The Exorcist Files - The Memphis Exorcist: Msgr. Victor Ciaramitaro

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

Msgr. Victor Ciaramitaro, exorcist for Memphis, TN shares some of his most intense experiences. Thank you to our sponsors!Check out this FREE , incredible resource, The Lion. Great reporting on today's most important issues. Stay informed at ReadTheLion.comTake your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/EXFILES and use promo code EXFILES  today for 10% off your first order! Take control of your finances with RocketMoney. Head to Rocketmoney.com/exfilesWant more content? Head to The Vault and subscribe for our bonus episodes and exclusive ask me anythings. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I saw levitation and a formal exorcism, and we don't forget that. You know, they come off the ground, we're going up. And the team I had held her down, and then I commanded the demon to go down, and it did. That was a moment. In things in movies, but when you see it, person to person, it's spooky. The one thing that I have to say, I have never been afraid in the work of an exorcist. You would think that facing demons, you would be afraid. I haven't had that experience because I always felt like I was working for Christ and that is Christ is doing this, not me.

And I always felt protected that way. Welcome back to The Exorcist Files. The goat, when it comes to documenting people that shouldn't float. Boy, was that joke dense. So last week, we heard from two incredible Protestant ministers, friends and fans of the show who have been deeply impacted by the series. If you haven't, go back and listen. Their testimonies are incredible, and it's an awesome episode. Today we welcome Monsignor Victor Sierre Sierre Mataro, colleague of Father Martins and retired exorcist

for the Diocese of Memphis. Basically, the priest who did deliverance among some of the best barbecue joints in America. A certain amount of irony there, right? Before we start the episode, though, I do want to give a shout out to our vault members. Thank you so much for your support. We also want to thank our sponsor, The Lion. Do yourself a favor. While listening to this intro, go to readthe lion.com.

That's read like read your Bible, the, like the word, and lion like lion like lion king. Read the lion.com and see the stories they're covering. If you're concerned a Christian citizen or parent, you will definitely want to check it out. Go see some of the recent stories they just did. Remember the verse, my people perish for lack of knowledge. But not you, dear listeners, armed with knowledge, you will certainly not perish. So, okay, with that, let's get to the good Monsignor. I'm Monsignor, Victor Sierre Mottaro.

I'm a retired priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee. I'm a native Mimphian. I was born here. My parents were first generation Italian. Their parents were all from Italy. And I grew up here. I went to Catholic school. I was taught by the St. Cecilia Dominican Sisters.

through nine years of my education. I was taught by diocesan priest in high school here in Memphis. Our family was devout. We lived just a few blocks from the church where I was baptized, where I made my first Holy Communion, where I was confirmed and then went to the seminary from that parish in 1964. The seminary was tumultuous. I can't say enough about how bad things were at that time. the church was in turmoil after the Vatican Council. When I started seminary, the Vatican Council was still going on. The teachers and the seminary act as if the council was over and everything was done. Throughout the turmoil of the seminary, I was able to keep my faith because I felt since the time I was eight years old that God wanted me to be a priest. I can even point to the moment when I was eight years old, when it occurred to me that I was

supposed to be a priest. That never left me. So we had to deal with all of the spirit of Vatican 2, which is more like poltergeist. I made it through the seminary. I was ordained a priest in 1970. It would be 53 years ago that I was ordained a priest this month. As we have said many times on the show, one does not choose exorcism. Typically, exorcism chooses you. Monsignor Sierre Matarro was no exception. His call into the field of deliverance was born out of necessity, and in 2012, he received a call that would mark a rather interesting twist for his ministry as a priest. I was pastor up until 2019. That's the year that I retired. I was appointed Exorcist about 2012. Two of our priests had gone to a conference that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops

had put on for dioceseses. They were requesting that diocese start appointing. exorcist. Two of our priests went and they came back and they met with the whole body of clergy and told us what was needed. And then the bishop asked for people to elect who they thought should be exorcist for the diocese. So there were two of us that were appointed exorcist at that time. When Bishop retired, the new bishop came in and he reappointed me. And then when he left, the present bishop appointed me. At this time, we are training two new exorcists because of my age. So they make airline pilots retire at 65, but thankfully, Exorcists can keep going. Monsignor Sier-Ciromotaro's orders to the office of Exorcist came somewhat out of nowhere.

