[Speaking Latin]
To me?
To everyone who believes in you?!
There are no secrets from God.
He knows everything. He sees everything!
- Everything! - Jeanette.
Read it for yourself.
"Even also as I am known."
There it is. [Shouts in French]
- Look! - Jeanette --
You have to tell the truth.
If you will not tell, then I will!
- Enfant! - I must tell the truth!
Jeanette.
[ Door opens, closes ]
[ Breathing heavily]
Lord...guide me.
Show me what to do.
[Grunts]
I'm sorry, sir. Your name again?
Francois Robichaud.
And your position here at the church?
I dig the graves.
You say you found her here this morning?
Oh, yes. Uh, 7:00.
Did you know her?
She is the maid at the presbytere here at St. Francis.
Jeanette Rajotte.
Raj otte?
This is her parents' grave?
Oui. They died when she was a child.
Cholera.
Jeanette was raised by the nuns of Sacré-coeur.
She would come here to pray.
M. Robichaud, I assume that you've used this spade before.
Mais oui. I had to bury somebody, uh, just yesterday.
We'll need a sample of your fingermarks.
Who is the priest here?
Pére Lebel.
A green stick but a good man.
Excuse me.
Detective William Murdoch, Toronto Constabulary.
I'm looking for Father Lebel.
Déso/é. He's not here.
Do you know when he'll return?
He was not in his room when I brought him his breakfast.
Maybe he went to visit a sick parishioner.
Do you have any idea where?
No.
But I think he'll be back soon.
- He has an important meeting. - With whom?
Someone from the office of the bishop.
Father Keegan?
Oh, my Lord.
William Murdoch.
[ Chuckles ]
It's been a long time.
Yes. What are you doing here?
I have a meeting with the priest,
Father Daniel Lebel.
According to the housekeeper,
he left sometime during the night and hasn't returned.
Strange. Hm.
Seems we're looking for the same man.
What brings you to Toronto, Father?
Some time ago,
the bishop appointed me to be a spiritual adviser.
So now I travel to the smaller dioceses.
I advise the priests. I hear their confessions.
And why were you visiting Father Lebel?
It was supposed to be a routine visit.
Apparently it's anything but.
Unfortunately.
Jeanette Rajotte.
She was found dead this morning.
-[ Speaking Latin] - Dr. Grace.
Detective Murdoch.
I would like you to meet Father Keegan.
Hello, Father.
We meet in less than pleasant circumstances, I'm afraid.
Severe blunt force trauma to the cranium.
I'll do a thorough postmortem,
but it seems to be what killed her.
I've sent the likely murder weapon, a garden spade,
to the station house for analysis.
The blow was delivered from above.
You're correct.
Father Keegan was the first of my teachers.
Judging by the severity of the wound,
I would say death was immediate.
MURDOCH: A fair amount of blood spatter.
The killer likely got some on his clothing as well.
Indeed.
Given the rigor, she's been dead for at least a few hours.
Mm-hmm.
Which means the culprit likely had time to clean himself up.
KEEGAN: It's a single blow, not a frenzy.
Calculated, perhaps.
The murder weapon came from nearby.
So possibly an impulse.
DR. GRACE: [Clears throat]
Perhaps I should just let you two continue.
Yes. Uh, terribly sorry, Doctor. We'll await your report.
You shall have it presently.
Oh. Mme. Bench.
Detective.
I wonder -- Did you hear or see anything out of the ordinary
in the presbytery last night?
- No. -[ Baby fussing ]
Well, I heard voices -- an argument.
They woke my baby.
Mm. Whose voices?
I don't know.
You didn't recognize them?
Maybe one was Jeanette.
And the other possibly Father Lebel?
I don't know.
It was a man's voice.
I see. And what time was this?
9:00, maybe.
Thank you, Mme. Bench.
Oh, and if you do see Father Lebel,
please have him contact me immediately.
- Bien sUr. - Thank you.
Father.
I should get back to the station house.
Of course. Of course.
You must join my wife and I for dinner this evening.
A Wife.
Splendid. That's just splendid.
Do you have children?
- Not as yet. - Ah.
You don't want to wait very much longer, Will.
A young child and an old man is a tiring equation.
