Thirty Years In Hell | Page 4

I was
taught that all Protestants were heretics and abominable in the sight of
God and sure of eternal damnation, unless they turned from their sins
and joined the Catholic Church.
Ofttimes I would have my faith shaken by the actions of some lustful
priest, but I clung tenaciously to the religion of my mother and refused
to look beyond the horizon of Catholic superstition.
About the time that I had fully made up my mind to become a priest, I
had my faith shaken in the priesthood to a great extent by a scandalous
happening near the College of Vechta, which concerned and strictly
involved one of the great dignitaries of Catholicism in my college town,
but I fought this feeling of dislike down and forced myself to believe
that what a priest or bishop did was all right in the sight of God, but at
the same time I had a feeling of distrust, as I could not reconcile myself
to believe that God would look with compassion upon the acts of a
dignitary more readily than he would upon the transgressions of his
blind and duped followers, but nevertheless I went ahead and prepared
myself for the priesthood, which I followed for thirty years.
Right directly opposite the college which I was attending resided the
Very Rev. Harold. This reverend gentleman was a high dignitary in the
Catholic Church.
We young priests had often heard it whispered about that Priest Harold
had in his house at different times a number of concubines, which are
nothing more nor less than lude women. We often saw ladies around
the mansion, dressed in the very height of fashion, and their actions led

us to believe that they were there at the solicitation of Rev. Harold, as
they were seen there at all times of the day and night, and this certainly
made a very strange impression upon us young students, as there were
so many different faces; one day we would see two or three young girls,
and the next day the same number would be about the mansion, but
different faces. All of we young students endeavored not to believe the
rumor, as we were Catholics in every sense of the word, and we did not
want to believe that anything so degrading would be tolerated in the
very mansion of one of the officials who were teaching us.
The acts of this dignitary became so flagrant that even the students who
were trying not to believe the scandal were forced to believe there was
something wrong about the mansion of this Catholic dignitary.
About this time there was a young priest by the name of Wulf, from
Rome, who was sent to Vechta and made secretary of this dignitary's
mansion, who, during the day, worked in the office of the mansion,
where court was held in cases of the Catholic Church and schools.
He was soon familiar in and about the mansion and the surrounding
grounds and was given many privileges, and the dignitary seemed to
like him because he did not meddle with his vile conduct, and the ladies
who frequented this place also seemed to admire him. There was a
large lawn surrounding the mansion and at night-time a number of
vicious dogs were unchained to guard it.
The priest that was sent from Rome was soon on familiar terms with
the dogs and they would mind him and became as obedient as children,
and he was soon on such good terms with these dogs that he could
approach the house at any time, day or night, and one word from him
would cause them to sneak off to their kennels and not molest any who
desired to approach the mansion.
The young priests of this college were determined to learn, if possible,
if this Catholic dignitary was guilty of the immoral conduct that he was
accused of, so they went to Wulf and explained to him that they desired
to make a personal investigation, and got this young priest to promise
that he would let them into the grounds one night and also see that the

dogs did not molest them.
We selected a dark night and a few of us young priests slipped into the
lawn surrounding the mansion and placed a ladder up to the second
story window, as there was a bright light inside, and we determined to
learn, if possible, what was going on in this room.
Dr. Wulf, the secretary, was the first to ascend, and there in this room
was the dignitary of the Catholic Church in a half drunken condition,
with two licentious and lude women, playing cards and drinking wine,
and the trio were in a half nude condition, and frequently this dignitary
of the Catholic Church would kiss