Chapter 2: At the Gertsberg Monastery

Friar Bernardo immediately sets off and in a couple of days he arrives at the monastery on a closed carriage pulled by horses and guided by his two faithful guardians.

After leaving Hugo and Etzel and the carriage too at the tavern in the village of Gersberg, the friar climbs the hill that leads to the monastery on foot and introduces himself to the gatehouse saying he is the bishop’s envoy for confessions and wants to speak with the superior mother, mother Kleopha.

He meets mother Kleopha and immediately asks her for a private meeting.

As soon as they are alone, Bernardo tells the mother superior what had been agreed with the bishop, shows her the document and the seal, and immediately afterwards they decide to elaborate a secret plan to try to find out how and where the Devil has crept in and which “sisters” he is plagiarizing.

Although bewildered, amazed and also embittered in knowing that some of her sisters may be “devil’s flesh”, Kleopha still has a firm conviction that sin must be fought in every way and that the Devil must be expelled, as soon as possible, from those pious walls.

The decided strategy is that Sister Kleopha must communicate to the other sisters that Father Bernardo, the Archbishop’s envoy, will be available for the following days as father confessor for all those who will have to confess.

Father Bernardo will be present in the convent from early morning until the evening prayer time, when he will returns to the hotel in the town.

The agreed trick is that in reality when all the nuns will be in the chapel for the evening prayer, instead of leaving the convent, Bernardo will hide in a cell currently unused to then have the possibility, at night, to go out and move among the semi-dark corridors of the convent and secretly spying in case there were suspicious movements.

Luck immediately turned to him in favor of the first day; one of the first nuns to ask him to confess is Sister Anny.

In the secret of confession Sister Anny shows herself totally distraught, upset and between tears and tears she confesses that despite being a good believer, God-fearing, she is continually tempted by the sins of the flesh.

He says he lives in a constant state of sexual arousal, to which he tries to oppose himself in every way, that he wants to fight ardently with prayer and penance.

He also says to try, in the private of his cell, to undress and self-flagellate, to have tied tightly on the bare skin of the hips a sackcloth whose knots stuck in the flesh causing her atrocious sufferings.

But even with the suffering of self-punishment, perhaps the very fact of being naked, it also gives her greater excitement.

“Father help me” she continues “I am afraid of being prey to the devil and his designs.

Despite all my trying to oppose, despite all my struggle ... then some nights I end up surrendering to the temptation and my hands do terrible things ... as if they were piloted by “Someone else”.

“I masturbate fiercely for a long time, I rub my clitoris for a long time as I penetrate deep inside and out with more fingers.

When I fall into sin I have multiple orgasms to the point of exhaustion ... with a great difficulty then also to get up in the morning for morning prayer.

“My hands” also forged with wax a big cock with which I penetrate and which made me lose the virginity that I had promised to God.

My madness also leads me, in these hours when I give in to sin, to insert the most disparate objects in the asshole, such as carrots or zucchini, to muddy my soul even more in these orgies of luxury.”

And more...

“Please Father ... save me. Can you help me? Is there a way out?”

Father Bernardo is truly disconcerted by this unexpected confession ... and at the same time he understands that this can be an unexpected opportunity for his goal.

Pretending to be upset, he takes a couple of minutes to meditate better on an answer that leads to discovering more sinners.

Then...

“Daughter, your sin is unforgivable; especially having violated the virginity that you promised to the Lord, but in any case perhaps I could offer you a very hard and extreme way out, if you want to accept it. But always better that, as it will certainly happen, your lust leads you to make some mistakes and to be discovered.

Then the mother superior can not help but pass you to the great Inquisitor who knows the methods to make you confess everything, and then transfer you to the “secular arm” that after terrible interrogations under torture, will inevitably condemn you to death at the stake probably preceded by other public torments.

Then I will make you “my offer” ... but only if you first open yourself completely to me and tell me if you have the feeling that the Devil has insinuated himself in other places in this convent or if he has brought other sisters to sin.

From now on you can no longer have any secrets for me if you want my help.”

That glimmer of hope that Father Bernardo gave her brings Sister Anny to an immediate response, without thinking about it...

“Father, I am not sure, but from certain attitudes, certain looks, certain signals, certain suspicious movements I have the conviction that Satan was right about Sister Theresa and Sister Welda and that they have a lustful relationship between the two of them.”

Father Bernardo’s answer... :

“Well. We will try to find out. Now what I can do for you is that you agree to enter the “Congregation of Penitents” ... congregation which I direct by the will and disposition of my superiors, not only the Archbishop but also of the other Princes of the Church who command the Church in our lands.

Entering the “Congregation” means submitting completely and signing a contract that binds you for 7 years, after which, if you pass the test, maybe you can be reinstated in some convent and still be a “purified” nun.

In the next 7 years you will lose all your rights, you will be held almost always completely naked prisoner ... at the complete disposal of the minions who serve within the coven.

You will be used and abused in all “your holes” by anyone who wants it and also by their dogs, in case, because you will be considered a bitch and nothing more.

If for any reason you’ll rebel against the contract, you will not accept with humility and endurance the terrible and extreme rules of the contract, you will be tried by the rectors of the congregation, me in the first place, and if, in their unquestionable judgment, you will be expelled, then you will be transferred immediately to the “secular arm” with the complete list of your sins.

But this is still nothing...

The congregation is itinerant.

It travels through cities and towns in the region and in every place some of the congregated females, and in turns, usually three, will be exhibited naked in a municipal hall, or in a theater where only adult men and women can come to see the “scapegoats”.

In fact, every citizen who has serious sins on his conscience will be able to confess at once it to one of my brothers who will establish an adequate price in money, low if a farmer, higher if a nobleman, in short, a donation to make to the Church which, in return, will forgive his sins.

But then the sinner, having paid the price, will be able to choose which of the naked females will “take on his sins” and be punished for their remission.

It is clear that the load of penances on the three victims of the shift will be enormous and that therefore the relative penances and punishments will be extreme.

The atonement for sins will be done through the torture of the three women, in three public sessions usually in a public square.

One on Monday, the second on Thursday, the third on Sunday.

On Monday all three will be tortured, on Thursday the one that had the least money will be excluded and the other two tortured, on Sunday she will be tortured and tormented alone and for the whole day the one that received the most donations.

Torture will always be different and imaginative; will be proposed by the mayor and city councilors.

They must be atrocious as possible but with the only limitation of not leaving permanent damage or marks and wounds that can heal in a couple of weeks at most.

It is not a form of undeserved pity, but it is only because the bodies of the women of the congregation must be ready after a couple of weeks for further torture shifts and this for the 7 years they have signed up.”

And to dismiss her, he adds:

“Now retire and pray and think. Tomorrow you will tell me your decision.

I will leave in a couple of days and then follow me to the Congregation as a novice or you will remain here with the high risk of ending up in some secular dungeon.”

Anny with downcast eyes only says: “Yes Father, thank you Father!”.

Having dismissed Anny and confessed to other nuns until evening, Bernardo greets the nuns who are gathering for evening prayer.