The story of father Ruszel
Ghost in Dominican church
Father Paweł Ruszel is a historical figure. He lived at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.>
Father Ruszel went down in history as a saintly man, promoter of the cult of the relics of the Holy Cross Tree and the Church Brotherhood of the Holy Cross. He is the author of the three-volume “Never Enough Treasure …”, in which he described the problems of the cult of relics. He was a famous and respected figure by his contemporaries and posterity. He died in 1658 and then strange things began to happen in the Dominican monastery.
Well, his body disappeared, and this gave rise to the belief that a pious monk was taken alive to heaven. According to an urban legend, extraordinary things happened in the Dominican Fathers’ church in the next 250 years. The organ was playing by itself, a shadow was drifting down the aisles. But the townspeople got used to the fact that the spirit of the Dominicans was saying masses.
But the time of the Russian partition came. The invaders organized barracks in the monastery of the Dominican Fathers. One night, one of the guards noticed a ghost, and ran away terrified. The other soldier was braver. When he fired a shotgun at the ghost, it suddenly hid in the wall. The soldier alerted his superiors, who ordered that this fragment of the wall to be dismantled. It turned out that there is a skeleton in the wall, with it the scapular and rosary of… Father Ruszel.
Many people suspected that the Dominicans decided to stage his assumption and thus give him virtue and fame. Meanwhile, the modest monk did not want to be equated with the Virgin Mary and wandered around the monastery to reveal the truth. This makes sense because after the remains were buried, no one ever saw the ghost again.
Do you need a professional city guide in Lublin? Check out our Guides of Inspiration and their tours!