it in his book, The Glories of Mary, to cause greater devotion to the blessed virgin Mary. And so this is why we shared with you. It's a beautiful story. Um, what were your thoughts? Well, I was just thinking like, so how did they get him out of the statue? Like clearly she had a good grip on him. Did she like move back into her original position? C can I build on that? Oh, sure. Yeah. When you place yourself in the hands of Mary, she does get a good grip on you because she wants us in heaven. See, this is such an important theme when it comes to devotion to Mary. When we offer ourselves to Mary, she does not let go of us. Now, the thought is what is the best devotion to have when it comes to the blessed virgin Mary? And I think there is one. The best devotion to have is the one that is most consistent. So in other words, I think there's a variety of different ways that we can have a devotion to the blessed virgin Mary, but it's the one that is the most consistent that will have the greatest effect in our life. Mhm. St. Alphonsus says, "However great a sinner he may have been, says the saint, if he shows himself devout to Mary, he will never perish." And you'll see this consistent theme with St. Alonsosus that those have devotion to Mary um will obtain salvation because what does Mary want? She wants all her children to be saved. So we place herself in her care and we can be sure that she will be faithful to us. St. Alfonsa says, "Oh, what a signal mark of predestination have the servants of Mary. Mary conducts her servants to paradise." I know for oursel like in our marriage there came a time when we were kind of like praying the rosary here and there and then one year someone mentioned to us to do a consecration to our lady and I feel like when we did that first consecration it was like everything changed and it was like torrent of graces came and it was just like we just had such a solid relationship with our mother and it just really it kind of removed a lot of the worries or whatever that we had in our life. Yeah, I would say that that the there was a difference and how that looked in our family was we started saying the rosary basically every day as a family and so that's practically the devotion that kind of took hold in our family. But as you begin Lent here, maybe this is something you want to consider starting up a regular disciplined devotion to the blessed virgin Mary. Not one of these, oh, I'll do it, you know, once in a while. It has to be consistent because consistency is really what starts forming the habits and the habits in our life really change us. And so what is the devotion that you can start with the blessed virgin Mary that you can be consistent with? Now here's one I I just heard of and this is something that I'm practicing during Lent. Um right when I wake up I give my day to the blessed virgin by saying three Hail Marys and then when I go to bed I give my night to the blessed virgin Mary by saying three Hail Marys. So I got the two book ends of the day. It's very simple. I actually can't remember where I read about it but uh I thought hey that that's a good idea. Uh other things that you could do well you already know the rosary. If you want to tackle that and you haven't started doing that daily and that's something you like to try go for it. We also have the 15 Hail Marys for purity and that comes from the angelic warfare confront Trinity. Those prayers are on our YouTube channel. I'll link in the description in case you want to pick those up during Lent. Uh another one might be and you every time you pass by a picture of the Blessed Virgin in your home, you just say a Hail Mary or say Mary, pray for me. There's really not a right or wrong way when it comes to this. I mean, just pick something. Mhm. and be consistent with it. Or I think of even just like with the children like we have these little statues of our lady. Like sometimes I'll just pick it up and I'll put place it at the lips of our little baby just and I'll kiss the statue of Mary and then I'll get him to kiss the statue of Mary even though he doesn't quite know how to kiss. Licks it licks it. That statue is nice and clean. But but he knows that it's something special, right? Yeah. So anyways, that's our encouragement to you. And I think this is what this story does is it causes us to have greater trust in Mary's intercession because she does not let go of the children who place themselves in her hands. Please comment below. Share with us what stood out to you and why. And also can you share with us how you express your devotion to our lady. We'd love to to learn from you. And with that we will see you on Monday.