Cats posses an aura of mystery. Witches are believed to have familiars. What better animal to choose than cats? And, what better animal to persecute along with witches?
The early Christians considered cats to be sacred. According to legend, a tabby cat in the stable, gave birth to kittens around the time Jesus was born. One night, he cried and could not be comforted by Mary or any of the animals in the stable. Finally, a kitten climbed into the manger, laid next to him and purred. This soothed the child. Mary blessed the mother cat and, ever since, tabbies have a marking shaped like an “M” on their foreheads. The M represents the Madonna.
Cats were associated with female saints. Then, they fell into ill repute. In the 1200s, people were becoming disillusioned the church and its rigidity and abuses. The church’s “powers that were” decided a scapegoat was needed. The decision was to use witches. The Pagan goddesses were the first targets along with weak women who could not retaliate. The cat was associated with the goddesses and became a target. It was decreed that cats were witches’ familiars.
Familiars are minor demons that the devil sends to help the witches in their evil work. These demons would assume the shape of an animal, usually cats, owls, toads and dogs. They would assume the role of the witch’s pet so as not to be detected. Familiars could go to places where the witch couldn’t without revealing her identity. Often, when a witch was imprisoned, her persecutors would watch to see if her familiar appeared to help her.
Persecution of Cats as Familiars
There were new fabricated tales about cats being demons in the guise of these animals. It was taught that the devil invented cats. Furthermore, it was added that the devil himself would appear in the guise of a cat.
In the 1100s, the Knights Templar was created to guard people making pilgrimages to the Holy Land. They were regarded as noble and brave. The Knights began to garner wealth and power. They became corrupt and abused their power and were disliked, feared and no longer trusted.
In the 1300s, the Inquisition accused the knights of heresy. All of those living in France were arrested, jailed and brought to trial for heresy. Many confessed to devil worship. The devil appeared as a black cat. The Knights confessed to sacrificing young girls and babies to him. Other groups of people confessed to the same sins.
Even owning a cat was deemed to be evidence that one was a witch. People believed that witches could shapeshift into cats and cats, into witches. In the eighteenth century, the last witchcraft trial in England was held. The woman was convicted only because she had talked to the devil in feline form.
As “witches” were being persecuted, so were their familiars, their cats, and often before the witches’ trials started.
Then the church declared an open “war” of persecution of cats, not just as familiars, but, in and of themselves. First, Pope Gregory IX decreed that cats and the devil were linked. As a result, 962 cats were burned in Metz, France.
Pope Innocent VIII, during the Renaissance, enacted a law that all cats in Christendom be killed. Cats were continually killed. King Louis XIII of France revoked the law, but this did not stop cat killings. They were also tortured and, many times, purely for amusement.
The methods of killing and torturing used on cats were as cruel, gruesome and inhuman as those used on their human counterparts accused of practicing witchcraft, as evidenced by historical documentation.
Source: Roni Jay, The Kingdom of the Cat. ISBN: 1-55209-480-4
