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Cats....All About Cats

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.
 
Last edited:

BSM1

What? Me worry?
Just as an aside, years ago we were doing a job in a strange town and my guys wanted to eat on one of those seedy, strip mall Chinese restaurants. I thought I had found a hair in my Hunan chicken but was relieved to discover it was just a whisker...
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.
The Nova special was good (the one on dogs was of course better).

And killing cats helped the Black Death along. Ignorance is not bliss unless you consider dying from a horrible disease to be a blissful experience.

 

WhyIsThatSo

Well-Known Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.

Actually, cats have a unique ability, like a lot of animals do,
they can sense (see) the vibratory realm just "above" this one,
where all the "ghosts" hang out. And they don't like cats.

It is a custom in many countries that when a person moves into a new home,
they get a cat to come in and "investigate" first, and to rid the home of any paranormal entities.

This is why the RCC exterminated them at one time,
and why I have several.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.
Funny story -- many years ago, my best friend in the world (sadly passed now) was having a birthday, and for a gift, I bought him a book on the very subject of the church and cats, called "The Great Cat Massacre." When he unwrapped it, he gave me the most horrified look! He had just had his own cat put down that morning due to illness. OOOOPPPPSS!!!
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
Funny story -- many years ago, my best friend in the world (sadly passed now) was having a birthday, and for a gift, I bought him a book on the very subject of the church and cats, called "The Great Cat Massacre." When he unwrapped it, he gave me the most horrified look! He had just had his own cat put down that morning due to illness. OOOOPPPPSS!!!

Sorry, I tried not to laugh. Really. But you said it was a funny story.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.


We have a black cat. When we first moved to France introductions were a good move. I was introducing the family you our German neighbours. Our cat, always one for attention sauntered up to us so i introduced her. "And this is our angel..."

Before i had finished a strong German accent cut across me, "Angel... ANGEL. it is as black as the devil himself"

It seems that not only are our German friends not very enamored with cats, they are somewhat religious and very superstitious.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Funny story -- many years ago, my best friend in the world (sadly passed now) was having a birthday, and for a gift, I bought him a book on the very subject of the church and cats, called "The Great Cat Massacre." When he unwrapped it, he gave me the most horrified look! He had just had his own cat put down that morning due to illness. OOOOPPPPSS!!!

That deserves a frube but i have no idea what to award so will you please accept an ... Ouch!
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.
This sounds unlikely to me. As I understand it, Gregory IX issued a decree, "Vox in Rama" against what he thought was a heretical sect (which probably did not exist but was part of the paranoia about heresy in that era (cf. Name of the Rose)). It was thought this sect had rituals involving a diabolical cat, or something.

I'm just wondering if you have one of those garbled-history pieces of anti-Catholic propaganda here. Do you have a real source for this notion that the Vatican actually mounted an anti-cat campaign, and that people actually went round, not only killing cats but, as you put it, torturing them. Why would they do that? It seems fanciful.

Vox in Rama - Wikipedia Nothing about cat extermination here.
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
We have a black cat. When we first moved to France introductions were a good move. I was introducing the family you our German neighbours. Our cat, always one for attention sauntered up to us so i introduced her. "And this is our angel..."

Before i had finished a strong German accent cut across me, "Angel... ANGEL. it is as black as the devil himself"

It seems that not only are our German friends not very enamored with cats, they are somewhat religious and very superstitious.


German humor....ya gotta love it....
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
We have a black cat. When we first moved to France introductions were a good move. I was introducing the family you our German neighbours. Our cat, always one for attention sauntered up to us so i introduced her. "And this is our angel..."

