Jochmus
| The First Saviour of Hell | |
|---|---|
Jochmus is a demon who inhabits a small islet called Ortac west of the coast of Alderney near to the islet of Burhou. It pretended to be Saint Malo until its true nature was discovered. It was often seen from a distance seated and reading a book.
Jochmus appears in the Standard Set, where he is falsely attributed with a sigil associated with Jab and a title with no origin.
The Norman fishermen who frequent the Channel have many precautions to take at sea, by reason of the illusions with which Satan environs them. It has long been an article of popular faith that Saint Maclou inhabited the great square rock called Ortac, in the sea between Alderney and the Casquets; and many old sailors used to declare that they had often seen him there, seated and reading a book. Accordingly the sailors, as they passed, were in the habit of kneeling many times before the Ortac rock, until the day when the fable was destroyed, and the truth took its place. For it has been discovered, and is now well established, that the lonely inhabitant Of the rock is not a saint, but a devil. This evil spirit, whose name is Jochmus, had the impudence to pass himself of; for many centuries as Saint Maclou. Even the Church herself is not proof against snares of this kind. The demons Ragubel, Oribel, and Tobiel were regarded as saints until the year 745, when Pope Zachary, having at length exposed them, turned them out of saintly company. This sort of weeding of the saintly calendar is certainly very useful; but it can only be practiced by very accomplished judges of devils and their ways.
— Victor Hugo, The Toilers of the Sea