- I
remember - said Monsignor Paul – an old confessional, in which they put me in my
first parish – we had a neoclassical church there, built in the thirties of the
nineteenth century. My predecessor, a thin curate, confided to me that there
was a legend about this confessional, namely, that once a year the local devil apparently came there to confess, and then a woodworm rustled. I
must say that every time I heard confession there in evenings I felt a
little uncomfortable, and I always sat down carefully so that nothing rustled.
But I never heard a woodworm. Then we had this confessional repaired and there
were no longer any woodworms, at least the carpenter said so.
- This story came to my mind again in Spain - continued Monsignor Paul - when I was at a pilgrimage touring around Toledo, and we went to a very old monastery. And there stood an old dark confessional in the corner, evidently unused since the civil war. Our
Spanish guide explained that according to a local legend, the local devil, dressed up
for a priest, heard confessions there once a year.
- The devil
dressed up for a priest is a popular theme of folk tales in different regions
of Europe - remarked father Hyacinth.
- I've seen
something along these lines in one anticlerical journal - said master Adalbert.
- Only that there was a bishop confessing to another bishop, or something of
this sort.