The Last Exorcist

Father Theophilus Riesinger - Capuchin Priest, Master of Languages, Marxist, Exorcist.

Theophilus Riesinger was a Capuchin monk and the most celebrated Exorcist of the 20th century. He performed 20 exorcisms between 1912 and 1932. His most notorious case was the 1928 possession of Emma Schmidt (called “Anna Ecklund” in accounts written to protect her identity) - a 23 day battle with demonic forces conducted at a convent in Earling, Iowa. BEGONE SATAN! was a short book written in the 1935 by Father Celestine Kaspner describing the exorcism in detail. First published in German, it became a sensation inside the American Catholic world and was part of author William Peter Blatty's source material for his best selling book,THE EXORCIST. The physical details of exorcism in the 1973 movie are exactly as described in BEGONE SATAN! Father Theophilus was born and raised in Bavaria. He was exiled to the United States because of his Marxist views and in 1899 was ordained into the Capuchin Order in Milwaukee. He first arrived in Appleton in 1912. After a short period in Marathon, Wisconsin, he returned to Appleton in 1921 and served St Joseph Parish in the Fox Cities until his death at the age of 73 in 1941. His funeral was a spectacular and somber event. Not until the funeral of Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1957 would Appleton witness an event quite like it. He is buried in St Joseph Cemetery. For the full story, Wisconsinology Podcast Episode: The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt