The narrator tells us that he's on his way to fetch his father, who's waiting for him to be assigned to a parish. The narrator says that his father is a member of a secret organization called the "Michael's sword," which answers to the pope only. The name of the organization, he says, is "Saint vertinez" , which means "the sword of the devil." The narrator explains that the sword is a symbol of the Catholic Church, and that it's used to represent the devil's power over the people. He also says that the name of this organization comes from the Latin word for "sword," which means sword. Apparently, the sword was invented by the Jesuits in the 16th century. It's the same sword that was used by the devil in the Bible, and it was also used by Moses in the Book of Job