ABSTRACT
Preliminary information revealed that the church of Sombor had been the scene of most unusual and in fact rather scandalous events for weeks or even months. It was reputed that a friar from the local friary was using the religious act of exorcism in a manner which caused consternation even among the common people. The dean tarried no longer; he summoned the Franciscan to his office, reproached him for his irregularities, inventoried for his benefit all that he had heard from his trustworthy informers, and forthwith banned any further public performances of exorcism. The structure of the volume follows the tradition of historiography whereby the chronicler unfolds the contents of the work progressing in concentric circles. The end result is like a picture puzzle that is irksomely incomplete, yet in spite of its irritating disjunctions clearly offers more than an inkling of an idealized whole which will never emerge in its entirety.
