What hazards being an altar boy! I don’t know if this is “abuse” because it was sort of just a freak accident. What else could be done? Would it have been better not to begin the Mass, I wonder, go out and put on a different alb? If the priest was was prepared with safety pins, perhaps this was not the first time some disaster befell his vestments during Mass.
This priest was the Chaplain at an all male Catholic High School. He was also a very holy and even-tempered human who was incredibly cultured and well read.
I think the safety pins indicate that some previous testosterone-driven “troglodyte” had done this to him before and he was a man who came to serve God prepared for any and all eventualities. He may well have had a first aid kit secreted away in his vestments.
We have no millipedes in Ireland, Mrs. Tax. We do have Furies, however, and abundant Leprechauns who steal things like cowboy boots.
F