Fraternal correction
Seventies horror film The Exorcist became famous for its shocking depiction of a young girl’s possession by a demon.

But few people know of the devout Catholicism of the story’s author, William Peter Blatty, who died last week, and on whose novel the film was based.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, Blatty attended a Jesuit prep school and later Georgetown University in Washington. It was there that he heard about the exorcism on which he based his 1971 novel, of which he later said: “It’s an argument for God. I intended it to be an apostolic work, to help people in their faith.”

His Jesuit upbringing certainly helped to add an air of authenticity to The Exorcist. Early in the book, a detective interrogates Fr Damien Karras SJ, the young exorcist and a counsellor at Georgetown, about whether any of the priests in his care could have been responsible for a murder.

“Look, Lieutenant, can I tell you who I really think did it?” Fr Karras asks. “The Dominicans. Go pick on them.”