When he was 12 years old,
he took it upon himself to construct a sort of --
What was it that you were building?
Thank you.
I was attempting to bend sunlight around a corner
using a series of lenses.
[ Chuckles] As all children are wont to do.
Yes. His interests were, shall we say, unusual.
It was working.
Unfortunately, the lenses served to intensify the sun's light.
He ended up burning down my shed is what he's trying to say.
[Laughing] William.
Well, as they say, children learn through their mistakes.
So I guess you learned a great deal.
Yes, I did.
But I rebuilt the shed within the month.
And you did a very fine job, as I recall.
And he did it all by himself.
I offered to help. He refused.
Stubborn and virtuous, even then.
Young Will was no run-of-the-mill boy.
He had an exceptionally sharp and inquiring mind.
In his youth, he was very much a daydreamer.
[ Match scrapes, ignites ]
KEEGAN: [Clears throat]
[Whispering in Latin]
Pay attention, Will.
Yes, Father.
I am sorry we haven't kept in touch, Will.
I did write.
Oh, I left Nova Scotia very soon after you.
I went to various parishes
until the bishop decided I was the diplomatic sort
and I would serve better as an adviser.
Why is it the bishop sent you to speak with Father Lebel?
Mm. It was a routine visit.
Up until now, we've had nothing but good reports about him.
Well, I do hope I'm not about to sully a fine reputation.
But a young woman has been murdered in his backyard
and he has disappeared.
Father Lebel has yet to return to the presbytery, Will.
I'm becoming quite concerned.
His disappearance likely has something to do with our murder.
The question is what.
I hope you don't mind my coming along.
- You're more than welcome. - Sir.
What have you, George?
The lads have been through Mlle. Rajotte's room
and found nothing amiss.
And what of the sisters of the parish?
Were they able to shed some light?
I'm afraid not, sir.
They all describe her as a devout Catholic
whose only wish was to enter the convent.
And what of her relationship with the father?
They say she was truly devoted to him.
It seems unlikely, then, the argument heard by Mme. Benoit
was between the two of them.
Well, then it appears we are still in search of a motive.
Thank you, George.
Edna. What brings you by?
Well, as it happens, I need your help.
Oh, you haven't been out on another crime spree, have you?
Well, never fear.
The constabulary has been known to look the other way
if circumstances warrant.
Actually, I wanted your opinion as a man of letters.
Oh?
Wickley's Bakery is having a contest.
"Whoever can write the best slogan
extolling the virtues of Wickley's bread
will win free loaves for a year."
And the writer's image might be used on the poster.
Edna, that would be marvelous.
Well, it's a good-looking loaf.
- Wonderfully soft. - Yes.
L-I tried my hand at it, but...
Well, let's have a look.
I fear I don't have the same powers of imagination
-that you do. - Well, Edna, few do.
But no writer should be judged on their first effort.
I mean, the first draft of my novel was no great shakes.
-I'm sure it's better than this. - If that's true,
it's only because ancient pharaohs rising out of the grave
is better subject material than a loaf of bread.
"Wickley's bread is free of germs
because it has been bleached.
And what could be cleaner than bleach?"
It's thought that germs are the cause of most diseases.
Yes. But, Edna, bleach tastes terrible.
Have you tried it?
Well, only -- I had to -- It doesn't matter.
What you want to say is that the -- the bread is clean,
healthy, not sodden in germs --
but without mentioning bleach, I think.
You know, something pithy. Something...
Leave it with me. Let me think on it awhile.
Okay. Thank you, George.
Oh. Thank you.
[ Sniffs] Mmm.
There is marked lividity in the anterior of the body.
As rigor was quite advanced,
I would put the time of death at shortly after midnight.
The lividity also shows that --
The body wasn't moved after death.
You're familiar with the process of morbid development, Father.
A passing knowledge, certainly not as extensive as your own.
And there's no doubt as to the cause of death, Doctor?
None. Her skull was split open by the edge of the spade.
She died instantly.
Father Keegan's initial assessment was accurate.
Well, I've seen my share of the dead.
We both have, haven't we, Will?
[Bells chiming, Keegan speaking Latin]
-[ Door opens] - MAN: Father!
- Father! -[ Thunder crashing]
Ship's sinking.