Here was a successful and faithful priest many years into his service when all of a sudden he is thrown into one of the most serious and solemn ministries on Earth. During her interview, he mentioned multiple times the maturity and age of the other. exorcists. I found that interesting. Also, notice how he calls out a problem we have heard many times before, just how few exorcists there are. When I came into it, that was the way it was, because there were so few exorcists in the country at that point. I met Father Carlos Martens when I went to the Te deum conference, and at that time it was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And that's where I started knowing him. And that was the training we received at that conference. There were so few.

There are formal training sessions. Now you even go to Rome for training as exorcists. But at that early time, we were doing it by the seat of our pants, trying to figure out what was supposed to be done. And it seemed like as soon as I was appointed an exorcist, I started having people coming to me needing deliverance. So I formed a team, and the team had some very holy people that would be with me during my sessions.

I had one deacon that was a medical doctor that would always be there with me during my sessions. I can still remember the first formal session that I had. We determined that this woman was possessed, and as it turned out, she had several demons. It wasn't one. It took over a year to deliver her from all of the demons that were there. You realize that people have to have a good Christian life in order to avoid going back with the demons. The demons will come back. Jesus said that. So the ministry was not only to expel the demons, but to help the people to start living a good Christian life so that they wouldn't fall back in possession again. Now, we just heard something chilling and very profound. Father Zeta shared this in his epic case, the ties that bind. Repossession is a thing.

We've heard many times on the show from multiple exorcists that demons can and do come back if the sin is. is not dealt with. In fact, many folks who we've had on the show can testify it happens more often than you realize. Thankfully, though, true, genuine possession is extraordinarily rare. Frankly, I find it refreshing that even those who are trained especially for this ministry and are the expert veterans in deliverance will agree you are far more likely to face off against depression rather than full-blown possession. Regular listeners of the show will remember we have several stages of demonization. In the very first episode of The Exorcist Files, no life without death, we learn demons can manifest within the physical realm through four degrees

of increasing severity. At its most extreme, there is taking full control of the body through possession. Below that are attacks on human thoughts and dreams through obsession, attacks on the human body or condition through oppression, and at the inception point of most demonic behavior, the inhabiting of a place or the manipulation of an object or objects through infestation. most of the time we deal with oppression. People are oppressed by demons and we get a lot of things like people saying there are things moving around in my house and things like that. One thing that happened in the parish that I was pastor of, a woman had committed suicide outside of the school and she had gone to the school. And then people started coming to me and saying,

there's this woman that's walking around in the school. The children see her. Teachers see her, but she never speaks to anyone. I determined that she was a poor soul and she needed prayer. So we did a novena of masses for her and then no longer was she there. Another case that I had, a woman, she was possessed, but she was not manifesting as I was used to with people that are possessed. but she was really possessed.

And her life was a mess, and she was married out of the church, and she wasn't going to Mass or anything. So trying at the same time to get her back in the church, get her back functioning as a Christian, as a Catholic, and this one over a year, and the last session I had with her, the demon was getting into my head. So I stopped, and I went out of the room for a while to try to get it together.

And at that time, it wasn't a vision, but it was something that I could see internally that this demon was revealing himself to me as a black dog with red eyes. And then the demon backed up and the eyes turned white. And then I could see St. Joseph. The image of St. Joseph was there. His appearance kept changing from different images that I've seen of him over the years. I knew that this wasn't coming from me. This was coming from the outside. And St. Joseph expelled the demon.

Something like that will make you a believer. I went back into the room and the woman was delivered. And it was St. Joseph who delivered her. The demon was so angry because we had a beautiful St. Joseph Chapel in the church. So the demon caused somebody to break the two St. Joseph windows in the chapel. And not once, but twice. And then after I left the parish, it happened a third time. So there was blowback from the demon.

Amen. Father Martin's here. I want to do a quick plug for one of the most powerful tools I've seen for breaking free and growing closer to Christ. Exodus 90. The Exodus 90 challenge begins this year on January 20th. But this isn't just a 90-day program. Exodus 90 is a spirituality for modern men. that is built on three ancient pillars, prayer, self-sacrifice, and fraternity.

