Page 243 - Revelation

Svetlana de Rohan-Levashova. Revelation

inside...

And there... suspended on the wall like on a crucifix, my darling Girolamo hung...
My tender and kind husband... There was no pain and horror in the world which would
miss slashing my tormented heart! I could not believe what I was seeing. My soul
refused to accept it and I helplessly closed my eyes.
– Oh, come on, dear Isidora! You’ll have to watch our little performance! –
Caraffa pronounced in a half-threatening, half-affectionate voice. – And I am afraid
that you’ll have to watch it to the very end!

So that was this pitiless and unforeseeable "holy" beast contrived! He was afraid
that I would not break and decided to break me by the suffering of my nearest and
dearest! Anna!!! Oh, Gods, Anna! A bloody flash flashed in my tormented brain – my
poor little daughter could be the next!
I tried to pull myself together in order to deprive Caraffa of feeling completely
satisfied in his dirty victory, and also of thinking that he succeeded in breaking me and
prevent him from using this "successful" method on the rest of my family members...
– Be reasonable, Your Holiness! What are you doing! – I exclaimed in horror. –
You pefectly know that my husband has done nothing against the Church! How can
you do such a thing?! How can you make innocent people pay for mistakes they have
not made?!

I perfectly understood that this was just small talk which will result in nothing,
and Caraffa perfectly knew it too...
– But Madonna, we are very interested in your husband! – The "great inquisitor"
caustically smiled. – You cannot deny that your dear Girolamo was engaged in very
dangerous practice which is called anatomy, can you? Isn’t it true that this sinful
practice includes digging into dead human bodies?

– But this is science, Your Holiness!!! It is a new branch of medicine! It helps
future doctors to understand better a human body and therefore to treat patients more
efficiently. Does the Church forbid doctors nowadays?!
– Doctors that are from God do not need this kind of a "satanic action"! – Caraffa
exclaimed angrily. – Man will die, if God’s decided so. It would have been better if
your "doctors" had taken care of man’s sinful soul.
– Well, as far as I know, it is the Church that takes "care" of the human soul very
strenuously!
So I think very soon no job will remain for doctors... – I could not restrain myself.

I knew that my answers enraged him, but I could not help doing that. My wounded
soul screamed... I understood that no matter how much I tried to "behave" myself, I
was unable to save my poor Girolamo. Caraffa had drawn up some horrific plan
regarding him and was not going to frustrate it, depriving himself of great pleasure...
– Do be seated, Isidora. You will see now that rumors about the Inquisition are
not just tales... We are at war and our beloved church needs to be defended. And I, as
you know, am its most faithful son...

I stared at him in surprise, thinking that Caraffa was gradually going mad...
– What war do you mean, Your Holiness?

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