She's down on the rocks -- a three-master.
Who'll help me man the lifeboat?
All able-bodied men down to the beach.
You are excused from Mass.
[ Indistinct shouting]
Come, Will.
[Shouting continues]
KEEGAN: [Speaking Latin]
MAN: Father!
She's still alive, and she's with child!
KEEGAN: Fetch Mrs. Cameron! We're going to need her!
- Hurry! - MAN: Let's go, boys!
Will! We're going to need your help!
Come on!
Come on, Will!
You have nothing to fear from the dead.
Take the lantern!
[ Indistinct conversations]
We need to record accurate descriptions of every body.
The wives and the mothers may wish to claim them.
And take note of all their possessions.
I don't want anything to go missing.
Here. Take this notebook and pencil.
[Speaking Latin]
You ready?
Let's begin.
Man, about 55 years of age.
Gray hair. Full beard.
Blue eyes.
[Thunder rumbling]
There's two teeth missing.
Has no wedding band.
This man was the captain.
Jeremiah Wood ruff.
There are four other crew members.
They were transporting cod,
and they had two paying passengers --
Mr. Dawlish, a merchant, and his wife, Abigail.
-[ Woman screams] -[ Gasps ]
Mrs. Dawlish is in good hands, Will.
You stay focused on what's before you.
[Woman coughing, sobbing]
Dr. Grace, is there anything else you can glean
from the body of this poor soul?
I don't believe so.
Then, Will, may I ask you to permit the release of the body
in Father Lebel's absence?
I'd like to begin arrangements for the funeral.
I don't see why not, Father.
Thank you.
Doctor.
Why would Father Lebel not be here
when his congregation clearly needs him?
I'm sure he'll have an explanation once he returns.
If he returns.
Father?
This Bible. It isn't Father's Lebel's.
It's Jeanette Rajotte's.
The dead woman's? What's it doing here?
Perhaps it was Father Lebel that Jeanette Rajotte
was arguing with the night of her murder.
One of the verses is marked.
"For now we see through a glass, darkly -- but then face-to-face.
Now I know --"
"Now I know in part,
but then shall I know even as also I am known."
First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 12.
Have a look at this.
What am I looking at?
Possibly the reason why Father Lebel had to disappear.
"Now I know."
BRACKENREID: "Now I know." What does that mean?
That's a very good question.
I'd say that Miss Rajotte knew something.
She threatens the good father.
He does her in to keep her mouth shut, and then he does a bunk.
That's rash speculation, Inspector.
Bollocks. That was clearly a message meant for him.
It was her Bible. It was on his desk.
Maybe he hasn't left at all.
Perhaps some harm has come to him also.
BRACKENREID: Priests are men under the cloth,
just like the rest of us, Murdoch.
Father Lebel was most likely up to something
he shouldn't have been.
Sir, the information you requested
from the Catholic Register.
Give it here, Crabtree.
Father Daniel Lebel was transferred
to the parish of St. Francis a year ago.
Yes. They needed a French-speaking priest.
Before that, he was at the parish of St. Urbain in Quebec.
Stayed there for eight months.
Prior to that, the parish of St. Cecile in Gatineau.
Seven months.
Doesn't stick around very long, does he?
Sometimes it takes a while
for a young priest to find the proper match.
I was hoping that Father Lebel would be settled at St. Francis.
Sounds like an all-around misfit to me.
Sir, you are making unwarranted assumptions.
Nevertheless, we need to have a little chat
with your Father Lebel.
Constables are asking around the Catholic ward as we speak.
Someone has to have seen him.
Sir, Mme. Benoit is here to speak with you.
What was the relationship between Father Lebel
and Miss Rajotte?
Relationship?
I don't know what you mean.
She worked at the parish, cleaning.
He was her priest.
And he was a good priest?
Oh, oui. Bien sflr.
I owe him everything this past year.
It was so happy the day he married us.
Then my husband fell ill, and everything changed.
He never saw our child before he died.
Pére Lebel was so kind, keeping me on at the presbytery.
Yes. A child in the presbytery.
That's most unusual, isn't it?
This is what I mean.
He looks after us.
He's a good man.
And when did you last see Mlle. Rajotte?
After supper.
