Page "Pope Sylvester II" Paragraph 22

According to the legend, Meridiana ( or the bronze head ) told Gerbert that if he should ever read a mass in Jerusalem, the Devil would come for him.

Gerbert then cancelled a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but when he read mass in the church of Saint Mary of Jerusalem ( also called " Jerusalem church ") in Rome, he became sick soon afterwards and, dying, he asked his cardinals to cut up his body and scatter it across the city.

In another version, he was even attacked by the Devil while he was reading the Mass, and the Devil mutilated him and gave his gouged-out eyes to demons to play with in the Church.

Repenting, Sylvester II then cut off his hand and his tongue.