65 – Tales of Bygone Years: Christine Hildegard – 1
A saint was a word that generally refers to a woman who exerts the strongest divine power in a particular religion. Sometimes even surpassing the Pope in the highest position.
Even in a religion with a small number of church members, each individual’s divine power explodes the moment a saint is elected, and in the case of some religions with considerable prestige, it is known that just by looking at a saint, the divine power is blinded.
The method of selecting the saintess was diverse.
The most common method was for God to give an oracle to a high-ranking priest or pope in the highest position in the religion, and sometimes, he suddenly revealed the job of a saint to an ordinary woman.
The latter case was nothing short of an instant success.
There was also a record that a farmer’s daughter who did ordinary farming was elected as a saint, and a prostitute in a red light district who received guests was selected as a saint, although the authenticity is unknown.
The terms of the oracle or revelation could not be revealed despite the efforts of numerous priests, but that was the case anyway.
The position of a saint is not determined by human will, but entirely up to God.
Then, what fate will the baby who has been chosen by God from birth face? Will the church be able to raise the baby normally?
The answer was obvious.
Christine Hildegard. It was the name given to Christine by her parents before she met her real salvation and gave up her last name.
Her parents, who were not rich but not poor by any means, were very devout believers, and the religion they believed in was the Holy Spirit Church.
The Sacred Church at the time, also called the Sacred Church or the Sacred Church, was growing in size day by day after the great achievement of repelling the black blood monster.
The number of church members increased exponentially, and the pope at the center enjoyed power like a god.
Tens of thousands of people shed tears at the pope’s sermon, and hundreds of people shuddered at the priest’s blessing. Even low-level priests were able to purify ordinary monsters like breathing.
Every adventurer party tried to recruit priests of the Holy Church as much as possible, and naturally, the number of adventurers who believed in the Holy Church increased.
It was because there was a saying that the effectiveness of buffs and blessings would increase for those who believed in the god of that religion.
It wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t an outright lie either.
As the number of people who believe in God increases, the divine power of the priests increases, and the adventurers who see the effect of the increased divine power think that if they believe in that religion, they will get a greater effect.
Although the process was different, the end result was the same.
However, as the size increases, the benefits naturally follow. It was only natural that high-ranking officials who had tasted the fruits would seek more power.
The appearance of the black blood monster greatly expanded the power of the Holy Church, but on the contrary, it was also the time when the corruption of the Holy Church began in earnest.
A girl named Christine Hildegard was born at this time.
The midwife who helped deliver Christine realized that the baby had unusual energy as soon as she appeared in the world.
Although the birth obviously took place at night, the surroundings of the baby were as bright as the sun, and the mother’s blood had stopped before she knew it.
Also, even though she had just come out of her stomach, Christine’s whole body was spotless and clean. It was nothing short of a miracle.
Christine’s parents, who are very devout believers, shed sincere tears the moment they saw the baby. It was because their minds had realized what fate their baby had.
Christine’s mother walked out of bed on her feet 30 minutes after giving birth.
Seeing the pair of men and women walking on their knees to the place where the church of the Holy Church is located, the attendant priest was initially taken aback, but was soon taken aback and forgot his face and rushed inside to call the high-ranking priest.
“Oh my gosh.”
As soon as he saw Christine, a high priest who was almost dragged by the hand uttered a single word, and then instinctively fell to his knees and wept, giving Christine all the blessings he could write on the spot.
However, the baby absorbed the blessing and immediately returned it to the people around him. even stronger. Christine’s parents, who witnessed this miracle, passed out on the spot.
Had it not been for the hastily thrown away by the barely conscious high priest, a catastrophe would have occurred, with Christine falling to the ground.
This news quickly reached the ears of the Pope of the Holy Church.
Hearing of the miracle the newborn baby had caused, the pope personally visited Christine’s parents and bestowed blessings on her parents who were trembling with emotion.
Then he said he would take this baby. Since it is clear that she will become a saint, she will teach directly at the Holy Church.
There would be no parent in the world who would refuse to say that their daughter would become a saint of their religion. Christine’s parents accepted the offer as if nothing more had to be heard.
It was the moment when the saintess of the Holy Church was born into the world.
Christine, who was brought to the parish of the Holy Church under the protection of the pope, received every kind of protection and hospitality imaginable.
