Part 3 - A Curious Tale of Two Priests in Beyssenac, Corrèze

Read part 1 here

 

Read Part 2 here

 

On the 12 April Bourzeix succeeded in holding a service in the church, but at the end of Mass, towards mid-day, Goudstikker arrived with about 150 supporters. Then, in the road in front of a local auberge, he proceeded with a service to bless the Palms carried by the demonstrators. He had no mayoral authority to do this so he stopped and the demonstrators stayed in silence for several hours before leaving.

 

The next Sunday Goudstikker did not appear, and no one knew where to find him. It was about now that local people began to question more and more the activities and personality of Goudstikker. He was a foreigner, with a peculiar way of life in the church. He had unsavoury friends, and was very young for the ministry he preached. He always carried a stick of enormous proportions topped by a heavy club-like crown of copper. During the demonstrations he was always surrounded by well known bad citizens and so on..........

 

But hopes that he had gone were short lived for the mayor wrote to the sous-préfet that he had come back, and 'was staying with the Dutheil family. It seems also that he has ordered a large quantity of wine to celebrate the forthcoming mayoral elections. Wine always plays a part in elections but it would seem that Goudstikker intends to oil his supporters to oust me'.

 

The municipal elections on 3 May became a religious war: the mayor, now on the side of law and order and supporting the established church, against the deputy mayor who had always supported the breakaway cult. Vile words were exchanged in the run-up, and one local person 'regretted that the scandalous events in our commune are nothing less than theatre. The demonstrations multiply, we are invaded by the forces of law and order, and we feel like a commune of criminals'.

 

The next Sunday was peaceful, but there was apprehension as to the activity on election day. But all went off peacefully, and the forces of order drafted in had no work to do. The evening count lasted from six till ten o'clock with the result being that no one received the required 50% of the vote and so the two highest candidates were to have a run-off the next week-end. Yes, inevitably, the two were the mayor and his deputy!! Apparently Goudstikker entered the room where counting was taking place but he was ordered out by the mayor, and left.

 

The next week, the vote gave a majority to the deputy mayor and so the old mayor was defeated: the local population had voted for the man who had always supported the breakaway religious cult but who, perhaps, was now a little wiser. After the election the new council moved to the Auberge Reynaud for a small banquet. Goudstikker showed his face but this time no one welcomed him and he left. In July the new mayor ordered a period of calm and forbade all demonstrations in the commune.

 

Goudstikker seems to have quit Beyssenac in June and nothing whatsoever was heard about him until February 1909, when it was reported that he was in Paris, but had left without paying his rent. Was he on his way back? His next act was to write a letter from a hotel in St-Yrieix, to the local archbishop, explaining that he was fed up with the world and was thinking of joining the Foreign Legion, but he wanted to repent and wished to find a new way, perhaps within the church, to develop a life again without all the hostility of the past. Maybe he never had a reply as next he was in Paris again, writing to other high-ups in the church repenting of his actions. But they doubted his sincerity, and nothing was known about the rest of his life.

 

Meanwhile we have to return to Beyssenac where the full extent of the Goudstikker episode is revealed. Lots of religious artefacts were lost, and wine casks were found in the church. He had rented a harmonium from Brive and had dances in the church and visits from doubtful women. There was rubbish everywhere. It was now clear to all that he was a pretender with no religious authority and the parents of children baptised by him were worried. He had also left debts including for the payment for the harmonium, his cassock, and barrels of wine!

 

It was left to Bourzeix to tackle the problems and restore the church to its rightful role in the life of the commune. As a part of this he needed to have a new presbytery built to accommodate the priest and he made an appeal to this end. It was built quite close to the church, whilst the original one remained as a residence for the schoolteacher. He remained in Beyssenac until 1919 when he left for the parish of Soursac.

 

Finally in 1925 the breakaway sect was re-admitted back into the fold of the established church.

 

So all is tidied up.... But what finally happened to Goudstikker?

 

Copyright © Neil Spoonley 2009

 
Posted by: neil spoonley on 13 August 2009