From Christopher Gray's Leaving the 20th Century
"Just before the High Mass [Easter, 1950], a small group of Lettrists,
including one who had previously intended to be ordained, slipped
unobserved into the back of the cathedral. In a side room they caught,
gagged, stripped and bound one of the priests. The ex-catholic Lettrist
put on the priest's vestments and, just before the service was about to
begin, ascended the steps to the main pulpit. A moment's respectful
silence. "Brothers, God is dead," he said; and began benignly to discuss
the implications of this conclusion. Several minutes passed before the
congregation actually registered what was happening. He managed to escape
out of the back of the cathedral but the congregation caught up with him
on the quais where they proceeded to try to lynch him. The Lettrist,
alas, was forced to surrender to the police in order to save his neck."
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