We all long for something more. We long to be the men God created us to be, sons of a loving father. It's time to turn away from our idols. It's time to break free from the pharaohs that hold us in bondage. If you're ready to make a fresh start and embark on a journey to uncommon freedom in Jesus Christ, then download the Exodus 90 app today. This is your chance to break free, refocus, and rediscover who God is calling you to be in the new year.

It starts January 20th. So go to Exodus 90.com slash X-Files to learn more about Exodus 90. That's Exodus 90.com slash X-Files. to join tens of thousands of men from all over the world for Exodus 90. Again, it begins Monday, January 20th. God bless you. Now before the break, we heard something I don't want us to miss.

Monsignor Sierre-Mataro said that he actually paused an exorcism because the demon was getting into his head. Father Martins has shared that these infernal pests will say and try anything to wear the exorcist down. I appreciated the Monsignor's vulnerability. He paused and knew he needed to take a break in that moment. Father Martins has also talked about the intercession of the saints, and Monsignor Sierre-Mataro mentioned the intervention of St. Joseph in the liberation of a victim.

Now, when he says St. Joseph delivered her, he is not implying that God was not the ultimate cause of the liberation, but rather that God chose to do it through the intercession and work of St. Joseph. He could have done it through other means, for sure. But for whatever his reasons, he chose to do it through one of his saints. Switching gears a bit, we do hear a lot about trends in spirituality today and a post-pandemic world being profoundly different. We hear of church attendance dropping off, a sense of religion, crumbling in America. But as the scripture states, there is always a remnant.

And despite the seeming exodus of Christianity from our culture in many ways, there is still a lot of reasons for hope. Well, there's a lot of things in the world that happen that we can't explain. And it seems to me that the devotion of our people, is growing in the church. In spite of church getting smaller by numbers, it seems to me that the devotion of the people is growing at this time. I'm retired, but I help out in a parish. And I'm just amazed the young families that are coming with lots of children and their real devotion with these children at Mass and people that can't afford the school going to religious education and the quality of the religious education is much better now. People coming to adoration. We have the rosary before every mass in the parish. And we have

adoration every Tuesday and every Friday. And we have no trouble getting people to come to these things. I say that because I think people are more aware of evil presence when it comes. There was a woman who came to me and she was one of these people that knew things spiritually that other people did. I'm not sure how to explain that, but she would say, Father, there's devils in the church. And I thought maybe she'd just crazy. And then I would be sitting in the sanctuary sometime praying. And at the edge of the sanctuary, I could see these shadows moving. You know, and I'd look over and they would be gone.

Then another priest that was in the parish. He came to me one night. He says, I think Mary's right. I think that there are some demons in the church. So we did the Leonine exorcism of the church. That was the end of that. But before I was pastored, there were a lot of funny things that went on in that parish. They didn't come into the sanctuary where the tabernacle was.

They would stay at the edge. And it's amazing. But this was a parish that had all kinds of liturgical things that were not proper. So it set itself up for demonic activity. You heard it here again, folks. If a spirit is talking to you, don't engage. Maybe a new saying, if it talks, pray for protection, take a walk. Get out. Now, on this show, we do our best to try and bring you what is the most realistic portrayal of what it would be like to be in the room. Naturally, I was curious to hear what it was like from Monsignor Sierre Mataro's own experience. For a person could walk into a room and be completely sane and many times, I would make them go to confession first before we'd start the session.

And the minute I would start the formal prayers of the exorcism, the eyes change. They become violent. That's why you have to have people there to protect you and to hold them back if necessary. They love profanities. So that has affected me in preaching that we shouldn't be using these words like this because they bring a lot of evil with them when we say them. And the first time I did a formal exorcism, The person came to me and tried to choke me and was uttering all kinds of profanities at me.

