The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer

consisted of people of all conditions. Thieves and mendicants, artisans, bourgeois and seigneurs, lost women and devout old dames, ladies of distinction and pl

gether with his friend Fra Girard. The Franciscan monk was about twenty-five years of age, and of a cadaverous, austere countenance. The mask of asceticism concealed an infernal knave gifted with superi

y when in a fit of despair and terror you came to me to confessi

dder and dropping his eyes still

that, gave positive assurance even to the worst of sinners, provided they had faith. By little and little our long and frequent conversations succeeded in causing the divine light to penetrate your mind, and the scales dropped from

th, and in the center of which, on a cushion of crimson velvet, lay a red box containing the bull of Leo X empowering the Order of St. Dominic to dispense indulgences. Several censer-bearers walked backward before the stretcher, and stopped from time to time in order to swing their copper and silver censers from which clouds of perfumed vapor issued and circled upward. A Dominican prior walked behind the stretcher clasping a large cross of red wood in his arms; this dignitary-a man in the full vigor of age, tall of stature and so corpulent that his paunch threatened to burst his frock-was the Apostolic Commissioner entrusted with the sale of indulgences; a heavy blac

the main altar, before which the stretcher, covered with gold cloth, the bull, and the big coffer were processionally borne. The Apostolic Commissioner with the cross of red wood in his hand p

stored, the kneeling faithful rose again to their feet, and all eyes turned impatiently towards the choir. Hervé, who had been one of the first to prostrate himself, was among the last to rise;

promises! The moment has arrived

and pointing to the papal commissioner, who was preparing to sp

e market would have done in order not to be hindered in the tumultuous motions of his performance, and pointing to the r

ly Father has commissioned me to dispense. But what are these indulgences? you will then ask? What they are, my brothers? They are the most precious gift, the most miraculous, the most wonderful that the Lord has ever bestowed upon His faithful! Therefore, I say unto you-Come,

ne can obtain absolution both for the sins that he has

th secret horror, "that, may be, one can not obtain absolution

ciscan, "listen to the end

well lined hail with delight the prospect of their salvation if they but took the precaution of equipping themselves in advance with an absolution that embraced the past, the present and the futur

ifled of all that you carry about you before you attain the end of your journey, you do not wish to take your money with you. What do you do? You take your money to a banker, do you not? You allow him a slight pr

he faithful; "we understand-

ences!" the Dominican now proceeded to say with a resumption of familiar and even paternal solicitude. "Nor is this all, my brothers; my indulgences do not save the living only, they redeem the dead! Aye, the dead, be they even as hardened as Lucifer himself! But, you may ask, how can your indulgences deliver the dead?" cried the merchant of salvation again shouting at the top of his voice, "How will my indulgences save the dead? Can it be that you do not hear the voices of your parents, your friends, even of strangers to you-but what does that matter, seeing that you are Christians?-can it be that you do not hear their frightful concert of maledictions, of groans, of gnashing of teeth which rises from the bottom of the abyss of fire, where those poor souls are writhing in the furnace of

us belief, it had a certain charitable side, but that side had no attraction whatever for the faithful ones who were attracted only by the expect

ns who hired out their homicidal daggers to the highest bidder, said in a l

rich enough to purchase a good letter of absolution-'sdeath!-I would pay for it gladly and spot-cash, too! Once the papal absolution is in your pocket, your hand is firmer at its work; it does not tremble when dispatc

t tell me, Pichrocholle," added Grippe-Minaud with a pensive air, "letters of absolution are too dear for poor dev

ive absolution in advance? But those jew

postolic Commissioner rolled his sleeves still higher, and continued his sermon, inte

nces could never reach them! You are mistaken, my brothers. No! A thousand times no! My indulgences are so good, they are so sure, they are so efficacious, so powerful that they absolve

e blackest and most unheard-of felonies. Among others in the crowd, Hervé remained hanging upon the lips of the Dominican; the lad was seized with dizziness; he imagi