She cleaned up the kitchen, then we all went to our rooms.
Did you hear her leave?
No.
Right.
Thank you, Mme. Bench.
Detective.
Mlle. Rajotte visited her parents' graves that night.
Who would have known this?
M. Robichaud. He would know.
Even that late?
He works all hours.
[ Speaking French ]
...is what he says --
"Our Lord does not keep a time clock."
Yes.
Thank you again.
Mon pére.
And you're sure he knew that you were coming to visit him?
Oh, yes. Yes.
We corresponded.
So it makes no sense that he would leave suddenly.
Unless, of course, he's involved in the young woman's murder.
I never said that, Father.
No. But you are thinking it.
MAN: We found this one down on the rocks.
It was like he was trying to swim ashore
while the ship was sinking.
[ Baby crying in distance]
Father.
Come quickly.
She won't last much longer.
Come on, Will.
If you're not afraid of the dead,
you can tolerate the dying.
Come on.
I'm here, my child.
Are you of the Catholic faith?
Yes, I am.
Then I must prepare you to meet your maker.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.
One day you will rest in paradise
in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Were any saved from the ship?
The villagers brought in the last man now.
Your husband, I believe.
My husband?
He has blond hair. He has a fur-trimmed coat.
[Thunder rumbling]
[Voice breaking] ls the man dead?
Yes, child.
He tried to save me, Father.
Please pray for his soul.
I shall.
You must look in the coat.
There are gold coins and diamonds in the hem.
Please...
make sure the money is used
to raise this poor orphaned infant.
Promise me.
I promise.
But now I must hear your confession.
[Speaking Latin]
[Telephone rings]
Detective Murdoch.
Yes?
Thank you, Constable.
A carriage driver escorted Father Lebel to a rooming house
on Rose Street.
Finally.
I was beginning to think the man had vanished into thin air.
Wickley's Bread.
Clean and white.
Take a bite.
No. Uh, Wickley's Bread.
Pure and white.
Take a bite.
Wickley's Bread.
Pure never tasted so good.
Crabtree, what are you rattling on about?
Wickley's Bread, sir.
I'm trying to come up with a slogan extolling its virtues.
Virtues? Dreadful stuff.
That factory bread can't hold a candle to Margaret's home-baked.
Perhaps sir, but it's awfully convenient
for people who are too busy to toil at the oven.
Too lazy, you mean.
Next thing you know, they'll be slicing it up for you.
Sir, that's a fantastic idea!
I've never got the hang of slicing a piece of bread, sir.
Loom It always comes out like that.
A-And the end piece -- That's a recipe for self-injury.
Sliced bread would be the greatest thing since...
-since... - It's too fluffy.
- Huh? - It's too fluffy.
It is a bit fluffy, sir.
Give me a slice of bread that sticks to the ribs.
I do like the color, though.
White as the first bloody snowfall.
Snowfall.
MURDOCH: Driver, stop.
Halt!
Father Lebel?
Toronto Constabulary!
[Grunts]
- Father, are you all right? -l'm fine.
Don't let him get away.
He, Go! S getting away!
Why would Father Lebel run away if he wasn't in trouble?
Sounds to me like we're dealing with the killer.
It's possible.
But even if he is the killer,
we have no idea why he would kill Jeanette Rajotte.
Your priest is a young man.
The victim is a pretty young woman.
Would you like me to draw you a picture, Father?
That can't be, Inspector.
Father Lebel is a man of God.
In my church, the advisers only drop in on the ministers
if they're worried about something.
I'm only here to advise on spiritual matters.
Nothing more.
So why did he bolt, then?
He knew you were coming.
Isn't that disrespectful to take off the way he did?
That is a valid first assumption.
However, in my experience, first assumptions are as often wrong
as they are right.
[Thunder rumbling]
Father, what are you doing?
This man's family may wish to lay claim to this money.
A man's rights supersede his wife's.
Aren't you stealing?
Sometimes the greater good must prevail even over the law.
I made a promise that I intend to keep.
This money is the babe's inheritance.
Father.
What the deuce?
[Sighs]
Tell me -- What do you think is unusual about this, Will?
He's not dressed like a merchant.
He's wearing sailor's clothes.
Indeed. Feel this.
