Just at the time when the Concordat was in its most flourishing
condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respectable
middle-class family went to the office of the head of the police at
P----, and begged for his help and advice, which was immediately
promised him.
"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man began, "although
I have never offended against the laws of the State, of morality, or
against his paternal authority, merely because I do not share his blind
reverence for the Catholic Church and her clergy. On that account he
looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian but as a perfect Atheist,
and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much attached to me, and
who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in confidence that he
had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think this is highly
suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been maligning me to my
father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live very quietly and
happily together, but ever since he has had so much to do with the
clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end."
"What you have told me," replied the official, "is as likely as it is
regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your
father is in full possession of all his mental faculties, and can
dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I think that your
protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally take
effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice. I am sorry to say
that just now I can do nothing for you."
"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe
that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on."
"How? Please explain yourself more clearly."
"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my
dead mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest
conviction, that she had frequently appeared to him, had threatened him
with all the torments of the damned, if he did not disinherit his son,
who had fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the Church.
Now I do not believe in ghosts."
"Neither do I," the police director replied, "but I cannot well do
anything on such grounds, having nothing but superstitions to go upon.
You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the Concordat with
Rome, and if I investigate this matter and obtain no results, I am
risking my post. It would be very different if you could adduce any
proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like to see the
clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, receive a
staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this business,
and then we will talk it over again."
About a month passed, without the young Latitudinarian being heard of.
Suddenly, he came one evening, in a great state of excitement, and told
the Inspector that he was in a position to expose the priestly deceit
which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist him. The police
director asked for further information.
"I have obtained a number of important clues," said the young man. "In
the first place, my father confessed to me that my mother did not
appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried.
My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her
death she went to the village of S----, where she died and was buried.
In addition to this, I found out from our footman that my father has
already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X----, the
Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till
morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his
return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me
just now that he has to leave home this evening on business, but,
immediately after he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of
the house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to
consult the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an
excellent opportunity to solve the matter, if you do not object to
opposing the most powerful force in the Empire for the sake of such an
insignificant individual as myself."
"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the
police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough
that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how
serious the consequences may be. But only very young men act without
any prospects of success, because they are carried away by their
feelings. When you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse
your request for assistance, but to-day your request is just and
reasonable. It is now eight o'clock; I shall expect you in two hours'
time, here in my office. At present, all you have to do is to hold your
tongue; everything else is my affair."
As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard
of the police-office, and were driven in the direction of the village
of S----. Their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but
stopped at the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here
all four alighted: the police director, accompanied by the young
Latitudinarian, a police sergeant, and an ordinary policeman, the
latter however, dressed in plain clothes.
"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully,"
said the police director. "It is eleven o'clock and the exorcisers of
ghosts will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round
us, and to lay our plans."
The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the
village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and
not a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the
public house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as
the door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the
churchyard.
"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked. As there
were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last
they managed it, and the police director surveyed the neighborhood of
it.
"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last;
"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide."
But just then, the policeman reported that he had tried to get into the
sexton's hut through the door or a window, and that at last he had
succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window which had
been mended with paper, that he had opened it and obtained possession
of the key, which he brought to the police director.
The plans were very quickly settled. The police director had the chapel
opened and went in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the
police sergeant to lock the door behind him and to put the key back
where he had found it, and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage
carefully. Lastly, he made arrangements as to what they were to do, in
case anything unforeseen should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the
constable left the churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance
from the gate, but opposite to it.
Almost as soon as the clock struck half past eleven, they heard steps
near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young
Latitudinarian went to the window in order to watch the beginning of
the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought
that they should be able to see without being seen; but matters turned
out differently from what they expected.
Suddenly, the key turned in the lock. They barely had time to conceal
themselves behind the altar, before two men came in, one of whom was
carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly man
of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the other
the Jesuit father X----, a tall, lean, big-boned man, with a thin,
bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under
bushy, black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on the
altar, and began to say a "Requiem Mass"; while the old man kneeled on
the altar steps and served him.
When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the
holy-water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, the old man
following him with the holy-water basin in one hand, and a taper in the
other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping
down, so as not to be seen, crept to the chapel window, where he
cowered down carefully; the young man followed his example. They were
now looking straight at his mother's grave.
The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times
round the grave; then he remained standing before it, and by the light
of the taper read a few passages from the Gospel. Then he dipped the
holy-water sprinkler three times into the holy-water basin, and
sprinkled the grave three times. Then both returned to the chapel,
kneeled down outside it with their faces toward the grave, and began to
pray aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild
ecstasy, and cried out three times in a shrill voice:
"Exsurge! Exsurge! Exsurge!"[1]
Scarcely had the last words of the exorcism died away, when thick, blue
smoke rose out of the grave, rapidly grew into a cloud, and began to
assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white figure
stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand.
"Who art thou?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to
cry.
"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B----," replied the ghost in
a hollow voice.
"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued.
"As far as I can."
"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and by
all the Masses for your soul, which we have said for you?"
"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be."
"When?"
"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished."
"Has that not already happened? Has not your husband disinherited his
lost son, and in his place made the Church his heir?"
"That is not enough."
"What must he do besides?"
"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities, as his last
will and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house."
"Consider well what you are saying; must this really be?"
"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much
longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next
moment the ghost yelled out in terror: "Oh! Good Lord!" and began to
run away as fast as it could. A shrill whistle was heard, and then
another, and the police director laid his hand on the shoulder of the
exorciser with the remark:
"You are in custody."
Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the
churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the
sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and wore a wax mask,
which bore a striking resemblance to his mother, so the son declared.
When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very
skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The government
gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as
possible, and left the punishment of Father X----to the spiritual
authorities, which was a matter of necessity, at a time when priests
were outside of the jurisdiction of the civil authorities. It is
needless to say that Father X----was very comfortable during his
imprisonment in a monastery, in a part of the country which abounded
with game and trout.
The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was that it brought
about a reconciliation between father and son; the former, as a matter
of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in
consequence of the apparition, that a short time after his wife had
left purgatory for the last time in order to talk with him, he turned
Protestant.
[1] Arise!