Even such a crime would be reached by an indulgence! Did

g himself reel like an intoxicated man and even his knees to yield under him, the lad found himself ob

ing his abominable supposition in order the better to assure h

God will have no power over you, he ceases to be God, having assigned His pardoning power to the Pope. But, you may still ask, why does our Holy Father so bountifully distribute the boon of his indulgences? Why?" repeated the Dominican in a voice of deep lament; "why? Alas! alas! alas! my brothers, it is in order to be enabled, thanks to the returns from the sales of these indulgences, to rebuild the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome with such splendor that

of the weather and the soilure of vermin as a result of the dilapidated state of the Basilica of Rome, while, since then, the most marvelous monument of architecture that imm

minic!" and pointing to the large coffer and beating with his fists a tattoo upon the lid, the Apostolic Commissioner added with the roar of a bull: "Now, bring

s of the crowd, he dropped it into the coffer through the slit in the lid, upon w

etch it, good people

afficker in indulgences and hastened to empty their purses. But the Dom

sent the apostolic penitentiaries of Rome on the occasions of grand jubilees. All those who wish to participate in the three principal indulgences will proceed to these c

te remission of all sins

e works of the Holy Church, such as fasts, pray

tention to the last words, as the saying is-this indulgence

rvé; "listen, and repent your having

pe," murmured the son of Christian with bated breat

the letter of absolution that you will have purchased and which you will display before him-to give you absolution not only for your ordinary sins, but a

e frightful to behold. The lad's eyes shot fire, and a smile of the damned

he indulgence is abso

trite of heart and to confess. No, no! It is enough if you drop your offerings in this coffer. You will thereby snatch the souls of the dead from the tortures that they are undergoing; and you will be moreover contribut

of the cross; the confessionals, however, in which the pontifical penitentiaries took their seats, ready to issue letters of absolution, were immediately besieged by a mob of men and women, anxious to obtain impunity in the eyes of heaven and o

o the religious sentiment-the divine gift implanted in man's heart, whatever the dogma may be in which it is wrapped-there are Catholic priests of austere morals who, despite their intolerance, have, in these accursed times, indignantly repudiated the monstrous idolatries and savage fetichism that even ancient paganism knew nothing of! No! No! Christ, your celestial gospel is and will remain the most scathing condemnation of the horrors that are committed in your venerated name. Those papal penitentiaries in the confessionals emblazoned with the pontifical arms, those new dealers in merchandise in the Temple dare to sell for cash patents of salvation! Alas! After a few hurried words exchanged with Fra Girard, Hervé was one of the first to hurry to the conf

e and enormous these may be, and whatever the cause thereof, even if such sins and crimes be those reserved to our Holy Father the Pope and to the apostolic See-such as bestiality, the sin against nature, parricide and incest. I hereby efface from you all traces of inability, all the marks of infamy that you may have drawn upon yourself on such occasions; I induct you anew as a participant of the sacraments of the Church; I re-incorporate you in

ather, the Son, and

R JOHN

sioner, signed b

is days. Hervé folded the parchment and inserted it into the scapulary that hung from his neck under his shirt, bowed down till his forehead touched the slab of the floor at the foot of the sanctuary and kissed it devoutly. Alas! The unfortunate lad was sincere in his frightful thankfulness towards the divine power that granted him the remission. His mind being led astray by a detestable influence, he felt himself, he believed himself, absolved of all the wrongs that his delirious

s of the remorse and the terrors that have assailed you during the last three months? Since the day when, distracted with despair by the discovery of the frightful secret that had lain concealed in the bottom of your heart, you came to me, and yielding, despite yourself, to the irres

ur Savior. Yes, since a minute ago, from the moment that I became the owner of this sacred schedule, my conscience has regained its former sereni

transfigured; their savage and tormented expression made room for a sort of blissful ecstasy, a slight flush again enlivened the cheeks that frequent fasts, macerations and mental c

join the ranks of the militants, who openly preach and cause this faith to triumph, the miraculous effi

ings. My thoughts are elsewhere

e monastic Orders, especially the one to which I belong, I say so in all humility, recruit themselves carefully with young men whose gifts give promise of a brilliant future; this is enough to tell you of what priceless value you would be to o

her, to the printing shop

bove all, no

flection, "I know not what may happen during the next few days; I will, and

ithful repair who come to ask our assistance for the dying; ask the brother gateman for me; that will let y

, and I rely upon it. Adieu.

treating figure of Hervé. "Whatever may happen," added Fra Girard to himself, "he now belongs to us, body a