The Angel of Milan

     The account that follows is but one excerpt taken from a lengthy manuscript discovered in the Vatican Library. I will not say that it was hidden, but I will say that it was found in the most unlikely of places.

             
The manuscript, written in English for some unknown reason, belonged to the late Father Adama Salvatore. They tell of some extraordinary events that I expect are generally unknown to the Vatican hierarchy. Given knowledge of these documents, I am sure they would have burned them at the first opportunity. For that same reason they are being published without anyone’s authorization or even the disclosure of my own identity. I have no doubt that I would be burned along with the papers if my identity were known.

             
To that end, I have enlisted the assistance of R. J. Grant, who has graciously agreed to publish the papers for me. Neither I nor Mr. Grant have edited the papers, other than dividing them into chapters for the readers’ benefit. We both firmly believe that Father Adama’s own words provide the greatest insight to the man, and the events he has recorded. Whether the recounted events and persons described in these papers are to be believed we will leave up to the reader. However, the sincerity and self critiquing nature of the script  is more than compelling.

             
Having once met Father Adama just before his death, I can assure you that he was not an old man with diminished capacities. Quite the contrary—he was in his prime, and a notable scholar and theologian. Unknown to me or to anyone else, as far as I have been able to determine, these attributes were a minor aspect of his vocation. However, in these matters I will let him speak for himself in the material that follows. 

             
From time to time, I will release additional events from Father Adama’s manuscript to Mr. Grant, in hopes that he will continue to assist me in their publication.

             
             
             
             
             
             
If you are reading this, then I am long gone from this world, and without doubt someone has found the manuscript in the Vatican Archive. I would be curious to know who, and how he or she came upon it, since it was purposely filed under “Management of Pedestrian Traffic”; How boring and uninteresting can that be? I leave the visualization of the finder to you. However, the fact that it has been published indicates that whoever found it has a bit of the devil in them, to say the least.

             
My name is Adama Salvatore, a priest of little note, but possibly remembered by some as an exceptional academic of language and antiquity. Such eulogy would be accurate, but for one small omission. I am, or at least I was, of the order Paladin
1
. You may believe that the Church has not sanctioned this order in centuries, and you would be correct. However, as in all large organizations of wealth and power there are layers of the onion. Just as in governments when some are given great authority, great corruption is inevitable. Nevertheless, it does not stand as an indictment of the whole. It is quite probable that with the exception of the late Cardinal Burtuchi, and a few close associates, no one knew the existence of the Paladin order
o
r the methods it employed. 

  
             
To the purpose of the manuscript I will admit it is for selfish reasons. You can determine my motives for yourself as you continue. Is it a confession, or only an act of arrogance?  It will depend on your point of view, though I will venture to say that what I have recorded here should be told to someone.