Thirty Years In Hell | Page 9

bestowing on thee, like to the patriarchs and prophets, the gift of
divine knowledge and of foreseeing future events. I beseech thee that
with the patriarchs and prophets thou wouldst approach the throne of
God and by your united prayers and merits obtain for me this my
petition.
"OUR FATHER. HAIL, MARY. GLORY."
"I salute thee, Blessed Anthony, noble Carnation-flower of fervent love,
in the name of all the holy apostles and disciples of Christ; and I thank
the most merciful Lord for the great grace bestowed on thee, like unto
that of the apostles and disciples, when He chose thee to proclaim the
holy Gospel and to spread the Christian faith. I beseech thee that with
the apostles and disciples thou wouldst approach the throne of God and
by your united prayers and merits obtain for me this my petition.
"Our Father. Hail, Mary. Glory."
We will give you an instance of this "St. Anthony's" witchcraft
business that came under my personal observation. A lady was standing
upon a bridge that spans one of the many streams that rushes down
from the Adirondack Mountains, gazing at this crystal stream and
watching the fishes below, and while standing there she was toying
with a beautiful diamond ring that had been given her by her lover. In a
careless manner she allowed this ring to slip from her finger, and it fell
into the waters below.
With a sudden cry those who were near her were attracted to the spot
and she explained to them her misfortune, and it was not long until

there was quite a crowd about her, offering their sympathy and also
their assistance.
Some volunteered to wade into this stream and search for the ring,
which was done, and a number of buckets of mud were carried up out
of the stream from the point the lady had stated she had dropped her
ring, but the ring could not be found.
At this point one of our Catholic "dupes" appeared and explained to the
lady that if she would put her trust in St. Anthony and would pay $500,
that St. Anthony would restore to her her ring.
This lady being a Catholic also, of course, was easily persuaded to do
this, so they knelt down and prayed to St. Anthony and beseeched him
to restore the lost treasure, and it was not long until all of those in the
crowd that belonged to the Catholic Church were in sympathy with this
distressed lady, and they were also kneeling and supplicating St.
Anthony to restore the lost treasure. They prayed for an hour, but still
the lost treasure would not appear; then the ringleader of this barbarous
belief informed this lady that the ring had been swallowed by a fish. He
pretended to be inspired and claimed that he could catch this identical
fish with the bait of St. Anthony's bread. Everything was soon prepared
and the line was let down into the water, and sure enough a good sized
fish was caught upon this St. Anthony's bait, and the crowd went into
rapturous delight, as they were quite sure they had the identical fish
that had swallowed the ring.
As soon as the fish was caught a collection was raised by a priest who
was in the crowd for the benefit of "St. Anthony's Bread Box." All of
the Catholics in the crowd contributed, of course, as they were afraid
not to, for Catholics believe that if they do not do what a priest tells
them to they are sure to have something awful befall them, and, of
course, all of these Catholics believed in the witchcraft of St. Anthony
and believed that he was the actual restorer of all lost things.
The Protestants in the congregation were determined to see what was
inside of the fish, so they followed the one that carried it to a butcher
shop and the fish was cut open, but naught was found in it but what is

usually found in any old fish that never saw or heard tell of a diamond
ring.
Now, this is one of the thousands--yea, tens of thousands of such
instances that are forced down the throats of the ignorant, superstitions
followers of Catholicism.
Now, what I relate above is true in every conceivable manner, and not
one sentence or statement is misrepresented.
This belief in the power of St. Anthony is simply abominable and
belongs to the dark ages of heathendom.
I have often wondered when I was acting as priest in the Catholic
Church why it was that Protestants, when they attended my church,
would look on in wonderment and surprise, and I attributed this
wonderment to a desire upon the part of Protestantism to make fun and
villify the teachings of the Catholic