author
Ludovico Maria Sinistrari
1622–1701
A 17th-century Italian Franciscan priest and scholar, he is remembered for dense theological writing that later readers often discovered through his strange and controversial treatise on demons. His life joined serious academic work, church service, and a lasting reputation in the history of occult literature.
2 Audiobooks
De la démonialité des animaux incubes et succubes
by Ludovico Maria Sinistrari
Demoniality; or, Incubi and Succubi
by Ludovico Maria Sinistrari
About the author
Born in Ameno in 1622, he studied at Pavia and later entered the Franciscan order. He went on to teach philosophy and theology, building a reputation as a learned churchman as well as a writer.
Sinistrari also served in important religious and academic roles, including work connected with the Roman Inquisition. His writings ranged across theology, law, and moral questions, showing the mind of a careful and highly trained scholar.
Today he is best known for De Daemonialitate et Incubis et Succubis, a work that circulated widely after his death and gave him an unusual afterlife in studies of demonology and the supernatural. Even so, he was not simply an "occult" writer: he was a serious Catholic thinker whose work belonged to the intense intellectual and religious world of 17th-century Italy.