- His hands are rough. - Mm-hmm.
Not the soft hands of a merchant.
Tell me -- Do you think this Abigail
looked like the type of woman who would marry a sailor?
Do you see where I made my mistake?
No, I don't.
She did not directly say that the blond man was her husband.
I made that assumption based on his fine coat.
Her husband must be amongst these other men.
Ah, yes.
Our merchant, I do believe.
And a man of considerable vanity.
He dyes his hair and his beard.
Poor old man trying to keep up with a young wife.
- Father. - Mm-hmm.
Look at that tear in his vest, right above his heart.
A wound. Most likely a knife.
Will, our blond sailor may have a knife on his person.
Let's go have a look.
Check his boots.
Father Keegan.
Hmm?
Ah.
I was wrong. He didn't drown.
There's blood on it.
The sheath protected it from the sea.
And it's been used recently.
The sea didn't kill her husband.
The sailor did.
BRACKENREID: So a country priest and a 12-year-old boy
got something wrong.
What has that got to do with your priest's disappearance?
The point is, Inspector,
one should not be too quick to judge.
If Lebel is innocent, why would he run?
I don't know.
What other explanation could there be but his guilt?
Is that the only conclusion?
If the sailor killed Miss Abigail's husband,
why did she say he helped her?
Why did she seem so sad he was dead?
Why do you think?
Perhaps they both did it?
Do you really believe that? She was facing her maker.
She had an opportunity to confess her sins.
Besides which, she didn't look like a murderer.
She was too beautiful.
Well, history is strewn with tales of wicked women
who were also beauties, Will.
You can't only trust your heart.
Go back to logic. What did you observe?
There was blood coming from her mouth.
Is that normal when a baby is born?
No, it's not.
You see those bruises, Will?
She didn't get them from falling off the boat.
She also had injuries to her torso, Father.
Thank you, Mrs. Cameron.
The bruise is a strange shape.
The man we identified as the merchant --
Go fetch me one of his boots.
See how the shape of the square toe fits the bruise?
He kicked her.
Yes, he did.
But she was his wife.
There is evil in all men, Will. Remember that.
Is this why the sailor killed her husband?
Perhaps.
Or perhaps the sailor was merely a thief.
- I don't think so, Father. - Why not?
He was wearing the coat with the diamonds and coins sewn in it.
He took the coat.
But we don't know if he knew there was anything in it.
Continue.
And if he was a thief,
he would have stolen the merchant's rings
or his money purse.
What are you thinking, Will?
Remember -- Miss Abigail worried for the sailor.
She cared for him.
Yes, she did.
Maybe he felt the same way.
Perhaps he caught the merchant mistreating his wife
and took action.
BRACKENREID: So we'll only know the truth
once we find the elusive Father Lebel.
How are we going to do that?
A priest's flock is his family.
And as such, he would never abandon them.
What are you thinking, Will?
Father, I would like you to perform the funeral Mass
for Jeanette Rajotte tomorrow.
If Father Lebel is the priest that you say he is,
he'll be there.
What if he's her murderer?
Well, then he'll be in even more need
of the sanctuary of the church and the confessional.
MURDOCH: For forgiveness of sin.
But, Father, you must understand that if he does return,
I will need to bring him in for questioning.
Of course, Will.
It is your duty.
I think I've got it. Actually, I think I have two.
Well, let's hear them.
Okay. Uh, Wickley's Bread.
What clean tastes like.
Good. W-What's the other one?
Uh...
Why eat germs when you can eat Wickley's Bread?
Hmm.
So?
Well, I also tried one.
Wickley's Bread. Pure as the first snow.
You don't like it?
No. It's brilliant, George.
How did you come up with such a poetic line?
Well, I just had to think about you.
Well, we both know I'm not pure.
Well, I think you're pure. Pure of heart.
That golden tongue of yours will get you into trouble.
What kind of trouble were you thinking about?
KEEGAN: We commend our sister Jeanette
into the loving arms of her heavenly Father,
where she will rest in eternal peace.
Peace is something we will all find in heaven.
But peace is something harder to find here on earth.
"For now we see as through a glass, darkly --
but then face-to-face."
St. Paul put down in words what we all often experience.