It was natural. From the moment she was born, she was a saint who could use more powerful blessings than the high-ranking priests. From the perspective of the Holy Church, there was absolutely no way to miss this opportunity.
Since the birth of a saint was completely dependent on God, there were many religions that had not been able to give birth to a saint for decades.
The Holy Church also had extremely few descending saints compared to its splendid status and enormous power.
Even though she is a very precious saint, her talent is overwhelming enough to make all the priests who have come out so far a mere loser.
So, it was only natural that the Holy Church became even more obsessed with Christine’s protection.
However, the Pope’s ulterior motive was in a slightly different place.
“If I can make the saintess my own, it will be possible for me to rule the Holy Church forever. It is only a matter of time before I can rule the entire continent.”
“But, His Holiness the Pope, what about that bitch who sits on the throne? He won’t leave us alone.”
“Stupid bastard. Would that bitch dare touch us? Do you know how we’ll come out? Members of our Holy Church are spread all over the continent. And they’re all willing to give their lives for a word from me. Even if Gargantua didn’t Even if it’s a year, you can’t touch us carelessly.”
The Pope’s purpose was simple. To completely subjugate the saintess to herself. The pain Christine would go through in the process was completely unexpected.
Christine’s ability was no inferior to being called the most powerful saint in the history of all religions that spread across the continent.
The pope believed that with such power he could rejuvenate himself and become the ruler of the Holy Church forever. And furthermore, he said he could become the ruler of the continent.
Of course, the reason Charlotte didn’t touch the Holy Church was by no means because she was afraid of its power.
A certain boy by her side told her that he would use it to commit suicide by further increasing the power of the Holy Church, so it was only withheld.
If it hadn’t been for that, the Holy Church would have been plucked from the top down, one by one, but the pope had no way to know about it.
She only had a ridiculous illusion that Charlotte was afraid of the power of the Holy Church.
“Inflict all the pain we can on that child. Completely destroy his mind, and make a doll only for me.”
“I understand, His Holiness the Pope.”
“Do you understand? It must never have a self. If I die, I will die, if I live, I will live, and you will follow my words without question.”
“Don’t worry too much. I will definitely do it.”
The members of the Holy Church did not see Christine as a human being. Thoroughly treated as a tool to fulfill the Pope’s wish to become the ruler of the entire continent.
Christine was four years old when she began to receive an education suitable for the position of a saintess in earnest.
The priests and nuns of the Holy Church took care of Christine with the utmost sincerity, but they never showed their feelings of love.
It was because of an order from the pope. The pope didn’t want a person, he wanted a tool, and to do that, he needed to kill Christine’s emotions completely.
Abuse and torture under the guise of education was the first step to that end.
When general knowledge was taught, the nuns, who were terrifying and large, inflicted severe punishment.
No mistake was tolerated. Getting slapped on the calf for getting one sentence or one wrong word was a light punishment.
However, when teaching the doctrines of the Holy Church and the knowledge of the Pope, Christine was very kind.
The plain, gentle nuns acted as teachers and never hit or cursed at Christine. He smiled and said, “I can do it again if I make a lot of mistakes.”
The purpose of this abuse under the guise of education was to elicit good feelings for the Holy Church and the Pope from Christine, not to teach human common sense and knowledge.
So no matter what the learning efficiency was, if only positive emotions were elicited, it was practically a success.
This “education” continued for three years.
During that time, Christine was really beaten non-stop. The only time he could rest was twice a week, when he studied about the Holy Church and the Pope.
The pope used a more subtle method here, weakening the intensity of the corporal punishment at other times, each time a good word was said about the Holy Church and the pope.
Dramatically enough that even Christine could notice.
Due to the human instinct to hate being sick, Christine had no choice but to cram information about the Holy Church and the Pope into her head desperately.
It was unavoidable. Because that was the only way I could get a little less right. At most, the actions that a seven-year-old child could think of were extremely limited.
Thanks to this inhumane method, Christine’s lips always flowed from the hymns of the Holy Church, and the praises of the Pope were constantly chanting. It was a struggle to live.
Shortly after Christine turned 8 years old, the Holy Church caught the abusive nuns and executed them right in front of Christine.
The Pope reassured Christine that he had rescued her and that she would not have to be subjected to such behavior any longer.
