The Fiancee Of Asmodeus.

specified—and on proofs drawn from her writings and letters . Some one demanded the production of these official documents . After a note sent to the newspapers by the Abbe de Bessonies and by Canon Muscel , of the diocese of Coutances , it was announced that " the certificate of birth could noc be given ,

' * owing to the state of the civil registers in certain parts of the United States , but otherwise it mattered but little to the case . " As for Leo Taxil , who naturally took part in the work of the Congress , he affirmed on his oath the existence of the ex-Palladiste , and that three Bishops had seen her and had heard her confession .

The question was therefore not insisted upon . In Germany and several parts of France , however , many newspapers protested against the monstrous fables being accepted by Catholics , so Diana Vaughan , who had then published her " Memoirs of an ex-Palladiste , " authorised the publication of her written proofs emanating from the Vatican . As an example this letter from Cardinal Paroechi :

Mademoiselle and de . ar Daughter in Our Saviour , It is with a lively but sweet emotion that I have received your good letter of 29 th November , together with a copy of the " New Eucharist . " His Holiness has charged me to send you on his part a very special benediction . For a long time you have gained my sympathy . Your conversion is one of the most magnificent triumphs of grace that I know . I am reading just now your " Memoires , " which are of exciting interest .

Meanwhile believe that I shall not forget you in my prayers , especially at the Holy Sacrament . On your side do not cease to thank Our Saviour Jesus Christ for the great mercy He has shown towards you , and for the radiant testimony of love which He has given you . Now accept my benediction and believe me , All yours in the heart of Jesus , L . M ., CARDINAL VICAR .

She also produced this letter from the Bishop of Grenoble to an Italian monk : Grenoble , 7 th January 1897 . My Reverend Father ,

Miss Diana Vaughan lives and has made her first communion , and the Catholics have been mystified by Nathan , Findel , & c . Wait patiently and you shall see Truth triumphant , All yours in Our Saviour , AMAND-JOSEPH .

Bishop of Grenoble . Truth has indeed triumphed at last , but only because M . Leo Taxil has powerfully assisted her . Despite the protestation several times made by the newspapers that the story was nothing but an imposture , a number of Catholics did not wish to give in . On the other hand , it became difficult to follow up this colossal

mystification . Leo Taxil decided to put an end to it . Before an audience of several hundred people , including some fifty or sixty journalists , of all shades of opinion , with a cynicism of which it is difficult to speak , and which has disgusted the most sceptical and the most indifferent—ridiculing by turns the Catholics and the Masonic Journals , the Pope and Cardinal

Paroechi , M . Leo Taxil , in a long speech , carefully prepared beforehand , has made his declaration . In the course of which he said : Diana Vaughan does not exist . There is no Diana Vaughan . It is I . In my character as a son of Marseilles , I have always loved mystification and practical joking . In my youth I persuaded General Espivent de la Villeboisnet that the port of Marseilles was invaded by shoals of sharks . Later , I

created a sunken city at the bottom of the Lake Geneva . Visitors flocked to the place , and a Polish Archaeologist wrote an account of this town , in which he declared that he plainly perceived a public square , in the middle of which stood " something that resembled an equestrian statue . " I continued these jokes in various places , with the collaboration of an old friend of my childhood , also a Marseillais , the famous Doctor Bataille .

Then coolly before the astounded ecclesiastics he said : —My reverend Fathers , I thank your most sincerely , together with my Lords Bishops and my colleagues of the Catholic Press , for having assisted me in perpetrating this splendid hoax , which will put a crown to my career . He recounted his pretended conversion in 1885 , how he induced the Church to believe that

he repented ; under what conditions he had entered the School of the Jesuits , and all the details of his confession , his audience at the Vatican , his conversation with Leo XIII , " who has in his library all my anti-clerical works . " He repeated the explanation that he gave to his Masonic Lodge which had expelled him , " Call me a deserter , traitor , if you choose , but later you will understand . "

Then the interruptions began , " You are a tremendous scoundrel" cried a cleric , "An abominable rascal" shouted another , and hoots and jeers greeted the Joker . But he had not yet finished , and continued calmly . He stated that the

Bishop of Charlestown had made a special visit to Borne to inform the Pope that all Lis stories about the Freemasons of that city were utter nonsense , but the Pope sent him away commanding his silence , and sent his benediction to Diana Vaughan—to the Diana Vaughan who does not exist , but who was merely a

The Fiancee Of Asmodeus.

girl employed as a typewriter in New York . Amid a dreadful uproar the sitting came to an abrupt termination , and Leo Taxil —alias Gabriel Jogand—protected by four or five friends and by eight or ten policemen , fled to a neighbouring cafe , followed by the hooting mob , in which the Catholic element did not appear to predominate , crying " To the river with him , Drown him , Liar , Traitor of everybody ! " Thus ends Diana Vaughan .

So the Diana Vaughan myth is exploded , and the human basis of the personality of that remarkable creation is revealed as a lady clerk employed by M . Leo Taxil to do his typewriting and sign letters concocted by him for the edification of high ecclesiastical personages . The calm cynicism with which that

not very reputable personage first collected a meeting of eminent ecclesiastics and others to see proofs of the hideous cult of which the mythical Diana Vaughan was the arch-priestess , and then announced that this was the culminating point of a life spent in devising practical jokes , may seem to have a comic side ; but the

humour of the situation was not the feature that impressed either the audience or the non-clerical or even anti-clerical Press . "When even the " Intransigeant " refrains from scoffing at the

gullibility of the clericals and declares that , whatever M . Gabriel Jogand—alias Leo Taxil—may do , the party of free-thought will not have him back at any price , we feel that the joke is rather flat . — " Speaker . "

A scandal which interests many countries was revealed in Paris on Tuesday , 20 th ult . A man named Leo Taxil has for a long time past been puffing a woman named Diana Vaughan , who he declared was the secret head of the Freemasons , who were alleged , in America at least , to be devtSted to the worship

of Satan . She herself , under the auspices of General Pike , an old and respected American Mason , was married to Asmodeus , a devil of high rank . This rubbish found believers among some clerical and ignorant Catholics , Leo Taxil was received in audience by the Pope , and the greatest interest was manifested

in Diana Vaughan , who was represented as sincerely repentant and a convert to Catholicism , and to whom Cardinal Paroechi , a candidate for the Papacy , actually wrote a letter of sympathy . . . . . Taxil was probably seeking cash . His stories had a ready sale ; and there are men in Paris who would do anything

to discredit the Catholic Church , which , no doubt , is inclined by tradition to be rather credulous ' about Freemasonry . It is probable that a good many of the stories about Satanism in Paris have been got up in the same way , by men who traded at once on Catholic credulity and on the appetite for the horrible and the nasty . — " Spectator . "

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