Sometimes things seem very unclear.
There seem to be secrets all around us.
But we cannot find peace if we cloak ourselves in secrets.
For the Lord Jesus Christ knows all.
There are no secrets from our heavenly Father.
St. Paul goes on to say, "Now I know in part..."
MURDOCH: Wait. Stop.
I need to speak with you.
What do you want?
What secrets are you keeping, M. Robichaud?
Secrets?
Me, I keep nothing.
Then why did you leave the Mass?
I must go to Jeanette's grave.
They are bringing her in --
You heard Father Keegan's words.
They obviously meant something to you.
All that talk about "seeing through a glass darkly."
I don't know what they mean. It makes no sense.
It's about being truthful to yourself and to God.
You sound like poor Jeanette.
She was speaking like that the night she died.
Then she was going to talk to the father.
Father Lebel?
- Yeah. - What about?
About the -- the truth.
Father Keegan?
Pardon me, Sister. I need a word.
Let her go. Please.
What do you want of me?
Detective Murdoch, Toronto Constabulary.
You are coming with me, Father.
Or do you prefer Mlle. Lebel?
This is a Church matter, Will.
You lied to me.
You knew about this.
Do you want me to do this?
The officers of the law will be here in the morning.
We must tell them what we've discovered.
Are you going to tell them that the sailor killed Mr. Dawlish?
I'm going to tell them that I believe he did, yes.
- Why? - Because that's the truth of it.
But he killed to protect her.
Well, that attributes our sailor with a noble character
and a noble motive.
But he still committed the ultimate sin, Will.
He still killed another human being.
Am I to hide the truth?
Yes.
No.
The truth is the rock upon which we must stand,
no matter the consequences.
You knew from the beginning that Father Lebel was a woman.
Yes.
When you stumbled in the alleyway,
you did it so that she could get away.
You deliberately interfered in a police investigation.
I'm an old man. I fell.
Don't...
Don't lie to me.
You knew I was looking for Lebel
You could have told me.
How would knowing Lebel was a woman have helped you find her?
She's a suspect in a murder investigation.
This points to motive.
She didn't do it, Will.
- How do you know? - I feel it.
I feel it in my heart.
Your heart.
You told me long ago not to trust in my heart alone.
How did she remain disguised for so long?
Surely someone would have discovered
that Father Lebel was a woman in seminary training.
She studied at a seminary in Quebec.
They're notoriously conservative.
None of the young men are ever allowed
to see each other unclothed.
There are other indications of femininity.
Clearly Lebel was able to conceal
her more intimate functions.
But not from the servant who cleaned her room.
Jeanette Rajotte discovered her secret.
I suppose she did.
That would explain the passage in her Bible.
And you still believe that Lebel didn't murder Mlle. Rajotte.
She had no reason to kill to protect herself, Will.
She knew I was about to arrive.
She knew her secret was about to be revealed.
But you weren't coming here to expose her.
You were coming to cover it up, perhaps not for the first time.
The Church prefers to see these things as Church business.
Yes. Of course.
A woman pretending to be a priest
would invalidate all of the sacraments that she performed.
The only ones who would have been hurt
were the parishioners who received those sacraments.
And that could have been easily corrected
without bringing undue distress.
What about the truth?
The rock on which we all must stand?
Sometimes, William, the greater good must take precedence.
Perhaps you could have shared that with me as well.
[ Door opens]
I cannot call you Father.
How shall I address you?
In the eyes of God, I am a priest.
In the eyes of the Catholic Church, you are an impostor.
Women cannot be ordained.
Priests are descendants from the apostles.
Jesus chose men to be apostles.
I was chosen to interpret the word of God as a priest.
That's a rather heretical point of view.
I'm surprised you continue to be a Catholic if you believe that.
I love my church, Detective.
I was answering God's call to devote my life to His service,
even though I was born a woman.
You could have taken the veil, become a nun.
As you say, priests are the one who are close to God.
I prayed, and He spoke to me.
God spoke and told me who I am.
I am a priest.
But then you were found out.
Your servant learned the truth, and you killed her.
No.
Then why did you run?
No one would understand.
I needed to think,
to talk to God and ask for His guidance.
Right. So you say you did not kill Jeanette Rajotte.
