BY CAROLINE BUNNELL
The night before he was to be ordained as a deacon, Jason Giombetti woke from a sound sleep and saw what he is convinced was a demon.
“I woke up in the middle of the night. I was fully conscious, I knew where I was, I knew that I was fully awake, I knew that I was in the room. About a foot above me, I started to see these streaks of light, about 5 of them. I fully knew something weird was going on here then it started moving towards me. I could feel that when I started to sit up, that I couldn’t,” Giombetti said.
That experience, as well as a famous exorcist, who came to his seminary to teach, opened him up to the study of exorcism.
In a crowded McCarthy Auditorium on Oct. 25, Trained Exorcist, Father Jason Giombetti spoke about the process of Exorcism in a presentation called “The Spiritual World: God & Satan, Angels, & Demons, & The Rite of Exorcism.
“Issues involving in the spiritual world occur in the news more than you think, and once you get involved with it you start to kind of be able to pick up on it when you see it,” Giombetti said.
Giombetti showed current examples of how important it is not to open any opportunities to connect with spirits through things such as the Charlie Charlie challenge, Ouija boards, tarot cards, or mediums.
He described the different types of extraordinary activity a person can experience that could require an exorcism. They include demonic possession, diabolical oppression, diabolical obsession, diabolical infestation, and diabolical subjugation.
Giombetti said that he does both exorcisms of a person, and exorcisms of a house or room.
“She started by telling me her daughter wouldn’t sleep in her own room. I went over to the house and for over a year that the daughter at 14 years old would come to the parent’s room every night. She started saying that she could see a face in the corner of the room that has red eyes,” he said.
Giombetti went on to describe other events that had happened in her room that made him realize it required an exorcism.
“The mother then showed me that the girl had what looked like someone with razor blades had scratched deep wounds into her. I went and did the exorcism of the room, and I was able to then take care of it,” Giombetti said.
He shared some common misconceptions many people have when they think about the process, especially because of the dramatization in horror movies.
The main misconception he described was that they often take multiple sessions that can last for months, and even years that can be an exhausting process.
He said that many of the horror movies that include exorcisms, are based in truth, but are sensationalized.
Stonehill student, Lauren Rauseo decided to attend the event with one of her friends, after she saw the flier.
“I thought it was really interesting how he talked about warnings against common artifacts, which made me rethink using things such as tarot cards,” Rauseo said.
Giombetti said he was grateful for his experiences along the way, and how many people he has been able to help who have had experiences with the demonic.
“That experience from way back in the seminary wasn’t fun going through that. But I see the good that has come about from that where I can now help people,” Giombetti said.