The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-04-18
GheGateltiaentsr
How a Catholle Priest was Saved.

About Easter had become possessed
of some heretical boOks which l rcat
with eagerness. ! was ipSo facto undel
The ban Of cxcommu nication. From tina
moment the demon had hold Of me, ant
he was not slow in extending his empir
over nv soul without allowing me 4
percciyc it. By degrees | left of spirit
ual reading, my prayers OF devotion, tn
rosary, and even the breviary. Eve
Nous devotion 10 the august Virgin, tina
good mother whom had learned TO Low
IRON my tenderest infancy, was abandon
ed. went so far as even TO strip mysel
Of the livery OF the Queen Of Heaven
mean Of the holy sCapular, the OnI.
weapon which remained to me agains
the spirit Of evil. From that mOmen
the presence in my soul OF the angel O
darkness, disguised as an angel oil IIShI
was really sensible. From that moment
was what Is called possessed; sicE, 4!
least, il my conviction. You win toSn l
your own judgment on the matter from ~,
the circumstances am about 70 ie'a1e ~ =!
detail. The action OF the evil spirit
made itself to be felt, .,,.
/. By Satanic Attractlons-Assnredly,
,be denon made no feeble efforts TO draw
mo 10 him, BY painting in bright cOlors
Tho charm. of an existence in which, en-
iranchising myself from my VOWS OF
cha.Iity. [ should have all the enjoy
m.nls Of life. AT MysOre, where Joys Of
this kind presented themselves to me-
were, as il were, at hand in the house Of a
gentleman where l. was,on visit-this
Kind Of temptation assailed me more
than once; but declare that this did not
meet with great success. 0itener At Mang-
aIore the tempter acted upon my imagin-
alton with more force and effect. /
ouyh, to say, however, that his most dan.
verous assaults were not in that quarter.
Ills main design was TO insinuate himself
into my soul. - 10 -. sf
.. BY Satanic Aversion-Upon the
limsiest pretexts l conceived against my
excellent Bishop furious hatred, which
in the event OF a single meeting, might
have had the most fearful conseq uences.
No one who knows me, or whoha3 known
the venerable prelate, would be able 10
persuade himself, who we'll knows the
paternal affection he always had for me,
and that which had for him in return,
will not allow himself to ascribe to me
anything so monstrous, but will assign it
TO its real author. Besides, even here, l
must add, tho enemy Of all good did not
accomplish all he aimed at. When saw
the good pastor run in search Of his lost
sheep-,hat excellent father coming from
aiar TO recover his prodigal son-in spite
Of the demon, and although | still re.
manned a Protestant, i felt all my hatred
vanish.
3. BY Satanic Illusions-Every time
that opened the Bible to find there q
meaning which l ascribed I now shudder
at the thoughl to the Holy Spirit, but
which were merely my own blasphem les,
felt us il were in the midst Of brilliant
light. Then interpretations Of the text
the most forced and the most ridiculous
appeared TO nc the most natural and
trueones; while the clear, obvious sense
received by all generations since the
Apostles appeared 10 me deception,
pure invention Of Romanism-pricstCrait.
For instance, the words "supcr hanc Pet.
ram," understood OF Jesus Christ, offered
quite natural meaning to me; applied TO
ST. Peter, they seemed absurd nonsense.
Truth to say, was the poor creature Of
whom St. Paul spenks-that is TO say, a
poor, foolish one, who, having rejected
The teachings OF the doctors appointed by
Jesus Christ, had no other master than
the teacher OF lies, and the latter had so
fascinated me as 10 have pursuaded me
that the Pope, the Bishops, the priests,
the religious, were all acluated by mo-
tves OF cgotism and hypocrisy; that they
refused to encourage among their adher.
ents the reading Of the Bible only to keep
them in darkness and ignorance; that, in
short, they were no more worth than pa
gan priests.
4. By Satanic Assistance--Ardently
longing to propagate my new doctrines, |
busted myself night and day at compos.
ing sermons from Protestant point Of
view. Now, it is the fact that this work
caused me scarcely any trouble. ] expe-
ricnced, on the contrary, an incredible
facility. Whether during the day or in
my mis- Tit dreams, ideas flowed into my
mind, and it seemed as il / had only to
open my mouth for floods to issue thence
OF sublime and altogether spontaneous
clOqucncc. ;.
8. by a Satanic Pcace-Every time !
put foot in Protestant temple, and
(which only befell me once) when | re-
ceived the Protestant communion, i felt
myself filled with spiritual consultations,
deceptive consultations, which could
plunge my soul deeper into error. leav-
ing atterward naught but terrible dismay;
empty communion administered by a
man who could not even assert his Eacer.
dotal character.
@. By Satanic Pride Immediate
pride Swelled within me to such point
that | fanclcd myself TO be capable not
only Of refuting my Bishop, but also the
greatest doctors Of the Catholic Church,
all Of whom ! regarded with profound
and contemptuous pity.
Z. In short, by Sympathics and Antip-,
athies altogether Satanic-l felt myself
irresistably drawn toward everything
that was Protestant, but experienced II
strange aversion for everything Catholic
| could read heretical books night and
day without fatigue; to read few lines Of
Catholic work exhausted all my force.
Tho sight Of a religious service cele.
brated BY Protestants flooded my soul
with delight; that OF a Catholic on his
knees was u punishment to me, etc.
In all these features do you not recog.
nize, my good father, the evil spirit with
his worksP Let me add that, in spite OF
the charitable efforts OF many priests, OF
Of my parents, and Of my friends; PFotes.
tani:m strengthened its hold on me day
by day, up to the very moment OF my sud
den and complete conversion. Up to that
moment in fact, Whenever l saw pions
persons praying for my conversion There
was in our house little oratory, where
PRAYERS we're often offered with that in
toniion), said tomysclf, and sometimes
aloud, GPoor people, you may pray to
the end Of time; you will make no prog,
rcss." The day before that on which
was fortunate enough to return to the fold
Friday morning, Oct. la native pries'
Of Maugalore, one Of my closest friends
'aidlo me, in accents Of the tendcres
friendship: "At least say some prayer
TO the Virgin Mary-At least that r.
reulied To him |Dare YOU utter before