I did not take her life.
Jeanette. That poor enfant.
May God rest her soul.
- Have you charged the priest? - Not as of yet.
What are you waiting for?
She's an impostor that Jeanette Rajotte was prepared to unmask.
She killed the girl to protect herself and then ran.
Sir, she speaks with such utter sincerity.
I'm inclined to believe her.
Murdoch, are you sure
you're not still letting Keegan influence you?
Father Keegan withheld the truth from you
for reasons he felt valid.
Yes, I know. But still...
You take it personally.
It's understandable. You feel betrayed.
I'm a grown man.
I'm sure I'll recover.
This isn't the first time this has happened --
a woman impersonating a man.
The Catholic Church has St. Marina the monk,
not to mention Joan of Arc.
Julia, I'm not sure a history lesson
is going to help me solve this murder.
Think about the psychology behind such impersonations --
an intense identification with men, for one,
safety, for another.
But it is usually that a woman can only get what she wants
by disguising herself as the opposite sex.
So if you had been prevented from becoming a doctor...
Perhaps I'd be like Margaret Bulkley,
who became Dr. James Barry
and performed surgery for many years.
Think of all the people that would've died
if she'd remained a woman.
Yes, but Margaret Bulkley genuinely healed people.
Father Lebel performed sacraments
which are now invalid.
So all the past year's births, deaths,
and marriages at St. Francis are null and void?
Father Keegan assures me the Church will make it right.
How?
I suppose they'll send another priest and redo the sacraments.
But what if it can't be made right?
What do you mean?
What if Father Lebel performed sacraments that can't be redone?
Marriage, for instance.
A widow would lose her husband's estate
if she were suddenly unmarried.
There it is! In the Bible!
Loom
He knows you are not a priest, you're a woman!
So you think Mme. Benoit is our murderer?
Constables are searching her room at the presbytery now.
Well, it makes sense to me, Murdoch.
Why wouldn't she believe
the doctrine she'd been taught all her life?
It would never occur to her that the Church
could somehow magically fix it all for her and her child.
Sirs, we found this in Mme. Benoit's armoire.
Bring her in, Murdoch.
Mme. Benoit is in the interview room now, Father.
[Sighs] PoorsouL
Her or the murdered woman?
Both of them, Will.
If Mme. Benoit did kill Jeanette Rajotte,
it was only to protect her infant.
A noble motive makes her no less a murderer.
I was hoping you wouldn't remember I said that.
I remember every word you've ever said to me.
They're the words I recall
whenever I have a difficult decision to make.
I'm just a man, William.
I'm as fallible as the next.
May I please speak with her'? She'll tell me what she did.
And she's going to need God's forgiveness.
[Speaking Latin]
[Sobbing 1
CRABTREE: Look at that.
I suppose I'm in the company of a celebrity now.
Don't let it go to your head, George.
I might have to find someone more fitting of my station.
I really should be sharing my prize with you.
Oh, I don't know about that.
I don't think "pure as the first snowfall" is my best work.
Oh, really?
I guess I'll have to read your book one of these days.
You haven't read it?
I gave you a copy.
Well, I started it...
You didn't like it?
I thought it strained credulity.
I mean, pharaohs rising from the dead.
Yes, they rose from the dead.
A-A curse was released when their tomb was discovered.
Edna, that kind of thing was happening in ancient Egypt
all the time.
I did like the part
when the hero got together with his lady friend.
Yes. That is a good part.
That happens at the end.
You have read it.
Yes, I have read it, George.
Twice.
What will become of Father Lebel?
That's for the bishops to decide.
I expect she'll be excommunicated.
Cutting her off
from the very thing that gave her life meaning.
I'm afraid so.
Will you be leaving immediately?
Tomorrow.
I'll celebrate the Mass,
and then a temporary replacement will come.
Off to advise somewhere else.
You know, Will, when I was younger,
I thought the pursuit of truth was absolute.
I've since learned that the world isn't so simple.
Revealing the truth about Father Lebel
would have hurt more than it helped.
I'm not sure I agree.
Well, Lord only knows.
But we all must keep our conscience.
I'm still in need of an acolyte for the morning Mass.
If you would consider it, I would be honored.
[Speaking Latin]