Before i had finished a strong German accent cut across me, "Angel... ANGEL. it is as black as the devil himself"

It seems that not only are our German friends not very enamored with cats, they are somewhat religious and very superstitious.
Der Dumkopf !!!!
Satan ist red, nicht black.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
A bit of further digging supports my suspicion that this story is bunk:
Cats and the Black Death

Relevant section states:
QUOTE
The story that the stupid medieval people, at the instigation of their even more stupid clergy, killed thousands of cats and so died in even greater numbers during the 1340s epidemic as a result is popular and widespread. A quick Google on relevant key words will turn up a plethora of articles of the “strange true facts about history” clickbait variety that repeat the story, such as “Cats and the Black Plague” or “That One Time The Pope Banned Cats And It Caused The Black Plague” or “Cat History: The Black Plague” or dozens of others. These articles are marked by a total lack of any reference to source material substantiating claims about a general medieval massacre of cats, a lack of any references to historical analysis of the Black Death or, if they have any references to the latter, a lack of any such references that actually mention any massacre of cats. Why? Because it did not happen.

The whole story is one of those pseudo historical urban myths that keeps getting repeated despite the fact it’s complete nonsense. And it gets repeated because it feels right to many people – it makes our ancestors look stupid and so make us feel smart, it blames the medieval Church for something that popular culture says is the kind of thing the medieval Church would do and it’s a nice story with an ironic ending. So no-one actually bothers to check on one rather important element: whether it is actually true.

The few versions of this story that bother to give anything like some substantiation claim that cats were declared servants of evil by Pope Gregory IX in 1232 or even that he declared that they should all be killed. That sounds highly specific and substantial, though some might notice that 1232 is over a century before the first appearance of the Black Death in 1347 and wonder why it took this long for any supposed cat massacre to cause the plague. Other versions of the story say the antipathy towards cats began with Gregory IX’s papal bull and then grew until the lack of cats in Europe made the plague particularly catastrophic.

But did Gregory IX declare all cats evil or order their destruction? Actually, no. The “1232” reference seems to be to Gregory’s papal bull Vox in Rama, issued in that year, which addressed an alleged outbreak of devil worship in Germany. This bull gives a description of the ceremonies of this group of “Luciferians”, which includes many standard tropes found in lurid medieval ideas about heretical practices. This involved visions of a giant toad, initiates kissing an emaciated pale man and finally a statue of a black cat coming to life and speaking with the initiates. Nowhere does the bull associate this diabolical cat with cats generally, condemn all cats or call for their slaughter. Yet the claim that this bull somehow did cause massacres of cats continues to be made, usually with no reference to any supporting evidence at all.
UNQUOTE
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
This sounds unlikely to me. As I understand it, Gregory IX issued a decree, "Vox in Rama" against what he thought was a heretical sect (which probably did not exist but was part of the paranoia about heresy in that era (cf. Name of the Rose)). It was thought this sect had rituals involving a diabolical cat, or something.

I'm just wondering if you have one of those garbled-history pieces of anti-Catholic propaganda here. Do you have a real source for this notion that the Vatican actually mounted an anti-cat campaign, and that people actually went round, not only killing cats but, as you put it, torturing them. Why would they do that? It seems fanciful.

Vox in Rama - Wikipedia Nothing about cat extermination here.
Before I posted this thread, I checked sources other than NOVA & the one linked.
As for the cat killing & the black death, I hadn't looked into that relationship.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I just saw an interesting NOVA episode about cats.
I highly recommend it.

But one odd thing I ran across was how the Catholic Church
had an anti-cat campaign in the 1200s. Apparently cats are
Satan's minions. So they began to exterminate all they could
find, torturing them to death.
How odd...the Egyptians treated them as favored by a god.
Ref...
The Vicious Battle Between the Vatican and Cats

All cat comments are welcome.
I have four cats. And I can testify alongside the Egyptians that they are all indeed Gods.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Der Dumkopf !!!!
Satan ist red, nicht black.

That's a 12th century idea. The bible despite its many faults is not racist and never comments on the devil's colour.