And that was a wake-up moment for me. Sometimes you go into a room and it's cold or sometimes it gets hot and you see those fluctuations. It hasn't happened a lot with me. But basically it's the manifestation that the demon does with the person. You say the prayers and when the person becomes calm and I will, say, are you with us again? But the demons will go and hide because they're being tortured by the prayers of the exorcism. So when they get tired, they kind of withdraw. And I will ask the person, are you with us again? And most of the time, they don't even know what's going on

during the formal exorcism when they're manifesting. That's been my experience. Notice the first thing he has them do is go to confession. Once again, echoing Father Martin's sentiment that one genuine confession is worth. of thousand exorcisms. Of course, it's also mandatory that I ask about levitation. This is a fan question we get all the time, and most likely it's because it's such a flagrant violation of natural law. What did this veteran expert have to say on the topic? Had the Monsignor ever seen levitation? I saw levitation in a formal exorcism, and we don't forget that. They come off the ground. They come off the ground, we're going up, and the team I had held her down, and then I commanded the

demon to go down and it did. That was a moment. It was a moment in things in movies, but when you see it person to person, it's spooky. The one thing that I have to say, I have never been afraid in the work of an exorcist. You would think that facing demons, you would be afraid, but I haven't had that experience because I always felt like, you know, I was working for Christ and that Christ is doing this, not me. And I always felt protected that way. That's a lot of the things that I've dealt with over the years. And there were lots of people that came to me that were really not possessed. You know, go make a good confession and start living your Christian life. We do get skeptics who ride into this show from time to time, doubting the truthfulness of these

claims. We get it. From their perspective, especially without witnessing any of the phenomena themselves and relying on accounts from others, it's fair to approach this entire thing. with a healthy dose of doubt. If you've listened to this show for a while, you know that in Father Martin's experience and that of many other exorcists, it is true, most of the reported cases of alleged demonic possession

end up being mental health issues, not genuine demonization. And it's crucial to discern between the two. Like Father Martins, Monsignor Sierre Mataro has his own ways of helping determine whether the underlying issues in question are spiritual or psychological. We do diagnostics to figure out,

One of the things that I would do with people, I would say the prayers in Latin, so they couldn't understand. Because if they hear the prayers in English, they might start just manifesting out of what they're hearing. And so that would always be a way of diagnosing a real possession. I had a demon correct my Latin one time. At one time when I was doing a diagnostic, the demon told me, you don't have authority. And so, I went back and got the authority from the bishop, and then it came back, and I was able to do the exorcism. They do obey the authority of Christ and the church. I've heard Father Martin say, all the demons believe in Christ's presence in the Eucharist.

Brings to mind that verse from James, even the demons believe in shudder. I also found it funny that like Father Martens, Monsignor Sier-Sier-Mittaro had also had his Latin corrected, while not necessarily related, I also receive emails from anonymous accounts quite frequently correcting my grammar on the show and sometimes the emails. So perhaps this is my own version of spiritual warfare. And while we know that genuine cases of legitimate possession are rare, I was curious, just how rare? I posed the question to the Munsignor. I must say that I haven't had a lot of formal exorcism. I've done a lot of deliverance work, but actual people that are possessed, they've come through the years. The first years, I was dealing with a lot more. There were two of us doing it,

though, at the time. Another funny experience, I was doing an exorcism, and the demons were telling me that they were good guys, and I shouldn't be trying to get rid of them. And what these demons, these Egyptian gods, the woman told me that they came around with the heads of animals, and they were Egyptian gods. I don't recall their names right now, but I do know there were two of them. And after they told me they were good guys and I demanded they leave and the exorcist's right, they walked out. They left quietly. Sound familiar? We forget that demons are not always just profanity dispensers.

In their desperation, they will sometimes try to negotiate, try to deal. And if demons are playing deal or no deal with Father Martins or Monsignor Sier-Mautaro, the answer is always no deal. Earlier in the interview, the Monsignor mentioned an exorcism that had been going on for almost a year. Many listeners write into the show trying to square the seeming instant deliverance that we witness with Christ and his exorcisms with the experience shared by many of the exorcist's guests that will often take them months or years to fully liberate someone. They are also curious about the doorways that lead to this type of demonization, a demonization that can take months or years to be liberated from. Interestingly, Monsignor Siamataro found that the lengthy process of removing all the rights led to a transformation in his own. walk with God. Perhaps that's just one reason why God permits these exorcisms to take so long. We're not Jesus, for first of all. And my prayer life, as an exorcist, increased tenfold, especially

intercessory prayer. I do a lot more intercessory prayer than I did in the earlier years I had as a priest. In my earlier years, nobody ever talked about exorcist or possession or anything. And it took many years for us to realize that this was something that is part of our life. It is certainly part of the life of our Lord that he expelled demons and that he gave his apostles that authority to expel demons. And we all can pray for ourselves, prayers asking to be delivered for ourselves. We have a lot of people into tarot cards and to fortune tellers. And so that's their entry points. With the case where St. Joseph, that was a generational thing from a grandfather that was a big Freemason, and there was all kinds of paraphernalia. And the other thing is a sin, especially sexual sins, are the biggest entry points I've seen.

