Devil-Worship in France: The Question of Lucifer

The aim of this book was to debunk the notorious late 19th-century hoax of Leo Taxil. The latter was a French anti-clericalist, suddenly converted to Catholicism in 1885. In his new religion, he started his loud campaign against Freemasonry, which was even sanctioned by the pope. Taxil wrote a number of books in which he claimed that Freemasonry was a worldwide satanic conspiracy. In the presented here book, Waite systematically debunks Taxil, citing factual inaccuracies, plagiarism, and absurdities. Waite's language is witty, sarcastic, and utilizes extensive firsthand knowledge of Victorian mystical and masonic groups to demolish Taxil. A year after Waite's publication, Taxil summoned a press conference where he declared that his conversion to Catholicism was a fake and that he created his absurd texts to embarrass the Catholic church. He also confessed that his only motive for targeting the Freemasons was their rejection of his application to join them.