Good to know you take your image of the devil from an artist and a comedy novel
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Before I posted this thread, I checked sources other than NOVA & the one linked.
As for the cat killing & the black death, I hadn't looked into that relationship.
The Black Death was in any case over a century after Vox in Rama. No serious historian of the Black Death says anything about it having been made worse by the killing of cats. This is just a nonsense story, made up to make the Catholic church look foolish.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
That's a 12th century idea. The bible despite its many faults is not racist and never comments on the devil's colour.

Good to know you take your image of the devil from an artist and a comedy novel
I watch a lot of movies, so I know.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
A bit of further digging supports my suspicion that this story is bunk:
Cats and the Black Death

Relevant section states:
QUOTE
The story that the stupid medieval people, at the instigation of their even more stupid clergy, killed thousands of cats and so died in even greater numbers during the 1340s epidemic as a result is popular and widespread. A quick Google on relevant key words will turn up a plethora of articles of the “strange true facts about history” clickbait variety that repeat the story, such as “Cats and the Black Plague” or “That One Time The Pope Banned Cats And It Caused The Black Plague” or “Cat History: The Black Plague” or dozens of others. These articles are marked by a total lack of any reference to source material substantiating claims about a general medieval massacre of cats, a lack of any references to historical analysis of the Black Death or, if they have any references to the latter, a lack of any such references that actually mention any massacre of cats. Why? Because it did not happen.

The whole story is one of those pseudo historical urban myths that keeps getting repeated despite the fact it’s complete nonsense. And it gets repeated because it feels right to many people – it makes our ancestors look stupid and so make us feel smart, it blames the medieval Church for something that popular culture says is the kind of thing the medieval Church would do and it’s a nice story with an ironic ending. So no-one actually bothers to check on one rather important element: whether it is actually true.

The few versions of this story that bother to give anything like some substantiation claim that cats were declared servants of evil by Pope Gregory IX in 1232 or even that he declared that they should all be killed. That sounds highly specific and substantial, though some might notice that 1232 is over a century before the first appearance of the Black Death in 1347 and wonder why it took this long for any supposed cat massacre to cause the plague. Other versions of the story say the antipathy towards cats began with Gregory IX’s papal bull and then grew until the lack of cats in Europe made the plague particularly catastrophic.

But did Gregory IX declare all cats evil or order their destruction? Actually, no. The “1232” reference seems to be to Gregory’s papal bull Vox in Rama, issued in that year, which addressed an alleged outbreak of devil worship in Germany. This bull gives a description of the ceremonies of this group of “Luciferians”, which includes many standard tropes found in lurid medieval ideas about heretical practices. This involved visions of a giant toad, initiates kissing an emaciated pale man and finally a statue of a black cat coming to life and speaking with the initiates. Nowhere does the bull associate this diabolical cat with cats generally, condemn all cats or call for their slaughter. Yet the claim that this bull somehow did cause massacres of cats continues to be made, usually with no reference to any supporting evidence at all.
UNQUOTE
The book that I mentioned was in fact real. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History is a collection of essays on French cultural history by the American historian Robert Darnton, first published in 1984. The title comes from its most famous chapter.

Darnton describes how, as the apprentices suffered hard conditions, they came to resent the favours which their masters gave to their cats, and contrived to deal with the nuisance cats by slaughtering them so as to distress their masters. Darnton interprets this as an early form of workers' protest. (As may the wife in the story, who says she believes that "they were threatened by a more serious kind of insubordination" beyond the simple stoppage of work.)

The cats were a favourite of the printer's wife and were fed much better than the apprentices, who were in turn served 'catfood' (rotting meat scraps). Aside from this, they were mistreated, beaten and exposed to cold and horrible weather. One of the apprentices imitated a cat by screaming like one for several nights, making the printer and his wife despair. Finally, the printer ordered the cats rounded up and dispatched. The apprentices did this, rounded up all the cats they could find, beat them half to death and held a 'trial'. They found the cats guilty of witchcraft and sentenced them to death by hanging.
 
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