And especially with curses, it seems that sexual sins are always the problem with people who have received curses. Especially with same-sex attraction, there are demons that will attach them. themselves to a person and make that person do the work of the devil. I think pornography is a bad. People just don't realize how evil that is because that is the work of the devil because people become addicted to that just by doing it one time. Mainly it's been sexual and people with constant mortal sin and they've opened themselves up. Perhaps more than anything else, the topic of generational curses has proven to be a spicy disagreement among many intelligent and thoughtful Christians. Some will argue Christ's work on the cross and our baptism eliminates them as something that can

actually harm us. Others will say that while the responsibility for the sin is removed, the consequences of the ancestor's sins can still be borne out by the descendants. Father John Zeta and Father Rehill, along with Father Martins, have all shared examples of the latter. We also have had guests on like Tammy Comer, who shared a beautiful testimony of being healed of a generational curse. If you haven't heard it, go back and listen to the testimony of Tammy Comer episode from last year. It's absolutely incredible. So from our vantage point, it seems exorcists seem to be aligned on this. While rare, they view generational curses as very real. One whose father had been the dealing in Santa Maria, and yet he was baptized. It was more like

an oppression. It was not a possession. But the other case where the grandfather had been high and the Freemasonry, it affected not only the person, but her children and the family. And the demons would come and be in bed with them and, you know, with the children, and the children come crying, somebody in my room and things like that. And it took St. Joseph to get that whole thing straightened out. I've only had two cases of that, generational stuff. But in both cases, the elements of the Santa Ria and in the case of the Freemasonry, They had all of these things around that were his.

And in both cases, we had to get rid of all of that. That helped deliver too. When I was a seminarian, we had a Jesuit father that came to talk to us. Because I came through the old way when we had a minor order of exorcist and we were ordained exorcist. It was one of the minor orders. And so in our preparation, he came. He had been a missionary in South America.

and was telling us that when he would baptize babies, many times he would see like a shadow fall off the baby as he poured the water and go into the drain of the baptismal font. Because the people were bringing their children to the witch doctor before they had them baptized. And so with a lot of the deliverance in the Hispanic people, it doesn't take long. It doesn't take as long for some reason. That's been my experience. I think because of their faith, they have such great faith in Christ and the church, that deliverance happens much faster. That's been my experience.

As we approached the end of our time together, I wanted to get a little bit of a lightning round in to answer a few questions. Of course, first and foremost, more important than anything else. I wanted to get a review from Monsignor Siamer Taro on the Exorcist Files. Does our show accurately portray the world of exorcism and the demonic? What Sayeth? Memphis Exorcist. It definitely does. Definitely does. His book, it just came out as excellent. It's one of the better things that I've seen written about exorcists and demonic activity.

Next up, I wondered what are ways we could protect our homes from demonic attack? What is the advice the Monsignor has for us? Any new home, and if you move into a home that someone has lived in before, I think they should always have the house blessed. If sinful activity went on there, sometimes that has been the door, the demons are there, and they need to be gone. And the simple blessing by a priest of a house can do great things in preventing problems.

And any priest can do it, so you don't need an exorcist to do it. Since he mentioned blessing homes, I did want to hear his take on the use of holy water. It's not an exorcism interview if we don't get to holy water. Yes. Well, I blessed Epiphany water at the church on Sunday, and we blessed chalk, and then people go home. And then I told them if they had a live Christmas tree to take a branch and then take the water and go around and bless their home. And people can do that every year, bless their homes that way. And Epiphany is the time that is usually done. But any time, people can take holy water and go around and bless their home. Parents can bless their children. Sprinkling your bedroom with holy water at night is a good thing.

