Thirty Years In Hell | Page 4

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 these harlots.
After Dr. Wulf came down the ladder and told what he had seen, of course the rest of us wished to become eye witnesses to the perfidy of this vagabond of the Catholic Church.
We would take time about going up the ladder to look at this sight, and sometimes one would remain so long at the top of the ladder the others would become restless and urge him to come down and give the rest of us a chance.
It seemed as though this Catholic dignitary and the women up stairs within had implicit confidence in the dogs, and had no fear of detection in their drunken orgy of immorality. This dignitary seemed very drunk, and the ladies began to