It was obvious how the 8-year-old child, who had managed to mutter praises of the Holy Church and the Pope in order to survive, would have felt the consolation.
“My child, there’s only one thing you can learn now. Can you do the Pope’s favor?”
“Yes, yes… anything, anything, please tell me.”
“You’re a good boy.”
The only thing the Pope said was prayer. An act of kneeling on the ground and praying for God’s favor by putting both hands together in front of the chest.
This education was also very cruel.
Aside from about four hours of bedtime a day, Christine spent the rest of her time on her knees. In the meantime, I had to memorize prayers without rest with my mouth.
If the prayer was slightly wrong, the cane was immediately thrown at it, even if Christine lost her posture in the process, unable to overcome the pain.
However, when this method was not very effective, the Pope devised a more terrible method.
The method was to press a heavy object on Christine’s thigh as she was kneeling. Of course, still young Christine’s leg bones couldn’t bear the weight.
As soon as a stone nearly his own weight was lifted, the child’s femur and tibia were all too easily broken.
Ordinary people were severely injured, which would have left them crippled, but the basics of blessing through divine power was the restoration of the human body.
The priests generously poured out healing blessings and miracles of recovery, and the number of times Christine’s legs were broken was well over a hundred in the first day alone.
No matter how much Christine suffered, the Pope never stopped. In the midst of this merciless abuse, the Pope’s focus was on his apotheosis.
The Pope’s words are unconditionally right, and therefore we must follow the Pope. The Pope is a being that we dare not even look up to insignificant humans like us.
“So, Christine, you must give your all to the Pope, even your body if the Pope wants it.”
The nun said so, but the pope never thought of touching Christine’s body. It was because there was a belief that a saintess should thoroughly maintain a virgin body.
If you lose your virginity, you immediately lose your power as a saint.
Therefore, it was a common idea among religious people at that time that, as long as one was chosen as a saint, one must keep one’s virginity in order to exert divine power.
Naturally, the pope had no intention of testing the authenticity with his own saint.
In any case, if that was the truth and Christine lost her divine power, the damage would not be insignificant. I wondered if a child with talent like Christine would come out again.
“Follow me now, Saint Christine.”
“……Yes, His Holiness the Pope.”
This ruthless education continued for 10 years, until Christine was 18 years old.
Convinced that Christine’s ego and spirit had been nearly destroyed by the brutal torture and abuse, the pope ordered Christine to follow him from then on.
Christine, unable to resist any longer, obediently obeyed the order. It was also from then that the pope announced the birth of a saint of the Holy Church in a large scale.
Christine followed the Pope and showed off her overwhelming divine power to her heart’s content, and the church members shed tears of joy and emotion as they watched their saintess.
It was also at this time that the worship services of the New Church began to distort in earnest. The Pope noticed that the divine power from one faithful follower is stronger than from a hundred half-hearted ones.
And, blinded by the strengthening of power, he made an extreme choice.
It was human sacrifice.
“This is not a human being like us! How can these insignificant things be human beings like us who have been chosen by God and opened the way to heaven! These are beasts! They believe in other gods and deny salvation! Heresy!”
The pope offered a human sacrifice and presented the logic to his followers that this was not a human being, but a heresy, and that our god would be pleased only if all heretics were killed painfully.
The pope’s word was like the word of God, so no one objected. Soon after, ‘heretics’ from all over the continent began to be brought to the Papal Territory.
In the name of the cleansing of heresy, all sorts of terrible tortures were committed within the Papal States.
Inside the building, which was specially soundproofed to prevent sound from leaking out, screams continued throughout the year.
Of course, devout believers, including Saint Christine, witnessed the scene of heretics being forgiven of their sins.
The pope also did not forget to provide additional education for Christine in his spare time. The fear and helplessness that filled Christine’s heart made her submit all too easily.
The Pope smiled satisfactorily as he confirmed Christine’s appearance.
The prestige of the Holy Church, which even gave birth to a saint, soared without knowing how high it was, and the pope, who stood at the peak, naturally seized the power of indiscretion.
It seemed that the days when the Holy Church would dominate and govern the continent were not far away.
“…is there anyone who dares to insult me?”
“Yes, His Holiness the Pope.”
“Kill it. Kill it by all means. Make it slowly die in maximum pain!”
“I-that’s…”
If it wasn’t for a boy who came out of nowhere.