It's a devotional practice. But holy water should be something that should be in every Catholic home. One time I had to bless a home of a Protestant minister because there was activity going on there. So he called the diocese and it said he heard that the Catholic Church dealt with that stuff. So I went to the home and I blessed the home. And after it was over in home, everything. thing was settled down. He came to me and asked, he says, could I have that formula that you use for the water? And I said, no, I can give you the water, but there's no formula to it. It's a special

prayer and blessing. We've been a bit quiet on the topic of relics in this interview. And given that Father Martens is so well known for his relics ministry, treasures of the church, I was curious if relics played a role in the Monsignor's ministry. I keep relics with me. And I always did my exorcisms and the sacristy, I wanted to be near the Blessed Sacrament when I did the formal sessions. I have several relics. But I have a crucifix that has many relics attached to it that I usually use in praying over the person. And the demons in the presence of a relic, they see it as that person, that saint, actually being there. And I still do deliverance that way.

I don't do deliverance anywhere but in a church. and that was recommended to me at the beginning. And I wouldn't do it in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament because there are too many ugly things that happened, but I want to be near the Blessed Sacrament, and I'm doing these prayers. Now, he did mention a Protestant friend earlier, so I was curious if the Munn Senior had any other encounters

with Protestant parishioners in his time as a Catholic exorcist. I've had Protestant ministers call me up, and they're dealing with stuff and say, we don't deal with this. And you do. And so I've done deliverance prayers. None of them, in fact, possessed, but there was oppression. So I did pray over them.

And told the ministers, I said, you can pray over your people. And you convince them that they have to live a Christian life. And this should take care of a lot of these kinds of problems. And as far as Catholic people, they go to movies. And I can remember when the first Exorcist movie came out, and I was a young priest. And I had someone call me in the middle of the night and wanted to go to confession because they were so afraid after they saw the movie, The Exorcist. And so I think that the movies had a lot to do with awakening also this idea of demonic activity and people. As our time came to an end, I wanted him to share his thoughts on spiritual warfare.

As we mention often, the goal of this podcast is to herald Christ's victory over evil, not to instill fear, in his faithful people. In light of this, what is the Munsignor's advice to those seeking a healthy view of the spiritual battle unfolding all around us? Living a Christian life, living with the sacraments that we have as Catholic people, our devotional items, bless so many St. Benedict medals. It's amazing. The people plant them around their houses and they tape them to the doors. People carry them around, wear them, and especially the St. Benedict crucifixes, use of devotional religious articles using the sacraments and a prayer life, having a prayer life, and frequent confession. These are the ways we protect us. This is warfare.

And saying the rosary as a family, saying the rosary individually is something that I think is very powerful, and it is a weapon. I do think that saying the rosary has prevented the world from being worse than it is right now. I've heard exorcists say that every Hail Mary is like a blow to a demon, that they don't stay around if people are saying these prayers. There's the auxilium Christianorum prayers. People can say every day, joining with people against the evil spirits and evil happening in our lives. Prayer, sacraments, devotional items, these are the ways that we protect ourselves. And this is the warfare, teaching our children and the faith, making sure that they're strong in their faith. And if parents will be strong in their faith, and children will be strong

in theirs. Our Catholic Church is so wonderful. And we have everything. And you read the gospel and you see what Jesus did, we're still doing what Jesus did. With our priesthood, with our sacraments, with the monasteries that we have, and the teaching of the church, the hierarchy, and the these things. The whole process of being an exorcist has led me to really see the beauty of our Catholic faith. Nobody else has that. Nobody else has that because we come from Christ. Our bishop is an apostle. All bishops are apostles. And they have the authority that can fight demons and can give that authority to priests. And with our prayer life, we are all. involved in the ministry. It's Jesus Christ doing this, and we're just the instrument for that.

Levitation, relics, St. Joseph, Holy Water. I'd say we covered all the requisite ground for another great exorcist interview. We thank you so much for joining us. Now look, I know you love the dramatic reenactments. We do too. We wish we could do them every week all year, but we simply can. It's not feasible. So we bring you these wonderful interviews and bonus content in the interim. Thank you to Monsignor Victor Sierre Matarro for joining us and sharing his wisdom. We have lots of content coming your way, so stay tuned, stay close to God, share the show with friends and family, and remember, the headspin stops here. Always.

So long, folks.